Addicted To Greed

by Catherine Putsche

  They soon found themselves embraced in a huge family hug; it was so touching, with the flow of tears that followed, not expecting the emotions that came over the years bottled up. If anything Destiny thought that the painful truthful revelation regarding their father’s new secret life brought them all closer together, a much tighter family unit than ever before and Destiny soon noticed that her mother began to smile again and seemed happier than she had done in years.

  Chase took the news better than expected; he adored their mother and doted on her even more so than he had done in the past before the news of their father broke.

  Destiny decided that she wouldn’t worry as much as she had been doing about her little brother, he was doing ok, but it didn’t stop her from keeping a close eye on him from time to time, she couldn’t help been the over protective big sister. She knew only too well that Chase had issues about their father as all they did to some degree, but they dealt with it in their own way. Destiny had to laugh as Ella did all she could to piss their father off at any given opportunity, revealing in the sheer delight of been the eldest as she knew she could wrap him around her little finger at the best of times. Chase on the other hand did all could to ignore and blank him, occasionally talking with him at Christmas and birthdays so their mother didn’t get to upset. Since that day Destiny noticed that Chase always kept a distance between himself and father, she wondered if it became his coping mechanism.

  ♣ And here she was presently sat in her favorite restaurant several years later, how time had changed a lot of things. She noticed her father waving one of his hands towards one of the waiters tying to get his attention. As soon as the waiter approached she noticed her father asking impatiently “A bottle of Moet & Chandon for the ladies and a scotch on the rocks for me please!” He also tipped the waiter one of his neatly folded fifty pound notes urging the waiter to hurry.

  All three of them engaged in small talk until the waiter returned, as soon as their glasses were filled, her father raised his glass. “I’d like to propose a toast to my dear daughter on successfully passing her levels!” Both Felicity and Destiny raised their glasses and toasted the occasion. Destiny thought it to be a good idea to down the glass in one go, to calm her embarrassment and nerves, she witnessed Felicity disapproval instantly automatically looking directly at her father to share her disfavor with, luckily he father hadn’t noticed, as he seemed to be deep in thought about something.

  “Destiny I’ve been doing a lot of research on the top universities in England, and I have to say, although I’d have preferred you to go to Oxford or Cambridge I am also impressed with your choice of St John’s university, you know it has over a 96.4 pass rate for the last seven years.”

  Destiny couldn’t believe her ears, she thought her father would automatically disapprove of her choice, and he would pressurize her profusely as he did Ella on a number of occasions! Destiny took this moment to stare directly in to her father’s eyes secretly delighted that he had done his own research and accepted her choice.

  Wilhelm met Destiny’s hand on the table and stroked it lightly, assuring his daughter of his approval. Destiny felt quite touched by this gesture as her father very rarely showed any affection. She was so overwhelmed she had to bite the tears that were generating in her eyes, as she didn’t want her father to see that this was by far one of happiest moments in her life.

  Felicity soon broke the moment by standing up, sweeping her beautiful long blonde locks to one side of her face as if demanding attention of every man in the room and excused herself to go to the ladies.

  Destiny noticed her father didn’t even meet Felicity’s gaze, all he did was raise his hand slightly in agreement. Destiny wondered if Felicity was going to powder her beautifully plastic nose, and couldn’t help but giggle silently speculating on how much her father must have paid for it.

  Wilhelm exhaled a long breath he wasn’t aware he had been holding and gave out a huge sigh of relief on his wife’s flamboyant departure.

  Destiny couldn’t help tuning around in her chair watching Felicity flirty displays by deliberately brushing by all the tables on her slow walk to the ladies. A number of old men, young men, jealous wife’s, envious young single women all stopped in mid sentence glancing over to Felicity with their own thoughts. Destiny was only slightly amused by Felicity’s exit.

  “How’s Chase? I’ve tried to contact him, but he never takes my calls.”

  “Chase is okay he’s just finishing his last year in secondary school and getting really excited about six form in September.” “Do you know which subjects he’s taking?”

  “He’s chosen ten; I’m not sure which ones, electronics, computing and a couple of science subjects, I think!”

  “I think about him all the time, I wish I’d spent more time with him when he was younger. My only regret is that I missed out on seeing him grow from a child to a teenager! Would you tell him this sweetheart? I really miss him.”

  Destiny could see her father’s eyes fill up; she sensed his guilty conscience. “I’ll pass your thoughts on daddy and try and get him to answer your calls, however I can’t guarantee anything, Chase is growing into a very stubborn young man!”

  “Would you give him this?” Wilhelm pulled out a small black velvet box. Destiny noticed that the box appeared to be old and worn out around the edges. Destiny noticed her father wouldn’t let go of the box, reluctant to let it go, until the waiter asked, “Can I get you more drinks sir?”

  Destiny hadn’t paid any attention to the waiter until now severely pissed at him that he had robbed her of the deep rare moment with her father. She found herself giving the waiter one of her hateful practiced expressions.

  The waiter soon realised he had come at a bad moment and started to nervously twitch his fingers waiting for a reply. Destiny was about to give the waiter a severe telling until she met the waiters eyes and she suddenly stopped, the air seem to steel all her breath from inside of her! She recalled those beautifully shaped features, the ones she had been admiring for a long time; it was no other than the man of her dreams, Spencer Pratt. If there was ever a time she could wish for the ground to open and swallow her up the time was now.

  Wilhelm soon picked up on his daughters crimson coloured face, but decided to keep quiet in the event he would miss something. When a few uncomfortable moments passed he broke the silence.

  “Very well young man, I feel like a martini on the rocks and for my beautiful daughter and wife more champagne please!” The waiter rushed quickly to avoid the uncomfortable moments any longer; hoping when he returned with their drinks all would be forgotten.

  Destiny watched Spencer’s sudden departure speechless as she never got the chance to apologise for her rudeness, if it had just been your everyday waiter she would have preceded with her pretence, however it was her deep teenage crush, so all was forgiven as far as she was concerned, she hoped he didn’t think of her as a fiery spoilt little brat.

  “Do you know the young chap Destiny?” Destiny silently cursed herself for being so obvious, realising her father had noticed something. Oh god daddy don’t start with your questions please not now.

  “Yes only by sight, I think he’s a freshman at St John’s.” “What are his majors?”

  “I am not sure all I know he’s the sports captain for football at my university” “And does the young chap have a name?”

  “His name is Spencer, I believe.”

  “Mmmh, very interesting!”

  Destiny wished she had the courage to stand up to her father’s prying questions, as he could obviously see she had turned a shade of crimson red. She politely excused herself, as she did the timing was perfect as Felicity just arrived back, apologising for been “langsam!” the deutsche word for too long.

  Destiny caught a glimpse of Spencer, carrying the drinks tray to their table; luckily she avoided another embarrassing confrontation, upon returning Felicity and her father were standing awaiting her return.

  Bloody h
ell what were they both doing, she was far from loyalty, why the standing ovation? All this way just too way over the top for her liking. She noticed that both her father and Felicity’s glasses were raised waiting for her to return and join them with her already poured glass of bubbly waiting.

  “Today’s a double celebration, not only do I find my daughter has exceeded my expectations with her choice of university, my lovely wife has just announced that she’s expecting our first child!”

  Destiny couldn’t bel ieve her ears, she thought her father must be extremely drunk or in complete delirium to announce this in public. Felicity pregnant to her father no way… this was the worst news she had ever heard but like the coward she was forced a brave smile, gritting her teeth whilst congratulating them both.

  Other tables in the restaurant began to pick up on the happy news and soon joined in the celebrations.

  Wilhelm decided it was only fair to reward the customers and all the staff with free drinks. He soon became the most popular man in the room with his humorous wit and generosity.

  Spencer approached Destiny with a huge smile slipping into her hand a small piece of paper discreetly, he gently whispered into her ear, “Call me, if you fancy a quick escape from here, my shift ends in five minutes!”

  Destiny could still feel his cool breath in her ears as he walked away. Luckily she realised that d addy hadn’t noticed, now the next move was to fake a quick escape from them both, she d be dammed if she was going to miss out on this opportunity from Spencer.

  After the second main course, she made an excuse that she had to complete an essay on “gender inequality in the workplace” for the Sociology part of her degree and that it was paramount she got to the library before it closed for the day as she needed some reference material.

  Felicity and her father nodded in approval as Destiny also sensed they may need their own time together talking about babies and so on. She used this opportunity to sneak out to the ladies to call Spencer.

  She had no idea she was about to embark on the biggest love affair of her life? Chapter 9

  Spencer picked up the second ring.

  “Hi it’s Destiny Pearson, the rude girl from the restaurant!” She instantly recognised the deep tone of his chuckle.

  “Rude! I don’t think so. Listen something’s just come up I’m afraid I’m unable to to meet up after all, it’s my brother, he needs me to pick him up from Standstead Airport, short notice I know but he’s just come back from skiing in Austria. I am really sorry to let you down, can we make it another time?”

  “Oh, okay no problem, okay then!” Spencer soon sensed Destiny’s disappointment and asked in a desperate tone, “Well we could make it a proper date the next time, how’s that sound?”

  “Not bad, maybe I’ll consider it; however I have a really busy schedule at the moment I’ll let you know.” Destiny couldn’t help but feel di sappointed as she thought that Spencer was just simply brushing her off as he maybe had a change of heart.

  Before she could add something else, Spencer asked nervously, “Are you free at the weekend? We could make our official date last a few days of it if you like?”

  Destiny chewed the side of her mouth pondering on what he meant by a few days. “What do you have in mind?”

  “A mini boat trip, providing you don’t get sea sickness?” “Sounds fun, I love the water!”

  “Great how about I pick you up at three on Saturday? But I must warn you that you’ll need an extra set of warm clothes, its mighty cold up there at this time of the year?”

  “Sounds interesting, I am still listening. Where’s the location?” “If I told you it wouldn’t be a surprise now would it? Providing you like surprises?” “Yes I do as a matter of fact, I don’t know any girl who doesn’t, by the way it sounds fun let me think about it and I’ll get back to you!”

  Destiny was just about to terminate the call when she had a sudden change of heart. “I’m free Saturday afternoon until late Sunday.”

  “Wow! That’s great, how about you give me your address and I’ll come by and pick you up about one on Saturday?” Destiny could hear herself blush; half taken back by his offer. “Well I live only a walking distance from St John’s but my friends tell me my apartments quite hard to find.” “ Okay wait a second I’ll just grab a pen!”

  Destiny could hear him fumbling round in the back ground cursing a number of things on his way, after he made his way back to the telephone she gave him her address and they made their polite goodbyes, she also gave him her house telephone number so he could reach her if he needed to cancel.

  Smiling to herself she walked her way to her apartment, excited by the very prospect of spending a whole weekend with Spencer Pratt, it was only a few days away she couldn’t wait and on the water this would be a new experience. She spent the next few days walking around in a day dream, counting down the hours of her date, hoping he wouldn’t ring up and cancel last minute, she had carefully picked out her clothes a mixture of smart and casual, packing a few oversized woolly jumpers, when the telephone rang.

  “Hi its Spencer, just ringing to check you haven’t bailed on me at the last minute have you?” “ Hi Spencer what a pleasant surprise! No, I haven’t decided to bail on you yet, I thought it may have been you cancelling on me again you know like the last time?”

  “No way, I am sorry about the last time; my brother certainly knows when to pick his moments!”

  Destiny took a deep sigh of relief.

  “How was your brother’s trip by the way? I always fancied Austria, but never quite got round to it! ”

  “He had a great time says it’s much better than Switzerland, wants to go back for three months next year in the winter time.”

  “That’s fantastic glad he had a good time.” “Anyway I have to run I have a meeting with the boy’s football team tonight in the pub and you know how it is, I can’t let the boys down!”

  “Ye ah I do, so I’ll be seeing you tomorrow at three then?” “Of course I wouldn’t miss it for the world!”

  Destiny waited until she could hear him put down the receiver down before she hang up. She had a night in with the her college girls over at Audrey’s Place, with promise of some homemade punch and cocktails, providing they all brought a bottle of spirit with them. All she longed for was this night to be over and to be in the company of the lovely Spencer tomorrow.

  ♣ Audrey was the most popular girl on campus, extremely tall, olive skin with masses of long dark curly hair; she had inherited her mother’s exotic Mediterranean features.

  Destiny enjoyed spending time with Audrey the most, like her; Audrey had a rich father who supported her studies and flamboyant lifestyle. Both girls didn’t have to take part time jobs like the other girls in their group and were often the envy of most girls who had to work and support themselves throughout university.

  Destiny and Audrey had the luxury of living off daddy’s checkbook and unlimited credit card. They were often nick named the rich bitches, not only were they both beautiful with their beautiful angelic faces, slim figures they were the most popular girls in the whole of the campus at St john’s. Little did the other girls know that both girls were insecure about their good looks?

  Destiny craved more of Audrey’s height , while Audrey desperately wanted to lose a few inches to her height and be more petite like her friend. They knew they were both blessed in more ways than one, however it was important to them both they blend in with the other girls on campus and not to be seen as an outsider. They agreed that they would take turns in entertaining the girls, one week at Audrey’s place and the other week at Destiny’s as they both had the most modest apartments and were only within a five minute walking distance of each other, it was a convenience that suited them both, earning themselves huge amounts of popularity with the campus girls.

  Destiny arrived with two bottles of Malibu, peach schnapps, aprelrol and three liters of fresh orange juice. How she managed to fit them all in her backpack she never
know.

  Audrey was in the kitchen preparing the fruit for the punch. Destiny couldn’t help but smile at the mess Audrey was perhaps the messiest host she had ever met, tossing her beautiful mane of black curls to one side.

  “Destiny , what a pleasant surprise, I wasn’t expecting you until later as you can see I am not quite finished. The girls will be arriving in less than an hour and I haven’t even prepared the smoke salmon pin wheels! Would you mind helping me out? There’s a spare apron hung up over there amongst all that clutter!”

  “Audrey , you never seize to amaze me with your extravagance. I’m sure the girls will approve of all this, you’re awesome going to all this trouble! I’d be tempted to call in a caterer!”

  “I like to put the effort in myself once in a while, keeps me on a level with the other girls who have to do everything themselves. I can’t help thinking how you and me are so privileged, and it’s not often we get the opportunity to get our hands dirty is it?”

  “You have the heart of a great lioness my friend, always willing to please other people at your own expense and shit loads of effort I may add.”

  “ Not really, besides I really enjoy it. By the way you look fantastic, don’t ruin your outfit on my account. Hey I love your boots are they new?”

  “I tried to make an effort to dress down for the occasion but yes I couldn’t resist the boots their Fendi Vertigo, picked them up from Nordstrom yesterday, along with a few other little treats.” “Mmmh they’re absolutely divine, I hope we can hit the boutiques soon, I’m longing for some retail therapy. Have you any plans tomorrow? Maybe if you fancy we could head out to the designer outlet!”

  Destiny hadn’t informed Audrey she has a date with the lovely Spencer yet, she wanted to keep it under wraps in case it was a disaster and she knew only too well that Spencer had turned Audrey’s offer of a drink down several weeks ago. Destiny recalled that Audrey had been quite put out by his rejection; never the less it hadn’t stopped Audrey asking his best friend out a week later.