Destiny Undone: The Complete Series Box Set (3 page)

“I didn’t check, but the maintenance guys have been hard at work over there all day. Maybe you should check, you’re the boss, right?” Despite our friendship, I’d always sensed a little unspoken animosity between us. Bobbie Jo had applied for the same job as I had, but I’d won the spot. I think she wanted to hate me and she tried hard to keep her distance from me in the beginning. Once she realized that I was a team player and that I appreciated her, we got along just fine. However, those old hurt feelings still popped up from time to time, and I couldn’t blame her for that. There was a lot of politics at play around the facility, but I didn’t want to believe that it was politics that put me here. I’d earned this position because I’d practically lived here for four years and I knew this place inside and out.

“Yeah, that’s what they tell me. You still plan on helping me with the training though, right?”

She grabbed my chin with her fishy hands and said, “Aw, you know I can’t say no to your face, snook-ums.” She laughed and rubbed her hands all over my sleeves.

“Aw, crap. This was my only clean shirt, Bobbie Jo,” I pretended to complain.

“Really?”

“Hell, no. Now get back to work,” I grinned. Fish scents didn’t bother me and I was about to go home anyway. I stopped by to check on the status of the tank and everything looked good, so I left for the day, feeling confident that the new additions to our Sea Lab would be comfortable. Now, if I could only feel that comfortable about these interns. I walked to my convertible, unbuttoned my shirt and tossed it into the gym bag. I slid on my other t-shirt and drove home.

The music thumped and I raised my hands above my head as I twisted my body to the music. I had a cup of beer in my hand and it splashed a little onto the floor, but I just laughed. I tossed my hair, it felt like silk against my bare back and somewhere in this crush of bodies was my tank top, probably covered in glow paint. The warehouse was full of beautiful people, young like me, but you’d be hard pressed to recognize many of them. The black lights shone and the lasers flashed as the DJ kept the sea of painted bodies moving. Aven was beside me, also painted and glowing. She slung her mass of dark hair and enjoyed the attention of some guy she’d just met. I pulled her away—he was getting too handsy and my friend had had far too much to drink.

“No, I want to stay!” She smiled at me, turned my back and danced the other way. If she wanted to hook up on the dance floor, that was her business. I felt hot and I was ready to find my top, so I worked my way to the edge of the makeshift dance floor. Suddenly, Church was in front of me, barely painted, but definitely bare-chested. He looked down at me and gave me a devilish grin. I took a big swig from my cup, finishing off my beer and Church tossed it to the side. He pulled me close, so close that my painted tits were pressed hard against his chest. The music pounded and he took my hands and raised them above my head. His hands ran down the length of my arms, sides and then my hips. I was wearing my tight white shorts, although there wasn’t much to them. His hands eased down into my shorts and he grabbed my ass and pulled me close to him. His lips were on me, full and commanding—I had to pull back to catch my breath.

He smiled again, and slid his fingers down my ass and toward my pussy. He liked pushing my boundaries, I don’t know why, but I found him exciting and repulsive all at the same time. He slid his fingers across my pussy lips and waggled his eyebrows. “You’re so wet. Let’s get out of here.”

“Church! People are watching!” He pulled his hand out of my shorts and licked his finger. He was so hot. The man could have anyone he wanted, and I was glad most of the time he chose me.

“So lets—”

“—Church!” It was Sofie Hanson, another one of Destiny Beach’s famous trust fund bitches. Sofie was old money, with great looks and an even better ancestry than I had.

“Sofie,” Church purred, and turned to watch the bikini-clad girl strut away in her platform heels.

I rolled my eyes as I left the dance floor and grabbed a white t-shirt from an attendant. I pulled it over my head and walked out into the dark, Florida night. I needed a break from Church and Aven. She could find her own way home, as far as that goes. I didn’t need to worry about her. If she wanted to act like an idiot, she could.
Who am I to judge?

“Where you going, Pep? I thought—” It was Church, but I was buzzed and just ignored him. I’d had enough of Jonathan Church. Who did he think he was, checking out other girls asses in front of me? He had a lot of fucking nerve. My phone rang in my purse and I waited for it to come across the Bluetooth. It didn’t, so I wrestled around in my purse, trying to fish it out.

“Fuck!” I looked up and slammed on the brakes.
Buh-boom!
Dirt flew all around my car and I swallowed hard against the lump in my throat. My heart was beating ninety to nothing. I sat there—frozen in my car—and tried to catch my breath.
Oh God, oh God, oh God!
I sat there a minute longer, and wondered what to do. Call the cops? 911? My Daddy? Shit, I had to go check what happened. Someone could be dying under my car and I was too scared to move.

Finally, on shaky legs, I got out of the car with my phone in my hand, looked underneath and prayed to God that I hadn’t killed someone. Bile rose in my throat and I ran over to the side of the road and threw up. “God, why? Why me?” I yelled out to the sky. I stood there a second and took a deep breath. I was a grown woman and had no idea what to do. Fuck! I tiptoed back to the car and peeked underneath again. I still didn’t see anything under there, but I knew I’d hit something. I unlocked my phone, pushed my Daddy’s picture and waited for it to ring.

After a few rings, he finally answered. “Daddy!” I couldn’t help myself and started crying on the phone. “I need your help.”

“What’s the matter? Where are you?”

“I’m on the side of the road and I think I hit someone—or something. I don’t’ know what to do!” The tears were falling down my face and I had to catch my breath. “Can you come get me?”

“Where are you, Pepper?”

“I’m on Newman, right at the big curve before the highway. Please Daddy, come get me, I’m scared.”

“Calm down, honey. I’m on my way. If anyone comes, tell them I’m on the way.”

“Okay, Daddy.” I cried and hung up the phone. I shivered in the night air, and bent down to look under the car again and used my phone as a flashlight. I saw blood and some guts, and I couldn’t help myself, I puked again near my tire. I stood up and noticed the blue lights that flashed around me for the first time. I sobered up and wiped my face with my painted hand.

“It’s okay, officer. My daddy is on his way,” but before I could say anything else, he had me in handcuffs, leaning up against his car. “Ow!” Any other time, I’d flirt with the officer and maybe get out of a ticket. This time, I was too afraid. “My daddy will be here soon!” I protested.

His eyes widened, he looked away and then looked back at me. “Did you—? Are you—?” he shook his head and scoffed. “You know you could have killed someone. You’re drunk and you are damn lucky the only thing you ran over was a possum. Maybe a night in jail would help clear your head? Sober you up?” The cop was obviously not acquainted with my family.

“Yeah, well, my dad is on his way! You just wait!” I screamed at him and refused to climb into the back seat of the police car without a fight. Another cop car pulled up and the young cop that was trying to arrest me called to the officer that was new on the scene.

“What you got, Harry?”

“This young lady thinks she’s six foot tall and bullet proof. She’ll sober up real quick back at the station.”

“You can arrest her in just a minute. Did she hit someone? I see blood on the tires.”

“Just an ol’ possum trying to get across the street.”

“You are one lucky girl…what’s your name?”

“Pepper, Pepper Anderson and my daddy is on his way. Please don’t take me to jail, please! He’s on his way! I swear! I called him just a minute ago.” Tears streamed down my face, but neither of the officers seemed moved by them.

“Young lady,” the older cop said, “This is out of your father’s hands. Driving under the influence of alcohol is against the law—but don’t worry, your dad can bail you out when you sober up.” I cried as they opened the back of the police car and asked me to take a seat.

“There’s my dad! Can you please go talk to him? Please?”

“Sure, sure. Just have a seat so you don’t fall down.”

I did as I was told and with my hands cuffed behind my back, I managed to sit and the officer closed the door behind me. “Oh my God! I can’t believe this! Daddy! Get me out of here!” I watched the officer walk over to my Dad. “Sorry, daddy,” I sniffled, even though he couldn’t hear me. My dad looked across at me in the back of the car. He was wearing dress pants, a dress shirt and his white hair was perfectly groomed. Dad was a tall, lean man who always had a deep suntan. I could see his girlfriend, Charlotte, sitting in his car and I guessed I’d interrupted his date night. “Sorry, dad,” I said again as I cried even harder.

The younger police officer seemed pissed, but the older man walked to the back of the car and opened the door. “Come on. Let’s get you out of here,” and he helped me get out of the police car. “Dry it up now. You’re going home. Lucky for you, I know Douglas Anderson and he’s a decent guy. You should be ashamed of putting your old man through this.”

“Yes, sir.” I sniffled.

“All right, Mr. Anderson, here she is. Obviously, we can’t let her drive the car home, but you can send someone back for it. We won’t tow it, however if you leave it here for more than a couple of hours, they’ll tow without an order. She hit a possum, but it probably didn’t do any damage. Just needs to be washed off. She’s one lucky kid.”

My dad shook the older man’s hand, “I know. Thanks, Frank. I owe you one.” Dad led me away and I got into the back of his car.

“I’m sorry, Daddy.”

“I’m taking Charlotte home and then we will go home. Just lie down, Pepper. If you have to be sick again, please tell me.” I hated hearing his voice like this. His sadness and disappointment was obvious and I wasn’t accustomed to hearing that—Dad was my best friend. We drove a few minutes then the car stopped. “Sorry about this, Charlotte. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

“It’s okay, Douglas. Call me when you can.” I heard them kiss and the car door shut behind her. Daddy didn’t talk to me and I hovered between sleeping and sickness. When we got home, he opened the door and helped me out of the car. Once we’d made it up the porch steps, he helped me up the staircase to the second floor where my bedroom suite was. He stopped at the door. “Can you make it from here?”

“Yes, thank you, Daddy.”

“Get a shower and get some sleep. We’ll talk in the morning.”

“Okay, Daddy. I’m sorry.”

He didn’t hug me or let me off the hook in any way. “You should be, Pepper. Now, get some rest.”

“Okay,” I went into my room and walked straight to the shower. I brushed my teeth and stared at myself in the mirror. I looked horrible. My hair was sweaty, I had no makeup left on my face. I had glow paint all over me. “That’s the last glow party I ever go to,” I promised the ugly girl in the mirror.

I climbed into the shower and washed away the evidence of the party. It didn’t come off easily, but I finally got clean. I grabbed a big t-shirt, towel-dried my hair, in a half ass kind of way, and climbed into bed. Once the room had stopped spinning, I fell asleep.

I woke up with a bad taste in my mouth. Beer was always a bad idea. I could drink liquor and be fine, but for some reason, beer made me drunk—and quickly. Just two cups was all I needed to get wasted. “Oh, hell.” I remembered the events of last night, Church’s assholery, me hitting something—the look of disappointment on Daddy’s face. Today was going to be a really bad day.
Ugh!

Sometime during the night, my father must have put my phone on my nightstand because I was pretty sure I didn’t have it when I came in. I had four text messages. One from Church—last night. “Where did you go?” and three from Aven from this morning. I didn’t try to read them. I just called her back.

“What’s up girl?”

“You—that’s up. You are all over the news today. Have you turned on the television?”

“Oh, no. Not again. Dad is really going to kill me. What channel?”

She laughed sarcastically, “Pick one!”

I turned on the television and switched it to the local news. “Just another example of rich kids getting off because their parents have money. This is total BS!” The newscaster continued, “That’s just a few of the messages we’ve received on our social media sites concerning this story. The local district attorney says she is looking into pressing charges against the Anderson heiress and will make an announcement later today.”

“Charges for what? I hit a possum. Is the possum’s family suing me now?”

“No, you didn’t see all of it. That warehouse got trashed last night. Apparently, the owner said he never gave permission for anyone to have a party there and they’ve got pictures of you, half-naked with just the paint.”