Destiny Awaits Read online

  “It would be my pleasure,” he smiled, “especially if I get to see you every day.”

  I didn’t know how to respond. Part of me was attracted to him but there was something hidden behind those eyes that I just didn’t trust. “I suppose I could use the help if you are willing, but I must insist on paying you,” I stammered as his emerald eyes reached within my soul, searching the dark corners within.

  He grinned. “I’m not going to take your money. Seeing your beautiful face is more than enough payment.”

  “Right...well, I’m going to go and change out of these wet clothes. You can go start on whatever it was you had planned for today,” I offered.

  “I think I will go get started on the garden, as long as you promise to hurry. I was going to get that fountain up and running today.” He winked at me and started walking back to the garden before I could think of a reply.

  I went inside and changed clothes, pulled my hair into a ponytail and headed back outside to the garden. When I arrived, Jayden was pulling leaves from the water. He had taken off his shirt and it reaffirmed my theory of him working out. The sweat on his back glistened on his tanned skin. Something about him was calling to me, pulling me towards him. I had to know more about him.

  “So Jayden, where do you live?” I asked as I walked up beside him.

  “Do you remember passing a gravel road right before your driveway?”

  “Yeah, I think I remember seeing it.”

  “If you follow that road to the end, you will see my house.”

  “I’ll have to go and look sometime.”

  “You are certainly welcome anytime. You see that little box over there?” He said pointing to a small box that was half hidden in a bush. “If you pull that lever down, the pump will turn on.”

  “Okay.” I reached for the lever and tried pulling it down but the rust made it almost impossible to move. With a loud snap the rusty lever released itself and I lost my balance and stumbled backwards. Two strong arms wrapped around me and stopped my fall. I turned around and was drawn in by those mysterious eyes. Jayden made no attempt to let me go and a part of me didn’t want him to. It felt so right to be in his arms, like I was meant to be within their strong grasp.

  “I hope this doesn’t freak you out,” he said, “but you smell really good.” He took in a deep breath as if trying to memorize my scent.

  As the heat rose in my cheeks I stood on my own and moved from the safe embrace. “Okay, I think that is enough work for one day,” I managed to say.

  “I can take a hint,” Jayden teased. “You probably don't want me around today since it's your first day here. The fountain should be fixed now and the water should be clear by morning. If you need anything you know where to find me.”

  Before he could change his mind and decide to stay, I headed towards the driveway where I was surprised to see no car. “Where’s your car?” I asked.

  “It was such a nice day that I decided to walk.”

  “That’s a long way to walk. Would you like a ride home?”

  “No thanks, I’m good. I don’t mind,” he said as he headed for the road, turning to wave before disappearing from sight.

  ****

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  ****

  Chapter Two

  The next couple of days were spent in the yard trying to make something out of the overgrown mess. Jayden came back each day as promised and it certainly made doing the yard work much more enjoyable, not to mention gave me something nice to look at. The hot sun burned my skin as I trimmed the hedges by the house. I wiped away droplets of sweat that were pouring down my forehead. As I stood back to admire the newly trimmed hedges, a strong hand tapped on my shoulder. “Oh my!” I stumbled and started falling to the ground. Before I knew it Jayden was there, catching me right before I hit the hard ground.

  “I'm starting to think that you like being in my arms,” he said with a bright smile.

  “Things could be worse I suppose,” I stammered, pushing my hair behind my ear.

  “Looks like you got an early start this morning. What else is there to do?” Jayden asked as he helped me stand on my own again.

  “I wanted to get some new stepping stones for the path and I thought I would wait to see if you wanted to tag along because I wasn't sure if there was any place in town to get new ones.”

  “Yeah, come on. I know a place we can go. We will have to take your car because I walked again.”

  “Great! Let me just go get my purse and keys,” I said as I headed inside the house.

  “Mind if I drive?” He asked as I walked back out of the house. He grabbed my hand and led me to the passenger side of the car. He already had the door open for me before I realized we were still holding hands. I looked at him and smiled as I released his hand and climbed into the car.

  “Sure, why not.”

  He shut the door and walked around to the other side. We rode in silence most of the way until it became obvious that I would have to be the one to get the conversation going. “So, do you have any siblings?” It was the first question that came to mind.

  “I had a sister. She was killed several years ago,” he said. He drew back, and I sensed his tension.

  “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”

  “It’s okay, you didn’t know. It doesn’t bother me as much anymore,” he said and seemed to relax a bit.

  “Do you want to know how it happened?” He asked taking his eyes off the road to look at me.

  “If you want to tell me, but you don’t have to.”

  He paused a minute before taking a deep breath. “It was a hot summer day, much like today, and my parents had gone out of town to see my aunt. This was before the town curfew was issued so there wasn’t any worry of leaving me to watch my sister. Emma had just turned ten that summer. Anyway, it was late at night and the dog kept whining so Emma went outside to see what was wrong. I was in the living room when I heard the dog yelp in pain and heard Emma screaming for help. I ran outside and saw a dark figure carrying Emma towards town. I ran after the shadow but I couldn’t keep up. It didn’t take long before I saw her. She lay limp on the ground; her nightgown soiled with mud.” He paused and looked at me for a moment with tears filling his eyes before he began again. “I tried to help her but I was too late. Her death devastated me and it took a long time to get over it.” He pulled the car to a stop in front of a worn down building with a big sign that read ‘Phil’s Lawn Shop.’ “She died just over there. I still get goose bumps when I look at the place.” I followed his gaze and goose bumps crawled across my skin as I saw the old pastry shop where I had seen the man standing when I first arrived in town.

  “That is just horrible. I’m so sorry Jayden,” I said as we both got out of the car.

  “Thanks,” he said as he smiled at me. “I don't know where that came from. I normally don't talk about it.”

  “I tend to have that effect on people,” I teased, trying to lighten the conversation.

  As soon as we entered the shop an old, chubby cheeked man met us. “Hello Jayden, who’s this beautiful young lady?” The man said with a twinkle in his eye.

  “This is Alayna Scott. She's the new girl in town,” Jayden said smiling at me.

  “It is nice to meet you Alayna. I’m Phil Lancing and I own this hellhole.” Phil shook my hand with vigor.

  “Nice to meet you Mr. Lancing,” I said while yanking my hand out of his.

  “So, what can I get for you today?”

  “I need some new stepping stones and Jayden said I could find them here.”

  “You came to the right place. Here, I’ll show you where they are.” Phil led us towards the back of the store. I took the opportunity to get an impression of Phil. He was a rather short man, the top of his head coming up to my eye level. He wore wrinkled black slacks that fell short from his ankles, perhaps due to having them pulled up past his belly button. His blue striped shirt was tucked in half way making him appear unclean. Th
ick framed glasses sat high on his big nose. I could tell from his appearance that he was a friendly man that couldn’t hurt a fly if he tried. The thought of him trying to hurt a fly brought a smile to my face. I was startled when Jayden put an arm across my shoulders.

  “What are you smiling about?”

  “Nothing,” I said and slipped out from under his arm, trying to hide my widening smile. The bell at the front desk rang as we reached the stepping stones.

  “Here they are. Have a look and if you need anything, I’ll be up front,” Phil mumbled as he rushed to the counter. After we got what I needed, we headed back to my house riding in silence once again. It seemed as though Jayden was preoccupied. We arrived at the house and carried the stones to the porch. As we started pulling up the broken pieces of old stone and threw them in a pile, Jayden spoke up.

  “So what’s your story? Why did you pick a town like Juniper Grove to move to?”

  I wiped the sweat that was starting to form on my forehead. Jayden stared at me suspiciously for a moment as I went back to work. “I lost a bet,” I said, my sarcastic personality peeking through.

  “No really, why Juniper Grove?”

  I hesitated for a few moments trying to think of what I should say. I never talked about my family but felt that I owed him something since he had shared about his. “I needed a new start. About a year ago my family and I were in a serious car crash. I survived. They didn’t. Since I was the only one left I inherited everything. I was given Dominic’s name from the local realtor and he sent me some pictures of different houses that were available. I chose this one because it was the furthest from home and it was in my price range.”

  “Sorry to hear about your family,” he said softly. “How old are you then?”

  “I’m twenty now, my birthday is in a week though.”

  “Oh,” he smiled, “You look a little younger.”

  I looked up into his eyes and smiled. We both started laughing as I took the hair tie from around my wrist and pulled my long red hair up off my sweaty neck.

  “Is that from the accident?” Jayden asked as he stared at me.

  “What are you talking about?” My mind drew a blank as to what he was referring to.

  “That scar on your neck. Is it from the crash?” A wave of nerves rushed over me as I realized what he meant.

  “Oh, yeah it is. Ugly huh? I try to keep it hidden beneath my hair.” I pulled my hair around my neck in an attempt to hide the hideous mess.

  “I don’t think it’s ugly. It makes you different from everyone else. It makes you even more special then you already are,” He said as he moved my hair and started to trace the jagged pink scar that twisted its way around my neck and shoulder. His caress left a trail of fire wherever he touched.

  “Well you are probably the only one,” I said, pulling away from his soft touch. “Everyone back home knew what it came from and always stared like I was broken. Of course I shouldn’t call it home anymore. It hasn’t been home for me for a while now. But enough about me, we should get back to work.” I began to remove the broken stone pieces again.

  A couple of hours later, all the new stones were in place. Jayden and I stood together admiring the new path. “What are we going to do with the old stone pieces?” I asked staring at the small pieces of rubble.

  “Tomorrow I will bring my truck and then I can get rid of them for you.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” I said. Jayden smiled.

  “I better get going. It’s getting late. Is there anything else you need before I go?” Jayden asked as he looked into my eyes.

  My mind swirled with possibilities and I had the sudden desire to feel Jayden’s lips upon mine. I pushed the thoughts back before I made a fool of myself. “No,” I stammered.

  “Okay, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then?” He asked.

  “I don’t think there is much work left to do in the yard, so after these broken stone pieces are gone, there isn’t any reason for you to keep coming by.”

  “But what if I want to? Would you let me?”

  I took a moment to ponder his question. Should I let him keep coming over? Half of my heart was reaching out; calling to him, wanting him to fill the void that I felt within myself. But what if he left me? Then I would be all alone again. The remaining part was hesitant to let anyone close to prevent further pain. After a few moments, I decided that I would rather have him in my life, even for a short while, then to remain in my solitary existence. “I don’t see anything wrong with that I guess. It would be nice to have company rather than be alone all day,” I said as I smiled.

  He smiled. “Then it’s settled. See you tomorrow,” he said and headed for the driveway. I waved as he walked out of sight and then went inside to find something for dinner. Scavenging around for something to eat, I finally decided that I would just have a salad because I was too tired to cook an actual meal. After my light meal, I placed my bowl in the sink and headed for the door. It was such a nice evening out. The sun was low on the horizon and there was a cool breeze that caressed my skin. “I think I will just go for a short walk.” I said to the wind.

  Reaching the woods’ edge, I began thinking about everything that had happened in the last couple of days. I really enjoyed Jayden’s company and the more I learned about him the more I wanted to know. When I was around him I felt safe, which was a feeling that I hadn’t felt in a long time. I missed my family so much it hurt. It wasn’t fair that I was allowed to live when their lives were cut short. Collapsing to my knees, warm tears began streaming down my face. The excruciating pain crushed the air from my lungs. Letting the remaining tears run their course, I regained enough composure to stand up and began brushing the leaves and dirt from my knees. I was so wrapped up in the moment that I barely heard the footsteps echoing through the trees. A wave of unease crashed over me and I decided to get back inside the house before whoever the footsteps belonged to saw me with tear stained cheeks. Suddenly out of nowhere a dark figure appeared at the end of the driveway. Rubbing my face to wipe away any remaining tears, I tried to make myself look as presentable as possible. Within seconds the figure was close enough that I could make out the leather jacket from the man in town.

  “So, you’re the new girl right?”

  “Uh...yeah. I’m Alayna. And your name is?”

  “You can call me Gavin.”

  “Well Gavin, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  “Oh no, believe me, the pleasure is all mine,” he said as his long strides brought him within feet of me. Taking a couple of steps back to increase my personal space, I wrapped my arms around myself as the chilled breeze swept through the trees.

  “Hasn’t anyone told you about the town curfew?” Gavin asked as he eyed me intensely.

  “I think I may have heard it mentioned but that’s about all that I have heard of it. I didn’t really think it would apply to personal property, and this is my property that you happen to be on,” I said in defense. I didn’t know who this Gavin thought he was but he was starting to creep me out. As if he sensed the awkwardness, and was determined to ignore it, Gavin took a couple steps closer to me.

  “The curfew was issued because some of the towns’ folk were getting hurt. Word has it that there is some crazy guy who stalks the night looking for people to torment.”

  “That doesn’t sound very believable. Why would someone do a thing like that?”

  “I’m sure he gets pleasure out of it,” he whispered as he traced the scar on my neck.

  “What do you think you’re doing,” I shouted.

  “I’m sorry, I just couldn’t help myself. I’ve gotten so bored with the people here and the thought of fresh meat is just too tempting to resist,” he said as he flashed me a huge grin.

  “Please don’t touch me again. I really think that you should be leaving now,” I said as I started walking backwards towards the house. I didn’t trust him enough to show him my back but I needed to get away from him.

  “Are you trying t
o tell me what to do? That’s such a turn on,” he grunted as he flung himself at me. Before I had time to react, his body slammed into me and forced me to the ground. Images of my dad ran through my head and I could still hear him saying that I needed to take some kind of self defense classes. He always told me that it’s better to have it and not need it, then to need it and not have it. I always complained when he would say that, certain that I would never find myself in a situation where I actually needed to defend myself. A sharp pain in my shoulder brought me back to reality and doing the only thing I could think of in that moment, I raised my knee as hard as I could. The high pitched squeal that Gavin let out was proof that I had connected with my target. Having only a few seconds to react, I rolled from underneath him and sprinted towards the house. Gavin was in front of me in an instant and I stopped in my tracks, thinking of nowhere else to go.

  “You know, I think you are the only one to ever knee me in the balls. I bet you think you’re pretty clever.”

  “I have my moments,” I said. It was all that came to mind to say and I instantly regretted my sarcastic reply. The thought was soon pushed from my mind as I found Gavin on top of me once more; his body was like a hard brick against me. Having no wiggle room to try my previous move, my eyes darted across the ground hoping that I would find something within reach with which to defend myself. I was thankful to find that we were lying by the pile of broken stepping stones. Gavin lowered his head to my neck and I barely heard him whisper, “If you stop squirming this won’t hurt...much.” An intense pain throbbed in my neck as it became obvious that this psycho had just bitten me. Black spots began to dance in my vision as I managed to grab a piece of broken stone. With all the force that I could muster, I slammed the rock into the side of his face. Feeling teeth rip from my flesh, I knew that I'd found my mark. Scooting backwards, trying to put some distance between us, I looked at him and saw him sitting on the ground with a large gash on the side of his face. A glimmer of hope flashed through my mind, as I prayed to the Gods above that he would decide to leave. That hope was smashed as the gash on his face began to disappear; the tissue knitting back together to flawless perfection.