Defy Fate (Fated Duet 1)

I blinked. And then I blinked again. “Erm…I guess.” I shrugged. “I haven’t seen him for years, so…”

“He’s changed,” Lola said. “He’s not the same happy-go-lucky sixteen-year-old he was when you first met him.”

“He’s not.” I shook my head and started to construct the wall around me. I didn’t want to talk about this. I didn’t want to—

“Neither are you, Aria.” I swallowed at her words. “I know it’s hard that he’s your teacher, but he’s still part of our family. Your family.” We’d always been one extended family, never separate entities, but she’d never know how alone I always felt. You could be surrounded by a thousand people and still be the loneliest person in the world. “Family always comes first.”

I heard her words loud and clear, but the fact of the matter was, I wasn’t really part of her family. My family had been ripped apart nine years ago. One action had changed the course of my entire life, and I’d not realized how much impact one moment could have until then.

Lola leaned her head back on the sofa and stared over at me. She was always good at reading people. She knew when to push, and knew when to let something go. Tonight, she was letting it go. “Wanna stay here tonight? I don’t know when Brody will be back, and Cade is at his new house for the weekend.” She stuck out her bottom lip, acting nothing like the twenty-nine-year-old she was. “I don’t want to be on my own.”

I shook my head, but my lips were spreading into a grin. “I got nothing better to do.”

“Good, because I’m in the mood for a chick flick and no one else will watch them with me.”

I stood. “I’ll make some popcorn.”

“This is why I love you!” Lola shouted after me, and that feeling of home washed over me again.

Maybe it wasn’t the place. Maybe it was the people. Either way, I’d savor the time I was here because, as soon as I was back in my apartment, the feeling would evaporate faster than raindrops on a scorching day.

* * *

CADE

Dad: The guys are coming over. We’re having a cookout. Bring beer.

I chuckled at the message from my dad and looked down at the paintbrush I was holding. The repairs on the house were nearly complete, and the inside was done, which left only the outside. The siding needed a fresh coat of paint, and then I’d be finished, which was what I was doing at 10 a.m. on a Saturday morning.

I’d already been out for a run and sorted out my homework for the weekend so I’d be prepared for the week ahead. Now that the extracurricular activities were up and running, my hours during the school day wouldn’t be as free as they had been.

Dad: Lola said to pick up hamburger meat too.

I shook my head and typed out a reply to Dad:

Cade: You sure it isn’t you that’s meant to get meat?

I waited for his reply and grinned when it came through.

Dad: See you in an hour.

I tucked my cell back into my pocket and finished painting the slat of wood a light blue. Every weekend I’d been at the house, trying to finish all the repairs it needed, so I was sure I could give myself a break today. My official move-in date was next weekend, but all I was waiting on was my furniture to be delivered, and I could manage without a sofa and television for a few days. Once all my supplies were put away, I headed inside for a shower.

My cell pinged again as I pushed my feet into my sneakers and positioned my sunglasses on my face.

Lola: Could you grab some juice boxes for the kids on the way over? Your dad said you’re getting beers.

I grabbed my keys, walked outside, and locked the door behind me.

Cade: On it.

I still couldn’t believe I had my own house. The years had flown by, but inside, I still felt like the fifteen-year-old kid who listened to his parents argue over who had cheated on who first.

The drive to the store near my dad’s h

ouse took me past the street I grew up on. The first fifteen years of my life, my mom had basically been a single parent. It was simply the way we’d lived, and Mom didn’t seem too bothered by it. Until the year I turned sixteen. That year changed everything. It was the year I met Lola, who tutored me, the year my dad cheated on my mom, and the year I found out my mom had done the same.

And then I’d gotten shot.