A Date with the Devil's Son

6. Old Ghosts

Some of you may have noticed that I uploaded a prologue. That is to be read before the entire story, sorry for the confusion. I moved it up to where it belongs in the chapter organization! I realized, as I was writing this chapter, that including that excerpt from the last book would be convenient for you all and would help with a little bit of understanding.

After all, that was the first time Andrea and Bethany had met...

POV: Andrea Lavina

Bethany's stormy intense eyes flickered over to me right when she walked in, and her whole body froze. Her relaxed figure immediately turned rigid and her eyes widened.

"R..." she seemed to whisper. She never broke eye contact with me.

Dick pulled her elbow, blocking our views of each other. He leaned into her neck and whispered something very softly to her before she patted his arm and moved around him to sit down across from me.

Under the table, my fists clenched tightly and I dug my nails into my palms. I was shaking and my leg was bouncing underneath the table. I didn't know where to look.

Bethany Ford was Dick Grayson's new mystery girlfriend?! The one that Meggy had been telling me about for months?!

No, no, no, no! I hadn't expected to see her so soon! I didn't want to see her so soon. I don't think I had ever wanted to see her or encounter her like this. In fact, I never wanted to talk to Bethany Ford.

Not unless Bethany Ford, the one person I knew had a hand in Rose's death, was coming to me, on her knees, to apologize for Rose's murder.

Bethany carefully sat across from me, her hands folded in her lap and her back very straight and rigid. She was looking straight at me, unblinking. Behind her calm and composed exterior, her stormy eyes had a mix of emotions and a certain intensity. Was that sorrow in her eyes? I thought I saw a flicker of regret and remorse. I could feel her gaze burning straight through the exterior mask that I had worked so hard for the past two years to build and perfect. She saw right through it all, right to the very core of my being, the part of me that revolved all around Rose. And maybe, she saw all the churning anger beneath it all.

I tried to keep my composure as firm as Bethany, mirroring her folded hands and stoic posture. I forced myself to look her in the eyes, not down at the ground like I preferred. My nails dug further into my palms. I was so sure that when I went home tonight, there would be crescent shaped bruises lining my palms.

"Have you two... met or something?" Damian looked back and forth between us. He had sat up straighter and was leaning forward with slight interest. He seemed slightly intrigued by our behavior and the fact that it seemed like we were having a staring contest. Julia was looking back and forth between us also, probably wondering why there was a certain electrical charge that passed between us. That's when I noticed how quiet the dining room had gotten when Bethany had sat down.

My throat felt like sandpaper, and I was suddenly extremely thirsty. It was hard enough forcing myself to look straight into the deep eyes of the one girl I had tried my hardest to avoid, but I really didn't think I could be the first one to say anything to her. Luckily, it was Bethany who broke the silence first.

"We've met before. Andrea, wasn't it?" Her voice was surprisingly even, but completely monotonous, as though she was trying very very hard to keep her face straight and her voice from shaking. She never stopped looking at me. But instead of my eyes, she began to look at every part of me. Her eyes flicked to the top of my head, my hairline, to the length of my long dark hair, and then to the features of my face, to my narrow shoulders, and then at the spot of the table in front of me, as though she could see my clenched fists and my nervous bouncing knee through the solid table. Beneath her gaze, I felt like I was being examined under a microscope as Bethany drank me in, revealing every hidden part that I had.