*Dedicated to @littlelolawrites for being a great Wattpad & Twitter bud and always being willing to give advice and support.

I had stared at that note for what seemed like forever. His bold block print; his simple request. My heart wanted to be there, but my stubbornness kept me firmly planted in my room. I had undeniable feelings for Damian Reever, the so-called Satan's Spawn of Anthabask, in Lizbeth's own words, but after the stunt he pulled in the dining hall, I needed to either take a step back or let him know I wasn't happy. I looked at the clock on my phone, which told me that it was currently 9:58PM. That answered every question about whether I intended to go see him or not.

I smashed the pillow up over my face and decided to stop my current pity party, table of one, complete with a wine and cheese plate and do something. Lizbeth had come by the room for a few minutes after my fake tutoring meeting with Paxton and we had talked out the events that happened in the dining hall.

I understood her position, when you lived your life being told that someone was out for you, you developed certain feelings that couldn't just be changed. Pictures that were painted of people stuck with you. I was wrestling with my own painted creations about people in my life, desperately trying to change those opinions. I didn't let on to Lizbeth the kind of pull that Damian had on me, but I did get her to agree not to cause any scenes if she encountered us studying.

Earlier, around 7:30PM, there had been a knock at the door and when I opened it, I met Liam and with that meeting a whole new painted picture of Lizbeth Wyndham was created. Liam had spiky blonde hair, which swept somewhat forward on his head, and a really beautiful pair of deep hazel eyes. He had the start of a stubbly goatee, was around five feet, ten inches tall, with a chiseled jawline and an undeniably hot muscular body. While he stood waiting for Lizbeth, I noticed he had a slight head and shoulder tic. 

Lizbeth had a picture of her and a guy on her dresser; she was piggyback on him and they were walking on these really large boulders at the ocean. Meeting Liam, I could now put a real-world face to the boy in the picture.

Liam lived in the center of town, so his relationship with Lizbeth had to be kept a secret from her dad; because he was considered common folk where Killian was concerned. His mom worked at the local market and his dad was a janitor at Anthabask Academy. He was a senior at the high school in Willowsburogh, which was the next town over. On Monday nights, when he didn't have basketball practice, he would drive up to Anthabask in his beat-up Chevy Silverado truck and take Lizbeth to the next town over for a movie and dinner. 

I could tell when Lizbeth looked at him that she was in love, but that love couldn't be told to just anyone. Lizbeth had told me about Liam before his arrival. She told me about how they met at a party and how his smile instantly attracted her to him. He had a transient tic disorder, which made her protectiveness of him where her family was concerned, even more apparent. Killian didn't like his daughter associating with the common, let alone someone with an imperfection. Perfection was favored in Killian's eyes and Liam wasn't perfect; except he was to Lizbeth. They had been together almost three years and had kept their relationship secret from most people around.

"Talia, I usually don't come home on Monday nights, so I'll see you tomorrow at lunch. If my dad calls, tell him I'm in the library."

"Have fun, Lizbeth. Liam, it was really nice to meet you."

"Yeah, you too Talia, I've heard a lot of really great things about you and thanks for watching out for my girl." He jerked his head slightly to the side while displaying a really large smile on his face, before clearing his throat several times in succession. He wrapped his arm around the back of Lizbeth and placed his palm on the small of her back, as they left the room.

I just sat, alone in my room without any homework or reading to catch up on. The boredom had set in and I was alone with my thoughts. I looked at the clock again and it informed me that hours hadn't gone by, only minutes. 

10:24PM.

I thought about going for a walk, but I didn't have the patience or energy to even put a pair of pants on, let alone trudge down the stairs and out into the cold. Just as I was drifting off to sleep, I heard a knock at the door.

When I opened it, I met up with a pair of really angry eyes and an if looks could kill frown. He pushed past me and just stood in my room staring.

"You can't be here, Damian. If Lizbeth comes back..." My words were instantly cut off by him raising his hand in my direction.

"It's Monday, she's off with her secret boyfriend. She's not coming back tonight."

"How do you know about her boyfriend?" He didn't answer the question, he just looked at me; his eyes roaming up and down. Of course, he knew, he knew everything there was to know about the Wyndhams, except that I was one. His eyes continued to roam across me. I realized why his face looked uncomfortable and I pulled down my sweatshirt over my short sleeping shorts.

"Could you just put some pants on, I can't be angry at you when you look like that!" He ran his hand through his choppy hair, trying not to stare.

"Damian, I think you should just go." I walked towards the door and placed my hand on the knob, ready to open it.

He stepped forward and placed his hand on mine. "You stood me up." 

The look in his eyes was pure hurt and for a second, I felt really guilty about my earlier decision. Before I could say anything, he pulled me closer to him and wrapped his arms around me, burying his face in my hair.

"You hate me, don't you?" he asked and I looked up at his face, which wasn't scowling. I felt all my convictions about taking a step back or putting him in his place, slowly fade. The simple fact that I didn't show up, had been enough to wound that otherwise rock-solid demeanor.

"I don't hate you, Damian. I'm just really confused." He pulled slightly away from me and positioned his face so that he could look into my eyes.

"Make me understand, Talia." My eyes opened wide, because the boy in front of me had totally taken my tactic of approach and turned it around, using it against me.

"You don't realize how difficult it is to be around you. One minute, you're like this wall of anger at the world around, but then when it's just us, you're different. I just don't know which side is the real you. Plus, the whole revelation about your family and the fact that I don't believe we could ever really be together as a couple in public, makes everything really complicated. Then there's other stuff..." my voice trailed off and I leaned into his chest. I could hear his heart beat, firm and strong, but when his grip tightened around me, it picked up ever so slightly.

"You mean other things, like my brother."

"You could put it that way, also who my roommate is. I know you hate Lizbeth, but she's my friend and being with me, even in secret, means trying to be kind to her. I won't be put in the middle of some horrible Hatfield–McCoy type feud. I have enough drama in my life already, I don't need your egos taking up what little breathing space I do have."

"Do you have feelings for my brother, Talia?" He lifted my chin and ran his hand over my cheek, ever so softly.

"I can't answer that." I leaned into his touch.

"Because you don't know or you don't want to hurt me."

"I guess, because it's both. I don't know what I feel. It was never my intention to get involved with anyone here, there are more factors than just you two guys. I do know that what I feel for Paxton, isn't comparable to how I feel about you."

"Then give me a chance, Talia. Let me show you that I'm worthy of whatever it is that you feel." He cupped my face with both of his hands and leaned in closer, our lips almost touching.

"I don't know if I can." 

I couldn't do a secret relationship. I couldn't hide my feelings from my sister; a sister who I was beginning to care about. I could sense how a secret relationship affected Lizbeth and I didn't know if I was strong enough to endure that kind of pain.

"You have to, Talia."

"And why is that, Damian? Please help me understand why exactly I have to give you a chance?" My annoyance at his cryptic behavior only added to the irritation that was present and the fact that all of this was just way to far above my pay grade.

"Because, Talia Grey, we are fated."

"See there you go with all this mythology, fate, and signs crap! I just don't understand it. I don't understand any of it! I'm just a girl, who loves to play guitar and has a bad attitude half the time. I'm just a girl who up until a month ago, was happy. I had a mom, a school that I loved, a band that meant the world to me and friends that didn't run around giving me rules about who I could talk to and cryptic stories about mythology and family rivalries. Up until a month ago, my biggest worry was whether or not Target had the kind of yogurt I liked in stock, or if I wanted veggies or pepperoni on my pizza that day, or whether I was risking it wearing white pants on my period!"

He just stared at me for a second before he burst out into uncontrollable laughter. I had seen him smile, but laugh? 

"What's so funny?!" I snapped. 

I was so angry at him that he was laughing at me. I had just poured my heart out to him and it currently sat on my sleeve. It sat there and he was dancing around it with little hat pins pricking it with each laugh that escaped his lips. Prick, prick, prick, prick. My heart was a voodoo doll and he held the pins in his hands.

I was so angry at him that I couldn't control it any longer. I inched away from him and hit him in the chest. "See! This is the problem. I bear my heart to you and you laugh!"

He composed himself and pulled me back closer and I found myself staring into his amazing eyes. He leaned down a bit and said, "I'm laughing because, up until a month ago, I was miserable. My whole life revolved around traditions, stories, and people's fear of my family. My only worries were whether or not I was going to score the winning point, or if Glenda our one housekeeper bought the right kind of Axe body wash, or whether the vending machine downstairs had the right kind of chips. Then it all changed. I laugh, because all it took was just a girl. Just a girl who loves to play guitar and loves to put me in my place. It took just a girl who worries about silly things like yogurt and veggies on pizza, and white pants with period stains, to change everything."

I was in shock. Utter, hopeless, shock. 

He leaned in, closing the distance once again. "It took you, Talia. So, say the word and I will tell you everything to help you understand, just take the chance. Let me try to be just the guy who changes everything for you."

He slid his amazingly soft lips across mine, the taste of his black cherry chapstick was all that there was. I wrapped my arms around his neck and ran my fingers through his silky dirty blonde hair.

And we just kissed.

 I didn't think about Paxton or the fact that my father would kill me if he caught us. I didn't think about my mom's death or the things I left behind when I moved here. In that moment, the only thing I thought about was how cruel fate was to cause me to begin my decent into a secret relationship with the one boy who could not only end my life, but crash my world down upon me.

....................

OK, remember when I said fate was cruel? 

Well, fate was a bitter bitch who had her heart set on destroying anything happy that came out of life. Fate propelled me into a secret relationship with a boy, whose dad may or may not have had a hand in the deaths of my step-mother and half-brother. Fate thrust me into the unknown, with a boy who kissed me like I was the only girl in the world worthy of being kissed. Fate stomped on me when she planted her cold boots down on my chest, holding me down while another potentially evil brother forced me into spending time with him. Fate reminded me each time they kissed me about the boy in Minnesota, who tugged at my heart strings each time he said my name. 

Fate could go screw herself.

Fate toppled down upon me a love square that I was desperate to turn into a straight line.

Fate killed my mother, while I ate s'mores down by the creek behind my house with Randy Pickerd and his sisters. That same fate, put a horrible social worker on my case, who had no desire to help me emancipate from an absentee father, so I could move to London. No, it dumped me in Maine, smack dab in my own version of a twisted two Romeos and a Juliet; except there wasn't any poison around when you needed it. Pair that with the fact that my own personal Lancelot sat back in Minnesota and fate could pucker her lips and kiss my butt.

I had been seeing Damian in secret for about a month now, paired with spending time with Paxton, and Halloween was inching closer. The leaves had fully turned colors and all the shops in town had carved pumpkins in their windows and outside their doors. Kids were scrambling to find costumes for trick-or-treating. Back at the academy, all the students could talk about was Andrew McMillen's infamous Halloween Bash, which he was co-hosting with none other than Colin.

Everyone talked, except me. I hadn't seen Colin much since all the problems at the last party. I avoided any parties like the plague. I spent several Monday nights locked away in my room, Damian usually laying on my bed while I played guitar. I wasn't ready to ask him the questions that needed asked, but I knew by Christmas we would have to have the talk. 

The talk about who I really was.

I would have taken a talk about sex with a ninety-year-old woman who thought a hole in the sheets was modest, before I wanted to have the talk with Damian, that consisted of telling him the truth about who I really was. Sooner or later, he would find out and the longer I waited, the worse the outcome.

Spending time with Damian was easy. He was two people and I had gotten used to it. He was a cold animal during the daytime, ready to go in for the kill and rip your face off if need be. At night, he was just a regular guy who held you close and snuck kisses when you least expected it. Lots of stolen glances were shared in between, sometimes coupled with the grazing of his hand next to my leg under the table in AP Anatomy.

When we couldn't communicate as if we liked each other, we acted like study friends; sitting at the table in the dining hall, books in front of us, notes being scrawled on pieces of paper. Sometimes, he'd surprise me and leave me downloaded songs on my phone, but our communication had no trail. 

I was starting to fall for Damian Reever, in secret, and I hated fate for that.

Paxton did his best to compete with his brother for my affection. However, there was something I couldn't quite put my finger on when it came to him. He was everything Damian wasn't,  but there was a secrecy to him that worried me. He never wanted to offer up explanations or give me insights into his life. He sometimes turned the conversations towards my interactions with Damian and it almost seemed like he was attempting to purposefully plant the seeds of doubt in my mind.

All of our two hours a week dates were spent somewhere in town, where no one ventured. Sometimes, he just sat and looked at me, till he drove me home. Other times, he just wanted to kiss. He rarely let me get an inside peak at who the real Paxton was, which concerned me. 

He reminded me often that Damian would eventually break my heart. Some moments, I wondered if that had been Paxton's plan all along. I needed to find out what kind of player I was in this chess game and I wasn't getting the answers I needed from Paxton. I also wasn't ready to expose my queen to Damian. 

There was only one other person who could give me some of the answers I needed and if I didn't play my cards right, it could be my body he dumped in the woods when he was done.

The phone rang several times, before the voice on the other end picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hi Miles, it's Talia. Can I talk to him?"

"Sure. I'll have a car pick you up at school around 6PM." The phone clicked off... 

It was time to head into the lion's den. Hopefully, Killian had his fill of meat for the evening.

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A/N: Hey guys!

So Talia is going to talk to her father..... This may not go well...

Thumbs down for secret relationships :(    What the hell is Paxton doing?? NO PAXTON!!! 

SO WE MEET LIZBETH'S "SECRET" BOYFRIEND LIAM!!!! I absolutely love Liam and would love to know who you would cast as him

**Ok so, a transient tic disorder (for those of you confused), is similar to Tourette's, but the muscle tics and vocal don't occur at the same time. I have a dear friend with Tourette's and because of him, I wanted to add a character to show how there are normal people with disabilities in the world. We don't see many of them in novels though (unless it's eating disorders, mental illness, etc.). We will see more of Liam in the future and I can tell you that he is the absolute best!**

Comment and vote if you love the chapter.

Amina <3