Page 60 of His To Claim

He turns his head to me unsure of what I mean.

“Came to talk,” he says nonchalantly.

I take another hit of the cig looking up into the night sky. It’s so peaceful out here, despite the fact there is a raging party occurring not even two miles away.

“You know I’m no good at that,” I answer.

He places a hand on my chin tilting my head up to look at him. His eyes are glossy and red rimmed as if he were smoking something else before coming here.

“Then hear me out.” He leans into me, his lips gently caressing mine. He smells of smoke, weed, and something else. Something musky, something completely him. I lean into him placing my arms around his neck, bringing him in closer as I open my mouth for him, and our tongues begin dancing together.

“Dragon, please,” I whisper. At my words he stops, pulling away from me.

“I’m sorry, I just,” he grins and shakes his head. Taking a step back he runs both hands through his hair and begins laughing sardonically. “It’s him, isn’t it,” he says, shaking his head.

“What?” I ask, but I know what he’s saying, the look in his eyes gives it away.

“What happened between the two of you? Why does he look at you as if he knows you?”

“Drake, don’t,” I say, stepping toward him.

“What happened to us, Scar? You used to tell me things, confide in me. I’ve always been there for you. Never judged you. This fucker comes around, treating you like shit, and you start hiding things from me, keeping secrets. Why him?”

His eyes are now low and glossier than before. It breaks something inside of me to see my fierce dragon this way. Broken, confused, full of sorrow. I need to tell him everything. My past with Agent Servite, my mom, everything that’s happened with Ace. It’s not fair to keep him in the dark. He’s right, he’s always been there for me. It’s my turn to be there for him. So, I turn to face him.

“Walk with me, Dragon. I’ll tell you everything.”

Twenty-One

SCARLETT

We head over to the right side of the private beach, on the opposite side of where I’m sure the party is in full swing now, an eerie silence flowing through the air.

I sent Jade a text when we left letting her know that Drake and I were going to skip the party tonight to hang out and talk. Like I imagined, she texts back a winking emoji along with the eggplant. I can’t help but chuckle when I open her text and Drake looks up to me at my laugh.

“Anything you wanna share?” he says sternly, and it pisses me off that he’s assuming it’s Ace. I roll my eyes and turn my head staring toward the vast ocean before us.

We choose a spot on the sand, closest to the water and sit. It’s gotten windier since earlier, so I cross my arms to try and warm up. Drake turns his head to me and notices I’ve gotten cold, so he slips off his black hoodie, exposing the silky skin of his tattooedabdomen under his black t-shirt. I bite my lip as he pulls it over his head, handing it to me as I slip off my jean jacket.

I slip into his hoodie and lay my jacket on the sand beside me before turning to face him. I find he’s staring off into the night sky looking toward the ocean that looks almost black except for the small gleam of the crescent moon. He doesn’t ask again, doesn’t pressure me to talk right away but I need to let it out.

“As you know, a little over three years ago, the day Jade and I first got to the foster house, a bunch of Hillcrest police officers and a detective barged into our house early in the morning. They were looking for Lilith, my mom, and Chaz, Jade’s dad. We knew they weren’t home because we had been looking for them too.”

He continues to stare forward nodding slightly at my words but not making eye contact. He knows I don’t open up easily and I think this is his way of giving me the space to do it at my pace.

“The detective in charge told us they were primary suspects of three armed robberies and the murder of the Hillcrest Hills mayor. We swore we didn’t know where they were and shortly after a child services agent came to take us. But not before the detective interrogated us and made us, made me, feel terrified and uncomfortable.” I swallow hard before my next words. “The detective was Agent Servite,” I say, and he turns to me immediately. I can see he didn’t expect me to say that.

“I swear, Scarlett, if he did anything,” he says, a raging anger clouding his covered eyes.

“Nothing more than scare the shit out of me and threaten that I’d pay for my mother’s crimes if they didn’t find her.”

He stares angrily, confused at my words.

“I hadn’t seen him or heard from him since that day until he showed up at the Grayson’s with the Headmaster, the day they kicked us out. But he looked at me the same way he had that first day. A mixture of lust and hate, anger. I can’t describe it, but he made me feel dirty, guilty like I had something to hide. The day we arrived at the academy, when he pulled me aside, he asked if I’dhad any contact with my mother. Apparently, she’s fallen off the face of the earth. He pulled me aside and whispered some dirty, crass things to me that proved there’s more to the reason we’re here. That I’m here. He knows my mother. He knows her more than I thought he did. He knows her intimately.”

He reaches out to me. “Scar, you should have told me.”

“I didn’t even tell Jade. Not until last weekend when,” I stop and turn away from him.

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