Page 30 of Cursed Fox

"No, he's right. I've said it a million times. I'm cursed."

I got up from my chair and walked straight out of the room without looking back. I didn't stop to speak to another person. I didn't acknowledge Missy at the front desk when I passed by, and I headed straight for my Jeep.

I was just climbing in when Nancy came crashing through the door. She looked around until she spotted me, then rushed my way.

"Lex, stop."

I started the Jeep but didn't pull away. I couldn't do that to her. I couldn't just leave her standing there while I left. Not again.

The old me would have, but after our time together in her office, I couldn't hurt her like that.

I waited until she climbed into the passenger seat before I spoke. "You should go back inside."

"Not unless you're coming with me."

I couldn't look at her when I replied. "You heard Wes. Those around me get hurt. Some even die. I couldn't live with myself if that happened to you." I needed her to live. To be safe. I needed to know nothing would happen to her, even if that meant me taking a step back so someone else could protect her.

"Look at me," Nancy demanded and I found I couldn't deny her what she wanted. I turned my head and found her piercing green eyes locked on me. "I know a lot of bad shit has happened to you, but that doesn't mean you're cursed."

"You don't understand." I could barely make sense of it myself some days. There was only so much a person could take, and I had hit my threshold. If I lost Nancy, that would be the end for me. She had my heart, even if I’d never intended to give it away.

Nancy took my hand in hers and pleaded, "Then help me understand."

"It started when I was twelve." I hated talking about this, but if I truly wanted her to understand, I needed to start at the beginning. "I was spending the night at my friend’s house across town. I was an only child, so my parents were using the time to go out on a date. My friend and I got into a fight, so I stormed out of his house and decided I was going to walk home. It was dark out and we lived in a pretty busy town. It was before people had cell phones at the ready, so of course my parents didn't find out until they got home. By that time, they were frantic to get out and find me."

I was such a selfish asshole back then. As an only child of wealthy parents, I thought I was untouchable. I learned that night that wasn't the case.

"They were rushing so much, they ran a red light and got T-boned by another car. The worst part? I was less than a block away. I saw the whole thing. I ran to them, but it was too late. Both my parents were thrown from the car and died on impact."

If only I hadn't been so self-centered. My parents would still be here today.

"It wasn't your fault."

I pulled my hand away at her comment. "Yes it was. If I had just stayed at my friend’s house that night, they would never have been out looking for me."

"That might be so. But I tend to believe in fate, and when it's someone's time, it’s their time. That night it was your parents’. I know that's hard to accept, but it's the truth. There was nothing you could have done differently."

"Can you really say the same for every good man I couldn't save. Every soul I lost in war. And the innocent woman who died at my hands?" I stared out the front windshield, but Nancy wasn't having it.

She grabbed my chin and forced me to look at her. "Yes, I can. Those are all things you can't change. But you want toknow what youcanchange?" When I didn't answer fast enough, she continued. "You can change how you handle what happened around you."

Nancy took a deep breath. "You have two choices, Lex. You can let these things define you by continuing to believe you're cursed and you don't deserve happiness. Or you can look at it differently. You can live your life to the fullest in honor of those whose lives ended too young."

She held my gaze as if challenging me, and I guess she was.

"Which one is it going to be?"

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Nancy

I waited with bated breath to see which one Lex was going to choose. I knew what I wanted him to do. It hurt my heart to watch him constantly blame himself for things that were out of his control. He saw it as being cursed, but I saw it as the universe seeing what he could shoulder. It was clear he’d hit his breaking point, though.

"I want what we discussed in your office. I want to live my life."

I brushed my thumb along his beard. "I want that to."

Lex let out a humorless laugh. "Less than an hour into this and already I've fucked things up."

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