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Chapter Two
Rebel
I head back to the dickless wonder’s apartment block early after spending most of the afternoon doing more research on him and his family. It seems that I was both right and wrong in my assumptions: The rich prick does come from money, but it’s Mummy’s money and not Daddy’s. As I expected, Daddy really is a poor-as-piss teacher, and mummy is a has-been socialite who married beneath her. Judging by her never ending string of affairs, she has regretted it ever since. Using some of Jax’s contacts, I was able to quickly discover that the son’s place at the university is secured by his father working here, though his grandparents pay for the nicest suite on campus for the sake of keeping up appearances. The money’s gone, and so the burden of the family name rests on his shoulders, to make a suitable match. At this point, things are so bad that only marriage or a miracle will save the family name. Hence why he’s sniffing around Raven. I don’t know where he got his intel. Somehow he’s managed to find out that the girl we couldn’t even find, is masquerading once again under a false name and is actually the heir to the Deighton fortune.
How can that be? Cordelia Deighton doesn’t have any grandchildren. But one way or another, this family truly believes that Raven is the answer to all of their problems. My discoveries tell me that I need to be careful. This guy - and his family - is desperate, and not about to go down without a fight. Intimidating the hell out of him in order to get him to leave Raven alone clearly isn’t going to be an option, so I’m going to need to think carefully and plan ahead here. One thing’s for sure though, I will protect Raven from this family of vultures no matter what it costs me.
As expected - I guess just following a hunch after he made such a stellar first impression on me - he gets Raven to come to him before their date. He does at least come down in the elevator and greet her in the foyer. She looks beautiful in a simple black dress with thin straps on the shoulders. Her long hair flows freely down her back like a sheet of silk. Despite her heels, she’s really short next to her date, and I can’t help but notice the way she cringes when he throws his arm around her neck as they exit the building. She doesn’t look comfortable at all, but she doesn’t say anything. If I had done that to her, she would have given me hell. Where has the feisty girl that I once knew gone?
I follow at a safe distance from them, but the prick is loud enough to be heard from a block away. He’s so self-absorbed I needn’t have worried about being seen, but I need to keep an eye on Raven. She’s sharp. He asks if she minds walking to the restaurant because he’s just had his car - a Bentley - valeted and he doesn’t want to get it dirty. I smell bullshit. I think he’s scared to drive the car off private property in case it gets repossessed. Mummy dearest didn’t continue making the payments on his extravagant birthday present, and so the car is currently an expensive ornament that’s not being used. Raven agrees to walk, despite the fact that it’s clearly freezing and she doesn’t have a jacket. Her arms snake around her torso in a desperate bid to keep warm, but the twat is totally oblivious, and doesn’t offer her his jacket. It makes me grind my teeth in anger.
He takes her to the flashiest restaurant in town and I wonder how he’ll pay for it. I quickly debate whether I should wait outside or follow them in. Fuck it, I don’t want to miss anything. I give it a moment and then follow them into the restaurant, luckily getting seated nearby, but out of sight. My fists clench when he orders for the both of them; a steak for himself and a salad for Raven. He obviously doesn’t know my girl at all. She could almost eat me under the table and steak is her all-time favourite. Looking at her closely actually, she seems a bit thin. She could do with a good meal, not rabbit food. He orders a bottle of the most expensive wine but when Raven quietly asks for a soda, he scowls and orders her a water. Why isn’t she punching him? Or at the very least walking out? I huff in frustration and annoyance.
The dinner conversation is bland and one-sided. Aside from Raven’s occasional nods and non-verbal cues, Dickwad is basically giving a monologue. I’ve never known anyone this self-centred before. She isn’t engaging with him at all, but that doesn’t seem to bother him. I don’t think he’s even noticed how quiet she is. In fact, she seems distracted, checking her phone and fidgeting uncomfortably. Though I did notice that she devoured her salad and stared mournfully at his rib-eye. The only time the prick stops talking about himself is when he asks - and by that I mean grills - her about her family. If I thought she was nervous and quiet before, that’s nothing to how she clams up at his constant probing questions. His questioning has reached interrogation levels of prying and I can see that he’s really starting to piss her off. Good! I hope she’ll finally give him hell and storm out.
But she doesn’t. She simply clams up, whispers to the table that she doesn’t want to talk about it, and asks him a question that is guaranteed to get the self-absorbed dick back on track with his favourite subject: himself. And so the meal continues to drag on.
Thankfully, he decides they’ll forego pudding, and so the date is actually over quite quickly. It just feels like it’s lasted an eternity. I’m somewhat surprised when he doesn’t walk her home, and instead leads her back towards his apartment block once they’re on campus. Has this guy not got any manners at all? I loiter in the shadows as I wait for them to say goodbye.
“I had a nice time tonight, thank you Charlie.” Raven says in a timid voice that’s all wrong.
“Do you want to come up?” he asks. I can feel the heavy weight of suggestion in his question.
“It’s pretty late,” she hesitates. Maybe it’s wishful thinking on my part, but to me she sounds like there’s nothing she’d like less than to follow him upstairs to his shag pad.
“It’s early. It’s only...eleven,” he states after checking his watch briefly.
“I have school in the morning, and work. I should really head back.”
“Come on, it’s still early. You stay out later than this when you work in the club,” he wheedles. “Why don’t you come up for coffee?”
“You know I don’t drink coffee,” she points out.
“I know.” He winks. I gag. “So why don’t you just come up?”
“Okay,” she sighs, sounding resigned. “But just for one quick drink. I really do have to get back.”
“Sure, sure, whatever you say, babe.” By the light of the building I can see the slimy grin he throws her. It makes my skin crawl. What I wouldn’t give to step out of the shadows and save her right now. Somehow though, I don’t think that my appearance here would go down too well, so I force myself to remain hidden, and I pray that I don’t have to wait too long to see that she gets home safely.
***
To pass the time, I rattle off a group chat to the others, once again insisting that they need to come up here. I get that I’ve made mistakes in the past, but there’s no denying that this is Raven, for real, this time. I’m restless and antsy until Jax confirms that they’re all coming and booked onto flights in the morning. Good. I relax a little. I’ll show them that they’re wrong; it is worth the trip up.
I sit on my phone, mindlessly scrolling through social media, unable to concentrate on anything when I hear the ping of the elevator doors. I look up, not really expecting it to be Raven, but I’m pleasantly surprised that it is. I quickly check my watch and notice that it’s been less than an hour since she went up to the penthouse with him. It takes me a moment to realise that she’s raging. I scan her and take in her dishevelled hair, the heels and clutch in her hand, and the torn straps on her dress, which is still hiked up. Her cheeks are flushed with anger.
Rage, white-hot and bubbling, fills me and I jump to my feet from where I’m sitting behind some foliage in the foyer. I’m about to call out to her, go to her, do something when a moment later the dickless wonder bursts out of a side door, panting, having obviously run down the stairs after her. His fly is still undone. Bile fills my mouth. I swear to god if he fucking touched her...
“Charlotte, wait!” he cries with an air of desperation.
“Fuck you, Charlie!” she quietly seethes back at him. “No means NO, you fucking dick!”
I want to hoot and clap her for finally standing up to this prick. It’s nice to see a little of the fire I used to love so much, returning. I turn to face him and flush with pride when I see that he’s sporting a split lip and a bloody nose. Good! I hope it fucking hurts and stops him getting laid for the rest of the week. I spin back to Raven, with a view to seeing her safely home, but she’s vanished into the cold, wet night. Fuck!
To make matters worse, Charlie - the absolute bellend - shakes his head, turns on his heel and heads back to his apartment via the elevator, leaving Raven to find her own way home in the dark. As I slip out into the vile black night with no hope of finding Raven, I think to myself, ‘this guy really needs to be taught some manners’. I hope I can be the guy to teach him. With my fists.
Charlotte’s Diary
1 week post-blaze
