Witness: See Series (Volume 1)(32)
Aden’s eyes grew wide. “You’re kidding, right? He’s gonna drive me like I’m some kind of kid? Did you really burn it down, man?”
My body tensed, and Draven responded as he pulled me closer. “Not on purpose,” he said firmly. “Don’t give Dad a hard time.”
Aden stood up. “I’m going home – I wanna play.”
I thought about telling him could play here, but the look fierce look in his eyes said he wanted to play drums, not the guitar.
Grayson broke his stare with Monroe. “I’m gonna go, too...let you get settled here. It feels nice…you’ll like it here,” he said to Monroe. She nodded as Grayson turned to walked to the staircase, where he mouthed the words ‘thank you’ to me.
Aden locked eyes with Draven as he followed Grayson. Draven’s grip on me tightened a little more, and I knew Aden had just shown him every moment he was with me. The anger that seemed to seethe through Draven’s skin told me that he knew every detail Aden knew. I wondered if it was Silas or Britain that was fueling it.
Madison crawled to her bed, picked up her charcoal, and began to sketch. Monroe lowered her head and walked to her bed, too.
“Feel like playing?” Draven ask in a quiet tone. I nodded and reached for his hand to guide him to my room.
When we stepped into my new room, an impish grin spread across Draven’s face. “Why didn’t we think of this?”
“I thought the same thing,” I mumbled as my eyes looked over him carefully. I knew I was seeing the way I was supposed to - but he was blocking me. “What are you hiding? What did you do?” I asked as a sense of dread began to rise in me.
Draven’s jaw tightened, then he tried to smile. “It’s not fun when someone hides behind a shield and you can’t see them, is it?”
Within his tone, I heard the pain of the time I’d blocked him out – the time I’d forgotten who he was.
“That’s not fair. I didn’t know I was doing that – I didn’t even know I could see.”
He causally walked to the guitar stand and let his fingers dance across each stalk of the guitars resting there. “I’m talking about before, when you still could see - when you hid the existence of Britain from me.”
“So what is this - retaliation? Some kind of twisted payback? I was trying to protect you,” I argued.
His eyes shot a hard glance at mine. “And what do you think I’m trying to do now?”
I rushed to his side and reached my hands for his waist. “I was a fool. When I hid my worry and fear from you, it drove us apart. Why are you taking that risk? Why are you doing this to us?” I asked as I fought tears and my pounding heart.
He slowly reached to cradle his hand against my face as he gazed into my eyes. “I will never let anything or anyone come between us…I promise you that.”
His words were meant to comfort me, but the sting of anger behind them made them seem as if they were more of a threat than a promise – to whom, I couldn’t comprehend.
“What did you do? What is he gonna do to us because of it?” My tone was pleading but near silent.
“Look at me,” he whispered. I focused on him, and within that second he allowed me to see the answer to my question. I watched him read the text from Aden then struggle with his thoughts as anger seemed to rip through his soul. His eyes turned to black, and within that moment he was standing in Britain’s home.
Britain was standing in front of his desk, trying to open a crystal bottle that had what looked like whisky or bourbon in it. Candles were lit on each corner of the desk. The moment Draven appeared in the room, Britain seemed to sense it – every muscle in his back tensed. He slowly sat the crystal bottle down before he said, “I’m not your problem…you and I have to work together if we plan on living much longer.” He then slowly turned around to face the fierce anger in Draven’s stone expression. When Britain saw that Draven wasn’t the slightest bit curious as to why he had said those words, he smirked. “Looks like someone doesn’t know how to share…there’s enough Charlie for the both of us – trust me,” Britain said with a sting in his tone.
Draven charged forward and pushed Britain back with nothing less than violent force. Britain fell back against the desk, causing the candles and crystal bottle to crash onto the floor. Within an instant, fire spread across the floor. Draven gripped Britain’s shirt and pulled him from the path of the flame just as it raged toward him. The shock of the fire caused Draven to lose his focus, and in that moment he was back at his father’s side, listening to the lawyers go over contracts. None of them had the slightest clue that he’d been gone – well, almost none of them. The first person Draven’s eyes met was Grayson.
Before I could see what Grayson could have said or shown Draven, the door Draven had opened was closed and I couldn’t see any more of his memories. I blinked once and took in a deep breath. “It was an accident,” I whispered.
He smiled slightly, then leaned in and let his lips gently rest against mine. “Show me more,” I whispered against his moving lips as I reached my arms for his shoulders. His lips moved across the base of my jaw, then against my ear. “Baby steps,” he whispered.
I stopped myself from slipping into the addicting sensation he was easing through my soul. “No…I’m not gonna be the weak link.”