Cursed by Fate

by Renee Shearer

  “Morning Momma,” Avery said in a sleepy voice.

  Ariana whirled around, with her hand over her heart. “Morning munchkin. You threw off my groove!” Ariana and Avery laughed together. “Did you sleep well?” She ruffled Avery’s hair, and the little girl ducked her head to get away.

  “Yeah, I guess. Are you making breakfast?” Avery’s eyes lit up at the sight. Ariana really needed to make breakfast more than once a week, but she was usually so tired that it ended up being either oatmeal or cereal. She didn’t get to down on herself though, as she knew there were other kids out there who didn’t even get to eat at all.

  “Yep, strawberry pancakes with eggs. Still have a few minutes before everything is ready. Why don’t you get dressed while I finish up and wake your sister? I laid out your clothes on the end of your bed,” Ariana said while mixing up some whipped cream for the pancakes.

  “Okay. Mom, are you ok? Is something wrong?” Avery asked worriedly.

  “No baby, I just couldn’t sleep and was up early. Please go get dressed now.” Ariana spoke gently but firmly. She watched as her little girl, who was always more serious than she would have liked, walked back to her bedroom. Sighing, she took off her apron and got her fifth, or was it sixth, cup of coffee. Hell, maybe it was her seventh. At this point in her day, who knew?

  What the hell was am I going to do about this third test? Ariana shook her head to clear the unwanted thought. Nope, still not going there!

  On her way to go get her youngest, she heard Avery talking to her monkey. “Momma’s worried Pooka. I can tell, but she won’t tell me.”

  Great, just what she needed: her six-year-old worried about her. Ariana decided then and there to do a better job of hiding her shit from her kids. They deserved to be happy and have no worries, not worrying about their mom. Not that Zoey even knew what that meant. Seeing that Zoey’s door was closed, she hesitated.

  That’s strange. She never closed their doors in case they got up in the middle of the night. Maybe she was more tired than she thought when she put them to bed.

  She shrugged and reached for the handle. “Good Morning Zo-bug!” she sang as she opened her daughter’s door. Already awake and playing with her toys, Zoey looked at her and giggled.

  “Hi!” Zoey said happily around the pacifier that was in her mouth.

  “Are you ready for breakfast?” Ariana asked while laughing, knowing what was about to happen. Sure enough, as soon as the words were out of her mouth, Zoey dropped her toy and spit her pacifier out as she started to waddle-run to the kitchen, shrieking her joy.

  “Don’t have to ask you twice do, I kiddo?” Knocking on Avery’s door, she asked, “Avery you almost ready? Do you need help with anything?”

  “No! I’m a big girl, Mom! I got this.” Avery’s reply was full of little girl attitude.

  “Hey! Watch the tone, please!” Ariana scolded her.

  At the same time, Zoey yelled, “I got this!” as she continued to waddle-run down the hallway.

  “Yes, ma’am.” The sullen reply came from behind her daughter’s door.

  Shaking her head at the chaos that was her life, she went back to the kitchen and started to dish up plates for herself and the girls. A sudden knock at the door startled her so badly, she ended up splashing whipped cream everywhere when she dropped the spoon and it hit the side of the bowl. Smiling as she listened to the sounds of Avery’s laughter and Zoey’s giggles, she went to answer the door. Glancing through the peephole, she saw the last thing she wanted to see: the sexy blond guy from the bar, along with three of his friends.

  Wonderful. Looks like my fucked-up morning is going to get worse. Great, just great.

  She took a moment to study the blond guy. Dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans and a light green button-down shirt with the top two buttons undone, he had rolled the sleeves halfway up his arms. The bottom of the shirt he had left un-tucked, so he had a casual elegance about him.

  Bet he’s a player…and one to stay away from, Ariana thought as she continued looking at him through the peephole.

  His hair was short on the sides and longer on top. He had it styled so it was spiky on top. Blondie had to be at least 6’3 of toned lean muscle, which meant he would tower over her 5’9 frame. While his hair looked almost white, his short beard had a beautiful mix of browns and blondes. He had a straight nose, high cheekbones, full lips that just begged to be kissed, and the same ice blue eyes she remembered. He was like a lollipop she wanted to lick.

  Rolling her eyes, Ariana berated herself for thinking such things. She had given up on guys a long time ago. Finding a man willing to accept two kids who weren’t his own as well as being understanding of the fact they were conceived from her assaults, was an impossible task. For some reason, every guy she had tried to date, not that she had time for many, had a bigger problem with the fact of how her kids were conceived versus her having kids at all. Add in her issues with touch and freaking out every time things got hot and heavy—no guy was that patient.

  Bracing herself, Ariana unlocked the door except for the chain lock. She had way too much bad shit happen to just open the door to relative strangers, even if they did save her last night. Besides, she watched a lot of crime shows and knew a killer could look just like a normal person.

  But they’re not exactly normal, are they?

  Slowly opening the door, she asked briskly, “How did you find me?”

  “Good morning to you too!” Blondie said, grinning from ear to ear. It was kind of creepy how chipper he was at—she glanced at the clock—6:45 in the morning. “We got your address from your manager at the club. Can we come in and ask you some more questions about Dom?”

  She was going to kill Ricky. Straight up murder him! “You mean Don. And now isn’t a good time. We’re having breakfast. Come back later.” She was a tad bit testy in the mornings. Mornings were not her friend.

  She started to close the door, when the other equally sexy guy who had been with him at the bar pushed him out of the way and asked politely, “Please, Ariana? We really need your help on this. We need to get this guy off the street before anyone else dies from this poison.”

  “People have died? How many?” She asked sharply, halting the progress of closing the door. She hated the notion of someone dealing drugs out of the club, and the thought of people dying from them made her extremely pissed off. She couldn’t stand people who took advantage of others.

  “Twenty confirmed dead this month alone, miss.” This came from a serious looking man. He was also tall but not as tall as Blondie. Maybe 6’2? He had dark chocolate hair that was shorter on the sides and so long on top that it flopped over to one side and looked like he always ran his hands through it. Hell, she wanted to run her hands through it! Add in Caribbean crystal blue eyes, a chiseled jawline that seemed to be carved by Donatello himself, a rugged five o'clock shadow, a bottom lip that was fuller than the top, and he could be considered a walking sex ad.

  She stopped herself from checking to see if she was drooling, instead making it seem like she was laying her hand on the door by her head. Blondie smirked at her knowingly, and she started to blush which pissed her off.

  “Do you have any ID? I don’t know you people! I watch crime shows ya know, I know killers look normal,” she snapped, irritated that they had gotten under her skin in so short a time and made her yearn for things she could never have.

  Chuckling, tall dark and handsome flashed his badge along with the others and waited for her to look them over. His read Sergeant Aiden Lace. She snickered. Lace? Really? Poor guy. Next was Blondie, or rather Agent Jayden Temple. Then she looked at the other guy who was at the bar with Blondie…err Jayden last night. Agent First Class Grayson Johnston was six feet of sculpted muscle and melted milk chocolate hair that just brushed his shoulders.

  Grayson’s eyes were a somewhat lighter shade of brown, almost like rich honey. He had a slightly crooked nose, as if he had broken it in a fight and never got it set quite right
. A neatly trimmed goatee framed his full lips and strong jawline. Grayson had the most beautifully tanned skin. She wanted to run her hands all over him just to see the contrast against her paleness. That thought sent a rush of warmth straight to her core. She might have been broken and didn’t like to be touched, but she could still fantasize, right? Besides, Ariana didn’t like other people’s touch; she was perfectly fine with her own. She had needed some new material for her naughty bank anyways.

  Grayson was wearing beat up jeans, combat boots, and a tight-fitting t-shirt that read I’m with stupid with an arrow pointing to Jayden. She laughed and shook her head when he raised an eyebrow.

  “Are you satisfied by what you see?” he asked with a wicked grin.

  Boy am I ever! No that’s not what he meant. He meant the badges. Right?

  Raising an eyebrow, she finally looked at the last guy. Ariana had to clutch the door to stay on her feet as her knees threatened to buckle. Seriously, where the hell did they make these guys? And could she order one? He appeared to be about two inches taller than her, around 5’11, with a shock of blue hair almost sapphire in color. It was closely cropped on the sides and longer on top with the bangs artfully swept up and styled. Black glasses rested on a slightly large nose and did nothing to hide his oh-so-sexy hazel bedroom eyes. She’d always loved hazel eyes with their capability to appear light brown at times and a golden dark green at others. She wondered what his eyes would change to when he was in the throes of passion. He certainly had the weak-in-the-knees sexy angel look down pat. He wore pleated slacks with a dark green V-neck sweater that showed off his muscles to perfection. His sleeves were pushed up a bit to reveal dark hair covering his forearm. She glanced at his badge to read his name. Agent Easton Blackburn. Damn, even his name was sexy as fuck! She bit her lip as she felt another rush of warmth between her legs. At this rate she was going to need to change her panties very soon.

  To cover up her reaction to them, Ariana sighed like she was unhappy with the situation and closed the door to unlock the chain. Pulling the door back open, she gestured for them to proceed into the apartment. “I guess you better come in. But take off your shoes. I won’t have dirt tracked all over my home.” She winced and added a weak, “Please.” Ariana hated feeling intimidated, and without them even trying, that was exactly how she felt.

  “Momma! What’s going on? Who are they?” Avery asked harshly, while glaring at the guys.

  “Excuse me for a second please. My kids need me, and they come first. Why don’t you go ahead and take a seat in the living room, I’ll be with you when I can,” Ariana said as politely as she could for the benefit of her daughter.

  Turning to Avery, she placed her hand on Avery’s shoulder. Ariana squatted down so she was eye level with her. “Don’t worry about it sweetie, they’re cops and are here to ask mommy some questions. Please go get the rest of your stuff you need for school if you’re done with your breakfast, okay?”

  “No! I don’t want to leave you here alone with them!” Avery yelled while stomping her foot.

  “Avery Renee Stone! You watch your tone young lady! Now do as I said. It’s already ten till seven. Mrs. Kraans will be here in a few minutes to take you to school.”

  “But, Mom! You need me here! I can watch Zoey while you talk to them. I’m a big girl, and I deserve to know why they are in our house!” Avery snipped back, pointing a finger at the guys in question.

  Pinching the bridge of her nose, Ariana tried to stay calm, but it was hard when she was basically arguing with a six-year-old version of herself. Ariana felt the guilt weighing her down. She had done this; her paranoia and constant moving had made Avery leery of any guy. Taking a deep breath, she said firmly, “I love you munchkin, and thank you for offering to help. But your education is more important, and I will not tell you again, okay? Please go finish getting your stuff for school!”

  Huffing loudly and once again glaring at the guys, Avery stomped off growling, “Ugh…Fine!”

  “Sweet baby Jesus, I need coffee,” she mumbled to herself. Ignoring the guys, she went to go grab her cup, then felt guilty and yelled back “Do you guys want anything to drink? I have coffee.”

  A chorus of “No thank you’s” was her answer. Turning around, she huffed a laugh at Zoey, or what she thought was Zoey under all the whipped cream she had on her. It looked like she was able to reach the bowl and pull it to her, then decided to bathe in it. Shaking her head, Ariana set about the task of cleaning Zoey.

  Easton

  Easton studied her apartment as Ariana went about taking care of her youngest child. It had an open floor design with a decent sized square kitchen. The walls were painted a pale blue like the sky on a clear and sunny day with a bar separating the kitchen from the living room. The living room was a large rectangle with cream carpet and pale-yellow walls. Pictures of her girls and herself hung scattered around the room. It boasted a small entertainment center with an x-box sitting on the middle shelf and Disney movies off to the right; on top rested a thirty-two-inch flat screen TV.

  Aiden and Gray sat next to him on a hideous couch decorated in a faded floral print while Jay leaned against the wall to his left. There was also a faded blue reclining chair that sat opposite the couch with a dark cherry wood coffee table between them. Everything was tidy and free of dust, but still looked lived in. Shoes piled by the door, dishes in the sink waited to be washed, and a book atop magazines perched on the coffee table. Sneaking a glance at the book, he noticed the title and smiled smugly; it was a reverse harem novel. So, the sexy Ariana liked reading of one woman with multiple guys, huh? He could work with that. Just thinking of all his brothers and him with Ariana made Easton’s cock harden in an instant, and he bit back a groan.

  He could see Ariana cleaning off Zoey, tickling her and making the little girl squeal in joy. She had two kids! He was flabbergasted; she didn’t look older than his own age of twenty-three. Avery was going to school so she must be at least five, and the little girl was eating solid food so she had to be at least eighteen-months old. Not that he was judging. There were many possibilities as to why she had two kids at her age, he just hoped there wasn’t a guy in the picture. The thought of Ariana with another man other than his brothers or him made Easton want to punch something, and it rapidly deflated his erection.

  Guilt slammed into him, hard. He was a horrible person for wishing Ariana was raising her girls alone. Easton remembered how hard it was on his own mother to raise three boys by herself before he had been sent to America with Roman when they were eight to train and learn how to control their magic. But from what little he had seen of her so far, she was a wonderful mother. Sweet and caring, but firm when she needed to be with her girls.

  Cute little girls too, he mused. Zoey was sweet and smiley, laughing as her mom gingerly picked her up and placed her on the counter by the sink. Her hair was all wild—soft curls in a darker shade than her mom’s that framed her chubby cheeks. However, he couldn’t see Zoey’s eye color from where he was sitting. He looked at Avery with a soft smile as she came stomping back into the room still in a tizzy over them invading her space.

  Giving a quick glance at her mom, Avery turned to all of them and pointed her finger again. “You had ALL better be nice to my mom! I may be six, but I’ve been in karate since I was four, and I can take you down!” she hissed, then spun on her heel and scurried to the door to get her shoes on just as a knock sounded.

  Chuckling, Easton shook his head. Blimey, that little girl is a spitfire! Fierce loyalty and unwavering determination to protect her mom, all squeezed into an adorable pint-sized four-foot frame with teal eyes that practically glowed with strength. He watched silently as Ari came over and brushed back Avery’s long strawberry blonde hair to give her a kiss goodbye and talk with Mrs. Kraans.

  He felt a tug on his slacks and looked down into the smiling face of Zoey. She had wonderful eyes—navy blue with a lighter blue ring around them. He was already half in love with both girls; they
were just too cute. “Hi,” he softly said to her.

  As he spoke, she raised her arms and said, “Hi! Up.”

  Grinning, he obliged Zoey just as her exasperated mother walked into the living room with her coffee cup in hand after getting Avery off to school.

  “Oh, here I can take her, you don’t have to do that. She’ll ruin your clothes. Trust me.”

  Ariana set her coffee cup down and reached for Zoey, only to have her daughter shake her head and in a high-pitched voice tell her mom, “No! I stay.”

  “It’s quite alright. I don’t mind. She’s rather cute and that’s what they make washing machines for, right? How old is she?” Easton replied while settling Zoey in the crook of his arm to the side of him on the couch. Zoey started to do a happy babble. He had no idea what she was saying, but she found it quite funny as she started laughing.

  He smiled again, something he was doing a lot today. He glanced at Ariana sitting in the recliner rocking gently as she sipped her coffee and stared at him with her daughter.

  “She’s two almost three.” Ariana finally answered him.

  “Rough night?” he asked gently. He could see the dark circles under her eyes and the paleness to her cheeks. He only knew redheads tended to be pale because they burned in the sun easily, but she looked about two steps away from a coffin. Her incredible eyes were half shut, even with the coffee she was drinking. Since she was already dressed, in another pair of black skinny jeans and an oversized pink t-shirt that read All I Need is Coffee & Mascara, he could bet that she had been up for a while.

  “Should you ever ask a female that?” Ariana replied in a bored tone.

  “Why wouldn’t I?”

  “You do realize it implies that we look horrible, right? Otherwise, there would be no reason to question if we had a rough night or not.” She raised her eyebrow and took a sip of her coffee, closing her eyes and sighing in pleasure.