Love and Hate (11 page)

            “Speaking of your son Christian, you
know Donovan it was sad that you couldn’t make it for your brother’s funeral.”
I turn shockingly at my dad.

What the hell is he doing? I look
at the Pierces who all look like they want to kill him.

            “Yeah, well, it wasn’t really something
I could face yet.” Donovan says in a straight face. I can see the pain through
his eyes. It’s like the baby blue color becomes darker at the sound of my
father’s ignorant comment.

            “Yes, because you weren’t here when he
was murdered right?” My father asked in a conniving way. I look at Donovan’s
hand in a fist holding on to his fork. Mrs. Pierce softly places hers on top of
his trying to relax him.

            “My son was with my sister in law in
London for the summer. When the incident happened, he decided to stay. He was
very close to his brother.” His mother kindly says giving my father a look like
a female lion protecting her cub. I watch a lot of animal planet.

 My father gave them a tight
smile. He knew it was a lie and so did I. I never really thought about it until
Donovan and I saw each other again. He was there at the party. It was where we
met. I remember my dad asked me if I saw any of the Pierce kids at Natalie’s
party and I told him no. I really thought I didn’t. Now this truth could never be
told because I would have to say he was with me. In reality I wouldn’t because
I truly believe if Donovan was there he was just as much of a victim as his
brother...

It wasn’t hard to peace it
together. I thought back on how they said his brother walked himself to his
house, but he wasn’t by himself. It was Donovan. He had to struggle carrying
him while he bled all over the street and was forced to watch him die.

            “Well I guess it was just strange how
your brother was so wounded, but still he managed to walk himself to your
house.” Just when I thought my dad couldn’t be more of an asshole!

                        “Dad!”
Shit. It just came out. I don’t know what the hell happened.

  Everyone stares at me in
disbelief. I can’t believe I just did that.

“Henry maybe this isn’t the
appropriate dinner conversation.” The mayor says, giving my father a stern
look. It’s about time he took notice of what is going on.

I seriously need to stop thinking
so hard because obviously I get so lost in my thoughts, I start blurting them
out.

Donovan

Wow. I still can’t believe she
stood up for me like that. She did just stand for me right? To her father of
all people.

“Aw, dessert. My favorite.” The
mayor broke the silence while cheesing at the delicious piece of chocolate cake
in front of him. Of course dessert is his favorite course to eat.

“So Roman, how are your investments
going? I hear you’re investing in more local New York Businesses.” Henry says
glancing at my father.  

“That is correct.”

“Yes it’s very interesting, how
you can easily own over a hundred legit businesses in under a year, don’t you
think?”

“Well Stonem, I had some
royalties leftover from my past endeavors.”

“You mean, from your smuggling
operations? Or maybe from the Yakuza, the Japanese mafia, territory you took
over.”

“Henry” The mayor warns Stonem
again.

“I’m sorry mayor. I really am,
but I don’t get how we can just sit here and act like we don’t know who this
man is.  Let me ask you something Donovan, did you handle the operations in
London or Roman are you just waiting until your son at least reaches twenty one
because we all know you started younger than him. ”

“Stop right there, Stonem.” My
father interrupts. “I have kept my mouth shut long enough. Tonight you have not
only disrespected my family, but also my deceased son. You can come at me all
you want, but I guarantee you this. You cannot call yourself a man of the law
when you stoop so low by attacking someone else’s children because you’re
desperate. That’s always been your problem Stonem. You’re desperate, like a
junky. You get so needy for your next fix, that you become sloppy and once you
become sloppy, you lose your dignity and self-respect. You go from stealing
money from your mother’s purse to committing sexual favors for a dealer. That’s
what a desperate junky does. That’s what you are, a junky.”

My father’s words immediately
shut him down. He completely shut Stonem down; I mean he basically compared the
man to a low level junky in front of the whole table. I can’t help but to
slowly grin as Stonem’s smug look turned into embarrassment during my father’s
comeback.

“Maybe it’s time for us to go
Henry.” Mrs. Stonem says.

“Maybe it is time for you to get
another drink.”

I swear all the forks on the
table drop at Stonem’s rudeness to his own wife. What the hell is with this
guy? He seriously needs help or something.

Henry continues glaring at his
wife who is completely covered with embarrassment from her husband. He rises up
from his seat and throws his napkin on the table.

 Mrs. Stonem and Claudia glance
at each other and rise out of their seats and quickly follow Stonem.

My father sits back on his chair
grinning. Ella sits back trying to hold her laugh in. My mother shakes her head
smiling to herself.

That was worth every minute, I
swear.

Through all the grinning I still
can’t help but to feel bad for Claudia.

“Are you okay?” My mother notices
my sudden change in mood.

“Yeah, I just have to go the
bathroom right quick.” I tell her.

Claudia

“Henry, you need to calm down.”
Julia says, following my father in the hallway outside the banquet hall.

“What the hell was that?!” My
father turned back towards us furious. I haven’t seen him this pissed since he
lost that case against Pierce when I was thirteen. “That criminal humiliated
me!”

“Well you were going a little too
far.”

“And you what was that huh?” My
dad asked me.

“Dad you were embarrassing me. I
go to school with them I don’t need any problems.”

“Are they giving you problems?”

“No, but dad you really need to
chill.”

“Henry what happened?” Judge
Winthrop comes towards us.

“I need to get out of here. I
swear when I’m done. I swear as soon as we gather the rest of that evidence,
Pierce will be the one begging me to show mercy.”

“Let’s go talk outside.” The
judge walks my furious father outside while Julia and I stand there.

“Alright, I guess we might as well
head to the limo” Julia says.

“Why do you let him talk to you
like that?” I question without thinking.

“Claudia”

“No Julia, I don’t get it. My dad
treats you horribly. He embarrassed you in front of everyone at the table and
you still do nothing.”

“What about you?”

“What about me?”

“You may judge me all you want,
but I didn’t hear you stand up for yourself. If it wasn’t for Vera Pierce
asking what other school you wanted to attend; you wouldn’t have said a damn
thing.”

I don’t think I have ever seen
Julia this angry before.

“Whatever.”

“Whatever is right. I am very
curious to know why you stood up for the Pierce boy though.”

“I told you, I didn’t want my
father to embarrass me. I go to school with them.”

“Of course you didn’t.” Julia
gives me a strange look, like she knows I’m lying. “Just know one thing
Claudia. I may need a drink to keep going, but if you’re not careful, you will
end up just like me. You may have your little outburst, but at the end of the
day you’re going to do what daddy tells you.”

I can’t even say anything. I’m
speechless. How could Julia say those things to me?

“I have to go say bye to Jade.”
That’s all I can say. A part of me want’s to punch her in the face, but the
other part wants to do nothing because I’m scared she is right.

“Hurry up. I don’t want your
father to get any angrier than he already is.” Julia walks away.

I use to admire Julia when she
first started dating my dad. She was her own person but once she married him she
became one of them. She is right. My dad has these plans for me and no matter
how I feel I’m probably going to do what he wants.

I can’t believe Roman Pierce said
those things to my dad. I never heard anyone talk to him like that before. You
would think I would be angry that he said those things to my dad, but I’m not. I
kind of feel like my dad needed someone to tell him those things. He needed
someone to put him in his place. My dad was unbelievable and he had no right.
He always says how we are better than the criminals, but how can we be better when
we act like that. I really didn’t know what I was doing I just didn’t like the
way my father pushed Donovan

Speaking of Donovan, he is
standing in front of me in the hallway.

 I look around to see if anyone
is around and there’s no one in sight. I wish there was because it could make
my plan to avoid him easier.

Just walk right past him Claudia.
That’s all you have to do.

Okay I’m walking past him; I’m
not even looking at him. Why isn’t he stopping me? No, shut up. You don’t want
him to stop you.

“Claudia” I instantly froze at
the sound of his voice.

This is the first time I’ve heard
him say my name so personally. It sounds nice.

No stop it. Oh God please leave
me alone. Tonight has just been a disaster, it can’t get worse.

“I just” I just? That’s it?

I slowly turn around to see if he
has more to add to that sentence. It was probably a mistake to turn around
because his piercing blue eyes are completely captivating me right now. It’s
like I’m in a trance or something. My stomach turns just looking at him. He
makes me so nervous, but in a good way. Even though it’s a good feeling it also
hurts. It’s like all the butterflies in my stomach are ferociously attacking me
from the inside. I think it hurts because I can’t feel this way. This is wrong.
Isn’t it?

“I just wanted to say thank you.
I know it wasn’t easy for you… and I appreciate you sticking up for me.” He
says it in the most calm and nerve wrecking way.

“I didn’t do it for you. I was
just annoyed by my dad.” I lie about the first part. I did do it for him.

He keeps the same face like he
knows I’m lying. It’s that face where he looks at me like he sees inside my
soul.

Not being able to endure it, I
start to turn back around.

“I also know that you could
easily tell your father that I was there that night, but you don’t. I thank you
for that too.” God why is he still speaking?

“Yeah, well I would have to tell
my father that I also kissed the son of a criminal. So yeah I have no choice.”
I say as I still stare at his eyes. He still keeps the face. Why am I being
rude to him? Claudia, you are such a bitch.

He politely grins, but I can tell
he is hurt. He is hurt because I am acting the same way as my father. I’m no
better than him. “Okay.”

Okay. Now I can go. I slowly turn
around and start back walking.

“Also!” I freeze again.

Okay now he’s really annoying me.

“Also, you look really beautiful,
actually you look beautiful every day, but tonight you have this glow about you
and it’s nice and... I miss you. Is that crazy? I miss you and I never really
knew you, but I guess that’s what it’s like when you meet someone that makes you…
feel.”

Oh God, why did you do this to
me?  

What I’m about to do I’ll
probably regret, but for once I just want to feel something again.

Before I can talk myself out of
it, I quickly turn around and begin walking fastly toward him while staring at
the floor, shaking and not breathing.

I finally look at him and
instantly grab his face, crushing my mouth against his, hard. I exhale at the
touch of his soft lips. I can’t help but to let out a slight moan.

He quickly places his hands
around my waist. Our kiss turns from slow and hard to intense and fast as he
slips his tongue into my mouth. I instantly greet his with mine. We begin
devouring each other with our mouths falling into complete bliss. Our kiss is
so intense and deep that I pull on his hair with one hand while the other pulls
on his suit jacket. I pull so hard that I swear I could hear a tear and feel
strands of hair coming out between my fingers. I feel his hands gripping my
waist so hard. He presses me into him. I get this intense feeling going through
my whole body. Finally that good feeling doesn’t hurt anymore. All the nerves
and butterflies in my stomach start calming down. I bite his soft bottom lip so
hard that I taste blood. He moans while I do this.