50 Shades of Drake 3 and 4

Chapter Forty-Seven

    Everything was blurry. Brian was talking, probably offering words of comfort, despite the cold shoulder he'd just been giving her, but his words all sounded like a foreign language. Destiny could feel herself falling, but had no control over her motor functions. She couldn't stop herself, and it was as if she was falling in slow motion.

    Brian jumped to action, displaying Spiderman-like reflexes. He caught her before she hit the floor.

    Her senses were frazzled...hearing, sight, she couldn't move her mouth to form words. All of her mental power went to replaying the footage of Aubrey in the airport in her mind. I was so happy, just to see his face, she thought. I was so happy that I forgot about the text message, and didn't realize what him being in an airport really meant. And then...then, I had to see her. Her heart crumpled in on itself like a cheap paper bag, and she turned her head, pressing her forehead to Brian's chest.

    He ran a hand over her hair. "Hey...it's going to be okay."

    How can he even say that? Everything is the opposite of 'okay.' He has killed someone, I almost got kidnapped, and probably almost died. Aubrey is gone. Not just for a few weeks or a month. He's gone for good. There's nothing okay about any of that. So... Aubrey goes off while I'm in a city that I'm still not familiar with, leaves me in the care of another man and...what? What am I supposed to do with that? She clung to Brian, because without him holding onto her, she would be flat on the floor in a near-catatonic state.

    Gradually, he eased her back to the couch and sat down with her.

    She leaned heavily on him and tried to justify in her mind how what she'd seen on the news report could still be a part of some brilliant plan that Aubrey had. But she remembered the look on his face when he'd seen the cameras, the flirty kiss the woman had given him. It hadn't looked staged - but then again, before his rapping days, Aubrey was an actor. Even after his rapping career had started, he'd taken on quite a few acting roles.

    Brian seemed at a loss for words, because he just held her in silence while stroking her hair. Finally, he sighed and said, "You're going to be okay."

    Not five minutes into being held and his t-shirt was already soaked with her tears. "I'm not going to be okay," she argued. As she said the words, the realization of their accuracy really hit home. "I don't know how I'm going to live without him. I...I should be mad at him. I should be furious with him. I was last night. But after seeing that..." After seeing that, I'm just completely heartbroken with no sign of recovery any time soon. Instead of being angry with him, the way I should be, all I want is for him to get off of that plane and come back to me.

    "It couldn't have been easy to see that," he told her, "but I think we both still deserve a day out."

    She shook her head. "I'm not up to going anywhere today. You saw me just now. I can't even stand up straight."

    "We're going to sit here for a bit," he allowed. "Maybe even a long bit, if you need it. But once you have a chance to...deal with and process what you just saw, we are going to get out of this house, Destiny."

    There was something in his tone of voice that spoke out to her, a firmness that she couldn't remember hearing in his voice before. It was strangely comforting, and that was probably because that tone reminded her of the commands that Aubrey used to give her. Have I really changed on that level? Did Brian getting bossy with me really just make me feel a little bit better?

    "Understood?" Brian asked her.

    The smallest tingle of excitement flared up within her. There it was; there was no denying it. Receiving orders and commands excited her. It wasn't a reaction she could even control.

    "Destiny?"

    She raised her head and looked up at him. "Yeah...yeah, understood."

    He cradled her.

    With her head on his chest, she listened to his heart beat. It was beating faster than normal. She was sure that if she checked her own, it would be beating just as fast. But I'm not going to make the same mistake I made last night, she thought. I'm not going to jump all over him like some desperate skeeze looking for a rebound. I'm going to deal with my feelings for Aubrey. That is my priority. That and figuring out what I'm going to do with myself. At this point, I don't even know if I should stay in Toronto.

    "What are you thinking?" Brian asked her.

    She blinked. "Just wondering what I'm going to do now that I know he's really gone."

    "I don't think I have to tell you that you're welcome to stay here."

    "Yeah, but I don't like having to depend on someone."

    "You were fine with depending on Aubrey."

    She drew away from him with a frown.

    He held his hands up. "I'm...I'm sorry. I didn't mean...I didn't mean for it to sound like...I just meant-"

    "Aubrey was my boyfriend, Brian, in case you forgot," she snapped.

    "I know. That was me sticking my foot in my mouth."

    "You're not my boyfriend. You're...this guy who has been overly nice and overly sweet. I appreciate it, I do. But what happens if you and I get into an argument, and I can't stand being around you? Where do I go? Who do I have to turn to? I have no one to turn to. Literally no one else." She dropped her gaze. "I don't think I should stay in Toronto."

    His brows shot up. "You...you don't like the city?"

    "I barely even know the city," she said. "Aubrey showed me a little of it. I've seen some of it here and there, but I still get lost sometimes, when driving around. It doesn't feel familiar to me. I don't have any friends here."

    "Which is why we should still go out today," he suggested. "You can see some more of the city, and over time make some new friends."

    "Like I can trust anyone now," she said miserably. "Palmer got to Jeremiah, Brian. Jeremiah. He's been skulking around for God knows how long, spying on us. There's not much chance of me trusting anyone here. Or anywhere, for that matter."

    His brows drew together. "But...you can't leave."

    "Even if I leave, we can stay in touch," she promised him.

    "That's a brushoff and you know it," he said softly, looking away from her.

    "Without Aubrey, I just don't know what I'm doing here," she said, wondering if she sounded as helpless as she felt. "I'm a journalist, and I haven't written one article since I've been here."

    Brian turned to face her. "Well...I have news contacts that I could connect you with, if that's what you want."

    She stared at him, trying to overlook the desperation in his voice and in his face. "I don't know enough about Toronto to report about it."

    "Now you're just making excuses," he muttered, standing up from the couch.

    She watched him walk to the far end of the living room.

    He leaned against the wall and peered out of the living room window.

    "What do you want me to say?" she demanded.

    He didn't respond.

    She stood up from the couch and hesitantly walked over to hm. "Brian, what do you want me to say?"

    He didn't respond until she reached out and touched his arm. Then he slanted asad look at her and said, "I want you to say that you'll stay here. Withme."