Page 66 of Long Road Home

Jordan

I’d keptmy eye on Destiny all night. Even when she didn’t realize I was looking at her, I knew exactly where she was. I’d gotten shit from both Shawn and Ryan for being a lovesick fool over her.

I didn’t care what they thought, although I suspected their ribbing wasn’t as good-natured as they tried to make it. They were worried she’d take off and rip me up all over again.

I wasn’t all too sure yet they were wrong, so when I saw her gather her nerve and go to Christa and they disappeared, it had taken everything in me not to go to her then, to be with her when I suspected the conversation she was about to have would be difficult. One wrong move, one explosion she couldn’t handle, and she still had a home waiting for her back in Texas.

Like hell that was going to happen.

So I gave them a few minutes, then I followed.

And I’d listened outside, so damn proud of Destiny for confronting Christa, for not giving in and accepting her apology too easy. But never, never in a million years would I have guessed I’d have heard what she threw down.

“Are you shitting me?” I crossed my arms over my chest to prevent myself from grabbing Christa. A weak man put his hands on a woman in anger, and that wasn’t me. But I remembered that day. The day of prom when I’d been at the florist picking up Destiny’s corsage, fighting against my teenage dick going hard all day at the anticipation of how slamming hot she’d look in whatever dress she was going to wear when she called me, sobbing so loud I couldn’t understand her.

Until she’d told me she wasn’t going to prom with me.

“You did that shit?”

“I’m sorry, Jordan. I’m really sorry.” Christa’s voice wavered, shook like branches in a thunderstorm. I couldn’t find an ounce of sympathy for her. She turned back to Destiny. “I’m so sorry. I understand if you’re so mad you can’t forgive me, but I want you to know that if I could go back and do it all again, I would never treat someone like that. I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough to do it then.”

Tears rolled down Destiny’s cheeks. Christa sniffed back some of her own and swiped her cheeks. I quit paying attention to her and went to Destiny, pulled her to my side. She collapsed into me like it’d taken all of her strength to stand up for herself.

Outside of being so damn pissed at a girl I never knew had a crush on me, I was so damn proud of the girl in my arms for finally doing this.

“I should go,” Christa said. Her gaze flickered between both of us, standing against her. “But really, I’m sorry. I hope you can forgive me. Both of you.”

She licked her lips and hurried out of the guesthouse.

I turned and wrapped both my arms around Destiny. “I’d ask if you’re okay, but I imagine you’re not.”

Her hands slid from my chest where they’d been captured when I hugged her and slid to my sides, down to my hips, around to my back. She dug her fingers into my shirt, tightening them into fists and held on to me for dear life. “I hated her. I hated her so much.”

“I don’t blame you.” I smoothed down her hair at the top of her head, pressed my lips to that same spot. “I never knew it was her, or that she was involved. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“What good would it have done, Jordan?”

Maybe you wouldn’t have left.

After that day, I’d finally convinced her to go to prom, but the night hadn’t been enjoyable. I’d spent half the night trying to make her smile and wipe that nasty memory and event from her brain, I’d spent the rest of the night trying to figure out who would pull such a shitty move. That very night was when she started pulling away from me. She’d told me she was nervous about graduating, a lot on her mind with getting ready to leave Tillie. But she grew distant, a vacancy appeared in her eyes and often I caught her staring off into space with fear.

“You learned you were pregnant shortly after that, didn’t you?” I asked. Pieces I hadn’t yet put together flashed in my mind. The day we’d fought, while she screamed she’d drag me down. Then how she’d avoided me until I showed up at Tillie’s, demanding to see her. The pitiful look in Tillie’s eyes. Destiny’s red-rimmed eyes when I went to her room. She’d claimed she had the flu but would be better soon.

I saw her twice more, stilted conversations, awkward laughs, her refusing to hold my hand in public and she’d barely even kiss me.

“I couldn’t take it anymore.” She choked over her cries and I squeezed her tighter. As if I could squeeze the memories and her pain out of her. “I just couldn’t. What would they have said? What would they have done?”

I’d always thought it was some assholes on the football team being dicks to her. Or Gavin Thompson because he and I had always hated each other. I’d never considered Christa. Jenni, sure. And yeah, they’d been friends, but I always assumed Christa had more sense.

“I get it,” I finally said. I hated it. I hated what she’d done. I still hated she kept my kid from me. I at least understood the fear she had that made running seem like a good idea. “I know you’re hurting, sweetheart. I know that was really hard for you, but I also want you to know I’m so damn proud of you.”

She sniffed, and her cries turned silent. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. It’s been a long time. And I’m not standing up for Christa, but I suspect she’s regretted that for a long time, too. Still, you earned that conversation and I’m really proud of you for standing up for yourself. You did good, honey.”

A shiver rolled through her body and her fingers dug into the small of my back. “She looked like she felt really bad.”

I’d known Christa a long time. Knew her well enough to know she definitely wasn’t the girl she’d been in high school. Still, there was no way in hell I was defending her.

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