An Unkindness of Ravens

❝ 𝙲𝙻𝙾𝚂𝙴𝙳 𝚂𝚃𝙰𝚁𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝙵𝙾𝚁 ❞ 𝙶𝚁𝙸𝙵𝙵𝙸𝙽

You never know what you had until it's gone or until you fuck it up. The notion often plagued his overloaded mind whenever he allowed himself to dwell on how he fumbled the bag. Barbara Owens swept into his life like a falling star. With the same blinding ferocity and wonder that burned holes into his retina and marked him for life. What he didn't know then was how hard it would be to to quit the wantoning needs to behold her in all of her forms. A foolish college student who shied away from the deep connection that tethered them together. Had Griffin knew how lonely it would be watching her love being abused from the sidelines, he would have claim her love for his own when she offered it to him. Now, he chased her light like some specter in search for a the comforts of eternal damnation burning to a crisp. His scowl deepened at the slow rolling reports that ebbed in from his assistant. The restaurant seemed to grow more empty as the clock ticked closer to midnight. He couldn't bare to restrain himself for a moment longer before abandoning the chilled tumbler of whiskey on his desk to order his driver to bring him to her.

"Davey is mom home?" The question echoed around the empty foyer as Jude closed the door behind him. Fuck, it's cold, he thought untying his scarf. He was careful not to hurt his injured hand. The one currently bandaged so tightly it was short of cutting off circulation to the rest of his body. The wound hurt like hell but Thuy had blown on it so he figured the pain would take its time to disappear after. "And before you try to ignore me I saw your car in the driveway," Pushing out of his boots and shrugging out of his wool winter coat, he continued to the den where he was sure Davey waited. The sound of the television greeted him and so did the hard yelp of his twin's shout. "Did you hear me?" he grit out not at all concerned with what Davis was currently doing.

Goddamn sticky, prickly needles of death.. the list of profanity that rolled through his mind while he attempted to trim the branches of his mother's tree. Davis promised to help her decorate because this Christmas was going to be bigger than the last five; the entire Davis/Scott/Evans line would be coming over for dinner. Haley and Nathan Scott usually hosted but his mother felt inclined to fill up her week's schedule to "blow" their socks off. Davis nearly talked her out of purchasing this behemoth of a Norway Spruce but she refused; their old Christmas tree didn't pack the "Hallmark" meets "Snowy Chalet" vibe. Jude's voice cut through the Bing Crosby's iconic revelation but Davis elected to ignore him. "Did you see hers?" Davis peeked back at his twin with a cheeky grin through the throng of branches that hid him. "Can you give me a hand?"