Love and Hate (The Pierce Family Trilogy)

by Chelsea Ballinger

  It’s been a week since spring break ended. It’s also been a week since I’ve seen Donovan alone which has been killing me, but he spent the week having quality time with his family. He said they needed him. That’s so sweet. I love him. He and Emile are in the kitchen while Naomi fixes their drinks. Naomi is flirting with him which makes me want to punch her in the face, but he isn’t paying attention to her. I swear if that slut touches my man it will be Armageddon up in here!

  “Claudia stop giving Naomi the stink eye.” Jade is right. Somebody might see.

  “I really want to hit her right now.” I continue my “Bitch back” away stare at Naomi.

  “Ooh, he really brings out the bad girl in you. I like.”

  I laugh. I feel a buzz in my back pocket. I reach for my phone and look to see the text message. I smile at the initial of who it is.

  D: You’re so damn sexy right now. That attitude look is a turn on!

  She needs to stop touching you. I’m going to kill her!

  I wait about ten seconds for his text.

  D: You know for a fact I’m yours. She doesn’t have anything on you.

  Awww he is so cute. Well of course she doesn’t that’s why she is jealous of me. Humph!

  D: You wanna get out of here???

  I rode with Jade.

  D: I’ll drive. She can pick you up.

  “Jade how long do you think we’re staying here?”

  “Um, I don’t know, maybe an hour. Hour and a half.” She looks at me wondering what I’m up too. “Why?”

  I grab her arm and pull her close to the corner away from people.

  “I think I’m gonna go with Donovan and you can maybe… pick me up?” I ask in my happy you’re my best friend voice.

  She rolls her eyes. Then looks back at me. “Okay, fine.”

  “Yay!” I hug her as she gives me the face. “Thank You! You’re the bestest friend in the whole wide world.”

  “I know” She smiles at me.

  She said yes. I’ll meet you down the street.

  Donovan

  “You have a very sexy back.” I trace shapes all over her back as she lays face down on the mattress.

  “Thank You” She speaks in her sleepy voice.

  “Did I wear you out?” I say laughing.

  “No. I’m just tired.”

  “Sure you are.”

  Without looking she punches me in the shoulder. I apologize by kissing her back.

  “Hmmmmm”

  “So I guess you like that”

  “Maybe” Her seductive voice immediately wakes up my little friend.

  We are interrupted by the buzz of one of our phones; I don’t know which one it is. She reaches over me to check to see if it’s hers. She rests her head on my chest and reads her message.

  “Jade’s on her way.”

  “That sucks.” Talk about bad timing.

  I watch her as she gets up and starts putting her clothes back on.

  “You know I could watch you undress every day.”

  She turns her head at me with a confused expression.

  “But I’m getting dressed.”

  “This is true, but I just playback you doing the opposite in my head. Nevertheless, I could watch you do either.” I raise my brow at her, basically implying that she shouldn’t get dressed.

  She rolls her eyes at me and slips on her jeans.

  I slip on my boxer briefs and wrap my arms around her while she is just in her jeans and bra. I kiss her neck and rub her stomach, which is a huge turn on for her.

  “Stop” She moans.

  “Why?” I whisper.

  “You must not be too greedy, Donovan. We do have curfews you know.”

  “Please, it’s only ten o’clock and my parents think I’m at the library studying. Your dad thinks you’re at Jade’s.”

  “Yes. Which means I should get there in time for him to pick me up.” She turns around and gives me a quick kiss on the lips.

  “On all the days you don’t drive.” I sigh at my loss of alone time with my girlfriend.

  She flashes me one of her signature smiles and continues putting her clothes back on. I follow her lead, grabbing my jeans and red plaid shirt.

  “So… I got into NYU” I glance up from buttoning my shirt and stare at her with lit eyes.

  “What?”

  She smiles at me and I grab her swinging her around the room.

  “That’s great!”

  “Thank You.” She laughs.

  I lower her down and press my lips on hers. I press my forehead against hers and rub her cheek with my knuckles.

  “So, you tell your dad yet?” I ask her.

  “I’m working on it.”

  “Well no matter what, I’m proud of you.”

  She smiles bright at my comforting words. I am proud of her and I hope her father does let her be happy.

  Our celebration is interrupted by the honk of a horn outside. I’m guess that’s Jade. We finish grabbing her things and head outside.

  “So I’ll see you tomorrow.” She turns to me and places one last lingering kiss on my lips.

  I brush her hair from her face and smile. “I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  She runs towards Jade’s car. Before getting in she takes one last look at me and blows a kiss. I laugh and smile at her corny gesture. She smiles and rolls her eyes. I watch them as Jade pulls off.

  Moments like these show me how blessed I am. With a great family and great girl, I shouldn’t take it for granted and I won’t anymore.

  I head across the abandoned street towards my car. Once I get to it I am blinded by bright lights driving towards me.

  What the hell?

  I cup my hand over my eyes to see. Its two trucks. One a pickup and the other I think it’s an Escalade.

  Both trucks turn off their engines and lights. I blink twice to get my sight back. These are guys from my school. I recognize two as the guys I beat up at that party. Suddenly I see him.

  Eric… Claudia’s ex.

  The one guy that can ruin everything.

  Shit.

  They slowly circle around me. Its seven guys to be exact. Eric walks toward me until were about a feet away from each other. I could try to run, but something tells me I won’t get very far.

  “So” Eric’s voice is calm, but his eyes speak pissed off. “Is she good?”

  That’s my cue. If I’m going down, I’m going down fighting. I look back around again then back at Eric. I sucker punch him the face than elbow the other guy to my right. Next thing I know, someone punches me in the head from behind. My head rings while the rest them tackle me down and start kicking and swinging at me. I receive blows to my head, stomach, and chest.

  “Enough!” I hear Eric yell.

  I stay down holding on to my stomach and spitting out blood. I lean against my car and look up to see Eric towering over me with his fists clenched. He then brings his arm back and releases it colliding his fist with my face.

  Chapter

  11

  “Our Deepest Fear”

  Claudia

  Today will be a great day.

  It’s Wednesday, which means its closer to Friday. The sun is shining and I’m smiling. Okay, lame I know, but hey I’m a girl in love.

  I’m greeted by James Ross in a very flirtatious and creepy way.

  “Hey.” I say quick and platonically.

  As I walk down the hall way people continue staring at me. There whispering, laughing, and some are looking at me like I’ve killed somebody.

  What the hell is going on?

  I’m stopped by Jade, before I get to my locker.

  “Hey what is going on?” Before she can answer I look past her towards my locker. Oh my god.

  It’s a flyer. It’s a flyer with a picture of me…. with Donovan. I push through Jade and snatch it off my locker. Oh my god. It’s a picture of us kissing outside the house. I think it’s from last night. Oh My God. Oh My God. Oh My God.
Oh My God. Oh My God.

  “Wow, Claudia” I look up to see Naomi and her gang of skanks, smiling and shaking their heads at me. “I guess you’re not little miss perfect after all.”

  “Walk away bitch!” I hear Jade say as she gets in between.

  “I swear the more they hang out with them the more violent they get.” Naomi says as she walks away.

  Is it possible to have a heart attack at eighteen? Because I’m having one, I swear. Next thing I know Eric walks towards me and leans into me.

  “You really should be discreet at a party. You never know who is watching.” He whispers.

  He walks away as I stand there dumbfounded and numb.

  Who else has seen this? Did my dad see this? Where is Donovan?

  I turn around and run until I am stopped and pulled into a hug. It’s him. It’s Donovan. His embrace instantly slows my heart beat. He always calms me.

  He lifts my head up to see him. He has bruises on his face and a cut on his bottom lip. I stare down at him as I see him in the same clothes from last night. He looks around at everyone.

  “What?! Huh?!” he says as he jerks at the people around us still holding on to my hand. “Get the hell out of here!!”

  He comes back to me and places his hands on my face. I continue shaking not knowing what to say. What do I say? It’s all over.

  “You okay?” I don’t answer.

  “Donovan, what the hell happened?” Jade asks him.

  “That asshole Eric. After you guys left, he and his friends jumped me and locked me in the trunk of my car.”

  “Mr. Pierce and Ms. Stonem!” We turn around to the Dean of Students who looks extremely pissed. “You two come with me.”

  Yeah, this is not a good day at all.

  ********

  I watch my dad as he grabs the flyer from the dean. He stares at it and from the look on his face; I want to vomit right now. He passes it back to the Dean who then gives it to Roman and Vera Pierce. She looks away and rubs her forehead while Roman looks at Donovan with the disappointment written all over his face. Donovan keeps staring down while I look at my father.

  “There will be no suspension because we have no reason to believe your children had any part in this.” Dean Meyers says.

  “But you will find out who did, right?” Donovan’s mother says in more of a demanding way than a question.

  “Yes of course.”

  “Claudia, let’s go.” I look up at my father who is extremely disgusted with me right now.

  I grab my bag and follow him out. I can’t even look back at Donovan right now.

  Donovan

  “What the hell were you thinking?! Huh?!” I continue standing facing my parents in the living room as my father asks me this question that I can’t answer.

  I don’t know what the hell I was thinking. I wasn’t thinking at all.

  “Speak damn it!” My father yells.

  I say the only answer I got.

  “I love her.”

  “Oh my God” My mother says as she lowers her head. My father looks at me like I have lost my mind.

  “You love her?”

  “Yes.”

  “You might want to rethink your choice of words right now.” My dad says with the "I’m going to kick your ass" look.

  “Donovan how long has this been going on?” My mother asks me.

  “For about three months.” They scoff at my answer. “But it kind of started way before that.”

  “What do you mean? What you felt something because you were kidnapped together?”

  “No. Well later yeah, but I met her.” I try to gather the short version of our story. “I met her the night Christian died.

  “What?” My dad comes toward me. “You said...”

  “I know what I said.”

  “You! You said that nobody saw you at that party!”

  “I know, but I just wanted to get out of here. I wasn’t thinking straight.”

  “Obviously. You never think straight that’s your damn problem.”

  “So you met Henry Stonem’s daughter at a party.” My mom says still shocked.

  “Yeah, but there was a connection between us and when I came back here it started all over again.”

  “For all you know Stonem could be using her.” My father says.

  “That’s what I said.” We all look back at Ella.

  “You knew?” My mom asks.

  “Yeah, but I told him to end it.”

  “I can’t believe this my children are liars. My children are keeping things that could easily harm this family. I mean Donovan didn’t you think that what you were doing could hurt this family?”

  “Mom, I did, but she is different. She could have easily told her father, but she didn’t.”

  My dad says sarcastically.

  “That’s right! She loves me and I love her.”

  “Both of you are grounded.”

  “What? Me?! I didn’t do anything.” Ella says.

  “You kept this from us Ella!” My mom says. “You could have told us and I know for a fact Emile knows he knows everything you do.”

  I can’t even lie about that.

  “That little shit.” My dad says. “You are not to see that girl alone again. Do you hear me?!”

  “You can’t stop me from seeing her.”

  He walks toward me closely until we are face to face. I stand tall against my father knowing I will probably lose this fight.

  “You’re not going to see her. I don’t care if I have to have Benny sit with you in every damn class! You will not see Henry Stonem’s daughter again. You really disappointed me this time Donovan.”

  Claudia

  “How long?” I see my father pouring himself a glass of brandy as I continue standing in the middle of his office while Julia sits on the couch.

  “For about three months.” I answer softly.

  I can’t say how we met because I don’t want my dad to know he was at the party the night his brother died.