DESTINY“Feeling better?” James hovered over me like a mother hen.We were back at the beach house after spending an uncomfortable night in the tent on the sandbank. It would have been a perfectly romantic evening hadn’t it been for the damn insects. James felt terrible about it because he failed to see the insect repellent.“I’m fine. Stop worrying about it.” I wasn’t itching as much as the previous night. Our guide had some antihistamine creams on board his boat which was a life saver. I scratched a spot at the back of my knee and James slapped my hand away.“Stop scratching. It will leave marks.” He said sternly. “Let’s go for a swim. The water is perfect.”I groaned, “Seriously? You know I can’t swim.” We were lazing on the deck, soaking up the midday sun and just watching the clouds drift by.“C’mon, I don’t want to swim alone. I’ll teach you.” He peered at me over the rim of his sunglasses.Right. He just wanted me to wear that red bikini he bought. It hardly covered everything,
JAMES Destiny was quiet all the way back to my house and I was glad about it, because my mind was in a scary place at that moment. Seeing my father, so pale, looking older than he was, did something to me. I had to take on more responsibility at the firm. As much as I hated it, I owed it to him. I had to get rid of Jenna. She was the reason we were in this fucked up mess. She seduced my father. Hell, of course, I didn’t put all the blame on her. Partly, or no, mostly it was my fault. She did it to spite me, and it fucking worked. A small hand on my thigh brought me out of my thoughts. “James, you alright?” The concern on her face was touching. “Yeah…Sorry we had to cancel our honeymoon, Sugar. I’ll make it up to you, promise.” I offered her a bleak smile. “James, I don’t care. It was lovely, it was. But I mean, your family comes first.” She removed her hand from my thigh, and I immediately felt the loss. I chuckled a bit. “Yeah, family.” I thought how important she was to her fat
DESTINY Mrs. Donahue came upstairs to look for me. I must have looked a sight, because she took one look at me and demanded to call the doctor. “No, please, Mrs. Donahue. I’ll be fine. I just had some bad reaction to the pizza we had last night. Or it might have been the beer.” “Hmm….” She felt my forehead. “No fever. Well, then. What you need is some proper food. No wonder you pick up all sorts of bugs, eating al lot of shite.” She tut-tutted, “Such a shame about Lord Barrington, poor dear. Working himself to death, he is.” “We visited with him last night. He is recovering.” “Well, thank the good Lord for that, eh. Well, I’ll not bother ye. Ye rest up, Lass. I will make you some chicken broth, perk ye right up.” Her smile made her round cheeks look like little red apples. She left and I snuggled down under the covers. My phone dinged and I grabbed it to see who was texting me. Of course, it was James. ‘Hey Sugar, just want to know if you feel better. XXX.’ I texted back. ‘I’m
“Sorry, so sorry.” I couldn’t stop apologizing for throwing up into the doctor’s waste basket. I grabbed a handful of tissues from his desk to wipe my face.“It’s quite alright, my dear. I’ll give you a shot for your nausea.” The doctor was sympathetic, unlike James who looked terrified.“Doctor, what is wrong with my wife?” James clutched the armrest of the chair, looking like a man expecting a death sentence.“Well, let me put it this way. I have bad news or good news, depending on the way you look at it.” The doctor frowned while scribbling something in my file.“What?” What kind of answer was that? Was I pregnant or not?“Doctor Levi, is she pregnant or not?” James leaned forward in his chair while I huddled in mine.“Like I said, good or bad. Mrs. Barrington is not pregnant.” Dr. Levi looked up from his notes.“Oh, well that’s a blessing.” James made no effort to hide his relief. “What is it then?”I had mixed feelings. But James was surely pleased.“There’s this new bout of flu
JAMESMy father was back at work. Of course, against his doctor’s orders. I didn’t want him back at work either, but James Barrington the second never listened to anyone. He called me into his office.“James, I have something to tell you.” he said as I sat opposite him.“Please tell me you called off the engagement.” One could only wish.He shook his head. “No, we will be married in December.” We were in the month of August. Four months to go. I wondered how far along Jenna’s pregnancy was.“Any more bad news?” I leaned back in my chair, hands behind my head. I still had to tell him that someone was skimming money off of our company.He chose to ignore my comment. “I’ve offered Jenna a percentage in the company’s shares.”“You did what?” I tipped the chair back with a jolt. “Why would you do that? You don’t even know if that child is yours.”“We will have a paternity test done. We also need your DNA, James.” The way he pierced me with those blue eyes, like I was the one to blame. He w
DESTINYOh, my God! Did James just say that? Am I going nuts? He pressed my fingers so hard I had tears in my eyes. Goddammit James, why were you lying to your family? Every time he opened his mouth!“Really?” Grandfather looked at us with wide eyes.“Yeah, we just found out. Today.” James lied smoothly without batting an eye.My father had tears in his eyes when he turned his face to me. “My girl…” He reached for my hand to pat it between his two rough ones.I wanted to kick James under the table, but I was next to him, so it was difficult without drawing attention to ourselves.“I guess we have to congratulate you then.” Tiffany said seemingly cheerfully, but her face was cold.“Thank you.” I wrangled the words past my lips.“So, does this mean our baby is going to be your baby’s aunt or uncle, James? Or maybe… siblings.” She laughed and I wanted to throw a knife at her, but my father was holding one hand and James the other one.“Congratulations, James. How far along are you, Dest
JAMESOffense has and always will be my best defense. I’ve fucked up. Royally. And she was spitting mad, like a little kitten, cute, but her claws were damned sharp.“Sit your ass down there.” I slapped the counter, I had my boss face on, but she wasn’t scared of me.She hopped on the counter, glaring daggers at me. Her knees were badly scraped, but I was more concerned about her hands.“What the fuck were you thinking running off like that? You could have been killed.” I was laying it on thick.“James.”I took out the first-aid box from under the counter and placed it next to her. Damn it, her palms were dirty and bleeding. “I should take you to get a tetanus shot. Look at this mess.” I disinfected her hands and wiped them gently with cotton balls. She didn’t even flinch.“James.”“What?!” I snapped at her, pretending to be angry. I wanted to avoid the issue of the fake pregnancy. What the hell was I thinking.“Why the fuck did you lie about my being pregnant? You’d better tell me r
DESTINYI couldn’t sleep, rolling around on the bed, twisting the covers around my legs. Eventually I just gave up. James was in my head. Damn him! I was such an idiot! Every time he looked at me, I just caved in.What was I going to do? I got myself into this mess by agreeing to his stupid contract in the first place. Because I felt I owed him. But he looked after me, like no one else had in my entire life. He was the only one, despite his selfishness. And I was in love with him. The simple truth.“Oh, Destiny, you are so pathetic!” I told my reflection. “Just because he looks after you, doesn’t mean he loves you. He is using you. Like everybody else.”But still…I fell back onto the bed and pressed a pillow over my face. So, now I am considering giving him a baby. My child. Am I worse than my mother? She left me for a rich man to be raised by an alcoholic father.James said he won’t let me abandon my child. How can I believe him when all he does is lie?Will he discard me after he g