Wicked Destiny

Wicked Destiny

- The Wicked Series-

Book 1

Tiffany Stevens

Copyright © 2013 Tiffany Stevens

All rights reserved.  No part of this publication maybe reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copy right law.

-
To my family and friends

for
putting up with me throughout this whole
Wicked Destiny
process. Without you I would have never made it this far.

Prologue

Sleep has become obsolete these past three months. I never dream anymore—only nightmares. Well, I consider them nightmares; memories from my darkest days are more like it.  Things that I wish I could purge from my memory and never look back on. For months I have relived the same dream and it’s almost as if I can’t control it. So there are many nights that I stay up on coffee and Red Bulls. That’s until my body can’t fully function and sleep eventually wins. Tonight exhaustion has taken its toll and the nightmare has begun.

Standing on the balcony of my room back on the farm
, I couldn’t help but stare at the cabin across the lake. I could see the light blazing in the bedroom window and, looking up at the sky, I noticed it was early morning. The sun was just starting to break. I watched his shadow moving around the room and the feeling of something being ripped from my chest washed over me. He is still there, I kept thinking to myself. With my aunt dead and she being the only family I had left, surely he wouldn’t abandon me right now. 

Since the death of my aunt Dru, I’d become her beneficiary and
had inherited her money and farm. I was only eighteen and freshly out of high school, so what could I have possibly known about running a farm? Yeah, I’d lived here since I was five years old, but there were so many things that my aunt did around the farm that it was impossible for me to follow with her same finesse. I needed help and I didn’t need someone to tell me what I already knew. I figured that Declan would want the job since he had been doing it for the past year. Declan was our laborer.  He knew everything about our farm and everything about me. We grew very close over the year, and so close I actually loved him. This was rare because the only person I’d ever cared for other than my aunt was Shay. Shay had been my best friend since grade school and I consider her more like my sister than my friend. 

Something was off this morning
, though. I knew something bad was coming. I was still watching the shadow as it moved from room to room now that more lights were on. Should I go over there or should I just wait? If he left then, I would let him go. It would kill me, but trying to make someone stay when I knew they wanted to leave seemed like kidnapping to me. So begging was out of the question. Then suddenly the side door opened and I saw a bag being thrown into the bed of his truck. With the sun still not fully up, the sky was still somewhat dark and cast in shadows. Or maybe it was me. I didn’t know, but clouds started to roll in as I began to walk down the steps from my balcony. I couldn’t bare it any longer. I had to see what was going on. So, into the picnic area I walked until I found the trail that took me to the cabin. For some reason I avoided the trail and continued through the woods until I reached the cabin. Standing behind an old oak tree that had probably been around for a hundred years, I watched as he packed everything in the last remaining bag and threw it into the back of the truck. He then walked around and cleaned up his mess and I could hear the pieces of my heart chipping away every second that passed. I could hear my aunt’s voice in my head telling me, “He’s no good Sloane.  He will leave you.”

Why hadn’t I listened to her?
She knew he would break my heart. Before I knew it, without even realizing it, I was standing at the side door. He didn’t hear me come and I stood there looking at the ground, scared to see the truth and refusing to take it all in. I heard him walk into the living room, and looking up at him made me feel like a deer caught in the headlights. He froze in place and I noticed another set of footsteps behind him. It was a beautiful blonde with big boobs and great lips. 

“Well
, at least if you’re going to leave, I think a goodbye is in order. Don’t you think, Declan?” I had to keep a poker face. “By the way, make sure you leave a forwarding address so I can forward your last check. Oh, where are my manners? I’m Sloane Townsend. I was Declan’s employer and girlfriend for the past year now, but I guess under these circumstances I’m now the Ex.” I reached out to shake her hand.

“Wow
, I’m Constance, Declan’s fiancée.” She shook my hand and Declan was still frozen.  All I could do was smile at the both of them.

“So
, Constance is it? Nice to meet you. I see y’all are heading out, so I won’t hold you any further.” I turned to walk out, but before I even cleared the driveway that led back to my side of the lake, Declan was standing right in front of me. “How the hell…”

“You don’t understand. I have to go.”
Not wanting to hear anymore, I continued on to my side of the lake and out of hearing range so that I could release the tears I had been holding in.  As I was about to pass him, the wind began to blow as if on command and I caught one last smell of him. I shut my eyes, storing the smell to memory, and ordered my mind to never think of it again.

“Then what’s stopping you? Certainly not me, and
I have more than enough on my plate at the moment. I can’t deal with a two timing boyfriend. It just seems redundant. What do you want me to do, beg?” I turned to glance at him and I saw Constance step out on the porch, watching us. And there it was—the anger that lurked in the back of my mind like a caged animal. I couldn’t help what happened next.

“You
have to get a hold of yourself. Your eyes are changing, Sloane. They can sense the power that is here. You have to stop, please, for me.” Was he really pleading for me to stop for him?

That did it. 

Looking straight into his eyes, fury boiled in the pit of my stomach and finally everything I felt was unleashed. I screamed as loud as I could and threw my arms up like if I knew what I was doing. The wind was there for me to command. The snapping of trees sounded oddly like the breaking of bones. The trees began to fall in a circle around us and Constance was no longer there watching. My hair whipped around my face as I stood there across from Declan and I felt myself pushing closer to the edge. This was all new to me and I was actually afraid of what I would do. Declan was too, because I could actually taste his fear, and it wasn’t for him.

It was for me.

How could I tell what he was feeling? Shaking my head, I tried to turn off whatever this was, but it couldn’t. The rage I felt became full blown fear and Declan sensed it, too. I looked directly at him, tears streaming down both sides of my face, and then the last thing I ever expected happened. Declan was walking towards me and I heard someone screaming, “No,” in the background.  It was Constance, no doubt. The wind picked up as if a tornado was about to touch down; I was frozen in place. All I could do was watch Declan walk straight up to me, and as he did, I couldn’t help but see how beautiful and fearless he was. 

H
e stood right in front me and took my face in his hands. I shut my eyes, not wanting to look into those crystal blue eyes. He was going to leave no matter what and in the end he was a thief even if he didn’t know it. And suddenly I felt his lips press against mine and everything came back. Every single moment we spent together flashed before my eyes as if it was my life. As if my life truly began when we met. He pulled me into his arms and I could feel the wind dying down, but it picked back up the moment I remembered that he was still leaving me. It was like my emotions were in control of everything. He broke the kiss and I couldn’t bring myself to look at him, afraid of what he might think of me. Never mind the fact that he had a scared-to-death fiancée he never told me about. I just couldn’t bring myself to see the disappointment in his eyes.

“Sloane...” He paused for a minute.
“You have to stop. Look at me, please.” I couldn’t resist any longer.  Not when he held that tone—that pleading tone as if he were begging.

I opened my eyes and I saw it all.
The fear, the love, and the betrayal. He brushed his thumb across my cheek and the warmth from his hands stung my face, the traces of him lingered, and in that split second everything disappeared. It was just me and Declan standing there in the woods.  He pressed his forehead to mine and closed his eyes. “You have to control yourself or they will find you. You know nothing of the other world that you are connected to and the only way to protect you is to leave. Please, Sloane, for me. Calm your storm before you wreck your aunt’s land.”

That did it.
That was the fuel needed to push me over the edge. How dare he speak of my aunt right now? My eyes shot wide open and I struggled to get free of his hold. He snatched me back to him. “Sloane, I love you more than you’ll ever know. Now wake up.”

Chapter 1

My eyes shot open. Trying to get a grip on reality and where I was, I lay there staring at the ceiling of my loft. I turned my head to get a look at the clock on my night stand and noticed it was pushing four o’clock in the afternoon. I had slept almost twelve hours. I rolled over on my side, grabbing one of my pillows and holding onto it as if it were my body. When I thought about my dream, I couldn’t help wonder why it was so vivid. I mean, what happened in the dream wasn’t even the way things were left between Declan and I. In fact, that morning I remembered hearing the truck driving off in the distance. I’d gotten up to cook him a surprise breakfast at the cabin, but when I let myself in, he’d cleaned out. He’d packed everything up and left before he could even face me. He once told me of his last girlfriend, Constance, so I guess I manifested him going back to her and that weird power thing was just a result of watching too many damn movies.

I am too old to be wishing for superman powers, well
, only unless I am trying to move things. Now that the dreams are coming more and more often, the dreams have seemingly become
what ifs
.  Each dream gets a little bit further each time. He has never told me to wake up, though. That was just crazy. My subconscious really had issues.

My phone was beeping from
missed calls and text messages and all of them were from Shay, of course. I knew she was wondering if I was OK. She knew I’d been a little stressed these past couple of months and thought it was because of the dreams. But it was much more. See, Shay and I bartended five days a week at this nightclub here in town called the Xchange. We had a very big clientele, so we remained extra busy, making most girls wish they were us. Well, that’s actually mean, but we did have a lot of haters that gave us the stank-eye.

What Shay
didn’t know was that I secretly owned the Xchange. I didn’t just run off after my aunt died and become a bartender, though. I actually got my degree in business and accounting, but while going to school, Shay and I picked up bartending on the weekends to make a little bit more cash. Not that we needed the money, but we were bored. When I heard the owner of the Xchange was looking to get out, I had my lawyer draw everything up and the previous owner never knew who was buying. I kept the staff on like usual and if something needed to be done differently, I’d send an email to Jared, who was the club’s manager. He did all the dirty work, but he was real good at his job. Despite his hunger for women and the usual sexual harassment that happened occasionally, he had great promotional skills and made sure the club was always well stocked.

I don’t know why I
didn’t tell anyone that I owned the club; I guess it helped me to know who my actual friends were instead of moochers. 

Of all the things my aunt
left me, I only used what I needed. Yes, it may have seemed like a lot, but the money I had now was the money I made. I bought the club when I graduated from college and, after buying my loft, I also bought two others. I used one of them as my office, an easy tax write-off, and the others were where I painted and hung my photographs. I guess you could say I was undecided as to what I wanted to be when I grew up.

My living area
was in the middle and I had hidden doors that lead to each loft. One door was behind a bookcase and the other was hidden behind my dresser. I was very hands-on with everything when it came to the club. Even though I lead a double life, I took all responsibility.  The only thing I didn’t trouble myself with was payroll. That I contracted out. Payroll was just a pain in the ass to have to deal with and this way if anything went wrong, they’d have to deal with it; not me. I looked at every cent that was spent and taken in. If anything ever needed fixing, I emailed Jared and he made the call. I kind of felt like Charlie from
Charlie’s Angels
. 

Tonight
was going to be one of our most busy nights. It was the first Friday of the month and we had a bar crawl. A bar crawl was when someone paid one fee and scored access to ten different bars, nightclubs, or whatever you want to call them. That meant there would be double security and more waitresses to serve people throughout the club.

Wondering what to wear
, I remembered the new outfit Shay and I got a couple of days ago.  There really hadn’t been anyone since Declan and I dared not speak about him to anyone. Truth was, I didn’t have a heart to give anyone, but I still loved the attention I managed. Don’t get me wrong, I liked guys and there were certain parts of their anatomy that took care of a certain needs every now and then, but to actually spend time with them…

N
o, I didn’t have the desire to have someone stuck up my ass. Honestly, I loved it when names and numbers didn’t get exchanged and, not to mention, I never brought them back to my place. If I ever see them again, then it’s because I met them at the club and they wanted to come back for more. But, then again, what person from a nightclub was decent enough to meet the family to begin with? All the guys there either wanted one-night-stands or they had a girlfriend or wife waiting for them when they get home. That’s why if I sensed a girl’s presence at a guy’s place, I had a certain cab driver I’d text while in the bathroom and I’d tell him to be at the address in an hour. I had no desire to be a part of any drama, so it helped that I didn’t leave a name or number. It worked out great for both of us.

Shay liked
to give me hell about my lifestyle, but it worked for me. So why change? I wasn’t in the market to have my heart broken again, so at the moment this worked for me. I always texted her the address in case she didn’t hear from me the next day and I always called her when I got home.

I guess
I’d fallen off the deep end since Declan left. Now I couldn’t figure out what color I wanted my hair or what my next tattoo was going to be. All I knew was that I had a tight ass, perky tits, and a killer smile. If I wanted someone, all I had to do was point. But at the moment I liked not having to answer to everything I did. Hell, I couldn’t even tell Shay I owned the nightclub we worked. And she wanted me to have a real boyfriend.

R
ight. 

Walking over to the closet
, I dragged out the black leather corset that I bought and my new skinny jeans. I already knew I was wearing what I liked to call my hooker boots, but I needed a belt. Looking through the drawer full of buckles, I settled on my brass knuckle belt with shiny, fake diamonds on it. Yep, I was going to look straight
HAWT
tonight. Not to mention the awesome black leather jacket that went well with the corset.

I
went to take a shower first, knowing the job of straitening my hair would take some time. It was already almost five o’ clock and Shay and I ate together every Friday before heading to the club. She had started seeing someone and I wasn’t sure she would bring him along just to assure me that keeping a guy longer than one night had its benefits. But wasn’t mad at her. As long as she was happy and he helped make her happy, I was fine with it. I quickly texted her back and asked where we were eating.

                           
Me: Where R we meeting?

             
              Shay: Thinking the Cannon

             
              Me: 7:00?

             
              Shay: Yea

             
              Me: K

Now that it was settled, all I had to do was make sure I was on time, because I knew how much Shay hated being late. So, off into the shower I went.

Once out of the shower
, I started doing my make-up, and then my hair. Finishing, I couldn’t help but just look at myself in the mirror. Who was I kidding? I was lonely and keeping this tough girl act up was taking its toll on me. Here I was, dying my hair all kind of colors and any time I got the chance, I was tattooing something new on my body. This week my hair was blonde on top with black in the middle and dark blue on the bottom. Everyone looked forward to see what I‘d do to it nest and my latest artwork was a pair of black angelic wings with white tips that basically covered a great deal of my back. Not to mention the scorpion that was on my foot for my zodiac sign, the tramp stamp on my lower back and a fairy on the back of my neck. The only other body piercing I had besides my ears was the one in my right eyebrow. 

Putting my clothes on
, I couldn’t help but admire how good the finished product looked. Here I stood like something out of a motorcycle magazine with a black leather corset, low rise jeans, and leather knee high boots with candy apple red lips. Who wouldn’t notice me?

Attention
was what I wanted and, believe me, that’s what I got. A little bit of flirting never hurt anyone, especially in my line of work considering I’m a bartender-slash-secret-club-owner.  Anyone could say what they wanted, but it felt good to walk into a room and know that there were always a set of eyes on you. Not just men, either, women too. Women either sized you up or wished they were you.  The men, well, they fantasized or condemned, but in reality—give the opportunity to the condemning ones and they’d certainly rise to the occasion, if you know what I mean. 

Walking around the l
oft, I made sure I had everything and slid on my jacket, digging my keys out of my purse. Just when I was about to hit the door, I heard my phone ringing from my nightstand. 

“Hello
?”

There was no answer.
Oh, well
. I stuck it in my purse and locked everything up. My loft was just one block away from the club, so I usually walked to work, especially since I always drank while on duty. That’s another big no-no, but again, I was the owner and I would do what I wanted to do. The restaurant that I was meeting Shay at was right across the street from the club, so I picked up my pace before she started blowing up my phone. 

Walking out the double door
s that led outside of the loft, I was sure I saw a new tenant moving in. Just so I could stand there a little longer without looking like a total stage-five clinger, I acted like I was looking for something in my purse. He was taking boxes off the moving truck and setting them on the sidewalk, and his t-shirt was thrown over his shoulder while the white tank he wore clung to his skin with sweat. His arms were completely tattooed and I could tell his neck and back were covered in the same tribal décor as well. Under the tank top I could trace the outline of his abs and even manage the “V” that I loved so dearly on a man.  I honestly didn’t know the exact term for it all; I just knew that if you’ve seen Ryan Reynolds bare stomach flex, then you’d know what I was talking about.
His hair was jet black and had that spiked look.
He had very strong arms and they tensed as he grabbed each box effortlessly. I was hoping he was on a totally different floor than me, because I saw a traffic jam in the near future. Someone this pretty was never a good sign—he was the male version of me and that made me smile just thinking about it. While smiling to myself, I hadn’t noticed he was walking towards me.

“Hi
, can you get the door for me? My hands are a little full.”
I couldn’t help but stare into his grey eyes.

“Um
, sure.” Walking to the door, I dropped my keys that I had misleadingly pulled out of my purse and made sure I gracefully bent over to get them.

“Nice
, tatt,” was all I heard as I opened the door for him. I watched him walk into the building and noticed he dropped the box down in front of the door across from mine.
How great
, I thought to myself.

Oh
, well, it was certainly going to be interesting having him across the hall. I wondered what kind of crazies he would attract. Hopefully he would be smart enough to never let them know where he lived. That way we could all get some sleep and not have to worry about a psycho one-night-stand waiting with a gun somewhere. I was texting Shay to let her know I was on my way when I heard his voice over my shoulder.

“Boyfriend?”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but no. And why the hell are you looking over my shoulder reading my text messages?  Stalker much?”

“Well
, I figured I’d return the favor.” He flashed me a small smile.

“Don’t flatter yourself.
I was just thinking it was fifty seven degrees outside and here you are acting like it’s eighty or something.”

Smiling at me as if he knew something I didn’t, he walked back to the moving truck with the cockiest walk I’
d ever seen. I was kind of baffled by his whole approach to me. Wow, that kind of turned me on, but that was something he’d never know.

“My name is Viktor.
Maybe next time you’ll offer a hand instead of watching me struggle.”

“Well
, if I wasn’t on my way to work I might’ve actually shown you how to move those boxes faster than you already are. But then again, I can’t give away all my secrets, now can I?”

“Oh
, really, and with it being this time of night, what is it you actually do?”