Tempting Fate Read online

  Tempting Fate

  By

  Aimee N. Busch

  Kindle Edition

  Editor: Katie Molnar

  Cover Photo: Jaclyn Rodriguez

  Copyright ©2012 Aimee N. Busch

  All Rights Reserved. Except as specified by U.S. Copyright Law, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or media or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system without prior written permission of the author. License Notes: This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. To obtain permission to excerpt portions of the text, please contact the author at [email protected]

  This work represents a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations or locations are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.

  Chapter 1

  The second semester of the year would start in just two days. Abby was happy to be on her way back to school but was sad to have left the warm weather of Texas and her family. It was hard to be so far away, but the charm of the school was what had pulled her to it. It was like home in so many ways. The biggest similarity being that, like home, it was a small town nowhere close to a big city. Now in her second year, she found herself feeling more like her Tennessee campus was her home.

  She had a small group of friends that she had met in her first year; in most ways they were her family. Paul was the fatherly type, who always felt the need to look out for her and a few other girls. He lived on the same floor as her last year and Abby had convinced him to become an RA this year. He was the kind of guy you knew you could count on for anything, at any time, day or night.

  Abby let out a little giggle as the thought of when he came barreling down the hall to her aid last year after hearing her screaming came to her mind. She had a spider in her room the size of a quarter. He let out a huge laugh as he killed it because it was just a, “little thing.”

  Melanie was her suite mate for the second year now, and they got along perfectly right from the start. Mel was a very serious student and was like an older sister to her. Abby loved that she could talk to her about anything and Melanie would drop anything, except her coffee, to listen. Somehow she always knew the perfect things to say or the right advice to give her. Even with Melanie’s busy schedule of classes, studying and two jobs, she always found time to spend with her friends.

  Jamal was like having an older brother that was a health nut and a work-out fanatic. They met last year when she was buying a fruit smoothie. She yawned after she placed her order, and he chimed in to tell her about an energy boosting concoction that she should add to it. Before long they became good friends, and she learned how to ignore his constant health advice. Eventually, he had convinced her to go running with him a few times a week. Abby became quite impressed with herself and found running was a surprisingly refreshing addition to her days.

  Last but not least, because she would never have had it that way, was Rachel. Abby’s first course in college was a prerequisite math class at eight in the morning. Abby had worn her pajama pants and a sweatshirt. It was eight in the morning, and really, who did she need to impress anyway? Rachel walked into the lecture hall dressed to impress in a short skirt and high heels. When she sat down beside her, Rachel seemed far too happy for eight in the morning. It wasn’t long before Rachel told her, “I can totally tell that we should be best friends.” Rachel was probably the most outrageous person Abby had ever known, aside from her crazy Aunt Melissa anyway. Describing Rachel would be like trying to describe an erratic bolt of lightning that never stopped moving.

  As the taxi from the airport approached the small college, she let out a long sigh as a calming feeling of being home came over her. Abby was looking forward to seeing her friends again. Between being at home with her family, and trying to work at the bar where her aunt worked, she had stayed very busy over the break. She only called Rachel one time over break, this morning before she left for the airport to let her know about what time she would be back. Melanie had no family and was practically alone in the dorms for the whole break, so Abby had made a point to call her everyday and check in.

  When the driver stopped outside her hall, she couldn’t pay him and get out of the taxi fast enough. It was kind of an expensive ride, but Abby was too anxious to mind. Next time Rachel offered to pick her up, maybe she’d take her up on it. As she grabbed her bags from the trunk, she was mad at herself for tipping him so well. All the driver had done was pop the trunk open for her. She tossed her book bag onto her back and pulled out the handle on her oversized suite case, thankful it had wheels. The other bag she tried her best to sling over her shoulder as she headed for the door.

  Walking into the front door put a smile on her face instantly as the unique smell of old furniture and cleaning products in the lobby hit her nose. Even with the heavy bags in her hands, it was like she had never left. She didn’t get five steps in the door before Paul quickly came out from behind the front desk. His smile was a welcoming sight as he grabbed the big duffle bag from her shoulder and slung it over his own.

  “Abby, welcome back! How was your break? It was lonely around here without you!”

  “Hi Paul, thanks for the help. Break was good, I guess. Made a little pocket money and spent a lot of time with the family. How was yours? Did you even leave this place?”

  The two of them talked about the break on their way up in the elevator. The closer Abby got to her room, the more she was happy to be back. When she rounded the corner from the elevator, she could see that Melanie’s door was open and rushed inside to find her.

  “Melanie I’m back! Did you miss me?”

  Melanie poked her head out of the bathroom doorway and smiled. “Abby, are you kidding of course I missed you! It was strange around here with you gone and absolutely boring!”

  Abby could not drop her bag fast enough to give her a big hug; it was good to see her. She had been so worried about her over the break, talking to her on the phone was not really enough.

  “I missed you too Mel and please don’t throw a fit, but my mom and dad sent some presents for you. They were really sad that you couldn’t get a little time off work to come stay with us for Christmas.”

  “Abby no, why did you let them do that?” Even as she said it, Abby could see right through the scowl on her face; she was happy and she wanted them as soon as possible. Melanie loved Abby’s parents; she had come out to visit over the summer for a couple weeks. They had taken Melanie in like she was part of the family right away. Before leaving she cried and told Abby that she had never been made to feel so much like she belonged to a family before.

  Abby had never seen her cry before then and never did again. It took a lot to break Melanie down; she was a very strong willed person. Anyone could see just by looking at her she was full of confidence. Not just in the way she dressed, like a woman ready to rule the world. It was the way she held herself, even if she was just wearing jeans and a t-shirt. She always had the sophistication of a woman in her forties that was in charge. Abby thought Melanie already knew her place in the world, and she was going to make it no matter who tried to get in her way.

  Abby turned around to say thank you to Paul, but he was already gone and her bag was inside th
e door with her. “Oh Paul is gone; he helped carry my bags up. I guess he had to get back to the front desk.” Abby shrugged her shoulders as she looked back at Melanie. “Oh well I’ll thank him later. Hey do you want your presents now?”

  Melanie was already giggling. “Oh, he is so in love with you, and you know it. Why must you tease him so much?”

  “I do not Mel! What am I supposed to do, not be nice to him when he is so nice to me?” As Abby leaned down to pull Melanie’s presents out of her bag, she kept talking. “He knows we are just friends; he is just Paul to me. Besides, he is just as nice to you too. So you stop being a tease!”

  “Right he is not interested at all in sweeping you off your feet.” The look on her face was starting to look like a lovesick teenybopper as she went on. “If you went downstairs and kissed him right now, he would die of happiness. He’s nice to me, but he’s not in love with me.”

  “Stop it, you’re crazy! Here open your gifts.” The phone was already ringing in Abby’s room. “I’ll be back; if I don’t answer, she’ll just keep calling till I do.” Abby groaned as she got up. She had not even been in the door five minutes, but she knew it would be her aunt calling to check on her.

  “This is the third time in the last five minutes it’s rung. It’s why I opened my door.” Melanie’s voice flowed behind her with the sound of ripping paper.

  She got to the phone just before the last ring, “Hello Missa. I’m here safely; you can stop worrying now.” Abby’s Aunt Melissa was only ten years older than her and was in a lot of ways her best friend. The two of them had spent a lot of time together growing up, mostly because there were not a lot of young people where they lived. While her aunt talked on and on, Melanie came through the bathroom pulling something behind her – Abby’s bags. Shoot, she had just left them on Mel’s floor.

  Mel whispered to her after she dropped the heavy bags, “Sorry, I have to get going. Thanks for the gifts.. I love them! Tell your mom and dad thanks for me, okay! Bye.”

  Abby nodded and mouthed a quick sorry pointing to the bags on the floor before waving goodbye. She was listening to her aunt go on and on about work. Even though she was just there two nights ago, her aunt thought she had missed a lot. There was always some new drama in a small town country bar. With the waitresses and regulars, the band, and the bar fights outside every night was sure to be different.

  Her aunt may have only been ten years older than her, but she was determined to stay twenty-one forever, wearing tight jeans and slinky tops. She had a loud and wild personality. Her hair was past her waist, straight and blacker than a raven. She insisted on wearing bright red lipstick that accentuated her small lips but made her eyes darker than they really were. Melissa wasn’t much taller than Abby but was always wearing heels that gave her another three to four inches. Somehow she knew just how to make her long lean body seem even longer. She was always pushing Abby to be more like her, but it just wasn’t the way she was.

  Abby looked just like a younger version of her mother, so different from her aunt. She also wore her hair long, but it was a bright gold blonde color. A toe-head was what some people back home referred to her as. Her eyes, to her were her best feature, bright and a deep green like large emeralds. Her lashes were very long and the color of her hair. Abby genuinely thought of herself as an average or plain person, even if others told her different. Her aunt insisted that she should wear more things to show off the curves of her body. Every piece of clothing she had bought for Abby over the past two years was on the tight side or showed too much skin for her own taste.

  After Abby got off the phone, she started to unpack and let her mind wander around, thinking about her family. It was not long before the phone was ringing again. Abby sighed this time before she answered, if it was her aunt again… “Hello.”

  It was Rachel; she was downstairs and hungry. “Come on Abby please go to dinner with me. I’m buying and besides we have not seen each other in like, over three weeks now.”

  Abby decided to finish unpacking after dinner; it was getting late in the day and she needed to eat soon anyway. Plus Rachel was going to buy. Well, really her father was buying it. Rachel had no problem being a trust fund student from California. It would be nice to spend a little time with Rachel for the evening. Better than sitting in her dorm room all night reading the same book she had read over a hundred times by now.

  Abby grabbed her purse out of her backpack and locked the door behind her. She didn’t get three steps before she turned around to check Melanie’s door. It wouldn’t be the first time she left in a hurry and didn’t lock up. Abby laughed as she turned the knob on Melanie’s door and it opened. It was a good thing she checked, but it was quite a pain.

  Rachel was already outside in her little, bright yellow VW Bug waiting. Rachel was honking and waving to her, like the car would ever be hard to miss. Abby didn’t have time to close the car door before Rachel started talking about her Christmas in the Bahamas. “You should have seen all the tanned buff men there. They were beyond gorgeous!”

  Rachel was the biggest flirt Abby had ever known. Abby always wondered why she had come to this small college town in the middle of nowhere. It was not like the selection of men there were that great. Rachel could have gone anywhere in the world for school. She had told Abby over and over about men in France and how she would be going back the next summer for a couple months.

  As they drove off, Abby’s eyes seemed to get pulled through the window toward another dorm. There was a tall man outside, leaning against the door like he was waiting for something. Maybe he was waiting for someone instead. Even with just this quick glimpse, she found herself struck by him for some reason. Wondering who he was and where he came from.

  He was handsome; not a word that Abby would really use about anyone. Then again she didn’t really look at the guys on campus much; she had no time to date. Not to even mention there were no guys on campus that would be worth dating anyway. They were all jerks it seemed, with the exception of Paul and Jamal of course. But Abby could never date either of them; the thought of kissing one of them was enough to make her shiver a little. It would be like kissing a brother, not a good thought at all.

  After that thought Abby decided to start thinking about the semester ahead and her classes instead. Finally, she was taking classes that would go toward her Architecture major. She had been obsessed with it since she was ten. Her father always got aggravated with her when he would take the family to Houston for a long weekend. Even with all there was to do, she would spend her time looking at the buildings and sketching them out on pieces of paper.

  “Hello, earth to Abby; are you even listening to me?”

  “What? I’m sorry I was distracted. Did you ask me something?”

  “Yes I did. I want Italian; is that good with you?”

  “Oh sure that sounds great. Sorry I was thinking about my classes. I’m going to have to work hard to keep my GPA at least where it is now, and I have American History this semester. I hate history. I’m not good at it at all - there are too many dates to remember.”

  “Stop whining. You’ll be fine.” Rachel got a devious look on her face as she continued, “Even if I have to use a little of daddy’s money to buy you a B.”

  “No you will not, Rach. Are you nuts? You can’t bribe a teacher like that! I just have to work hard this semester. If it comes down to it, I’ll get a tutor.”

  “Abby come on, you know I’m kidding with you.” The smile on her face was still there. Abby knew that if she could do it, and get away with it she would. “But I have decided to bring something wild out in you this semester. I love you dear, but you have got to have more than school in your life. You need some excitement in your life. I’m going to make it happen, I promise you that much!”

  Abby just rolled her eyes at her and smiled. Rachel was crazy sometimes, but that was what she loved most about her. She was just not guy crazy, and yes she worried a lot about school. She had a scholarship she had to ke
ep or there was no school for her. Rachel was always guaranteed to have a good story or two for her though. Rachel was guy crazy enough for the both of them.

  Dinner was so filling that Abby felt like a swollen beach ball the whole drive back. She was extremely tired from the long day, and with dinner so heavy, she really didn’t want to move. When she got to her room, she pulled her half empty bags off her bed and onto the floor with a thud. She could take care of unpacking in the morning; it wouldn’t kill her if her room stayed untidy for one night. She grabbed her comfy pants and a dry erase marker and went into the bathroom.

  “Night Mel,” was all she wrote on the mirror before she changed. She washed her face, brushed her teeth and pulled her long blonde hair out of the ponytail. Abby didn’t even take the time to shut off the lamp in the corner before she fell asleep.

  Chapter 2

  At eight-thirty the next morning Melanie was knocking at the bathroom door. Abby yelled for her to come in and when she did it was with a bounce in her step.

  “Good morning sleeping beauty. How late do you plan to sleep today?”

  “Uh, it’s only eight-thirty in the morning; it's not like it's noon already. And why are you so chipper anyway?”

  “I have been up since six, and the first pot of coffee went down very easy!” She bounced down hard beside Abby on the bed, causing Abby to grunt.

  “Come on get up. Let’s go get our books. I have to be at work in two and a half hours, so come on. Don’t make me jump up and down on you.”

  “Ok, Ok… give me five minutes and I’ll be ready.” Abby sat up and started stretching, “If you didn’t drink all the coffee, can I get a cup of it please?”

  Melanie jumped off the bed and walked through the bathroom door in an instant. Abby quickly put on a pair of jeans and went into the bathroom to get ready. As she turned the water off in the sink, Melanie was knocking on her door to the bathroom with her coffee. “Black right?”