Deep Secrets, Deviants

Chapter 4

Desmond

Her laughing brown eyes stay in my head long after I leave her. It's hard to believe that she's that same bashful sister of Chase's that always found an excuse to sit by me. She can't be the same Chelsea that I knew. She has an entire life that I know basically nothing about. Her brown hair definitely threw me off, but that goes along with the rest of her. I haven't seen her for seven years after all.

"Earth to Dezzy," I hear, right before Ashlee snaps her fingers before my face. I shake the thoughts of Chelsea from my mind and turn to Ashlee. Her black hair is done up in a sloppy bun with dark strains hanging around her shoulders, which are covered with a light green sweater. I catch a whiff of her pungent metallic and heavy rose perfume which, after knowing her for years, is the comforting smell of Ashlee, due to spending most of her time in a dark room. Around her neck hangs her camera and in one hand she holds a steaming coffee that she just got from the shop behind her and in her other is her phone which is opened on a news website.

"Hey," I say, and she chuckles.

"Alright, who is she?" She asks, a smile playing at her pink lips and her brows drawn together in suspicion, but her gray eyes glint with excitement at an opportunity to possibly make fun of me. I don't let it be that easy for her.

"Wouldn't you like to know," I say, flashing her a smile. She huffs and glances at her phone.

"Look at this," she says, moving closer to me. I glance over her shoulder as she plays a video on her screen, which reveals a clear image of what used to be the White House. Now it's just a smoldering building with hundreds of people running about it.

"Wow, you guys at Autumn News must be going crazy over this," I comment. She scoffs.

"Yeah, no shit." She turns to me, close enough that her few, but very cute freckles can be seen. "Did you hear about his daughter?"

"The president's daughter?" I confirm. She nods her head and puts her phone in her pocket. We both start walking towards her vehicle.

"Jack went basically insane over her death. He almost made me fly to Pennsylvania to get pictures of the funeral." I look at her, a brow raised in extreme question.

"And you didn't jump on that?" I ask, wondering where Ashlee went. She looks at me, her face reading clear annoyance.

"Do you even realize how upset I am that I didn't get that assignment? Dinner could've been on me for the next five nights!" I can't help but chuckle. Since I've known Ashlee, her character and expressions have prevented the possibility of ever taking her seriously, no matter how serious she may be.

"Well, what the heck?!" I tease. She rolls her eyes as she flips her hair from her face.

"Don't even get me started. But it doesn't matter, because I've landed the G.G. assignment and I will nail it," she says and I stop in my tracks.

"Wait. You plan on agitating all these gangsters around here that don't like their pictures being taken?" I say, just to help her realize how stupid that is.

"Dezzy, these aren't just your average gangster. These people are up to something. The Greater Good organization is exactly that: an organization. They aren't causing all this trouble in the States for shits and giggles. They don't like how the country is being run and they will try their hardest to overthrow the American government," she says in all seriousness. I press my lips together, trying my hardest to hold in my laugh. She's like a little angry cartoon character, but I don't dare say that. Instead, I turn my laugh into a scoff.

"Yeah, okay," I say unconvinced, just to tease her. It has the reaction that I wanted: she punches me in the arm.

"You just wait, Dezzy. You just wait," she says before turning and walking the rest of the way to her car.