Obey Fate: Fated Duet: Book Two, page 13
“Oh.” She pushed her bottom lip out, just like a child would. “I thought you were avoiding me.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her I was, but it wouldn’t do me any good. I still had to tread carefully with her, even more so with everything else going on. I wouldn’t allow her to add any more stress on Aria’s plate, which meant I had to take it until I found a way out.
“No, I told you, I was in the hospital visiting a friend.”
“What friend?” Willow threw back at me.
“A college friend. They got into a car wreck.” The lie fell so easily from my lips as I glanced around, seeing students starting to enter the hallway. “I need to head to my classroom. Can we talk about this later?” I placed a kiss on her cheek, hating I had to do it but knowing it would soften her fall.
“Fine. But I want to know everything that happened,” she warned, and I nodded as I stepped away from her.
My teeth ground together, and I spun around, darting toward my classroom and needing to be away from her. She was pushing every button imaginable, and I knew I wasn’t far from blowing up. It was a matter of time, and when it happened, I needed a plan in place. I needed something to protect Aria.
I closed my classroom door and pulled my cell out to type a message to Ford. He wouldn’t get it until he was back from his undercover job, but that was perfect timing because it meant he wouldn’t be around right now to ask any questions.
Cade: If you get this message and I’m not around, I need you to watch out for Aria. There’s more going on than people realize. She needs support and help, and I think you’re the only one she’ll let do that right now—not that she’ll have a choice. If something happens to me, I need you to tell her you know about Dr. Bay. Tell her you’ll take her to her appointments, and do it because she needs it. She needs me, but I’m not sure I’m going to be able to be there for her. I’ll explain it all the next time I see you, just please, do this for me.
I locked my cell and let out a breath. I’d given him just enough to be able to help Aria, but not too much as to where I would break my promise to her. With the plan now in place, I knew everything would be okay. If I didn’t keep my cool, and Willow ended up telling everyone what she saw, at least Aria would be protected.
The day flew by, and before I knew it, it was lunchtime, and I hadn’t heard from Aria at all. I’d seen her at her locker between lessons, but she hadn’t looked at me. I craved going up to her and asking how she was feeling, but I knew it wouldn’t help. All it would do was draw attention to us, and that was the last thing we needed.
Strolling down the hallway, I headed toward my office in the athletics building but halted when I heard voices. There shouldn’t be anyone in here.
“No one ever comes in here at this time,” I heard a male voice say, one I recognized as Harry the football player—the same student Ford had slammed against the lockers after Aria had gotten in a fight with Jasmine.
“You sure?” I tilted my head to the side, also recognizing that particular voice.
“Yeah, babe. I’m sure.” Some movement echoed, and I drifted closer, looking through the gap in the door to the boys locker rooms. I could see them both clearly, and as soon as I realized what they were doing, I moved my hand to open the door wider, but something stopped me at the last second.
I pulled my cell out and clicked record, knowing this could be the answer to everything. I’d been searching and searching for a way out but hadn’t come up with anything. And now…
Now I could call an end to it all with one little video.
“I’ll show you how to do it, babe,” Harry said, dipping down and snorting a line of white powder off a workbook. “Ahhh, that feels so good.”
“Give it to me,” Jasmine demanded, and snatched the rolled-up bill from him. Her face came fully into view, and then she bent her head and snorted a line too.
My grin was wider than it had ever been before as Jasmine leaned back and stared up at the ceiling. There was no denying their faces in the recording, so I clicked it off and pocketed my cell.
They said good things came to those who wait, and there was no doubt I’d waited long enough for this. My stomach fluttered as I made my way into my office and watched the recording again. I should have gone in there and taken them both to the principal—that was what I was meant to do—but Willow hadn’t been playing fair since the moment she stepped into my classroom and caught Aria and me kissing.
You had to fight fire with fire, and mine was roaring to life, promising to burn everything in its path.
My mood for the rest of the day was better than it had been in weeks, and when the school day was finally over, I leaned back in my desk chair and waited. I knew it wouldn’t take her long to come and find me—it never did. Only this time, I had a surprise in store for her.
She had no idea what was about to come her way. She thought she was a master manipulator, but I’d grown up around men who manipulated people on a daily basis for their jobs. I’d learned more than she could ever know about, and now it was time. Time for me to give the final strike.
“There you are!” Willow waltzed into my classroom, her makeup and hair now done to perfection. The act hadn’t worked this morning so she’d obviously decided to drop it. “You didn’t come to the teachers’ lounge at lunch.”
I hummed in response and leaned forward, steepling my fingers on my desk. “I didn’t want to.”
“What?” She raised her brow and sat on the edge of my desk, reaching out her hand for me. I grasped it before she could touch me and stood.
“Don’t touch me.”
Her eyes sparked at being told no. “I think you should take that back.”
“Nah.” I let her hand go and sidestepped her. “I don’t think I will.” I smiled, the same kind of smile she gave me when she got what she wanted every single time over the last few months. The ball was in my court now. She just wasn’t aware how much.
She stood slowly, the mask slipping off her face and revealing who she truly was. “All it will take is one visit to the principal’s office,” she warned. Her threats had become more brazen over the last couple of weeks and were no longer veiled. “Your life would explode around you, Cade. Is that what you want?” She shrugged and took a step toward the door. “It’s your funeral.”
“Wait.” The smile on her face lifted to heights I wouldn’t have imagined possible. She thought she’d won. She thought she had me right where she wanted me. She was wrong. “Let me show you something first.”
I pulled my cell out and clicked on the video, pausing it at the start. I kept my features neutral as to not show her too soon, and then passed her the cell.
“What’s this?” she asked, clicking play. She didn’t have to wait long to find out what it was. Her mouth dropped open, and a small gasp left her lips.
“Maybe I should come to the principal’s office with you?” I said, my brow raised. “I’m sure he’d be interested to know what his students are getting up to on their lunch breaks.”
“No, no, no, no.” Willow darted away from me, her chest lifting on a sharp breath. “I deleted it. You have no evidence now.”
I laughed. The kind of laugh I couldn’t control, no matter how much I wanted to. “For a teacher who has such high ambitions, you really are stupid.” I dropped all pretenses from my face and sauntered toward her. I kept just enough distance so we weren’t touching. “You remember the cookout you invited yourself too?” She opened her mouth to answer, but I didn’t let her. “There were seven men around that table. One was me, the other was Aria’s stepdad, and the other five?” My lips slowly lifted into a smirk. “The other five are DEA agents. Agents I grew up with. Agents who taught me things you could only dream about.”
“I…I don’t understand…”
“I’m telling you that wasn’t the only copy. Just because you deleted it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”
“I…what do you want, Cade?”
I held my hand out. “My cell for starters.” She placed it in my palm, and I stepped back. “This is what is going to happen. You’re going to forget all about what you saw in my classroom.” She stepped forward, but I continued, “You see, I let you get the better of me. I let your threats work their way into my brain without realizing one thing.” I closed my laptop and slid it into my bag, acting like I was having a normal conversation. “You have no evidence. It’s your word against mine. And I’m sure once I showed people my actual evidence, and what your sister has been doing, they’ll be inclined to believe me and not you.”
“You son of a bitch.” She stomped her foot. “I won’t let you get away with this.”
“Oh, sweetheart.” I chuckled and shouldered my bag, feeling lighter than I had in months. “You have no choice. One sniff of me thinking you’re coming for Aria or me, and I’ll pass that tape along to my dad and let his team deal with it.” I pulled the classroom door open and looked at her one final time. “Ball is in your court.”
I winked and strolled out of the room with a shit-eating grin on my face.
* * *
ARIA
“Your blood results came back normal,” Dr. Bay told me as soon as I sat on the sofa in her office. “Which confirms you have bipolar disorder.”
My stomach sank, and my eyes started to mist over. I was hoping something would show in my blood because at least if it was something physical then I could explain it away, but instead, I was becoming just like my dad. I was crazy, and now she was confirming it.
“I want to start you on a few different medications. Each one should stabilize your moods and…”
She kept talking, but I wasn’t really listening to her. I was focused on what this all meant and how it all could have started. Was I born like this? Or did events in my life make me this way?
Cade’s hand touched my thigh, and I flicked my gaze down to it, but I couldn’t quite make it out past all the blurriness. I swayed to the right, feeling myself becoming off-kilter and tried to push everything out of my brain, but it was all too much. Everything was too much.
“What have you done?” Mom screamed.
I pulled the covers over my head, trying to block out all of the noise coming from the living room, but it was no use. I could still hear every word.
“I didn’t do anything,” Dad told her, talking way too fast. “She needs a bike, Jan. She needs to be able to ride a bike. So I went and bought her one.”
“You used the rent money!” Mom shouted, and I could just imagine how angry her face looked. “And you didn’t just buy her a bike. You got yourself one, and then you went and spent five hundred dollars on clothes and accessories. What the hell were you thinking?”
“I want to set you up with a regular appointment as well, Aria. We’ll start with once a week and see how you feel. If you need it more than that, we can do it, but we won’t know until we start.” Dr. Bay’s voice broke through my nightmare, and I whipped my head up to face her, feeling tears streaming down my cheeks from the change of direction. “I can see this is a lot to take in.” Dr. Bay paused, and Cade’s hand squeezed my thigh. “Is there anything you’d like to talk about today? Any questions you have?”
“Stop asking me questions!” Dad roared, holding his head in his hands and pacing back and forth. “All you do is ask me questions.”
I wasn’t sure who he was talking to, but I stared at him with wide eyes and brought my knees up to my chest. “Daddy?”
“It can’t happen. I can’t do it.” He shook his head and ran toward the wall, not stopping until his body collided with it. “Get out of my head!”
My bottom lip wobbled, and all I wanted to do was get up and help him, but I was scared, so I stayed curled into the corner of the sofa.
He groaned and rolled over, his gaze connecting with mine right away. “Aria, they’re coming for you, sweetie. You need to hide again, okay?” His voice was different now, softer, more like the daddy I knew. “No! Stay where you are!” He shook his head and stood. “Don’t move, Aria.”
I didn’t know what to do or how to act. I had no idea—
A lock clicked in the front door, and hope rose within me. Mommy was home, she’d make it all better. The door swung open, and Mommy stepped inside. Her face was tired and sad, but I knew she’d protect me from Daddy when he was like this.
She stared at each of us, and Daddy started to pace again, shouting things I didn’t understand.
“Aria.” Mom darted toward me and picked me up. “Don’t come out of your room, no matter what you hear, okay?”
“Aria?” Cade’s deep voice shocked me out of my memory, and I shook my head. “Baby?” He lowered his voice. “What’s going on?”
“Am I like my dad?” I asked, but I wasn’t sure who I was asking as I stared at Cade. “Will I end up like him?” Cade’s dark-blue eyes swirled with emotion, but I wasn’t sure what it meant. Was he sad I was going through this, or sad he was stuck with me?
“I requested access to your dad’s medical records, Aria,” Dr. Bay said, and I turned to face her. My breath stalled in my chest, afraid of what she was going to say next. “Your dad had a lot of mental health issues. Bipolar disorder, yes, but he also had schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder.” Her brows pulled down into a frown. “Your dad stopped getting treatment and wasn’t taking his medication.”
“He wasn’t?” I asked. “Is that why he was so…” I took a breath and closed my eyes, trying to push all my thoughts away. “So…”
“Aria.” Dr. Bay waited until I had my eyes open to continue. “Your dad didn’t stick to his treatment plan, but had he, he would have lived a semi-normal life.” She shuffled forward on her seat. “With the combination of medication I want to start you on, and regular visits with me, I have no doubt you will conquer everything in front of you. But the trick is to stick to the treatment plan.”
“So I can get better?” I asked.
“Better isn’t a word I would use.” Dr. Bay flicked her gaze down to her notepad on her lap and then back to me. “Under control. You can get it under control. But it won’t happen overnight. It’s going to take time for everything to kick in and work.”
“And in the meantime?” Cade asked.
“In the meantime, you keep things as normal as before. Keep to your regular schedule, and don’t make allowances. If you feel sad, let yourself feel it. Don’t think you have to push it aside. Be in the moment with your sadness.”
“Okay.” I let out a breath, the first one that felt like I didn’t have an elephant sitting on my chest for. “And the medication?”
She explained what medication I would be taking and how often to take it, and then booked me in for a regular visit every Tuesday evening. Cade said he’d bring me to them until I told my mom what was happening, but I refrained from informing him that I wouldn’t tell her. I was afraid she’d think I was like my dad, just like I had.
Cade took the prescription for my medication from her as we exited, and once we had picked them up from the pharmacy and were on our way back home, I eventually managed to say, “Thank you.”
“For what?” Cade asked, glancing at me briefly and then looking back out the windshield.
“For helping me.” A small smile curved on my lips as I stared at him. “For believing in me and not letting me drown.”
He pulled up at the curb in front of my house and turned to face me. His gaze flicked down to the locket I wore around my neck, causing his own lips to lift up into a smile. “I promised, remember?” I did remember. I remembered each and every one of his promises. “Is it okay if I call you later?”
Butterflies took flight in my stomach as I nodded. “I’d like that.”
* * *
ARIA
“I wish we could be there,” Mom said, wrapping her arms around me and squeezing me as tight as she could. “You’re gonna do so well, I just know it.” She pulled back and turned to face Cade. “I want a recording of every time she runs, got it?”
Cade saluted her and grinned. “Got it.”
It was Friday lunchtime, and we were leaving early because it would take us four hours to get to the center where the meet was being held. Reagan’s dad was driving her there because they had family near the track, so it was just Cade and me in a car for four hours—alone. I wasn’t sure if I was nervous or excited, most probably a combination of both.
“You go get ’em, Ri, you hear?” Sal grunted and wrapped his arms around me too. He didn’t do this often, but when he did, it made me realize just how much he cared. It was hard to get that feeling from Sal, but lately, he’d been showing me more and more.
I’d started to take my medication, and although Dr. Bay told me it would take some time to get them into my system, I already felt better. I was actually seeking treatment and not doing it alone like I’d always done.
Sal let go of me and stepped back, a huge grin on his face as he wrapped his arm around Mom’s shoulder. Maybe it was time to tell them what had been going on, but their smiling faces made me doubt it. It was only two weeks until their wedding, and then they’d be off on their honeymoon.
I pushed my shoulders back and told myself I’d wait until they got back. At least that way I wouldn’t spoil their wedding with all my fucked-up-ness. “I’ll message when we get there,” I told them both, watching Cade close his trunk which held our suitcases. We’d only be gone for two nights, but it was enough to fill the carry-on suitcase I’d borrowed from Lola.
Cade opened up the passenger door for me, but I didn’t look at him, afraid I’d give too much away in front of Mom and Sal. I waved at them as we exited the lot, and once we were on the highway, I relaxed a little.
“I can’t believe this is happening.”
“Why?” Cade asked, his attention focused on the highway. “Your times have been getting better and better, and you’re dedicated.” He paused and flicked his gaze to me briefly. “You’re built for running track, Aria. It’s just natural for you.”
