Can't Fight Fate

Chapter one

*One week ago*

“Raegan.” I heard someone pounding on my front door. I groaned as I stretched from where I fell asleep on the couch, letting out the biggest yawn I ever had. This had become a terrible habit that I needed to break and fast. “Raegan!” she shouted louder this time.

“Give me a minute, please!” I yelled. I grabbed my blanket from the back of the couch and wrapped myself up in it. It was my most favorite blanket. It was one of the softest things I owned and it had a beautiful picture of a wolf howling to the moon, matching my necklace perfectly. I placed my hand on my necklace, straightening it out. I smiled at the sad memory of my sixteenth birthday. I knew exactly who got me the necklace, but he never told me it was him. It was the same person who got me the blanket for Christmas last year, even though he never made it home. What was I kidding? He never came home after my birthday.

“Morning mom. Morning dad.” I groaned, opening the door, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

“Morning Raegan.” Mom came in through the door and hugged me. Dad walked in behind her, holding donuts and a tray of coffee. Something was up. They never showed up with food and coffee unless they wanted something.

“Still sleeping on the couch, huh?” Dad laughed, making mom slap him in the arm. “Ouch woman. This s**t still hurts.”

Mom and dad are goals. They met through Aunt Hannah and Uncle Austin. My mom, Isabella, or Bella, has been best friends with Hannah since their days in high school and when Hannah left for college, mom stayed here. Hannah came home after her and Austin broke up because of some stupid contract thing. They didn’t really get into it. All they told us kids was that it was not necessary to know about it and it was nothing we would ever have to deal with in our entire lives. Works for me. Anyways, Uncle Austin and dad came to Crossdale after acquiring Offbeat, the company Evelyn, Dylan and Archer’s grandma, or what I like to call her grandma as well, is working for. I guess when Hannah and Austin reunited, all hell broke loose and mom and dad were reunited as well. I guess they had some flings once upon a time, but things got more intense with the drama they all faced.

“Well, until Fin and Archer come home, that box isn’t going upstairs anytime soon.” I said, pointing to the 55 inch television I bought for my room. The box had been sitting there for about two weeks when I moved into the house. Fin is off to college in California for communication, planning to take over dad and Uncle Tristian’s company when the time comes. Archer, Dylan’s little brother, is away at a boarding school on a sports scholarship for baseball in North Carolina, only coming home for the holidays.

Having well-off parents has its benefits. We don’t use or abuse the money we grew up with, but the one thing we did take advantage of was the housing situation. When Fin and I turned 18, we moved out to our own apartments. Archer got one sooner because of him going to boarding school. He sublets it when he isn’t home, but he still has his own place.

“You know Austin, Tristian and I could bring it up and get it mounted.” Dad offered. Mom and I looked at each other and just laughed.

“You three, doing anything that requires any sort of tool is just plain hilarious.” Mom laughed, grabbing the coffee from dad and handing me mine. “Do you remember the time Hannah and I asked you three to put together a bookshelf for her study? Not only did it take you guys three days, we had to finish it because you kept stripping all the screws.”

“I would rather not talk about it. It was an off day.” He shrugged, like it was no big deal.

“Or how about the time we needed to have the faucet replaced in the kitchen and you and Austin refused to call a plumber to do it and snapped it in half.”

“Okay, I get it. We are not handy with tools. Jeeze, keep reminding me of my epic failures.” He rolled his eyes at us.

“I would rather have mom and Aunt Hannah do it with me. No offense.”

“Hey, none taken. I know we aren’t the best at the whole handyman thing.”

“That’s putting it lightly. Mom and Aunt Hannah had to help Dylan, Fin, and Archer with their soapboxes for the derby and anything that dealt with the outdoors and tools you guys failed at majorly. If it weren’t for them, the boys would have been lost.”

“Okay, I’m done with this conversation. Keep sleeping on the couch for all I care. Whatever.” He pouted, making me roll my eyes as I sipped the liquid gold they gave me.

We walked into the living room and took a seat on the couch. There was an awkward silence that enveloped the room.

“Okay, spit it out. I don’t have all day. I need to go to my class and get things set up for my first day.”

“Have you spoken to him since you saw him four years ago?”

“Dylan?”

“Yeah.” Mom and dad said at the same time.

“No…he kind of, ya know, broke my heart and left me without a second thought. Why?” I shrugged my shoulders in response, trying to sound so unaffected by it.

“So, he’s coming home,” Dad said. I froze. I didn’t know what to think. I haven’t seen the boy I fell in love with in four years. Not after he crushed my heart and told me that it would never work between us because of the age difference. But I felt something when I kissed him and I know he felt it as well, because he kissed me back.

“Okay…” I said slowly.

“Dylan was going to buy a house in town but he didn’t find anything that he liked. So, he opted to have his own built.” Mom said and I stopped her.

“Woah…please tell me it’s not the house that’s being built down the road from me.” They looked at each other and didn’t say a word, “You two are terrible, you know that, right?”

“Well, the house isn’t going to be finished by the time he comes home. So, Austin and Eli found an apartment for him but the building caught fire and it’s condemned.”

“Okay…where are you going with this?”

“Well, one, are you going to be okay with him being back in town?” mom asked me. I sighed and I started to play with my hair. It’s something that I did when I was nervous.

“I don’t know.” I couldn’t look her in the eyes. She knows how I felt about him ever since I was thirteen, when she caught me writing ‘Raegan Nicholson’ on my notebook. I spilled to her about the kiss we shared on my birthday. She and Aunt Hannah weren’t happy about it, but they weren’t surprised that it happened either. My dad and Uncle Austin and Uncle Tristian, on the other hand, wanted to drive to New York and slap the s**t out of him, but I begged them not to. “I guess I really don’t have a choice, do I?”

“How many relationships have you been in since you kissed him baby girl?” Mom took my hand into hers.

“Two. You know that.”

“And how many of those were serious?”

“One.” I rolled my eyes. Mom and dad knew about Bronson. I met him when I started college. When I enrolled, I was eighteen, I already had two years under my belt from accelerated classes I took in high school. I went for a degree in education and I’m currently enrolled to complete my masters. I met Bronson during a football game where he spilled a drink on me. We dated for a year and a half and I gave him everything and it was the worst mistake of my life. Let’s just say it didn’t end well. I try not to think of it, think of that terrible time. I’ve moved on, grown and become stronger. No point in dwelling in something you can’t change.

“How would you feel if…” dad started and took in a deep breath, but mom cut him off.

“I know your heart is still guarded, Ray. But we need your help.”

“Mom…”

“Your aunt and uncle don’t have room in their home because of the remodeling they’re doing. Fin is still at school and already subletted his apartment. Archer is still at school and when he comes home, he plans on getting rid of his apartment and he and Fin are getting a bigger pace and right now his place isn’t available at well. We don’t have room since we moved to a smaller home and Tristian and Riley are going through some personal things right now with one of Riley’s old high school friends, so they don’t currently have room since they are housing her friend’s kids.”

“Okay. And this is my problem because…”

“It’s only for two months until his house is done.” Dad cut in before mom could say anything.

“Absolutely not. No way in hell. This is not happening. He has his trust fund. He can live in a hotel for all I care.” I stood up and walked away from them. I can’t do this for them. They know I would bend over backwards for family and friends, but this was pushing it. I went to the kitchen to dispose of the coffee cup I had in my hand and I placed one palm on the counter and my other hand gripped the necklace that he gave me four years ago.

I kept up a good front, showing the world I had moved on from Dylan Nicholson. I never once uttered his name or mentioned anything about him, but the pain was still fresh in my heart. He didn’t know this, no one did, but I have seen some of his games and kept track of his progress when making his way towards the NFL. I was there the day that he got injured and blew out his knee 2 years ago. He looked right at me in the stands and he froze. He didn’t move in time and got sacked really hard. I tried running to him on the field but he was already being transported to the hospital while I got sucked into the crowd. I tried to go in and see him but they wouldn’t let me in, saying that because no one knew who I was and their approval list was extremely limited, that I would have to wait for him to ask for me. How could he ask for me when he didn’t know I was even there?

Not only did I blame myself for destroying his career, but I also almost destroyed myself. Bronson, my boyfriend at the time, found out that I had gone to New York without him and with my roommate, Summer. When I got home, he was furious and accused me of going with Summer so we could go out and party in New York City. The memories of that night will be forever engrained in my mind as I fought for my life. My only saving grace was that the school we went to was close to home and dad, Tristian and Austin were able to come and save Summer and I, and of course, a dear friend, Levi.

“Raegan. I know you still have feelings for him…” mom came up behind me and placed a soft touch on my shoulder.

“Feelings for him? Those disappeared. All the feelings I had for the opposite s*x vanished that night.”

“Don’t be like that. I know you closed off your heart, but it’s not me asking this favor, it’s your Aunt Hannah and Uncle Austin. Dylan had a rough go after he got injured. This arrangement will only be for two months. “

I turned around and faced my mom. She took my hands into hers. “I love you. I love Hannah and sometimes, dad and Austin, but only sometimes, but this is where I draw the line. The answer is no.”

“Can you try? I’ll talk to Hannah and Austin and I will have them rush a room for him just in case, but it’s going to take some time.”

“Can you tell me what happened after he got hurt?” I wanted to reach out to him after he got hurt, but because I was hospitalized myself for a period of time, I was unable to.

“That’s not our place sunshine.” Dad spoke from the doorway. I looked over mom’s shoulder and saw he was leaning on the doorframe, arms crossed. He was watching mom and I but what got me was the look in his eyes as we talked about what happened two years ago. “If he wants to tell you what happened, then that’s fine, but it would be wrong for us to tell you guys.”

“I understand. I mean, it’s the same thing with me, right?” I chuckled, thinking of how no one but the older adults know what happened to me and Summer. “How about this, give me a couple of days to think about it. I need to talk to Summer.”

“When is she coming back?” mom asked.

“She should be back within the month, I believe.” I sighed. She was traveling before she settled back down. She needed a place to stay, so I offered her one of my spare rooms. I missed that girl so freaken much and I couldn’t wait for her to come home.

“Thank you sunshine. Thank you for thinking about it and remember, no matter what happens, we are here for you.” Dad hugged me tightly. “You’re my baby girl, you will always come first.”

I shooed them away after an hour of just catching up. They act like they don’t see me often when, in reality, if they don’t talk to me at least once a day, they go crazy. I don’t blame them though. I got into my car and started to drive to the local coffee shop, Spot Coffee, forgoing the idea of setting up my classroom. I can do that another day. I took my phone out and made a phone call that was all too familiar.

“Raegan. Are you almost here?” Levi asked as he answered the phone. He has been my savior since that night. No one really knows about him except for Summer and I plan on keeping it like that, that is until the time comes.

“Pulling in now.”

I walked into Spot Coffee and saw Levi sitting at the table. He stood up and met me with a hug and a quick kiss on the lips. He is about six-three, very fit, shaggy blonde hair and green eyes that you could melt under. He is someone that is extremely special to me and, honestly, he’s been my saving grace through one of the worst times of my life and I don’t know what I would do without him.

We sat down and he slid over my coffee that he had waiting for me. “So, tell me, how has the past week been since we last caught up?”

I sighed, fiddling with my cup, “It was fine until today.” I shrugged, “How about you?”

He sighed and tapped his fingers against his cup nervously, “Ray, I need your help…”