FATED by A.S Roberts Read Free Book Online

everything, overprotective and overbearing. He spends his life trying to father the rest of us... which is a fucking joke as he is not even two years older than me.’
    God I thought, having imagined an older family member in the first place. Now that brought his age down to what? Thirtyish?
    ‘Well I had better do as I am told; can someone please pass my crutches? I left them leaning on the back of the couch.’
    ‘Since when do you obey orders? You really don’t seem the type,’ Bella jumped up, looking more flustered than I thought I had ever seen her. I watched her pass Nathan the crutches and I swear if you could visibly see the electrical current called chemistry, it was right there between the two of them, almost using the crutch as a conductor, arcing uncontrollably.
    ‘You’re right, sassy, I don’t normally take orders from anyone, I do however like to give them.’ Nathan had literally moved himself into the very oxygen she breathed. I felt like a voyeur. His voice had dropped an octave, ‘But on this one and only fucking occasion, I have to concede he is probably right,’ he put out his left hand and with his index finger and thumb lifted her chin. He gently kissed her on the tip of her nose. Bella stood transfixed to the spot, her face redder than when we had scarlet fever.
    Nathan moved over to me. ‘Thanks for the excellent dinner and company, chocolate drop; I’ll be seeing you tomorrow.’ I opened our door for him to exit, and he bent to kiss me on the cheek. Just like JJ would have done.
    ‘See ya.’
    I closed the door behind him, and I turned my gaze to Bella. I placed my hands on my hips. I was just about to start questioning her, when I heard talking on the other side of our front door. Being ever nosy and realising that I couldn’t reopen the door now. I flung myself to the spy hole. Just in time to see Nathan hobbling, not towards his own door, but towards the door in the diagonal corner to ours. He was laughing loudly. Staring hard at the open door, I saw the largest hand I was sure I had ever seen, holding it open for him. Taking a further look I could see on the little finger, a signet ring. It held a green gem stone and looked like dirty silver, possibly titanium. Staring harder at the hand, I decided it had to be titanium; the hand was too masculine for anything else. I peeped until the hand and Nathan disappeared.
    ‘What are you doing?’ Bella made me jump back away from the door like a naughty child.
    ‘Oh no, we are not going there after the little show I have just witnessed. What were you doing, lady?’ I remembered to place my hands to my hips but my face broke into a huge grin. ‘You looked like you were going to spontaneously combust, when the ever so lovely Nathan kissed your nose.’
    ‘I am so sorry, Frankie, I know you like him and I would never shit on my own doorstep, but I couldn’t help myself... it was like being reeled in.’ Her blue eyes started to fill up. I could see she was struggling and she was wearing her guilty look. Not a look I had seen too often, as Bella rarely felt guilt about anything. She was a live and let live sort of girl.
    ‘Bella it’s OK.’  I gathered her into a bear hug. ‘It’s not a problem, he reminds me of JJ, and we interact like siblings. I realised that today. So however wonderfully delicious he is and he is deeliiiicious,’ I said emphasizing the vowels, ‘I think on that, we and all the rest of the female population, 100% agree. He isn’t for me; you know?’ I sat back down and pulled her down with me.
    ‘Thank God,’ she sighed. ‘I don’t want us to fall out over a bloke, even if he is delicious with just fucked hair,’ she closed her eyes and lay back on the settee blowing air through her lips.
    ‘Yeah, right I’ve noticed that on occasion,’ clutching a cushion to my chest ‘and he keeps running his hand through it, too.’ We looked at each other and burst into laughter.
    ‘Why did you stare out of the