Muse - Fighting Fate #1 Read online

  Muse

  A Fighting Fate novel

  By Maree Green

  Copyright 2014 Maree Green

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this ebook and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy.

  Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Teaser from Book 2

  About the Fighting Fate Series

  Other Books by Maree Green

  Acknowledgments

  About Maree Green

  Connect with Maree Green

  Chapter 1

  Mia

  Heaven.

  Every person had a different idea of what theirs would be.

  Mine?

  Mine was right here, in Aspen, curled up on the sofa in front of a soft, crackling fire with a warm, fluffy blanket and my kindle.

  Okay, so the howling wind outside the window was killing the ambiance a little, but considering this had been the first chance I’d had to be alone in the last three days, I wasn’t going to complain. I was just thankful Aiden, my twin brother, had convinced me to come.

  I almost hadn’t. This kind of thing was a big deal to me. I didn’t do…people. Well, lots of people. Together. At one time. In one place. It was too overwhelming for me. Let’s just say I had anxiety issues, and the result of me being amongst lots of noisy people was never a good one.

  But this trip was important. It was a celebration, and considering my brother was just about to hit the big time, I didn’t want to start it off by letting him down.

  Okay, so when I say he was about to hit the big time, I mean his band, ‘Fighting Fate’, was about to hit the big time. He and his three closest friends had somehow just become the latest internet sensation and ‘things’ were happening.

  Don’t ask me what things. I have no idea. They’d been uploading their songs to YouTube for ages, but it seemed one of their songs caught fire and went viral. Now they had offers for god knew what, coming in from god knew where. All I knew was they’d just signed on with an agent or something and it was time to celebrate. With people.

  Before you ask why I would subject myself to being around a bunch of noisy people, knowing full well it would make me so anxious, I just have to say, in my defense, I’d kind of counted on the others going out skiing every day, and partying every night. What I didn’t count on was everybody having different schedules, coming and going at completely random times, tag teaming and alternating between partying in and partying out.

  I managed though. Just. And, surprisingly, found myself starting to genuinely relax. This night was the first time everybody had been out at the same time, and my worn nerves were reveling in the peace.

  With a sigh and a stretch of contentment, I smiled and snuggled deeper into my blanket before the sudden force of the front door being thrown open made me jump about three feet off the lounge. No joke. I actually left the lounge.

  My gaze darted to the tall, dark-haired figure that abruptly swung in through the opening and slammed the door shut after him.

  “Fuck me! It’s blowing a fucking gale out there!”

  I waited for my heart to disconnect itself from my throat before I took in the hottest guy I’d ever known. Don’t judge me. It was entirely true. At six foot two, with dark, almost black hair, deeply tanned skin, vibrant blue eyes and a body that looked like it was carved from stone, Jace Wallace was like the freaking Greek Adonis.

  I watched him carefully shake the fine white powder from his hair before he started to brush it off his coat. When he finished, his gaze came up to meet mine and for the first time, I was met with those gorgeous, mind altering eyes.

  I blinked stupidly. Apparently that’s what happens the first time a Greek Adonis looks at you. My heart kind of flat lined before stuttering back to life again.

  I know. It was pathetic, but there you have it. Jace Wallace was like my very own form of kryptonite. He made me weaker than anything else I’d ever come across and all that jazz. Unfortunately for me, he was also one of my brother’s best friends and band mate.

  And he barely knew I existed…

  You might ask how that was even possible since he’d been at my house practically every weekend for the last four years, but I have one word for you: ANXIETY.

  Okay, so it wasn’t really the anxiety that made me hide every time Aiden had friends over, but it was anxiety’s fault I avoided people in the first place, ultimately turning me into some shy girl who had no idea how to confidently communicate with the human population.

  Breaking his gaze, Jace frowned and stepped further into the room, throwing his keys onto the table by the door. I took the opportunity to look at him while I could. Out of all the guys in the band, Jace was the one who looked most like a rockstar. It wasn’t just his appearance, even though with all his hard lines, chiseled contours, rippling ab’s, and that perfectly shaped V that disappeared into his jeans, he most certainly did fit the bill. He just had this way about him. A confidence that drew people to him.

  He also had this raw determination about him. A need to succeed. It was there in the strong set of his jaw and the resolute way he stood, as though daring anyone to just try to tear him down.

  But sometimes, when he didn’t think anyone was watching, I saw a fragility within him. A sensitivity that seemed to cry out for nurturing. It was only fleeting. A look he got deep in his eyes, but it was that tiny little crack in his armor that made me the hopeless, pathetic fangirl I was.

  I watched him shake himself off further as he moved closer to the fireplace. Sliding my kindle onto the coffee table, I stretched and forced myself to engage in conversation, which was a lot harder than it sounded.

  “Are you not staying out with the others?”

  The smile he gave me was one I’d seen on numerous occasions but never once directed at me. “Yeah. We just finished dinner so I thought I should bring Mark’s truck back before we went out. I wasn’t really comfortable leaving it there overnight.”

  Mark was Jace’s stepdad, and I knew for a fact he wouldn’t have cared about his truck getting damaged. Just as long as Jace was okay. “You should’ve told me,” I said without pause. “I could’ve driven you all out. I wouldn’t have minded.”

  His smile turned sheepish. “I didn’t really think.”

  It was the bashful look that did me in. It really shouldn’t have worked on someone so hot, but damn…

  It always amazed me how different all the guys acted behind closed doors. They were all really sweet, despite their potty mouths, but get them on a stage and they were the most arrogant pricks you’d ever seen.

  Dean wasn’t as bad as the others. Being the lead singer, he had a kind of sexy fragility about him that drove girls crazy. Because of that, his girlfriend, Lila, was the most envied girl at school. Personally, I thought she was a manipulative bitch. It was obvious she wasn’t with Dean because she loved him.

  Dean, on the other hand, was head over heels. Sunk. He didn’t even look at other girls. It was a disaster waiting to happen, and I knew when it did, it would either break the band completely, or they’d get some really good songs out of it. I hoped for the latter.

  “Do you want me to drive you back?” I asked, thinking about how amazing it would feel being in a confined space with him.

  His gaze turned towards the window and he frowned. “The weather’s getting pretty nasty out there. I don’t think it’s a good id
ea for either you or Mark’s truck to be out in that. Thanks for asking though. I’ll just call a taxi.”

  I nodded then watched him disappear down the hall towards the bedrooms before quietly slapping my palm against my forehead. Arrrhhh! What was wrong with me? Why couldn’t I just flirt like every other girl on the planet? I was so pathetic!

  Sighing, I threw back the blanket and pushed myself to my feet. The second I stood though, my balance was thrown. What the hell?! I stumbled to the side, reaching my hands out to grab hold of anything that would stop me from falling down.

  It was only after I’d latched onto the arm of the sofa that I noticed the haunting sound of rumbling in the distance, and I suddenly realized the reason I’d lost my balance was because the floor had been shaking.

  Jace rushed out from the hall. “Are you okay?”

  I looked at him, my brain a little dazed. “Yeah. What was that?”

  He continued coming closer until he was standing beside me. “I have a feeling it was an avalanche.”

  My eyes widened. “Oh, wow. Really?”

  He was frowning, his expression thoughtful, but before he could say anything else, his phone started ringing. I watched him answer, totally wrapped up in the sensation of being so close to him. I was sure it was the closest we’d ever been. I leaned forward a fraction and inhaled deeply, trying to take in his scent.

  I watched his brow flick up sardonically as he gazed at the fire. “You’re missing me?”

  I’m sure you’ll agree with me when I say reality can really be a bitch sometimes, and this time she really slapped me in the face.

  I didn’t have to hear the high sing-song voice through his phone’s speaker to know who it was. Kacey. She wasn’t his girlfriend. Jace didn’t do girlfriends, but it was obvious from the way they’d been flirting with each other since they’d arrived in Aspen that Kacey was in line to be his next whatever.

  I took a step back without another thought, then my own phone started to ring. Scooping it up off the coffee table, I noted my brother’s name on the screen before answering it and stepping closer to the fire. “Aiden, are you alright?”

  Aiden laughed in my ear. “Yeah, I’m fine, baby girl. I was worried about you. Is everything okay there? Is Jace with you?”

  I looked up at the dark figure by the couch. He was looking right back at me as he listened on his own phone. “Yeah, he’s here. Do you know what happened?”

  “Apparently there was a small avalanche on one of the runs. I’m trying to find out some more, but there’s talk that the road back to the cabin might be cut.”

  “Oh…okay. I’ll-” I broke off as the lights began flicker, then suddenly went out. “Oh, crap!”

  Aiden went on sudden alert. “What?!”

  “The lights just went out.” I looked back at Jace who was now off the phone. I was glad the fire was burning brightly.

  “What’s Jace doing?” he demanded.

  “I don’t know.” Tucking the phone under my chin, I said to Jace, “Aiden wants to know what you’re doing.”

  “Tell him I’ll stay here until we know what’s going on.”

  Lifting the phone back, I went to relay the message, but Aiden was already way ahead of me. “Yeah, I heard. I’ll go try find out what’s happening and I’ll call you back, okay?”

  “Call Jace. I’m going to turn my phone off to conserve power, just in case.”

  “Good idea. I’ll talk to you soon then. See ya, baby girl.”

  I ended the call and switched off my phone before placing it back on the coffee table and heading straight for the back door. I wanted to bring in as much fire wood as I could. Just in case.

  With a torch tucked awkwardly under my chin, I’d just bent down to pick up the first log when Jace appeared beside me. “Here, load me up.”

  I gazed at his outstretched arms for a split second before beginning to pile as many logs as I could on them. We worked quickly, getting all the logs inside and stacked by the back door in hardly no time at all.

  With the door firmly closed from the wind, I looked down at my dirty shirt and arms. “I might go have a shower,” I mumbled.

  “Yeah, good idea. Who knows if there’ll be any hot water tomorrow.”

  I gave him a horrified look and shuddered. Was he trying to scare me?

  Chapter 2

  Jace

  Not good.

  Soooo not good…

  My body was frozen, and unfortunately it wasn’t from the fucking cold. I would’ve happily taken the biting chill of the blizzard outside than this.

  The curse that slipped out told me how much trouble I was in as I watched the soft, round curves of Mia’s ass disappearing down the hall to the bathroom.

  The sound of the door clicking shut was the only thing that seemed to release me from the hell I’d suddenly found myself in, and with a slight discomfort in my jeans, I forced myself to walk in the opposite direction. Down boy.

  After lighting some lanterns I’d found in a cupboard, I stood in the middle of the kitchen, leaning my hands on the bench and tried to work out what the fuck just happened. I’d known Aiden for three and a half years – been at his house practically every fucking weekend - known he had a fucking twin sister – seen her in passing every now and again. But I’d never actually seen her, if you know what I mean.

  Jesus fucking Christ. Those eyes! I didn’t think I’d ever seen anyone with eyes that color. I didn’t know whether to call them blue or green. They were bewitching. I nearly fucking choked when she’d looked at me back in the living room.

  I mean, I’d had chicks go on about my eyes before, but plenty of people had eyes my color. It was only my dark hair that made them seem unusual. Mia’s though…

  I groaned and pushed away from the counter. I had to get a grip. I couldn’t go there. Not only because Aiden was my best friend, but because I didn’t chase chicks. I didn’t do the whole girlfriend thing.

  A picture of Mia’s firm little ass in those ridiculously sexy yoga shorts came unbidden to my mind. Son of a fucking bitch, but she was hot. I wondered how many guys had touched that. I growled at the thought. I so didn’t want to think about that.

  Grabbing a can of bourbon out of the fridge, I walked back into the living room and sat on the edge of the coffee table, chugging a quarter of the can in a vain attempt to numb my mind.

  I tried to get my thoughts to focus on Kacey instead. That was where they should’ve been. It was obvious she wanted me, but she’d also been playing hard to get, which I didn’t do. Like I said: I didn’t chase girls. It was part of my code of conduct. Chasing girls would contradict the whole ‘I don’t do girlfriends’ thing. If you chased a girl, she automatically thought you liked her enough to keep her around.

  Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t use and abuse. After what I saw my mother go through with my fuckwit of a father, I made damn sure I was respectful to all women. The fact was, every girl I was with knew the score. She did the chasing. I was honest with what I was after. And if she was cool with that, we went with it.

  You might think that made me sound like a dick, but I didn’t have anything else to give. The ability to trust and love freely had been taken away from me by a man that had once called himself my father. I’d worked hard over the years to free myself from the hold his words had on me, and I wasn’t about to give that up again. Ever.

  The sound of the shower turning off, followed by a muffled clunk, drew my attention and I groaned, balling my hands into fists. Fuck, now all I could think about was Mia’s naked body, dripping wet.

  Motherfucking hell.

  Chugging another quarter, I placed the can down beside me and reached for my guitar instead. If anything was going to have the ability to distract me from this, it was music, but for some reason I wasn’t too sure this time it would…

  Chapter 3

  Mia

  I stepped from the shower, freshly washed, shampooed, shaved and scrubbed. I hadn’t been taking any chances during tha
t shower. If there was even the slightest possibility that there could be no hot water tomorrow, there was no way I was going to have hairy or greasy anything. I just hoped I hadn’t missed anything. Showering by torchlight was more difficult than I’d anticipated.

  Wrapping myself in a massive, fluffy towel, I grabbed a smaller one off the shelf and quickly started drying my hair, trying to mop up the drips still falling from the ends. I was just starting to get more vigorous with the whole drying process when I heard a low rumbling in the distance. I froze.

  Oh, for the love of God! This could not be happening. Not when I was practically naked. But sure enough, the ground began trembling beneath my feet. With a gasp I reached to the side to steady myself on the towel rail, the towel I’d been drying my hair with flying god knows where, and before I could think of anything else, the mirror started rattling.

  Holy shit!

  The second I saw it coming towards me, I leapt back and screamed. There was nothing else I could do. I swear! It shattered on the tiled floor before me, the deafening crash echoing painfully in the tiny box of a room, spraying thousands of pieces of glass in every direction.

  The door immediately flew open and Jace was there, his eyes wild with worry. “Are you okay?”

  I stood staring at him in shock. I couldn’t actually believe that’d just happened. And I’d screamed. Like really loud.

  Drawing in a deep breath, I looked down at the glass around me, inspecting my feet and legs for any signs of blood. There wasn’t any pain, so I didn’t think anything had cut me, but I wasn’t so sure of myself just then.

  Seeing no signs of injury, I gazed back at Jace, who was still standing there waiting for my answer. “I…think so…” I said. The slight waiver in my voice surprised me. I didn’t think I was such a girl.

  “Don’t move,” Jace demanded softly.

  I watched him move towards me, his boots crunching on the broken pieces of glass as he approached. When he was mere millimeters away from me, he bent down and scooped me up, taking my legs out from underneath me.