Destiny's Delta - Becca Jameson

Prologue

Today was definitely the worst day in Trent Dawkins’ eighteen years. For one thing, it was a Friday night and he’d stayed home all evening. After graduating from high school last week, he’d seen almost no one besides his parents and, occasionally, his brother, Sean. Trent was leaving for the Army in a few days, but for some reason, the thought of running around acting like a fool with his friends hadn’t appealed to him.

Hell, partying hadn’t appealed to him for several months, actually. Not since Sean had started dating their next-door neighbor, Destiny. Not since Trent had swallowed his tongue and given Sean his blessing. Not since he’d started lying to himself and everyone around him as if he didn’t care if his brother dated the prettiest, sweetest girl in school—the one Trent had had his eye on since he was old enough to be interested in girls.

Sean was also leaving for the military soon. He’d enlisted in the Navy. And he’d been out with Destiny nearly every agonizing night for weeks.

Trent hadn’t even joined his parents in the living room to watch television. He’d had a bad feeling about this night all afternoon. A premonition that the universe was not on his side today.

He’d been lying on his back on his bed, tossing a ball up in the air and catching it for hours to keep from pacing and fidgeting, when he heard the car pull up.

Trent caught the ball and closed his eyes. His heart raced as the front door opened and voices filled the house. Excited voices that rang out, thundering in his head, making his stomach clench.

And then his mother squealed in delight.

Yep. The world stopped spinning, just as Trent anticipated.

Sean hadn’t spoken to Trent about his plans, but Trent was a smart guy. He certainly couldn’t claim to be shocked.

His twin brother and best friend in the world had asked the cutest, nicest girl Trent had ever known to marry him.

Trent couldn’t bring himself to rise from the bed. He felt his life shatter into a thousand little pieces. He couldn’t catch his breath. All he could do was roll onto his side as a tear slid from his eye and swallow back his pain. He knew he would have to face the family eventually. He couldn’t hide out in his bedroom much longer as if he couldn’t hear their excited voices. But he needed another moment to absorb the truth.

Destiny Fisher was going to marry Sean.

Chapter 1

Twelve years later…

“Wouldn’t it be easier to just go to another bar?”

Destiny slammed her shot glass down on the table, shuddered as the tequila ran down her throat, and shook her head. “Nope. We were here first. We aren’t leaving.” She focused her attention on Bex first and then glanced around at her other three friends, Christa, Libby, and Shayla. They were all staring at her with narrowed eyes of concern.

“I don’t think it matters who got here first, Des,” Bex said in a gentle voice. The quietest of the group, Bex placed her hand on top of Destiny’s and gave it an understanding squeeze. “What matters is that you’re uncomfortable.” Her words were nearly comical since typically Bex was the shy one, the uncomfortable one. She said it was because, with her brown hair, green eyes, and average height, she was so ordinary that no one ever noticed her.

Destiny shook her head again, a bit too hard. She grabbed the edge of the table to steady herself. “I’m not uncomfortable. It’s fine. The Ugly Mug is big enough for the both of us.” She glanced once more toward the growing group of men standing around three bar tables shoved together, giving high-fives and obviously celebrating.

He was there. His back was to her, but she would know him anywhere.

She wasn’t the only one stealing glances at the group. Every red-blooded woman in the place was looking. Not surprising. After all, this was Killeen, Texas, and they were only a few miles from Fort Hood. On any given night, the place was packed with military men, some in civilian attire, some in uniform. Didn’t matter what they were wearing because it was easy to spot them from their physique, haircuts, and often, tattoos.

Destiny jerked her gaze back to the surface of the table, noting there were still four full shot glasses. She’d ordered a round of tequila shots for herself and her friends the moment she’d spotted him.

Trent Dawkins. She hadn’t seen him in about six months this time,