Destiny of Three (4 page)

Star centered the appetizers on the table. 

“It looks wonderful.  You did a good job, dear,” Mary told her, standing behind her as she put all the food out.  She loved this woman.  Her smile made her feel relaxed and comfortable no matter what was going on in her life.

“Thank you, Mary.”  Star smiled and hugged the sweetest woman she’d ever known.  “I’m so glad you could come.  Sky was telling me today how excited he was that you were eating dinner with us tonight.”

“He still doesn’t know about this party, does he?” Mary asked. 

“No ma’am.  You know Sky; if he knew, he wouldn’t even come.”  Star frowned as a man she didn’t know took a drink from one of the waiters. 

Mary turned around to see what had her attention.  “Would you like to meet my date for tonight?  I hope you don’t mind, but I invited someone.”  Star jerked around and stared at Mary. 

Star fumbled with her words.  “Oh no, no, I don’t mind at all.”  She never thought Mary liked younger men.  Lord, this woman was incredible.  River had saved her life by pulling all the cancer out of her body.  Now cancer-free, she made every day count as if it were her last.  Star couldn’t ever remember seeing the woman without a smile on her face. 

Mary waved, and the good-looking man walked over and stood beside her.  “Sullivan Grayson, meet my dear friend Star Johnson.”

“Nice to meet you,” Sullivan responded.  He stuck his hand out to her, but she was so shocked that she just continued to gawk at him, speechless. 

“Star, are you okay?”  Mary picked up her hand.

Star shook her head, trying to get it together.  Who would have known Mary was still a player?  Quickly, she stuck her hand out and shook Sullivan’s hand. 

“Sorry. It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Grayson.  You must be new in town; I thought I knew most everyone here.”  Star’s voice sounded funny even to her own ears, as she tried to fish for information on who this man was. She wanted to drop her head in embarrassment.  She’d just never thought Mary was the type of woman who was…well, still in the game.

“I just arrived today,” Sullivan answered.

“Ahh, well, enjoy yourself tonight.  Mary is a wonderful woman. I’m sorry, but I need to get everything out before my brother gets here.  Please excuse me.” 

Sullivan nodded and smiled back at her as she walked off.  She noticed he was very attentive with Mary.  He got her a glass of wine, then put his hand out to her so she could sit down at one of the tables.  That’s what she wanted — someone to treat her like a lady, and who wanted to take care of her.  Maybe it was her; maybe there was something about her that men disliked.  Star sighed as she watched Mary and her date. 

“What’s wrong?”  Banks asked. Then he followed her line of sight and frowned.  “Why are you looking at him?”

Star rolled her eyes as Jansen walked over and looked over at the man too.  “Look, you two need to stop this.  Just because we fooled around a bit doesn’t give you the right to dictate who I can see, talk to, or have sex with.  So get over yourselves.  I know this is all a game to you.”  She jumped up and rushed into the kitchen.

Banks stormed into the kitchen after her, with Jansen following.

“Hey, now, you listen here,” Banks belted out.

Star quickly turned around when she heard them behind her.  “Don’t you raise your voice at me.” Stars own voice was loud and strong as she pushed her finger into Banks’s chest.  “Why don’t you two find someone else to push around?” 

Before she knew what was going on, Jansen came up behind her, picked her up, and carried her into another room.  Her back was to his chest as he pulled her tighter against his body.  She tried to get away, but he held her hands so she couldn’t move and leaned down to say in her ear, “I don’t talk much unless I have something I need to say, and I’ve listened to you ramble on about this and that all the time, but what you just said pisses me off.” 

“I don’t care.”  Star struggled to get loose.

“Well you should.  You are my mate, Star Johnson. I’ve known it for a long time now, but I’ve been waiting for you to realize it.  I wanted to give you some time, because I know how hard you and Sky have had it, but now your time is up!” 

Jansen whirled Star around and grabbed her face.  The raw emotion in his eyes made her gasp as he leaned down and gave her a kiss that made her whole body burst into flames.  He sucked on her bottom lip like he wanted to make a meal out of her, and she hated herself for loving every minute of it.  She needed to stop, but couldn’t find the strength in her to do it.  He licked the inside of her mouth until she had to pull away to breathe. 

When he pulled away, Jansen was breathing as hard as she was.  Every instinct she had was telling her to pull him in for another kiss, but her mind was telling her to stop. She was only setting herself up for failure.  Dammit, she had just promised herself not to do this again and here she was. 

“Don’t do this to me.  I’ve got to get the party ready before Sky gets here,” Star sputtered the only thing she could think of to stop him from going any further.  Banks was watching too, and she could tell he was itching to get involved, but she walked away.

When she opened the door, Lilly was picking up a drink from the waiter.  “Hey, where have you been?”  She looked down at her watch.  “It’s almost time for him to be here.  You may want to go out in the main dining room to wait for him.  I will watch for you when you bring him in.  I think everyone is here now.  Oh yeah — who’s the hunk of a man with Mary?” 

“Long story.  I need a stiff drink.  I’ll be in the dining room waiting for him.”  Star watched as Lilly’s eyes drifted to the kitchen door, where Banks and Jansen were coming out. 

“Ahh, now I see,” Lilly muttered.

“No, you don’t.  I’ll explain later.”  Star sounded defeated as she walked toward the main dining room.  She needed a big fat drink before her brother arrived.

****

Star sucked the vodka on the rocks down as fast as she could before her brother arrived.  He’d only worry if he saw her drinking.  She’d almost gotten the second one down before he walked into the dining room.  “Shit.” 

Pushing the glass aside, Star smiled as she walked over to her brother.  She could see his reaction to how obviously fake her expression was.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, then looked over at the bar and back at her.  “Why are you drinking?”

“Jeez, I just had a drink to wind down from the day.  Nothing’s wrong.  I’m better now that you’re here.  I can’t wait to have a great dinner, and then maybe you can dance with your big sister.”  Star looped her arm around his and escorted him to the private dining room.

“Why are we eating in here?  I thought Mary was joining us,” Sky asked suspiciously.

“She is you, big dummy.  She’s already here, and get this — she brought a date.  Not just
any
date, but one of the best-looking men I’ve ever seen.  Mary has just become my new hero,” Star teased.  “I’m talking a hottie of a man.  Jeez, the woman gets more action then I could ever get.”

“A date?  We’re talking about Mary, right?” Sky asked as they got to the door.

“Yep, I can’t wait for you to see him.  It’s going to be an interesting night.”

Sky went first so he could open the door, but when he stepped in the room the lights came on and everyone yelled, “Happy Birthday.”  Star flinched when she saw the horrified look on her brother’s face.  She’d forgotten to warn everyone not to yell because it would most likely scare him.

Immediately, Star grasped her brother and hugged him so nobody would see his fear. She whispered, “I’m sorry; I forgot to tell everyone not to shout.  It’s just a party in your honor, and it’s only your friends.  Please don’t be mad.  River and I only wanted to do something special for you.”

Star could feel Sky trembling in her arms.  She could tell he was trying to stop it, but he needed a moment.  River quickly ran up to him and hugged him.  She must have noticed his expression.  Star was thankful he hadn’t tried to hurt anyone; thank God nobody was close enough. 

“Sorry, we got so excited about you coming in that we yelled too loud.  Are you okay, little brother?”  River asked. 

Star hugged her brother too as they huddled together.  When she opened her eyes, she noticed the look of shock on everyone’s face.  Immediately, Reece and Jonas hurried over to River. 

“Y’all were glowing when you hugged each other,” Jonas commented.  “Not just a little bit, either.  It was very bright, and almost…” 

“Almost what?” River asked.

“Angelic.  Like the Gods themselves were shining down on you three,” Reece replied.

“Is there anyone here who shouldn’t be?” Star asked, concerned.

“The guy with Mary,” Reece responded. 

Everyone looked around the room, but he wasn’t there.  “It’s going to be hard to explain this if he saw anything.  We need to find out who he is and why he’s here,” Reece said.

Larsen, Larken, and Ash walked over to them.  “Wow, is all I can say.  Bet you never knew you could do that?”  Ash said. Then she noticed they were all staring at Mary’s date as he walked back into the room.

“Look, we may have a problem.  We don’t know the guy with Mary, or if he just saw the light show.  The fact that nobody knows about our existence is what’s keeping us safe, but now…”  River trailed off.

“His name is Sullivan Grayson, and I found him broke down on the side of the road.  I brought him to the lodge to rest and get his tire fixed.  I didn’t know he knew Mary. I may have to take him aside, because he’s a tomb raider.  He’s one of the best, in fact, and he’s also known for his record-keeping skills.  They say if you want to know about a legend, myth, or anything to do with the supernatural, he’s the guy to ask about it.  This could be a chance to find out what the three of you can do.  That’s the reason I brought him here; I wanted to pick his brain on the Power of the Three,” Larsen explained.

Star could see her brother straighten up as he got a good look at him.  That was odd; she’d never seen her brother stare at someone he was attracted to.  Apparently this man liked what he saw as well, because he was staring back. 

“Sky, are you attracted to Mr. Grayson?”  Star couldn’t believe she just asked her brother that.  She’d never asked about his sexual preference, but the way he was staring made her wonder now.

A lump formed in her throat when she saw the pained expression on her brother’s face. 

“No,” Sky muttered.  The red crimson blush could be seen from his neck to his face as he stalked off toward the bathroom.  She felt bad for asking him in front of everyone; she hadn’t meant to say it, and now she’d hurt his feelings.

“Shit.  I didn’t mean to say that in front of all of you, it’s just that I feel like we’re all family and I wasn’t thinking.”  Star shook her head, mad at herself.  Never in a million years would she want to hurt her brother’s feelings.

“We
are
family.  He’s just a private person, and maybe he didn’t want anyone to know until he was ready.  I was thinking the same thing, though.  He loves you, and he’ll forgive you.”  River suggested.

Star waited by the door for her brother to come out.  She had the worst habit of biting her fingernails when she was nervous about something, which alerted her two shadows. 

“Are you okay?”  Jansen asked, concerned. 

“Why are you always asking me that?”  Star questioned.  “Do I look like I’m about to freak out or something?  You’re giving me a complex.” 

Banks chuckled.  “Don’t be crazy woman, we’re just worried about you.”

She wrapped her arms around herself as a flashback from her younger years at the orphanage hit her head on.  The staff made it their job to call the kids stupid or crazy.  What Banks just said cut her like a knife.  She needed to check on her brother, but if she didn’t leave, she might attack Banks or have a nervous breakdown right there in front of everyone.  She tried to hold the feelings from her childhood back, but nothing was working.

Star could feel a sob threatening to erupt.  She quickly turned around and left out the side door.  Once she got to the dining room, she made a run for it.  She got outside and jumped in her car.  Maybe she
was
crazy, but that didn’t give him the right to call her that. 

All the leftover emotions from her childhood just overloaded her.  Tears fell, and she gasped as her sobs broke free.  She was so tired from the lack of sleep, and she’d had enough of everyone today.  She’d tried to make this a happy day for Sky, and ended up ruining it for him.  And to make matters worse, the two men who said they cared about her had just called her crazy. 

Star could barely see by the time she pulled into the driveway.  She let herself inside, then went to her room and locked the door.  Silence and darkness were all she wanted.  “Yes, I’m wallowing in self-fucking-pity,” she screamed out.  Remembering the bottle of whiskey she’d bought for a spell and never used, she grabbed it from her closet and laid it beside her bed.

Quickly she pulled her shoes off and flung them against the wall, then took her clothes off, threw them on the floor, and got into bed.  “Fuck you all,” Star shouted, picking up the bottle and taking a big gulp.  She barely got it down her throat; the strong liquor burned as it made a path down to her stomach.