Josh's Destiny

Chapter 6

It took Destiny approximately two hours to do the phone work she needed to do. When she was finished, she felt a moment of panic. What had she just done? She had quit her job. She had given up her apartment. She carried her personal credentials in her purse, but was she going to have to change her name and everything? She felt like she was going into the Witness Protection Program.

She sighed, stood up and stretched. She supposed she should see if Josh was back and she was getting hungry. She walked out of the bedroom and found Jake Kiszka sitting on the sofa softly strumming one of his guitars. When he saw her he stopped playing and sat the instrument gently down.

"Hi" he said.

"Hi" she replied, sitting in an armchair across from the sofa.

"You're Destiny, right?" he asked and saw her nod. He continued, "I guess you can tell I'm Josh's twin, we just wear our hair differently. I'm Jake and I'd like to know what the hell you're doing."

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"What are you doing here? We don't take girls on tour. My girlfriend is at home, like Danny's and Sam's. Yeah we have girls working specific jobs on the tour, but we don't socialize. We aren't the party kind of band, at least not yet. And then Josh brings you home like a puppy. I'm not saying my brother has bad ideas, but this is a colossal one. You need to leave and not get Josh involved in your mess."

Destiny was not surprised by Jake's hostility. She was damned if he was going to bully her though.

"Listen, Mr. Kiszka, I'm here for a short time at your brother's invitation. I won't be here long. As soon as I find a new town to settle in, I'm gone."

"Josh doesn't seem to think so. He's making a spot for you right now. The dumbass went out and bought you clothes and even some jewelry. I don't know what sort of spell you've got him under, but you need to stop. Josh is only twenty-four and he needs to spread his wings before something like this happens. Or do you just have him hooked through the cock for now?"

Destiny was shocked at first, and then she was highly insulted. In fact, the more she thought about it, the madder she got. She moved like quicksilver and before Jake could dodge her, she had slapped him so hard his face bore the red mark immediately.

"I don't know why I'm bothering to tell you because it's really none of your business, but Josh and I haven't slept together. That may be how you conduct yourself, but Josh isn't like that. And as for my intentions, I don't want to leave my home and job, but I don't want to end up dead either! This situation presented itself and the more I thought about it, the more it made sense."

Jake was rubbing his cheek. "And you didn't even think about putting Josh in danger? Or the rest of us either? I guess it's a case of cover your own ass first, isn't it?"

Destiny was standing in front of Jake. His words hurt, but was he right? She hadn't even thought of Josh and the rest of the band being targeted. Would Nick Cole go to that extreme or was he just a little bit crazy? She knew he had money, she didn't know how much. She knew he had probably been watching her and now the words "You are mine" made a lot more sense. She shivered. No, she couldn't do this. Without another word to Jake, she ran into the bedroom, collected her purse and then she walked quickly through the sitting space and out the door.

Jake was still rubbing his cheek. When Josh came back he was going to have a lot of explaining to do. He was confident having her gone was the best thing though. Josh would understand, he hoped. Jake went back to strumming his guitar and waited for his twin.

Destiny made it as far as the lounge in the hotel. On the way down realization had dawned almost like a thunderclap. Where on earth was she going? She couldn't put her foster family in danger and going back to Tom's Place was out of the question. She had exactly three hundred dollars to her name. What was she to do? She could get on a bus and ride as far as she could in any direction, but then what? She put her hands over her face and squeezed her eyes shut holding in the tears.

"Destiny?" asked a very familiar voice.

She slowly lowered her hands and looked into Josh's worried face. Destiny's eyes glistened with unshed tears and suddenly she couldn't hold them in any longer. Josh knelt beside her and put his arm around her shoulders.

"Destiny, tell me. How come you're down here alone?" His voice was soft and his eyes held real concern. And that made her cry even harder. Josh looked up at Danny and Sam. "Go ahead take the packages upstairs please guys. We'll be up in a bit." Danny looked at Sam and Sam shrugged. They still weren't sure how they felt about Destiny being there, but they did as Josh said.

Josh got a chair and pulled it next to Destiny's. He put his arm back around her shoulder, and she put her head on his shoulder. She cried for a while, wetting his shirt. He didn't care but he had little experience with crying girls. At last her sobs turned into sniffles and she raised her head.

"I don't...don't have anywhere to go." Destiny dug in her purse for a tissue. She found a ragged one and was forced to take the cloth one from the table to blow her nose and dry her eyes.

"You're not going anywhere, you're staying with me."

"I can't stay around here, Josh. I don't know about this Nick Cole, but it's becoming very apparent he's been watching me and he has enough money to have third party henchmen. My God, I feel like I'm in some horrible movie!"

"But as long as you're with me you'll be safe. You won't be alone..."

"But you won't be safe! And neither will the rest of the guys. Jake said..."

"Oh, so Jake is the cause of this. When we get upstairs..."

"You'll do nothing and not say a word to him, and anyway, who said I was going upstairs with you?"

"Why not?"

"Haven't you been listening to me? Josh, I can't put anybody else in danger! Least of all you. No one could have been sweeter than you to me, a relative stranger, but I am grown and I have a big problem to solve. By myself."

"You can't take care of it by yourself. Let me help you, Destiny." Josh gently took her chin between his thumb and forefinger. He turned her face slightly toward his and then he kissed her softly.

Destiny allowed him to kiss her a moment, and then she pulled away. Josh looked at her quizzically, and then asked "Destiny?"

"Jake thinks we're sleeping together and that's the reason you want to help me. And if your own brother thinks that, then everyone else will too."

"So? Let them think what they like, and anyway, when we found your apartment in shambles we were going to make love, weren't we?"

"It was different then. I can't say how. It was going to be one night. I didn't feel like a hunted animal. And I wasn't putting others in danger. At least I didn't know it. My life has done a three-hundred sixty degree turn in less than forty-eight hours. And why do you want to help me so much anyway? You never did answer that question."

"I don't know, Destiny. I've felt something strong for you ever since I met you. Yes, you are beautiful but it's more than that. I can't explain it. Please, please let me help you until the police catch this maniac."

Destiny looked into Josh's eyes. She could not perceive any other reason than that he truly wanted to help her. But could she? And then, she knew she would. She had nowhere else to go anyway. She put her arms around Josh's neck and laid her head on his still tear damp shoulder.

She murmured, "All right, Josh. I'll stay with you. I just hope you don't end up hating me."

She could feel Josh smile. "That's the one thing that will never happen." He helped Destiny to her feet and put his arm around her waist. Then they slowly made their way to the elevator.