My Destiny (15 page)

Chapter 24

“D
estiny?” Adele called out from the living room. “Are you here?”

Destiny raced to her bedroom door and poked her head out and yelled down the hall. “I’m coming. Give me a few minutes. I’m going to jump into the shower.” She slammed the door closed and turned to look at Miles. “You stay right there. I think I can handle this,” she said, grabbing her selected outfit and rushing into the bathroom.

Miles shrugged. “As you wish.”

After a record-breaking shower, Destiny swept into the living room. Her sweatpants and T-shirt clinging to her wet body as though she’d jumped into the water fully dressed. “Mom,” she greeted, breathlessly with her eyes shining, but her wide smile diminished when her gaze shifted to Violet. “Mrs. Stafford.” She blinked in surprise.

Violet, on the other hand, brightened like a ray of sunshine. “Good morning, Destiny. How are you?”

Heat crept into Destiny’s face as a swarm of butterflies filled her stomach. “Huh? Uh, I mean, I’m doing good.” She nodded for emphasis and worried like hell that one of them had mind-reading capabilities, or worse, could see through walls—mothers did, after all, possess unexplained powers.

“That’s good, that’s good,” Violet said.

Silence hung like a death sentence over the three women, before Destiny finally asked, “So what brings you two here?”

Her mother’s brows shot up in surprise. “We’re supposed to go look at those houses you printed from the internet, remember?”

“Houses?” Destiny repeated dumbly, but then her brain jump-started. “Oh, the houses!” She exhaled in a rush of relief, and then admitted laughingly, “I’d forgotten.”

The women smiled.

But that didn’t explain why Violet was there. Her confusion must have shone in her expression because Violet suddenly perked up and answered the unspoken question.

“Oh. I, uh, was just waiting for Miles—”

“He’s not here,” Destiny interrupted.

Violet blinked, and then smiled. “No. I suppose he’s not.” She met and held Destiny’s gaze.

At that moment, a loud thump came from the bedroom.

Destiny’s heart leaped into her throat as she jerked in the direction of the sound.

“What was that?” Adele asked.

Eyes wide, Destiny swiveled back to face them with her mouth open for a convenient lie, but no words came to her rescue.

Adele’s brows rose inquiringly. “Yes?”

“I don’t know. M-maybe I should go check it out,” Destiny said, but didn’t immediately move.

“Ooo-kay,” Adele said, waiting.

Flashing another smile, Destiny turned and dashed to
her bedroom.

* * *

Adele and Violet snickered behind Destiny’s back.

“I think we should leave them alone,” Adele whispered.

Violet’s smile turned smug. “Are you kidding? I say we make them squirm.”

Destiny flew into her bedroom and slammed the door behind her. “What on earth are you doing in here?” she whispered through clenched teeth.

Wearing a towel draped around his hips, Miles hopped on one foot. He frowned and hissed back. “I stubbed my toe on the nightstand. Is that all right with you?”

“No, it’s not. They heard you back here.”

“They?” Miles lowered his foot, but continued frowning. “Who’s all out there?”

“Our mothers!”

“
My
mom is here?” Miles asked in disbelief.

“Yes.” Destiny flailed her arms. “It’s like they have a damn radar gun on us or something.”

“Well, I don’t know about your mother, but that’s definitely a possibility with mine,” Miles said. “Did she say what she was doing here?”

Destiny paced nervously. “She said she was waiting for you.”

“Oh.” Miles slapped his forehead and rolled his eyes heavenward. “I forgot. I’m supposed to take her car shopping.”

“Well, she’s out there waiting for you. Any ideas on how we get you out of here without them seeing you?”

Miles drew a blank and shrugged.

Destiny moaned and shook her head. “I was afraid of that.”

“I got it.” He snapped his fingers. “Tell her you just called me and I’m out with Wes and, uh, I told you to tell her to go on to the car dealership and I’ll meet her there within the hour.” He brightened as if it was an ingenious plan.

“You want me to lie to her?” she asked in mild shock, not daring to tell him that she’d already lied to her once.

“Fine, then. Tell her I’m back here, waiting for you to get rid of them so we can finish what we started.”

Destiny picked up a pillow from the bed and flung it at him.

Miles ducked and came up smiling. “Look, we can’t have our cake and eat it, too.”

She huffed and squeezed her forehead as if she’d suddenly developed a headache.

“Do you have a better plan?” he asked, sitting on the bed.

“Of course I do. I just like biting my nails for fun.”

“Well, at least hand me my pants so I can stop parading around like this,” he said, returning his gaze back to his injured foot.

“What pants?”

Miles’s head jerked back in her direction. “You didn’t get my pants from the living room?”

Destiny’s eyes widened as the blood drained from her face. “I—I didn’t think...” She turned toward the bedroom door, suddenly afraid to go back out of it. “They may have already seen them.”

“Wait, wait.” He came around the bed and over to her. “Let’s not panic. Maybe they haven’t seen my pants...and boxers. Where was my mother when you went out there?”

“Standing behind the sofa,” she admitted, then covered her mouth with her hand and mumbled, “They know.”

“Now, calm down. You don’t know that for sure.”

“Come on. They’ve been here at least fifteen minutes. Surely, they’ve gone to sit down in the living room by now.” She started pacing again. “Damn, damn, damn.”

“We’re not going to get anywhere panicking.”

Destiny turned angry eyes toward him. “I know that you’re trying to be the voice of reason but, quite frankly, you’re riding my last nerve.”

Miles held his hand up in surrender. “I was just trying to help.”

Destiny drew in a deep breath, and then headed for the door.

“What are you going to do?” Miles asked.

She turned toward him, with a blank expression. “I’m going to wing it. Wish me luck.”

Now he drew a deep breath, as well. “Good luck.” He watched her as she slipped out of the door before adding, “Because you’re going to need it dealing with my mother.”

* * *

“It was nothing,” Destiny informed Adele and Violet, who were sitting at the breakfast bar, when she returned. “Just a book fell from the nightstand.”

As they sipped from the steaming coffee cups, the women’s
gazes rose to meet her.

Destiny relaxed at the thought there was still a chance they hadn’t gone to sit in the living room yet. She chanced a nervous glance over into the living room and saw Miles’s clothes in a pile by the coffee table.

“Destiny?” Her mother’s voice caught her attention.

She jerked her gaze back to them. “Yes?”

“I was asking you what book you were reading?”

“What book?” Destiny asked, her mind drawing a blank.

Adele blinked. “The book that fell in your room—
anything good?”

Destiny blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “The Bible,” she lied.

“The Bible,” Adele repeated, and then looked to Violet.

Great,
Destiny thought,
I am going to hell for this one.
“Yeah, just figured it was about time I, uh, read it.”

Violet and her mother just nodded with barely suppressed smiles. Probably, Destiny guessed, because they didn’t buy the lie.

“By the way.” Destiny thought it was best to change the subject so she launched right into another lie. “I just called Miles on his cell.”

Violet lifted a delicate arched brow. “Oh?”

“Uh, yeah.” Destiny cleared her throat. “He’s out doing something with Wes and he asked that I tell you to go ahead on to the dealership and, uh, he will meet you there in about an hour.”

Violet held her gaze for what seemed like, to Destiny, an eternity before she finally smiled and asked, “Did he now?”

Destiny swallowed hard and nodded. In her mind, she could smell and hear the fires of hell roaring toward her.

Adele lowered her head and sipped her coffee.

Destiny’s heart dropped when she thought for a fleeting moment that she’d actually seen a smile hugging her mother’s
lips.

Violet, on the other hand, drew in a deep breath and gave Destiny a wide, beautiful smile. “Well, isn’t that just like Miles to run off with Wes like that? Did he happen to say which dealership?”

“Which dealership?” Destiny repeated, with a rising panic.

Violet nodded. “Yes. We’d talked about several models yesterday and couldn’t decide on a Lexus or a Mercedes.”

Destiny stared, and then picked one herself. “Lexus—I believe.”

Though Destiny would’ve thought it impossible, Violet’s smile brightened.

“Excellent choice, my dear,” Violet said, winking. She took another sip of her coffee and stood from the bar. “Then I guess I better get a move on if I plan to catch him.”

“I’ll go down with you,” Adele suggested. “I think I left something in my car.” She looked at Destiny. “You’re going to need a few minutes to get ready, aren’t you? Or are you going dressed like that?”

“Oh—yeah.” She smiled. “It’s going to take me at least a half an hour.”

“Take your time. In fact, I’ll just run a few errands and come back,” Adele said, still smiling. She turned and walked with Violet to the door.

Destiny followed demurely, relieved to get rid of them so easily. But victory slipped through her fingers when Violet turned around.

“Destiny, my dear. When you speak to Miles, tell him to hurry and that I’d appreciate it if he take better care of those expensive, silk boxers I bought him for Christmas, and not just leave them lying around your living room.” She leaned over, kissed Destiny’s cheek and then slipped out the door.

Adele, barely able to suppress her laughter, also kissed Destiny and said, “Take your time. I’ll call before I come back.”

Chapter 25

M
iles stood from the bed when Destiny returned. “Well?” he asked, eagerly.

Despondent, Destiny threw his clothes and hit him squarely in the face. “Your mother asks that you don’t leave your boxers lying around the apartment.”

Miles’s shoulders hunched forward as his mouth dropped open. “You’re kidding me.”

She plopped down beside him on the bed. “I wish I was.” She shook her head and rolled her eyes at the sound of Miles’s deep rumble of laughter as it filled the room.

“This isn’t funny,” Destiny whined miserably. “How long do you think it will be before all our friends know about what happened?”

“What’s the big deal if they find out?”

Destiny held out her hand. “For one thing, I don’t want everyone thinking that we’re an instant couple. Especially, when I haven’t had time to think about how I feel about what happened last night.”

Miles clamped his jaw shut as her words plunged like a knife into his heart. “Good point.” For the first time in his life, he was going to be the recipient of the “let’s be friends” speech after a wild night of passionate sex. He felt sick.

Destiny continued to ramble about the consequences of their actions without looking up at Miles. If she had, he was sure she’d have easily read his pained expression.

By the time she did look at him, he had his emotions safely hidden beneath a stony facade.

“You understand what I’m saying, don’t you?” she asked.

“Makes perfect sense to me,” he said, retrieving his boxers and slipping them on.

Destiny exhaled. “Good. I knew you would. I mean, we don’t want to make last night too much of a big deal. And we don’t need to involve our friends in what happened, right?”

“Right.” He removed the towel, and then grabbed his pants.

She smiled and the sight of her relief only twisted the knife in his heart.

“I better get going,” he said.

“Oh,” Destiny said. “I told your mother to meet you at the Lexus dealership. I assume you know which one.”

He nodded and turned toward the door.

“Hey.” Destiny stood and touched his arm. “Are you all right?”

Anger boiled in his blood as he looked at her, but he kept his hard mask in place. “Never better,” he responded, his voice devoid of emotion.

Destiny’s hand fell from his arm as she studied him.

Not in the mood to be dissected, Miles turned and left her bedroom.

“Something is wrong. Tell me what it is,” she said, following close on his heels.

“There’s nothing to tell.” He kept walking. He went into the kitchen and continued on to the adjoining laundry room where he pulled his shirt out of the dryer.

“I don’t believe you,” she said, crossing her arms and blocking his exit from the laundry room.

Miles, however, placed his hands on her shoulders and physically moved her away from the door frame. “I gotta go,” he said icily and headed toward the door.

“Miles,” she snapped.

He jerked back and faced her. “Tell you what... Why don’t you get back to me when you figure out what you want or where you think we should go from here—especially since you’ve made it clear that my feelings on the matter are moot.”

Before Destiny had a chance to respond, Miles turned, wrenched open the door and slammed it behind him.

Destiny felt as if she’d been cast in a bad movie as she stared at the closed door. What had she done? They hadn’t been out the bed more than an hour and already they were fighting. She slapped her hand against her forehead. “Stupid, stupid, stupid.”

* * *

“Stupid, stupid, stupid.” Miles entered his apartment with a strong need to throw something. He had never felt so humiliated. Why couldn’t he have left last night when she’d asked him—why did he have to play hero in the first place? He collapsed into a nearby chair in the living room and tried to figure out a way to repair the damage to his and Destiny’s friendship.

* * *

The sound of the telephone ringing was slow to penetrate Lu Jin’s dreamy haze. In fact, she’d hoped for a few more hours of sleep before she actually had to get out of bed. But apparently, the caller either had something important to say or didn’t have a life.

“Are you going to get that or am I going to have to throw that damn thing across the room?”

She moaned and wished like hell she’d remembered to buy a new answering machine yesterday. She stretched an arm out from beneath the covers and fumbled around the nightstand in search of the hand unit. “This better be good,” she said, groggily.

“Lu Jin, it’s me, Destiny.”

Lu Jin’s eyes lifted slightly. “I’m listening.”

Just then, another shrill ring filled the bedroom and a groan rose from the covers beside her.

“Lu Jin,” Destiny continued. “Something terrible has happened.”

Another shrill ring and Wes threw back the sheets and grabbed his cell phone. “Make it fast,” he mumbled.

“Wes? This is Miles. Man, something bad has happened.”

“What is it?” Lu Jin and Wes asked in unison, and then looked at each other.

“Miles and I slept together.”

“Destiny and I slept together.”

Lu Jin and Wes pressed their hands over their mouthpieces and looked at each other. “They did it.”

“That’s great,” Lu Jin exclaimed.

“You are the man,” Wes encouraged with a wide grin, while simultaneously draping an arm around Lu Jin. “I’m glad you finally took the plunge.”

“It’s a disaster,” Destiny complained in a strained voice.

“Wes, I made a complete fool of myself.”

Lu Jin and Wes bolted upright and asked in unison, “What happened?” They looked at each other.

“He left here angry,” Destiny said. “I think it’s because I said that I wasn’t sure where we should go with the relationship. I don’t know. I don’t know what I was saying. I guess a part of me didn’t want him to feel pressured into anything—then again, he told me that he loved me.”

“I told her I loved her.”

“He said what?”

“You told her what?”

Again, Lu Jin and Wes looked at each other.

“Is someone there?” Destiny asked.

“Did I catch you at a bad time, Wes?”

“N-no, the television is on,” they both lied to their friends.

Lu Jin placed her hand over her mouthpiece. “I’ll be right back,” she whispered to Wes. She climbed out of bed, slipped into her robe and left her bedroom so she could continue the conversation in private. “Now, tell me what happened,” she asked, when she’d eased into a chair in the kitchen. “From the beginning.”