Damon shot her a look that clearly said 'Wait here' before jogging into the clubhouse yelling to some guy named Tyler.
She relaxed against the bike, staring after him. He was hot. She smirked to herself. How many bikers were there around with a face like that? She breathed out slowly and considered what it was that made him so... different. He was sexy and powerful and charming. He had those icy blue eyes and his messy raven hair. How could anyone resist that?
She smiled to herself and tilted her head back, soaking up the morning sun and letting her eyes droop closed. She hadn't slept in near twenty-four hours and the trip to San Clemente and back the night before had done her in, let alone this one from Pasadena to freaking Phoenix.
She crashed her head in her hands and fought to stay awake. There is only so much caffeine you can inhale at service stations before you crash and sleep like the dead for the next twelve to fourteen hours. She looked up at the sky again, blinking her sore eyes and trying to focus.
After about twenty seconds of attempting to clear her head she gave up, standing and stretching her sore muscles. She rolled her shoulders back and ran her fingers through her hair, glancing down at herself. This was Phoenix she reminded herself before unzipping her jacket and peeling of her trousers, leaving her only in short denim shorts and a small white t-shirt. She reached her arms above her head and stretched them, feeling the ache in her muscles. It was good. It meant she wouldn't hurt so bad when she woke up.
She tapped her foot impatiently as she waited in the sun. How was she supposed to explain to Giuseppe? She wished her Dad was here. He hadn't been around much but he was there when he could be, he'd kept her safe and cared for, slowly bringing out the biker side of her than her mother tried to hide in herself. She swallowed painfully as Miranda crossed her mind. She couldn't think about her right now, maybe in a day, a week or a year. But not now. Now it hurt just that little bit too much.
She allowed her eyes to drift closed for a second, dreaming in the warm sun.
Footsteps drawing near her startled her, her eyes napping open and sitting bolt upright. She focused on the man crossing the yard towards her. Damon Salvatore. She thought slyly to herself. He was one of the most striking men she'd ever met. Not just his looks, but his overall personality too.
"Hey." he said casually, smirking just a little as his eyes raked up and down her newly uncovered form.
"Didn't you get enough earlier?" she asked, amused by his complete lack of subtlety.
"I'm deciding what I like you better in. I mean this" he gestured to her outfit and winking "is awesome. But the leather" he trailed of meaningfully. "the leather holds a special place for moi."
She rolled her eyes and smiled, cocking her head to one side. "So what's the verdict?" she asked seriously.
"Leather trumps legs every time." he said, smirking.
She rose an eyebrow, deciding not to comment.
"And Dad says you come in." Damon said in a strange tone. Obviously, he wasn't sure why some stranger was being let into the clubhouse with open arms but hey, he didn't run things around here. At least not yet.
He nodded slightly to her, gesturing for her to follow him.
She laughed. "And my bike?"
Damon took a step back. "Put it in that building." he pointed to a small out building a couple hundred metres away.
She nodded and stored her bike, taking her time admiring the others stored there.
"Really." came his scathing voice from behind her. "you're honestly taking this long?"
"Yes." she snapped, making her way through the door and into the clubhouse.
"Left here, then follow the hall round 'till you meet the double wooden doors." he said in a bored tone. She didn't get it. She'd thought he wasn't an ass.
She resisted rolling her eyes an followed her instructions, knocking gently on the door before being greeted by a man, roughly the same age as Grayson, with slightly more lines and a little more laughter in his eyes.
"Morning Dad." Damon said pleasantly before crashing onto the leather sofa near the fire and rolling his head backward against the back of the seat.
"Morning, Damon." he said in a distracted tone. "Could you-" he broke up, clearly unsure of how to ask him to leave.
Elena shook her head slightly. "It's fine. He can stay."
Giuseppe rose an eyebrow and smiled slightly at her. "I-" he cleared his throats awkwardly. "sit, please. I won't have you standing in this room."
She shook her head, feeling her day getting to her. "I'd rather stand, if I sit down I'll probably pass out. I've been awake nearly twenty-four hours-"
"And?" Damon cut her off sharply, earning a sharp look from his father and a scathing glare from her.
"I was riding around L.A for over three hours last night. That alone would take it out of you. Added to the night I had and then to the fact that I drove from Pasadena straight here would explain it."
"You drove here from Pasadena through the night?" Giuseppe said aghast "after driving around L.A for over three hours? You have to sleep. Explain when you wake up. Grayson will skin me alive if I don't make you."
Damon smirked, "Overreaction." he muttered under his breath.
That made her snap. Everything she'd been holding up inside her finally let lose. She turned to glare at Damon, her eyes burning with rage.
"You" she shot daggers at him, her mouth set in a hard line. "have no idea what I've gone through in the last twelve hours alone. So shut the fuck up."
Damon glared at her, his eyes hard. "I don't know who the hell you think you are. You drove what, nine, maybe ten hours?"
Elena stood up, her body tense. Fighting everything in her from screaming at him that her Mom was dead and she had no idea where her Dad might be.
"I don't want to ask you this, but I have to. What happened? Where is Grayson? Why are you here?" Giuseppe cut of Damon quickly, before he could extremely piss her off.
Had Grayson called him? Contacted him in anyway? Apparently not.
She sat down gently and rubbed her face in one hand. "I'm assuming you know Grayson came to see us last night?" Giuseppe nodded gently, also sitting, his entire attention focused on her. "He came up, we talked for a bit and he brought me a bike." a true smile split her face, bringing the light back into her eyes. "So I went out riding, I do that a lot. Just ride around L.A, sometimes go up to Vegas. My mo-" she coughed awkwardly, not sure how much she was willing to let Damon know.
"Miranda called me asking where I was so I headed home." she looked away, the familiar emotional lock down coming into place. "I could see the flames before I got there. The whole house was alight and burning down. I doubt any thing is left standing except a charred frame at the most. The only reason I'm still standing here is because Grayson brought that bike. Then afterwards, he held me back from the flames. I was ready to go and search for her myself."
Giuseppe looked down, an unreadable expression on her face. "Miranda?" he asked softly.
She looked away, unable to face the pain in his eyes. "Gone." she whispered almost incoherently but that one word was one everyone could hear with painful accuracy.
Giuseppe rested his head in his hands and rubbed his hands over his face, trying to come to terms with everything.
Damon was in a similar state, his eyes pained. "I-uh-I'm sorry." he murmured, pointedly ignoring Giuseppe's shocked face.
Elena stood up and glared at him. "What are you sorry for? Sorry for being a fucking asshole? Sorry for being nice then being a fucking asshole?"
Damon looked up. "I'm sorry." he repeated. "For what you went through, I mean. I didn't realise you and Miranda were close-"
Elena shook her head and laughed without humour. "Close?" she scoffed, a few tears spilling over from the corners of her eyes.
"You said it was an overreaction because I drove over nine hours after losing a friend?" she looked back at him, her eyes burning.
"I came back to my house, the house I grew up in. I came back to the only home I've ever known being razed to the ground. It wasn't an accident. I could smell the gasoline."
Giuseppe looked on with sad eyes. He may be a ruthless killer with a notorious reputation but with this girl? With Grayson's daughter? He was more a family man than anyone would be.
"My home was being burnt to the ground while my motherwas inside it-" Damn grew pale, his eyes wide.
"Miranda is your mother?" he said wide eyed.
Elena looked at him, unable to glare anymore. "Was."
Damon opened his mouth to say something, anything. She shook her head. "Grovel when I'm actually awake." she said before leaning her head back to rest against the pillows and falling into a restless sleep.
Damon stared at her in shock feeling like shit. Lower than shit, in fact. Why had he been such an ass to her? He'd let her get under his skin and then he'd had to go all fucking ass Damon on her and now she'd always think he was the guy who's just Giuseppe's oldest son. And complete insensitive ass. The girl he had seen just there was completely different from the one he'd met in the courtyard. Each was complex, enthralling and enchanting. Even with everything he had said to make her detest him he was still just as amazed by her.
Giuseppe glared at him, anger spilling out of his eyes. He pointed furiously to the bedroom joined to the study, gesturing for him to go there.
Damon rolled his eyes and shook his head slightly and turning towards where the girl lay. He scooped her into his arms and carried her gently into the adjoining bedroom and laying her on the bed, slowly easing off her shoes and covering her gently in the comforter.
He closed the door slightly, leaving it ajar and returned to sit on the couch as before.
"Perspective father. You don't leave the girl sleeping in the study on a couch than will kill her back while we argue in a bedroom." he said, trying to draw attention away from himself, while looking around. "Did you stay here tonight? Why didn't you go home?"
"Damon." his father said in shock. Damon rose an eyebrow.
"Yes?"
Giuseppe rolled his eyes, looking strikingly like his son. "You apologised to her. Twice, if I remember correctly. Then you carried her to a bed so she wouldn't hurt her back." he said wondrously. "you barely know the girl, Damon, yet she's really made an impact."
Damon shook his head and poured himself some bourbon. "My caring about her isn't what's important here." he reminded his father.
Giuseppe darkened and joined Damon on the sofa, resting his ankle on the opposite knee. "It's a lot easier to understand." he muttered under his breath. "We know nothing. We have to wait for Grayson to turn up."
Damon set his head gently on the backrest, staring at the patterns on the ceiling. "We know it was gasoline. We know someone either wanted Miranda's daughter alive or it was a lucky coincidence that she was out of the house. We know-"
Giuseppe shook his head softly, "Don't" he said weakly "start getting into this tonight. I can't join you. You've heard of Miranda, you know she left for her own safety. I assumed-" his father's voice cracked slightly. "She was one of my oldest friends. I've known her since I was six years old."
Damon rested his head in his hands and closed his eyes.
"What's her name?" he asked suddenly after a while, realising he did not know it.
Giuseppe shook his head. "I don't know. Gray never told me, I only knew it was her because he brought pictures back a couple times. They're gone now of course. No one could know about Miranda, let alone their daughter."
"So she's Grayson's?" he wondered out loud.
Giuseppe scoffed."Miranda loved Grayson more than anything in the world, except their daughter. She would never cheat on him, or even think about moving on. She knew it would be dangerous to stay so they both agreed she should leave and raise her herself. It was dangerous for them both because she is Grayson's daughter. You know how many enemies he has." he smiled slightly. "She never stopped loving him, I'm sure of it." Giuseppe smiled fondly at a forgotten memory.
"How did you know though? Surely the picture-"
"The eyes. Didn't you see them? They're Grayson's mirror image. You can know how Gray's feeling through his eyes, I wonder if she's the same." he murmured the last part to herself.
"She is." he said to himself. Giuseppe smiled knowingly before standing up and snatching Damon's bourbon away from him.
"It's too early for that." he winked at his son.
"I learnt from the best." he smirked confidently.
"Stay here will you?" Giuseppe ordered as he massaged his temples. "Someone found them, I need to know she's safe while she's resting. Sit in here or sit in the room with her, whatever."
Damon rose an eyebrow. Giuseppe was a good dad to an extent. He loved his kids and treated them fairly and was the perfect dad for a rebel teenager but he's never been one for family or excessive caring.
"She's my goddaughter. She's Gray's daughter. If something happened to her Grayson wouldn't need to shoot me because I would do it myself." he laughed to himself, a hint of seriousness behind the humour.
"You know Grayson wont talk to you about what happened until he talks to her." he said quietly as he settled into an armchair in the bedroom.
"Grayson is like my brother. And my brother essentially just lost the only girl he's ever truly loved. He'll talk to me about what he needs too, when he needs too. As you would for Stefan."
Damon cocked his head to the side, "Stefan wouldn't ask me for help. You know he wouldn't, you know he hates this stuff."
Giuseppe sighed. "He doesn't hate the bikes or the club. He hates everything that goes along with it. He hates what I stand for, maybe you can change that."
He scoffed out loud at the thought. "Come on, Dad" he laughed "all you want if for me to be exactly like you and lead the Phoenix chapter like you lead it. Not for many years I hope though." he added at the end.
Giuseppe smiled, "You're my son. As long as you keep us running, afloat and level with Vegas I'm good with everything else."
They were silent for a while. "And keep up the reputation." he added subconsciously.
Damon chuckled along with his father, who stood up downing the bourbon. "If she wakes up, don't be an ass." he said firmly before walking out the study with a friendly hand on his shoulder.
Damon leant his head back for what felt like the millionth time that morning and looked at the girl's sleeping face. He couldn't imagine what it would be like. Coming back from doing the one thing you love most to find your home in flames and knowing your Mom is inside...
She looked young. Not much younger than him but barely in her twenties. He was barely in his twenties himself. Twenty-one, twenty-two maybe. Even at that, that's too young to lose a parent. You're always too young to lose a parent.
The sound of a bike entering the courtyard startled him from his reverie. He snapped his head towards the window, making out the figure of Grayson's bike with Grayson sprinting towards the club house. He stood, stretching painfully after his night sleeping on a sofa, and made his way out of the study.
"Damon!" he yelled, skidding to a halt in front of him. "Is she here? I didn't see her bike. Where is she?" he panicked. In all the years he had known Grayson he had never seen him like this.
"She's asleep." he said quietly, nodding towards the study.
Grayson looked visibly relieved and let out a sigh of relief. "I'll let her sleep. Where's Giuseppe?" he asked, all panic gone from his face.
Damon shrugged. "You know him better than I do." he pointed out.
Grayson breathed out and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Look after her." he said before swiftly walking through the hallways in search of his father.
Damon stared after him for a few moments, still in shock that he had a daughter. He groaned loudly in annoyance as he sat back down in the chair. He'd never got the girl's name. It was going to bug him until she told him or Giuseppe told him.
"What you groaning at?" came an amused voice from the bed. He smiled gently as he glanced up at her. She was leaning against the headboard with her knees pulled up to her chest with her hair draped over one shoulder.
He smirked and leant forward, leaning his elbows on his knees. "I don't know your name." he said simply. Well honesty is the best policy.
She smiled and ran her fingers through her hair. "It's Elena."
Elena. He tried to stop himself smiling but a small one slipped through. "Nice name." he smirked.
He paused, tension building. "Look, about earlier-" he began.
"Forget it, okay? You were being an ass and you obviously feel bad about it. It's forgotten okay." she said quickly. Clearly she wasn't in to all that deep, emotional, apologetic conversations.
Damon nodded, deciding to let it slide. If she could forget about it, so could he.
The lightness in her eyes suddenly dimmed as she glanced out the window. "Grayson's here then."
He nodded, standing up slowly, figuring she might want privacy or something.
She rose and eyebrow smirking playfully. "Going somewhere?"
He glanced back hesitant. Why wasn't he acting like himself with her? He was so... held back.
Screw it. He thought before crashing onto the bed next to her.
"Nah." he said before closing his eyes and stretching out.
She rolled her eyes and pushed off of the bed, chucking a pillow at him. "Come on."
He cracked an eye open and stared at her. "You what?"
She chuckled. "I can't sit inside and do nothing. I need to be out doing something."
He smirked and rolled off the bed to stand by the door. "So go."
She smiled slightly. "But you happen to be the only person I know, so you get the job of entertaining me."
"Oh I could find plenty of ways to entertain you." he said, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.
Elena shook her head, her dark hair dancing out around her. "I'm sure it would be just as fun for you." she said playfully, her gorgeous eyes sparkling.
He chuckled softly and made his way into the hallway, watching as she slipped into a bathroom.
She was amazing. She was beautiful and funny and sarcastic. She could actually hold her own in a conversation and had made him apologise. He wasn't being a complete ass to her... he was being nice-ish at times. He shook her head and leant against the wall, smirking to himself. Her situation sucked but he was glad as hell she had arrived here.