•Rayan's POV•
Have you ever dreaded something so much that you would do anything to not have to face it? That anything would be better than having to go through what you want to avoid so much? Well, that's me. Right now as I hide under the protection of my covers from having to face this day.
I made sure to lock my bedroom door last night before I went to sleep to ensure nobody would greet me in the morning. From the commotion I hear going on downstairs I can tell Dane invited his band of meatheads for this 'special occasion' of me evolving into an adult.
So here I am, laying in my bed hoping an asteroid comes through my roof and makes me flat as a pancake.
When I hear footsteps outside my door I bury myself farther under the covers and pray they go away.
"Rayan, open the damn door before I kick it down," Sasha demands. He knows that I wake up at 5:30 everyday, and now it's quarter to six.
"Go away," I yell back.
"You have ten seconds to open this door or you'll be picking it up off the ground," he says in now a calm voice.
"Leave me alone," I say while snuggling farther into my bed.
"Ten..." he starts
"What don't you people not get about leave me alone?"
"Nine..."
"Sasha, I'm warning you leave while your balls are still intact."
"Eight..."
"What the hell is wrong with these boys and their caveman tendencies?"
"Seven..."
"Get the hell away from me."
"Six..."
"You're bluffing."
"Five..."
"I'll scream."
"Four..."
"I'll cry."
"Three..."
"Alright! Damn hold on a second."
"Two..."
"I'm coming, shut up!"
I open the door right as his foot is being brought back. Before I can even get a word out he lunges for me, wrapping his arms around my waist, and hugs the life out of me.
"Happy Birthday, you eighteen year old grandma." He says in my ear. I smile and return his hug. After a few more seconds he releases me and pulls out an envelope from his back pocket. Without saying anything he hands it to me and then kisses my forehead. A slight blush reaches my cheeks when I look up and see his megawatt smile.
"Sasha, you're 21, that's like the age of dirt," I tease.
"Oh ha ha I'm laughing so hard. Come downstairs after you open it. I wanted to be the first person to give you something." He turns around to walk away, but stops and says something over his shoulder. "And I'm sorry."
I knew what he meant. Today isn't just my birthday, it was the day my life changed forever. I had to sit and hear that my parents had been shot in the head, while my sister got the life choked out of her. What a birthday present right? The days following their deaths all I could do was sit and cry. I was a depressed wreck. My brothers tried to talk to me, the guys tried to talk to me, but I shut everyone out.
Three days after the funeral a social worker came to my house. I thought that she was going to explain my parent Will and whatnot, but that wasn't the case. I was dragged out of my house by the women while I screamed for my brothers to help me. Although, the two gorilla size men that came with the women made sure they couldn't get to me.
Dane and Talus fought for a month before they got custody of me. I was told they went to four courthouses to plea my case. Let me tell you that a month in foster care wasn't all puppies and rainbows.
It was a 'temporary group home' for the ones who were waiting to be put into a family members custody. I was stuck with girls of all ages, most of them dealing with depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and a multitude of other things. I got into many fights, some violent, some just verbal arguments. When the time finally came for me to go back with my brothers I said goodbye and hallelujah to that hell hole.
I bring my attention back to what Sasha gave me and open the envelope. Inside there's a letter and a pen. Though, it's not just any pen. It's a Wisteria Blossom Resin Fountain Pen with chrome finish. Back when I was writing I would kill for this pen, but I could never afford it. How did he do it? How did he know? Right now I can't focus on that if I don't wanna be late for school.
"Hurry up! Zombies get ready faster than you," Luca's voice rings from downstairs. I glare at my door, pushing my thoughts aside, and get ready for today. I put the envelope Sasha gave me on my bed and decide I'll read the note after school. I place the pen on my dresser, still wonder how he knew I wanted that for so long.
After a good ten minutes of rummaging through my closet I finally find a decent outfit. A black halter top with a high waisted knee length black and white skirt. I pick black healed combat boots with a denim jacket. This is the best outfit I have since I went shopping with Blythe and Olympia last week.
These past two weeks have been pretty awesome. I got to spend more time with the guys and learned a lot about them. Although Roman and Dante have made a lot of ways to ditch us. Petra and I have been acting pretty civil lately with a few comments on her part. I've learned to ignore her most of the time.
Salem has been driving me to school in the morning and drove me home a few times too. Dane hasn't talked much but when he has it's usually to insult my friends. Talus is pretty upset that I don't want to get rides with him but since he took Dane's side I try to avoid them both. I've seen Simone a few times but we never spoke one-on-one besides the day I met her.
Right now all I know is that Salem, Dante, and probably the rest of the guys know Elyse. I don't know how but I have a feeling she kept them a secret for a reason. I've also heard Salem and Hale talking about whoever Griff, Lane, and Kai are. How they are coming to Oregon to 'get us back' or so Hale says.
"Are you coming down or what?" Sasha says from downstairs which snaps me back to reality once again.
I run to the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face. For finishing touches I add some light makeup to my face and French braid my long dark hair. I grab my phone and head downstairs.
I turn the corner to the kitchen where all the guys are. As soon as I walk in all eyes are on me. Navy's mouth hangs open as he runs his eyes from my head to my toes, Sasha and Sawyer having the same expression. Luca has his back to me but when he turns around he does the same thing.
"Go change," Talus says, breaking the awkward silence that fills the rooms.
"What?" All the guys and I say in unison.
"My baby sister isn't walking out sit looking like that," he says in a firm tone.
An evil smile plays on my lips when I remember sometimes. "Do you know what today is? My eighteenth birthday, meaning I can do whatever I want."
I watch as Talus pouts but let's it go since he knows how stubborn I am. I turn to Navy who still has his eyes on me.
"What?" I demand.
He clears his throat and brings his eyes up to mine. "You look...really g-great, happy birthday," he manages to stammer out.
"Thank you," I say with a smile.
They all say their happy birthdays with big hugs. Even though I hate this, I plaster on a fake smile and thank them. If they had any brains they'd known not to make a big deal out of today. After being released from their death grips I walk over to the fridge and grab a bottle of water. I feel Dane staring at me, but it's more like and angry stare.
I raise and eyebrow to see if we have a problem but he adverts his gaze to the ground.
"Why don't you catch a ride with me? After all we are going to the same place," Sawyer suggests as I take a sip of my water.
"Actually, my ride's waiting for me, see you guys later," I say and speed walk to the door. They don't let me go that easy, unfortunately.
"Wait!" Luca yells from behind me. I holt myself to a stop and slowly turn around. He's already walking to me when I look at him.
"We didn't know what to get you. This is the best we could do," he says while handing me a series of envelope with each other the guys signatures—except for Sasha—on the top. I gingerly take them and then give him a quick hug. I look behind him and smile at the guys. Before I look away I look at Navy. His face is impassive but his hands are clenched at his side. Is he...jealous?
With a small wave behind me I dart out the door and race towards Salem's car. He's already leaning against the passenger side door waiting for me.
"Do you see what time it is? What took you so long," he says to me while opening my door and gesturing me to get in.
"My brothers friends wanted to say 'Happy Birthday' and shit," I reply while he gets in on his side. Right as he's about to say something there's a knock on my window. I turn to see Sasha standing there motioning for me to roll down the window. Reluctantly, I press the button and the window goes down.
"Don't forget this," he says. I look in his hands and see my school bag. He passes it to me through the window and drops it on my lap.
"Oh, thank you. I would have died without it," I reply sheepishly and then smile back at him. Although, this time he's looking past me, at Salem.
I turn to him and see them having a glare-off, acting as if I'm not even there. Before this gets out of hand I clear my throat and give them both a look.
"Wyatt," Sasha says with a nod of his head.
"Lowell," Salem says back in the same blank tone. Before Sasha can even walk away my window is scrolling up. He sends me a wink and walks back to the house.
I turn to Salem and give him a glare.
"Don't tell me you know each other too!" I exclaim as he backs out of his driveway. His knuckles go white around the steering wheel.
"Let not have this conversation right now," he says through clenched teeth.
"Fine, I didn't want to talk to you anyways," I says while crossing my arms over my chest and face the window.
I can practically sense that he rolled his eyes. "Grow up, Rayan."
"Screw you," I mumble.
He audibly sighs but doesn't say anything for awhile. Before I know it we're in the school parking lot and the car has stopped. I reach for the handle but the click of the lock stops me. Slowly, I turn to see that Salem has a smirk on his face.
"Look, I'm not going to bombard you with 'Birthday Wishes' because I can already tell by your face that it's not what you want. Unlike those boneheads I know what today is, besides your birthday. So, with that being said I'm going to treat this like a normal day," he pauses but then continues. "Although, I want to let you know I will be saying those two words today, but I won't make it a high deal like everyone else. Okay?"
I can feel my face breaking out in a huge grin. Out of all the people who I didn't expect to understand, he did. I would have thought that Sasha or Navy wouldn't have made it anything more than it being a regular day.
"Thank you so much," is all I can manage to say. I feel like crying happy tears. Nothing relived me more than him saying that. Gosh, finally someone who understands.
"No problem, babe," he flashes me a brilliant smile and gets out of the car. After having another problem with my seatbelt I finally get out of the car. I hear Salem laughing which makes me send him a glare.
We walk side by side towards the school. My hand accidentally brushes against his and I mumble a 'sorry' under my breath. A blush creeps up my neck when I think of the night we almost kissed. What was I thinking? He doesn't want to kiss me. I don't want to kiss him.
Keep telling yourself that, Rayan. My conscience basically screams at me. I have so many mixed feelings that I don't know who to throw them at. Sasha and Navy are just as confusing as Salem.
"Rayan, are you listening?"
"Hmm?"
I look over to Salem, whom I didn't hear talking, and give him my attention. He rolls his eyes and repeats himself.
"I was saying that Simone wanted me to bring you by the shop after school, to properly meet you. I heard your brothers were buzz kills last time."
I smile up at him, "that sounds great."
****
"Blackwood, move your seat next to Bradley back there. Maybe that'll teach you to stop talking in my math class," Mrs.Kindly says to me and points to the back of the room.
"I was asking Salem for help," I reply dryly.
"Well, you should have asked me."
"Oh really? Because the sign on your desk that says '3 before me' says otherwise," I remind. She gives me and evil glare and continues to point to the back of the room.
"Now."
I grab my books out of my desk and semi-slam them on top, then I grab my bag and sling it over my shoulder. To piss her off further I take the slowest steps I possible can.
"Put some pep in your step Miss.Blackwood or you'll be sitting next to me," she says. I hear Hale and Elijah laugh behind me but I ignore them.
I look over to Roman and study him before I sit down. His face is impassive but his leg is shaking as if he's angry. I hesitantly sit down my books in the desk and take a seat.
"Hi," he finally says in a gruff voice after a few moments of silence.
"Hi," I say back quietly.
"I heard it's your birthday. Happy Birthday."
"Thank you," I say while looking over at him.
The class drags on and we sit in silence. Salem sneaks a few glances behind him to wink or mouth something to me. I liked the seat I was at. Salem sat right behind me, Hale was in from of me, and Elijah was his desk partner. No wonder the women moved me.
Dante is there too, but the day I came he moved his seat to the opposite side of the class room. Talk about moody.
Finally the bell rings indicating we can leave. Roman is the first one to go, he shoots out of his seat and basically runs towards the door. I watch his retreating figure and wonder if I did something wrong.
"Don't worry about him. He's always been and awkward and reserved person," Hale says while walking towards me. I ignore him and search the room for Salem. I guess he left too since he's nowhere in sight.
"Oh, and Salem had something to attend to. Me and Elijah are gonna walk you to your next class," Hale adds right as Elijah slings his arm around my shoulder.
"You aren't in my next class," I look up to Elijah and say. He just shrugs and grabs my books for me.
****
"Can I talk to you for a second?"
I had just reached my locker because Ms.Stocks sent me there to grab my forgotten gym clothes when his voice stops me. I freeze all movement and just stare straight ahead. What does he want? I don't need an argument right now.
Slowly, I turn on my heals and face him, trying to give the best dirty look I can muster up.
"What do you want?" I counter his question with one of my own.
He rakes a hand through his bronze hair and lets out a sigh. "I think we got off on the wrong foot..."
A bitter laugh escapes my mouth. "Oh really, Dante? You're just figuring that out now?"
"Just hear me out okay? I don't do well with new people. Especially new people that I...know things about. How about we choose to be civil with each other?"
I look at him in incredulity. Did he really just ask that question? Day after day since I got here he's been nothing but a pain in my ass. Now, today of all days, he wants to be 'civil' or so he says?
"Okay, who forced you to hand over the olive branch? Was it Salem? Or one of the guys?" I look up at him and eye him.
"I'm taking the route down a better path," he says, but the way his voice sounds tells me he's lying. I cross my arms over my chest and wait for him to continue, he lets out a sigh and rolls his eyes. "Maybe...Salem mentioned it was your birthday and wanted me to be nice. Sue me."
"I think I will," with that I spin around and rummage through my locker to get what I came here for.
"Why are you so stubborn?" He asks, to which I ignore. He lets out a breath in frustration and mumbles, "you're just like her."
From the way he says it he doesn't think I heard, but I did. I spin around so fast I'll be surprised if I don't have whiplash.
"Who?" I demand.
His eyes go slightly wide when he realizes I heard him. "No one, I was talking to myself."
"I like it better when you hate me and I ignore you," I say, staring him straight in the eyes.
His jaw clenched and his hands fist at his sides. Taking a threatening step towards me, he puts his finger in my face.
"If you only knew," he says back.
"If I only knew, what? What the hell am I missing that everyone else has already known?"
"Trust me, Sweetheart, you don't wanna know."
I stand on my tippy toes and whisper in his ear, "then stay the fuck out of my life."
When I lean back down it looks like I just slapped him in the face. There's a mixture of rage and something I can't quite put on finger on in his eyes.
"You have no idea who you're messing with, Blackwood. Play with fire and you'll get burned."
"Touché and likewise," I say flashing him a sickly sweet smile. I turn around grab my clothes and tuck them under my arm. I slap my locker door closed and turn back to face him. He's already staring daggers into my head, the rage fuming off him.
With a bounce in my step and a wink I send his way I start walking back to the gym.
****
"Hey, you alright?" Someone whispers to me. I look up and see Hale putting his books down next to me and taking a seat.
"Why do we need Study Hall? This is ridiculous," I reply in exasperation.
Before I was interrupted I was tapping my pen on a desk in the secluded section of out schools library. All the guys are in this period with me but for some reason they aren't here, except for Hale of course.
"I know, but some people use it to their advantage," he says while wiggling his eyebrows and pointing to a couple making out in the corner.
"Well, I need to bleach my eyes."
We work without talking for the majority of the time, maybe a few words here and there. My thoughts wonder to Salem and what he must be doing. He missed second through fifth period, was only present for half of lunch, and then skipped seventh until now. What's up with him?
I wish he would tell me everything he's hiding. He knows a lot about me that I don't even know. What is the possibility that your neighbor in a different state knows you, let alone all the other stuff that keeps us intertwined. Whenever I talk about Salem to my brothers they both tense up and stay quiet, like it they speak the glass will break and I'll know the trust. But what is the truth exactly?
Talus never told me he dated Simone, and from what I heard last week it was for two years. I also didn't know that Elyse knew Salem and most likely all the guys as well. Why does everything have to be so messed up?
The bell rings telling me school has finally ended. Hale and I pack up our stuff and walk towards the door.
"Can I ask you a question?" Hale says out of nowhere.
"Shoot."
"How close are you to Sasha Lowell?"
Right when he says the name my mouth parts in confusion. How does he know Sasha? I mean I was suspicious about this morning when Sasha and Salem did that awkward stare off, but Hale knows him too?
"What's it to you?" I narrow my eyes at him.
He scratches the back of his neck and doesn't look me in the eyes, "Salem told me he was at your house this morning. Is he friends with Dane?" My eyes widen when he says my brothers name.
"How do you know Sasha and Dane? Is there something I missing?" I hiss at him. By now everyone has left the library so it's just me and him.
"It's not my place to tell you anything," he says.
I let out a sigh of frustration. "Why is it never anyone's place to tell me anything? I've been here three weeks and this is the most drama I've had in my entire life. I know you all used to live in Washington. I know that Salem knew me when I was little, without me even knowing. I know Simone and Talus had a thing. But there is so much more that I don't know, why can't anyone tell me?"
He looks take aback by my rant and just stares at me in silence. I throw my hands up in the air and walk out the library doors, leaving him behind me.
When I get to my locker Salem is already standing there leaning against it. He looks yummy in his black shirt and dark gray joggers with gray converse. His face lights up when he sees me but falls when he sees I'm angry.
"What's wrong?"
I ignore him and put my combination in, the door opens and I swing it open to cover his face.
"What pissed you off this time?"
I continue to ignore him and throw all my books in my locker and grab my back. With a slam, I close my locker and stare walking to the schools exit.
"Rayan, stop."
I'm just about to make it to the main doors when he spins me around to look at him.
"What's wrong?" He says through gritted teeth.
"What's wrong? What's wrong? You're what's wrong, Salem Wyatt. You."
His hands drop from my shoulders and he looks at me in confusion. Before he can say anything his phone starts to ring. He digs it out of his pocket and answers it.
"What?" He snaps. I watch while he listens intently and makes a few 'uh-huh' sounds.
"Okay," he says and then ends the calls. I cross my arms over my chest and raise my eyebrows at him.
"That was Hale, and he told me why you're upset. I'm sorry."
"Sorry doesn't cut it," I say and then spin around to leave.
"Wait! Just come with me to see Simone and then I'll let you be mad at me. Please?" I hear him plea behind me.
I know I'm overreacting. I know that he'll tell me someday, but I want to know now. I know I overreact most of the time but he still is keeping secrets from me, and that's not how friendships are supposed to work.
Don't give in, Rayan, you're stronger than this.
"Fine," I mumble and then change my direction to walk towards his car.
Meanwhile | Navy
It's hard you know? Being in love with someone you know hates you. I think about her all the time. Hell, I lose sleep thinking about her. She's everything I wanted in life, she made me happy. I would still have her if it wasn't for Dane. If he didn't ruin everything. I remember that day as the beginning of the end. End of my happiness.
"End it," he demands in my face.
"I love her! And she loves me! Why can't you just be happy for us?" I scream back.
He takes a step towards me and and lets a snarl escape his mouth, "end it or so help me god you'll regret your entire existence."
"I don't answer to you."
"How do you think my father would feel, huh? Knowing that his fourth in charge is abusing his daughter?"
"I've never laid a hand on her!" I scream back in fury.
He's quiet for awhile, in deep thought, then his eyes light up and a evil smirk meets his lips. "That's going to change tonight."
If I would have just back down and said no she would still be mine. Now she's running off to Wyatt. I'll never get my girl back, no matter how bad I try.
____________________
THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO EVERYONE WHO HAS TAKEN THE TIME TO READ AND APPRECIATE MY BOOK. THANK YOU ALL:)
Hey guys! Sorry it has been more than what I usually take to update, had a personal issue to deal with.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAYAN!!!
Btw little mishap while editing her Calculus class is first period, in chapter 6 I said it was second. I'll be going back and editing that soon.
How was the chapter? Soooo now you know that Salem, Hale, and Sasha know each other. Do you think all the guys know each other? Thoughts?
About this chapter...this one is EXTREMELY important (the Meanwhile is too)
Picture of her outfit and gift from Sasha up top^^^
QOTD | Who do you ship with Rayan? Salem, Sasha, or Navy? Personally I'm shipper her with all of them lol.
please don't forget to VOTE & COMMENT (vote please).