Scarlett The Devil's Daughter (9 page)

Before I can make my escape Luna grabs me.
"Scarlett wait up. I keep on forgetting I've got those clothes that
I bought you in my room. Come on and I'll show you." I can hear my
brothers laughing as we head off towards her room. She chatters on
incessantly but I tune out as I follow her. I haven't been in their
room for many years and dread that he may be there. We reach it and
as she pushes the door open I notice with considerable relief that
it is empty. I look around me with interest. It is immaculately
tidy and an interiors designers dream. It is mainly white but has a
huge bed that dominates the room that is covered in white satin
sheets with luxurious silver fur throws scattered around. The
furniture is modern and tasteful and there is some interesting art
on the walls. Huge mirrors are everywhere and deep pile rugs litter
the floor. The lighting is modern and I notice that it individually
lights up sections of the room with varying shades of lights. The
drapes look like silk and are heavy and full, trailing on the
floor. The whole room reeks of indulgence and it mesmerises me.
Luna pulls me over to the other side of the room and opens a door
that is almost invisible. I gasp as it leads to another huge room
which is obviously her walk in closet. Never before have I seen a
room such as this. It is every girls dream. All around are rails
and rails of beautiful clothes. Shelves house every manner of
apparel and I can see that one whole wall alone is taken up just
with her shoes. There are places for scarves and accessories and
there is another wall just for handbags. There is another door that
is open which I can see houses her make up and beauty products.
Everything is arranged immaculately and I just want to lose myself
in here forever.

She smiles as she sees my face and gestures
around her. "Impressive isn't it? Your father has an identical one
next door. The bathroom separates them. We are so lucky to have him
in our lives. He is so generous and loving; I couldn't love him any
more than I do." I bite back a retort. Loving is certainly one word
that I would never use to describe him. However I realise that she
sees a different side of him to us and I am just glad that he is
obviously treating her right. Despite her intellectual capacity
even I can see that she is good for him. She brings the light into
an otherwise extremely dark house. I watch as she grabs hold of
several designer bags that are stacked in the corner of her closet
room. She thrusts some at me and grabs the rest herself and
gestures for me to follow her into their bedroom. Throwing them in
a heap on the bed she grins at me and I try to quell the feeling of
unease that is rising in me as I contemplate their contents. One by
one she pulls various garments from the bags. As she holds each one
up tears threaten to spill down my cheeks because in every single
bag is the most perfect item of clothing for me than I could ever
wish to choose. She has understood my style and needs totally and I
could not have chosen better myself. There appears to be a whole
new wardrobe here comprising of jeans, leggings, tops, jackets,
nightwear, T shirts, in fact you name it she's bought it. As she
looks at me triumphantly her face suddenly falls and she slumps
down on to the bed. "Don't you like them Scarlett? I tried to put
myself in your shoes when I was choosing them. They can all go back
if you'd rather, I won't be offended." The tears are now coming
thick and fast and I hug her tightly to me. Nobody has ever taken
the time to understand me before let alone go to all this trouble
just to make me happy. Choking on my tears I look at her
gratefully. "Thank you Luna, they are all perfect, in fact better
than perfect. I just can't thank you enough. Nobody has ever done
anything like this for me before and I am overwhelmed." Tears run
down Luna's face and she looks at me softly. "You're a loner
Scarlett, I recognise that in you. It may be hard for you to
understand now but I was once a lot like you. We never had anything
when I was growing up. My mom had many boyfriends, some of who used
to come after me when she was asleep." I look at her horrified and
she sighs. "It's ok, I learned how to fight them off, and they were
mainly drunk anyway so it was quite easy to do. As soon as I could
I left home with nothing but what I could fit into a bag. I bummed
around for a while and luckily met someone who offered me work as a
model. It was through that work I met your father and the rest as
they say is history. He treats me so well and loves me when nobody
else ever did. I just want to give him something back so I try to
play the mom to you all when you are here as well as giving him my
full attention when he is. I'm sorry if it annoys you all but I can
tell that you all need a little bit of love in your lives like I
did. All of this is the only way I know how." I sit next to her on
the bed and hold her hand tightly. "Thank you Luna, I really mean
that. Not just for the clothes but for everything. If you weren't
here the house would not be as alive as it is. I'm glad that my
father treats you well. You deserve it." We both look at each other
and laugh at the sight of our tear streaked faces. Luna pulls me
up. "Come on Scarlett, I'll help you carry it all to your
room."

The next day I get up early and sneak out
before anyone is awake. I need to keep my distance from my father
before the fight. All he needs to do is grab hold of me and he
would know in an instant what I am planning. I know that the bar
will be closed but luckily know where there is a spare key so I let
myself in. It feels strange to be here alone, with everything shut
up and turned off. I need this time to put my plan in action.
Making myself a coffee I head off to the office and turn on the
computer and settle down for a fact finding marathon. I can't do
this at home in case my father finds out what I have been looking
at. The first job is to research all of my father's companies. This
takes a considerable amount of time as it appears that he has quite
an empire. I memorise every one that will be beneficial to my
purpose and have soon got the information that I need. The next
part of the plan is to Insure this building. If I'm right they are
going to need some cover and fast. I am careful to choose one that
has absolutely no connection to my father and fill out the form
online. When it comes to the payment I carefully enter the
information from a book that Dylan keeps in his desk. He won't know
anything about it until it is too late. I don't feel bad about
going behind their backs. This is something I have to keep to
myself for all our sakes. Suddenly I hear a noise in the bar and
quickly delete my browsing history. With any luck the Insurance
certificate will come through after the fight, but just in case I
will make sure that I check the post before I give it to him. The
door opens and Drake comes in looking surprised to see me. He
rushes over looking concerned. "Scarlett are you ok? You're not
here this early normally has something happened?" I jump up and
smile gently at him. "No, I just couldn't sleep and thought I'd
lend a hand here. I don't seem to be able to keep away from here
for some reason." He smiles sexily and pulls me towards him. "Well
if you're not tired maybe I can help wear you out." He kisses me
deeply and I can feel the love flowing through me from him. He is
all that I want, the light in my otherwise extremely dark heart. I
would do anything for him and I will." After a while he pulls back
and looks at me with a grin. "Seeing as how we're early how about
me taking my girl for a coffee in town?" Grinning at him I pull him
along after me. "Come on, we'll take the bike." As we set off I
enjoy feeling him close behind me on the bike. This is what the
summer should have been about. I enjoy working with the two of them
but we also need some down time.

We park up and Drake takes me by the hand
and leads me into the coffee shop that I was in the other day. He
orders us two coffees and muffins and we sit here feeding each
other bits of muffin and kissing the crumbs from each of our lips.
Suddenly we hear laughing and a group of guys jump into the seats
opposite and next to us. "Hey man, that's disgusting." With
interest I see that the guy who spoke is a good looking guy about
our age. He has sandy coloured hair that is long surfer style and
like his friends he is casually dressed in shorts and a T Shirt
with Babewatch emblazoned across it. Drake grins and holding my
hand says, "Scarlett meet the gang. I won't even tell you their
names coz they're not staying." The guy laughs and holds out his
hand. "The name's Cruz, I don't think we've met before, in fact I
know we haven't otherwise I would remember." I hold out my hand and
say, "Scarlett. It's good to meet a friend of Drakes." Drake
laughs. "I've made sure I've kept you away from these guys. You're
not safe around them and I want you all to myself." Cruz and the
others laugh and then another guy says, "Bitch alert, incoming." We
all look and see a group of girls pushing their way in through the
doors. They see us all sitting here and come over. I can tell that
they are all friends and am interested to see a couple of the girls
move over and sit on what must be their boyfriend's laps. The
others pull up chairs and I see them looking at me curiously. One
girl in particular looks at me with so much animosity that I wonder
if I've offended her unknowingly. She is beautiful with dark
straight hair and flashing grey eyes. She is slim and despite the
frown on her face I can tell that she is stunning. I can feel Drake
tense up and he looks ruefully at me before saying, "Hi Taylor, you
ok?" Now I know why she hates me so much. She wrinkles up her nose
and looks at me disdainfully. "I don't think we've met your friend
Drake." Drake puts his arm around me which only makes her narrow
her eyes even more. "This is Scarlett my girlfriend. Scarlett these
are all my friends from school." I smile and say hi and a few of
the girls smile at me shyly. Taylor looks amazed. "Your girlfriend.
Goodness me Drake I didn't think you had time for anything other
than working this Summer. When on earth did you find the time to
date anyone?" Drake smiles. "Scarlett works with me so it's easy
really. We spend all day and most of the night together so it's
perfect." Taylor looks at me curiously. "So where do you come from
then?" I smile sweetly at her despite her cold behaviour. "I'm here
for the summer visiting my father. He arranged the job for me where
I met Drake." Taylor suddenly smiles looking happier. "Oh, so
you're going home soon then. So tell me where is that exactly?" I
can sense her relief and say brightly, "Rivercreek Falls." Taylor
snorts loudly. "I didn't have you down as a country hick. This must
be quite different for you here. I mean do they even have shops in
Rivercreek Falls?" I can feel my anger rising but push it down
inside. I am not going to make a scene; she is doing a good enough
job of making herself look stupid. "Oh yes they do as a matter of
fact. Actually it's not much different to here. You know, usual
things, coffee shops, bars, hot guys oh and bitchy high school
cliques." There is a sudden silence as everyone looks at me with a
stunned expression. Then the guys roar with laughter and some of
the girls too. Cruz grins. "Welcome Scarlett, I can see what Drake
sees in you. He always did love a girl with attitude." Drake grins
and pulls me to my feet. "Well unlike you lot we have jobs to go
to." As we make our way to the door Cruz shouts, "You playing
tonight dude?" Drake grins. "Yes, why you coming over?" Cruz
laughs. "You try stopping us bro; I want to get to know your new
lady a bit better. Who knows she might wake up to the fact that
you're a total loser and then I'll be in there like a shot." We
leave laughing but not before I see Taylor glaring at me. Oh well
one more enemy to add to the pile.

When we get to the bar I am surprised to see
an older lady behind the bar. Drake smiles broadly and races over
to her and gives her a huge hug. "Hi mom, I didn't expect to see
you here." His mom laughs and I can tell that she is as easy going
as her sons. Her eyes twinkling she smiles warmly at us both. "Hi
Drake, aren't you going to introduce me to your new girlfriend?"
She looks at me and smiles. Drake grabs hold of my hand and says,
"Mom this is Scarlett, Scarlett meet my mom." I hold out my hand
and shake hers warmly. To my surprise she pulls me in for a hug and
laughs. "Punching above your weight a bit here aren't you son. How
did you get so lucky?" We all laugh as Dylan comes into the room.
"What did I miss?" He says cheerily. I watch as he goes over to her
and puts his arm around her shoulders. They all look so happy and
obviously care for each other deeply. How I wish my parents were
like theirs. My father doesn't believe in any shows of affection,
in fact Luna is the only one that I have seen him hold and look at
lovingly. My mother is no better than him. She is so self obsessed
and has never been the sort of Apple Pie mom that you see in the
films. Come to think of it Luna has been more like a mother to me
in the few weeks that I have been here than my mom has been in my
lifetime. Drake's mom smiles at me. "Call me Katharine dear, or
Kitty if you prefer. I hope that you don't all mind but your Aunt
Jackie is watching your father today so that I can come and help
out during Drake's appearance later. I thought that I'd make a day
of it and spend some time with my boys, oh and my new friend
Scarlett. Is that ok?" We all nod and smile at her. I am actually
looking forward to spending some time with Kitty; maybe she can
tell me more about them as a family.

We all set to work and I help Kitty with the
cleaning. By the time the first customers arrive I have told her
more about my life than I have ever told anyone before. She is easy
to talk to and has managed to get me to really open up about
myself.