❝Despite her namesake, Cupid McLean has had an awfully bad run with love- both family or otherwise. If her past is any indication, it would seem that, no matter which way the arrow of her heart seems to point, it always manages to end up in the wron...
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CUPID PEERED OUT THROUGH the gaps in her neighbours white-picket fence.
The sun was bright and hot on the nape of her neck, shaded little by the short hair that tickled her shoulders. Directly in her line of vision, her neighbour's flowers fluttered in a rare summer breeze. There seemed to be an endless abundance, beautiful and glowing in their full bloom. Cupid figured that taking only a handful for her Aunt Beth wouldn't hurt.
Surely, if she wasn't caught, there wouldn't be any trouble.
Cupid glanced behind her, peering up at the kitchen window. Her Aunt Beth was busy preparing pies, straw-blonde hair tied back into a haphazard bun. She was turned from the yard, too trusting of Cupid to check up on her more than once or twice. Aunt Beth would hardly notice if she was gone for no more than a few minutes.
Cupid gave a cursory glance around. She didn't know where her older brother was, but Castor was always too busy to pay her much attention anyway. Besides, he was rarely ever home to begin with. That being, it was precisely why no one took notice as Cupid stuck her foot on the fence's stringer, launching herself over the short wooden posts and landing nimbly onto the soft grass.
Her neighbour's yard was always well-kept; the direct result of Mr. Parker's obsessive care and maintenance. He was an older man, always grumbling beneath his breath, and he intimidated Cupid to no end. Though, she noticed that he seemed to soften around the edges in his garden.
However, his car had been gone from the driveway for some time now, and so Cupid figured there was no immediate threat. She hurried quickly to the flower bed, grinning as she ran a finger along the soft petals of a white rose. Cupid could have stared at them all day, but she knew to make quick of her work. She reached down with both hands, blissfully unaware of the sharp thorns that lay hidden beneath the petals.
Closing her fingers around the stems, the young girl immediately released a sharp cry of pain. The pain was so abrupt that Cupid panicked, pulling her hands back too quickly— too harshly. The thorns tore deeper and tears welled as the girl stared, horrified at her palms. Ruby red blood rose to the surface of her wounds, fast and quick. Droplets slid and fell, landing on the roses and staining Cupid's yellow dress.
A door slammed open and terror seized every bone in the young girl.s body. Whirling around, Cupid watched with wide eyes as a man, too young to be Mr. Parker, stormed out of the house. His eyes immediately fell on her, "Hey, what do you think you're doing?!" The shout seemed to set the world back into motion.
