Destiny Binds (18 page)

“It was a text. No one uses correct spelling when they text.” He took the phone from me, brow furrowed. “If you didnʼt send it, who did?”

I could only think of one person with both access and motivation. I walked over to where my sister was spinning around with her arms stretched out to her sides. “Angel, did you steal my phone?”

“I
borrowed
it,” she said, picking up speed.

“Why did you tell Alex to meet us here?”

She finally stopped spinning and promptly tumbled onto her butt. “Cause no one ever comes out here. We can all hang out and no one will ever know. Itʼs like having a secret club.” Not for the first time, I thought that my little sister had all the makings to be an evil genius.

The Pretty Purple Unicorn Club, named by President and Founder Angela Sophia Donovan, met as often as possible. We would talk while Alex pushed Angel in the swing or as we walked the woodland trails, Angel riding on Alexʼs back. When it was time to leave, Angel would graciously go wait in the car so Alex and I could have a few minutes alone. I found my affection for both the ruinous park and my little sister growing.

By the time March rolled around I was in a state of perpetual bliss. I had an amazing boyfriend who completely adored me. Okay, so he was a secret boyfriend who I couldnʼt be seen with in public, but thanks to Angel we got to spend several afternoons a week together. I was coming into the home stretch of my Senior year, and the homework was already starting to slack off. Calculus was even becoming easier, or at least I was starting to understand nearly half of what Mr. Beck said. And Toby had followed through with the private lessons. Every Friday I would drive down to the Base and allow Charlieʼs sadistic big brother to torture me. It was great. I felt stronger and more capable than ever.

After one particularly punishing session Toby left me to do repetitions with the bag as my penance for losing yet another sparring match. The front door was left open to let in the first warm, Spring-like day of the year. The breeze that wafted in smelled of rain and dirt. My iPod was cranked up, filling my ears with ass-kicking appropriate music. It wasnʼt long before I decided to throw form out the window and started adding a few hip shakes and shimmies to my routine. I completed a rather beautifully executed round-house kick and twirled around a couple of times, planning to hit my second imaginary opponent with a right hook. Instead, I collided into a rather solid chest.

I let out a girly yelp and would have fallen down if two strong hands hadnʼt caught my shoulders and held me in place.

“Who are you and what have you done with my Scout, the one who doesnʼt dance?” Charlie was standing so close I could smell his cinnamon flavored gum.

I stepped back, wondering how fast my heart could beat before it completely gave out.

“That wasnʼt dancing. It was a new variant of Kenpo.” Lying was much preferable to admitting that I had actually been attempting to dance. Everyone knew that when it came to getting a groove on, I was a complete lost cause. For all my supposed grace, Iʼm a disaster on the dance floor. Want someone to execute a perfect butterfly kick or walk the narrowest of balance beams? Iʼm your girl. Just donʼt ask me to mambo or whatever. Talley, who dances like freaking Ginger Rogers despite her size, thinks itʼs because Iʼm too much of a control freak to let myself go and move with the music.

Personally, I think that is ridiculous. My theory - that my hips are somehow misaligned and therefore wonʼt work right - makes much more sense.

Of course, when it comes to Charlie and Jase and their incessant teasing, the reason didnʼt matter. All they care about is getting as much entertainment at my expense as possible.

“A variant of Kenpo, huh?” Charlie cocked an eyebrow at me, which was only mildly sexy. “I didnʼt realize that Bob Fosse ever contributed to the martial arts.”

“You know, Chuck, it takes a very confident man to make a Bob Fosse reference.”

“Are you questioning my manliness, Miss Donovan? Because Iʼm quite capable of proving to you what a strong manly man I am.”

I pulled up one corner of my mouth in a smirk. “As if you could take me.” Charlie crouched down and began snapping his fingers as he circled me.

“Fosse and
West Side Story. Whatʼs next? Do you want to get a manicure and talk about your feelings?” I teased, snapping along as the Shark to his Jet. Or maybe I was the Jet and he was the Shark.

I stepped to the right just as he lunged for me. My left leg snapped out to sweep his feet out from under him.

“Is that seriously all youʼve got?” I asked as he landed on the mat. I held out my hand to help him up. “I was really expecting a bit more of a fight out of you.” He may not have heard the last few words since I was flying through the air as I said them.

I rolled as I hit the mat, narrowly avoiding being penned by Charlie. We were both on our feet in a matter of seconds.

When it came to fighting, Charlie relied more on strength than speed and agility. He also tended to hold back, grossly underestimating my abilities. For a few minutes I fought in a style that mimicked his own, lulling him into believed that he would be able to best me. Then, as he was delivering a right punch, I surprised him by stepping towards him, instead of backing away. My right leg snaked around and caught him behind the knees. The plan had been for him to go down. It hadnʼt included me sprawled underneath him on the mat, but somehow I ended up there anyway.

“Now, who is the He-Man?” Charlie put just enough weight on his elbows to keep me from being squished to death.

“You are,” I said as a drop of sweat fell from his hair onto my forehead. “Youʼre very masculine and strong and sweaty and gross.”

Charlie gave me a look I knew all too well. “Sweaty and gross, huh?” He then proceeded to rub as much of his perspiration on me as possible. It really shouldnʼt have been the sort of thing that qualified as a turn-on, but there was a part of me that didnʼt seem to understand that.

“Youʼre not exactly disproving my point,” I managed to get out between yelps and giggles.

Charlie quit his assault, but stayed perched above me. All I could see was the mossy green of his eyes. “Tell me what a nice smelling, hygienically superior man I am.”

“You know how I feel about lying.”

He leaned in closer, which I would have thought impossible until he did it, and playfully growled at me. How did I ever think that noise was a hundred percent human? Heat was radiating off his body. If I didnʼt know that it was the night before a full moon, I might have thought he had a fever. I wanted to be angry at these obvious signs of his dual nature, of the truth that had been hidden from me. Perhaps I was, but that emotion was eclipsed by a much stronger one.

I lay there, staring up at a face I had know my whole life, and all I could think of was how much and how long I had wanted him. I could feel every spot that our bodies connected - his knees on either side of mine, his hands enclosed around my wrists, the gentle pressure of his right hip against my left. I was frozen in place, unable to speak, move, or look away. Then something in his eyes changed. The pupils dilated as playfulness was erased by something more intense.

“And you know how I feel about her.”

My chin reflexively tilted up. The world had narrowed down to the space between Charlieʼs lips and mine. I wondered how they would feel, how they would taste. They were a bit fuller Alexʼs lips. Would that make a difference?

Alex.

Just like that, the moment was over.

“Let me up.” I had been shooting for playful, but from the way Charlie jerked away Iʼm guessing I failed miserably. “I need to hit the showers and head home,” I said quickly, attempting damage control. “Mom is expecting me for dinner.” What was I doing?

I was with Alex. Alex, who, against all odds, loved me. I got caught up in the moment with Charlie, but it wasnʼt going to happen again.

And who knows how Charlie would have reacted if I followed through?
“And you know how
I feel about her.”
That could have meant anything. It could have been,
“I feel like sheʼs the
sister I never had,”
or
“I feel like sheʼs kind of pathetic and worthy of my sympathy.”
Why did I automatically think he meant that he had
feeling
feelings for me? It was ridiculous.

But there was that moment when he had looked at me like he wanted me to kiss him. Like he wanted
.

No. I wasnʼt going to think about that.

Alex. I was going to think about Alex - the curve of his smile, the smell of his skin. I was going to think about all the ways I didnʼt deserve him and how I wasnʼt going to add to that already depressingly long list.

***

The next morning I stumbled my way to the kitchen in dire need of coffee. Most of the time I avoided the stuff. It didnʼt matter how much sugar, milk, and flavoring I put in, it still tasted bitter and repulsive. But I was dragging from a night of restless sleep. The Alex at the lake dream, which I continued to have on a regular basis, had featured a dark and violent storm. Cold rain soaked my clothes and branches slapped against my skin so savagely I was surprised to find my face and arms unmarked when I woke up. The worst part, though, was knowing that this time it was all my fault. I was the one who caused the storm, the one who was causing Alex, still stuck on the opposite shore, to suffer.

I didnʼt need Dr. Phil to tell me I was carrying around some guilt for what almost happened with Charlie.

I had a lot of time to think about the whole situation between the hours of three and five that morning since sleep eluded me. The ideal solution would have been for me to stop feeling that way towards Charlie. If I could just have normal, cousin-like feelings towards him the problem would be solved.

I was self-aware enough to realize that wasnʼt happening.

I had to settle for option number two: Avoid Charlie. I couldnʼt exactly be almost kissing him if I didnʼt see him. I reasoned that it would be relatively easy since he went to college hundreds of miles away. It was only the rare holiday or weekend that would require any actual effort.

As I paused outside the kitchen door, I discovered a flaw in my plan.

“Sheʼs sure thatʼs where theyʼll be?” Charlie asked. I could hear him munching on something. Knowing Charlie, it was the last of my Capʼn Crunch. I had half a box left, which translated into Charlieʼs usual breakfast.

“Yeah, she Saw it the other day,” Jase said. He was closer to the door, probably sitting on the kitchen counter. “She narrowed it down to the woods between Pelican Landing and the dock at the end of Chestnut-Oak Drive.”

“Weʼll have to do it right after sundown.” I heard something that sounded suspiciously like cereal being poured into a bowl. “Toby will expect us to meet up with him by dawn. Heʼll be pissed if he finds out what weʼre up to.”

“Itʼll be worth it if we can get rid of them permanently this time.” No.

No, they couldnʼt really be talking about doing what I thought they were talking about doing.

But, of course they were. There was only one person - well, two really - that they would be trying to get rid of on the night of a full moon.

My brother was talking about doing something to Alex.

It was a good thing I hadnʼt eaten any breakfast yet. The way my stomach suddenly dropped would have certainly brought up anything it had been holding.

It took me a second to realize all the noise from the kitchen had stopped. The only thing I could hear was my pulse drumming in my ears.

“Scout?”

Alex had told me that on the day of a full moon he could hear every heart beating in a classroom. Jase and Charlie had to know I was there and that something was causing my heart to race. As I pushed open the kitchen door I tried to think of a reasonable explanation for why that was.

Just as I had predicted, Jase sat on the counter, his plaid pajama clad legs dangling.

Charlie was draped in a chair, an empty box of cereal sat beside him on the table. My arms immediately wrapped around my chest. The thin sleep shirt I was wearing left little to the imagination.

“I didnʼt know Charlie was here,” I said to Jase, not bothering to hide the reproach in my voice. The residual embarrassment from yesterdayʼs incident would serve as an excellent cover for my outside the door lurking and heart racing. It even had the added bonus of not requiring any acting or lying on my part.

“Weʼre going to camp out tonight.”

Camping out. Turning into coyotes and trying to kill my boyfriend. It was all the same thing, really.

Play it cool, Scout. You can do this.

“Camping? In March?”

“Weʼre manly men,” Charlie said with a wink, causing the corners of my lips to twitch against my will.

“Iʼve not seen much evidence to support that claim.”

The look on Charlieʼs face was positively wicked. “Do you want another piece of me, Scout?” He managed to deliver the common line of trash talk so that it sounded like a come-on.

And, despite everything, I did want a piece of him. All sorts of pieces. Lip pieces. Hand pieces. And his Adamʼs apple. Charlie had a very nice looking Adamʼs apple.

I was still stammering for a response when something fell onto my head, obscuring my vision. Once I pulled it off, I realized it was one of Momʼs cardigan sweaters. Jase must have reached into the mud room and grabbed the first thing he found.

“You looked cold,” he said in a flat voice.

The sweater was a bit small on me, the sleeves stopping a good two inches above my wrists, but it managed to cover me up and get my hormones in check.

“What are you doing home anyway?” I asked Charlie. “Arenʼt you supposed to be spending your Spring Break in Miami with December or whatever her name is?” Of course, I knew her name was January, but only because Jase had finally told me, and he only did that after I questioned him directly. Since Charlie never bothered mentioning that he had a girlfriend, I didnʼt feel compelled to call her the right name.

Charlie gave Jase a quick, annoyed look before telling me, a bit too enthusiastically, “Weʼre leaving Monday. I promised Jase a camping trip first.” Yeah, I couldnʼt imagine poor stupid-month-for-a-name would be very understanding when Charlie disappeared for an entire night during their romantic getaway. Also, it would be a bit difficult for him to attack my boyfriend from a different state.