Joyce Knightly February 22nd,20XX

There weren’t any words in existence that could express how angry I was at the moment, but I could think of a few that came close. But no, anger was not the right word to capture the emotion I currently felt. Fury, rage, murderous?

I rotated my entire lexicon through my head as I drove, and Destia silently used my phone to call Aaron repeatedly.

“He’s not picking up.”

“Just keep calling.”

She flinched in response to my harsh tone, and I tried my best to calm down and assure her she wasn’t the recipient of my anger. We’d started off on entirely the wrong foot, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t grow closer.

Now that the imminent sense of panic I’d felt at the police station had faded, I remembered she was only eighteen. More so, she was an eighteen-year-old that had grown up in a less than ideal environment.

Even though her home had been closer to the upper-class sector than the lower class sectors, it just meant that the crime had elevated in rank. There were fewer petty robberies, but organized crime syndicates flourished around her. It wasn’t as bad of a living situation as the other children’s, but she would have needed to grow up quickly and was definitely no stranger to violence. Finally, after interacting with her mother, I could see how her logic could have become as warped as it was.

What had worried me was the absolute resistance to thinking that she had done anything wrong, and while that hadn’t changed, I now had confidence that she was a good kid. Everything else could come after.

“I’m not angry at you, Destia. I’m angry at the person you’ve been calling for the past three hours and the person you’re about to meet.”

She slightly relaxed but kept the stony expression on her face. Again, I couldn’t blame her, but I hoped she could see where I was coming from.

Once I’d sorted out assuring Destia of my current mood, I could refocus on the reason I was angry and why I had spent the past four hours on an impromptu trip to a new postal code.

Aaron.

First, he’d randomly called me to say he didn’t think taking the kids to the building was a good idea. Then he’d hung up the phone and hadn’t picked up since. I’d got through to Eva with the phone I’d given her earlier, but she’d shortly replied that she didn’t know what was going on either.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Thankfully, it looked like Aaron had forgotten about the tracker I’d had installed into his phone and hadn’t de-activated it. Or maybe he’d remembered and wanted me to follow him.

Ack.

He’s always been an annoyingly impulsive person, but I’d, now that I thought about it, wrongly thought that the trait had declined with age. Little had I known that it was only because he’d lost the resources to be as reckless as he once was.

Getting those powers had been good for his confidence and happiness, but I got a bad feeling that they wouldn’t be good on my heart at all.

Destia prepared to make another call, but I finally let her stop. We’d driven through most of the day and it was pretty late. Kids like her should be asleep by now.

We’d first stopped at her house to pick up her things but had spent over six hours talking her mother down from her hysteria and convincing her I wasn’t trying to kidnap her eighteen-year-old child.

Still, it was pretty heartwarming to see how much Destia’s mother cared for her, even if she took it too far. I thought back to how my mother acted with my older brother and lamented. How different things would have been if she’d cared more.

The deepening of my foul mood must have been obvious on my face, because Destia timidly spoke up.

“Are you okay?”

I shook off the grim expression on my face and forced a warm smile onto my face.

“Yeah, I’m fine, just annoyed. You should get some sleep. We won’t get there for another few hours.”

“Sorry about my mom… she’s a kind person, but she tends to ove-“

“Don’t apologize because your mother loves you, Destia. That’s a privilege few have, even if it doesn’t feel like one right now. As well, I offered you acceptance because I thought you were worth investing in. I don’t make investments lightly, but when I do, I chase them to the very end.”

She looked surprised by the sudden lecture, but I brushed past it.

It would take some time for the two of us to be comfortable around each other, but as long as we maintained our honesty, then I had confidence that things like trust and comfort would come in time.

“Well, do you want me to drive then? I’m not great at it, but I have my learners.”

As tempted as I was to let her take over, I still had some energy, and the first time I let an eighteen-year-old drive my new car wouldn’t be after an emotionally taxing day like the one we’d just had. It also would not be at two in the morning.

“Thanks, but I’m still fine for now. Take a rest and if I get tired, I’ll wake you up.”

Destia tried to stay awake at first, but eventually gave in to sleep about half an hour later.

I turned the sound of the radio down and plugged my headphones in so I could listen to music and try to calm myself down.

As reckless as Aaron was, he wasn’t an idiot, and he always had a reason behind his actions. I just couldn’t think of any sort of reasoning behind his actions today.

What did he mean by saying he was taking the kids out? And later on, when he’d called back, what did he mean by saying we should rethink it? What had happened in that car?

I wouldn’t yell at him as soon as I got there, even though I was angry. We need to talk things out like adults, and figure out where we both stood.