Fate and Destiny (10 page)

She shook her head,
remembering the embarrassment and shame.

Andrew’s guilt at seeing
her in the shower surged as he watched her lift her head and
swallow her pride.

“
They tied me back to the
chair again, and Charles, Doug, and the driver all went into the
hanger to talk while I stayed tied up in the office. I think they
said the driver’s name was Larry or maybe Lenny.”

She was momentarily
distracted while she tried to remember, then she shrugged it
off.

“
They started arguing.
Doug was saying something about how he couldn’t shoot me. He
wouldn’t be able to live with himself knowing he shot me, even
after Charles offered him a half million dollars to do the job. The
driver of the car, Lenny—”

She nodded with
certainty.

“
Lenny didn’t say much,
but he kept looking in my direction and staring at me. I felt like
a fly under a microscope. I was just waiting for him to come and
pull my wings off. They kept arguing about what to do with me. Doug
refused to do anything bloody. He convinced Marcus that blood might
be able to lead the authorities to my body.

“
It was Lenny who came up
with the idea of dumping my body somewhere and letting the elements
kill me. It would look like I ran away and died trying to hide. I
sat there all tied up, unable to move, trying to think of a way
out, but I couldn’t think of anything. I got to the point where I
was actually looking forward to dying. I would be with my parents,
and I wouldn’t hurt anymore.”

Destiny choked on her
words, thinking of the horrible deaths of her parents compared to
her own expected demise. Another sip of tea from the cup held
tightly in her trembling fingers calmed her.

“
I slept off and on that
night sitting up in the chair. The next morning, I heard them
talking again. Charles was saying he had to get out of there before
it snowed any harder, since he was supposed to be returning from
his business trip to deal with his father’s funeral
preparations.

“
He told Doug to ‘deal
with the problem’, and then he came into the office and shut the
door. He ran his fingers along the side of my face and backhanded
me. He said he was going home to bury the old bastard, and that I
would no longer be around to stand in his way of doing whatever the
hell he wanted to. He said I deserved what was going to happen to
me for sticking my nose into his business. Then he licked the side
of my face. It was disgusting. His breath smelled like week old
coffee. His tongue was wet and his slobber dripped down my face.
Then he laughed hysterically and walked out the door.”

Closing her eyes in
disgust, her body shook at the memory of him licking
her.

Andrew felt anger rising in
him again. The thought of that bastard touching Destiny, or even
being that close to her made Andrew want to go out and find him to
show him how it felt to be tied up and tortured. He hugged her
close to him, squishing Shadow in the process.

The dog wiggled between
them and then shook his head violently when the couple released
their hold on each other. He gave a short soft bark of disapproval
at Andrew. How dare he disrupt the soft lady’s warm lap? He licked
his chops, laid back down in his spot, closed his eyes, and went
back to sleep.

Destiny composed herself
and went on.

“
Charles and Lenny got
into a plane and started it up. Doug drove the plow out to the
runway to clear it and the other two rolled the plane out of the
hanger and left. Doug came back into the office after he and he sat
looking at me for a long time. He was a huge guy, about 6’5” and
maybe 300 pounds. He could have snapped me in half easily if he
wanted to.”

Destiny paused long enough
to finish off the cup of tea. Taking the cup from her, Andrew
returned to the kitchen to refill the concoction of tea and
whiskey. He could hear every word she said even from across the
room.

“
Finally, he told me he
had to get rid of me. He said Charles was going to pay him a lot of
money and that he needed it because he owed some sharks in Vegas
for some bad bets he made. He said it was my life or his, and that
he wasn’t ready to die yet. He didn’t say much else then. I thought
he was preparing to load me up into the car, take me out and dump
me to die, but he didn’t. He left the office and left me sitting in
there.”

Destiny shrugged her
shoulders as Andrew handed her the refilled cup.

“
I’m not sure how long I
sat in there tied up. I would drift off to sleep, and when I woke
up, Doug would be sitting right in front of me watching me. I guess
he finally worked up the courage to do something, because at one
point, I woke up, and he was sitting in front of me like always,
but this time, he had a cup in his hands. He told me the stuff in
the cup would make me sleepy and that I would feel no pain while I
died. He undid the gag and took the rag out of my mouth.

“
They kept me gagged for
so long that my mouth hurt. I begged Doug not to kill me. I told
him I wouldn’t go to the police or tell them anything about him,
but he just sat there, shaking his head and saying he had to. He
had to, repeatedly, ‘I have to do it’. I was begging and crying,
and he tried to put the cup to my lips and make me drink it, but I
would turn my head and close my mouth. I tried begging and pleading
with him. He finally held my nose shut and I had to open my mouth
to breathe, and when I did, he poured it down my throat.

“
I spit out as much as I
could, but I ended up swallowing a lot of it since I was trying to
breathe at the same time. After that, things got fuzzy fast. He put
the gag back on me, but he didn’t put the nasty rag in my mouth. He
said he couldn’t listen to me anymore.

“
At some point, he carried
me to the truck and put me in. I vaguely remember someone untying
me, removing the gag. I tried to talk, but my mouth wouldn’t work.
I couldn’t speak or move. Then, the truck stopped, and Doug pushed
me out the door. I heard him say he was sorry, and then I felt like
I was falling. The next thing I knew, I woke up here, in your bed
in the dark. And that’s all I remember from before I got
here.”

Andrew had only one
question left.

“
What about your
name?”

Destiny shook her
head.

“
My name is Destiny Rose
Fisher. I knew the lawyer would send the story to the newswires. I
was afraid that maybe you already heard it and wouldn’t help me, or
would try to turn me in for the reward money.”

Andrew understood, knowing
that she finally trusted him. He held her close to him, thinking
about what she had told him, while she sat quietly drinking her
tea, lost in her own thoughts.

10.

Sharing the bed that night
with Destiny, Andrew took pity on Shadow. The dog typically snuck
under the blankets with Andrew as soon as he fell asleep. Since
Destiny had already taken the only available space in the bed,
Shadow would be unable to fit his bulk onto the mattress alongside
them. He sat on the floor directly in front of the bed, staring at
the couple.

“
Stop looking at me with
those pitiful brown eyes. You know there isn’t enough room up here
for you too.”

Shadows gaze didn’t
waver.

“
Fine. You’re such a sorry
excuse for a genius. Here boy.”

Pulling one of the blankets
from the bed, Andrew tossed it down to the floor next to the dog.
Shadow’s chops split into a tongue-lolling grin before he stuck his
head under the piled up blanket. Wriggling on the floor, his entire
body disappeared under it. The blanket squirmed over the dog for a
few seconds before he finally settled down.

Destiny slept against the
wall while Andrew put his arms in the only remaining space on the
bed. Wrapped around Destiny.

Pulling her close, Andrew
inhaled the clean smell of her hair. She fit perfectly against him,
his fingers gently stroking her wrist. Rolling towards him,
pressing against him, leg thrown over his, Destiny’s lips sought
his. Forgetting why he was there, forgetting the cold, forgetting
to be careful, forgetting everything except Destiny, Andrew lost
himself with her. The honey of her voice as she murmured her
desires, the feel of her over him, around him, under
him.

He claimed her fiercely,
banishing her memories and giving her new ones. Climbing to the
heights of desire and want, he took her with him. Neither of them
knowing if the whole world around them ceased to exist, and not
caring if it did.

The more time he spent with
her, the closer he felt to her. At times moody and withdrawn, but
also able to smile and laugh, she was always a wonder to
him.

His childhood contained bad
times just like everyone else’s, but hers seemed to never end. He
brushed bangs away from her eyelids and kissed her forehead. Gently
stroked her cheek. He refused to let anyone hurt her
anymore.

 
Afterwards, he found
himself lying on the outside edge of the mattress, facing Destiny
as she drifted off to sleep, cradled between him and the wall.
Rustling caused Andrew to release his hold on the warmth of
Destiny. Rolling over, leaning up, he watched Shadows head surface
from under the edge of the blanket on the floor.

Ears pricked, alert, the
dog sat still, listening. Although he hadn’t heard anything, Andrew
froze, even holding his breath so the dog could pinpoint the sound
alerting him to danger.

Moving like the powerful
animal he was, Shadow abruptly shook off the blanket. His body
arched, froze again, ears scanning. Suddenly flattening as a low
warning growl rumbled from deep within the dog.

Quietly, so he would not
disturb the sleeping form in the bed, Andrew slipped from the
blankets and moved to the edge of the window. Shadow took the
opportunity of Andrew’s minimal noise cover to position himself by
the front door.

Glancing out the window,
carefully keeping his face from appearing to anyone who might be
out there, Andrew surveyed the clearing in front of the cabin. The
moon illuminated everything in its milky light.

Near the cabin, the snow
blanketed in smooth gently rolling hills. From the trees to the
long drive, darker ribbons marked where someone or something had
indented the surface. With the storm clearing away, mountain lions
would be out looking for anything they could take down with brutal
claws and teeth.

From his viewpoint, Andrew
could not discern how many animals ventured so close to the cabin.
There seemed to be quite a bit of disruption in the snow. At this
angle, the tracks could even belong to something as innocent as a
pack of deer. Wild cats usually ran solo, but the animal may have
caught its prey right there along the trees.

Needing to satisfy his own
worries so he could sleep peacefully, Andrew put on his boots and
slipped into his coat. His hand automatically unzipping the deep
right-hand pocket, making sure the pistol was there as
always.

No sane man would venture
out in the woods without something for protection in case one of
those big cats decided he looked tasty.

Easing quietly from the
cabin, Andrew shut the door behind him, pausing and listening to
see if the cold air or noise of the door woke Destiny. Hearing
silence from within, he cautiously checked the immediate perimeter
of the cabin before venturing further.

Satiated, warm, and
comfortable, Destiny’s eyes snapped open. An uneasy feeling
unfolded in the pit of her stomach.

Something was
wrong.

Most noticeably, she was
alone in the bed. Searching the room with only her eyes, she
determined she was also alone in the cabin. Andrew could not have
hidden in any of the unseen spaces in the room unless he shrunk
himself to the size of a mouse while she slept.

The bathroom door was open,
but only silence emitted. Ready to leave the bed to peer out the
windows, Destiny jumped from the security of the blankets as
something brushed along the outside of the cabin wall behind
her.

Heart thudding against her
ribs, unable to breathe, she stumbled the few steps to grab the
fireplace poker. Wildly scanning the room, she found the only place
she could get to quickly.

Dropping to the floor, she
squirmed under the bed, ignoring the pains rolling over her body.
Forcing deep breaths, exhaling slowly, she concentrated on
listening to the noises of the woods surrounding the
cabin.

Silence.

In the narrow space, she
didn’t have room to swing the weapon. Positioning herself to be
able to jab the metal iron, her foot met with something cold and
hard. Pushing down the pain, she reached around to determine what
was under the bed.

Smooth, curved wood and
metal. Almost crying with relief, she gripped the rifle, sliding it
around in front of her. The fire was dying out, but in the wan
light, the gun was the most beautiful thing she had ever
seen.

Whispering a prayer that it
was loaded, she held it in her grip, slipping her hand over the
trigger, the lever action against her fingers. Cocking the gun,
hearing a bullet slide into the chamber, she almost
laughed.