Her Destiny (Reverie #2)(22)
She flinches at my words, gripping the handle above her head as she glares at me accusingly. “I didn’t say you were. I just don’t understand why you came all the way here without a plan. You always seem to have a plan.”
“I wanted to see you, okay?” I hit the brakes at the parking lot exit and turn to find her watching me with a wild spark in her gaze, her fingers still curled around the plastic handle above her head. “I wasn’t thinking. Wasn’t planning. All I wanted was to see you again. You were all I could focus on. I was stupid.”
Reverie doesn’t say a word and we stare at each other for a long, tension-filled moment. Finally she looks away, averting her face so she’s looking out the window. I pull out of the parking lot, driving aimlessly until she finally says, “We can go back to my place.”
Relief fills me and she gives me directions when I ask, since I can hardly remember where I went when I followed the bus to her apartment complex last night. Other than her occasional guiding comment, she says nothing and I do the same, afraid I’m going to blurt out something stupid yet again.
I should’ve never admitted to her that she was the only reason I came to Los Angeles, but she had to know this right? There’s nothing here for me. Only her.
“Is your brother home?” I ask as we pull into the apartment parking lot fifteen minutes later. It’s starting to sprinkle, the rain dotting my windshield and blurring my ability to see but I still haven’t turned on the windshield wipers. I don’t want to face Evan. He would probably try and kick me out, not that I can blame him. I’m the ass**le that took his sister’s virginity and made her cry.
“No, Evan’s at work. He won’t come home for hours.” She smiles ruefully. “We both work a lot now.”
“Complete turnaround from a few months ago, huh?” I park my truck and turn off the engine, pulling the keys out of the ignition. I clutch them in my hand, the metal digging into my palm as I turn to face her.
Her smile turns real and seeing it sucks the breath out of my lungs. “Yeah. It’s kind of crazy, how much my life has changed.”
“Trust me, I get it. One minute everything is good and then the next, it can all change. In a blink of an eye, all because of what someone else did, not because of your own actions.”
She contemplates me, tilting her head, her long, wavy blond hair spilling over her shoulder. “You do get it, huh. After everything that happened to you, when your friend betrayed you, were you scared?”
“Yeah. I was.” More like I’m scared she’s gonna reject me for good and send me away. And I don’t want to get out of this truck. I like the way she’s talking to me, looking at me. Like she trusts me again. “Your parents betrayed you too.”
“They did,” she agrees, nodding once. “I feel…guilty.”
“You didn’t do it,” I point out, surprised she’d say such a thing. “You didn’t steal all that money.”
“But I spent it. I benefited from what my parents did. I lived an amazing life that was funded dishonestly. I wish I could pay all of those people back.”
“That’s not your fault. You’re just a kid, Reverie.” Giving in to my urges, I reach out and touch her, let my fingertips graze the ends of her silky soft hair. She doesn’t flinch, doesn’t pull away and I take advantage by touching her again. “You can’t blame yourself for your parents’ mistakes.”
She leans into my touch and I cup the side of her head, threading my fingers fully into her hair. Her eyes close and I swear she’s going to cry. “But I do. I can’t help it. Don’t you ever blame yourself for your friend’s mistake, when he said you killed that guy? Did you ever feel responsible?”
“No.” I never did. What David did to me was unforgivable. I don’t think I can ever accept his apology. He almost ruined my life. “But I do feel guilt over what happened to Krista.”
Reverie stiffens and pulls away from my touch, moving away from me so far that the distance between us suddenly seems endless. The air goes frosty as her expression goes completely blank and she reaches for the door handle. “Let’s go.”
I follow her up to the apartment she shares with her brother, mulling her lack of comment regarding my guilt over Krista’s death. Krista was a complete pain in my ass and tried her best to ruin our relationship any way she could. I can’t help but feel bad for what happened to her though. I’d known her since we were little kids. We’d been friends for years. Yeah, the bad stuff at the end sucked but no one deserves to die like Krista did. I want to help find her killer but it’s kind of hard when the cops focus so much on me.
Assholes.
We enter the apartment and Reverie flicks on the lamp near the front door, illuminating the room with soft golden light. There’s not much furniture and what’s there is simple. I watch as she moves about the room, setting her purse and backpack on the dining room table before she goes into the kitchen.
“Want something to drink?” she asks.
“Water is fine. Thank you.” I sit on the edge of the couch, bouncing my leg nervously as I wait for her return. I’m not going to put her out. I’m not going to stay long either because clearly this isn’t going to work. She doesn’t want to have anything to do with me and I’m not going to push it.