That night, I pushed Aunt Maria's soup around with my spoon, despite the delicious aroma rising from the dish. She eyed me suspiciously from across the table, but Uncle Barry remained oblivious, too busy shoveling as much as humanly possible into his mouth. I sighed.

"Is it that boy?" Aunt Maria finally snapped.

I looked up, glancing warily at the red-faced woman opposite me.

"What boy?" Uncle Barry mumbled from his spoon.

"Barry." Aunt Maria said with a severity I was starting to question. God, what about him or his family did they hate so much? It made me defensive, though Paul in no way belonged to me nor was it my duty to protect him from my relatives.

"That boy," She continued, dropping to a conspiratorial whisper, "Is Denis Washington's nephew."

Soup spewed out my Uncle mouth. Ew. Gross. I fluffed my hair. Whatever this was it was causing the most disgusting reaction I'd ever seen. His thinning fine silver hair seemed to stand up and his ruddy complexion turned a deep purple. His blue eyes stuck right out of his head, goggling like a giant frog. His fist slammed down on the table, sending what little was left of his soup flying all over me.

I cried, getting to my feet. I surveyed the damage, five large stains were splattered against my cute baby doll silk T, Dolce and Gabbana and extraordinarily expensive. I scoffed. "Do you know how much this costs?" I couldn't hide the distress from my voice. I 'd saved four months for this shirt.

"Denis WASHINGTON?" He roared. "What in the hell are you doin' with his boy?"

"His nephew." I grumbled.

He stared at me. "You are NEVER to see him again. They're a big family of lying , manipulative god-damn assholes." His western accent overwhelmed his words.

Oh, I know.

"Yeah, well, I don't even see him anymore." I admitted, realizing how true it was.

"A pretty girl like you ain't needin no Washingtons around here," Aunt Maria chided.

"He's a Slater, Aunt Maria." I said. Which might actually be worse.

"As long as he's bein' related," Uncle Barry snarled, "You stay da hell away from that boy."

"Yeah, well, knowing Paul, you should be more worried about him coming to see me."

He growled. "I know how to deal with 'em. You just tell me next time he's botherin' you. What's 'is name?"

"Paul." The name sent shivers down my spine, and my stomach flipped nervously. His blue eyes appeared in my mind, as terrifying as they were beautiful, and despite my efforts to push the image away, I couldn't shake it.

"Paul." He grunted, before getting up, leaving his dishes at the table.

I looked at my aunt. "What is the deal anyway?"

"Family history," She said darkly. "Don't go messing with that boy Susannah."

I nodded. I had no plans in the near future to ever see Paul again. But somehow, I knew that I would. And the idea didn't repulse me the way it should. My phone buzzed in my pocket, and my heart skipped a beat as I pulled it out. Maybe-

Jesse Calling!

The words on the screen stared back at me, and I felt my hopes sink. Before I knew what I was doing, I'd pressed the ignore button.

Something was changing, but in what direction the storm was moving towards, I had no clue. Damn it. Why did he have to have kissed me like that?