Serenity
Fortuity Duet #2
Rochelle Paige
Copyright © 2018 by Rochelle Paige
Edited by Ellie McLove (Gray Ink) and Manda Lee
Cover designed by LJ Anderson, Mayhem Cover Creations
Photographer: Sara Eirew Photography
Models: Daniel Rengering and Pamela Tremblay Mcallen
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
A Note From The Author
Serenity
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Also by Rochelle Paige
About the Author
A Note From The Author
My decision to write romance novels was heavily influenced by my mom—the person who’s responsible for me falling in love with them. I was dealing with some radical life changes, as well as helping my mom with the eleven-month process it took to get her placed on the transplant list. Reading became my escape more than ever, and that's when I discovered indie authors.
Writing had always been a dream of mine, so I started looking into what self-publishing was all about. When I mentioned it to my mom, she was excited about something for the first time in too long. With the fear that the call from the transplant team would never come hanging over our heads, we made a deal—I'd publish within a year and she would do her best to hold on to hope and stay as healthy as possible while we waited for the call. We were extremely lucky it came only a couple of months later.
I wrote part of Sucked Into Love from her hospital room and kept my side of the deal when I published Push the Envelope about nine months later. Without the desperation I felt over my mom’s health and that random conversation about indie publishing which led to our deal, I don’t know that I ever would have found the courage to fulfill my dream.
A few months later, the idea for the Fortuity Duet hit me. It’s a story close to my heart because the heroine is a transplant patient. The Fortuity Duet has been building in my head for four years, and I’m so excited to share it with everyone.
Thank you for coming on this journey with me,
Rochelle Paige
I’d lived a privileged life, in the lap of luxury and surrounded by family. It had felt like I was on top of the world...until tragedy struck.
My sense of loss felt bottomless, and I struggled with it every single day. Finding my path back into the light seemed impossible.
But then I met Faith—she was smart, sexy, and out of my league even though she didn’t have a penny to her name. We grew up in different worlds, but somehow we fit perfectly together.
Except neither of us had counted on learning that our connection was more profound than we knew.
Prologue
Dillon
“C’mon, bro.” I looked over my shoulder and stared at a mirror image of myself. Declan was my identical twin, older than me by only thirty minutes. And judging by the death glare beaming my way from his dark eyes, he wasn’t super happy with me at the moment. “It’s time to go.”
I moved towards him and flung my arm over his shoulder. “Dude, chill out. We’ve got plenty of time before curfew. There’s no need to rush out of here when we’re having a good time.”
The guys I’d been standing with nodded their heads in agreement. Declan didn’t seem convinced as he shifted his glare their way and shook his head. “I hate to ruin your fun, but my brother and I need to hit the road.”
“Fuck,” I groaned, recognizing his tone of voice. There wasn’t going to be any budging Declan on this. It was time to go. “You heard my brother, guys. It looks like I’m outta here.”
I got a few chin lifts before our friends were distracted by a group of girls who walked over. Not that I blamed them since they were dressed to party in short skirts, low cut tops, and high heels. I hated to be dragged away from all the tits and legs, but I wasn’t going to argue with my brother over it. Not when there were plenty more parties for us to go to before we graduated, and a ton more after since we planned to attend the same college. “Bros before hoes,” I mumbled to myself as we walked outside and headed towards my car.
“And that’s my sign to take the keys away from you.” Declan snagged the fob from my hand after I pulled it out the front pocket of my jeans.
“Dude,” I complained while I tried to swipe the key back from him. “I’m fine to drive.”
“Nope. It’s not gonna happen. Not after you’ve been drinking and smoking pot. You know the rule as well as I do.”
“Only one of us lets loose at a time so the other is there to be responsible,” we said in unison. It was an agreement we’d made back in our freshman year; to keep us out of trouble with school, our parents, and the police. No drunk driving, and we always looked out for each other. One of us being sober was the key to that.
The original plan had been to take turns, but it quickly changed when Declan landed a spot on the first line for defense and offense on the school’s football team. He didn’t want to do anything that would risk his time on the field, so he became the sickeningly good twin. The one who never drank and didn’t smoke pot. And me? I took full advantage of having him around to make sure I didn’t get caught if I had a few drinks or took a hit from the bong when it was passed around.
Like tonight. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t still going to give him shit since that’s what brothers did, especially us. “You’re right. As much as it pains me to admit it since you suck behind the wheel, you should drive.”
“Shut the fuck up,” he grumbled. “I don’t suck.”
“Remind me again…how many times did you have to take the road test to get your license?”
He slugged me on the shoulder, and I stumbled back a step. “Hey, that hurt me almost as much as my dig about your driving must have stung you.”
“Whatever, jackass. Get in the car.”
I walked around to the passenger side of my BMW, and Declan climbed into the driver’s seat. I groaned when he turned up the volume on my sound system and blared the alternative rock he preferred to listen to. I couldn’t complain too much though, not when the only time I let him pick what we played in my car was when he was behind the wheel. And that only happened a couple of times a month, tops.
I might’ve taken on the role of bad twin, but I wasn’t completely out of control or anything like that. I still got good grades, only I had to work harder for mine. My SAT scores had been good enough to get me into almost any college, but they hadn’t been the almost perfect score Declan had received. I played at my brother’s side on the offensive line, but not on the defense too. So I wasn’t a total fuckup. I just liked to party more than he did, which wasn’t hard since he was wound so damn tight.
“You gonna loosen up at all when we get out of here and head off to college? Pledge a frat? Maybe get wasted at a party so I’m the one who has to drag your ass back to the dorm?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “It depends.”
“On what?”
“How much scholarship money we get, if we’re playing football, how hard my m
ajor is, and which school we pick.”
“Declan,” I sighed. “You need to stop worrying about the future so much and enjoy the now. We’re only seventeen. That’s way too young for you to worry like an old man already.”
“Almost eighteen,” he corrected.
“Seventeen, eighteen. What the fuck ever.” Our birthday was less than two months away, but I didn’t think that made a big difference. “Either way, you need to chill out. These are supposed to be the best years of our lives, and you’re missing out on most of the fun.”
“There’ll be plenty of time for me to have fun.”
“Maybe,” I conceded. “But that’s not going to stop me from trying to talk you into being the one who lets loose at the next party.”
“You need to learn how to say no to the pot, bro. You get all mushy and shit whenever you hit the bong.”
“You might have a point.” I leaned my head against the seat and closed my eyes. “It makes me hungry, too. Any chance we can make a pit stop at the Taco Bell drive through before we head home?”
“I was already planning on it,” he laughed.
“You know me so well.”
“Always have, always will.”
I smiled, knowing it was true. Declan wasn’t just my brother. He was my best friend. My other half. We’d been together before we were born, and I couldn’t imagine a time when we wouldn’t be at each other’s side.
I turned my head to look at him and was about to say something along those lines when I caught sight of bright lights barreling towards us out of the corner of my eye. Declan had just crossed into the intersection on a green light, but a semi had blown through a red. I only remembered flashes after he crashed into us.
Breaking glass.
Squealing tires.
Declan’s scream, along with my own.
Immense pain pressing against my chest.
Red and blue lights.
My mom crying.
The beeping of monitors.
When I finally woke up again, the time in between was a blur. My mom was next to my bed, tears streaming down her cheeks. My dad was at her side, his arm wrapped around her shoulder and his eyes were rimmed with red.
Pulling the oxygen mask from my face, I croaked out, “Declan?”
Their heads jerked up and they jumped to their feet. “My baby boy,” my mom sighed, pressing a kiss to my cheek. “You’re finally awake.”
“Declan?” I repeated.
My mom’s cries turned to sobs, and she buried her face in my dad’s chest. He was the one who gave me the devastating news, wrapping his hand around mine and squeezing. “Your brother didn’t make it.”
“What? No!” I shook my head, ignoring the pull of the wires connecting me to a multitude of medical equipment. The machines beeped wildly as my heart raced. Declan couldn’t have died. It was impossible. “He can’t be gone.”
“I’m sorry, baby. It’s true,” my mom sniffled. “Declan didn’t make it.”
“It’s my fault,” I breathed, squeezing my eyes shut. My chest felt like it was caving in. From guilt. Pain. Loss.
Nurses and doctors came streaming into the room, and my parents were pushed out as the medical team worked on me. It was at least half an hour later when they’d checked me over and let my parents back into the room.
“Dillon,” my mom cried, rushing towards me. “It wasn’t your fault. There’s nothing you could have done.”
“Your mother is right, son. Losing Declan the way we did is a tragedy, but it was an accident. We’ve seen the footage from the red light camera, and there’s nothing he could have done to avoid that truck.”
It didn’t matter what the cameras showed. I still felt like it was my fault. It had been my car. I was the better driver. “Maybe if I’d been behind the wheel—”
“It wouldn’t have made a difference,” my dad assured me. “The accident still would have happened.”
My mom sat down in the chair next to me and took my hand in hers. “You can’t play the what if game, Dillon. You’ll just drive yourself crazy if you do.”
But how could I not? So much had changed, and I felt like it had only been a blink of an eye.
“It’s really been a month?” I asked. One of the nurses had mentioned how long I’d been in a coma, and I was still trying to wrap my brain around it.
My mom nodded, gulping back a sob.
“And Declan? Did he suffer?” I was tortured by the thought that I’d been in a coma, feeling no pain, while my brother endured hell for both of us before dying.
My parents shared a look before my dad answered, “No, he died on impact, and so did the driver of the semi. Declan didn’t suffer.”
I couldn’t have cared less about what happened to the driver who’d killed my brother, but the relief I felt at learning Declan hadn’t suffered was immense. For years, I held onto that fact each time my grief threatened to pull me under. It wasn’t much comfort, but at least it was something.
Chapter One
Dillon
Five Years Later
“You feeling okay?” I murmured in Faith’s ear as I pulled her closer. We were watching a movie, cuddled on the couch together. I was leaning back against the cushions in the corner, and she was between my legs with her head on my chest. But she wasn’t relaxed like she should be after a day out shopping with my mom. She was so damn tense she was practically vibrating with it.
I slid my palms up her arms, pleased as fuck at the goosebumps that followed in the wake of my touch. There was no denying that she still responded to me with the same fierceness she had since we first met. But there was also no denying that something was wrong with Faith. She’d seemed off ever since we got situated on the couch a few hours earlier. I wasn’t sure what was bothering her, but it felt like she was pulling away from me.
When she’d moved in with me a couple of weeks ago, life had seemed as close to perfect as it could get. We had our college degrees. My dad gave me a week off before I started my new job at his company. Living with me meant Faith could continue on for her master’s degree without worrying about money. It was a big fucking deal that she was willing to let me take care of her that way since she was so damn self-sufficient.
My tough girl had finally taken down some of her walls and let me in. She’d even found the courage to admit she loved me.
Out loud.
Repeatedly.
But no matter how often she said those three little words, I still felt like she hadn’t let me all the way in. I figured it’d take time, and I needed to be patient with her. To remember she wasn’t used to being loved by anyone and didn’t know how to handle it.
Normally, I was okay with that. But tonight it was almost as though she was scared. And if my tough girl was afraid of something, then it was my job to make her feel safe. Which would be a hell of a lot easier if I knew what I was up against; only Faith wasn’t giving me much to go on.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just tired.”
I stroked my thumbs along the muscles running across her shoulders, digging in to try to relieve some of the tension. “Is the new bed making it hard for you to sleep? I can order a different mattress if that’ll help.”
She titled her head back, her dark hair spilling over my arm as she offered me a smile. “Don’t you dare replace that mattress. It’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever slept on in my entire life, and I’d have to seriously hurt you if you got rid of it.”
“Hmm, and here I thought I was the most amazing thing you’d ever slept on.” I changed the direction of my massage to work on her neck, switching to vertical rubs along her spine. “Should I be worried you’re only with me for my bed?”
Her brown eyes filled with humor and she laughed softly. “You can’t possibly be jealous of your mattress. It’s an inanimate object, and one you sleep on next to me at that!”
“Don’t you get it yet, baby?” I slid my fingers down her spine, and she arched into me. “I’m a little bit jealous of anything t
hat gets to touch your perfect skin.”
Her smile grew bigger, turning a bit smug. “You are, huh?”
“Yeah, and you look pleased as fuck by that.”
She twisted in my arms and rose to her knees as her hands went to the bottom of her shirt. “Maybe I am.” Then she winked at me and whipped the material up and over her head. “Or maybe I just want you to show me how much you enjoy touching my so-called perfect skin.”
I knew we had shit to talk about, but all my brain cells headed south to my dick at the sight of her tits. I’d already been at half-mast, but with that move she had me fully hard. I licked my lips, my mouth watering with the need to taste her pebbled nipples. Any serious conversation was going to have to wait because it looked like Faith wanted to work through it in a different way. With sex. And I was just the guy to help her with that—the only one who’d ever get the chance.
Her breathing picked up a notch, and it made her tits bounce a little. “Are you going to give me what I want?”
“Always,” I swore.
“Then show me just how perfect you think my skin is.”
She didn’t have to ask me twice. “It’d be my pleasure.”
I stood with her cradled in my arms and strode to our bedroom, tossing her onto the mattress that’d prompted our conversation to head in this direction. She lifted her hips and wiggled out of her yoga pants, making me groan when I realized she’d been commando under them the entire time we’d been chilling on the couch.
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