Destiny Undone: The Complete Series Box Set (10 page)

“Oh my God, I’m so jealous of you. Jonathan Church is the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen.”

“He’s also a complete ass, Aven. You’re welcome to him if you want him.”

“Ew! And date your seconds? I think not. Remember the girl code? We don’t do that—ever!”

Church walked up as confident as ever with his hands in his pockets. He looked so fucking hot in his black jeans, his black leather belt and black shoes. “Talking about me?” he asked playfully.

“Yes, actually. You’re late. She’s already gotten her gift,” I frowned—not that I really cared. I just hated that he had to be the center of attention all the time, even on Mills’ special day.

“Yes but we forgive you, Church. Don’t we, Pep?” she smiled up at him. He hugged her and gazed down at her like a god who enjoyed looking into the face of his most ardent worshiper.

“Where’s the alcohol?” He started toward the bar, “By the way, Aven. You look incredible in that dress. Did you have it made just for the occasion?” He flirted shamelessly and she played along. I wondered how strictly she’d follow her girl code if given a chance to break it. I smiled at them. I loved Church, but as a friend. Nothing more. He was too much of a player. But I loved his cock. So perfectly thick and juicy, and I loved the way it stretched me open and filled me up. On second thought, maybe I didn’t want Aven near Church. He was
my
fuck after all. Just then, I saw Gabe’s car pulling in and I ran over to meet him.

“Hey boss! Glad you could make it!” Gabe always managed to look hot, no matter what he wore—shorts, jeans, swimming trunks, it didn’t matter. Tonight he wore a summer blue button-down with khaki pants and leather loafers and despite his somewhat casual appearance, his real gold watch and expensive cologne showed his true wealth. Overall, Gabe’s hot-bodied appearance at the party added a new, unexpected thrill to the event—for me at least.

“Hey, dolphin girl! Glad I could make it. I didn’t think I’d be able to at first. Had some issues at work, but it’s taken care of now, I think.”

“What’s up? Is Singh okay?”

He laughed. “Yes, he’s fine, it wasn’t about Singh. Just some other stuff.”

“Anything I can help you with?”

“No, and we’re not at work now, so let’s go inside, let me see this place.” He offered me his arm and I smiled up at him. I couldn’t believe I was on a faux date with Gabriel Gregory. He was such a hottie!

We walked under the flaming arch and into the ballroom, which was covered in shimmery, silver fabric—Mills’ favorite color. It was a weird combination of open flames and silver decorations but somehow, Aven and I had made it all work together. I think it was the mountain of bling that we’d added to the centerpieces and decorations that did it.

“Well, what do you think?”

Gabriel gazed around the room. “Wow, it’s…shiny. You did all this?”

“Yes, me and my best friend, Aven. She’s amazing when it comes to parties. I swear the girl should be a party planner. You know…if she wasn’t stupid rich.” I laughed.

Mills walked up to us with her mouth open. “Oh my! You must be Gabe? You’re frickin’ hot!”

“Mills!”

“No wonder my sister actually goes to work every day. I might have to get a job at the stinky fish place myself.” She laughed and sipped on a glass of bubbly liquid.

He blushed and said, “Thank you. Stinky fish place…I’ll see about that job.” His smile was so sexy, I wanted to kiss him right then and there but with Church around, I thought I’d better not.

“Hey, missy…what the hell are you drinking?”

“Something Church gave me. He’s over there on the dance floor with Aven.” Her face said it all and when I tossed a glance that way, I wasn’t that surprised to see my short friend grinding on his leg to the music. I thought about it for a millisecond, unsure if I was okay with that… but then again, I had Gabe on my arm and I was definitely okay with that.
God, I’m such a slut. No, no I’m not. Fuck.

“That better not be alcohol,” I warned her. “Daddy would kill me.”

“Calm down, Mother. Speaking of Mom, have you seen her yet? She’s late.”

“She’s always late. I’m going to get Gabe a drink. Stay away from the bar, Sis.” She stuck her tongue out at me and wandered on to the dance floor with one of her friends. “Ready for a drink?” He nodded, his dark eyes looking around the room.

“Yeah, that would be great.” I walked with him over to the bar and he ordered a beer. I ordered the same. I had a love/hate relationship with beer, but I’d only have one tonight. Whenever I drank beer, drama always seemed to follow. I promised myself only one beer tonight. Gabe was here and I wasn’t about to fuck that up.

With our bottles in hand, I led him out to the heliport where a small crowd of people were waiting for their turn on the helicopter. I looked at him hopefully, and he laughed and nodded his head, “But just once.” I put our names on the list and the DJ, who was hot tonight, would call us when it was our turn. I couldn’t wait to be in the air with Gabe. Meanwhile, we sipped our beers and I introduced him to the least controversial people on my friends list—ones that wouldn’t tell him horror stories about my behavior. I couldn’t put my finger on what it was about Gabe—but being next to him, I wanted to do right—do better. I wanted him to see me as someone that was good—like him.

Luckily, he and my friend, Phil, kind of new each other. They got into a deep conversation about oil rig rights and the effects of rigs on the environment. I tried to keep up— but I also wanted to keep an eye on my baby sister.

“Gabe, I have to go check on Mills. I’ll be right back, okay?” He nodded and continued with his point. I think he and Phil were having a disagreement, but it was a polite one. I didn’t understand anything they were talking about and made a mental note to Google oil rigs and the environment.

I went to the last place I’d seen Mills, the dance floor. “So hey, where you been?” Church scooped his arms around my waist and tried to dance with me.

“I’ve been busy. Where’s Aven?” I asked him.

“Gone to get me a drink. Please tell me you aren’t jealous of your hot, chubby friend.” Aven walked up about then and must have heard his comment. She immediately turned and walked away and I called after her.

“Aven! Wait up! You know he’s an ass! Why do you let him bother you?”

She turned and glared at me. “Leave me alone, Pepper.”

“Damn, girl! I will. I’m not the one who called you chubby!” I turned around and walked away. Fuck her if she wanted to fall out over a guy like Church. I don’t know why I was even surprised. I’d known all along she had a thing for him, no matter how many times she promised me she didn’t. I knew it was bad too. Oh well, I had better things to do with my time.

I saw my sister’s friend, Victoria, dancing with some hot guy that was covered in tats and I wondered where a high-society overly protected girl like her would have met someone like that. “Hey, Pepper!”

“Hey, have you seen Mills?”

“Yeah, she’s up there with Rafe.” She pointed up to the DJ booth that towered over the crowd below, and there was my sister, a drink in her hand, partying like she was twenty-one. I sighed and watched for a few minutes until I was convinced she was all right. Nobody had their hands on her and she was still standing upright, so I left the dance floor—and Aven and Church—and went back to find Gabe. About that time, I heard our names over the loudspeaker so I just about ran the rest of the way and grabbed Gabe’s arm.

“You ready?”

“No,” he said, honestly. “I’ll be back.” he told Phil and handed him his empty. Phil gave him a salute as if Gabe were going off to war.

We walked to the heliport and I hadn’t even thought about my short skirt flying up. It was lightweight, ivory cotton material with a fluttering hem, baby doll style. I sure as hell didn’t need to show any more body parts to the world—not just yet. The attendant helped us climb into the helicopter and strapped us in. I sat by the window and Gabe took the center seat. Two other couples joined us so there were six of us going up to see the city and the ocean by night. Gabe had his head leaned back against the headrest with his eyes closed. I smiled. He excelled at so many things, it must have taken some raw courage for him to do something outside of his comfort zone. I felt special that he’d do it with me. I whispered in his ear, “It’s okay. Just open one eye.” He opened one dark eye and looked at me and the smile that crept up on his face almost melted me right there in my seat.

About that time, the helicopter lifted off the ground and half the group squealed. The pilot spoke to us over the intercom, but I wasn’t paying attention. I had my eye on Gabe. We rose higher and higher and suddenly Gabe held my hand. I squeezed it back and looked out the window, amazed at the sight. “Don’t lean so far forward, Pepper.”

I chuckled, “I’m not going to fall out, Gabe. Don’t stress. Are you even looking?” I looked at him and he peeked over the side and nodded. We hovered over the city a few minutes and soon I felt his hand relax a little. Naturally, it was when we were over the ocean. It was pitch black, so there was no way to spot any animals, but the way the moon shone on the water was beautiful. I gathered my hair in a side ponytail to keep it out of my face. Gabe smiled at me, and I smiled back. His dark eyes were fixed on me, his lips parted slightly.
Mmm, kiss me.

Suddenly, his hand cupped my face and he pressed his lips on mine. It was a sweet, warm, delicious kiss that sent heat surging through me. His hand curled around my head and he pulled me closer. His lips tasted like the beer he’d been drinking and I was sure mine did too, but they were so soft. I ran my fingers through his short hair and if we’d been alone on the helicopter, we probably would have never had stopped.

“Pepper,” he breathed, through our kiss.

“Yeah?” I bit gently on his lip.

“They’re watching us,” he whispered.

“Fuck ‘em. I don’t want this to stop.” I sucked on his bottom lip, forgetting that we were thousands of feet in the air with six other people. All I saw was Gabriel Gregory. I gasped when we finally broke apart and smiled at him as I leaned back on the seat. I was dizzy. I’m sure it was the combination of beer and the high altitude, but I wanted to believe it was him.

I sighed when the helicopter descended to the heliport and we stepped off the chopper to make way for the next group. Our trip was over way too soon.

Gabe tugged my hand and pulled me closer to him. His fingers found their way into my hair. “You smell amazing,” he whispered. “Thanks for asking me to come. I’ve never flown in a helicopter before.”

“Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed it.” I couldn’t stop smiling
and
thinking. I wondered what that six pack would feel like under my fingertips. His cock. God, I bet he had an amazing cock. Lickable. Touchable. “And I’m glad I was your first.” I teased. It was his turn to laugh now. I knew that wasn’t true in any stretch of the imagination. “Sorry, but I have to find Mills and make sure she doesn’t get into any trouble. I’ll be back in a sec.”

“Sure.” Gabe found Phil again and the two picked up their conversation while I went in search of my sister, trying to fix my hair as I went. It was balled up in knots and I really hoped I looked better than I thought I did. Mills wasn’t on the dance floor or in any of the other party areas, so I went upstairs to the dressing rooms we’d also rented. There was the main dressing room where Mills had got ready for the party earlier. Brides loved this ridiculous dressing area since it was huge and very romantic. Aven and I thought it would be a great dressing room for the birthday girl, who wasn’t in there either. I turned to walk out and heard someone throwing up in the bathroom so I tapped on the door.

“Mills? Is that you? Are you okay?”

“Yes,” I heard a pathetic reply. “I’m just a little sick.” After a minute, she came to the door and looked like she’d been run over by a truck.

“I think I threw up on my shoe.” She looked so pitiful and her blonde hair was a mess. So much for the updo.

“Let’s go to the dressing room and change your clothes. You have some other dresses in there—and shoes.”

“Okay,” she was wobbly on her feet, but she was determined to keep partying. I worried about leaving gorgeous Gabe downstairs like a lamb thrown in the middle of a pit of lioness debutantes, but oh well. He’d have to fend for himself for the time being. Sisters first.

I opened the door to the dressing room and helped my sister clean up her face and feet then I tossed the gross shoes to the side. I loved her, and I loved
Loubouton
, but I wasn’t about to clean those things. “I need my blue dress… never mind, I’ll get it.” I let out a long hard breath. Mills was more effort than I’d ever imagined.
Do I act like this when I’m drunk?

I couldn’t leave those nasty shoes in the dressing room, so I picked them up by the straps and tossed them in the garbage can. I sighed again. “Goodbye, beautiful
Louboutin
shoes, but I’m not putting you in my car.” All of a sudden, I heard my sister scream. “Mom!” I ran to help her and wondered what the hell was happening.

“Mills! What is it?”

“Mom?” she said, and gasped in surprise as she pointed inside the boudoir closet.

“Church?” My friend and his most recent playmate turned to look at me and squinted at the open door. I flipped on the light and almost threw up at what I saw. “Mother!”

He looked at the woman who sat in his lap, my mother, Evangeline. Her dress was pulled up around her waist, her panties on the floor and she was grinding on my boyfriend.

Church picked her up and practically tossed her to the side. “Pepper! What the fuck?” Evangeline let out a string of profanity and smacked at him with her hand. Once she was off of him, he slid his pants up and tried to button everything up quickly. Mills started crying and I hated for her to see something like this. I could handle my mother—I wasn’t too sure about Mills, though.

“You. Fucking. Pig.” I balled up my fists and wanted to beat the crap out of him. I didn’t know if I was sicker about my mother, or Church, or both. “What the hell is your fucking problem?”

“Mom! How could you? That’s Pepper’s boyfriend!” Mills cried out. I grabbed my sister’s hand and tried to pull her away from the horrifying scene.