*I would appreciate it if you read the author's note at the end of the chapter*
Chapter Fifteen ~ The Middle
I left the house early the next morning. The sun hadn’t come out yet, but I needed to get away. After the news Dad gave me, I couldn’t think. The whole night I had been up and restless.
Dad promised a lot of things. He told me we wouldn’t be like everyone else, and he told me we would survive by any means possible. But no matter what happened, he promised no one would ever get hurt.
I walked for what seemed like hours without having a destination in mind. I was torn. My dad had done a bad thing, but he was the only one I could really trust. No matter what, he would never leave me. He knew everything about me and would never judge me. So why should I judge him?
Murder was a crime, but so was stealing. Was I any different?
These conflicting feelings stirring inside of me were starting to get to me. If I couldn’t get my mind in check, then I could possible ruin our plan. That would not fly well with Dad since he was the person I would have to answer to in the end.
The light was just peaking over the horizon, exposing the empty streets and vacant shops. Somehow, I found myself at the beach. I wanted to be alone but being alone meant that I would be alone with my thoughts.
The beach wasn’t as packed as usual, which I liked. The sun slowly rose over the water and its glare was so bright that I was sure I’d be blinded by it. Regardless, I sunk into the sand and watched the horizon.
Two girls dressed in skimpy bikinis walked past me, giggling. The shorter one took one look at me and her smile disappeared. It was replaced by a frown, a scowl almost.
They continued to walk past me and resumed their conversation.
I didn’t bother to care about their reaction towards me. I assumed it had something to do with Levi. He probably went around spreading rumors about me, which was okay because in a week I would be gone, and I would be forced to forget about this life.
That was the only good thing about what we did. There was always a chance to start over again.
I began to wonder about where we would move next. Dad mentioned something about Europe. That would take us off the radar, for sure. We did move around a lot but we always stayed in the United States.
If we moved to Europe, Dad would get excited. Then, we would move to Asia…South America, then Africa, then Australia. He would never stop until he had it all. He would never stop until we were the same status of the people that we stole from.
Then, where would we be?
“We seriously need to get you a new wardrobe.”
I glanced up to see Melanie standing before me. Her hands were placed gracefully on her hips as she sent me a teasing grin.
I knew she was talking about the sweater vest I always insisted on wearing. Apparently, my fashion sense was not on the same level as hers. Two thin pink straps held her bikini top together and she paired it with pink running shorts.
I was glad not to be on that same level.
“Oh, hey,” I mumbled, reverting my gaze back to the ocean.
She sighed in response and sat down beside me. “What’s wrong?”
I could feel my insides turning at the question, but I made sure to appear unfazed. “What’s wrong?” I repeated. “Nothing is wrong.”
Melanie eyed me for a second longer than she should, but she snapped back into herself when she saw Joe. Her eyebrows shot up and she gripped my arm tightly. “Oh god,” she hissed, keeping a fixed eye on him as he came closer.
It was my turn to ask what was wrong.
“Joe and I broke up,” she muttered, not removing her eyes from him. I came to the conclusion that she hadn’t quite gotten over him yet.
“I’m sorry,” I told her, but I wasn’t sure if I meant it or not. From what I observed and from prior knowledge, Joe wasn’t good news. In fact, the way she obsessed over him made him seem much better than he actually was.
“I’m sorry about you and Levi.” She had officially relaxed after Joe took a turn and headed into another direction.
“Me and Levi?” I questioned her. “Why?”
She furrowed her brows. “You guys broke up—” Her facial expression twisted into concern, “right?”
I frowned. I knew I only ran away from him when I saw my dad. I wouldn’t call it breaking up, but then again, we were never together. “Oh,” was all I could say.
“I’m glad,” she said, and I stared at her, stunned. When she saw my shocked expression, she continued, “No, not like that. Levi is great, I guess. But I don’t think you’re on his level. He may be rich but you actually are better than him. You’re smarter and more grown up. I don’t think Levi is your match.”
I laughed silently to myself. I knew I was smarter than Levi and I also knew that I was more mature. But I didn’t like him because of those qualities. I liked him because he wanted to know me, even though he never will.
Melanie changed the subject once I didn’t respond. “It’s a nice day out, isn’t it?”
“It’s always nice.”
“Sometimes.”
“Most times.”
“Okay,” she laughed. “You got me.”
“How?” I asked her, confused. “How did I get you?”
Her lips slowly stretched into a grin and seconds later, she was on her side, laughing uncontrollably.
I only stared at her as she completely lost control. After a few seconds, I turned my attention to something else, pretending I didn’t know her.
Levi. I could notice him from a mile away. Strange and slightly odd, but true. I felt happy to see him, despite the fact that he had already told everyone about me—how else would Melanie know?
He wasn’t standing too far from me but he wasn’t close enough to notice me. He was shirtless, exposing the hard lines on his stomach, and talking to a group of girls.
One of the girls, who happened to be the same girl who gave me a dirty look, reached over and touched his shoulder.
My first instinct was to—well, it should be to look away and not care. But my real first instinct was to stalk over to her and have a ‘polite’ conversation. But I didn’t, because I wasn’t going to give in. This was for the best.
That was until I saw Levi look over to me and smile.
My heart skipped a beat, or maybe two, as I sensed the eye contact between us. He turned to the girls, said a few words, and jogged in my direction.
I pretended not to notice him but the damage was already done. Before I knew it, Levi was towering over me with a smile on his face.
“Hey,” he said.
Melanie had recovered from her sudden laugh attack. “Hello Levi.” The tone of her voice was completely serious and I knew it was because she assumed I was heartbroken.
I wasn’t.
“Melanie.” He addressed her but he kept his enchanting hazel eyes on me. “I know why you left.”
The words that escaped his mouth made my body tense up. Did he really know? Did he really know everything? “You do?”
He ran a hand through his quaff of brown hair before sitting down in front of me. “You didn’t want me to drive you home because you were scared we were going to do some—” He leaned in closer, “—stuff.”
All the tension that had arose in my body dissolved. No, he didn’t have a clue. “Yeah,” I said, laughing nervously. “That’s it.”
Melanie let out an exaggerated groan. “I’ll talk to you later, Damien.” She stood abruptly and stalked over to a couple of her friends.
Levi sighed in relief as she walked away and engaged in an unbreakable eye contact with me. “I never meant to make you uncomfortable.”
“You told everyone we broke up,” I spat.
“What?” His face morphed into confusion. “No, I didn’t.”
“People were giving me looks,” I said. The last thing I wanted was attention. “And Melanie knew.”
He gritted his teeth and bowed his head, getting lost in deep thought. He returned his eyes to mine. “My life tends to be very public. When you are as rich and ha—”
“Hilarious,” I laughed dryly.
He blinked in surprise. “Are you ok?”
“Did you ask for that haircut?” I asked him because I didn’t want to talk about my feelings.
He didn’t say anything, but his face turned red.
“You did?” I raised a brow, completely amused.
His face was definitely red.
“You did!” And for the first time in a long time, I laughed. I genuinely laughed. I felt my stomach tighten from how hard I was laughing, but I didn’t care because in this moment, I was happy.
Levi joined my laughter. “I did it for you!”
“For me?” I managed to say in between laughs.
Our laughter continued and I noticed tears were rolling onto my cheeks. I had never laughed so hard before.
“Hey—” He held a hand out in front of me, “—I only asked for a trim. Do you want to know the worst part?”
“What?”
“They got the wrong coloring for my hair. I pointed it out and you know what the guy told me?”
I raised my brows.
“‘Oh, I’ll just shave the sides so no one will notice!’”
My smile faded and I just stared at him. Almost simultaneously, we both started laughing.
“Sorry,” I said after a while, “I love your hair.” I reached over and ran my fingers through the little hair he had left.
He grinned, exposing his straight teeth and it assured me that he wasn’t bad, at all. I didn’t know why I even doubted him.
“Hey, remember that family trip I told you about?”
I nodded.
“I want you to come with me.”
“Really?” I asked him before I even had the time to think about it.
“Really.”
“Of course!” I exclaimed, but internally, I wanted to scream. It felt like the side of me that wanted to live a normal life was overpowering the side of me that wanted to listen to Dad.
I hated both sides.
~*~*~*~
First off, I just want to say thank you guys SO SO much for reading this story and voting and commenting because it truly means the world! And if you did not know, I started a new story called Diaries of the Dead. Though I may be more known for writing boyxboys, I really wanted to try writing a nice suspense book with a little bit of humor. There are currently 11 chapters and I would love it if you would check it out!
VOTE AND COMMENT. I cannot stress this enough (stares blankly at the readers who don't vote or comment...you know who you are). I promise it takes one minute.
This chapter is dedicated to greenforesthero because you're such an avid reader.
So, question of the chapter....what do you think of Damien's dad?
~lara <3