Price Of Love (Written In the Stars Book 4) Read online

  Price of Love

  Written in the Stars #4

  Erica Marselas

  BY

  ERICA MARSELAS

  Copyright ©2020 Erica Marselas

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination and/or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Edited by: Kristen @YourEditingLounge

  Contents

  Foreword

  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

  Epilogue

  Sneek Peek at Intrigued by Love

  Written in the Stars Series

  About the Author

  Also By Erica Marselas

  Foreword

  Dear Readers,

  Do you believe in destiny? Or do you believe you drive your own fate when it comes to matters of the heart?

  The idea for the Written in the Stars series came about one afternoon as I was thinking about how intertwined we are with the universe and the cosmos—we’re made of stardust, after all. It got me thinking about astrology, and whether something as celestial as our Zodiac signs influenced how we behave in love. Some may call it pseudoscience, while others use their horoscopes daily to make major life, love, and career decisions.

  That’s how this series was born!

  Twelve months. Twelve wickedly talented romance authors. All coming together to answer the age-old question—Does your horoscope decide your fate in love?

  You’ll have to decide for yourself as you binge-read your way through twelve deliciously sexy and deeply romantic stand-alone novellas—one for each Zodiac sign. I can’t wait to start this journey with you. Personally? I think it was written in the stars!

  XO,

  C.M. Albert

  P.S. Please join us in our fun and interactive Written in the Stars readers’ group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/writteninthestarsbooks where we discuss all things horoscope and love related!

  Prologue

  “He’s taking her to the wedding? Are you serious?” I shriek, pulling the wedding invitation off the fridge, and turning to my best friend Christiana, who is already holding the tub of ice cream for me.

  I was supposed to be going to my best friend's wedding in Miami with my boyfriend of two years. The guy I thought I was going to be with for the rest of my life. Now he’s taking the girl I found him cheating on me with, leaving me to go alone with the heart he broke.

  “I’m serious. I’m sorry, Claire. Jo tried to put a halt to it, but Tim convinced Nate’s mom to allow him to bring her since you guys aren’t together anymore. Jo is fuming. But you still have a plus one if that’s anything,” Christiana tells me.

  I grab the tub of ice cream from her hands, ready to eat my feelings away. Of course, the bride had to be marrying my ex’s cousin. She somehow got lucky and picked the right North relative to fall in love with.

  “Who the hell am I going to find to take me?” I sit down at the kitchen table and rip open the container of cookie dough ice cream. Every guy I do know is already married or not my type. “There’s only a month and a half until the wedding.”

  “I know someone,” Christiana squeaks and slides into the seat next to me. “He works at the....”

  “No.” I cut her off and shove the spoon of ice cream in my mouth.

  “Why not?” she scoffs and yanks away the tub of deliciousness that I’m trying to drown my sorrows in.

  “Oh, I don’t know, maybe because the last guy you hooked me up on a blind date with kept picking his teeth at the dinner table.”

  “Okay, I’m sorry about Rick. I didn’t know he did that. He doesn’t do it at work, but you’re still too picky. It was such a little thing.” She pinches her fingers together, and I roll my eyes. She would be turned off by the same flaw. “And it didn’t help that date was way too soon after Tim. This guy though, I know you would like. He's everything you'd want in a man. Trust me.” She jabs her spoon in my direction.

  “Christiana, I’ll find my own date.” I’m not even sure if I want a date now that I think about it. I feel like it’s too much pressure to have to try and entertain someone else while also putting on an act.

  Though, do I really want to go alone while Tim is there with her?

  I’m sure they’d love to use my loneliness as a way to trample on the pieces of my broken heart that I’ve been slowly mending back together.

  My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I pull it out and slide open the screen. There’s a new text from my Grams who I see out of the corner of my eye gliding into the room in her silk night robe. “Why are you texting me when I’m in the room with you?”

  “Just open it.” She waves her hand as she joins us at the kitchen table.

  I sigh and open the text. I roll my eyes at the sight of my monthly horoscope.

  Taurus: The stars have aligned, and good fortune is upon you. You will soon meet your destiny. A bright flame that is waiting for you on the sidelines, anticipating the right moment to embrace your heart. Run into the fire, and don't let your stubbornness derail you or you will lose this once in a lifetime opportunity.

  “Grams! What have I told you about sending these to me?”

  “Well, you won’t let me do a proper reading anymore, and they’re the best way to get a feel on your future. So, you could at least let me do this again. Plus, it’s perfect in this situation, Claire.”

  I delete the horoscope from my phone. “Grams, you know how I feel about this.”

  She used to send me my horoscope all the time, and the last time she did was back after I graduated high school. I was told my outlook ahead would be amazing, that great things were upon me, and my love life was promising. Almost like this one. What was to follow was one the most traumatic things to ever happen to me at the hands of someone I loved. Now I don’t believe in fortunes or horoscopes.

  “I’m aware, but Claire, it’s been five years.”

  “What Grams is trying to say is, we want to help,” Christiana says.

  “I don’t need help. I’ll be fine.” Stealing back the container of ice cream from Christiana, I scoop out a large spoonful of cookie dough and jab it into my mouth. There’s no way I’m letting these two hoots hook me up with anyone. I would rather show up at the wedding on my own or partnered with a bottle of Tequila.

  Chapter One

  One month later

  Beautiful Soulful Taurus looking for love.

  Sometimes a little Stubborn but loyal to a fault.

  Loves the outdoors and cooking.

  Leos need not apply.

  My coffee mug drops from my hands and the contents spill all over my kitchen table. Ignoring the piping hot joe that’s now dripping to the floor, I clench the personal ad in my hand and read it for the fiftieth time. The one that has my picture and my phone number included.

  Mine.

  Un
derneath the big, bold words saying I’m looking for love.

  There’s only one person who could be behind this.

  She has a head of gray hair, loves bingo, astrology, and the stars.

  My grandmother.

  Hell, it might as well have been written in neon letters that she’s behind all of this.

  The only benefit is that this personal ad is in the Franklin Bugle instead of on Zoosk or Tinder.

  Wait! I should probably check those apps later. I never know with her.

  First I’m on a mission to seek out the woman who put in a personal ad for me.

  Well, after I clean up this coffee mess.

  I love my grandmother. She is my mother, really. She took me in and raised me when my mom ran off with some guitar player from an eighty’s hair metal cover band. It’s been me and her since I was six years old. I trust her with everything. Besides maybe my love life…because this is taking it way too far.

  Since I discovered the ad, my phone has been ringing off the hook, and I’ve been offered five dates and a foot rub. That one was a little disturbing, and I instantly blocked the number. By the end of the day, I’m going to need a new phone number. For now, I turn off the obnoxious device and walk into Franklin Memorial hospital going straight for the fourth floor.

  Grams has been here for the last week after she had surgery to remove a non-cancerous mass on her kidney. There was a minor complication and they are waiting for all her kidney function to return before they release her. Besides all that, she’s doing well. Her spirits are brighter than mine, that’s for sure, but that’s the woman she’s always been. A bright candle, a beacon of hope; nothing can burn off her happy glow.

  It’s why she’s my idol.

  Despite this crazy personal ad.

  I knock on the door to make sure she’s decent or not with a doctor before entering.

  Once she gives me the okay to enter, I charge in like a bull, with the offending newspaper clenched in my hand.

  “Claire Bear. There you are,” she chirps, but I don't let the perkiness deter me.

  “Grams. We need to talk.” I lay down the newspaper article on her lap. She glances down at it, and her smile grows. She looks pleased.

  Positively tickled.

  This lady, I swear!

  “Oh, good, you saw it.”

  “Oh. I did. It was brought to my attention from my old gym teacher, Mr. Jenkins, at eight this morning while I was enjoying my coffee. He was looking for a date. That was awkward.”

  More awkward that even after I told him who I was, he still wanted to go out. My body shivers at the thought.

  She laughs and takes my hand. “I was going to put a different phone number down, but I realized the house one doesn’t have an answering machine anymore. Plus, I want you to check it.”

  “Grams, I’m getting a bunch of crazies calling me.”

  “I don’t believe that. Just single men looking for a beautiful lady to fall in love with,” she pacifies me.

  What does she think single men are like these days? They’re insane. She should know this. I’ve had my share of crazies before.

  “Aka crazies. Or someone wanting to hack me into a million pieces. You would have been safer just putting my picture on Tinder.”

  “I couldn’t figure out how to work the app,” she muses, and I know she’s very serious.

  “Jesus, Grams.”

  She giggles and pats my hand. “Stop, it’ll be okay. And I remember Mr. Jenkins being pretty good looking.”

  “He’s fifty,” I deadpan.

  “Age is only a number.”

  “His whole body was covered in hair. He was like a giant gorilla.” I shiver at the memory of when he would show up only wearing wife-beaters and his thick, dark hair would poke out of them. It should’ve been illegal for him to wear that to school.

  “But his face was nice.” She clicks her tongue.

  She’s deranged.

  I smack my forehead, knowing there’s no reasoning with her. “Let’s forget about Mr. Jenkins for the moment. What is with this Leos need not apply?”

  "I had a vision for you. It said that you were to stay away from Leos. They would only bring you trouble."

  “Grams, that’s silly. I would believe you more if you told me to stay away from Capricorns because of what happened with Tim and Colt.”

  Tim and Colt are two of my exes and both are Capricorns.

  Colt was my psycho high school ex-boyfriend who I left for college with, who then attacked me in a roid rage, leaving me severely injured and traumatized, and Tim was the latest of my bad matches.

  We had dated for two years before I found him cheating on me with Monica; someone I thought was a good friend. He, of course, blamed his cheating on me. Called me a poor, boring girl, who wouldn’t know excitement if it bit me in the ass.

  Especially in the bedroom.

  He trampled over my heart, deceived me, and now I have to face him and Monica again at my best friend’s wedding in Miami in a few weeks.

  In the end, I paid the price with my heart, falling hard for those two men and giving them a huge part of me that didn’t belong to them.

  “I know my visions haven’t been on point for you in the past, but there’s something about Leos that’s setting my senses off.”

  “Alright, Alright,” I huff with a roll of my eyes. Whatever helps her sleep at night. “I respect your request that maybe me and Leos do not mix.”

  "That’s my girl.”

  "Next time, use a P.O. box." I grin and nudge her. "But maybe you’re right about giving this a chance. Like you said, Mr. Jenkins isn’t that bad.”

  No, he’s still that bad. I will never go on that date.

  "No. No. You’re right. The man is an ape. I should’ve put an age limit on it."

  "Maybe instead of no Leos need apply, it should’ve said all sugar daddies need to apply. It’d be nice to find a guy to pamper me for a change. We could go to the wedding in style."

  "Oh, you’re right.” She snaps her fingers. “I could’ve requested a sugar granddaddy for myself."

  “Yes, see. But also, why love? I don't think I'm ready for all that. A date would have been fine."

  I’m not ready to give my heart away to just anyone. I’ve loved harder than I ever should to only be beaten, used, and told I wasn’t good enough. When it’s time to find that person, the one I’m going to spend forever with, it won’t be because I’m matched up from the Franklin Bugle. I want to be swept off my feet, shown that I’m everything and more. Call it the hopeless romantic in me that still lingers inside.

  “I didn’t do this so you can just find a date, Claire Bear. I want you to find someone who will love you just as much as you love them. Just sometimes you have to do a little digging to find the right match. I thought this might help fish him out. Now, I should have asked you before I put the ad in, but I was just trying to help. I know it's scary for you to go in blind with people because of Colt, but you have to be willing to put yourself out there again if you want to meet someone who is worth your heart. Also, if you wanted that little extra safety for the first couple dates, I'm sure one of your friends will play bodyguard for you."

  Damn her and her psychic abilities.

  “But Grams,” I whine.

  “No buts, stubborn butt. Give it a chance; you don't know what you could be missing.”

  The only thing I'm missing is a foot rub by some crazy man with a foot fetish.

  Grams falls asleep for the afternoon, and I tuck her in before leaving. She has the best care in the hospital, but I can’t wait for her to get back home with me. At least that way I know she’s doing better because the more days that pass with her here, the more I worry about her despite the doctor’s positive outlook.

  I turn my phone back on as I make my way down the hallway. The moment it’s alive, it pings and dings with text messages and voicemails. I’m seconds away from tossing it in the trash or against a wall to shatter it into little pieces
.

  Are all the men in Franklin really this desperate for a date with a lonely Taurus? Like who would have thought anybody still read the newspaper personals?

  I’m at the elevator bank waiting to go down, texting my friends to have them meet me at the bar across the street. I need a drink or six. I know Grams’ heart is in the right place, but I need tequila or vodka or both to handle all this new attention.

  The elevator doors slide open, and a crowd of people in all different colored scrubs file out. I step into the metal box and push the first-floor button.

  “Price! Let’s go.” Someone from the hall yells out. The name grabs my attention, and I look out to the mass of people who just got off. That’s when I see the familiar pair of blue eyes. He’s not looking at me, but even as he reads and smiles at whatever is on his phone, I know those kind eyes anywhere.

  “I’m coming, hold your horses,” Blue eyes yells back and walks across the way, shoving his phone in his back pocket.

  My heart rate spikes, and instead of calling out and saying hi to an old friend, I tuck myself into the corner of the elevator, grateful when the doors shudder closed.

  Wuss.

  I need a drink, desperately.

  I’m settled at my favorite table at O’Donnell’s with Christiana and Allison, two of my best friends since middle school. We’ve been going here since we became old enough to drink. I don’t know where I would be without these two. They’re my rocks. The only one who is missing is Jolene, who moved to Florida last year with Nate for work. Now she’s getting married. The four of us have been through everything together. I don’t think there’s anything that we wouldn’t do for one another.