Sunday
Picture 2
Destiny Cullen’s Choice: both
Title:
We walked back to the group soaking wet and still laughing. The sun was just starting to set over the horizon and Dustine smiled as she looked over her shoulder at it.
“Look Ayden! It seems little Dustie got laid!” Juniper snickered.
“I’ve never seen her smile so big in her life! Must have been a great piece of ass.” Ayden chimed in to Dustine’s dismay.
“Shut up you two! Unless you want me to tell the boys here all about that ‘incident’ in New Mexico.”
The girls’ eyes bugged and they suddenly found something else to talk about.
When we finally gave up our beds to the girls late that night, the guys and I made a plan to make them stay until the police found their car, and hopefully after that too.
“Declan you’re really suggesting that? I don’t think they’d go for it.” Cooper said while him and Tyler glanced down the hallway to the group of rooms Ayden, Dustine, and Juniper where in.
“What else do you suggest? You guys talked to them more than I did. Besides Dustine and I didn’t really talk we just…laughed and had fun. I just hope she’ll agree to this.” They looked at me and mumbled, “We do too.”
Early that morning I woke up to the front door closing and I jumped up running to check the room where the girls were staying, and they were nowhere to be found. I rushed back to the living room shaking the guys. “They are gone we gotta get them!”
I ran out the door without a shirt on and found them down the beach. I ran as fast as I could down the shore to catch up to them. Dustine’s back was to me as she was fighting with her friends.
“Ladies,” I stopped behind Dustine and took a deep breath. “Why did you ditch us? We’d love to have your company until the cops find your car.” Please, please agree.
“We have to get going. You know places to go, people to see.” Dustine said without turning around.
“Okay,” I said with a sigh. “I heard your conversation yesterday. You have nowhere to go and we have a house right here for you guys to stay until you get your car back.”
Her friends were nodding vigorously and she dropped her shoulders and nodded with them.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “Dee, we’ll see you inside.” I turned to see them run to Cooper and Tyler who were still trying to make their way down to us.
“Hey, I’m sorry if I embarrassed you. It’s just that we like you guys. You’re fun and we haven’t seen lots of girls out here that aren’t fake.”
She wiped her face and turned to look at me. “Thanks for letting us stay here with you guys. I’m going to go for a walk. Tell Juniper and Ayden I’ll be back soon.” She turned to walk off, but I took her hand in mine.
“How about some breakfast first?” I asked as she looked at my hand in hers.
“Um,” she paused loosing her train of thought. “Uh, I don’t really like being inside a lot.” She looked away as if embarrassed.
“Well how about I walk with you and then we can have breakfast outside?”
She tried to smile but the glimmer was gone from her eyes. “That sounds like plan.” I still held her hand as we started to walk down the shore. The sun started to rise higher and more people filled the beach. Suddenly an idea sparked and I glanced over at her.
“Dustine?” She shook her head to clear it and looked at me in question. “Would you like to see something with me?”
Her eyebrows furrowed. “What do you mean?”
I combed my fingers through my hair and looked into her eyes. “There is something that I want to show you but its not here on the beach. Would you like to go and see it?” I asked- more like pleaded.
“What about your friends…and mine? I don’t want to leave them alone.”
I smiled thinking about what the guys had in store for her friends. “Don’t worry, my friends have something planned for them. Nothing ‘serial killers’ would think is fun, promise.”
She laughed and nodded her head. We headed back to the house and got changed. Cooper found some old clothes of his sister’s in the spare bedroom so the girls could change. After Dustine talked to her friends and deemed them safe to stay with Cooper and Tyler, she let me take her to my car and on the road.
I rolled down the windows once we were out of the city and the fresh air whipped through the car filling our lungs. She smiled as she took in the mountains and trees. “So where are you taking me?”
“You see that huge mountain right in front of us with the snow on top? We are going to the other side.” I smiled at her expression.
“Why are we going there?”
“It’s the only place that makes me feel like I did in Ireland.” I said cryptically.
“How did you feel in Ireland?”
I smiled as I took my eyes off the road to look at her. “I felt at home.”
Something flashed through her eyes and she looked out the window. Suddenly the life in the car was gone and I reached over the seat to take her hand in mine. Her head snapped to look at me touching her and then she looked at me with tears in her eyes.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as I pulled to the shoulder and parked the car. “What happened to you?” I pulled her into my chest and she started crying freely. I ran my hand soothingly down her back while holding her tight.
The crying finally eased and she pulled back to look at me. “I’m sorry.” She wiped her eyes, trying to stop the tears from coming down.
“Dustine please tell me what’s wrong.”
She took a deep breath and nodded toward the road. “Drive and I’ll tell you.” I started the car back up and continued down the road to the special spot I’ve never shown anyone before.
“Remember when I told you that I met Juniper and Ayden when I was 16? Well the whole reason I left Arizona, besides the fact that I wanted to see the concert, was because I had to get away from that life in New Mexico. I was a runaway at sixteen and you might think it was teen angst as most people do but it was more than that.”
She started to fidget with her fingers before she continued on. “I had the worst kind of life. I was perfect to the outside world but inside my house I was anything but. I brought home perfect grades, but I was still stupid and got beat for not getting one hundred percent in all my classes. I was never allowed outside the house except for school. Which is the reason I hate being inside most of the time. But the topping on the cake was my stepfather. He,” She choked on a sob and had to stop for a while.
Her sobs slowed as we rounded the mountain almost to our destination. “He um, he abused me.” Her voice broke but continued. “I had to get out of there since my mom didn’t believe me. I took the money I saved up and headed straight for Arizona and never looked back.”
After a few moments, the mountain opened up into a small lake with green all around it. You could even see the snow on the very top. “You never told anyone before me?”
She shook her head the tears finally ceasing. “No one but Juniper and Ayden.” I nodded my head as I parked the car close to the shore.
She wiped the tears off her cheeks and whispered to herself. “I’ve never felt at home before. I guess you need to have a home first.” I smiled sadly and got out to open her door for her.
“Dustine, it would be my pleasure to show you around your new home.” I held out my hand to help her out and she had a half smile. Which was improvement from her tears.
“I found this place when I needed to get away from everything. I just drove and drove, and the road lead me here. I never showed this place to anyone else before.” I kept her hand in mine as I lead her across the shore.
“It doesn’t even feel like California here.” She raised her head into the breeze letting her hair get caught in the wind. I smiled at the sight.
“Exactly why I love it here. Come this way, there is a small cabin hidden in the trees.”
She laughed as I raced her toward the wooden cabin. Once we caught our breaths on the porch I walked over to the hidden key and unlocked the door for her. “It’s not much but, it could be home.”
She walked in front of me and I placed my hand on the small of her back giving her a tour of the two rooms and one small kitchen and tiny bathroom. “This feels nice,” she closed her eyes to take in the moment. “You’re right Declan. This could be home.”
The light was back in her eyes and made the deep brown sparkle with life. I smiled and brought my hand to cup her cheek, leaned down and kissed her soft lips.
When I pulled back to look at her, her eyes were pooling with tears and I started to panic. “I’m sorry Dustine-” She pressed her mouth to mine and cut off what I was going to say. She cut off all thoughts that didn’t involve her with me.
She released her hold on me and laughed as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “Thank you. Thank you so much, Declan.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the window that looks toward the lake. “I think I may have felt what it feels like to be at home. I never want to leave, I never want this feeling to go away.”
“It doesn’t have to, Dustine.” I cupped her face tenderly. “You can stay here, with me. As long as you like.”
She smiled but then looked away. “I can’t leave my friends.”
I laughed. “I wouldn’t worry about that. I think Tyler and Cooper have their own plans to keep your friends with them.”
“Hey, I thought you weren’t going to use you’re Irish charm on me.”
I smirked. “You know my lady, you should never trust an Irishman when he says he’ll never use his Irish charm on you.” She smiled and I brought my lips to hers once more.
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