True Fate (14 page)

Nia looked in the mirror again and finished
freshening her makeup adding a smokier eye for the night.

Rhea grabbed her food out of the micro and dug
her burger out of the bag and dumped the fries inside. Aaron thought Rhea was a
contrast to Nia's dark haired beauty. She was taller than Nia, about five foot
eight to Nia's five foot five he'd guess. She had dirty blond hair just past
her shoulders and seemed to be a skinny bottomless pit. He'd never seen anyone
devour a hamburger so quickly. Rhea just looked at him appraisingly with her
bright green eyes and pale cheeks stuffed with food.

Nia's laugh broke him from his musings. "Its
mind boggling isn't it! She eats and eats and we have no clue where it
goes!" The girls both laughed at that.

"Yea we can't all have Epi's curves. No
matter how hard I try.” Rhea said popping a fry in her mouth.

 
"Oh
hush and don’t call me that! At least you have a butt, I'm pretty sure that's
where it all goes!" Nia snapped a towel at her.

"Let's sit guys." Rhea suggested
pulling out a chair at the table, sticking out her tongue at Nia.

Aaron went and pulled the desserts out of the
freezer and put them on the table then they all dug into their sundaes.

"So, will I be seeing more of you,
Aaron?" He looked to Nia then Rhea,

"I sure hope so.", he said glancing at
Nia with a smile making her blush. She smiled back at him making it extra
dreamy. He had to believe they were keeping Rhea in the dark.

Aaron got an idea, "I'm going to miss you
when you leave Sunday.” he said grabbing Nia's hand.

"Aww.", a stuffed mouthed Rhea squealed.
She pretended to be straining in deep thought. "You know we could use a
strong gentleman such as yourself to protect poor little old us on the road
trip. I mean Nia did say you were from Michigan and we are headed there,"
Aaron smiled too.

"Rhea, he's a busy man I don't know if he'd
have time for that.”

Aaron quickly interrupted. "I'll see if I
can take my vacation early. That would be awesome really and I would love to
see my little sisters too," he added with a little too much excitement.

"That would be great.” Nia said as she
leaned into him then moved away.
'Slow down Nia, sheesh!’
She reminded
herself.

They continued talking and Aaron brought up “Sean”
and suggested maybe he could come too. Rhea agreed winking conspiratorially at
Nia and that was that. They had done what they needed to.

Rhea saw that Nia had something she needed to say
to her privately as if her head jerking wasn’t obvious. She chewed her lip then
loudly whispered, "Nia, I need you to come look at something real quick,
it’s a feminine issue.” She added and looked at Aaron apologetically.

“I'll be right back.” Nia told Aaron. He just
smiled and nodded not wanting anything to do with any feminine issues.

"Yay! We did it!” Rhea said throwing her arms around
Nia's neck.

"Yeah that was great Rae.” Nia said then
looked at her feet,

"I'm scared though. What if my heart gets
ahead of me?” she said hanging her head embarrassed at how she was already
feeling. "It just feels so sudden and so... strong.”

Rhea squeezed her shoulders, "Look if at any
time you want me to swoop in and be me. You just S.O.S. me, okay?”

"Thanks Rae. I really do like this guy, a lot.
I'm just terrified of getting my heart smashed to pieces in the middle of all
of this other junk, ya know."

It was a terrifying thing to feel so in love with a
stranger. So helpless, wondering when it would all backfire or fall apart.

"I know. But chin up babe,” she said giving
Nia the 'Here's lookin at you kid' punch. Causing Nia to laugh.

"You are about to figure out the reason for
all the craziness through the years! And bonus! I am going to be with you!”
Rhea assured her with a little sarcasm at that last part. "We got this.”
she nodded at Nia, which brought a faint smile.

"We got this.” she repeated after Rhea,
letting the foolish grin spread.

They were finally standing by the door about to
leave. "So where are y'all off to?" Rhea asked.

"Oh, here and there." Nia said
shrugging her shoulders. She and Aaron just smiled at each other.

"It was nice to meet you Rhea.” Aaron said
extending his hand.

Being herself Rhea bypassed his hand and said,
"Hugs!" squeezing the heck out of him causing Nia to chuckle at his
wide eyed expression.

"Okay Rae! Let the man breathe." Nia
said then hugged her best friend tightly.

"Be safe Sweet Pea!" Rhea added as Aaron
laughed.

"Sweet Pea huh?" Nia shoved him out the
door from behind.

"Oh, hush." she said smacking his
shoulder. "Bye Rae!” Nia said happily while Rhea was laughing up a storm.

"Bye you two!" she finally said.

Aaron started to walk faster with Nia trying to
catch up. He stopped and spun around catching her in his arms. He lifted her
and gave her a victory hug. "We did it. That was scary!" he said as
he spun her around. They both laughed and then locked eyes quieting the moment.

'Be strong.’
she
tried to tell herself. She started to feel that heat again as she slid down his
chest.

He spoke first his voice low like a growl,
"You're beautiful.” He said as he kissed her cheek soft and slow. She
lowered her gaze with blush rising on her cheeks and he tipped up her chin
boring into her golden eyes with his deep blues.

"I mean that Nia. Heart and soul.” He said
making sure she understood he meant it but she couldn't doubt it because she
could feel it through the bond. He did mean every word and it was strong too.

"I am starting to figure that out, it's
just, I don't know. I'm scared as hell that we're going to fall fast and then
crash and burn," Nia admitted sadly while he held her to him and stroked
her hair.

"Nia, I won't push or try to move this into
an uncomfortable place. You make the boundaries and I'll follow.” she sighed
somewhat relieved.

"Okay. Thank you for understanding
Aaron."

He sighed then and let her go, his thoughts spoke
softly,
‘I’m just as scared as you are, Sweet Pea.'
they both laughed.

"
So
[SV1]
 
[SV2]
 
where to next? The night is young." He said waggling his eyebrows.
She couldn't help the laughter then. "Text Darragh and tell him the news,”
she told Aaron he nodded and pulled out the phone. He texted as they got
situated in her car.

Aaron: Mission complete.

Darragh: Great. I am sending an address of where
to meet us tomorrow. We have much to discuss. Be there at 11 a.m.

Aaron: Okay we will see u then.

"We have to meet them tomorrow, 11:00a.m.
He's sending an address.”

"Okay." Was her uneasy reply. She still
was not used to these
non-human
people in her life.

Aaron rubbed his palm up her arm and then back
down. She had taken off her hoodie when she got in the car and he could see one
of her tattoos peeking from her short sleeve.

"Is that ink?” he asked, putting his curious
hand back on his leg.

"Yeah, I'll have to show them to you
sometime.” Turning to smile at him she glanced at his dimple and looked away,
needing to focus on driving.

He put his head on the head rest as the thought
of seeing Nia's skin sent his mind into overdrive...

'Whoa.',
she
gasped in his mind.

'Oh wow. You heard that, huh? Yea that was real
smooth, sorry.’
he said sheepishly blushing for the first time Nia
could recall.

Saved by the bell, Nia’s phone belted out Set
Fire To The Rain and she answered.

"Hello?”

"Hey honey," her mom, Margie’s lightly
accented voice sang through the car speakers.

"Hi mom." Nia said biting her lip.

"How is everything going sweetie?"
Margie asked.

"Great. Is something wrong mom?"

"What? No sweetie but your dad said to call
you, he said and I quote, he hasn't heard from you in a while and he's worried.
You know how he can be." Her mom said in the sweetest way possible.

"Sorry about that I have been kind of busy.
Umm I'm kind of on a date right now." Nia explained wanting to melt under
the seat as Aaron looked at her adoringly but she knew her cheeks were flush.

"Oh goodness, sweetheart! That's fantastic!
How's it going? Do we know him? Is he cute?" Margie rattled off the string
of questions before Nia could stop her.

Correction, she no longer wanted to hide,
she
wanted to die...... right now.

"Wow! Umm, mom? It's going great and no you
don't know him yet and he is definitely hot.” She looked at him and he smiled. “His
name is Aaron and by the way, you're on speaker."

“Oh... well... um, I'm sorry honey. And hello
Aaron it's nice to sort of meet you. You're welcome at our home anytime." Margie
said with a shaky and clearly mortified voice.

"Thank you Mrs. De La Garza" Aaron said
wincing as he finally chimed in.

"Oh please call me Margie." Nia’s mom
insisted.

"Okay, I'll try but I can’t guarantee it,
that’s just how I was raised." He responded politely.

Interrupting Nia asked, "Hey, Mom? We’re
headed that way. Is Dad there?"

"Oh, yes we're having a late dinner. I used
the slow cooker. It's been a long day." Margie explained sounding tired.

"We can be there in thirty." Nia said
feeling dread set in at the prospect of her dad meeting Aaron.

"Great! Well then I will see you soon honey!
Bye!" Margie sung again as she hung up the phone ending all their awkward
misery.

'That had to be the most embarrassing
conversation in the history of my life.'
Nia
sent to Aaron because it was easier to think than say.

"It's fine really, I thought it was sweet.
And I found out some interesting information too.” he said with a huge grin.

"Oh yeah, and what was that?” she asked
laughing.

'You think I'm hot.’
Then
he really laughed, a deep boisterous sound that melted Nia's insides.

"Okay I'm going to crawl under a rock and
die now.” she said as the embarrassment crushed her turning her cheeks a
blazing crimson red.

He grabbed her hand and kissed her palm.
"You're fine... So is there anything I need to keep in mind when meeting
your parents?” he asked her turning serious.

Nia thought about it for a minute then spoke
softly. "Yes, my dad is overprotective and he will know if you lie to him.
You have to word your answers carefully if you're telling half-truths. Mom's
easy she'll love you." He smiled.

Nia drove to Manvel quickly and as they were
passing through the small town she pointed out the few things you could see in
the dark and stopped at the gas station to fuel up. When she turned down her
street you could see the glow of light from the front gates. Pulling up to it
more lights came on lighting their way past the now open iron rod, filigree
covered gate. It had a beautiful D in the center for both De La Garza and Delgar.

As they drove slowly up the winding drive lights
would brighten a little ways ahead lining the path. It really was beautiful in
the dark. The low hanging branches of Nia's favorite trees had lights in them
for night time reading in her hammock.