Can't Fight Fate

Prologue Can’t Fight Fate: Book 2 of Billionaire’s I am the oldest out of the kids, now 26. My younger brother is Archer, 16. Aunt Bell and Uncle Eli have three kids, Raegan and Fin, who are about to turn 21 and they have a younger brother, Brayden, who is 15, almost 16. Uncle Tristian and Aunt Riley have one daughter, Taylor, who is 15 as well. I was always close to the kids as they always looked up to me and our parents would always joke about the crush Raegan had on me ever since she was three and learned to draw a heart. I never really thought too much about it. All I could care about was leaving home and going to play ball at college and try to reach my dream of playing for the NFL and that was the only goal I had at the time. I didn’t have time for serious relationships. Just flings here and there. I left for college when I graduated high school, in upstate New York. When I was driving with my best friend and roommate, Jordan, mom called me. She was telling me how upset Raegan was that I left without saying bye. I rolled my eyes. She was thirteen at the time and I was eighteen and I couldn’t be bothered by someone as young as her. Besides, it was beyond inappropriate and she was like a sister to me. I got a call from dad about the twins turning 16 when I was a junior in college. I was in my prime, on my way to big things. I was working hard with the football team and working towards the NFL draft, so I haven’t been home in three years. I mean, I always talked to mom and dad whenever we could, we were close after all, but life just gets in the way. He insisted that I come home for their big day, especially since I haven’t been home in three years, even for holidays. I remember pulling up and once I walked through the door, I noticed Raegan for the first time in three years. She grew up to be such a beautiful young woman, but I shook my head and headed over to the rest of the adults, where they greeted me with open arms and shoved a beer in my hand. The party was fun for a sweet 16 for the most part. When the twins were opening their presents, Fin’s eyes went wide as I got him two season tickets to his favorite hockey team and I got Raegan a beautiful diamond necklace with a moon and a wolf howling on the inside. I never wrote my name on them. They didn’t need to know it was from me. Having a trust fund does have its perks. It was late that night and I wanted some peace and quiet, so I headed outside. I was sitting by the small pond in the back of the house. The moon was shining and you could hear the crickets in the distance. I heard footsteps coming up from behind me, laughter in the background from the house. I smelled her body spray right away, cucumber melon, so subtle, but smells so nice. “You’ve been quiet.” Raegan sat next to me and smoothed out her dress while she stretched her legs and crossed them. “Everything okay?” “Yeah, just thinking.” I shrugged, taking another swig of my beer that I was holding. She took the beer from my hand and finished it off. “Football?” “Yeah. Scouts are starting to come. I need to be on my best game to get noticed.” “You got it.” She looked up to me and smiled, “I believe in you.” She took my hand in hers. Bold. I usually like that in a girl. I should have pulled away, I needed to pull my hand away, but I didn’t. “What’s going through your mind?” I asked. She squeezed my hand a bit and pulled me up to my feet. “Come with me.” I followed her and we walked hand in hand to the edge of the pond where the water met the small visible layer of sand. “Let’s walk.” “Raegan,” I whispered. I stopped dead in my tracks, making her stop as well. “What are you doing?” “Dylan. I just, I need to say this before I lose all the confidence I have right now.” “How much have you been drinking and do the parents know?” “They know I had a couple, but I drank enough to give me the courage to do this.” She stepped close to me and went to her toes and placed her lips on mine and sparks shot through my body. Our lips danced in sync with each other as she wrapped her arms around my neck and I gripped her waist. I wanted to pull her closer to me. I never really looked at her in this light, but today, it was so different. The little girl who was like my little sister was growing up and she was beautiful. I came to my senses and pushed her off me. “We can’t.” I pulled her arms away from me and took a step back. “Raegan, you’re 16. I’m 21. This can’t happen. You’re way too young.” “Why can’t it though? If our parents are okay with it, why can’t it happen?” “I’m 21, Raegan, you just turned 16. You were 15 yesterday. You’re way too young for me. You are beautiful, I’ll give you that, and if our parents were okay with it, and that is a huge if, because I’m sure Eli will kick my ass if he finds out I just kissed his daughter, I could never be okay with it.” She stood there just staring at me and I could see the tears form in her eyes. I felt like an ass. “Dylan, please, just give this a chance. I know we will be good together; I love you.” “Raegan, I can’t. I’m so sorry. You will meet someone your own age that makes your heart flutter and gives you butterflies in your stomach, someone that loves you back with just as much as you give them. Trust me when I say that it’s not me.” I pushed her hands away and I turned around and walked back to the house, leaving her at the pond, hearing her cry. One day, I hope she would understand. I left to go back to school that night. I moved up my ticket and got an overnight flight and I didn’t look back. I said by to the adults and all the kids and told them I needed to get back due to last minute exams. I looked at Raegan one last time and I saw the pain in her heart. I nodded my head to her, letting her know to meet me outside for a moment. Our parents gave us a weird look, but shook it off. “Why are you doing this, Dylan? Have you hurt me enough? And on my birthday.” She cried. I pulled her to the steps of the front porch and wrapped my arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. My heart tugged. It hurt. I guess that kiss meant more than I thought, but I couldn’t do that to her. “Ray, I need you to understand something. I’m five years older than you. You’re 16, so right now, it would be extremely wrong. I like you and you are beautiful, but I cannot drag you into my life. I have school, football and, soon, the NFL and I don’t know where I will be going. You have your whole life ahead of you. Live your life, find your dreams and chase. It.” “But what if you are my dream?” “You think that now, but you can always get a new dream.” I kissed the top of her head, “I need to go back to school. Be happy and find someone that loves you as much as you love them.” I stood up and started to walk to the waiting Uber when she called out to me, making me turn around. “Dylan. I have loved you ever since I was thirteen. I loved you every day, hoping you would notice me, and I don’t think I can ever stop loving you.” “You need to Ray, I’m not a nice guy.” “Stay in touch.” She said as she wiped a tear from her cheek. “I can’t. We can’t. I do hope the best for you Ray. You will make someone extremely happy in the future, I know it.” And I left her there, crying, not looking back at the girl, who, with one kiss, captured my heart. Who would have thought that the kiss from my dad’s best friend’s daughter would be engrained in my head every damn day since I left home? So much so, I blew my knee and ended my career all because I thought I saw her in the stands. Since then, I have concentrated on my degree. I got my teaching degree with an accelerated master’s and I got a job at the local elementary school in Crossdale, so I was on my way home. I clicked a few buttons on my steering wheel and called my mom. “Dylan! Are you almost here?” Mom was super excited when she found out I was coming home. She told me she missed me every time we talked. “Yeah, I should be there in about half an hour. Did dad get my apartment all set up?” “About that…” “What happened mom? I sent dad the money for the deposit since I’m waiting for the house to be built.” “The house is behind schedule, but that’s not the issue. The apartment you were looking at caught fire and the whole building is condemned. You can either move back home or you can have a roommate.” “Who?” I felt my chest tighten up. Mom and dad found out about Raegan and that conversation was not what I thought it was going to be. “We need to talk. Your mother is on the phone with us.” My dad said to me after practice one day. I was dirty, sweaty and wanted a shower, but I knew they wouldn’t care. “What’s going on?” “What happened between you and Raegan a couple of months ago?” I paused. f**k. “How did you find out?” I groaned, “And it’s not what you think. She kissed me and I pushed her away. I told her no. It was wrong and inappropriate. She’s 16.” “Is that all that happened?” my dad asked. “Is she saying anything else? Because nothing else happened. She kissed me. I was stupid and I kissed her back. Yes, but I pushed her away when I came to my senses.” “She didn’t say anything besides the kiss. But I don’t know what she was thinking. She seems like she is truly heartbroken.” My father paused. “Dylan…” Mom said, “How do you really feel about her?” “Mom. She’s sixteen.” “Answer the question Dyl.” “If she were older, I wouldn’t have second guessed anything. Is that what you wanted to hear?” “Dyl…that’s not what I meant.” “Then what mom? What did you mean?” “What’s going to happen when you come home and those feelings between you both are still there?” “They’re not going to be.” “How can you be so sure? She has always been infatuated with you, ever since she was three. You have always been overprotective of her, more than her own brother. I hate to say it, but it was bound to happen. I wish it had happened when she was older…” “Nothing happened like that and nothing is going to happen. She is too young. I’m sorry if she got her hopes up, I really am, but I need you, dad, Eli, Bella and everyone else to try to help her move on from me, because I don’t know when will be the next time I will be home.” I waited for my mom to answer me as I nervously tapped my thumb on the steering wheel. “Who mom? Who would be the roommate?” “First, let me just say she is okay with it for now. Bella and Eli talked to her about a week ago when we found out about your apartment.” “I can’t room with Raegan.” “Dylan, she is the only one besides us who has a room and even if you wanted to stay home until your house is built, it would take time for us to clear your room.” I groaned. “What about Archer?" I don’t know why I asked about Archer. I knew he was at school. “I mean, what about his place?” “He’s still away at school and his place isn’t available." "Fin?" "Same.” “Aunt Bella and Eli? Tristen and Riley?" "No room. Long story about what happened, but those are your two options." "Any other apartments in town?" "Nothing is vacant." I groaned. "How far behind is the house?” “They are a week behind, so in about two months it should be done as long as nothing else holds them back.” I paused. I didn’t want to live with my mom and dad. Even though that would be the more logical thing to do, they are still little f*****g horndogs who can’t keep their hands off each other and I don’t need to see them like that. “Mom…is she single?” “Why does it matter?” “So I know what I’m getting myself into when I move into her place.” She paused. “No. It’s funny, a few days after she agreed to let you live with her, she announced her engagement. Trust me when I say, that was extremely unexpected.” She’s engaged? f**k. “Fine. I gotta go.” I pulled up to her house soon after getting off the phone with mom. It was cute and I wanted to shoot myself in the foot because about a half mile down the road, my house was being built. I sighed and ran my fingers through my shaggy dark brown hair and looked at the house that I would be calling home for the next two months. It was a two-story, light gray house with black shutters and an attached two-car garage and a beautiful garden in the front. It screamed Raegan. My breath hitched as I saw her walk from the back yard to the front and pause as she looked into my car. I opened my door and slammed it shut, our eyes never leaving each other’s. I walked up towards her and took her in. The years have been amazing to her. Her beautiful strawberry blonde wavy hair flowed in the wind and her ocean-blue eyes pierced me. Her lips looked as soft as I remembered them four years ago. Her body, just as beautifully toned, not too thin, but not too thick, just perfect. Her shirt clung to her cleavage, exposing the top of her plump breasts, and I wanted nothing more than to let my hormones take over and kiss her. Then there was a sparkle in my eye, something shined bright, almost blinding me. I looked down and saw her diamond ring. “Hello Dylan.” “Raegan.” “It’s been a long time.” “It has.” “Are you okay with this?” “Are you?” we both paused “You look beautiful. Congratulations, by the way.” “Don’t do that.” “Do what?” “Don’t smile at me like that.” I took a step closer to her and she didn’t move away. “I can’t help it.” “Why can’t you?” “How long have you been engaged, Raegan?” “Why does it matter?” “How long have you been with him?” “The same question applies to this one.” I stepped closer to her, placing my hands on her waist. Her breath hitched and she looked up at me with those eyes. “I don’t know why, but something tells me that fate just gave me a second chance.” I pulled her into a hug and whispered in her ear, “Thanks for the room, roommate.” I smirked and went back to my car, grabbed my bag and walked into the house. This was going to be a long two months and why the hell did I just do that? What has gotten into me?