*CUPID'S MATCH BOOK 2* FIRST DRAFT
Lila receives an ominous Valentine's Day card.
Cupid & Cal are keeping a dark secret.
Fate is being interfered with.
And a sadistic, and extremely powerful banished cupid is intent on stealing Lila's heart. Literal...
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I sit in the passenger seat of Cupid's Aston Martin as he drives us through the darkness toward Forever Falls. Shadows flicker across his face and his posture is more tense than usual; his knuckles white as they grip the steering wheel.
He hasn't spoken much since we started moving. His thick eyebrows are furrowed somewhat, as though he's deep in thought - about what, I'm unsure: the Valentine's Day card, Mino's note about the missing cupid, or the fact I didn't kiss him in the combat room.
I look up at him, feeling the leather cool against my back. My eyes trace his jawline a moment, moving down to his broad shoulders, and the tension in his arms. I bring my gaze back to his face.
"OK, spill...What is it?" I say over the gentle lull of the engine. He jerks slightly, as though I'm bringing him out of a trance. "It's the Valentine's Day card, isn't it? It's bothering you."
He throws me a sideways glance. Then he grins and shakes his head.
"No...no...it's nothing."
The doubt about him I felt earlier flickers across my mind. It's not nothing – I can tell that. But despite all we've been through he's still hiding something from me.
"The card said the match has been made," I say. "That means a cupid, or a Myth, sent it, doesn't it? I'm the only human that knows anything about matches."
"Hmmm, maybe..." He catches my eye.
The words on the card flicker across my mind.
The match has been made. I'm coming for you...
"If it wasn't sent by you...it sounds threatening..." I say.
A darkness flashes across his eyes momentarily. He looks straight ahead.
"Have you told Cal about it?" he says.
I shake my head.
"Probably best not to mention it."
"Why?"
"It's probably just a prank, but he might over-react. I'll deal with it."
"You'll deal with it? So, you do think it's threatening...?"
He exhales. Then he turns to look at me.
"There are still some cupids out there who aren't particularly happy with me and you – I'm sure it's just one of those trying to scare you." There's a note of untruth behind his eyes – like he still knows more than he's letting on, "I'll deal with it."
"When you read it, you said Valentine..." I say.
"Did I?"
"Yes..."
He turns and grins at me.
"Well – it's a Valentine's day card..." He gestures forward out of the window as the cobbled Forever Falls town centre comes into view. "Look – we're here. Time to get our party on!" he wiggles his eyebrows as he parks the car by the alleyway leading to the Love Shack.
