Page 13 of Stronger Than Fate

“Niky, I’m leaving,” I stated.

“Nobody leaves this house at this hour,” said Henry, who was standing behind me.

“My brother is right, it’s the middle of the night. I assume everything is cleared up between you two, so let’s go back to sleep and enjoy this weekend as we had planned. Henry is leaving early tomorrow, right?” she said, looking at him threateningly.

“Yes,” he said, but I never turned to look at him. “Dalina, stay in the room you were using because I’ll sleep in my mother’s room.”

“It’s not necessary, I can sleep with Sol or Niky.”

“Stay there, you already have your things in that room. Henry will sleep in mom’s room and won’t move from there until he leaves, right?”

“Of course,” he replied.

“Perfect. Everyone go to sleep,” Niky said, and opened her bedroom door and before closing it, she winked at me.

“Good night,” Henry said, looking at Sol and me, and headed toward the room next to mine that was supposedly his mother’s.

“Do you want me to go with you?” Sol asked.

“It’s not necessary, thanks, Sol. Now that everything is cleared up, I hope I never have to speak to him again. That guy is an unbearable snob who drives me crazy.”

“I won’t argue with that, but let’s agree he’s a hottie.”

“A bitter-filled chocolate,” I remarked.

Sol looked at me but didn’t say anything.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, nothing,” she said, waving her hand dismissively. “We’ll talk tomorrow because you have a lot of explaining to do. Since when do you keep things from me? You never mentioned this to me,” she pointed out, looking at me reproachfully.

“There was nothing important to tell, I assure you,” I stated, though I knew I wasn’t being entirely honest.

“Fine, we’ll talk tomorrow,” she said, and went into her room, closing the door.

I walked to the room I had been assigned and as soon as I entered, I went straight to bed. I removed the bedspread from around me and put it back in place. When I lay down, I felt uneasy; just knowing I was sleeping in the room that had been his made me feel strange. At that moment, I realized the room was very masculine, something I hadn’t noticed at first. For a while, I left the light on because I still felt nervous, but when I realized I wouldn’t be able to sleep with it on, I turned it off and tried to fall asleep, but it was still impossible. We had kissed again. And what a kiss! I couldn’t stop thinking about that expert and passionate kiss. My body shuddered and my stomach flipped every time I recalled what I’d experienced with Henry. Minutes passed and all I did was toss and turn in bed trying to get his image out of my mind. An impossible task.

Why did that man keep crossing my path at every turn?

Destiny was playing with us and stacking the deck.

The light coming through the window slightly illuminated the room, and I could see the ceiling and the large lamp hanging from it. My eyes were fixed on it, but my thoughts were racing.

I heard soft knocks on the door.

“Who is it?” I asked, though at that moment I was convinced it was Sol because I had the feeling she needed to ask me many questions, and I knew my friend wasn’t the type to wait for answers.

My intuition failed me.

“Henry. May I come in?” he asked in a whisper.

Wasn’t he going to leave me in peace? What had I done to deserve this punishment?

“No,” I replied, without moving from the bed.

“Please,” he whispered again.

“No.”