A Destined Death (11 page)

“Wow, you’re the first person to get that without me having to explain it.”

“East, huh?”

“Yeah…to edge of nowhere,” I called musically, trying to make it sound alluring.

“I’ve never been there.” Charm dribbled down his sculpted chin, making me want to kiss him and perhaps plant a flag in his heart to forever claim him as my own.

“There’s a first time for everything,” I dared. I wasn’t worried that my loneliness might be driving me into a crazy, flirtatious frenzy. All I thought about was how irresistible he looked. I wanted to take him home more than anything.

“Yes, there is,” he agreed. “Do you mind if I give her a try?”

“Sure, the keys are inside.”

The car started on his first try and purred beneath his body. Of course, who wouldn’t be purring beneath his body? With his tall form and strong, rippling build, he looked like he could lift the car and carry it home, not to mention what he could do to...

“Are you all right?” his smooth, deep voice whispered into my ear.

My face flushed from my impure thoughts and the new, but oh-so-real feelings that were developing. “I’m fine. Can I get a ride?”

He laughed, nodding toward Hecate. “It’s your car.”

I giggled girlishly, betraying my hatred of women that turned into fools around handsome men, and then looked away in an attempt to compose myself. When he shut the hood, darkness filled the air, and my senses grew ever more aware of his presence. His sweet musky scent told me he stood very close, and my heart beat faster in the darkness. I ached to reach out and touch him. “Thanks for getting her started.”

I walked over to the driver’s side door but when he didn’t move, my heart wretched unbearably with the fear that he wouldn’t come with me. “Will you take me?” I asked softly.

“Yes,” he breathed, somehow right behind me again.

When I turned to see his serious eyes in the moonlight, I sensed he wasn’t talking about driving at all. Heat burned through my skin but the following moment of silence seemed to last an eternity. His body was so close to mine. I waited for him to kiss me. I prayed for him to kiss me.

Instead, he seized a length of my hair and leaned over to inhale. “You look like an angel, and you smell like heaven.”

The damn giggle came out again. “That would be a better line if you could actually see me when you said it.”

“I see you.” He leaned over again to whisper into my ear, “I know you.”

I cleared my throat, finding it hard to talk
or
think
. “You think you know me, huh?”

“I know you like to go fast.”

Like a gentleman, he opened the passenger door for me before he settled into the driver’s seat. Under the dome light, I had a better view of his face, and for a moment, I couldn’t move. Draven was actually here with me. He was sitting in my car. He was driving me off into the sunset––or into the moonlight anyway. When I finished examining him, I realized that he’d been doing the same to me, and I quickly turned away. “Are you going to leave again?”

He didn’t respond, but the dome light went off when he put the car in drive and headed to the interstate. When I turned to him, he smiled. “What would you say if I told you, ‘Now that I have you, I’m never letting you go’?”

I’d say thank you God!
“Are you saying that?”

He smiled, but left a long silence before he responded. “Would it frighten you?”

“Is that your intention?”

He laughed easily. “Don’t you ever just answer a question?”

“You seem to have the same habit.” The dash lights illuminated his face enough for me to see that he wasn’t planning on responding.

“Have you ever redlined her?” he asked, his voice strong and sexy. 

“No.”

“Have you ever wanted to?”

“Yes.”

He flashed a dreamy smile. “Put your seat belt on.”

I buckled in securely, not questioning. If he would have asked me to jump off a bridge, who knew!

“Were you afraid of getting into an accident?”

“Maybe, but she wants it. She loves the thrill, and she deserves it once in her life.” When he shot me an offhanded glance, I hoped he realized that I was the one not talking about the car this time.

The engine roared to life, meeting the challenge, and the car sped faster and faster until the white dotted lines started to blur into one single streak on the road. I had a death grip on the door but I felt excited, glowing with the fever of adventure.

“Let go,” he insisted, nodding toward my hand.

I let go of the handle, rolled down the window and stuck my hand outside. “It feels like we’re flying.” When he let the car slow down to the speed limit, I giggled. “Thanks. That was awesome!”

He gave me a satisfied glance. “You don’t scare very easily, do you?”

“What’s the deal with you wanting to scare me all of a sudden?”

“That’s quite the opposite of what I want.” His serious face looked at me for so long that I thought we’d go in the ditch but the car stayed perfectly in our lane.

“How do you do that?” I asked curiously.

He grinned before his eyes returned to the road. “Do what?”

“Move so quickly and silently, drive without watching the road, seduce me without even trying.” I hadn’t meant to reveal so much, but I didn’t feel embarrassed about saying it.

He responded by appearing frustrated.

“So what’s your last name?” I asked, hoping to erase whatever caused his irritation.

“Blackrayne.”

“Well, Draven Blackrayne, is it someday yet?”

“Not yet,” he said flatly but he still seemed tense. Finally, he said, “Tell me why you waited so long to wish for me.”

“I’m sorry. I wanted to finish what I started. Why didn’t you show up this morning?”

“Because it wasn’t raining.” He glanced at me. “I won’t ever be far,” he said sincerely.

“Okay.” I greedily accepted the promise which was much better than the someday promise. I couldn’t think of anything more fun than enjoying the ride I was on.

“So I tell you that I’m never leaving you, and you’re not even a little frightened?”

His words were music to my ears. Even better than the “never be far” promise. The night was getting better and better. “No.”

“I’m in love.”

My eyes popped open as I stared at his grinning face. “What did you say?”

“You heard right. I’m fully aware of how perfect your hearing is inside that beautiful, fragile head.”

Fragile?
“Is that a threat? Are you still trying to scare me?” My words fell out soft, not pointed.

He seemed upset when he answered. “Relax, please. It was only an observation.”

“What else do you think you know about me?”

“I know you’re still a virgin.”

I slunk back into my seat and rolled my eyes. “That is not something I define myself by. I want what I want, and that was never a priority. End of story. Don’t stereotype me.”

He smiled again but he didn’t respond.

“Well, what else? Let’s hear it.”

“I know you should sleep now.”

“How could I possibly sleep after what you just said to me?” I asked, but when his hand reached across the car to play with a strand of my hair, I did fall unwillingly asleep.

****

At dawn, I awoke in a parking lot alone, and Draven Blackrayne was nowhere in sight. After searching for an hour, I described him to three employees and five customers inside the truck stop but no one claimed to have seen him. I waited in the car for hours, writing in my journal and trying to put into words all the incredible new feelings he had evoked inside of me. When he didn’t return by noon, I lost hope.

“So much for never letting me go,” I mumbled.

For a moment, I thought I’d dreamt the whole night, but I could still smell him in the car, drifting sweetly into my senses. I consoled myself with his promise that he would never be far. It meant something. Everything he’d ever said meant something to me. If only I had a touch to remember him by, a kiss. Oh, how
I wanted to kiss him. No, I wanted him to kiss me. There was a difference.

The clerk inside the truck stop seemed polite enough, and when he stopped laughing, he did finally tell me where I was: Watertown, South Dakota. That put me twenty minutes away from my destination. It also verified my suspicion that I wasn’t going crazy. I would have remembered driving that far.

After downing a burger, I stopped at a grocery store. Milk, soda, chips, and twenty TV dinners later, I headed out of town. I got excited when my cell phone rang, but it wasn’t him.

“Hi Mom.”

“How is everything? Did Hecate make it okay?”

“Yes, Hecate made it fine, and I only had to make about twenty stops for gas,” I offered, which wasn’t too much of a stretch.

“Where are you? Are you there yet?”

“Yes, I made it and the house is adorable,” I lied, for no other reason than to avoid another phone call. Even though I was glad to hear from my mother, I wanted to be alone with my thoughts to mope over one missing man. “I’ll send you pictures soon. It’ll take me some time to unpack and get settled, but it’s just beautiful!”

“Okay, I suppose you want to go and explore your house some more. Are you sure you want to stay there all alone though? Have you thought about getting a dog for protection?”

I laughed. “Protection? Out in the middle of nowhere? And if by dog you mean a hairy, distracting thing that drools all over you and makes you take them out every hour so they can relieve themselves on your lawn, no thanks.”

My mom returned the laugh. “Well, just remember, if anything goes wrong, don’t be afraid to call. I told you we’ll send you a plane ticket if you need one. No questions asked.”

Her words stung. She could have just as well said, “If you find out that you suck as a writer, you can always crawl back home to us.”

“Thanks,” I shot out a little too harshly before a pang of guilt ricocheted back. I softened my tone to add, “But I’ll be fine. I promise.”

“Okay. Good luck, honey. I know you’re going to be busy so I’ll try not to call
all
the time, but don’t forget to email me and keep me posted.”

“Will do. I love you, Mom. Tell dad too.”

Outside of town, black and white cows stood out like pillars in open pastures, and abundantly green hills ravished the land. I decided South Dakota could have effectively been called The Green State instead of The Mount Rushmore State. Or maybe even The Windy State, since the wind hadn’t stopped blowing once since my arrival. The road that led to the house wasn’t marked, even on the map, so I decided to simply call it: the road off 212.

“The road off 212.” I put a deep mysterious edge on the words as they rolled off my tongue but the sound startled me. Considering I was headed into the unknown, I quickly decided it wasn’t the best time for word play.

The one-lane dirt road hid in the midst of a large block of trees. I turned in and edged deeper into the gravel path that clearly hadn’t been meant for a car, especially a low riding car that didn’t even take potholes in the city well. The giant ruts had Hecate bouncing like a trampoline, even at her lowest speed.

The driveway wound up to a large, plain white house that had seen better days; old with loose siding and peeling paint, but not unfixable. The long railing on the front porch leaned outward with missing spindles. Beyond the house, the driveway curved into a small garage, and the yard spanned twenty feet on two sides of the house. Wild, tangling trees took over and invaded the remaining space, creating a solid wall from the world around me. Four junk cars peeked out of the severely overgrown grass which made the yard look more like a flowing field.

I hadn’t seen a picture of the house because I’d bought it the day it went up for sale by a private owner. Judging from the reasonable price, I didn’t expect much, but at least there weren’t any earthquakes, and there was little chance of getting stabbed out it the country. It was safe.