“I was just curious about the enemy, I guess.” At this point I’m saying anything for my dad to believe that I don’t have an ulterior motive.
“Well good. You should be. All you need to know is that Roman Pierce is nothing, but filth, Claudia. He is a man who knows nothing about honor, his whole life he has gotten away with murder and stealing. Roman Pierce was raised in an environment being taught only one thing and that was that he was invisible. That’s one of the reasons why I chose to go after organized crime. I wanted to go after the men who thought they were untouchable. They think the more money they have, the less we can find on them. For years I have brought down over twenty organized crime families.”
“And Roman Pierce will be next?”
My father gives a smile. “Yes, he will. There is always a way, Claudia. Remember that.”
“Well dad, just for curiosity, what if Roman Pierce has retired. I mean what if he has given it all up.”
“Sweetie, Roman Pierce is just like his father. Crime is in the Pierce blood. For years they have all turned out the same. I’m pretty sure Donovan Pierce will have the same future.” Wow. That’s pretty harsh. “This is the reason why I’m completely dedicated to putting Roman Pierce away for good. So don’t you worry.”
Oh dad, I have more to worry about than you know.
Donovan
Mrs. Hairston made us move our desks in a circle for class discussion. Sitting across from Claudia, all I could concentrate on was not looking at her. She ignored me, I must say. She avoids any type of eye contact with me. It makes me question if it’s easy for her to forget it all. The real question is why do I care? She is a Stonem. I should hate her but to me she is not only the daughter of Henry Stonem, she is this extraordinary girl I met at a party. She made me smile, nervous, and laugh, all in one hour. I’ve tried to fight it, but I can’t. She will always be that for me.
“So, the greatest love stories in literature people, name some.” Mrs. Hairston says while sitting on the edge of a desk. Our topic today is romantic literature and it seems nobody is eager to participate in the class discussion. It is second period on a Monday.
“Okay people so I guess I’m going have to call on a victim.” She bit her lip and glanced around the classroom. “Gretchen.”
Gretchen jerked up at the sound of her name being called. I’m glad she called on her because she was just twirling her blonde hair around staring at me. I’m not saying the girl isn’t cute, but the way she stares is kind of creepy.
“Titanic?”
Everyone lets out a laugh while Mrs. Hairston shakes her head.
“No, Gretchen give me the name of a book.”
“Um, well Mrs. Hairston I don’t really read books.”
“Clearly.” Says the guy across from me, sitting two seats away from Claudia.
This guy’s name is Eric Anderson. He is a real ass. Emilie and Jason hate him. They told me he use to date Claudia. As soon as they told me that I didn’t like him. When they said he cheated on her all the time, I really didn’t like him. Every time he acts an ass it gives me more of a reason not to like him. Most of all the fact that he got to be with Claudia is unfair and for that I will never like him.
“Shut up Eric.” Gretchen says with an attitude while everyone else continues laughing and agreeing.
“Eric that’s enough.” Mrs. Hairston says to him. “Anyone else?”
A girl raises her hand.
“Yes, Anna.”
“Romeo and Juliet.”
“Aw yes, not only a love story, but also a tragedy, one of Shakespeare’s greatest at that.”
Romeo and Juliet, what a perfect topic for my life right now.
“That was lame.” Eric says. His little side commentary is very annoying.
“Why was it lame Eric?”
“Two people who fall in love without knowing each other? That’s stupid. Then they go off themselves because they can’t be with eachother?”
“Well Shakespeare thought differently”
“Yeah, he fell in love with Gwyneth.” Gretchen says. Everyone pauses at her sentence because she is referring to a fictional film. God this girl is a piece of work. Still hot though.
“Anyway, Mr. Anderson, don’t you think it is possible to love someone so much that you will be willing to do anything to be with them? I mean Romeo and Juliet were considered rebels in their society weren’t they?”
“I don’t know.” Says Jade, sitting on the other side of Claudia.
She is Claudia’s best friend. I always see them together. I had been observing her a lot to not only notice the people in her life, but also I might actually know all her mannerisms. For example, she does this thing where she twitches her nose. It’s kind of cute because her nose is small. I think she has allergies. Every time it’s sunny outside she sits right next to the window. She loves the sun. The sun shows how perfect her skin is when it reflects on her face. She always has this look like she’s not sure about stuff, like she is always worried. One day I noticed how all her friends were around her gossiping but she wasn’t listening to any of them. She was in her own world. At lunch she has this goofy smile when she eats. She loves food and can down a burger in a minute but she still has a great body. There’s one look I have yet to see, her really happy face. I’ve seen it twice, when we first met and when we met again at school. I wish she would smile more. It’s probably awkward for her. I wish I could leave this school, not only for me, but for her. I don’t want her to feel uncomfortable.
“You agree with Eric, Jade?” Mrs. Hairston asks, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“I mean only about them killing themselves. It’s like it started so sweet and romantic than it became too extreme.”
“Okay, what about you Ms. Stonem? What do you think?”
Claudia raises her head to look at Mrs. Hairston. She was clearly not ready to be called on. She looks nervous. I can tell by the way she looks at everyone who are waiting for her answer.
“Um, yeah totally they were too extreme, and in reality people can’t really love that hard, thats insane. At least not after they just met.” She says, nervously.
“Why do I get the feeling you don’t truly mean that?” Mrs. Hairston says, staring at her intuitively.
I know for a fact she’s lying. Why does she care what these people think of her opinions?
“Come on people be open minded. Were they stupid or were they heroes? Does love at first sight exist? Hell what is love?”
I don’t usually speak in class, but fuck it.
“Both” God these people are dramatic. I say one thing and they all look at me in shock, like I’m a mute speaking for the first time. I glance around the room to see everyone facing me wondering what I will say next, including her. This is the first time she has looked at me in two weeks. Or at least the first time I’ve caught her staring at me.
“Mr. Pierce this is a pleasant surprise. Go on.” Mrs. Hairston smiles at me.
“Romeo and Juliet were in love. They didn’t mean to fall in love. That’s just what happened. It was like they were soul mates or something. They decided to look past their names and families. Personally love to me is something so powerful you can’t help what you do. When you love someone, you can’t make it go away. You can’t help the chemistry, the passion, and that spark people like to call it. Sometimes it slowly comes, but sometimes it comes in an instant. Romeo and Juliet had it in an instant and they said screw it. They decided not to commit to society, but to each other. I personally think it is possible to love someone so much that it eats you up inside especially when you love someone you can’t have. Now yes the killing yourself part is stupid, but in the end it was the parents that really suffered. They lost their children due to a petty war. Also Romeo and Juliet should have fought harder.”
“What do you mean?” Mrs. Hairston continues focusing on me along with everyone else.
“They shouldn’t have given up. They should have fought harder to be together. They should have avoided
all the unnecessary drama, but of course it is an unrealistic situation. I mean it’s a book, of course it’s dramatic. In real life when you’re with someone your parents don’t approve of you just continue seeing them secretly until graduation.” I laugh a little at my last sentence and so does everyone else.
“Well put Mr. Pierce. Thank you.” Mrs. Hairston says with a smile.
I nod at her, than glance back at Claudia. She is looking back down of course.
I wonder if she got it. I wonder if Claudia got the fact that I was talking about us. The funny thing is that I didn’t really notice myself until I was finished talking.
Claudia
“Look at him; he is like a freaking God or something.” Naomi says while staring at Donovan waiting on his lunch.
“He’s just so hot, but of course that’s not a shocker his dad is a D.I.L.F and his mom is a M.I.L.F.”
“Really Naomi?” Dawn says before taking a sip of her diet coke.
“Oh come on. You all know it. I mean Claudia I know he’s supposed to be your enemy, but even you have to admit he’s gorgeous.”
“He’s not my enemy. I hate referring to him as that. They’re just people who’s dad hates my dad.” I say.
“And people who slept with your boyfriend.” Naomi says in her very smug way. She does these low blows to get a reaction from me.
“Naomi, shut up.” Jade snaps while everyone is silently waiting for my response.
“Ex-boyfriend and if you all don’t mind I just want the rest of the semester to go by without the Pierce’s being mentioned, please?” I try to stay calm. I really want to jump across the table and scratch her eyes out.
“Are you guys talking about Donovan Pierce?” Gretchen says sitting down at our table.
“Oh my God.” I mumbled while trying to eat my fries.
“Okay is it me or does he look like Edward?”
“Or Stefan with a mix of Damon from the Vampire Diaries.” Dawn adds. “He has Stefan’s hair, Damon’s eyes, and grin.”
“What do you think, Claud?” Gretchen stupidly asks me.
“Okay you really want to know what I think bitches?”
“Yes” they all say in unison even Jade.
I could lie, but I don’t want to, besides what is the harm in admitting that the guy is hot?
“He looks like James Dean.”
They all studied him as he sat at his table with his friends.
“Yes! He totally does!” Dawn says.
“I don’t see it?” Naomi says.
“Who is James Dean?” Gretchen asks. I’m not surprised.
I rise up from the table and walk towards the station where the condiments are to get ketchup for my burger.
Donovan was James Dean and if they asked me for details I wouldn’t be able to explain because what I would have to say would really show my attraction to him. Donovan reminded me of James Dean because of his dirty blonde hair and olive skin. His eyes are captivating like James Dean’s was when he stared at Naomi Wood in Rebel without a Cause. James Dean looked like an old soul and was a brooder like Donovan. He had a grin like Donovan that will make a girl probably forget about all her morals. Donovan was just dreamy like James Dean. He was beautiful.
Yet nobody could know what I thought of him, not even him. That speech he gave about Romeo and Juliet in class was clearly about us. I knew it, but that’s insane. I’m not for the crazy insane love that will get me killed if my father finds out. Donovan Pierce could never be in my future. Donovan Pierce could never be the guy I fall in love with.
Donovan
“Dad?” I stood in the living room entrance staring at my father sitting on the couch with his glass of whiskey in his hand. He looked up at me.
“Yes?”
“I need to talk to you.” I walked towards my dad and sit at the chair facing the couch.
“What is it, Donovan?” My dad asked concerned. Since I’ve been back, my father and I haven’t really had a real conversation. He asked me how I liked it at my aunt’s in London and that was it. I felt he was scared to talk about Christian. With this bullshit with Claudia, I found myself getting mad. I was mad about everything. My anger about Christian was finally starting to come back and I had to talk to the main person who could give me some type of answer.
“I need to know if you have anymore leads on the men that killed Christian.”
My father sat his whiskey glass down on the glass coffee table and shook his head.
“You don’t need to worry about any of that.”
“Well I could help. I was there that night...”
“Donovan, you already helped by telling us what happened. “
“Dad it’s been a year. I haven’t seen any of you for a year and you still don’t have the killer. The cops don’t care. Stonem definitely doesn’t care.”
“Donovan, enough. Like I said, don’t worry about it. ” My dad says in his strict voice. I hadn’t heard that tone since I was twelve and I punched Christian in the nose for making fun of me for crying while watching Lion King. Hey, the scene when Mufasa dies and Simba cries for help, will make anyone cry damn it.
“What is going on?” My mother came in the living room
“Nothing.” My dad says, rising up. “This discussion is over.”
“And why is that dad?” I say back, standing up against my father. What am I doing? I have no clue. “Huh? I sit in this house and do nothing. I’m a freaking stranger to this family. At school I’m the son of Roman Pierce whose brother is dead. You can’t even look at me for ten seconds without disappointment on your face. I know the face well because I’ve been seeing it for years. You probably blame me for Christian’s death?”
“Donovan stop.” My mother says, walking towards us.
I can’t stop. It’s like everything is coming out and I can’t stop any of it.
“Come on admit it” I walk closer to my father. “If I wasn’t out goofing around when we you told me not to, I never would have gotten kidnapped. If I wasn’t messing around at that party, Chris wouldn’t have been looking for me and telling everyone to leave without us, then maybe we all would have been together. If I hadn’t been somewhere wasting my time, I could have been with him when he found out whatever fucking secret he found out. It’s not only your fault it’s my fault. I should have done better. You weren’t there that night when it happened. I watched him try to save us, while I acted like a scared kid! The better son died and it’s my fault. So yeah I want the guys who killed him dead. Hell I want to pull the trigger and watch them die.”
I blame myself because Chris was better than me. He was going to do something with his life. I should have died not him. My father continues staring at me with a straight blank face. I can’t even tell what he’s thinking. I feel my mother’s hands wrapped around my arm.
“Like I said. Discussion is over.” My father keeps his calm demeanor. He grabs his drink and walks past me. He never has opened up to me. He and Christian always had their father and son moments, but never him and I.
“Roman!” My mother angrily calls for him.
“I guess he agrees with me.” I storm off out of the living room.
“Donovan!” Like my father, I don’t stop when my mother calls after me.
Ella is on the stairwell staring at me in complete shock.
“What the hell is wrong with you?!”
Love and Hate (The Pierce Family Trilogy) Page 9