"He used to abuse you?" Grayson asked in disgust as we continued down the sidewalk
"Don't be so shocked, it went on for a while" I said while I stuffed my hands in my pockets
"Some of the nights still haunt me, I was so mentally and physically drained from him. If he didn't get his way, I would get hurt" Grayson scrunched his eyebrows at me
"Yet, in public he would act like the perfect boyfriend. I fucking hate him" Grayson clenched his jaw. He was pissed off at Luke, And so was I
"Why didn't you leave him sooner?" He stopped walking and turned to me
"I was scared, and I still am" I said and looked down. Graysons hand came in contact with my chin as he lifted it.
"Why?" He asked through clenched teeth.
I just shook my head and tried walking away, only to be caught by his arm
"Loni, why?" He asked more sternly this time
"I'm not the perfect girl you think I am Grayson. Trust me" I furrowed my eyebrows together and pushed his hand off of me, continuing to walk.
"Enlighten me" he said as he caught up
"No it's not important" I kept my voice quiet as we entered the cafe
"Clearly it is, and I can't help you if you don't tell me what happened" he crossed his arms as I ordered two small coffees
"Loni" Grayson let out a low sigh as he waited for me to answer his question
"Did it ever occur to you that I might not want to share my darkest secrets?" I said to him as I reached for a ten dollar bill in my pocket.
"fine, you're right. It's not my place to ask" Grayson said as he gave his card to the barista.
"I could have paid-"
"That would be rude of me not to pay for our first date" I choked on my coffee as he said those words
"W-What? Aren't you and melody together? This can't be a date Grayson what would-" I said
"Calm down, I was just kidding" he laughed as he cut me off
"Besides, I don't see me and melody really going anywhere" he pulled a chair out for me and sat across the small table.
"Oh" I really thought they might have worked out. Guess me and Annie were wrong
"Any plans after high school?" Grayson asked me
"No, not really. I've always loved working with marine life but I feel like that carrier has gone down the drain" I said
"Don't say that, you shouldn't give up on your dreams" Grayson tried reassuring me
"My family doesn't seem to have a good reputation with the ocean, my luck, I would end up dead too"
Grayson stared at me, eyes full of sorrow. He didn't know what to say
"How about you?" I asked
"Sort of, I promised myself I would go to college and get a degree in something. I just don't exactly know what yet" He said
"Well, what interests you?" He took a deep breath and shrugged his shoulders
"I used to be so good at engineering, but that was years ago"
"Are you taking classes for it this year?" I sighed and pushed the power button on my phone in my pocket
"I've applied but they haven't gotten back to me yet" he said
"So, does your family own the aquarium?" Grayson asked, meanwhile my phone kept buzzing in my pocket
"Um not necessarily, it's a long story" I looked down to my pocket to see who in the hell was texting me
"I'm listening" Grayson raised a eye brow and stared at me
"Well...the past owner died from a heart attack, his name was Nathan. He put the aquarium in my dads name if anything ever happened to him because he was fairly old. But my dad never accepted the business and gave it over to someone else. I honestly don't know a lot about the new owner, but me and Keeth always volunteer there to try and help out. It's what my mom would have wanted, we probably would have owned it if she was still alive" I said and took a sip of my coffee
"And believe it or not, me and Luke used to have a healthy relationship. Until drinking and smoking came into the picture. All he did was use me like the stupid son of a bitch that he is"
"I'm sorry about your family, but I'm glad that dickhead is out of your life" Grayson said
"Its okay...it gonna be okay. It always is"
Once I got home I nearly smashed my phone against the wall. Luke wouldn't stop bothering me for the past fucking hour. Call after call, text after text.
"What the fuck do you want Luke?!" I screamed at him as I answered the phone
"I seen you had a little date with dolan huh?"
He fired back
"It's none of your concerns" I slammed my bedroom door shut and sat on my bed
"How many lies did you feed him?" Luke laughed at me
"I didn't tell him any lies, asshole" I said back
"Perhaps not, but you sugar coated everything"
"No-"
"Don't argue with me Loni, you know I'm right" luke said as he cut me off.
"He knows that you're a no good son of a bitch that should be rotting in hell" I said, only to earn a laugh out of him
"It's gonna be hard to start over with all those secrets, better start confessing before I expose you to everyone sweetheart" Luke laughed again
"Luke don't you fucking dare talk to him or else I'll-"
"You'll what? Threaten me again?" Luke said, I squeezed my fist together, resisting the urge to scream at him. This man always knew how to get under my skin
"It's alright Loni, scream at me. Tell me how much you hate me, how much you want me fucking dead. How badly you would love to slit my throat with a-" I hung up the phone and smashed it on the ground. Tears ran down my cheeks as I gripped my hair and let out a loud scream. Grayson didn't need to know the truth, melody didn't need to know, Annie didn't need to know, NONE of them needed to know.
