*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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About half an hour later, I stand outside the Cupids Matchmaking Service, leaning against the shared wall with the fashion boutique next door.
It's night now, and at random intervals people pass me by on their way to nearby bars and restaurants, not taking much notice of the elegant calligraphy atop the dating service entrance. The cool air smells like pine from the trees, mixed with perfume and car exhausts. I breathe it in deeply.
Cal won't be happy I've slipped outside without him, not with everything that's going on. But I needed some air. And it's not like I'm alone. Charlie stands beside me, dressed in skinny jeans and a black top. The tips of three arrows protrude from her school bag.
Cal, before he'd had chance to tell anyone about Valentine, was pulled aside by an uncharacteristically panicked looking Crystal. And I'd gone and found Charlie, brazenly searching for files on Valentine – to no success – on one of the Matchmaking Agents computers.
My mind drifts back to Crystal's face and I can't help but wonder what has worried her. She doesn't even know about Valentine's escape, yet.
What the hell is going on?!
"You want me to drive you home?" asks Charlie, breaking through my thoughts.
I shake my head.
"Cupid will be back soon. I want to be here."
It's been only twenty-four hours since he left but, after our passionate kiss, the threatening notes, and the family revelations, it somehow feels like longer. I think of his lips brushing against mine, and the warm hardness of his body. My pulse accelerates.
Charlie looks at me seriously and I push him out of my mind.
"What do you think he wants? This Valentine dude?" she says.
"You mean other than me?"
She nods.
"I honestly have no idea," I say.
The message on the second card, found on the dead cupid comes back to me and my blood runs cold.
Roses are red. Violets are blue. I need your heart. For what I'm to do.
We fall into silence for a while – my mind going over everything that has happened.
"Hey, you remember when our lives were normal?" says Charlie suddenly, her eyes brighter.
I turn to her, my back still leant against the wall.
"Just about," I glance at the arrows protruding from her purse, "You miss it?"
She absently touches the tip of one.
"Nah," she says. "You?"
I think of the danger I'm in: the threatening notes, the dead Matchmaking Agent, and the second of the original cupid brothers who has decided they want to come and find me.
