Read Her Destiny Online

Authors: Monica Murphy

Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Genre Fiction, #Coming of Age, #Teen & Young Adult, #Love & Romance, #Contemporary, #Romance

Her Destiny (9 page)

BOOK: Her Destiny
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There went about two hours of wages and tips. I don’t want to go home early. I need the money. “I can stay, Elaine. I swear. Just give me a few minutes to recuperate.”

“No, I don’t think so, kiddo. Time to go home. Go straight to bed when you get there, all right?” She grabs hold of both of my shoulders and looks me straight in the eye. “Get a good night’s rest and come back tomorrow night ready to rock it. It’s a Friday and we have a few decent sized private parties. We’ll be busy.”

She’s not going to give in so I guess I have to instead. “Okay. Sounds good.” I nod and offer a weak smile when she releases her hold on me. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I clock out and grab my coat and purse, then head outside toward the bus stop. The wind has picked up more and it blows against me, almost as if it’s trying to hold me back. I struggle against it, my gaze going to the spot where I thought I saw Nick.

But no one’s there.

There’s really no one out tonight, which doesn’t surprise me considering the awful weather. I wrap my thin coat tight around me, my head bent as I walk against the wind. It howls with a startling intensity, making me wish I had a scarf or a hat for my protection. My cheeks are ice cold and when the first drops of water fall with a splat on my face, I shake my head, withholding the groan that wants to escape. Of course, the night I wear a coat without a hood is the night that it decides to rain.

I make a run for it, ducking for cover at the bus stop, shivering as I perch on the edge of the narrow bench. Checking my phone, I see I have about ten minutes or so to wait for the bus to arrive. I tuck my phone back into my pocket before I jerk up the collar on my coat, covering my cold face as best as I can.

I’m shivering and wet, the wind blowing the rain against my back and saturating my coat. Pushing my damp hair away from my forehead, I wipe at my wet-with-rain face, grimacing at how wet my fingers really are.

Right now, I wish for the giant house we used to live in. The car Dad would be picking me up in or maybe even Evan’s car, though in the past he wouldn’t have bothered to pick me up. Of course, in the past I also wouldn’t have had a job. I wouldn’t have needed one. I had everything I ever desired, even things I didn’t know I wanted.

I’m a different person from last summer. Heck, since a month ago. I’ve changed, even Evan has said so. But I had to. I had to grow up.

There was no choice.

A light flickers in the distance, the glow of a tiny flickering orange flame coming from a lighter, and I sit up straight, squinting into the darkness as I watch someone approach. I don’t like being at the bus stop alone at night but I’ve gotten used to it for the most part. Someone from the restaurant usually comes with me and I like the company. Makes me feel safe.

But not tonight. Tonight I’m alone and it’s freaky, especially when I know I’m not alone. I have no idea who this person is but I wait for it, bracing myself.

My heart starts to race as the flame disappears and I see the red cherry glow of a cigarette as the stranger inhales. I wait, breathless as the person approaches. I can tell he’s male. Tall, with broad shoulders and an easy going stride. The horrible, fluorescent glow from the dim lights overhead shines directly on me, making it hard to see beyond the feeble light. The man comes closer, discarding the cigarette he just lit which strikes me as odd. Why waste one of those when they cost so much money? Such a filthy habit anyway but still…

And then he slowly comes into view, the light shining directly on him as he comes into the shelter, illuminating his every handsome feature. My throat goes dry as he stops just in front of me, a giant grin on his face when he kneels down so we’re eye level.

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” he says, his deep, familiar voice shimmering through me, making my heart trip over itself.

Making me clench my hands into fists at my sides. Fury rises within me, threatening to overwhelm, and I can barely keep it together. I can’t believe after everything he did to me, those are the first words he says to me. “What took you so long?” I ask sweetly through clenched teeth.

Just before I draw back my arm and hit him square in the jaw, knocking him right on his butt.

 

November 12th, later that night

 

I’
m lying flat on my back on the wet sidewalk, clutching my stinging jaw as I stare up at Reverie in wonder. She looks surprised too, staring first at me, then her fist as if she can’t believe she just hit me.

I can’t believe she hit me either.

Pressing my hands against the ground, I brace myself and sit up, my face close to her knees encased in black pants and I briefly wonder if she’ll lash out and kick me. She looks amazing, though I know she’s pissed—not quite sure why—and cold and in shock. I didn’t mean to scare her. Hell, I didn’t mean to make her so mad.

“What in the world are you doing here?” she hisses, her eyes narrowed, her long blond hair wild from the wind and the dampness in the air. “And since when do you
smoke?

“I told you I’ve been looking for you.” I stand up and settle on the bench beside her but she scoots away, taking her warmth and scent and everything that I crave about her from me. “And I only smoke occasionally.” Like when I’m nervous, not that I’m going to admit that.

“It’s been over three months, Nick,” she says with a little grimace, my name coming from her voice the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard. Too bad she’s looking at me as if she wants to slug me in the gut. I’ve never seen her so upset. “Where have you been?”

“Let me drive you home and I’ll explain everything,” I suggest, my fingers itching to touch her. Her hair, her face, her arm, anywhere I can grasp hold of her, I want to. I need to. Having her this close after not seeing her for so long is driving me absolutely crazy.

The bus chooses this precise moment to pull in front of the stop, the hiss of the brakes loud in the otherwise quiet of the night. The doors swing open and the driver peers through the opening, his expression full of concern. He’s an old guy with bushy white eyebrows that are so low over his eyes I almost can’t see them. “Hey Rev, you’re early tonight.”

The freaking bus driver knows who she is. Unbelievable.

“Finished work early, Ed,” she says with a little wave as she stands. I stand too, confused. What is she doing? Is she actually going to get on that bus? No way. She wouldn’t leave me. She couldn’t.

Ed frowns as I follow her to the open doors. “This guy giving you trouble?” He flicks his chin in my direction.

She glances back at me, offering a little closed-lipped smile before she turns and—yep—jumps onto the bus. “He’s no trouble, Ed. None at all.” My mouth drops open as she pays her bus fare with a wave of a plastic card and she walks into the bus, settling in a seat.

The doors close, locking her inside, and I watch in disbelief as the bus pulls away from the curb and onto the street. She doesn’t even look in my direction. Just stares straight ahead as if I don’t even exist.

What the ever-loving fuck?

Spurring into action, I run across the street toward the parking lot where I left my truck. I can only hope that traffic isn’t too bad at this hour so I can keep up with that damn bus. And I freaking hope it doesn’t have too many damn stops. It’s a miracle I even figured out where she works, though I haven’t a clue where she lives.

I’m going to find out tonight though, I swear. She’s going to listen to me. She has to. It wasn’t easy for me to find her after everything that happened to her family. Both she and Evan seemed to go into hiding when the scandal broke out. She got rid of her cell phone so I sure as hell couldn’t call or text her. Never had her email address and couldn’t reach out to her that way. Tried sending her a message on Facebook but that didn’t work either since she never replied.

So what the hell was I supposed to do? Not like I have a lot of money to make the trek to Southern California. Not sure if my truck is the most dependable mode of transportation but I finally had to say fuck it and leave. Took a few days off from work, however painful that was, and hit the freeway, headed to Los Angeles. Positive she would greet me with open arms.

That did not happen.

If she’s going to reject me as outright as I’m afraid she is, then I’ll be stuck getting a motel room and I sure as hell don’t have the extra cash to afford that. I’ll have to find the most rundown joint I can stand and stay the night there. Or crash out in my truck.

Neither option is a good one.

Hopping into my truck, I crank the engine and pull out of the lot, driving like a stupid ass in search of the bus, my balding tires screeching on the newly slick with rain roads. I tap the brake, telling myself to get my shit together and calm down. Wouldn’t do me any good to get into a car accident without finding the bus, right?

And if I lose her tonight, that’s fine. I can hang out around her work again tomorrow night. I’ll hang out there every night until I can get her to talk to me, if that’s what it takes.

She’s worth it. After being without her for far too long, I realized I couldn’t take it anymore. I needed to see her. I needed her.

So I went in search of her. And as if a guardian angel was smiling down upon me, I found her easily. I remembered vaguely the name of the school she went to and went there first. Watched as she hopped a city bus about an hour after school let out, cute as hell in her uniform. I followed the bus like some sort of stalker, pulling across the street when she exited the bus and walked into the restaurant named Seville’s.

And she never walked back out of it. That’s when it hit me. My girl was actually working for a living like me, as a waitress. Unbelievable. Today has been full of revelations. Not all of them particularly good.

The traffic light gods must be on my side because I cruise through an endless amount of green lights, coming upon the very bus I watched Reverie disappear into. I pull alongside it, staring into the dimly lit interior and I see her sitting near the window. We stop at a traffic light and I hit the brakes, sitting alongside the bus, watching her. She looks so damn pretty in her black coat, her blond hair so bright against the dark fabric, her eyebrows knit together as she chews on her lower lip, staring at nothing.

“Look at me,” I whisper into the otherwise stillness of the truck cab, wishing she could hear me. “See me, Reverie. If you do, it means you still care.”

She releases her lip from her teeth and presses her forehead against the window, closing her eyes. She looks like she’s in so much pain, as if she’s hurting and hell if my heart feels like it’s fucking cracking, knowing I’m probably the one to blame. I roll down my window, blinking against the raindrops the wind blows in and I say her name, yell it into the darkness.

“Reverie!”

She opens her eyes as if she can hear me, her gaze meeting mine and I wait, my heart lodged in my throat, the lump so big I can hardly swallow.

Her lips part and she takes a breath, I see the movement of her chest as she inhales. She stares at me for a long, charge-filled moment and then she mouths one single word that splits my heart wide open.

Sorry.

Then she turns away, presenting the back of her head to me. The light turns green and the bus lurches forward but I don’t move. I’m too stunned that my girl just flat out rejected me while riding the city bus.

I don’t fucking get it.

A horn sounds behind me but I still don’t move. I can’t believe she turned away from me. Just can’t freaking believe it.

BOOK: Her Destiny
9.68Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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