Wicked Destiny

Chapter 9





It was the end of the night and I was really feeling it. I wanted to just go home and climb into my tub with no distractions of boyfriends, past or present. Just the feel of the water’s warm embrace was all I wanted.

“So, do you want to talk about it?” Viktor asked me as I gathered my purse.

“Not really, Viktor. In fact, if there’s something that needs to be said, now is the time. I don’t think I can take anymore tonight.” I turned to him so that he could see just how serious I was.

“What do you mean?” I could see there was something there and a twist in my stomach shot through me. I knew this was too good to be true.

“Look, let me just save you the trouble. When you are ready to tell me the truth, you know where I live.” I walked straight past him and shot Jared a warning glance on my way out. Even he was surely too scared to let one of his snarky comments fly.





JARED



Sloane shot me her famous don’t even start look. It was the one that meant business and I learned to not even attempt to approach her. As she hit the doors, I turned to look at Viktor. I saw the look he was giving her back—that hungry possession look, and all he saw was her. I knew that look because I had it every time I screwed up. Viktor was just about to clear the foyer when I grabbed his arm.

“It’s best you let her go.”

“Tell me why I should listen to you.”

“Because I’ve known her longer. Despite what you think of me and what you think you know about me, I know that girl a whole lot better than you. Running after her is just going to push her away, especially when you’re hiding something.” I released his arm.

“You know nothing about me.” Viktor was in my face, but I didn’t flinch.

“I call bullshit on that. Me, I knew there was something special about her, but it’s different for me. I want her for myself, for my own selfish reasons. But you? You have a whole different agenda. Yes, Fallen, I have my contacts too.” I stepped a little closer.

“If you know so much, why don’t you just tell her, then? It’s called trust, and even though you know her so much better, she doesn’t trust you, does she?”

“It doesn’t matter what you say or do to me. If you hurt her in any way possible, I will make it my mission to cast you into the pits of Hell myself.” I stepped out of his way and just as he went to walk out the door, I made sure he knew. “Oh, Fallen. When you walk out that door, I want you to know that I know what she is and what it is she really means to you.”

He was gone.





SLOANE



As soon as I cleared the front doors, I started running to my place. I needed to breathe and for some reason all this open space wasn’t good enough. The feeling of freedom was calling; I needed to be somewhere and anywhere but here was fine with me. I made it home in record time and I grabbed my helmet and riding jacket. I pushed my bike outside, and as I cleared the parking lot, I saw Viktor. He didn’t try to stop me. Good, I thought to myself. I needed to get somewhere I knew no one would find me.

Before I knew it, I was already on the highway, wanting to get away and thinking about everything that happened tonight. I wasn’t sure how much more I could take. I found myself pulling down a long and curvy driveway and it was old but familiar. Pulling to the end of the driveway, I parked my bike. I climbed off and pulled out of my helmet and jacket, lying across the seat of the bike.

I hadn’t been here in years. I stood in between my aunt Dru’s house and the red barn that I lived in for my senior year. My aunt and I knew she was dying that year and we knew I had to get used to being alone. So I moved in and her live-in nurse took my room in the main house.

These two structures meant a lot to me, but the one structure that stood out the most was the cabin where Declan and I first met. I began walking towards the lake that separated the cabin from the rest of the land. There was an area light that was dully lit and it casted an orange glow to the area. I knew it was my mind playing tricks, but I allowed it. I could hear us laughing as we ran around the bank of the lake and through the picnic area. In the far off distance I could hear the tractor plowing the fields and the animals crying out because they knew it was feeding time. Most of all, I could hear my aunt singing in the garden. Without even knowing it, I was crying. Placing my face in my hands, I began to ask why.

Why was I even here on this earth? What was the purpose of my creation? I stood on the edge of the bank looking out at the moon’s reflection over my own. Things would be so much easier if I weren’t here. I wouldn’t be a disturbance in the so-called balance. Before any more disturbing thoughts came into play, I took one last look at the cabin and walked towards the red barn. I took out the key I never used and opened the front door of my old apartment. Even though I never came out here anymore, I paid a maid service to clean twice a week. If the weather was bad, I paid extra for them to ensure the place was weatherized. From the looks of it, they’d come today.

I walked around my old place and noted it smelled like peaches, as always. I loved that scent here for some reason, and then I realized why I never bought the same freshener for my loft. Declan, of course. It’s funny how a scent could trigger memories that were long forgotten, but I thought anyway. Leaving my living room where we spent long nights watching TV or studying, I ran upstairs to my room. It was just as I left it. Well, just cleaner. My pictures were still out and posters from old bands still hung on the wall. Looking at them, I wondered if I would peel off the paint if I took them down. I decided to let them stay up.

I sat on the edge of my bed wondering how things got so twisted. I wanted my aunt and I needed someone to tell me the truth. Everyone around me was being so cryptic that it was driving me crazy. Looking at my phone, I checked the time. It was four thirty in the morning. I knew I wasn’t going to make a trip home now, so I decided to make the best of it. I opened my closet door and found a bottle of aged Crown. It had never been opened, so grabbed the glass from the bathroom and washed it out. Next, I grabbed the comforter off the bed and sat on my deck just looking over the lake and the property that was given to me. It was so beautiful, but it just brought back too many memories of me growing up. I’d gladly give it all back just to have my aunt here with me.

I poured myself a glass full of Crown and sipped on it as time passed. There was no signal on my phone so I knew I couldn’t be bothered, and that’s what I wanted. Time was passing and the bottle of crown was getting lighter. I pulled out my headphones and listened to some music and sitting here was so peaceful.

Closing my eyes, I remembered to put both feet flat on the ground so the world wouldn’t spin. That was the number one rule while drinking—keep at least one foot flat on the ground while lying down. Even though all I was doing was laying my head back, I still wanted to take precautions. Evanescence’s “Everyone’s Fool” played and I smiled because it was fitting. The tears started again and I cursed myself. Damn it, why did alcohol intensify the emotions so much? I stood up slowly with my drink in my hand and downed what was left. I looked at the empty glass and I realized, in that split second, that’s how I felt. Empty, and it wasn’t fair. Wasn’t I entitled to just a little bit of happiness? I threw the glass as hard as I could and gripped the rail. Trying to breathe, I could feel every emotion rising to the top and readying to explode like a volcano. I let out a scream that felt like it shook the very foundation I stood on. Next, it was exhaustion that took over.

I felt my legs give out and I just lay there, pathetic. There I was listening to the music, hoping it would drown out the world, as I lay on the cold ground. I squeezed my eyes closed, not wanting to look at the stars that I’d wished upon so many times. I said a silent plea to whoever was listening and asked for their mercy. I only wanted to feel what it was like to be safe and unconditionally loved. I lost track of how long I laid there. I let the sounds coming from my earphone distract me from my life long enough to linger to that in between stage of coherence and sleep.

The sound of John Meyer’s guitar strumming to “Edge of Desire” brought back memories of a dream I had and I wished I could go back to that night. Wished I had more seconds just to say I’m sorry and that I never meant to be so cold. Someone had to be listening, because he was there next to me and swept me off the floor and into the bed. He wrapped the blanket around me, but everything was so blurry from the tears and alcohol. He sat on the bed next to me and I reached out to place my hand on his face. There was no holding back. The moment of truth was here.

“I wished for so many days, hours, and years to see you again. When you finally came, I dismissed you like you were nothing. I’m so sorry.” I began to sob.

“Shh, it’s OK. Just sleep,” he whispered.

“No, I don’t want to sleep. You won’t be here when I wake up. You’ll leave me again.” I tried with everything to pull him to me, but he kept folding my arms back to the bed. In that moment I just wanted him to take me. The need to make uncontrollable love was taking over, but he kept resisting.

“Sloane, sleep. I’ll be here when you wake up. I promise.” He kissed my hands and my cheek.

“No, you have to tell me first…” I easily slipped in and out of sleep. “You have to tell me…”

“Tell you what?” He whispered so close to my ear it sent electric currents through my body. Every nerve stood on edge.

“What am I? Just tell me. Am I really that bad?” I started to sob again.

“Can this wait till you’re coherent?” he asked.

“No! I am tired of people keeping things from me.” I tried to get up, but he pushed me back to the bed. I quit resisting. “Don’t you love me anymore?”

“Sloane, you’ve had too much to drink and you aren’t making any sense.”

“Then tell me and I will go to sleep.” I let him tuck me back in.

“Yes, I love you. I loved you the moment you rolled those eyes at me when you first played hard to get. I loved you the day I made the worst mistake of my life by leaving you here to face everything by yourself. And I love you even though you are with someone else.”

“He’s not as bad as you think.”

“Sloane, sleep.”

“Sleep with me,” I urged.

“Sloane, I hardly think—”

I cut him off. “Beside me, dumbass.”

“Oh.”

I rolled over and felt his arm drape across me. “Declan?”

“Yeah?” he answered.

“Where did you go?”

Silently, he said, “Everywhere that didn’t remind me of you.”

“How did that work out for you?”

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

“Why now?” I asked.

“I told you. When I found out they knew about you, I had to come back.”

“So if these people never found out, you wouldn’t be here now?”

“I don’t know, Sloane.”

I couldn’t help but let a tear slip. Even though I was incapacitated, I knew what was going on. Most of all, I knew what I felt. I would’ve paid dearly for this moment in the morning. I felt cold. The alcohol was wearing off and I felt like someone just threw me in a tub of ice. I shivered and I felt his hold tighten on me.

“I don’t mean to upset you, Sloane. In fact, I tried to watch you from a distance but it didn’t work. We will figure this out.”

“Declan?”

“Sloane, go to sleep.”

And in a matter of moments, I was out. He never explained what the deal was with me and these secretive people. I had to make sure my mental notes were still working so that I could remember to ask him in the morning. I was sure Viktor would be a little pissed about all of this, but someone was going to give me answers. And I wished they could give all kinds of answers, like which guy to choose. There was no doubt that I still loved Declan, and I probably always would.