Her Destiny by Monica Murphy Page A

reach out and touch her, let my fingertips graze the ends of her silky soft hair. She doesn’t flinch, doesn’t pull away and I take advantage by touching her again. “You can’t blame yourself for your parents’ mistakes.”
    She leans into my touch and I cup the side of her head, threading my fingers fully into her hair. Her eyes close and I swear she’s going to cry. “But I do. I can’t help it. Don’t you ever blame yourself for your friend’s mistake, when he said you killed that guy? Did you ever feel responsible?”
    “No.” I never did. What David did to me was unforgivable. I don’t think I can ever accept his apology. He almost ruined my life. “But I do feel guilt over what happened to Krista.”
    Reverie stiffens and pulls away from my touch, moving away from me so far that the distance between us suddenly seems endless. The air goes frosty as her expression goes completely blank and she reaches for the door handle. “Let’s go.”
    I follow her up to the apartment she shares with her brother, mulling her lack of comment regarding my guilt over Krista’s death. Krista was a complete pain in my ass and tried her best to ruin our relationship any way she could. I can’t help but feel bad for what happened to her though. I’d known her since we were little kids. We’d been friends for years. Yeah, the bad stuff at the end sucked but no one deserves to die like Krista did. I want to help find her killer but it’s kind of hard when the cops focus so much on me.
    Assholes.
    We enter the apartment and Reverie flicks on the lamp near the front door, illuminating the room with soft golden light. There’s not much furniture and what’s there is simple. I watch as she moves about the room, setting her purse and backpack on the dining room table before she goes into the kitchen.
    “Want something to drink?” she asks.
    “Water is fine. Thank you.” I sit on the edge of the couch, bouncing my leg nervously as I wait for her return. I’m not going to put her out. I’m not going to stay long either because clearly this isn’t going to work. She doesn’t want to have anything to do with me and I’m not going to push it.
    All I want to talk about with her is why she told the cop we were together the night of Krista’s murder and that was it. I’ll hop in my truck, buy a giant coffee or soda at a convenience store and get the hell out of here. Go back home where I belong. In Nowheresville doing nothing.
    She brings me a cold water bottle from the refrigerator and I thank her, twisting off the cap so I can take a swig. Reverie settles in the overstuffed chair across from the couch, her expression expectant, her hands gripping her knees as if she needs to brace herself against whatever is about to be said.
    “You shouldn’t have talked to the detective,” I finally say, earning an eye roll from her.
    “What am I going to say? Leave me alone? Tell him to go?”
    “Yeah, absolutely.” I set the bottle of water on the tiny table to my left. “You don’t owe him anything. Tell him to call your lawyer or whatever.”
    “I don’t have a lawyer,” she admits softly.
    Well, that’s shocking. I’d figured the entire Hale family needed a lawyer after everything that had happened. “I wish you wouldn’t have said what you did to him.”
    “All I did was tell him the truth.” She shrugs. “Why didn’t you tell the police you were with me from the beginning?”
    “Because I didn’t want you to be involved.”
    “I was already involved, from the very beginning I’ve been a part of this but you pushed me away. You never came back for me, Nick. I had no idea what happened.”
    “They stuck me in jail, that’s what happened.” I stand and start pacing, fighting off the guilt, the pain, the irritation…all the emotions that are flooding me at once. “They held me for questioning for forty-eight hours. Tried to break me down pretty much the entire span of those forty-eight hours too. By the