Lunangelique (The Lunangelique Series) Read online

  LunAngelique

  Kristin R. Campbell

  Copyright 2012 Kristin Campbell

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The Author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.

  http://kristinrcampbell.weebly.com/

  Cover Design by Aaron Campbell

  AtlantisReturns.com/

  LunAngelique – Book 1

  Table of Contents

  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

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 1

  “Why can’t I find out any information on our parents?” I throw down my purse onto my brother, Alex’s, bed.

  “Leave it alone Alexis,” Alex says without turning from his computer screen. Such a nerd. But I can’t leave it alone. I’m sure every adopted child struggles with wanting to know where they come from. I don’t understand why he’s not more curious. Probably a typical guy thing.

  “Why should I leave it alone? This is our birth parents. Don’t you want to know if there are any diseases we should be looking for in our future? Or insanity? Or what if we have other brothers or sisters out there. I want to know if the next little kid I see with blond hair and blue eyes is related. Don’t you want to know why our parents gave us up?”

  Alex shakes his head the whole time I rant. “No, I don’t care. I love the parents that chose us. I love my life now. I don’t care to learn anything from our birth parents. I don’t want to get tangled up, or you, for that matter, in a drama-filled family.” Alex turns away from the computer and looks me dead in the eye. “Lexi, have you ever considered that our parents may be drug addicts, or our mom was a prostitute, or maybe she was a runaway teenager, or maybe she died? I think it’s better we don’t know. It’s better for us and it’s better for our family, the one we have now,” he clarifies.

  “What if you find our birth mother or father and they blackmail our parents for money or guilt trip money out of you. Have you even considered how much you would hurt mom and dad if they found out you’ve been trying to discover our genealogy all summer? Damn Lexi, have you considered any of the above scenarios or are you imagining a perfect reunion with tears and hugs and beautiful sunsets?”

  “I haven’t thought past finding out their names,” I say in a whisper. I know he is right. Alex is always right. My smart, logical, sensible twin brother, who always brings me back to reality and makes me ashamed of being such an unrealistic idiot.

  “You spent three months searching. You didn’t get one clue, one lead, nothing. It’s time to leave it alone. You promised me, Lexi,” he says sternly. “The summer is over, school starts in one week. Don’t let this hang over you anymore. Go shopping with the girls, go to the beach, go do something. Please,” he pretends to beg.

  I laugh at him. “Fine! I give up. I’m sorry. Come out with me. We both need to go clothes shopping for school. I’ll invite Kaitlyn for you. Please, please, please,” I mock his begging.

  “Arh,” he runs his hands roughly through his sandy blond hair that is just a tad darker than mine. “I’m trying to print out information on prospective colleges. Lexi,” he says my name in a huff, like he’s giving up.

  I take advantage of his uncertainty as he starts looking back at the computer. “I’m sure Kaitlyn really misses you and we still have a year before college. It’s another three or four months before we even need to fill out applications.”

  “Alright, let’s go. I need to stretch my legs and get out of this house anyways,” he starts to put on his shoes and I call his girlfriend and my best friend Kaitlyn, while I change out of my jeans and tank top to put on something nicer for a day out in the world. I find a blue sundress and slip on some silver kitten heels while telling Kaitlyn that Alex caved and will go shopping with us.

  We live in Virginia Beach, Virginia, which is a big tourist trap in the summer. Living here in the summer is a nightmare. I don’t know why it is so popular for vacationers with all the stupid laws in place. Seriously, you can’t drive down the strip of the beach more than two times or you’ll get fined. If you use profanity on the strip, you’ll get fined. The city officials are really big on ‘It’s a family location’. We just avoid the strip altogether during the summer months. There are many other beaches that tourist don’t know about.

  Traffic is a pain in the butt to navigate through this time of year. Just about everywhere you want to go has a bridge or tunnel you have to obstacle through. So you really need to know your way around to bypass all the traffic. Unfortunately though, when you go shopping around here, you drive to Norfolk, Virginia, to the MacArthur Center, they have the best stores in the area. Unfortunately, the tourists have discovered this place too, which means there is tunnel traffic five miles back and it takes us thirty minutes to wait in until we can get off at the exit before the tunnel.

  We meet Kaitlyn in the food center on the second floor. She is a cute, pixie-like girl with small features, cute button nose I would die for and mid-length auburn hair with clear blue eyes. I love Kaitlyn. We have been best friends since grade school. She’s always so sweet and caring; she loves having a good time, goes for all my hair brained ideas and never says one bad thing about anyone. She’s had a crush on my brother for as long as I can remember. He finally noticed her during our freshman year and they have been dating ever since. Secretly, he’s crushed on her since she was in pigtails but was so shy he never had the nerve to talk to her. Whenever she used to come over for play dates and sleepovers, he always hid in his room.

  Now, the happy couple can walk up to each other and kiss in a very quick, yet intimate and sincere way, marking just how long they have been together. She entwines her fingers with his and turns her smile towards me to give me a one armed hug.

  “I ran into Hope and Nathaniel,” she tells us. They are more of our friends. Another couple that we have known since grade school, but they have only been dating since last year. Hope and Nathaniel are big flirts. Nathaniel used to try to win me over but I’m not into long-term dating. I’ve grown up with everyone; I know them in and out. I’m waiting until college when I can meet someone new and everything will seem fresh. “I told them we will go look for them when we get done with lunch.”

  “Sounds good,” I tell her while looking towards our choices of restaurants. “What are you guys in the mood for? I could go for a sandwich.”

  They laugh at me. “You can always go for a sandwich,” Alex teases.

  “So,” I stick my tongue out at him. “Everyone has their favorites,” I pout like I’m hurt at the tease but they know I’m not.

  “Sandwich, sounds good. It’s so hot out, I don’t think I could do anything else,” Kaitlyn says. “Alex?”

  “Sounds good.” We head over to the sub shop and place our orders. All these sub shops always want to grill your sandwich but I refuse. Cold sandwiches are my favorite. Yum, yum.

  “Ooo, there’s Hope and Nathaniel.” Kaitlyn points toward a table in the back, where the couple are sitting, and drinking smoothies. “Someone else is sitting with them. Le
t’s go over and find out who it is,” Kaitlyn whispers conspiratorially.

  “Lead the way.” I follow behind her as she follows behind Alex who is holding our tray as we hold the drinks.

  As we come upon them I can see that the mysterious someone is a very cute blond guy with a long, lean, very cut body. Delicious. I wonder who he is and how Hope and Nathaniel know him.

  Alex and Kaitlyn sit next to each other, which leaves me to sit across from them and next to the cutey.

  “Guys, this is Oliver Samson,” Nathaniel tells us. “Oliver, this is Alexis, Alex and Kaitlyn.”

  Oliver holds out his hand to shake Alex’s and Kaitlyn’s hand before turning his hand over to me. “Ollie,” he corrects his name. “So you guys are the twins?” he points between Alex and me.

  “Yep. And it’s Lexi,” I correct my name. He has the deepest aquamarine eyes. They look like the Mediterranean Sea. I want to take a dive into them. Just looking at them makes me feel like the sun is beating down warming my body as I swim in the warmest waters.

  Nathaniel interrupts my gazing by informing us that, “Ollie here has just moved into my neighborhood. He’s going to start his senior year with us. We wanted to take him out and introduce him around before school starts so he doesn’t have to hide in the bathroom during lunch hour.”

  “Where did you just move from?” I ask him, finally turning away from his eyes to unfold the wrapper from my sandwich.

  “Can you believe he just came here from Rome,” Hope gushes. My mouth drops open. “Isn’t that so cool? He lives with his older brother. It’s just the two of them. Can you say par-tay?”

  “Hope, let the man answer for himself,” Nathaniel chides her.

  We all laugh. “I think I would react the same way, Hope. Don’t let Nathaniel ruin your excitement,” Kaitlyn tells her, while shooting Nathaniel the evil eye.

  “Ollie,” I say, clarifying his name, “want to get the rest of us up to speed on who you are and what brought you here?”

  I start eating my sandwich as he tells us, “Well, me and my brother, Malachi, lost our parents several years ago in a boating accident,” after a few awes he’s able to continue, “Yeah well, my brother is several years older than me and he became my guardian. Let’s see…I grew up in Rome but my brother’s company transferred him to the States and we ended up here. He also works a lot out of New York, but neither of us wanted to live in the city so we settled in Virginia.”

  “What does he do?” I ask

  “He works for the Church.”

  “Huh? Is he like a priest or pastor or something?” Kaitlyn asks.

  “No. No. No. He’s not ordained; he basically assists in special tasks. And I can’t tell you anything else about that,” Ollie smiles as he gets the shocked, questionable reactions he wanted from everyone. “I’m kidding; he helps research miracles, plagues, angel sightings, demons, exorcisms that type of stuff, from all over the world.”

  “That’s cool. Wow. I’m assuming we are talking about the Catholic Church right?” I ask.

  “Yep.”

  “I’m blown away. I’ve heard about that kind of thing but I’ve never met anyone who actually knows someone who does it,” Kaitlyn exclaims. She looks as awestruck as Hope and probably I look about this mysterious Ollie. The guys have been busy stuffing their faces.

  “What kind of miracles?” Hope asks. She is leaning over the table toward him, totally enraptured.

  “You know, statues crying, people recovering from incurable disease, people with the power to heal. That sort of thing,” Ollie responds.

  You can tell he has talked about this too many times before and is bored with it. I want to change the subject to spare him, “Alright let’s spare Ollie from laryngitis for now. Where do you guys want to start shopping?”

  Hope answers my question first, “Abercrombie is having a decent sale right now. Oh, and Cotton On just opened up. They have some cute clothes. Then we can look around Nordstrom. They always have the cutest shoes.”

  “Looks like Hope has our starting lineup,” Kaitlyn says. “Boys are you coming with us?” Kaitlyn turns to Alex.

  “I want to check out Abercrombie but I don’t know about the rest. Let’s just play it by ear. Want to catch a movie later?”

  There is a chorus of ‘yeas’ before we all get up to head over to the stores while debating between the ‘The Hunger Games’ or ‘Wrath of the Titans.’ In the end, ‘The Hunger Games’ wins. But only because, as Nathaniel pointed out in a conspiratorial whisper to me, “Ollie only picked ‘The Hunger Games’ because you said it. Earlier he told me he has been dying to see the ‘Titans’.”

  “Oh, really,” I whisper back. “Thanks for the info. I’ll remember that next time I want him to take me to the movies.” I playfully shove him back forward toward Hope as we walk in twos. Ollie is next to me behind the others.

  “Where’s your boyfriend?” Ollie asks, looking forward at Nathaniel’s head. Obviously embarrassed to ask the question but unable to blurt it out.

  “I don’t have one,” I inform him with a smile. He looks shocked at such an answer. His face actually blanches before he quickly composes himself.

  “That seems odd. Your brother and friends are all together…don’t you hate, you know, always being the extra wheel. I thought girls hated that.” He stops, but before I can answer he quickly says, “I’m sorry, is that too presumptuous? Am I being too forward? I don’t know how to talk to American girls. The Italians always speak their mind…”

  I cut him off. “You’re fine. I always speak my mind too. I don’t embarrass easily. Trust me. And no, I never feel like the extra wheel. I love my friends. They always include me. I’ve never even thought about being the third wheel or fifth wheel.” I shrug my shoulders. “When we go to dances, I dance with everyone. When we go to movies I sit between the girls. When we eat I sit across from them so I can talk to everyone. It’s just always worked out.” I shrug my shoulders again. I guess it can seem weird, but really, I’ve never had a problem with it. I’ve always felt like the free one. The lucky one. I don’t know how to explain it.

  Ollie nods his head. “I’ve never seen it that way. I always feel like I’m missing something. No one to depend on. No one to dance with. No one to hold hands with at the movies. No one to share fries with me.”

  “Awe…You make it sound so sad,” I tease. “I’ll share my fries with you.” I laugh with him. “Maybe I would feel that way if I didn’t have Alex. Alex and I share everything, being twins. Except for clothes.” I laugh. “I guess it works out because of that reason. Kaitlyn is my best friend and his girlfriend, we share her.” I laugh again. “That sounds really bad.”

  Ollie laughs with me as we walk into the store. “Yeah, I guess I get it. You guys go to the movies and share popcorn amongst the three of you. I noticed that all of you bought lunch together. You really are lucky.”

  “Yeah that’s the second time I heard that today. I guess I need to accept it and move on with my life.” I start looking through a rack of clothes. Ollie continues to shadow me, not really looking at anything. I notice Hope and Kaitlyn whispering to each other and looking at us from a couple of racks down. I know exactly what they are whispering. Alex and Nathaniel are on the other side of the store, in the men’s department.

  “Who else told you that?” Ollie asks.

  “Alex,” I answer not really paying much attention to Ollie anymore while in the pursuit of a cute denim skirt.

  “Why would he need to remind you?” I look into Ollie’s face. It has taken on a strained quality that I don’t understand.

  I stop looking through the racks, put down the two skirts in my hand and walk over to him. I don’t know why but I feel like I need to tell him what I have been up to. “I don’t know if Hope and Nathaniel told you but Alex and I are adopted. I have been researching archives to find anything I can on our parents. I contacted the adoption agency but they can’t help me. I searched through the adoption papers my parents
have on us but there is nothing. It’s like we fell out of the sky or something. I hate feeling like we were dumpster babies or left in a field to die.” I take a deep breath. “Alex convinced me this morning to give up and accept how lucky we are to have parents that actually chose us.”

  “I have to agree with Alex.” He looks down and whispers, “At least you still have parents.”

  “I’m sorry Ollie. Here I am looking for a second set of parents and you…,” my face fills with shame.

  “It’s fine Lexi. I lost my parents when I was two,” he tells me. “I’m going to look for some clothes. I’ll catch up with you at the movies?” he raises his eyebrows at me as he awaits a reply.

  “Yeah, sure,” I say with a sad smile. “I’ll share my popcorn with you.”

  I watch as his face lights up, which makes mine light up too. He is so gorgeous and his sad little past is making me want to make his future happy. Which is exactly what Kaitlyn and Hope have been whispering about. And as soon as Ollie is out of view, they come running over, expressing their hopes of seeing us as a couple. Of course, I have to admit many times how incredibly hot he is. And we all agree he is showing interest. He falls into the category of being someone new and I have to allow that I am almost in college, so it’s close enough to waiting for college. I mean, this is senior year. I would like an actual date to the prom and Homecoming.

  We, the girls, go off on our own for the next hour before the movie starts and we have to meet back up with the guys in front of the theaters. We put our umpteen bags in Kaitlyn’s car since Alex and Nathaniel have the keys to the other cars before we set off for the movie.

  Mom and Dad bought me and Alex a car to share. Most kids would hate that, but Alex and I are always together. And when Alex and Kaitlyn take off on a date night alone, they just use her car. Everything works out fine.

  We meet the guys in front of the concession stand to buy some popcorn and soda. I instinctually go towards Alex to get my ticket and order my drink but am pulled back by the top of my dress by Ollie. Alex stifles a laugh, which sets off my twin telepathy, telling me he has set me up with Ollie. I really don’t mind but I don’t like being puppeteered.