Cursed Fate: Cursed Series #4 by t. h. snyder Read Free Book Online Page B

talents, and the love she showed me made me the man I always wanted to be.
    I never had to pretend with Ashley, I could be me and know that she’d accept my faults.
    My heart had been shattered by the one woman I had always loved. I fought the void she left in me by filling my life with a distraction. One that never meant to me what she did…the pain grew into agony and no longer could I bear to live without her.
    Rather than try and find her, I lived life as it came my way. Jenn was there and she tried to be the person I needed in my life, but I remained numb to the outside world. The only thing that helped me get through the tiresome days and long nights were the drugs and alcohol.
    My life, my choices…how quickly they all could have been turned into my death.
    If not for a complete stranger, my world could have ended because of the ways in which I chose to mask my pain.
    After leaving the hospital that horrid day, I knew I had a big decision to make. No longer could I allow the pain of my past to dictate the course of my future.
    I needed help and knew there was no one I could count on other than myself. Treatment is what I sought, a fight is what I was prepared to endure, and freedom from my demons was my goal.
    After meeting with a counselor at the local clinic, I started to talk through the things that made me yearn for the drugs and alcohol. At first it was stupid, or so I thought, having to talk to another grown man about my life. With a few visits under my belt, the sessions became easier and I found that it was the one part of my week I looked forward to…it felt good to let out the things that I had bottled up for so long.
    Once I was finished with my treatment, I started going to bi-weekly meetings. I was shocked by the stories of my peers; my life didn’t seem half as bad as some of theirs.
    It was at these meetings that I was reconnected to the man that saved my life. Cliff and I grew to be confidants, friends with very different stories, but similar weaknesses that lead us to grieve our pain.
    Knowing that I wasn’t alone to fight my battle made recovery that much easier. Cliff and I started to spend time together outside of our meetings. We had a lot more in common than our fucked up lives. The more I got to know him, the more I realized our paths in life were meant to cross. A friendship is where we started, but a strong brotherhood is where we were destined to end up.
    Cliff started to work as a delivery driver soon after he got clean from his ill habits. It wasn’t his dream career, but it helped him to focus and pay the bills. After a meeting one night, we started to compare our tattoos. The patterns along our skin were quite different, yet all had similar meanings.
    Needing a distraction, we started to create pieces that would eventually be inked onto our skin. It was relaxing, soothing to find myself back to my roots. Art was my savior; it kept my mind off of the here and now and allowed me to focus on something meaningful.
    Cliff had a passion for art just as I did and, after talking more and more, I decided to bring him into Cursed Magic to meet the guys. We both found that working through our art was the one thing that brought peace into our crazed minds. Before long, he too was sitting in a chair as an apprentice in my mentor’s tattoo shop.
    Beginning new lives, we were willing to strive for greatness and deter the demons from within. Between the two of us, we found a drug that eased the pain….our art.
     

Chapter 7
    Pacing the short distance between my kitchen and living room I wait for Etty to arrive. I don’t know what she plans to do, but I need to stick to my guns. I’ve made a decision that is best for me…that’s all I need to worry about.
    So much has transpired here in the past few months that I don’t know if I can take much more. Everyone has their breaking point and I think I’ve surpassed mine. It’s been one thing to keep my past relationship with Steve a secret from