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CHAPTER ONE

" DID THAT SLUT JUST SAY THAT? "
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AT SHERIFF Sworn's house, Roux stood over an iron saucepan of scrambles eggs slowly solidifying when she felt a pair of strong hands squeeze the nape of her exposed neck.

"This is why you're my favorite niece," said Sheriff Sworn, planting a swift kiss to her temple.

Roux continued to prod at the skillet, turning the eggs over in a pensive fashion. The corner of her lips curled slightly.

"Uncle Tom," she said, glancing at him from over her shoulder, "I'm your only niece."

Sheriff Sworn chuckled in response, and settled himself into one of the dinning chairs with a pained grunt. His tired eyes met hers and he sighed, "Thank God for that."

Roux shot him a knowing smile, and took the eggs off from the stove and began serving the plates she had previously set that morning. Roux was leaning over the table, scraping the last of the eggs onto the third and final plate when the twins came prancing to their seats with half-hearted good mornings.

There was no doubt in Roux's mind that the smell of food in the morning was the only thing capable of getting her cousins up and out of bed for school. Which other than the gratitude Roux felt towards her uncle for taking her in as his own, was the main reason she helped around the house so religiously.

The twins, Alexa and Alyssa, were only ever distinguishable by the way they parted their honey-blond hair. In theory, Roux knew her reasoning was pretty sad as she had grown up with the girls almost her entire young life, but they were just so equally bitchy it was just a fruitless effort to even try.

Roux set the pan into the sink and unclasped the clip that held her hair into the practiced bun on top her head. Brown waves fell down to the small of her back, just above the dimples that sometimes shown whenever the hem of her shirt rose up too high. Her slender hands moved to grasp the coffee pot on the adjacent counter when she addressed the twins with a devious tone.

"So nice of you two to join us this morning," said Roux, pouring the black liquid into her travel mug. She felt the twin's eyes burn into the back of her head.

Roux snapped the lid of her mug and turned to face her cousins, "Tweedledee and Tweedledum." She addressed them, emphasizing the way her tongue flicked against her teeth with each syllable.

Alyssa only frowned deeply in response, knowing very well all her older cousin ever wanted was to get a rise out of her and her sister, but Alexa on the other hand, reacted exactly how Roux intended.

Alexa turned to her sister and huffed, "did that slut just say that?"

Which in turn, caused Sheriff Sworn to promptly spit out his orange juice. He shot them an annoyed glare.

"Girls, what did I say about calling people sluts." Sheriff Sworn coughed, "Especially your cousin."

Roux watched them roll their eyes in unison, and she wondered if eyes have ever gotten stuck that way before.

"She started it," said Alexa.

"Yeah," chimed Alyssa.

Their father sighed and slumped back into his chair in defeat, pinching the bridge of his nose and muttering prayers for patience under his breath. Roux bit her lip to keep from laughing.

Finally her uncle lifted his weary head at his teenage daughters and said, "It doesn't matter who started it because I'm ending it, understood?"

The twins shot daggers at Roux's smug expression from across the table before nodding curtly to their father in compliance; who tried in vain to keep his surprise at bay. Sheriff Sworn then looked at his niece in question.

Alexa and Alyssa instantly perked at the chance of their father scolding Roux as well, but all Sheriff Sworn said was, "You're not joining us for breakfast?" And the girl's shoulders slumped forward once again.

Roux shook her head and shrugged on the backpack she had placed on top the counter earlier that morning. Her hand absentmindedly grazed the pocket of her jeans which held her letter in reassurance of its presence, and moved to take a swig of her coffee.

"I have some things to do before school today if you don't mind, Uncle."

Sheriff Sworn nodded in understanding, "As long as you're not late for school I don't mind," he said. Ignoring the incredulous looks his daughters were giving him.

His niece's full lips parted in a dazzling smile, no doubt a trait passed on by her absent mother. Although Tom never had the chance to meet his sister in law, he never quite saw that same smile on his brother's face before, either. He watched Roux pick up an apple from the fruit bowl in the center of the table with sad eyes. To abandon ones child was unthinkable to him. Sinful even.

Roux seemed to read the expression on her uncle's face, and decided to wrap her arms around him in a quick parting embrace. She told him she'd see him for dinner, and swiftly ruffled up the twin's hair before they could swap her hands away and hurried out the door.

When they finally heard the front door slam shut, Alyssa turned to her sister, smoothing a hand over her hair and said, "Did you see the sweater she was wearing?"

Alexa mirrored her sister's movements and then nodded, "Yeah, yellow is so not her color."

Sheriff Sworn blinked at his daughters, but said nothing. Instead, with a heavy sigh, he unfolded his newspaper and drowned out the sound of his daughter's gossiping. Mentally wondering why, despite his efforts, Roux never quite rubbed off on them.

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It was a ten minute walk from the Sworn house into town, so Roux didn't mind the commute much. She preferred it, actually. Roux usually drowned out the busy morning with music from her iPhone and enjoyed breathing in the lush green of her surroundings.

Her hand once again grazed the pocket of her jeans, where the letter to Roux's mother stayed hidden from the rest of the world. She knew it was a vain attempt at reaching the mother she never knew, but Roux just couldn't resist the chance of one day finding a letter in response to the dozens she had sent before.

Hell, she didn't even know if the address was correct or not. For all Roux knew, she could be sending her heartfelt letters to some stranger she didn't even know. But then again, did she even really know the woman who abandoned her in the first place? The answer to that question was an easy no.

As expected, Roux neared the mailbox ten after eight, and plopped the letter into the blue tin container. Not, of course, before planting a tender kiss of red onto the letter for good luck. Who knows, maybe this time Roux's questions would be answered once and for all.

By now, the small minded people of Hemlock Grove knew all about her letters to France, but of course Roux didn't pay them any mind. She already knew the names they referred to her by, and quite frankly, she found them to be lacking some serious creativity.

With one last glance at the mailbox, Roux looked twice before crossing the street to her favorite coffee joint, the Rise & Grind.

Now that, she thought, was creative.

When Roux finally made it across the narrow road, her blue eyes danced over the parked cars at the front of the shop. Her gaze then settled on the cherry red Jag that sat front row, which Roux knew belonged to Roman Godfrey.

She tried her best to bite back her triumphant grin at the sight of it.

Despite Roman's efforts of stealth, Roux knew after the third Monday of seeing the tall boy sitting across the room to her that he was indeed stalking her.

Luckily for her, it wasn't in that weird middle-aged man stalking most girls would encounter in this town, but in a refrained, boyish approach at trying to get her attention.

Some days she would even purposely change up her perfume just to see which one he reacted the most towards. And after a few tries, Roux discovered that Roman liked Coco Mademoiselle by Chanel the best.

Which was exactly the one she decided to wear this particular morning.

The familiar chime of the door sounded the moment Roux stepped through the front entrance. Her eyes skimmed Roman's pained expression from the gust of perfume that was sent spiraling his way. The sight of him almost made Roux feel sorry for the town bad boy; almost.

Instead, Roux sat her petite frame onto one of the leather lounge chairs by the café window and proceed to pull out the latest book from her school bag: Bram Stroker's Dracula.

She casually crossed her legs and flipped through the worn pages until an old polaroid picture was seen wedged between the pages as a makeshift bookmark,- something Roux had a bad habit of doing- whether it be a receipt or a gum wrapper, anything would do to mark a page.

Roux plucked the polaroid from the book and took a brief moment to examine its weathered state. The picture was taken in the early 90's and consisted of a young man who had his arm draped around a beautiful woman. The man was tall, with dark hair and a smile that reached his vibrant blue eyes. Roux sighed at the sight of her father so happy and wondered what went wrong.

The woman in the picture however, was the spitting image of Roux. They shared the same full lips and sun kissed skin. Hell, they even shared the same shade of brown hair; the color of sweet chocolate. If Roux didn't treasure the only photo she had of her parents, she would've crumbled it up and cursed at the wind by now.

"What's that picture of?"

A deep voice sounded over her so suddenly that it almost caused Roux to jump out of her seat. She reluctantly raised her head to see none other than Roman himself, standing tall and assured as always. Only his smirk didn't quite reach those emerald eyes.

Roux pursed her lips, mentally debating whether or not to tell her stalker precious information about herself no one else knew, but despite her better judgment, she did anyway.

"It's an old photo of my parents." She shrugged, holding it out for Roman to see. He leaned over to get a better look and nodded.

"She looks like you." He said, tapping a long finger against the polaroid.

Roux's gaze caught on the multitude of expensive looking rings that adorned Roman's large hands, and for a brief moment she forgot who she was talking to.

"Pretty." She half whispered, noticing the way the early light glistened from his hands.

Roman, it seemed, forgot who he was talking to, too.

"They were my father's." He explained, drawing his hand back to his side.

Roux hummed in response. How strange it was, to have such unspeakable things in common with the boy who only last month was heard stabbing a girl in the ass with a syringe. Now that she thought about it, this whole town was strange. Just like her.

And Roman.

She cleared her throat. Suddenly aware of the fact that two girls from school were giggling in the far back corner of the café, and her cheeks burned.

"Listen, I know about your little game Roman." Roux muttered, getting to her feet. "So don't bother showing up next Monday."

Roux hastily shoved her novel into the deep abyss that was her schoolbag and slung it over her shoulder, her jaw level with the floor. She watched Roman straighten his designer overcoat.

"Why not?" He asked, more out of frustration than the fact that the town's orphaned girl just told him what to do.

"Because," Roux shrugged, ignoring the way his hair swept over his forehead whenever he looked down at her. "I won't be here for your amusement next time, that's why."

Roman opened his mouth to interject, the corners of his beautiful lips turning into a reluctant smile, but Roux was already out the door; the door bells chiming after her.

Roux was lucky she left when she had, because otherwise Roman would've saw the corners of her lips matching his own as she plugged her headphones in her ears and started towards school.

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[ sorry it took so long but here you go! it's short i know but i just had to make my babies meet already aww ]

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