Love and Hate (10 page)

“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?!”

“Nothing” I say.

I hear her following me but once
I get in my room I slam my door shut. I grip my head, circling around my room.
I don’t know what is wrong with me. It’s like all I think about is either
Claudia or Christian and it drives me insane. All I see when I sleep at night.
Claudia. Christian. That ring. That fucking ring! I just want it all to be
over. 

I walk out to my balcony and
scream as loud as I can for the whole world to hear me.

Claudia

I sit in the dark staring at my
phone. I’m looking at the time. I’ve been waiting on my father for two hours
now. Its 2 am and he is still not home. Finally, I hear the door open.

“Dad.” I say, before he passes the
living room. He doubles back to look at me.

“Claudia?” He says squinting to
see me.

I walk towards my father out of
the darkness so he can get a better view.

“Where were you tonight?”

“I was at the office.”

“Dad, I want you to be fully
honest with me okay? Were you with another woman?”

“What?” My father asks
shockingly. “Claudia, how dare you ask me that?”

“Dad I’m sorry it’s just you’ve
been gone late at night a lot lately and I notice okay. Julia is here all by
herself wondering where you are. The late phone calls. The times you leave
after random calls without a word.”

“Claudia I am working on a very
important case okay? You know I can’t give you detail. I am working on the
Roman Pierce investigation. This is a very important case for my career and this
family.”

“Well you know what dad I really
hope so because I’m really tired of this family being affected by the Pierces.”

He doesn’t even get how much this
feud has affected not only Julia, but definitely me.

Chapter

5

                “Stolen
Moments”

Donovan

I really don’t feel like going to
this thing.

Tonight is Saturday and it’s the
annual fundraiser banquet. I’m all for a good cause, but I just haven’t really
been up for being around people lately.

It’s basically an event where rich
people come and spend money to donate to the charity of that year. According to
Ella, it is also the fundraiser where everyone kisses the mayor’s ass. See
Mayor Hawthorne has a lot of friends everywhere, including my father. Apparently,
he and Hawthorne go way back. My mother informed me that dad helped Hawthorne
with something a long time ago; therefore he looks out for my father. I’m sure
Stonem hates that.

“Hey.” I peek through the
reflection of the mirror to see my mother staring at me. She looks beautiful in
her long black dress. I don’t think she will ever look less beautiful the older
she gets. “You need help with your tie?”

“Of course.” I turn around
smiling at her, reminded that I could never tie a tie at all in any type of form.
However, it was one of the many things Christian was good at.

My mother grabs my black tie off
my bed and walks towards me. She throws it around my neck and begins the impossible
process… at least for me it is.

“So, I need to tell you
something.” My mother says as she continues focusing on my tie.

“What’s up?”

She finishes tying it and places
her hands on my chest.

How does she do it?

“I was very disgusted with what
you said to your father the other night.” My curiosity of how to tie a tie is
stopped by mother’s shocking admission to me.

“Mom, the last thing I ever
wanted to do….”

“No, you listen.” She orders me
in a soft, yet forceful way. “I know I haven’t been the best mother in the
world. I’ve made mistakes and I have suffered the consequences. I lost
Christian and I almost lost you, but your still here Donovan. You are still
here. And what you said to your father was not only disrespectful to him, but
to me, your sister, and your brother. Chris would have given his life for you
and you the same for him. It was not your fault. It was mine and your father’s
and we will have to live with that, but if you ever say the better son died
again. I swear to you I will hurt you myself.” She gently grabs my face with
both of her hands. “The better son did not die. One of my amazing, beautiful,
and wonderful sons…. died. You hear me? Never disrespect yourself like that
again. ”

I can see the water tearing up in
my mother’s eyes as she looks me dead in my face. I never want to see that look
again. The fact that I hurt my mother disgusts me. More importantly I’m trying
to let her words sink in.

“Yes mom. I’m so sorry.” I say
while holding back my tears.

My mother embraces me in one of
her loving hugs with her hand rested on my head and the other rubbing my back.

 Even though I still feel the same
way, my mother was right. I had no right to disrespect my family like that because
in the end I wouldn’t exchange any of them for the world, not even my father.

 She releases her embrace and
carefully wipes her eyes, the way women do when they don’t want to mess up
their makeup.

 “Alright let’s go to this
shindig and do what Pierces do best.”

“And what is that?”

 “Give them something beautiful
to look at.” She slowly smiles at me and I do the same.

I have a really cool mom.

Claudia

“Claudia you look beautiful.”
Mrs. Winthrop says to me. She is the wife of Judge Winthrop and Naomi’s mom. Like
my father, Judge Winthrop is dedicated to bringing the Pierces down.

“Thank you Mrs. Winthrop.”

“And Julia that dress is
absolutely divine.” She says to Julia referring to her black halter dress. “I
think I wore one just like that two years ago.

What?

“Thank You, Ellen.” Julia says. I
observed Julia as she forced a smile.

She just insulted Julia like it
was nothing. What a bitch! I’m not surprised. Her daughter is the same so of
course she inherited bitchy qualities from the woman that gave birth to her.

My arm is immediately grabbed by Jade.
She pulls… well more like drags me towards the bar.

“What is going on?” I ask her.

“Nothing I just thought we could sneak
in some wine right quick.” Jade openly reaches over the bar for two champagne
glasses and a bottle of wine. Yeah right, so much for sneakiness.

“Hey!” The bartender quickly
jumped at the sight of Jade grabbing the bottle. “You can’t take that”

“Oh come on. Me and my friend
here won’t tell anyone…. I promise.” Jade speaks in her very seductive and innocent
voice. This usually works on any guy especially guys who work behind the bar. 

After a slight pause and drooling
over Jade, the bartender laughs and grins.

“Alright” The bartender says
grabbing the bottle and popping it open. He poured gold sparkling champagne in
both our glasses.

“Thank you” Jade says in the same
voice.

As we walked away with our
drinks, I glanced back to see the bartender eyeing Jade’s ass. I chuckle to
myself. Most guys were typical when it comes to a girl. They are so easily
manipulated.

“Your tricks never fail I swear.”
I tell her.

“Hey he was kind of cute though.”

“Ew! Jade, he looks thirty
something.”

“Hey older guys are better in bed
I swear.”

“Oh my God, that’s way too much
info.”

“You know I’m kidding. The oldest
guy I hooked up with was twenty one and you know that.”

“Yeah I remember, but hey you have
had more partners than me.”

“I’ve had five Claudia and that’s
not good at all at eighteen personally, at least you only had two.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

I had two and they both sucked. I
lost my virginity to Eric and it hurt like hell. He didn’t help either with the
way he just threw his self on top of me. Also, every time Eric got his release
during sex, he would forget all about me. So needless to say I have never had
an orgasm… at least during sex. Nor have I even had great sexual experiences,
with my boyfriend for about a year at that. That is so sad.

The second guy Jade was referring
to was the guy I hooked up with while we were out of town at her mother’s
cabin. He was some local that worked at the ski resort. I found out Eric
cheated on me and I just wanted to get over him, so I followed Jade’s advice
unfortunately, and slept with the local when I was drunk at a party. Stupid I
know. I thought that maybe a different guy would be better. Again, I was very
wrong. He was wack. What’s that Missy Elliot song? Minute Man, yeah, that was
definitely David, the hot Ski instructor, who turned out to be a very fast
worker if you get what I mean. Ugh, I don’t want to think about this now, its
pissing me off all over again.

“Claudia, look who I found.” We
turn around hiding the glasses behind our back to see my father with Eric. Found
him, my ass.

“Eric and I were just discussing
his early acceptance to Princeton.” My dad says, smiling. He was cheesing at
Eric like he won the Nobel Peace Prize or something.

While Eric and I were dating, I
realized why my father pushed us to be together. I don’t know why it took me so
long to put it together, but Eric’s father is William Anderson, the U.S Attorney
for the Southern District of New York. My father is one of the top Assistant
U.S Attorney’s but his dream is to have William’s job one day. So if my dad
maintains a friendship with his boss, he can put in a good word for him when
it’s time to elect a new one. I would love for my dad to achieve his dream, but
pimping me out is not the way to go.

“Wow, that’s just wonderful dad.”
Annoyed, I try not to make eye contact with Eric who is wearing a blue suit
with his hair spiked up. I really hated the way he wore his hair. That is so NSYNC,
the best boy band in the world, with horrible hair.

“Listen Claud, I wanted to see if
we could talk for a moment.” Eric says, before Matt Weston, my father’s
colleague interrupts.

“Excuse me, but Mr. Stonem the
Pierces are here.” We all turn around to see the Pierce family walking down the
banquet hall steps in unison.

Wow, they really are gorgeous. I
mean I’ve seen them at events before but it’s something about the whole family
making an entrance together. It makes me feel like I’m in that scene in
Twilight when Bella first sees the Cullens.

Mr. Pierce walks with his wife’s
arm linked in his. She looks gorgeous in a long black dress. Mr. Pierce looks
handsome in his all black suit with a black tie. I hate to admit it, but Ella
looks beautiful in her red dress. Linked to her arm is Donovan who looks
absolutely breathtaking. He looks good in a suit. It’s a dark green with a
black tie. The suit is very fitting on him like the shirts he wears showing all
his muscles.

 I glance at my father to see his
stern look of disapproval of the Pierces, along with Eric and Mr. Weston.

“Let’s go to our seats dear.” My
father says to me.

 I follow him to our long table
where our names are labeled on place cards in front of each seat. Of course we’re
sitting at the mayors table.

Oh no.

The Pierces are sitting at our
table too.

Shoot me now.

Donovan

Of course were sitting with the
mayor… and the Stonems.

Oh and look they’re sitting right
across from us. I swear God has a funny sense of humor. Henry Stonem sat across
from my father. Mrs. Stonem sat across from my mother and of course Claudia
Stonem sat across from me, while Ella sat across from some really old guy
hooked up to an oxygen tank.

This is going to be a very
interesting dinner.

“Well people this is going to be
a lovely dinner.” Mayor Hawthorne says while cutting into his salad. The mayor
is a heavy set guy with gray hair, wearing a very ugly toupee on top of his
head.

“Yes, I’m sure it will be Mayor”
My dad says as he cut into his salad.

“So, Mrs. Pierce you have a
gorgeous son I see.” The Mayor’s very young wife says.

 She was eyeing me in a way she
shouldn’t have, but the mayor was to busy stuffing his face to notice.

My mother turns to me and gives
me a quick look.

“Ah, I guess he’s okay.” She
nudges me and smiles.

She loves messing with me.

Claudia

Aw that was cute, the way Mrs.
Pierce joked with Donovan. I can tell already they probably have a good
relationship.

 Meanwhile the Mayor’s wife is a
total slut. The way she looked at Donovan was disgusting. It really annoys me
when women throw themselves at guys like that. Donovan doesn’t want a slutty
woman like that.

Wait, what? Claudia, snap out of
it. He probably does want a slut. His sister is a slut and they are all
criminals, remember that! Oh God, I’m so sorry for saying all that…..well maybe
not the part about Ella.

“So, Claudia, I hear you are
interested in attending Princeton.” I glance down at the mayor stuffing his
face while talking to me.

“Um, well I don’t know yet I was
thinking maybe…”

“I’m pretty sure she is going to
make the right choice. She would love to go to Princeton.” My dad says
interrupting me.

God I hate it when he does that.
Yes he wants me to attend Princeton, but I don’t. I really want to go to NYU. I
always wanted to move to the city. My mom and I always did our Christmas
shopping in the city; it was the best moments of my childhood. Walking through Manhattan
with her and being mesmerized by the beautiful decorations that ignited the
beauty of New York.

 Of course my dad has other plans
without even considering mine.

“What are your other choices?” I
look up to Mrs. Pierce who asked me that.

Wow. Why would she ask me that? I
can’t help but to glance at all the Pierces who look shocked as well, including
Donovan except he follows it with a grin at his mother like he was proud of her
for asking me.

Isn’t she supposed to hate me?
Maybe she wants to piss my dad off.  Either way I’m okay with that.

“Um, well I was really hoping to
attend NYU.”

            She smiles. “That’s a really good
school, my son Christian wanted to go there.” I notice the look on her face at
the mention of his name. I feel for her. I can’t help but glance at Donovan
too. He looks down at his food playing with his fork. Of course it is a touchy
subject for them.