Destiny Undone: The Complete Series Box Set (30 page)

“I can’t pretend this didn’t happen, Mills. I’m not an Anderson—I’m not even your real sister. Who knows who I really am?”

“Does it really matter?”

“What do you mean? Of course it matters.”

“Really? Regardless of who your biological parents are, you are my sister and if I remember correctly, it was you who taught me how to swim. You were the one who showed me how to put on eye makeup and I’m pretty sure it was you that taught me how to drive, how to cook a panini, how to pass my English lit class. That’s what a sister does and you did that, Pepper. You’ll always be my sister, so shut up about it. It’s like you don’t want to be my sister anymore or something.” Her big eyes filled with tears and her bottom lip trembled.

I sat up on the bed and put my arms out to her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. Of course I want to be your sister. I love you.” I hugged her for a long time.

“Now tell me why you sent Gabe away.” I told her the whole sorry story about Gabe’s unfriendly mother—and about Sophie. “Gee, that doesn’t sound like Gabe at all. He’s so…so…
honest
.”

“Men aren’t always what they seem, Mills, and the sooner you figure that out the better off you’ll be.”

“You sound like Mom when you talk like that.” I curled my lip up in a snarl and shook my head. “Listen, Pepper, I know you have a lot going on but I…” My phone rang on the nightstand and I snatched it up, secretly praying it was Gabe, but it wasn’t. The text was from Church.

Thinking about you, sexy lady. Are we still friends?

A few days ago I wouldn’t have answered his text, but what did I have to lose now? Obviously, I wasn’t good enough for Mr. Gabe Gregory—his mother made that abundantly clear. Maybe I deserved to be with Church. We were, after all, two birds of a feather—or at least that’s what I’d heard so I sent him back a quick text.

Thanks. Yes, we’re still friends.

Mills peered over my shoulder and stared at the screen. She made the same noise that I’d made earlier when Gabe tried to talk to me then got up from the bed and walked to the door.

“Wait, where are you going? What were you saying?”

“Never mind, it can wait. I can’t believe you’re texting that moron back.”

“Mills, it’s nothing. We’re not getting back together or anything. He’s just a friend.”

“A friend? Now you do sound like Mom. I’ll talk to you later, Pepper…when you come to your senses.” She left me alone and didn’t hide her disappointment in me, but what did she know? I wasn’t a kid anymore and I could see whoever I wanted. I loved my sister, but she had no idea what I was going through. How could she? She didn’t have a care in the world. I was the screw-up—so much of a screw-up that my father got me a job with a guy who took me on as a project.

A. Fucking. Lame. Project.

Now I’d found that I wasn’t even his daughter—just some fucked-up charity case and I wondered how she’d done it. How did Evangeline manage to talk him into adopting me? It had to be her idea—no way would Doug Anderson have initiated a search for a kid. Not in his ordered, structured life.

Although I’d been devastated by the news, it was also a relief to discover that I wasn’t the biological child of the Andersons after all. I thanked my lucky stars that Evangeline’s blood didn’t run through my veins, but I was sorry that I wasn’t Doug’s child, either. My train of thought just brought me back to square one though. The question still remained, whose kid was I?
Who did I belong to?

I flopped back on my bed and felt my phone vibrate in my hand with an incoming text.

I just heard the news. How cool is that?

Great, Church knew the gossip as well now and I guessed it was probably moving like wildfire through our circle of friends now. I imagined the party invites and guest lists were having my name scrubbed off them right now. Let’s shun the adopted peasant. She doesn’t belong here. I fired off a reply.

How is that cool? That I’m nobody’s kid?

He gave me his typical response.
LOL

Everything was a big joke to Jonathan Church. He really had no compassion at all and I didn’t answer him, but after a couple of minutes he wrote.

Want to get high?

I stared at the screen in disbelief and rolled my eyes.

Hell, no. I could use a drink, though.

Meet me at the crib

I immediately responded,
K but we’re not having sex.

I stayed there for a few minutes and debated whether I would really go and meet him or not. I knew it was a bad idea. How was vodka going to help? My phone dinged again and this time it was Bobbie Jo.

I need you to turn in those Sea Lab shirts, ASAP.
Nothing else. No, ‘I miss you,’ or ‘Singh misses you.’ Whatever, Bobbie Jo. Fuck you, too.

Yeah, vodka sounded really good right now. I grabbed my bag, keys and shoes and left the house. This would probably end badly but I didn’t give a damn. For the next couple of hours, I could forget about Sophie, Gabe and the fact that I was an orphan.

I pulled up to Jonathan’s back door—he had two homes and this one was much less formal than the other. His parents had gifted him that one when he graduated high school, but he was hardly ever there from what I heard. This house, which he liked calling ‘the crib’, was a gray and white, three-story beach house with a blue-gray roof and I liked this place. Despite his gigolo ways, Church had great taste and he’d taken the time to decorate the place just how he wanted it. In keeping with the color scheme, it was full of fabulous gray furniture, crystal and mirrors. Sounded gauche, but the way it all came together was super stylish.

I turned off my convertible and sat in the car for a minute.
Well, I'm here now. Might as well go have one drink.
I grabbed my stuff, got out of the car and saw Church looking down at me from his balcony. He had a smug smile on his face and of course, he looked like a million fucking bucks. Typical Church. He wore his trademark white button-down, half-open to show his chest, and a pair of dark blue jeans. His feet were bare, his hair was damp and no one could deny that Church was ridiculously handsome. In the past, those smoldering, dark looks would have seduced me with little effort, but those days were gone and no way was it happening now. I would never forget that he screwed Evangeline, when he thought she was me.
Yeah, right. I’m that gullible. Not!

“Hey,” I said when I reached the top step of the stairs that led to the balcony.

“Hey, yourself. Nice to see you, stranger. Come on inside. Did you eat yet?”

“No, but I’m not hungry.”

“Suit yourself, but I think it’s probably smart to eat something before we mix drinks. There’s a party at the Hangout I want to take you to later and I don’t want you to get caught on an unauthorized ‘Girls Gone Wild’ video. It’s almost spring break.”

Church opened the door and we walked into his flawless beach house. The first thing I noticed were the flickering candles he’d lit and placed all around the room—something he liked to do when he looked forward to having sex. He knew I’d already told him that wasn’t going to happen in my text, but he made it obvious that he was planning to try and change my mind. He wasn’t going to succeed, but that was just how he was, always over-confident of his superiority and charm.

“I’m not dressed for a party, Church. You didn’t say anything about that. I’m here for one of your famous drinks, not a party.”

“It’s the Hangout and everyone there will be wearing what you’re wearing. Casual clothing is fine, and if you’re worried about what people think, don’t be. Adoption is the style now—you know, like that Kardashian chick, or one of Brangelina’s brats.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? Is this all just a big joke to you? People don’t want to find out that they are adopted. Especially the people in our circle of friends.”

Church set a plate of salad in front of me and the crisp lettuce, grilled chicken and balsamic drizzle did look tempting. I sat down, tucked my legs up under me and reached for the plate. It wouldn’t hurt to put something in my stomach, then I’d have a couple of drinks. He sat on the opposite couch with an imported beer in his hand and I was grateful that he didn’t break out any drugs. I hated them and even though I’d only tried a few things, I hadn’t enjoyed any of them. Now, vodka? Loved it.

“You know how people are—they have short memories. Stop worrying about what people think and, by the way, what does your boyfriend think about you being here with evil old me?”

“Gabe isn’t my boyfriend—he’s just a friend. Or he
was
a friend.”

“Oh, I see,” he grinned, and rubbed his finger around the rim of his bottle.

“Church, despite what may or may not be happening between me and Gabe, I haven’t forgiven you for Evangeline. I can’t get it out of my mind and like I said in my text, we’re not having sex. I hope that’s clear to you. If not, I’ll leave now.”

Church put his bottle down on the glass table in front of him. “You don’t think much of me, do you? I’m not going to defend myself all over again. I told you what happened and no, I am not sitting here hoping you’ll have sex with me. That’s already been taken care of, Pepper.”

“Oh…” was all I could say. I guessed he was telling me that he’d already had sex with someone else. “So why text me?”

“We’ve always had good times together and I wanted to have a good time. Is that so hard to understand? I don’t have many friends—and that’s my choice—but I consider you one of them.”

I put the plate down and smiled. “Thanks, Jonathan. I need a friend today.” I took a deep breath and felt relieved. I couldn’t take another confrontation right now.

“Keep eating and I’ll make you that drink. You’ll never guess who’s playing at the Hangout…”

I sat in my car, stared at the ocean and thought about what I was going to do next—take the boat out, or just go home? But really, I just wanted to disappear. I couldn’t believe Pepper’s attitude at her house. Man, I knew she was going through some serious stuff with the adoption, her parents and all, but what had I done wrong? We’d had great sex, I left for a day, came back ready to ask her to be my girl, and she cusses me out. “Damn,” I whispered.

I couldn’t leave for a few days yet since the whales were almost ready to be moved to Sea Lab.

In the end, responsible me won, so I headed towards the house and made a quick stop by the grocery store for some food on my way.

I drove home with my hand on my cell phone. I was tempted to call Pepper, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. For some reason, she’d sent me away and that was it—for now, at least. Maybe she needed to have some time to herself to work through the whole adoption thing and I didn’t want to force myself on her. I wasn’t like that, at all.

I walked through the front door, put the groceries away and chose a few ingredients to prepare a meal for myself. No sense in starving just because some spoiled debutante had rejected me. I washed my hands and then called Bobbie Jo.

“Hey, Bobbie Jo! How’s it going?”

“Hi, Gabe. I’m good and everything’s going to plan, so far.”

“Great! Just what I wanted to hear.”

“I can’t believe you finalized that whale deal so quickly. I got the timeline from Sea Crest and I think we can fit in with that, but we’re going to need some new team members to help out.”

“Got anyone in mind?” I finely chopped some celery and carrots and tossed them in the pan with the chicken and olive oil.

“I’ll put some names together and have them ready for you when you get in. Will you be in tomorrow?”

“Of course. I’ll see you then.”

“Okay, have a good one.”

“You, too, Bobbie Jo.”

I finished cooking my food, poured a glass of chilled white wine and went to eat on the balcony. It was a beautiful day and I could never say no to a good dose of sunshine. I’d almost finished eating when my parents walked in with a bunch of shopping bags in their hands.

“What did you buy me?” I joked. “A gas mask or a hazmat suit?”

“That’s not funny at all, Gabriel.” Her smile betrayed her stern statement. “As a matter of fact, I bought you some shirts from Corrie and Company. You’ve been looking a bit ragged recently.”

“That’s a style choice. Ragged is in. Didn’t you know?”

“Sweetheart, I haven’t been ‘in’ on fashion for at least twenty years. It’s all I can do to pick the right outfit for a fundraiser.”

“That must be where I get it from. Where did Dad go?”

“Where else? Taking a phone call. He’s always on that phone. I barely know how to use mine so how two people who are so different can stay married so long, I don’t know.” She seemed exasperated by her own observation.

“I guess it does present some challenges. So how did you two manage to stay together?” I grinned as I walked into the kitchen with my glass and empty plate.

“You know that. At the end of the day, no matter what, we still love one another, and love is greater than all our silly quirks.”

I nodded and took a big swig of my wine, then she looked at me and tossed her hair behind her. She rarely wore it down, but when she did, she looked ten years younger and it was hard to believe that Adrian Gregory was anyone’s mother. At least, not of a guy my age—and I was feeling my age, especially today. Perhaps that was the problem and maybe I was just too old and responsible for someone as young and free-spirited as Pepper.