Rewriting Destiny (Forsaken Sinners MC #1) (12 page)

He gives me a smile and takes my hand. “Okay, good. I’ll help you move your stuff over if you want, then show you around. This will be great, Baby Girl, I promise. Everything will be fine, you’ll see.” He says it like he’s trying to not only convince me, but himself too. I don’t know why, but I believe him. Maybe it’s because I have nothing else to believe in right now or maybe it’s because no matter what happened in our past, I could always count on Zane. We will always be together. It may not be a physical relationship or what I want, but it’s something. And right now, I’ll take anything I can get.

Chapter 13

I called the schools that following Monday to get everything switched over. After that, the summer flew by. I was consumed with packing away my grandmother's stuff and cleaning the house.

Now I have to get my shit together because I start classes in one week at the University of Texas. They were even able to set me up with a dorm, so that saved me some money and the stress of having to find a place to live close to campus.

I load my car with the bare minimum of what I need and leave everything else. I didn’t clean out any of Gram's things or pack anything away in storage. I’m going to try to come back here at least once a month to make sure everything is still okay, and to get away from school. I take a long look at the house before heading off to college and hopefully a fresh start.

I arrive in Austin at about five in the afternoon. I send Zane a text to let him know I’m here and ask where he wants to meet. He said he’d help me unpack and then show me around campus once I’m settled in my room.

By the time I make it to what I hope is my dorm building, I still haven’t heard back from Zane. So I give him a call. Finally, on the fifth ring he answers.

“Yeah?” He sounds irritated, but I have no idea why.

“Uh, hey, everything okay? I sent you a message but didn’t hear back. I’m here, sitting in front of my building.”

I can hear him trying to calm himself down by breathing slowly and deeply. After about thirty seconds he replies. “Shit, I’m sorry, Baby Girl. It’s been a fucked-up day. I’ll be there in five.” He hangs up before I can reply. Instead of getting out, I wait in my car.

When he pulls up alongside my car, I get out to meet him at the back of his truck. Instead of saying hey, giving me a hug, or even starting to unload my car, he leans against his truck, crosses his arms, and looks down at his feet, letting out a long sigh.

“Are you okay?” I ask. "If you were busy, you didn’t have to come and help, I would have been able to handle it myself.”

He looks at me and runs his hand through his hair. Yeah, there is definitely something bothering him, but what it could be is lost on me. It’s not like I know a lot of what he has going on in his life anymore. “No, it’s not that. I’m sorry. Like I said, it’s been a fucked-up day. What do ya say we hold off on all of this and go grab some food first? I’m starving.”

Instead of waiting for my answer, he walks over and opens his passenger door for me. I hesitate for a second before I lock up my car and jump in. He drives for a couple of minutes and then we are pulling up to what looks like a bar.

“It doesn’t look like much on the outside, but they have the best burgers around.” We get out and make our way inside.

We both order a burger and fries, and I sip on a diet Mountain Dew while Zane pretty much slams his Bud Light. I wonder how he is getting served, since he isn’t twenty-one yet. Maybe a fake ID, or they don’t care around here whether you are old enough to drink or not. I hear some college towns are like that.

We are almost done with our food when his phone rings.

“Yeah?” he answers. I can’t hear what the other person is saying, but from the tone I can hear on the other end, I think it’s a guy. “Yeah, all right. I got a friend with me, though. That cool?”

I focus on my food, acting like I’m not listening to his conversation.

“All right. See ya soon.” He hangs up and takes a drink of his beer.

“Who was that?” I wasn’t sure what the conversation was about, but it sounded to me like we were going somewhere.

“One of my buddies. He knows someone who is throwing a party and wanted to see if I was game. I told him you were with me but he said to bring you along. What do you think, want to go?”

Party on the first night here? I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’m not even moved into my room yet.

“Oh, uh, why don’t you just drop me off at my dorm? You go ahead. I want to get my stuff unpacked and go to bed early.” I take a drink of my soda and then pick at the rest of the food on my plate.

“No, you gotta come. It’ll be fun, I promise. You can crash at my place tonight, then tomorrow we’ll spend the whole day unloading your stuff and touring the campus.”

Looks like he’s not going to take no for an answer. Typical Zane. “Okay, well, can we at least stop at my car so I can grab some different clothes to change into?” I’m wearing a simple summer dress because I wanted to look nice. Don’t ask me why, though, considering I was only planning on moving today.

“You look fine, trust me. Don’t worry about it.” The way he emphasizes “trust me” has me thinking there’s something behind his words, but I have no idea what it could be.

We finish eating and then climb back into his truck to head to wherever this party is. The house turns out to be only a couple blocks away. When we get inside, we walk right into the kitchen. Zane introduces me to a couple of people and grabs us some drinks.

“Yo, Z-Man, that you?” A guy walks in and pulls Zane into a one-armed hug.

“Hey, Liam, this is my friend Danielle. She got in today.”

He looks at me briefly, then turns to look at Zane. He looks like he wants to say something, but refrains. Looking back to me, he says, “Hello there. Z didn’t mention his friend was an attractive girl.” The way he says it doesn’t sound flirty, it sounds concerned.

“Hey,” I say, and then look over to Zane, confused and a little freaked out.

He takes my hand and leads me into the living room, where there are some tables set up with chairs. A couple more people come up to greet Zane, but he doesn’t introduce me to anyone else, not that I mind. I would really rather go back to my dorm and unpack so I can go to sleep. Its been a long day.

I get up to go to the bathroom, and when I come back, there is a stunning blonde next to Zane where I was sitting a couple minutes ago. Zane catches my eye and gives me a smile and a look like he’s asking if I’m okay. I give him a little smile back and what I hope is an expression that tells him I’m okay but want to go home. He must not read it right, because he turns back to talk with the blonde.

Over the next hour, I sit in a chair toward the back of the room while Zane and the blond get bolder with their touches. I don’t want to stare at them and their wandering hands, so I either stare at the floor, the wall, or take short glances around the room. The last few times I did that, though, I saw Zane’s friend, Liam, watching me. I’ve tried getting Zane’s attention, but he hasn’t even looked over at me for at least the last thirty minutes. I hope he hasn’t forgotten I am here. With him.

I’m starting to get a headache and I feel flushed. Getting up, I head into the bathroom to splash cold water on my face to try and make myself feel a little better, but no such luck. I’m going to have to ask Zane to take me back to my dorm or at least he could give me his keys so I can drive myself.

When I return to the living room, I don’t see Zane or the blonde anywhere. They probably went to get more drinks. I don’t feel like trying to make my way through all these people to find him, but figure he will be back shortly, so I sit back on the chair to wait.

A while later, I still haven’t seen Zane, or any of the people he introduced me to earlier. My head is really starting to pound, so I go into the bathroom again in hopes of finding some Tylenol. I feel bad snooping in their cabinets, but I really need it. Unfortunately, there is nothing that I can take.

When I open the door to walk out, I bump into a solid wall of muscle. I look up and see a guy I’ve never seen before. Well, I guess I’ve never seen any of these people before, but he’s not someone Zane introduced me to or that I remember seeing around the party. He must have been in a different room. “Oh, sorry,” I mumble. I try to sidestep him but end up bumping into him again when he tries the same thing.

“Hey, that’s all right, babe. You look a little lost. Can I help you with something?” He seems nice enough and like he knows the people and his way around this house, so maybe he’ll know where Zane is.

“Uh, yeah, maybe. I’m looking for my friend Zane. I came here with him, but I can’t find him. I have a headache and wanted to see if he’d take me home.” That was probably a little too much information, but my head is pounding like a bitch and I’m so damn tired that I really don’t care right now.

“Oh, yeah, I know him. Um, I saw his truck outside about ten minutes ago, but I haven’t seen him for a while.” He looks back at me and gives me a once over again, and then a reassuring smile. “Here, why don’t you go wait in one of the rooms down the hall while I go look for him? With the music blaring and all the people yelling, I don’t want your headache to get worse.”

I'm not sure that's a good idea, but right now, I don’t think I have much choice. “Uh, okay, thanks. That would be great.”

He walks me a few feet down the hall and opens a door on the left. The room is dark until he turns on a side lamp. It’s a neat room with a desk on one side with a chair, and a small dresser. A huge bed takes up the rest of the room, leaving little walking space. I sit on the corner of the bed since there are books and a bag on the chair. “I’ll be right back,” he says before walking out the door, closing it softly behind him.

I look around again, wishing this were Zane’s room and we weren’t at a party full of loud, drunk strangers so I could lie down and close my eyes. But it’s not, and I don’t think it would be very appropriate if I lay down on a stranger’s bed. It’s bad enough I’m sitting on it; it’s weird.

It takes the guy—I just realized I didn’t ask him his name—about fifteen minutes to come back in. I hope he found Zane because my head feels like it’s going to explode.

“Here, I found you some aspirin and brought you a bottle of water.” He walks over and hands me the pills and the bottle.

“Thanks, uh, I don’t think I caught your name.”

He smiles and sits down next to me. “You’re welcome, and my name is Nick.”

I give him a half smile, which is all I can muster feeling the way I do, then put the pills in my mouth and wash them down.

“So, were you able to find Zane?” I ask, ready to head home.

He gives me a sympathetic look and shakes his head. “I didn’t find him, but I was able to find out where he is.” He doesn’t continue, so I ask where. “He, uh, he left with some chick about an hour ago. But Liam said he told him to tell you that he left you his truck.” He looks away for a second, then looks back at me.

“He left? But I came here with him. Why would he leave without even telling me?” I don’t understand; I don’t know a single person here and he just left me here to fend for myself.

“I’m sorry, he must have left with the girl he was with, his girlfriend maybe? Liam said they couldn’t keep their hands off each other.”

I can feel tears gathering in my eyes. I haven’t even been here for one full day yet and he’s already forgotten about me.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’ll make sure you make it home.”

As I feel the first tear drop down my cheek, Nick brings his hand up to wipe it way. “Hey, don’t cry.” He pulls me into a hug and rubs my back. Even though I only met this guy twenty minutes ago, I take comfort in him. At least someone is here for me.

I pull back and look up at him. “I’m sorry. Thank you, I needed that.”

He looks me deeply the in the eyes, and then leans into me. Before I know what is happening, his lips are on mine. I’m too shocked to stop him, but after a couple of seconds, I try to push him away.

“What are you doing?” I ask, and try to stand, but he holds me in place.

“Shh, it’s okay.” He leans back in to kiss me again, but I pull back even further.

“No! What are you doing?”

Without warning, he grabs me, lays me down on the bed and places his body over mine. “Come on, you know you want it.” Then he presses his mouth over mine again but with more force. I try to push at his chest, but he grabs my hands and pulls them above my head.

“Stop!” I yell, and kick out, trying to get him off of me, but all that does is give him the perfect opportunity to situate himself between my thighs.

I can feel his hardness against my center and it makes me gasp in shock and fear while I struggle even more. He’s turned on by my fear and struggle! The only thing that separates my most private parts from his advances are my panties, but even that barrier doesn’t last long. He holds my hands in one of his and reaches down to yank them off roughly, ripping them at the seams.

“Please stop! No!” I try to yell again but he stuffs my torn panties into my mouth and covers it with his hand.

“You’re such a tease,” he growls as he grinds into me.

Tears are streaming down my face and I feel like my lungs are burning from lack of oxygen with my panties in my mouth and his hand over both my nose and lips. I try to bite down on his hand until he pulls it away and yells, “Fuck, you bitch!” He slaps me so hard across the face that I see stars.

I feel him reach between us to unbutton his pants, then in the next second I feel a burning pain in my lower region as he rips through my vagina, stealing my virginity.
Oh fuck, it hurts
. It feels like someone held a knife over a hot flame and then shoved it up inside me. I scream again, but he covers my mouth with his hand as he thrusts into me again, this time harder.