Fated Obsession

Fated Obsession

Ellie has spent three years trying to move on from the night she confessed her feelings to Theo Blackwood — her brother’s best friend — only to be dismissed and humiliated. Now, as summer stretches out before her, Theo is back in town after years away at university.

But something’s changed. The boy who once ignored her is now impossible to avoid, and no matter how hard she tries, Ellie can’t deny the pull between them.

Caught between old wounds and unexpected desire, Ellie must decide if she’s ready to risk everything, including her heart, all over again.

Chapter One

There are few things in life more humbling than standing in the feminine hygiene aisle of Tesco at 11:47 PM, in a pair of bunny pyjama bottoms, flip-flops, and a hoodie that says ‘Pawsitive Vibes Only’, holding a family-size bag of Doritos, two Galaxy bars, and the kind of pads that come with built-in wings and the promise of not ruining your sheets.

Add in the fact that I’d just started my period a full week early, with no warning and even less mercy, and you’ve got yourself a humiliation cocktail served cold and with zero ice.

I wasn’t supposed to be here. I was supposed to be in bed, watching Love Island reruns and pretending I wasn’t slowly dying from uterine betrayal. But no, my body had decided that this was the moment to ruin all my plans and my last pad. So here I was: makeup-free, hair in a pineapple bun that had given up hours ago, flip-flopping my way through Tesco Express like a swamp creature in search of absorbency.

The few customers in the store barely glanced at me as I wandered the aisles like a war survivor. Good. That was ideal. Invisible was the vibe.

Then I turned the corner, and fate, that overdramatic cow, decided to throw a shifter in my path.

Not just any shifter. The shifter.

Theo. Bloody. Blackwood.

I stopped dead in my tracks and blinked, hoping this was a nightmare and that I would wake up soon.

Not exactly the kind of reunion moment teenage me used to fantasize about.

You know how people always say when you run into someone who broke your heart, you’ll look incredible? Like you’ll have glowing skin and better hair, and maybe you’re on your way to some cool rooftop bar, laughing into the wind with your hot new partner?

Yeah, this was not it.

I was bleeding, bloated, and one limp ponytail away from starring in a zombie apocalypse. My hoodie had a mysterious stain on it. I was ninety-eight percent sure I had chocolate on my chin.

And yet, there he was.

Standing in the drink’s aisle, holding a bottle of drink like he hadn’t left my life three years ago and taken my teenage dignity with him. Like he hadn’t looked me dead in the eye the night before leaving for university and told me I was just his “best mate’s little sister.”

He wasn’t supposed to be here. He wasn’t supposed to be anywhere but here. Last I heard, he was still in Bristol finishing his degree, being tall and smug and unbothered somewhere far away from my vicinity.

But no. Here he was.

And he was looking at me like I’d hit him.

Not figuratively, literally. His whole body had gone still, water bottle forgotten in his hand, jaw tense, chest rising once, sharply. His nose flared, actually flared, like he was trying to sniff something out, and his eyes... oh God.

Those storm-grey eyes of his flicked from my face to the pads I was holding… and then back up.

Kill me. Kill me now.

For a second, neither of us said a word.

I was standing there with a bag of sanitary pads clutched to my chest like a life preserver and couple of bars of Galaxy wedged between my armpit. He looked like he’d just stepped out of a photoshoot, all warm skin, messy hair, tall and broad and entirely unfair to look at.

I wanted the floor to open and swallow me. Tesco, I beg of you. Send me to the underworld via the discounted drinks display.

“Elizabeth?” He said, voice low and a bit rough, like it had been dragged over gravel.

I blinked. He blinked. My uterus, unhelpfully, clenched in excitement like it had a mind of its own. The betrayal was total.

I stared down at the pads in my hands. Then back up at him. Nope. Still here. Still Theo Blackwood. Still looking at me like I was some kind of celestial event.

“You’re not allowed to see me like this.” I told him, gripping the pads tighter. “There are laws. Human rights laws.”

The corner of his mouth quirked, just slightly. “I don’t think that’s true.”

“It is. It’s in the Geneva Convention. Right under ‘do not ambush women in Tesco while they look a mess.’”

He actually smiled then, a full one. Slow. Stupidly good-looking. My uterus made a noise I chose to ignore.

“You’re funny.” He commented. “Always were.”

“And you’re—” I cut myself off. Because “the man who rejected me and stomped on my soul while I cried in a hoodie shaped like a taco” felt like too much for aisle four.

I cleared my throat. “What are you even doing here?”

He stepped closer, his nostrils flared again, and his brow furrowed slightly, like he was trying to focus through some invisible noise only he could hear.

“Grew up here, remember?” He reminded me, like I’d forgotten. Like I hadn’t memorised every inch of his stupid face before he left for uni.

“I thought you were still in Bristol.”

“Finished last month. I’m back.”

Of course he was.

Of course, fate would drop him directly in my path during a hormonal breakdown and a carbohydrate run. I should’ve stayed home, I should’ve bled into a sock like a pioneer.

“Well.” I said, shifting the chocolate in my grip, “I should, um… go check out.”

His mouth parted like he wanted to say something else, but I was already pushing past him with a muttered goodbye and the desperate need to escape before my brain exploded from over-analysis.

I didn’t let myself glance back until I was halfway down the street, flip-flops slapping against the pavement, bag rustling against my hip. And when I did, just for a second, I thought I saw him through the Tesco window.

Still standing there.

Still watching me.

@=#=#=@

A/N: First chapter of the new book in the Fated Series, Fated Obsession!

I hope you guys liked this chapter

What did you think of the first chapter?

Thank you for reading and thank you so much for your support 💛

-Kayy xx