When I reentered the diner, I sat back down across from Damian, who was smothering his plate of French fries with what looked like a mixture of some kind of orange salad dressing sauce and tabasco. My facial expression at his action must have shown, when I crinkled up my nose and grabbed for the ketchup bottle at the far end of the table.
"Does everything about me disgust you, Grey?" His eyes came to rest upon my face and for a second, I contemplated whether I should remain honest about my feelings towards him, or bite back some of the sarcasm and attempt a polite response.
"Honestly?" I paused for a second and placed my hands on the table to steady myself, because I could feel the honesty brewing up within my core like a geyser ready to spring forth a steaming pile of truth, "Sometimes, yes. Sometimes everything about you disgusts me and I'm probably not off base when I say that probably everything about me disgusts you."
His face shifted from the scowl that had become a permanent fixture on his face, to one that was more relaxed and calm when he spoke, "Honestly? Nothing about you disgusts me, Grey. I actually find your big mouth and constant word vomit to be rather refreshing."
"Are you kidding me?" my words pierced the silent diner and the waitress took a step forward towards the table, more than likely fearing that there was a problem with our meal. When Damian saw her movement towards us from the corner of his eye, he just dismissed her with his hand.
"You asked for honesty. It may come as a shock, but in my life the name Reever only commands fear, never true respect. Sure, people do as I say and look up to me, but it's done out of a means to remain on my family's good side. It's rare that it's genuine respect that it stems from. People are too afraid to stand up to me, but not you."
"It must be hard to live under that kind of shadow. I'm sorry, I didn't realize."
"Of course, you didn't, Grey. You aren't from around here and you have no experience with the inner workings of the town and the influence that the two families play." When he unleashed that statement, a wave of relief spread over me. If he was truly being honest with me, then he didn't know who I was like his brother did. Maybe my secret was safe with Paxton after all, but could I really trust either of these brothers?
"Then make me understand, Damian."
He set his fork down and looked around the diner to make sure that our conversation wasn't privy to any other patrons, of which there were currently none. When he began to speak, he leaned in and kept his voice low.
"For you to understand, first you have to ask the right question."
"And what exactly would the right question be?" I took my full cup of coffee in my hands and blew on the hot liquid contained within.
"The right question would be, why do the Wyndhams and Reevers hate each other?"
.........................
We sat in silence for the rest of the time at the diner. He never answered the question and I didn't push much farther with it. As we were driving back to the campus, he pulled suddenly off onto a dirt road that was lined heavily with trees. We drove down the road for several minutes, before coming to a circular clearing in the trees. He shut down the car, the engine settling down like a kitten ready for slumber and zipped his jacket up, before reaching in the back to grab a sweatshirt. He tossed the sweatshirt in my direction and instructed me to put it on.
YOU ARE READING
Before The Ravens Sing (✔️, EDITING)
Teen Fiction(Book 1 in the Before The series) "You asked to understand and in order to understand a story, one must be taken back to the beginning." Back home in Minnesota, Talia Grey, had a seemingly normal life, until a twist of fate sent her back to her moth...
