This is an unseen chapter. It's the summer before senior year when Drayton caught Emily cheating on him with his uncle 😉

D R A Y S • P O V

"Hazel!" Cass snaps at the energetic six year old who won't stop throwing her fists around and socking people in the side with her harmless jabs. "Turn off fight mode! Now. Fight mode needs to go off!"

"Oh let her do her thing," uncle Noah flicks his wrist dismissively. "She's worked hard at her right hook."

The sun is shining down on our Fourth of July barbecue. It's tradition for the family to gather in our back yard and celebrate with red and blue themed outfits, delicious food and good music. Hazel can often coerce people into the pool because she's too young to swim alone and little Coen, who hates the water, watches on with mild fascination.

This year I'd invited Emily, for some reason, unknown to myself. We've been dating for a month and a bit but to be quite honest, she's dull and boring. She never wants to do anything fun apart from shop and 'tan' her pale skin.

Even now, she sits beside me at the large outdoor table and stares with discontent at Hazel, who's engrossed in a fighting match between herself and a large pool floaty. She's been doing martial arts and boxing since she was four. Who knows what intrigued her to start up those particular sports, but she loves them. She needs a little bit of reminding every now and then that she needs to chill, but I think it's cute.

From Emily's expression, I'd have to guess that she finds it anything but.

"Alright, food is served!" Mom sets the large platter of salads and dressings out at eleven on the dot. Dad soon follows behind with a big platter of different barbecue meats that were being kept warm in the oven.

"Are there any cashews to go with that dull looking lettuce?" Emily asks with her nose turned up.

"Emily?!" I nudge her with my elbow but she merely shrugs, not at all bothered by the hint of hurt on Mom's face.

"I could go for some cashews." Noah pipes in, running a hand through his light brown waves. He gives Emily a reassuring smile and stands, heading towards the kitchen. "I'll get them."

"Ya know," Cass says while she fumbles with Coen on her lap, attempting to fill up Hazels plate and feed the toddler. "The lettuce is meant to be mixed with the other salad ingredients and then a dressing. It's kept seperate like that so people can pick which vegetables they want. Not everyone likes tomatoes or cashews."

There's a definite hostility in Cass' voice and I'm sure that if she weren't wearing the enormous sunglasses, I'd be able to see the evil look that she's no doubt shooting Emily right now. Mom gives her an appreciative smile and sits down next to Dad who's reading the paper with little interest as to what's going on around him. He's not that fond of his brother or my girlfriend, so I'm going to guess he's checked out of the situation entirely.

"Found some!" Noah shakes the small bag of cashews and comes strolling across the back deck with a smile that'd suggest he just found a thousand dollars. He sets the bag down beside Emily and takes his seat between her and Hazel.

"So Emily," Noah says, loading his plate up with the vegetables and cold salad. He's more of a health nut than Mom. "Drayton tells me that you're the cheer captain at school."

"I did not tell you that."

He leans around and stares at me as though he's contemplating whether I'm right or not. Of course I am. Why would I tell him something like that. I couldn't care less myself to be quite honest.

"Uh," he shrugs, turning his attention back to Emily. "Must have heard it from someone else. Do you have plans for after school."

"Yeah, I do." She smiles, her back becomes a little straighter, her chest a little more blatant as she speaks a few octaves higher than before. "I'm going into the family business. Mom and Dad run a hugely successful chain of gyms across Colorado. I'm set up."

And thus begins Emily hour. I sit back in my seat, downing the cold beer in a matter of seconds because if there's any hope of getting through the next hour of her blabbering on about how her Dad's worked with this, that and the next big celebrity, I'll need a little help in the form of intoxication.

As I'd suspected, she doesn't shut the hell up for the duration of the meal. Hazel and Coen talk less than she does and that's saying something. Eventually Mom starts to clear up the plates and leftovers. Dad offers to help which is a clear indication of his desire to excuse himself. Emily lets me know that she's going to use the bathroom and skips inside, her short denim skirt half way up her ass.

She's so embarrassing.

"Drayton?"

My head rolls to the side and I spot my aunt leaning around the back of Noah's seat, watching me as she takes a sip of her chilled bubbly. I indicate that I'm listening by raising a brow.

"Why are you dating her?"

"Umm-"

It takes me a moment to come up with an answer, my flip flops slapping the deck as I bounce my knee up and down while I think of an appropriate answer.

"Forget it," she sighs, letting Coen down so that he can scamper off down the deck to play in his electric car. "If it takes you that long to answer, then it's clear that you don't care all that much about her."

"I woul-"

"And why would you? She's a bitch."

"Cass?" Noah scoffs, glancing up from his cell to give his wife a bewildered stare. "Bit childish don't you think?"

"Oh I'm sorry, I forgot that you're her biggest fan." Cass bites back, no doubt rolling her eyes, of course it's hard to tell with those thick shades on.

"Oh don't be fucking ridiculous." He pushes his seat back, snatching his beer from the table top and patting his pockets down in search of his cigs while Cass watches him with a scowl. "I'm going to have a smoke and breather."

"Yeah, well you can't have both at the same time ya twit!" She calls out as he disappears inside.

"You okay?" I ask.

"Oh yeah," she flicks her wrist and throws back the rest of her champagne. "He's just. . well, a bit of a dick head sometimes."

It doesn't seem as though she wants to talk about it too much, so the subject is dropped and instead the two of us start playing with the kids, pushing them around in their cars, swinging them on the hammock under the big oak tree.

Hazel comes skipping towards me with a wide smile when I've just sat down after spending the last fifteen minutes pushing the sea saw up and down because no one matches her weight.

"Can we go in the pool please Dray Dray?"

"How about I throw you in, and you learn how to swim."

"That won't work!" She laughs, giving me a pretty decent jab in the chest with her small fist. "I'll drown."

"Naaaa, go on. You'll be sweet."

"Dray Dray!" She puts her little balled up fists on her hips and stares at me with threatening eyes. She's actually kind of scary. I know that she's won a few of her fight competitions. I'd hate to be the kid that fucks with her at school.

Pretty but dangerous.

"Alright, let me get my swim shorts on cutie."

When I go inside, Mom and Dad are leaning beside the counter top, which is now clean and cleared of dishes. Dad has his back to the bench with Mom in his embrace, the two of them being affectionate as they often are.

"Hey hon." Mom smiles, leaning her head on Dad's chest, watching me as I pass. "Did Uncle Noah leave?"

"Fuck knows." I shrug.

It wouldn't surprise me though.

"I heard him heading towards the front door a while ago. Haven't seen him since." She leans back and looks up at Dad, no doubt hoping that he'll have the answer.

"Don't ask me." He shrugs.

When I'm half way up the stair case, I realise that I haven't seen Emily in a while. It's probably pretty bad that I didn't notice her absence for a solid twenty minutes. I figure that she must be in my room, perhaps having had enough of being social considering she'd exhausted all topics of herself during the meal.

But when I open the door, the room is empty. While I stroll towards the ensuite to check that she's not in there, I retrieve my cell and realise that I've missed a message.

Feeling a little clammy. My tummy is sore and I'm on the toilet. Don't look for me. It's gross.

"Thanks for fucking sharing." I mumble, slipping the phone back into my pocket.

It occurs to me that I should check on her anyway, even if she asked me not too. That's the good boyfriend thing to do in this situation. So once I've found the swim shorts, discarded of the t-shirt i'd been wearing and slipped on my cap, I head across to the bathroom by Grayson's bedroom, figuring that she'd be upstairs, far from the ears of the rest of household.

"Em?" I knock on the door, waiting for a few moments but receiving no response. The door handle turns the entire way around, which lets me know that it's unlocked and when I find it empty, I start to get a gut feeling that something else is going on here. We do have another two bathrooms downstairs, but call it a gut instinct, something is the fuck up.

Just for good measure I stick my head in Grayson's bedroom. He's visiting his folks in Canada so it comes up empty as it should but that doesn't settle how off I feel about this entire situation.

The steps might as well not exist for how fast I get down the stair case, the cold tiles barely register when I hit the foyer and take off down the corridor towards the den.

Empty.

The bathrooms are all empty. The sound of doors shutting is starting to give me a headache until I come to the guest bedroom where the little ones sleep when their Mom has too many wines to drive.

The doors locked, which is an instant red flag because we don't have a bathroom in there so she can't be hiding for that reason. I don't even contemplate what I'm about to do before I step back and kick the door underneath the handle, sending it off it's hinges and revealing Emily and Noah just pulling their pants on. Both of them stare in shock, buttons being done up, hair being combed through.

"Are you fucking kidding me!" I shout, trembling at the sight before me because it's so disgusting that for a moment Im paralysed, not sure how to respond.

Of course, it only takes a second before I'm marching towards my uncle, fists clenched, rage unfathomable. He lifts his hands in defence, stammering for me to give him a chance. But his pathetic whimpering is silenced when my knuckles meet his nose, punching him so hard that he falls back, his hands flying out but not saving him from ending up ass over in the corner of the room.

Blood pours down his face while he clutches his nose, groaning in pain. When I turn my attention to Emily, she almost looks afraid that she's about to get the same treatment. However, as much as she disgusts me, I'd never hit a girl.

"What's going on?!"

I turn around and find Mom and Dad, assessing the scene with frantic expressions. They don't need a verbal confirmation though, the realisation becomes obvious within a matter of seconds and their features soon change from confusion to disgust.

"Mom, go find Aunt Cass." I tell her. "She'll need you."

Noah's gaze flickers between me and the space Mom had just been standing, concern for his fate is no doubt the only thing he's worried about right now.

"You are fûcking lucky that I don't beat you into a coma you piece of shit!" I inch forward, the need to continue smacking him in the face is strong. "Your wife is out there. Your kids! You are a fucking cunt."

"I've got it son." Dads hand comes to rest on my shoulder, so I take the support, letting his presence detach me so that I can leave without getting charged with murder.

How he could do that to Aunt Cass is beyond me, but I am fûcking disgusted.

"You!" I point at the whore who's stayed in the corner, watching the entire scene, no doubt hoping that she'd get out of here unscathed. "Get the fuck out of my house."

I grip her elbow, not caring that she winces from the strong hold and drag her down the corridor and towards the front door, almost throwing her off the front steps.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

"I'm sorry!" She throws her arms up, not even pretending to be sincere. "He's hot, alright."

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" I resist getting closer to her because that'll put her in reach of my fist, but I desperately wanna shake the shit out of her right now. "He has a family! You just fucked a married man! He's got kids and he's almost the same age as my Dad!"

"I'd sleep with your dad too." She shrugs.

I'm done. She's so fucked up that I don't have the mental energy to continue this conversation. But before I slam the door on her home wrecking face, I do have one more question that I'm sure I won't want the answer too.

"Why the fuck would you want to be my girlfriend if you wanna sleep around?!" I watch her shift with a bored smile. "We had sex once and you insisted that we give it a shot, which to be fair, I did, despite the fact that you make me feel fucking bored beyond belief. You just wasted a month and a half of my life and ruined a family. Congratulations, you're literally the spawn of Satan. Fucking she devil."

"You're so hot when you're mad."

"Fuck off."

"I wanted to date you, because you're a Lahey." She shrugs, answering the question with disinterest. "The most wealthy and well known kid at school. Why wouldn't I date you. In case you haven't noticed, I like status."

"Well, status you'll get." I seethe. "Once the entire school finds out what a thot you are, you'll have made quite a name for yourself."

"Like wise when I tell them all about Abby."

I straighten up, feeling a cold feeling reverberate throughout my entire body. Hearing my sisters name come off her lips causes a bile to rise and I stare at this cold lifeless exterior, waiting for her to elaborate on how the fuck she knows about Abby.

"Your Mom told me." She grins. "We were having a heart to heart one evening after you'd fallen asleep. She was a few wines deep and it came pouring out of her like no ones business. Of course, she asked me not to let it slip that I knew. But an eye for an eye Dray. You keep my secret and I'll keep yours."

The self control not to choke slam this bîtch back to her birth, is slipping. So before I do something that I'll regret, I turn around, head inside and slam the door so hard that the picture frames on the wall shake, the glass close to shattering.

The sound of Cass' cries can be heard from the kitchen, the noise is heartbreaking and when I pass the living room and spot the kids on the couch, cuddling together as though it's clear that somethings very wrong, I almost break down right then and there. I'm not upset about how this has effected me, to be honest, I couldn't care less that our relationship is over. But what she did to my family, because I trusted her enough to let her in, that makes me feel a self hate all of its own.

Dad comes down the stair case as I'm about to head up, a fresh shirt in his hand.

"That's not for him, is it?!"

"His shirt is covered in blood Drayton"- he glances at my hand on the banister- "and so are your knuckles."

I hadn't even noticed before, but indeed, they're split open and the blood is beginning to dry after having trickled down the length of my forearm.

"Who the fuck cares if he's covered in blood. Throw him out on the street butt naked for all I care. He doesn't deserve shit."

"I'm simply giving him a shirt and sending him home Drayton. He fucked up, but he's my brother."

"Who gives a fuck." I mumble, pushing past the saint and heading upstairs. I can't see Cass right now. I feel guilty for my part in this and to see her shed tears over her low life husband would make it impossible not to finish what I started and put Noah in a body bag.

"I'm going out." I call to Dad before I reach the top of the stair case. I know that Maxon is hosting a Fourth of July pool party at his place. There'll be booze, no slutty uncles and girls that aren't Emily fûcking Raeken. I need a good distraction for the evening and while I don't set out to find one night stands. Tonight, that's what I'm doing.

• • •

I don't know how interested y'all would be in seeing a scene that doesn't include Dallas. But I went for it anyway. Lemme know what you think ?  

P.s , you guys have no idea how much I love this guy. He is so fucking beautiful. Can he just... can I just... ugh. I want him.