Microsoft Word - Fates_Second_Chance-AJ_Jarrett.doc (3 page)

"Morning, sweetheart," Ross said to me as he walked into the kitchen to start the coffeemaker. "So I take it you like your new body." Ross gave me an assessing once over from head to toe. "I have to agree, you are extremely appealing to the eye."

Ross's flirtatious words chased away my nerves. I looked up at him. Was he hitting on me? Could angels be gay? Did they get sexually aroused? Could I really ask these questions and not be struck down by lightning?

I watched as Ross turned to look at me. His eyes had a smoldering gleam to them as he gazed over my body.

If it weren't for the fact that his eyes settled on my forehead 18

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I would think he wanted a piece of me. But no, the jerk was just invading my thoughts again.

I cocked my head to the side as I stared back at him.

Asshole!

"You're getting better at knowing when I'm in your head." He chuckled. "Yes, I think you're good looking. You did see your reflection in the mirror, right?"

I shrugged and went back to my cereal. "I just assumed angels were all straight or at least asexual."

Ross let out a long sigh as he took a seat at the table. "See, you humans think too much. You put labels on people, straight, gay. Did you ever think the Big Boss Man doesn't care who you love or who you sleep with? He only cares that you find love. Humans just like the drama too much and make a big issue out of things when there shouldn't be one."

"But what about the Bible and church and all that stuff saying it's wrong?" I asked as I slurped down my cereal. I wasn't the most religious person in the world but I watched the news and read the paper enough to know some people were always bitching about something.

"Sweetheart, that was written by man and man is fallible. Everyone is allowed to think and feel the way they want. Doesn't make them right or wrong, it just makes them an individual. Enough about that, let's get down to 19

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business." Ross leaned forward on his elbows to make eye contact with me. "Tonight, your friend Shawn will be at a club and we're going to show up and dangle your hot body in front of him. You just need to work your magic."

My magic? Did I have some? My face lit up at the thought. That would be awesome. Ross leaned over and smacked me in the head. "Ouch. What was that for?"

"Not that kind of magic, you moron. Your sex appeal. Use your tantalizing body and excellent personality to reel him in."

"That's kind of unreasonable to expect. I just died yesterday. He's probably still mourning me. We were best friends." Ross sat back in his chair and looked the other way unable to look me in the eye. The jerk was hiding something from me again. "Spill it, angel boy."

"Well, you see, the whole time on Earth and in limbo works differently. What's an hour there is a month here on Earth."

Oh, shit.
"When the fuck am I? I mean month and year?" My blood ran cold at the thought that I could be a freaking year into the future. I'd missed my own funeral.

"You're only six months into the future from the day you died."

I couldn't help but think of all the crap Shawn and Serena had gone through. I missed them and to me it was 20

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only yesterday since I saw them last. I dropped my head forward and banged it on the table.

"Now, now, now. It's all going to be fine. I have faith in you, sweetheart. We can do this and we will succeed," Ross said as he patted my shoulder.

"Okay, where do we start?" My words came out muffled against the hard wood tabletop.

"Well, first things first, in your old life your name was Marie Carter. So your name now will be Marc Carter."

I lifted my head up from the table. "Well, that's original." I had to roll my eyes. Really, Marc Carter, my new name couldn't have been Rory or Cooper.

"Listen here, sweetheart, the paperwork isn't easy to change around so Marc is your new name. Get used to it.

Just think how easy it'll be for you to identify with. Same last name and first name starts with an M." Ross only shrugged when I raised an eyebrow at him, letting him know I thought he was full of shit. "Okay, Marc was the only thing I could come up with under pressure. So sue me."

It dawned on me as I sat there listening to Ross that Shawn would see the similarities between Marie Carter and Marc Carter. It would be hard to brush it all off as a strange coincidence. I chewed on the inside of my cheek as I thought about it. The last thing I wanted to do was freak the 21

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man out. I looked over to Ross, who was blowing on his coffee.

"Hey Ross, I hate to state the obvious, but won't Shawn see the likeness between myself and Marie? Hell, even the name you gave me is so close to my old one."

Ross took a small sip of his drink then set the cup down. "Sweetheart, you would be amazed how oblivious people can be. I won't lie, he might have that sense of familiarity with you, but he won't understand why. I used a little bit of my angel abilities to help dampen down your looks but ultimately he will feel a connection to you. If he is like most men, he will deny it and play it off as a simple attraction."

It sounded good to me. I slapped my hands down on the table. "Okay. Marc it is. So tonight, we go to this club and I try to get Shawn to notice me. Then what?"

"Try to notice you? You're flipping gorgeous, he will notice you and probably a few other admirers as well.

But tonight we start off with getting your man and tomorrow we go job searching for you."

Huh? Job searching? I just came back from the

dead and I had to find a job? I know I was whining, but my last job was kind of the reason I was dead. Going to a dental convention wasn't my choice. I hated those crappy conventions and being by myself on that trip completely 22

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sucked.

"You done with the mental pouting? Just because you're not saying the words aloud doesn't mean I can't hear you. It's depressing. Think happy thoughts." I opened my mouth to yell at him for once again invading my mind but the words died on my tongue as he started to speak again.

"Save it, mister. Now go change. We're going out," Ross said as he rubbed his hands together with a mischievous look in his eyes. Obviously, angel dude got out less than I did.

* * * *

I had never gone clubbing or bar hopping with

Shawn before. First off, it wasn't my thing to go prowl for men at bars. Second, my heart couldn't take seeing Shawn hook up with some random guy.

Brushing off my melancholy, I walked a little taller with my shoulders pulled back. Knowing that Shawn was supposed to be mine, I was going to work my God-given assets until I got my man.

"Keep that attitude up, tiger. We need all the help we can get. Clock's ticking away," Ross said as he tapped his finger on his watch.

"Ross, boundaries, remember? Stay out of my 23

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head." I had been fighting with him all day about that. How hard was it to understand, stay out of my fucking head.

Jeez, pretty easy if you asked me. I glanced over at Ross to see if he would answer my question but nope, he was checking out the female eye candy standing around the front door. I guess he was into both male and females.

We paid the cover charge and went inside. I looked around in awe. I had never been to a place like this before.

Young men danced to techno music, grinding on one another as they gyrated to the music. Talk about fascinating and arousing all at once.

"Hottie at ten o'clock," Ross whispered in my ear and I turned to look.

There he was, my first love, Shawn Logan. Still the most attractive man I had ever seen. Shawn stood about a foot taller than me, with shaggy blond hair that hung just above his shoulders, clear blue eyes, and a magnificent body. He loved to work out and hard, strong muscles ran throughout his body.

He exuded a confidence that drew people in like

flies to a spider web. That was one of the reasons we got along so well. He never felt the need to show off or put others down. He wasn't the type of guy to say 'hey, look at me'. Shawn was a nice guy through and through and it came across in his easy smile.

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The body attached to that smile didn't hurt. I loved how even in a crowded club with people dressed in their

'come get me outfits' he only dressed in jeans and a T-shirt.

His aloofness made people want to know more about him.

Personally, I always thought that was his angle to get dates.

"Stop making puppy dog eyes at him. You need to focus. How do you feel? You ready to go and get your man, sweetheart?"

"I guess." I looked down at myself. I wore a baby blue button down shirt that matched my eyes, and a pair of tight jeans I'd let Ross talk me into. I guess you could say I was as ready as I would ever be.

"Sweetheart, you're gorgeous and men love the twinks."

I shot Ross a questioning glance. "What's a twink?"

I whispered.

"You are. Now go."

With that, Ross turned me toward Shawn and gave

me a push. I walked slowly over to him, trying to gauge his mood. As I got closer, he looked despondent. He sat on a barstool drinking his beer and looked miserable while doing so. His head hung down and his shoulders slumped.

I stepped up to the bar next to him. "Can I get a Bud?" I asked the bartender and then turned to look at Shawn. "How's it going?"

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I watched as Shawn turned to look at me. For a

moment I was certain he didn't even notice me standing there. Then he tilted his head up and met my gaze. His lips slowly curled up at the corners to form a very enticing grin.

"It's going better now." Shawn stuck his hand out for me to shake. "My name's Shawn, what's yours?"

"Marc. Marc Carter."

Shawn's hand tightened on mine and his face went pale. For a minute, I thought he was going to pass out but he regained his composure. "I had a friend with the same last name Carter."

Oh, this was just too sad to bear. I wanted to tell Shawn he was talking to the male version of his best friend.

I wanted to comfort him and make his pain go away. "I'm sorry."

Shawn shot his eyes up to mine and his hand fell away from my grasp. "Why would you be sorry?"

Shit! I wasn't supposed to know him. On the other hand, could I tell him it was me? I thought for a moment.

Nope, he would think I was crazy. Therefore, I had to lie, sort of. "You just look sad and I don't know, sorry was the first thing to come to my mind." I gave a half shrug as I beamed a smile at him.

"Well, thank you. She died six months ago and I guess I'm still not over it. I miss her every day. She was the 26

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best."

Total chick moment but my heart did a flip-flop at hearing Shawn say he missed me.
Focus, Marc, you need to
work your magic
.
Please God, say I have sexy magic
.

"Was she your girlfriend?"

"No. I'm gay." He looked me up and down, checking out my body. Any other time I would have been offended but this was Shawn and for once, his gaze roamed over me. "She was my best friend. We met in kindergarten and had been best friends ever since." A wistful smile crossed his lips. "We always joked about how if she were a guy or if I were straight we would have been together."

Truer words had never been spoken. I gave myself a mental high five. The hard part would be convincing Shawn to believe I was me. "That has to be the nicest thing I have ever heard. I'm sure she knew how you felt about her." She did now.

Shawn relaxed back into his barstool and looked at me once more. "Sorry to just dump all that on you but you got one of those smiles." Shawn tilted his head to the side.

"Have we met before?"

"Thank you, but no, I wish." I took a swallow of my beer trying to cover my nerves. Maybe Shawn was more aware than Ross gave him credit for. Probably best to get the conversation moving in a different direction. "So 27

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Shawn, tell me about yourself?"

For the next two hours, I sat and listened to Shawn talk. The sound of his deep voice rambling on comforted me. I had heard Shawn tell the same stories a million times before but it was nice to just sit and listen to him talk. His smile got brighter as the night wore on and he started to relax.

"Marc, you're so easy to talk to. You kind of remind me of Marie. She and I could talk for hours about nothing."

I grinned at him. "You're an entertaining person to listen to. I could sit here all night and just listen to your voice."

Shawn reached out and touched my cheek. I

automatically closed my eyes and nuzzled into his touch.

His fingertips were rough against my soft skin. He wrapped his other arm around my waist and pulled me between his legs. I could feel his breath tickle the small hairs on my face as he lowered his mouth to my ear. "Why don't you come home with me and you can listen to me talk all night long."

Yes! Mission accomplished. I was going home with Shawn. I leaned back to look into his eyes. What I saw undid my self-control. Lust and arousal swirled in the blue depths sending a bolt of desire zinging through my body and my cock immediately reacted. There was only one 28