Okay get ready to run.
Claudia
I turn to Eric.
“Eric!” He looks away from my father and Roman Pierce arguing to me. “You’re a bitch.”
I quickly grab his shoulders and knee him right in the nuts with all my might. He quickly falls down on his knees gripping his private area screaming. Donovan comes up next to me and punches him. Damn that felt good. He looks at me smiling and grabs my hand. We run towards the exit.
“Claudia!” I hear my father call after me. As we get to the exit we look back to see my father, his friend, Roman Pierce and Uncle Benny fall down over each other. I see a chair next to them and Emile close.
I see he had our backs. Thank You, Emile.
Donovan grabs me and leads us out the exit.
“Where are we going?” I ask as we get outside.
“Don’t worry.” He says as he stops the valet. “Hey where are my keys?”
“Um. Um. Um.” The freckled face valet stutters with wide eyes.
Um? Seriously?
“Hey!” We turn to see Jade driving Donovan’s car. We both look at each other confused. “I told him I was your wife!”
We look back at the valet who looks stupid.
“You should be fired.” I say. He should.
We run towards the car as Jade gets out. Before I get in the car I hug my best friend. God I love her.
“Thank You.”
“Just get out of here. Go.” She says pushing me into the car.
I glance back and see my father coming out. Donovan hits the gas and speeds off.
“Claudia!” I hear my father.
As we’re driving I try to fathom what the hell we just did.
“What the hell did we just do?” I say smiling. It’s so exciting being a rebel.
“The hell if I know” he laughs.
What we just did, was protest. We said screw everyone and took a chance and I couldn’t feel more alive.
Donovan
“What are we going to do?” Is the first thing she asks me after we got to my Uncle Billy’s place and made love. “We can’t stay here forever unfortunately.” She traces her finger over my stomach while laying her head on my bare chest.
“Why not?”
“Because Donovan, as much as we love each other, we love our families just as much. Especially you.”
She is right. I couldn’t fully abandon my family. They are everything to me, but I still can’t lose her.
“Well, if we go back we can forget about being together.”
She lifts her head from my chest to face me.
“You don’t give up. Graduation is in a couple of weeks then NYU in the fall.”
“Your dad said you’re going to Princeton.”
“I don’t care what he said. I’m going to be happy. If I have to get a job and pay for it myself, I don’t care.”
I love this side of her. The side of her that takes a chance. She loves me and more importantly she is finally putting herself first.
“Well, let’s just stay here tonight, then we’ll go back tomorrow.” I say as I brush her hair from her face.
“Okay.” She scoots up over me and presses her lips on mine. She deepens the kiss and slides her hand down below.
Yeah, I’m not getting any sleep tonight.
Chapter
13
“Honorable Sacrifices”
Claudia
I wake up to see Donovan gone.
I look around to see where he is until I see the note he has left for me. It says that he went to the gas station to get gas and coffee and that he loved me. He even drew a big heart at the end of it. He’s so sweet. I stretch nakedly as I look outside into the bright sunshine.
I’m happy. I know it’s going to be hard for us, but we can do it. I have to figure out what to say to my dad though.
I throw on some sweats I find in his uncle’s closet. Uncle Billy must be very big because these pants are nearly falling off. I had to tie the drawstring three times for it to hold. The zipped up sweater is hanging off my shoulder and the sleeves are completely covering my hands.
I hear the doorbell.
Who could that be? It can’t be Donovan he has a key, unless he forgot it.
I head down stairs and once I peek out the window I see him. Roman Pierce. Oh My God. What do I do? I can’t let him in, but I can’t leave him out there. Screw it. I open the door to see Roman Pierce. I’ve never really paid close attention to him before, but now I notice how tall and built and handsome he is. I’m sure Donovan will look this good when he gets older, probably better. He is very intimidating as he looks me up and down, observing my attire. His dark blonde hair is thick and slicked back. There are a few grays peeking out as there are a lot of them mixed in his goatee.
“Ms. Stonem.” He says in a deep voice.
“Mr. Pierce.” I try to sound not intimidated by him.
He walks right in as I move away. I look back to see two black town cars outside and Benny outside one of them.
I walk into the living room where Pierce is looking at a picture of his family. I know the picture well because it’s one where Donovan is happy. It’s a picture of him with his brother and sister with their Uncle at a Barbeque.
“Donovan isn’t here.” I inform him.
“I know.” He looks up at me. “I saw him drive off about 15 minutes ago.”
How long has he been here?
“How did you know…?”
“You were here? After that little reveal at your school, I had a tracking system installed into Donovan’s car.”
“Okay.” I don’t even know what to say to that, other than okay. Now I need to be brave here. “Listen, Mr. Pierce. Donovan and I love each other and were going to be together.”
He continues intimidating me with his stare. He looks back down at the picture in his hand.
“No, you’re not.”
“Yes we are.” I say without thinking, still keeping my big girl composure.
He sets the picture back down and faces me.
“Every Saturday your father goes and plays golf at the country club, while your step mother fails at playing tennis due to her over use of cocktails. Your friend Jade is home alone all the time while her father is with his other family and her mother is having affairs around the country.” What? Why is he saying all this? “I mean anything could happen to a child who is home alone. A robbery could take place and she could be in harm’s way. Your step mother could get in a car accident due to her excessive drinking while your father, well he has many enemies. Anyone could want him dead.”
Oh my God. I can’t believe this. He is threatening my family and Jade of all people.
As I retain his threats I notice his cold stare.
“You’re really threatening me?”
“No, I’m promising you. I’m promising that if you don’t end it with my son I will make sure you are alone for the rest of your life.”
I can’t even keep the tears from falling as I listen.
He walks toward me.
“You will be escorted back home and the next time you see my son you will tell him that it’s over.”
“Donovan will know something is wrong.” I say with anger.
“You will make it believable. You and I have that in common. I see it. We keep our emotions in and we are good liars. Also we will do anything to protect our family.”
“So, that’s what you think you’re doing? Protecting Donovan?”
“Yes. I do what is necessary for my family.”
I look out the window trying to fully grasp what is going on right now. How can I do this? I can’t let the people I love to get hurt, but Donovan. I can’t lose him.
“What if I tell him? What you’re doing.” I challenge him.
He slowly walks closer towards me.
“Then you will learn that I do keep my promises Ms. Stonem.” He speaks with a clear and cold tone.
Wow. I can’t believe this man is the
father of the guy I love. I have to do it. I can’t let people get hurt because of me. It’s not right.
“Okay then.” I say tearfully, but with anger because I hate this man with all my heart. I never thought I could hate anyone as much as I hate Roman Pierce right now.
“Okay.”
I head upstairs and grab my dress and heels. I come back downstairs and head to the door. I’m going to leave, but not before I tell him one last thing.
“You know. Donovan said you were the kind of man who never would hurt anyone who didn’t hurt you first. He said that you were an honorable man and that no matter how you kept your emotions in he knew that you loved him. He said he understood you and why you were the way you were. But he is definitely right. You would do anything for your family… too bad he was wrong about the honorable part.”
I leave him with those words and head into the car he has waiting for me.
Once the car pulls off I can’t hold it in any more. I burst out crying. Screaming at that.
I can’t believe it has gone this far.
Donovan
“Claudia?”
Where is she?
After I drove to the gas station and stopped for coffee, Claudia was gone. I’m looking all over the house and she is gone! Her dress is gone everything is gone. When I pulled up, I saw my father and Benny here and immediately ran in the house to find her, but nothing. What the hell did he do?
“What did you?” I ask him once I get back downstairs.
“I didn’t do anything.” My father says.
“Bullshit.”
“Donovan come on.” Benny says beside me.
“What did you say to her dad?!”
“She called her father. He called me. She wanted to go home.”
“You’re lying. We were going to come home, but she wouldn’t leave me.”
“Well maybe you don’t know her as much as you thought. Now go get your stuff.”
“I swear dad if you did something? I’m no longer your son.”
******
After I got home, I did everything to see her. I even had Emile contact Jade, but she said Claudia didn’t want to see me. That is bullshit. What the hell is going on? Why would she do this? Why the hell would she just call her father? Something is not right!
The next day at school she didn’t look at me at all. When I tried talking to her, she shrugged me off and walked away. At lunch I finally went to her table.
“We need to talk.”
She turns to me in a bitchy way and says. “Okay.”
We walk out to the empty hallway.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“What?” She acts nonchalant.
“Claudia, why are you ignoring me? Why did you leave yesterday? And you called your father who called my father? What did he say to you?”
“Nothing. I called him. He’s right. I figured it was time to end this joke.” Joke?
“What?”
“Listen, Donovan, I only started this because I hated your sister. She was right. I figured why not, besides I was bored. Saturday you were getting too serious about the future so I decided I should probably put you out of your misery.”
“Don’t. Don’t do this.” Why is she lying? “Why are you lying?”
“I’m not lying. Although, I am a good liar. Hell I had you fooled pretty well. Listen, I like you but that’s it.”
She can’t do this. After everything we have been through, she can’t do this.
“I mean what did you think would happen?” She starts laughing.
“Stop it.”
“That we would get married?” She continues in her condescending tone.
“Stop it”
“That we would have little mobster babies?”
“Stop”
“And we would live happily ever after?”
“STOP! STOP IT!” I scream at her with rage. Was it all a lie? Did she feel this way all along? “You want to be a bitch, fine.”
“Oh please grow up.”
“No, you grow up!” I move closer to her until she is leaning back against the lockers with no way out. “You can say it was a joke and a lie, but no matter what you do or what you say. I Love you. Now I don’t know what the hell happened, but I swear to you I will never give up because I love you. I. Love. You.”
Just as I see her attitude fade away, thinking I got to her, she smirks in a sinister way that I could never forget.
“Well, I hate you.” She says it so cold, without any feeling or remorse.
She pushes me out the way as I stand there numb.
Claudia
I walk fast and hard. I walk so fast that I feel myself fainting because right now I can’t breathe. I really can’t breathe. I held my breath for the entire conversation.
Oh My God.
Once I reach the girls bathroom and kick each stall to see if anyone is in here. No one is in here. I let out a huge exhale. I walk back and forth, panting at the realization of what I just did. That was the most excruciating pain I have ever felt. The look on his face when I said those things, all I wanted to do was hold him. Then I wanted to kiss him when he told me he will never give up.
But I gave up.
I told him I hated him. Oh My God. I’m circling around holding onto my stomach trying to find my peace.
I gave up my piece. I gave him up.
I stop and place my hands over the sink staring at my reflection in the mirror. I can’t take it. I don’t hate him. I could never hate him. I hate myself!
I punch the mirror with my fist and let out a loud scream. I watch the blood on my knuckles from the glass drip down my hand. It relieves some tension, but it doesn’t take it away.
The pain is still there.
Chapter
14
“Words From The Wise”
Donovan
I can’t eat. I can’t sleep. I can’t do anything without thinking about her.
Thinking about a girl who possibly played the shit out of me.
“Can we talk?” I look up to see my mom standing in the door way.
“Sure.” I close my textbook as she walks in. I wasn’t even studying. I couldn’t focus worth crap.
Love and Hate (The Pierce Family Trilogy) Page 21