Wicked Destiny

Chapter 4





“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Shay was smiling as she got out of her new Camaro.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

Shay ran over to hold the door open for me as I walked my bike down the hall and through my front door. I had to catch myself before I told Shay about my other two adjoining lofts, one that was a studio and one for the office. So I just parked the bike in my living room and walked to the bathroom to wash my face. When I came out, Shay made herself comfortable on my bed that I’d failed to fix before leaving. Plopping myself next to her, I kicked my shoes off and began to give her a rundown of what happened from last night until now. I left out the part about the winds and mind talking thing. I figured she dealt with enough of my freakish talents.

“Wow, so you kissed Jared?” Shay asked.

“Really? Is that all you have to say after everything I just told you?”

“Well, it’s Jared.”

“It was a fluke. It will never happen again. Why do you think Declan is back?”

Shay slowly said, “Um, he bought a house.”

I turned over to look at her, fell straight off the bed, and jumped up like nothing just happened. I glared at her and felt the heat rise from my toes and straight to the top of my head. If this were a cartoon I’d have a whistle blowing right above my head.

“How. Do. You. Know. That!”

“He told me when I saw him.”

“You saw him? When Shay? When did you see him?” Then realization played across my face. “How long have you known?”

“I saw him three weeks ago when I was helping Rick with getting his business started. Declan was coming out of Home Depot and it was a total shock for us both.”

“Why didn’t you tell me, Shay? Did you not think I wouldn’t see him?” I could hear the panic in my voice, because I was so not ready to see him. Then there was a knock on the door.

“Go away!” I screamed. I didn’t care who it was.

Shay got off the bed and glared at me, and then walked over to the door. Before she answered it, she turned to me.

“Not everything is about you, Sloane. I love you. You are more like my sister than anything, but you have to let go. It’s been three years and you refuse anyone that’s worth taking a chance on.” She looked through the peep hole. “Here’s one right now.” She opened the door to let Viktor in.

“Hi, I’m Shay and you are Viktor, right?” She held her hand out with a flirtatious smile and he took it, smiling back.

“Yes, I was passing by and heard yelling. I just wanted to see if everything was alright.” He looked at me and I could tell he knew I wasn’t in the mood.

“Well, that’s what sisters do. They piss each other off and at the end of the day they are still sisters.” Shay smiled at me, and even though I couldn’t give myself away just yet, I knew she had her reasons. No matter what, Shay would always be my sister.

“Shay likes to spring things on me at the last minute. It looks like I won’t be taking that vacation after all.” I suddenly found my voice.

“That’s a shame. I invited you and Sloane to my condo in Florida, but we can all go another time.”

This spiked Shay’s attention and I couldn’t help but laugh out loud, because I could already see the wheels turning. Free room and board, days on the sand, and a concoction of drinks surrounding us. I could see it all now myself.

“Come sit down and tell me about yourself, Viktor. Let me interrogate you a little to see what your intentions are.” Shay pulled him to the couch as he looked at me with eyes full of terror.

While Shay talked to Viktor, I excused myself to go take a shower. I could hear them laughing and getting along, so I knew Viktor would be safe. As the water ran over me and warmed me up from the slight chill, I began to think about Declan. Then I realized Shay didn’t finish telling me why he was here. I had to remember to ask after Viktor left. Seeing him today brought back too many raw emotions I didn’t even remember I had. I had to fight the urge to run straight to him like I always did. Not anymore, though; I was a different person. That cute little blonde no longer existed. Well, cute girl does, but blonde and sweet…no. If I ran into him again, he would never see me like he used to and I would make it clear that I cared nothing for his company.

I lost track of time giving myself a pep talk. Climbing out of the shower, I noticed it was very quiet. Had they left without telling me? I wrapped my hair in a towel and wrapped one around my body as well. When I opened the door to walk out, Viktor was lying on my bed, and I absolutely froze.

“Now that’s a deer caught in the headlights look, if I’ve ever seen one.” He smiled as if this was amusing. “What were you doing in there anyway? You had to have been in there for at least an hour.”

“I see Shay didn’t hurt you too bad. Consider yourself lucky.” I walked over to my drawers and began grabbing clothes out, acting as if his presence didn’t bother me.

“She’s nice, but I think I won her over.”

“Good, then go sit on her bed and bother her.” I waved my hand in the air, not noticing I was waving my bra and panties in the air as well. I felt my face turn red.

“I like blue.” He was referring to my under garments.

“Noted, I will let her know.” I began to walk back to my bathroom to change when he suddenly blocked my way.

“You have got to find this exhausting.”

“Find what exhausting?”

“This role you like to play.”

He shrugged. “You know I’m not interested in Shay.”

“Maybe you should be. I’m damaged, Viktor. I’m not someone you can count…” And then he was kissing me.

It’s a good thing my towel was Velcro, because it would have fell to the ground like the clothes I’d been holding. Just like that, everything disappeared. With his hands holding my face, I was frozen. This wasn’t that bad, because I let him take control. He pulled me closer to him as he tangled a hand in my hair, wrapping the other around my back. He tasted like desire itself. I didn’t want him to stop, but then he did.

“I’m sorry. I’ll let you get dressed.” He gave me one final kiss and told me he would see me tonight. When he got to the door and turned to look at me, he had one last thing to say. “Tell Jared to back off. It’s my turn.” He smiled at me and waved as he closed the door.

I felt the world spinning and I allowed myself to fall onto my bed. Really? Did that really just happen? My fingers brushed over my lips to feel if they were still swollen. They were and I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Why now? I had never been caught in something like this. Jared wanted to lay claim to me, but that was nothing new. Viktor came along and all of a sudden he wanted a shot. And we just met. That was the weirdest thing about all of this. Well, just weird really, because now Declan was back. What would happen if I ran into him again? At that moment I made it clear to myself that I did love Declan, but his time was over and he would just have to understand that and respect me by leaving me alone.

On that note, I began to get ready like any other work night. I searched for the best outfit and made sure my hair and make-up was just right. I met Shay again for dinner before work at the local pizza place around the corner and she couldn’t stop talking about Viktor and how crazy he was about me. For once, it was nice hearing about someone decent making a fuss over me. I let her talk the whole time until it was time to go.

“So, what do you think?” Shay was too busy talking about their conversation that she never gave me a chance to talk.

“About what, Viktor? I don’t know, I just met him and it seems like everything is moving too fast. Does it seem like that to you?”

“I know you aren’t asking me advice on men. Sloane, stop closing yourself up.”

“OK, let’s say this ‘thing’ happens to last and he gets a whiff of my gifts. What will he do then, run?”

“You have to take chances, Sloane. You will never know unless you try. Give him a chance and tell Jared to back the hell off.”

“I already did that once and look what happened. The guy left and never came back. Well, figuratively. Speaking of which, you never told me what Declan said.”

“Do you really want to know? I’ll tell you if you do.” Something told me to say no, but I just couldn’t.

“Tell me.”

“He bought a house and he has a girl leaving with him.”

My heart began to fill with ice and I could feel raw emotions flowing through my body as we stopped walking. I couldn’t move or breathe. I knew he went on with his life, but why did it feel like the last bit of my broken heart just shattered? I placed my hand on a shop’s building as if it were actually holding me up. Taking deep breaths, I could hear Shay’s pleas to let her know I was alright.

“Sloane, your eyes just went from hazel to jade green. Please, calm down. This is why I wasn’t sure if I should tell you or not.”

“It’s fine, really. I knew he obviously went on with his life. I just didn’t think about the reality of it.”

“I guess it’s a good thing Viktor came along when he did.”

“Yes, I guess so.”

We continued to walk to work. Shay talked about making plans for the beach and I listened and thought about the future. I was afriad of holding Shay back from being happy. I knew she would never leave me and as long as she knew I needed her, she would always be there. For her I would try with Viktor just so she would stop worrying.

The night began like any other night. We stocked our bar section after closing up our jackets and purses in the closets. Just as I thought how “quiet” it was, Jared called me into his office.

“Have you thought about anything I said last night?”

“Yes, I have and I decided that I am going to see Viktor.”

“Oh, really?”

“Jared, it has nothing…” He cut me off before I could finish.

“It’s fine. The crowd is starting to come in. You better get to work.”

Just like that, I was dismissed. It went over better than I thought, but as the night went on, I hardly saw Jared. I guess it was about 11:30 p.m. before Viktor walked in. I wondered why he came so late, but couldn’t help but smile anyway. He leaned over the bar and motioned for me to plant a kiss on his cheek, but as I went to kiss it, he turned his head and I got his lips instead. Cheesy, I know, but it worked and it made my night better. He made sure he played at the closest pool table to me, and when he took breaks we’d sit at the end of the bar and talk. And Shay gave the occasional towel pop on my behind to let me know when I had customers.

It was a good night; better than most in a very long time. That night Viktor waited for me and we walked home together. As we got to our building, he walked me to my door and said good night with a sweet kiss to seal the deal.