Fate Hates (Twist of Fate Book 1) Page 2

  “Relax, Addison,” the doctor says. “Frankie is doing fine. You don’t remember getting shot?”

  I try to refocus my thoughts. “Um… I think I remember hearing two gunshots but nothing after that,” I reply.

  “Well, luckily for you the asshole,” he says, using my sentiment, “wasn’t a good shot and the bullet grazed your leg. You’ll have a little scar but that’s it. Now, your head… that’s a different story. You took a pretty bad hit. You have a concussion and had to get a few stitches on your forehead. We’re going to keep you here for the night to monitor you.” He puts my chart under his arm and walks out. Before leaving the room, he turns to address Sydney. “She needs her rest. Try not to get her agitated, excited, or upset.” I giggle as she salutes the doctor. He just shakes his head as he walks out.

  She immediately runs and lies down by my side, snuggling up to me. My aunt, still at my side and holding my hand, stands up from the chair placed by my bed. “Sweetie, you had us scared to death. I’m so happy you’re okay.” She leans over and kisses my forehead again. “I’m going to go out and tell everyone that you’re awake and doing alright, but you need your rest. They can come back tomorrow. I’ll be here first thing in the morning.” She squeezes my hand once more before letting go and walking out.

  “Who is here?” I whisper to Syd.

  “Um… Ted, who, by the way, is pissed at you for your hero antics.” We both giggle, knowing how Uncle Ted can get. “Howard, who is also pissed at you. My mom. Oh, and Jack, who I think is only here to make sure you don’t sue.” She quietly chuckles, which makes me smile.

  “Have you heard what happened?” I ask, yawning.

  “Addie, go to sleep, we’ll talk in the morning. Also, the police need your statement, so they’ll be back also,” she says.

  It doesn’t take me long to fall asleep. Nurses come into my room to take my vitals and wake me numerous times during the night. Didn’t they say I needed rest?

  This is definitely not rest.

  Morning comes too quickly. My head doesn’t hurt as bad, but now my leg aches. I’m sitting up, getting ready to attempt to walk to the bathroom when Syd comes into the room holding my favorite drink: iced chai tea latte. “Have I told you lately how much I love you?” I say, grabbing a quick sip of my drink.

  She laughs, taking the drink from me and helping me get out of bed. Thankfully, the nurses unhooked all the wires from me early this morning. “I brought you some comfy clothes to change into. And some bathroom stuff so you can clean up.” She brings the bag to the bathroom and shuts the door behind her.

  Feeling somewhat like a normal person, I walk back to my bed. Syd brings me my drink and some banana bread. Now I’m feeling much better. Two police officers are my first visitors, which I’m sure isn’t a coincidence. I tell them everything that I remember, and they help fill in the blanks.

  “The reason he wouldn’t go down is because he was on meth.” Well, that makes sense. I totally underestimated the dude. “After he threw you against the wall, we were told he picked up the gun and took a shot at you but was immediately shot by security. He was pronounced dead on the scene.” That explains why I heard two gunshots.

  The other cop speaks, “We normally would tell you how much we discourage vigilante tactics, but I’m positive you’re going to hear it from our lieutenant.” He smirks. Smartass. There were definitely times having a lieutenant as my uncle came in handy, but probably not today. I have a feeling Uncle Ted is waiting outside my room right now, ready to pounce once the officers leave.

  “He would have killed Frankie if I didn’t do anything.” I throw my hands in the air, feeling the need to defend myself. “He’s alive. I’m alive. The bad guy is dead.” I hear Sydney laugh from her corner. I direct my glare at her so she’ll be quiet. She laughs harder.

  My suspicions about Ted are confirmed when he comes in immediately after the cops leave.

  “Hi,” I say sweetly, smiling.

  “Addie,” he firmly states. “What in the world were you thinking?”

  “I know you heard me when you were listening to my statement with the police. If I hadn’t done anything, Frankie would’ve been killed.” I know what I did was stupid, but those words will never come out of my mouth. He walks over and pulls me into a tight embrace. Guilt flows through my body; I feel bad about worrying everyone. “I’m sorry, Ted,” I whisper into his chest.

  “Addison, I’m not surprised by what you did, but you scared the shit out of all of us,” he says as he squeezes me tighter. “Can I change your mind about going into law enforcement?” he chuckles.

  “A little too late for that,” I giggle.

  Aunt Amy walks into the room, smiling. I guess she was eavesdropping, as well. Nosy people. She joins our hug. “I love you guys,” I say, squeezing them both.

  The doctor walks in, breaking up our emotional reunion. They ask the doctor when I’ll be released and he replies that it will be later this afternoon. With this news they get ready to leave and tell me to call them when I get home. Sydney is still sitting in the corner, staring at the doctor.

  “You still haven’t left, huh?”

  My eyes widen at Dr. Parker’s audacity to talk to my friend like that. I’m about to tell him off when Sydney smiles wide.

  She scrunches her nose. “You know you’re going to miss me when I leave.” She winks.

  Winks? She’s flirting with him?

  What the hell did I miss while I was unconscious. I’m looking between the two, back and forth. Something is definitely going on with them. I tilt my head, looking at Sydney with my eyebrows raised.

  He shakes his head but doesn’t say anything in response. Dr. Parker steps over to me and takes my vitals. Shining a light in my eyes again, he asks how I’m feeling.

  “Much better. A little tired though. Busy morning,” I say sarcastically.

  “I guess that’s what happens when you try and play Superwoman,” he jokes, placing his stethoscope over my heart.

  “I don’t need another lecture, Doc.” I sigh.

  “Oh, I haven’t even begun.” I hear Syd bark out from her corner. The doctor lets out a loud laugh. I ignore her because there is nothing I can say that will stop the ensuing scolding from Sydney. She’s patiently waiting for her turn, which surprises me more than anything.

  “Everything looks good, Addison, but you need to take it easy for twenty-four hours. If you feel dizzy, nauseous, or have vision problems, I need to see you back immediately. Also, you’ll need to go to your primary care physician to get your stitches out in ten days. I’ll leave your discharge papers with the nurse; she’ll come in and get you signed out. Do you have any questions for me?” he asks.

  Yes, what is up with you and Syd?

  Probably not the right time. Instead I shake my head. As he’s leaving the room, Howard taps on the door. Syd tells me that she’ll be back, and she follows the doctor out.

  I stand up as Howard comes toward me. “Howie, I’m sorry I missed our dinner last night,” I say, right before he embraces me in a tight hug.

  “Addison, when I rounded the corner and saw you lying on the ground trying to get up and then I saw him shoot you, my heart stopped.” His voice trembles. I squeeze my eyes shut as I sigh.

  Suddenly, I remember what the cop had said about security shooting the guy. I lean back, looking up at Howard. “It was you?” I whisper.

  “It took everything I had in me not to keep shooting the son of a bitch to make sure he was dead. Fortunately, all it took was one shot,” he says.

  “Thank you,” I say, wrapping my arms around his waist.

  “Addison, you’re like the daughter I never had,” he murmurs. “And I think Ted and I both agree that you need a new career choice.” He chuckles.

  “You, too?” I say, playfully hitting his arm. “It’s not like I’m going to be in the middle of bad stuff. I’ll be working in forensics. I’ll be going in after the bad stuff happens.”

  “You’ll still
be part of that world,” he quickly replies. I sigh, knowing arguing is a moot point. “Anyway, I was so relieved to see it was only a graze. My only job now is to find out how the hell he got through security with a gun… because when I find out how, there is going to be hell to pay,” he warns. A shiver runs down my spine, fearing for the person who messed up. Or helped the asshole.

  Two hours later I’m being discharged. The nurse just left, giving me my discharge papers and getting a wheelchair to bring me out. As I’m packing all my stuff up, the door opens. Frankie is being wheeled in by a cute nurse.

  “Thanks, baby cakes. You can come back and get me in a few minutes.” He flashes a huge smile and winks. She walks out. I just shake my head, using a hand to cover my mouth and stifle my laugh.

  “Frankie,” I say with a huge smile, “I’m so glad to see you’re okay.”

  “Add Cat, what the fuck do you think you were doing?” His smile fades and his face turns hard. “You could have easily been killed by that strung-out prick.” I can see the muscles in his arm flex as he balls his hands into fists. He’s kind of scary when he’s mad.

  “How about a ‘Thanks for saving my life, Addison.’ Or are you too worried about your street cred?” I air-quote his words he used yesterday with sarcasm dripping from my voice. I’m a little pissed with his ungrateful attitude.

  “Woman! You know I don’t give a rat’s ass about my street cred. I was fucking worried about you!” he barks as he wheels his wheelchair close to where I sit on the bed. “I saw the whole thing and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.” He grabs my hands. “I owe you my life. You ever need anything, call me.” He kisses my knuckles before releasing my hands. He turns his chair around, wheeling himself toward the door. “Anything, Add Cat,” he says one last time, looking over his shoulder. The nurse magically appears to wheel him out.

  I fall back into the bed, blowing out a long breath. One more lecture to go, and I don’t look forward to it. At all.

  Syd’s waiting in her car as I’m wheeled outside. I thank the nurse as I push myself out of the wheelchair and into the car. We don’t even make it out of the parking lot before Sydney starts.

  “If you ever pull some shit like that again, I’ll kill you myself.”

  Chapter Three

  IT’S BEEN TWO months since the shooting. I officially graduated college and quit my job at the end of last month. It was bittersweet leaving. I loved working there. I’ll even miss Jack. It was a little awkward after the shooting. I had to convince Jack that I wasn’t going to sue. They did take care of my medical expenses since it officially happened during work hours. Then, of course, news spread like wildfire about what I had done, so people were calling me a hero. I tried to downplay it as much as possible. I hated the attention. Howard and I never talked about it. We’ve gone to dinner a couple times, and that was one topic we both silently agreed to never discuss.

  Sydney has forgiven me. Finally. I just have to keep reminding her that if I had never been shot, she wouldn’t have met Dr. Parker. Of course she hates when I say that. She doesn’t want to think that was the only reason she met Jeff. I finally got some of the story out of her. She and Dean had been having problems—mainly, he didn’t like being number two in her life. When he was offered a job in another state after graduation, he decided to take it. They broke up right before she heard about me getting shot. It was amicable. She told me she liked Dean but there were never any fireworks. So she wasn’t too sad about it. Then she met Jeff Parker. The version I heard was she was being pushy, trying to get information about me, and he was being an asshole doctor. One thing led to another and now they’re dating. And really, nothing’s changed. One minute they’re fighting, the next minute they’re having make-up sex. Sounds a little screwed up to me, but whatever, I don’t have to deal with him.

  With one more month before I start my new life in New York City, I’m taking a quick trip to Chicago. As I’m packing, Syd comes in and lies on my bed.

  “I like your hair,” she says.

  I glance in the mirror at my new, brunette color. It always catches me off guard when I look at myself. I look like a carbon copy of my mom with my dark hair.

  “Are you sure I can’t go with you?” she whines as she sticks her bottom lip out.

  Even though there are so many positive things in my life right now, there’s always a part of me that wonders who killed my mom. I’ve planned this trip since I was eighteen years old, but I promised Sydney that I’d wait till after I graduated college to go. I feel I can’t fully move on with my life and let go of the past until I see for myself who Travis Stein is.

  “You know I have to do this alone, Syd,” I say as I put my clothes in my bag.

  “You don’t have to,” she says stubbornly.

  “Sydney.” I stall for a moment. “I just want to see who he is. I need to close this chapter in my life, and I need to do it alone. I’ll call you everyday, tell you everything.” I sit on the bed next to her.

  “Fine.” She rolls her eyes. “But if you get into trouble again, Addie, I swear I will never forgive you,” she threatens as she sits up and pulls me into a hug.

  “I promise. I’m not going looking for trouble.” I try to reassure her.

  She laughs out loud. “Addie, that’s not the problem.” We pull apart, and she playfully hits my arm. “Trouble has no problem finding you.”

  “I’m only going to be gone for a few days. You won’t even miss me.” Hopping off the bed, I zip up my bag and glance around the room making sure I got everything. “Anyway, now you’ll have the whole apartment to have your make-up sex,” I say waggling my eyebrows.

  “Addie, there aren’t a lot of places left that we haven’t already had sex in this apartment.” My eyes go wide. What the hell! If she had sex on the kitchen table, where I eat, I’m going to kill her.

  “I don’t even want to know.” I snicker, shaking my head as I walk out of my room. I immediately see the kitchen table and whip around. Sydney sees where I was looking and dies laughing. Oh. My. God. I’m going to kill her. “Gross!”

  “What?! He was hungry.” She shrugs.

  “Oh, my God, stop!” I cover my ears with both hands. Now she’s bent over in hysterics; tears from laughing so hard roll down her face. “I’m leaving, nympho. Stay out of my room,” I say, picking up my bag. She jumps up, trying to stop from laughing.

  I’m not a prude. I’ve just never had a relationship where sex has been that great. I don’t think it’s the guy’s fault. I think it’s me. I need to feel in control with everything I do, even sex. It’s hard for me to let go.

  We hug one last time. Syd twists her lips as she narrows her eyes. “I mean it. Stay out of trouble.”

  “Well, I mean it. Stay out of my room.” We both laugh.

  I throw my suitcase in my rented Honda Civic. Taking a deep breath, I pull out of the driveway and put my car in drive. I took Frankie up on his offer of helping me out. He made me a fake license for my trip. I don’t know what to expect when or if I meet Travis, but I don’t want to have anything identifying who I really am.

  The cops told me that they never found my mother’s killer. Even when I had the license plate of the killer. With a small amount of investigating, I found the name of the person who owned the car. Travis Stein. He currently lives in Chicago. And doing a little Google research, I found out a little about him. He’s a powerful businessman; many say there is a lot of criminal activity within his empire, but nobody has ever been able to prove anything. He always has a group of bodyguards with him in all his pictures. But what did he have to do with my mom? Was it a random murder? Was it a hit and they killed the wrong person? I need to find out who Travis Stein is.

  It is a long seventeen-hour drive, so I plan on stopping halfway. While driving, I think back to the day that changed my life.

  Thirteen years ago

  “Mom! What are you cooking? It smells delicious?” I let my nose lead me to the kitchen where a delicious
, chocolate smell wafts in the air.

  “I’m trying out a new brownie recipe. I think you’re going to love it”

  “Um… yeah! I love anything chocolate.” I get up on the barstool.

  “Well, since you’re supposed to be home sick from school today, I thought I’d bake you something special to help you feel better.” She comes over and kisses the top of my head, giving me a quick hug.

  “Hey, I really didn’t feel good this morning!”

  “Okay, dear. So it doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that Mike is hanging out with Maddie now and not you?” she asks.

  “What! How do you know that? And no, that’s not it.” Rolling my eyes, I sigh.

  “Hello, I’m on the PTA. I know a lot of moms. And the one thing moms do is talk about all the gossip going on with their kids. I guess we gossip about gossip.” She giggles. “I was up at the school yesterday afternoon and was talking to Amber’s mom and got all the details. I’m sorry, baby. It’s your first heartbreak. That’s why I didn’t question the whole sick thing.” She looks at me with adoring eyes.

  I love her more than anything. She is my world. My father passed away in a car accident when I was one. They weren’t married yet when I was born. They were planning their wedding when the accident happened, which is why my last name is different than my moms. I have always wondered what he was like. They met while my mom was on vacation in Mexico. She said it was love at first sight. It was like a fairytale, only with a tragic ending. But I was the light that kept her going.

  She’s gone on the occasional date, but that’s it. I’m her world, too. She is my best friend. I look just like her, except for our eyes and the slight difference in hair color. My hair is a dark blonde, while hers is just a little darker, more like a light brown. Her eyes are brown and mine are a turquoise blue, similar to the Mexico waters she and my father swam in, or so I’ve been told. Other than that, I’m her ‘mini me.’

  “So, do you want to talk about it?” she asks.