Page 30 of Lovers Fate

“That’s different, and you know it. It’s not the same. Look, there’s no prophecy nor a girl who is destined for you. The people who are raping and killing innocent girls are real. None ofthe things you and that psychic lady believe in are real. None of it has happened. My parents lived this fantasy. You can’t honestly believe that this girl, walking in the middle of the night on a dark street after swinging on a pole half naked, is part of a prophecy.”

He scoffs. “Whatever, Draco.” He points at the car currently pulling out of the lot. “Can you follow him?”

I watch the loser in his Tesla and wait until he pulls out onto the road to follow him. “Look, if it makes you feel any better...We’ll come tomorrow night, and you can offer her to spend the night with you at the motel.” The minute those words leave my mouth, I want to take them back.

“It’s not like that. She’s not…”

“The type to fuck for money?” I snort. “Unlike the other girl, she doesn’t work at the bar. She dances to Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” in a place called The Church. I’m confident the next song will be “Like a Virgin.”

“You’re an asshole, Draco. Next time I talk to her, I’ll tell her you said that.”

“If you haven’t noticed, I’m not the kind who takes girls out to dinner, and you’re not going to tell her I said that.”

“Why not?”

I don’t want to admit to him that I care what she thinks. I did something I never do. I left her a single rose. A symbol of my recognition. A heartfelt admiration of her talent. There is no doubt she has it. It doesn’t matter if it is on a pole in a strip club or the circus. You don’t get moves like that unless you’re a performer who has spent years training like me.

Kaden thinks she is part of some fate. In my eyes, she’s a woman with needs. She needs to be met, and I’m not one to judge her.

“It doesn’t matter what I think. I’m not her father.”

“I doubt she has one.”

“Why? Because she dances, probably fucks for money, and sleeps in a cum-infested motel,” I say harder than necessary, hating that she does.

“Don’t act like you’ve never fucked in that motel,” he snaps.

“I was drunk and high. I don’t remember much.”

“I’m sure your dick does.” The Tesla turns right and slows down. “Follow him,” he demands.

When I let off the gas and see that he’s following her, my stomach churns. “What did he do exactly?”

I shouldn’t care. I repeat this mantra to myself. She’s just a stripper. But it does nothing. I want to know.

“I told you, he touched her,” he says, his words cutting deep from the inside. “ He caressed her leg while she was picking up the money and the rose you left her. Don’t think I didn’t notice what you did.”

I scoff. “I’m sure she would’ve preferred cash. She probably tossed the rose in the garbage out back mixed with used condoms.”

“No faith?”

“I’m a see-it-to-believe type of guy.”

“Well, you didn’t see, but I did. You weren’t there when she told him to stop touching her.”

I tighten my grip on the steering wheel, prepared to extract the life from the asshole. “And?”

“He offered her four thousand to fuck her. More like begged her.”

My eyes cut to him briefly. “What’d she say?”

He’s watching the taillights of the Tesla. I follow his gaze as she walks quickly in the direction of the motel, and the asshole slows down.

“I don’t know. The music was too loud, but I don’t like the way he looked at her or the fact that he’s following her.”

I don’t either.

I hit the gas. The car jerks forward as my car picks up speed. Kaden grips the safety bar from the roll cage. “Shit,” Kaden mutters over the roar of the engine.

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