50 Shades of Drake 3 and 4

Chapter Twenty-Two

    Destiny followed Brian into the house. Even though she'd stayed there for the past week, it felt foreign to her the minute she crossed the threshold. She folded her arms across her chest and halted, just inside of the door.

    Brian turned and looked at her. "You probably want to go and relax in your room," he said somberly.

    "Actually...I don't want to be alone," she said, looking at him. "Can we watch a movie or something?"

    His mouth dropped open, but he quickly recovered from his shock. "Yeah. Yeah, of course."

    She closed the front door and walked past him, turning into the living room.

    "Do you know what kind of movie you're in the mood to watch?" he asked her, following her into the living room.

    She collapsed on the couch and ran a hand through her hair. "I don't know...anything."

    "All right...we can check to see what's on."

    Anything to get my mind off of how empty I feel right now, she thought miserably, tucking her legs beneath her. "Do you have...a blanket lying around anywhere?"

    He ruffled his hair with one hand with his brows furrowing in concentration. "Yeah, I can grab one for you. Are you...are you hungry or anything?"

    She shook her head. Even if she wanted to, there was no way she could eat anything. With how upset her stomach felt, she doubted she could keep anything down. All she could think about was Aubrey. Right this minute, he was probably helping Carlos find plane tickets to Venezuela, but after that he would be on his way out of town. Soon, he would be further away from her than he already was. Where did that leave her? It left her in a country that she was still unfamiliar with, a country where she had no real friends here yet. With Aubrey gone, Brian would be all she had. As wonderful as Brian was, that was a depressing thought. She chewed on her bottom lip and withdrew her cell phone from her purse. She dialed her mother's number.

    Her mother answered after three rings. "Hello?"

    The sound of her mother's voice was almost enough to bring her to tears. "Mom," Destiny breathed out.

    "Des? What's wrong? Are you okay?"

    "Yeah," Destiny replied quickly. "I just...I just wanted to hear your voice."

    Her mother laughed. "You're so silly. How is everything?"

    "Everything is good," Destiny lied, squeezing her eyes shut. She hated lying to her mother, but she didn't want her parents to worry. She couldn't imagine worrying about a child who was in an entirely different country. The helplessness would drive her crazy.

    "Are you sure?" her mother asked. "You sound...you sound stressed."

    Destiny laughed nervously. "I'm just tired. Overworked."

    "Is adulthood everything you envisioned?" her mother asked, chuckling.

    "There are a lot more responsibilities than I imagined," Destiny said, smiling.

     "Are you still liking your job?"

    "Yeah, the job is great. And we have a great team."

    Brian returned with a large, dark blue blanket. Seeing that Destiny was on the phone, he quietly set the blanket down beside her.

    She gave him an appreciative smile, then asked her mother, "How is Dad?"

    "He's...your father," her mother responded. "He keeps straying from his diet. Whenever I turn around, I catch him trying to cook bacon."

    Destiny groaned and shielded a hand over her eyes. "Doesn't he know how important it is to stick to the advice the doctor gave him?"

    "I know," her mother said. "I'm at my wit's end with him. But he claims that life is short and he wants to enjoy it while he's here. You know him. What was that phrase that Aubrey made popular when he was rapping? YOLO?"

    Destiny laughed and shook her head.

    "YOLO, right?" her mother asked, sounding doubtful. "You...You Only Live Once?"

    "Yeah, ma."

    "That's what your father is on right now, that YOLO mentality," her mother muttered. "Speaking of which, how is Aubrey?"

    Destiny sobered up immediately. Her laughter came to a screeching halt. She swallowed and lifted her eyes to Brian, who was bending over to pick up the remote control from the coffee table. "He's...he's good."

    "Are you sure everything is okay?" her mother asked. "There's something in your voice... If something is bothering you, just tell me. Maybe your father and I could help."

    I wish I could tell you, Mom. But telling you would be putting you in danger. You may already be in danger, for all I know. Destiny took a moment to steady her breathing, a moment to calm her fraying nerves. Anxiety started to set in, at the thought of either of her parents getting hurt. "Aubrey is fine. Aubrey is fine, and I am fine, and we're both fine, Mom. Like I said, I'm just...I'm tired. But it has been a few days since I last checked in on you. I really just needed to hear your voice. That's all. Being here, in Canada, it just...it feels like you're so far away sometimes."

    "I feel the same way, believe me," her mother said. "When you told us you were moving up there, I wanted to hug you and never let you go. That's the bittersweet thing about being a mother. I want to hold you as close to me as possible, but doing that would be sheltering you from life. You need to get out there and explore all that you can. And the job opportunity was too amazing for you to pass up. Holding you back from it would have been selfish of me."

    Destiny turned her head and closed her eyes, trying to keep her emotions at bay. They were creeping up on her in a major way. She missed her family. She missed home. All that was dear to her seemed to be just out of her reach.

    "Des?"

    "Yeah," Destiny responded. She took a deep breath. "I'm going to get some sleep, Mom. But... thank you, for everything you've done for me. Just know that I love you so much."

    "I love you, too, honey," her mother returned. "I'm so glad you called. I think I needed to hear your voice, too."

    "We'll speak again soon, okay?"

    "Of course, dear."

    Destiny ended the call and dropped the phone beside her on the couch. She leaned forward and covered her face with her hands. I don't know how much of this I can take. I feel like I'm hanging onto my sanity by a thread. I feel so alone. Is this how it's going to be, without Aubrey? Is this how I'm going to feel every day? She felt a hand touch her shoulder and looked up.

    Brian was leaning down, resting his hand on her shoulder in a comforting gesture. The look in his eyes was sympathetic. No flirtation, no taking advantage of the situation. His eyes expressed genuine concern for her. "If you want to talk about it...just let me know, okay?"

    Her face crumbled as she said, "I don't have anyone. Aubrey's gone. My family is so far away. Even Carlos can't be anywhere near me. I've never felt so alone in my life."

    He sighed and covered her hands with his. "You have me, though."

    She shook her head sadly. "I'm not used to having just one person that I can turn to," she told him. Seeing his face fall, she added, "No offense, because you have been beyond amazing. You have been. This is all just...kind of devastating for me."

    "I understand," he said, straightening his posture. "Maybe watching movies will take your mind off of all of that for awhile." With the remote in hand, he crossed the room and sat in one of the armchairs. He sat in it sideways, with his legs dangling over the arm of it.

    She picked up the blanket and bundled herself in it. While Brian searched for a movie for them to watch, she pulled the blanket up to her nose, remembering how warm Aubrey had felt and how good his lips had felt on hers. It was hard to focus on the movie, with those memories dancing around in her head.