He hoped her stepfather was okay, so Destiny would have something to exert her revenge on. He wanted her to get some satisfaction from hurting the man who had hurt her.
Last night, after he had brought Destiny home, he had to explain everything to his parents. His father had looked at him with understanding, but one person didn’t understand and it was Natalie. He had no idea why but Natalie suddenly didn’t like Destiny anymore. In the beginning, she had like Destiny but when things had shown signs of him being serious with her, Natalie wanted none of it.
If Destiny woke up, he’d have to take her to meet his parents; that was the agreement for letting him stay the night with her. And boy was he glad he did. Destiny squirmed and he gave her enough space to move before cradling her in his arms. Holding her brought him a great deal of satisfaction.
The alarm buzzed and before Noah could react, Destiny was already up. She started to get up out of the bed, but she paused and turned to look at him. Noah watched the glow in her face dim. The events of last night must have played in her head because tears gathered in her eyes.
“Come here.”
Destiny crawled onto his lap and Noah pecked her forehead. He hugged her tight in a bid to let her know she wasn’t alone.
“Last night was fun,” Noah whispered and kissed her ear.
Destiny chuckled and hugged him tighter. “I had fun too.”
Noah raised her head to face him. He kissed her and his hands crawled up her shirt. Destiny moaned and that was enough to have a repeat of last night, but he knew they shouldn’t. He ended the kiss and placed a soft one on her forehead.
“I love you,” he said and waited. He hoped she’d say, but he wouldn’t mind if she didn’t.
“I love you too.”
Noah sighed in contentment and hugged her tighter. Having Destiny in his bed and his arms around her was more than enough. But as much as he wanted to remain in bed with her, and kiss and make love to her, they had to step out and face the real world. His parents were already awake; he didn’t have to be in the house to know. Maybe instead of the force of habit, it was the excitement of meeting Destiny. He didn’t know how to tell Destiny that his family wanted to meet her but he had to. He kissed the top of her head again.
“I have to go back.”
“What? Why?”
Destiny pulled away from the hug. “I live there.”
Noah stared at her, trying to figure out if she was joking, but Destiny held his eyes. She had said it like that had all the explanation if Noah wanted them and he wanted them; only, this explanation made no sense to him. He couldn’t understand it because just yesterday she had been in hysterics, crying. Hell, she was almost raped and she wanted to go back to the hellhole? She had to be joking.
“Tell me you’re joking.”
“I can’t just run away. This isn’t the first time and he always stops after an attempt. I can’t just run away from home because my mom’s husband is a dick. I live there. I know Noah, I’m the one who felt his lips and hands all over me. Think about my mother.”
“What about her?”
Destiny sighed like the conversation exhausted her. “I need to go home.”
“You might get hurt.”
“I can handle myself. I’ve been doing it for a long time now, haven’t I?”
“But I’m here now. Hell, Destiny I got you. I don’t want you to risk anything. I don’t want to lose you.”
“You’re not going to lose me. I’m just going to return home, no big deal. I have to go to school.”
“You can go from here.”
“And your parents?”
“They want to meet you.”
“Noah really- What?”
Noah drew a long breath to calm himself. Destiny was as stubborn as they come. How could she not see she was endangering herself? What infuriated him more was the knowledge that Ronnie came at her constantly. Now, she was looking at him like he had gone nuts.
“My parents would like to meet you.”
“You told them about me?”
“You’re my girlfriend and mate, I wasn’t going to not tell them.”
“Girlfriend?”
Was she being serious? Of course she was his girlfriend, how did she not know? The wide eyed looked told him she really had no idea they were dating. Noah pushed back a groan and nodded sharply, but Destiny still looked at him in shock. Noah reached for her and wrapped his arms around her waist, She wrapped hers around his neck. He kissed her softly before pulling away and looking in her eyes.
“Will you like to be my girlfriend?”
Destiny nodded and laughed a little before kissing him. Noah had to admit, he loved it when she kissed him first.
“Meet my parents.”
Destiny pulled away quickly and before Noah could speak, she started pacing. “They’re not going to like me. You’re rich and I’m so poor. They won’t want their son to marry a poor person. They’re going to hate me; I’m not even putting on my clothes.”
Noah reached out for her and pulled her close, silencing her panic with an effective kiss. “No one’s going to hate you, they’ll love you because I do. They’ll accept you because you’re an angel and you’re the best thing to ever happen to me. And I’ll be with you the entire time.”
“You promise?”
“Cross my heart.”
Destiny nodded her head and Noah took her hand and led her out of the room. He made a mental note to himself to recall to clean the room and save his mother the stress and shock. He watched Destiny taking in the house and he wished she’d voice her thought. He knew she was wowed by the structure by the way her jaw kept dropping. He led her past the pool and into the kitchen through the back door. As soon as they stepped into the kitchen, Noah saw his family and Destiny did too because she tightened her grip on Noah’s hand. He rubbed soothing circles on the back of her hand.
“Destiny, it’s so lovely to finally meet you,” his mother came forward and hugged her. Noah let go of Destiny’s hand but she didn’t hug his mother back.
“Nice to meet you too Mrs. Powers.”
“You can call me Analina. You’re Noah’s special friend.”
Destiny looked to the ground and Noah rolled his eyes. “Girlfriend ma. You can say it.”
His father laughed and came forward. He extended his hand for a shake, “You can call me Andrew. I’m your boyfriend’s father. It’s nice to meet you.”
Destiny shook his hand and smiled up at him. Noah watched her say hello to Natalie but his sister mumbled something inaudible which earned a frown from all of them, but in Destiny’s case, it was confusion. His mother handed Destiny a cup of coffee which she collected with a smile.
“We called in the school to make an excuse for your absence. Noah told us how important your record is to you.”
Destiny’s mouth parted slightly. “Thank you so much.”
“It’s alright. It’s the least we can do after everything you’ve been through. Noah told us and you’re welcome to stay here for as long as you need.”
“Separate rooms,” Andrew added and Destiny and Analina laughed. Noah rolled his eyes.
Natalie scoffed.
“Why don’t you head up to Noah’s room, we’ll call you down for breakfast.”
***
“Does Natalie hate me?”
“What?”
“She hasn’t said anything to me and she keeps glaring at me.”
“She doesn’t hate you. She’s just being Natalie,” Noah replied as he led her through the paths.
They had finished breakfast and Noah offered to take her for a walk. The walk was into the woods where Noah said had many exciting animals and places. He mentioned a waterfall and that had piqued her attention. They walked down the path with their hands linked. Noah didn’t like lying to Destiny, but he wasn’t about to tell her that his sister was against their relationship. Knowing her, Noah had no doubt she’d try her best to befriend Natalie and he didn’t want her going throug
h the stress. Natalie would come around at her own time.
They crossed the forest with Noah pointing out every squirrel they passed. The waterfall was just up ahead and Noah hoped by the time they walked down to the water, he’d have managed to talk Destiny into going skinny dipping with him. He found out Destiny had a ticklish spot, and she was also one of those people who didn’t need to be touched to be tickled. He found if he wiggled his fingers, he’d get Destiny to start laughing. More often than not, Destiny ran each time he had to tickle her. He chased her and pulled her down to the ground and tickled her until she begged for mercy. Then Noah kissed her.
He had managed to get a kiss with Destiny’s back pressed on half the trees they passed. One of their kisses had led to a make out session so intense Noah wanted to take her right there on the forest floors. Then Destiny had whispered waterfall and Noah had to regain control of his raging hormones.
The closer they got to the waterfall, the more difficult Noah found it to keep his hands off her. When they got to the waterfalls, Destiny had spent a long time being amazed by the waterfall and Noah had spent the exact same time being amazed by her. He came up behind her and wrapped an arm around her waist. He bit her ear lightly.
“Want to go skinny dipping.”
Destiny laughed. “You’re joking.”
When Noah didn’t reply, Destiny turned to look at him. She watched him and grinned before taking off. “Last one to the waterfall loses.”
Noah chased after her but found it almost difficult to catch up with her and he had to employ a little of his second personality to actually catch up to her. When he finally did, he caught her by the waist and kissed her.
“You’re a fantastic runner.”
Destiny grinned. “I try.”
“I can get you on the school’s team.”
Destiny’s smiled disappeared. “I’m not interested.”
“Destiny, I got you. You can try out and get in and if anyone tries to harass you, they’ll have me and my family to contend with.”
“I don’t know.”
“You’ll be fine, I promise. For me?”
Destiny bit her bottom lip and nodded, “Fine, I’ll tell Ms. Bee.”
Noah picked her up and twirled her around, earning a laugh from Destiny. The second he dropped her, he was kissing her.
“You won’t regret this.”
“I’m counting on you to keep me safe.”
“I will,” Noah promised, and it was promise he intended to honor.
Destiny pulled away from him and walked backwards to the water. As she moved, she locked eyes with him and pulled off the shirt she wore. She slid down the trousers she wore and Noah felt his pulse quicken. All she had on was her panties and bra. He watched her take those off too and she smiled slyly at him.
“Coming?”
Noah didn’t need the invitation twice; he took of his clothes and jumped in after her. Destiny came up to him and pressed herself to him. On her lips, Noah found a taste he knew he’d crave all his life. She pressed herself to him and Noah responded as best as he could, giving her all of him to do whatever.
***
As they dressed to go home, Noah couldn’t shake off the knot in his stomach. He feared that when they got home, Destiny would still insist on going home. His parents had managed to convince her to stay until things cooled down a bit. His father had promised to keep checking because the last he heard, Ronnie had been rushed to the hospital and her mother was just fine.
But now, he was consumed by Destiny that he couldn’t imagine a single day not spent by her side. Destiny slid on her clothes and he did so too. She held his hand as they walked back to the mansion and he couldn’t take his eyes off her as they walked in silence. He wanted to hold her forever, but he’d content himself with knowing she was going to try out for the team.
The bird chirped loudly and Destiny took in the scene.
“I think I should tell Cathy what happened. She’d be worried that I didn’t come into work today.”
Noah shut his eyes; he had forgotten about Cathy. “When we get home, you’ll call her. I have her number.”
Destiny flashed him a smile. “Thanks. And Kimberly too.”
“And Kimberly too.”
Noah smelt them before he saw them. Before he could react and push Destiny out of the way, a shot was ringing in the air and something was piercing through his leg. Noah screamed and fell on the floor. Before Destiny could get to him, a bullet stopped her. Noah growled loudly. He looked at his leg: it was supposed to heal but it wasn’t. Noah swore loudly because whomever it was had used a silver bullet. He struggled to stand up and he succeeded. As he made his way over to where she laid, he was stopped midway when another bullet pierced his stomach, sending him back down. Destiny was gasping for air and Noah was begging her to hold on.
He crawled towards her but Destiny’s face had already gone pale. She was sweating and when he looked at her bullet wound in her chest, she was bleeding really bad. Ignoring his wound, he struggled to sit up. He dragged Destiny to his lap and tried to apply pressure to her wound.
“It’s okay,” Destiny choked out.
“Shhh, don’t speak, you’ll be fine. Save your strength.”
“You’re bleeding too.”
“I’m fine.”
Tears rolled down the corner of her eyes. Destiny swallowed the pain and looked back at Noah, “It hurts so much.”
“I know baby, just hold on for me.”
“I love you.”
Noah pressed down on her wound and tried to stop the bleeding. He had no idea how to call for help and Destiny was bleeding fast. He couldn’t lose her; he had only just found her. He needed her to live. Noah went mad with panic.
“Destiny, I’ll carry you.”
Only Destiny didn’t reply. He listened for a pulse but couldn’t hear one. Noah looked at her body in his arms and a loud roar escaped him.
Author’s Note
Thank you so much for reading Destiny. This is my debut book as an author and I really had a hard time writing it at times. Destiny went through so much turmoil that I really wanted to climb into the story myself and deal with the bullies myself. I am so glad that Noah became her protector and showed her a measure of friendship even though it was for a little while. Whether or not you enjoyed this book, I would really appreciate if you left an honest review on Amazon or Goodreads, as your thoughts are very important to me.
I would also like to take this moment to thank my mom and husband for their unending support. I appreciate you all.
Be on the look out for Destiny Unleashed in the spring of 2020.
Do you want to be the one of first to learn about book updates, giveaways and more from the author? Like Rachael Glass on facebook.
Destiny: BWWM High School Romance Page 15