Fates' Destiny Page 9

  He sat there with his head resting on his propped hand, picking at the pepperoni and cheese on his pizza.

  “Jason, is everything ok?”

  He glanced up at her without lifting his head and without a word turned his attention back to his pizza.

  Huh. Destiny’s brow furrowed. No disrespectful retort. No death glare. Something had this kid upset and she was determined to find out what it was.

  “I may be able to help.” She urged.

  “It’s nothing.” He mumbled and stabbed his finger into his pizza as if it had done something to him.

  Ok. Let’s try another angle. “Girls, do you guys know what’s wrong with Jason?”

  “He can’t catch a ball.” Ali snorted and Jason’s head snapped up.

  “Shut up Ali.” He growled.

  Destiny’s brow drew together once again. “You can’t catch a baseball?”

  When Jason didn’t respond Ali answered for him.

  “He’s scared of the ball. His coach told him today that if he couldn’t get over his fear then he won’t be able to play in the game next week.”

  Destiny nodded. She understood being afraid of a ball. After all, she’d gone through the same thing when she played softball as a kid.

  Without a word Jason shoved his chair back, stood up, and started for the archway.

  “Wait Jason!”

  Destiny stood up and chased him into the living room.

  “I don’t want to talk about it.” He told her as he continued to the stairs.

  “Ok. I just want you to know that I went through the same thing and I may be able to help.”

  He froze on the bottom step and turned back to her, curiosity etching his young face. “You were afraid to catch a ball too?”

  She nodded, happy she got his attention. “I was terrified it would hit me in the head and kill me.”

  “Me too.” He stepped off the stair. “I’ve tried to get over it but I just can’t.”

  Her smile widened. “Come on.” She motioned with her hand. “Grab your equipment.”

  “Why? Where are we going?”

  “The backyard so I can show you there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

  ~ ~ ~

  “Ok Jason,”

  Once out in the backyard Jason retrieved his glove and a ball from his bag. Destiny took the ball and now they both stood facing each other, a few feet apart.

  Darkness had started to fall but thankfully the lights around the back of the house kept the area bright enough.

  “Let’s start with this. I’m going to throw the ball in the air and I want you to catch it.”

  Jason nodded, uncertainty in his dark eyes.

  She tossed the ball up and had to keep from laughing when she seen him holding the back of his glove against his face, shielding himself from the ball. The ball dropped right in front of him.

  “Ok.” She scooped the ball up. “Let’s try this again but this time watch the ball until its close enough for you to know where it’s going. Then put your glove under it.”

  She tossed the ball up again and again he shielded himself. The ball dropped at his side and rolled to his foot.

  “See Destiny.” He slid off his glove and threw it on the ground in frustration. “I told myself not to take my eye off the ball but the second it went in the air I panicked.”

  She sighed as she picked up the ball. How could she get him to understand that the ball isn’t going to hurt him…too bad? Then inspiration struck. The same way her brother got her to understand.

  “Ok Jason. We’re going to try something different?”

  Confusion pinched his brow as she laid the ball in his hand and took a couple of steps back.

  “Now,” She spread her arms. “I want you to throw the ball at me.”

  His dark eyes rounded. “Are you serious?”

  She nodded with a smile. She knew the idea sounded ridiculous but it was the only way she could prove to him that a hit from a baseball wasn’t going to kill him.

  He hesitated.

  “Jason, you’re not going to hurt me.” She assured him. She was certain of it.

  Again he hesitated and then tossed the ball gently in her direction. The ball barely grazed her thigh.

  “Seriously Jason?” She scooped the ball up and walked to him. “Don’t hold back.” She told him as she handed him the ball.

  “But I don’t want to hurt you.” He argued and she shook her head. “You’re not going to hurt me. Now,” She backed up and spread her arms again. “Take your best shot.”

  “Ok.” He said with uncertainty, pulled back, and turned the ball loose.

  The second the ball slammed into her ribs just below her breast she regretted her teaching method. The bone shattering pain shot through her ribs and every molecule of breath she had in her lungs whooshed out.

  She doubled over, her legs wobbly, and wrapped her arms around her waist. She could feel the pain induced tears burning her eyes but she fought them back. She didn’t want him to see her cry. It was bad enough he saw her like this.

  “Destiny!” All three children screamed and ran to her.

  Anna was the first one she saw. The little girl ducked under her and stared up at her.

  “You ok?”

  “Yes.” Destiny panted, trying desperately to regain her breath. “I’ll be fine. It just knocked the wind out of me.”

  “I’m so sorry.” She felt Jason’s hand on her back. “Let’s get you inside.”

  Destiny shook her head. She still had a point to prove. She took a deep breath and forced herself to straighten. The pain was so intense her knees wanted to buckle but she wouldn’t let them. She locked her knees in place and forced a smile.

  “See Jason. It didn’t kill me. Now,” She held out her hand for the ball and he placed it in her waiting hand. “I want you to swallow your fear and catch this ball.”

  He nodded and she took a deep breath, fought through the pain, and tossed the ball upward. It didn’t go as high as before but it went high enough.

  Jason forcibly kept his glove from his face and watched as the ball closed in on him. Once it was close enough he held his glove up and…

  “I caught it!” His wide eyes looked from the ball in his glove to her and for the first time since she’s met him she saw him smile. Not a smirk. Not a grin. A smile of pure excitement.

  “I caught it Destiny!”

  “I see that.” Destiny laughed but winced when a flash of pain went through her ribs.

  “I caught it.” He continued in excited disbelief. “Look,” He showed his glove to his sisters. “I caught it. Can you believe it?” Anna laughed and even Ali had a hint of a smile.

  “Oh Destiny.” Jason turned back to her. “Thank you so much.” And then he did something that surprised the hell out of her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her. She hated it but the action caused pain to shoot through her again and she cried out.

  Quickly he dropped his arms and stepped back. “I’m so sorry.” The sympathy in his dark eyes made Destiny want to cry.

  “You didn’t hurt me.” She lied. “I’m still just trying to catch my breath.” Then looked at all three of them. “Let’s get you guys inside. It’s time for everyone to settle down for the evening.”

  Chapter 18

  Once Ali and Jason were in their rooms and Anna was tucked in and read to Destiny descended the stairs with her arm wrapped around her ribs. The pain was excruciating but she wasn’t going to show it. She’s tougher than that. She’d just go soak in a warm bath and get a good night’s rest and she should be all better tomorrow.

  But before she did any of that she felt this overwhelming compulsion to check on Adam. She hadn’t heard a sound out of him all evening and it was starting to worry her.

  She descended the staircase leading to his office, fighting back the cries that wanted to escape with every step she took, and tapped on his door.

  “Come!” She heard his voice from the other side which mean
t he wasn’t dead. That was a relief.

  She pushed open the door and poked her head inside. He was still at his desk, staring at his monitor. The pizza she’d brought him sat in the same place she’d put it, completely untouched.

  “Is everything ok?” She asked him.

  He pushed away from his computer and turned his attention to her. “Not really. Have a seat.” He motioned to the chairs.

  She took slow, cautious steps across the floor. Once she was in front of the chair she slowly lowered but stopped as another flash of pain shot through her.

  Concern marred his brow when she let out a soft cry.

  “Are you ok Destiny?”

  “Oh yeah.” She laughed to mask the pain. “I’m fine.”

  Again she tried to lower into the chair only to be stopped by the pain again.

  “You are most certainly not fine.” He rose out of his chair and rounded the desk.

  “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

  “Well…” Oh man. She really didn’t want to explain her stupidity to him. “I kind of let Jason throw a baseball at me.”

  “You did what?” His voice boomed though the room as anger hardened his dark eyes. “Why in the hell would you do something like that?”

  “I was trying to help him.” She defended. “His coach said he couldn’t play until he got over his fear of being hit with a ball…”

  “So you let him hit you to prove a point?”

  She nodded, feeling so stupid. “I was just trying to help him and I did. After he hit me I threw the ball up and he caught it.”

  “Stupid, stupid woman.” He shook his head but she noticed his anger had simmered. “Where did he hit you?”

  “Here.” She ran her fingers over the sore place below her breast and winced.

  “May I?” He motioned to the hem of her shirt and she nodded. He was going to look with or without her permission so there was no point in arguing. Plus, it hurt to breath much less argue.

  He dropped to one knee in front of her, gathered up her shirt, and gently lifted it. As the cool air hit the painful part of her skin she heard him gasp.

  “My god Destiny.”

  “What?” She looked down and was shocked to see the circle of black, blue, and purple that discolored her skin.

  He ran his fingertip over it and she hissed. “Ouch!” She said, a hint of anger to her sarcastic tone.

  “Destiny,” He dropped her shirt and rose in front of her. “we need to get you to the hospital.”

  Hospital? “Really Adam?” She asked with a snort. “I’m fine. I’ll just put a little ice on it and I’ll be good in a couple of days.”

  “We need to make sure you didn’t break a rib or something.”

  “I’m fine.” She wasn’t going to the damn hospital. “And plus, who would watch the kids if you take me to the hospital?”

  “Ali can handle them. Now, stop arguing with me.”

  Her eyes narrowed on him. “I’m not going.” And that was final.

  He took in a deep breath, the muscle under his eye twitched. “Destiny,” His voice no more than a low growl. “You’re going to the hospital even if I have to tie you up and drag you there behind my car.”

  The anger and agitation in his dark eyes proved to her that he wasn’t kidding around.

  “Fine.” She didn’t even bother continuing. She wasn’t going to win this.

  “Thank you.” His features softened and then before she could take her next breath he scooped her up in his arms.

  She opened her mouth to argue but was quickly silenced when he said, “There’s no point in telling me to put you down so don’t even bother.”

  Her mouth went silent but her brain was calling him a domineering control freak... And the messed up part was she kind of liked it.

  Chapter 19

  “Ok, so what’s going on at work?”

  Destiny struck up conversation as she laid on the bed wearing nothing but a white hospital gown with little blue swirls on it and a thin sheet pulled up to her waist.

  Adam sat in the chair next to her bed with his sneakered feet propped up on the edge of the bed, his fingers laced together atop his belly, watching the nightly news on the small flat screen TV mounted on the wall. He looked a hell of lot more relaxed then he did earlier.

  “I think the manager I hired to oversee my two Miami apartment complexes embezzled 4 million dollars from me.”

  Destiny choked on a breath, which caused a flash of pain to rip through her.

  “You ok?” He asked, alarmed by her sudden cry of pain.

  She nodded. “That just caught me off guard. You don’t seem to mad about it.”

  “The money’s insured. But I am pissed.”

  Well if he’s not mad about the money then what is he mad about? “About what?”

  “I don’t like being made a fool of Destiny. But that doesn’t make me as mad as the fact that for a year now my tenets have been living in shit and I had no clue.”

  Yeah. That would piss her off too. “How did he steal the money?”

  “I bought the two properties a year ago. When I did I’d hired James Wilson to manage them. They needed a lot of work so I entrusted him to hire a contractor to renovate both properties. He’d gotten a quote from a contractor for 3 million and I transferred the money to him to get started. Well, Luke talked to the contractor he’d allegedly hired and he told Luke that Mr. Wilson told him that we found someone to do the renovations for less.”

  “And the renovations never got done?”

  “Nope. And we had no idea until last night when we found out we were being sued.”

  “Ok. Well, where’s the other million?”

  “Yesterday Luke got an email from Mr. Wilson saying a bunch of ac units needed to be replaced and he’d gotten a quote from a company that they would do it for a million. Luke contacted that company as well and they told him that Mr. Wilson hadn’t been back in touch with them since he got the quote.”

  “Man, that’s just messed up. Has Luke spoken to Mr. Wilson?”

  Adam shook his head. “He can’t find him. He’s not at either of the offices or his home. Luke reported it to the police and the detective heading the investigation has assured me that they will find him.”

  Well, that’s good. “What are you going to do about the lawsuit?”

  “Only thing I can. Settle out of court and give them what their asking for. I was in the wrong Destiny.” His eyes lowered to the bed. “I should’ve paid more attention to what was going on there. It was poor business on my part.”

  “Well, you didn’t know you’d hired a criminal.” Her brow drew together. “Did you?”

  Adam let out a soft snort as a smile curled his lips. “No. I checked him out just as I do all my employees. Even today I went back over his file to see if I had missed something. The man was clean. No criminal record of any kind. Hell, he didn’t even have a speeding ticket.”

  “Well,” Destiny shrugged and instantly regretted it. “Money can turn people in to bastards.”

  “Yes it can.”

  Just then a soft tap came from the door.

  “Come!” Adam yelled out of habit, Destiny thought.

  The door opened and in walked the doctor she seen when she first arrived. He was a friendly looking man with white hair and soft blue eyes. He made her laugh while he examined her, before she received any pain medicine, and instantly felt horrible for doing it.

  “You’re x-rays came back fine Ms. Reece.”

  Oh that’s a relief.

  “But your ribs are extremely bruised and so you’re going to have to take it easy for a couple of days. I’m sending you home with something to help with pain.”

  “Thank you Doctor.” Adam rose out of his chair and extended his hand out to him over Destiny.

  “You’re very welcome Mr. Fates and if I may say on behalf of the cancer patients and staff here ‘thank you’.”

  Destiny stared at Adam in total curiosity as he thanked the do
ctor again. Once he was gone she had to ask, “What was that about?”

  “After Liz died I made a very generous donation so that the hospital could expand their cancer wing.”

  Destiny shouldn’t have been shocked but she was. Actually, it was more like amazement than shock.

  “That was very kind of you.” Was all she could think to say.

  He looked down at her with a smile. “It was the least I could do for them after all they did for Liz. Now,” He turned to the small counter in the corner, grabbed her clothes, and sat them on the bed next to her. “Get dressed and I’m going to go get your prescription.”

  Destiny gave him a nod and watched him as he walked out of the room, thinking the more she gets to know about him the more she enjoys being around him.

  ~ ~ ~

  Adam was astonished by the woman who sat in the passenger seat of his car. She let his son hit her with a baseball to help him conquer his fear. Who does that?

  She was reckless and fearless and extreme and… simply amazing.

  He glanced over at her to see her eyeing him. Her green eyes were glassy; a soft smile played her lips.

  “What?” He asked curious of her thoughts.

  “You really are a nice guy when you’re not yelling at me.” Her words relaxed and soft.

  “And you’re a nice girl when you’re not challenging me or pointing out my flaws.” He countered playfully.

  A giggle escaped her. “Challenging you and pointing out your flaws has become my new favorite hobby.”

  “Obviously.” He snorted as he cut his eyes at her.

  “You can’t tell Jason about this.” Her silliness turned serious all of a sudden.

  “I won’t.” He promised. “I told Ali that if he got up looking for us to tell him you went to bed and I was still locked in my office.”

  “Oh good.” She sighed in relief. “If the poor kid found out I had to go to the hospital he’d probably never walk out onto a baseball field again.”

  Again he chuckled. “Probably not.”

  Silence fell between them. She let out a soft moan as she pulled her legs up in the seat and curled into a ball. Her head rested on the tan leather. Her eyes were heavy and still on him.