Fated: Karma Series, Book Three (17 page)

In the middle of my elation and recent achievement, I didn’t expect the smile to slip from Fate’s face.

“I think we need to have a talk.”

“There’s something I need to tell you about last night,” Fate said.

“What?” I said aloud, while internally I was shouting
I knew it
. He had slept with someone, goddamn gigolo. I knew I shouldn’t have trusted him.

“That’s not fair.” There was a gravelly quality to his.

“What’s not fair?”
He wanted to talk fair?

“What you’re thinking.” His voice went from gravel to stone. “It’s written all over your face.”

“What’s written on my face is what I heard in your tone. Obviously I’m not going to like whatever it is you have to say, which I’m withholding opinion on until I hear all the facts.”

His eyes called me a liar but when his mouth opened, he said, “I want you to meet someone who was converted by Malokin who’s staying with Lars—who, by the way, I didn’t sleep with, even though, according to you, I can’t keep my dick in my pants. And you can’t kill her.”

“You do know how odd that sounded, right? Putting that whole speech about your penis in the middle of that statement?” On the positive side of things, Fate wouldn’t sleep with someone involved with Malokin in any way. It still didn’t mean I was going to like this.

“Having to ask you not to kill someone is utterly normal? Your bucket list? Again, completely normal shit you’ve got going on. And yet I don’t accuse you of being a murdering lunatic.”

Spotting a gang on the horizon, Fate and I ducked into a partially burned out self-serve laundry place. After all, we couldn’t kill every lunatic on the street or there wouldn’t be enough people left when things hopefully righted themselves.

I hopped on top of a somewhat clean washing machine and continued my argument. “Only because I haven’t been doing very well with it. You, on the other hand, have had quite a bit of success with your numbers, from what I’ve heard. I know your batting stats are up there. Don’t forget, our coworkers talk. A lot.” I leaned back and immediately thought better of it as my palm landed in a mixture of spilled detergent and ash.

“Do you realize how long I’ve lived? I wasn’t a priest, for God’s sake.” He handed me a rag that was lying on the counter.

I took it and jumped off the machine, trying to keep a few feet of distance between us. If I was three feet away at all times, it would be psychically impossible to have sex. “No, I have no idea how long, because you’ve never told me that either. Who is this person and why are they with Lars?”

“It’s some girl who showed up at his shop. She’s under his protection.” He hopped up on a folding table to sit, leaning forward with his hands braced on either side of him.

“I’m not saying I would kill her, but why can’t I?” I clanged a dryer door shut. “Since when did we start caring about keeping his people alive? Is this some sort of pity deal?”

“She came to him for help. She claims she’s not a bad person. Lars is a bit on edge about her.”

It took a second for all the pieces to click together. When things moved as fast, as they did these days, it was hard to be sharp at all times. But whoa, when they did click, I was speechless, at least for a second before I blurted out, “He’s fucking one of Malokin’s converts? I can’t believe this. And I’m supposed to not kill her so he can keep his sex toy?”

“I didn’t say you wouldn’t want to.” He leaned back, resting an arm along the machine next to him, somehow finding the only clean space in the joint. “I’m telling you, you can’t.”

“And you’re fine with this?”

“I’m giving him space to figure it out.”

“Figure it out?” I snorted. Lars screamed sex. “If he hasn’t figured it out yet, he should probably give up hope. Like Lars needs another crazy girl to fuck? You boys are unbelievable. Hey, why try and stop this at all? Hell, more crazy chicks to bang.” His eyes followed me around the place as I thought out the situation on my feet. “And don’t look at me like I don’t know. I’ve heard all the stories.”

He shook his head. “This one’s different.”

“Oh yeah, I agree there. Most of the girls he fucks aren’t part of Malokin’s Army of Evil.”

“You’re making assumptions. I met her. I’m not so sure she’s bad.”

“Let me guess, you want to fuck her too?”

“Nope. Not even a little.” His gaze locked on me like a homing signal and sent me scurrying to my next pointless thing of observation, a detergent dispenser.

“Why wasn’t I invited last night?”

“Bucket list.”

“Oh yeah. I forgot.” These people made an awful big thing out of a list I hadn’t been able to execute very well. “When do I get to meet her?”

“Leaving the timing up to Lars.” Fate jumped down from his seat, ducked his head out of the building and then waved me forward.

***

The house was peaceful and quiet. Fate was out looking for more pop-up armories with the Jinxes, and everyone else was asleep. The moonlight spilled in through the doors.

At night, when it went silent like this and the crazies had all finally succumbed to exhaustion, I could almost pretend everything was normal.

The warmth of the mug seeped into my palms, where they wrapped around it, as I walked over to the couch. I’d curl up in the corner and watch the waves break on the ocean. Sipping my tea, I’d dream of normal everyday bliss while I waited for exhaustion to claim me as well.

I’d imagine that the world wouldn’t be falling apart. Maybe I’d never died and was at a friend’s beach house, making a late night cup of tea because I was up and worried about a trial next week or some other matter that now seemed trivial.

Only hiccup was, in my dreams, Lars was never sitting on the deck with a machine gun resting on his lap.

I moved past the couch and opened the door to the deck instead. He looked over at me as I took the seat beside him. His boots were kicked up on the railing as the moonlight bounced off his hair. He was a handsome guy if you could get past the fact he’d been the Grim Reaper in a past life and he looked like he was still willing to lend a helping hand to anyone who wanted to pass over.

“How are you?” he asked.

His eyes scanned me, searching for some visible display of my messed up psyche. That’s when I knew for certain he’d not only had the entire story of everything that had gone down recently, but all the nitty gritty details as well.

“I’m fine,” I replied. And I was but I could have been a walking train wreck and still wouldn’t have admitted it. Looks of pity had that effect on me.

He nodded, like someone who understood on a personal level what it was like to keep your own counsel.

“Live long enough and bad shit tends to happen. More often than usual with you, but it’s unavoidable.” He smiled, taking the unintentional sting out of his words. “Take enough steps and sooner or later one of them is going to be in dog shit.”

“I guess I’m lucky like that.” I looked down the beach, seeing a few stragglers but not much else. “Quiet tonight.”

“Enjoy it. We might not get too many more of these.” He crossed his ankles where they rested on the railing, the heavy boots making a thudding noise in the quiet of the night as he repositioned them.

I buffed my nails on the pajama shorts I was wearing. “I wasn’t going to ask but since the world’s going to shit and I’m at a lack for more appropriate small talk—“

“Figured he’d tell you about her,” he said with no surprise in his voice.

“Yes.”

“You can’t kill her and add her to your bucket list.”

Fate was right. He was edgy. This girl was getting to him and that could be very, very bad. “I can’t believe you’re sleeping with one of Malokin’s people. If you haven’t noticed, we’re at war with him. What are you thinking?”

“She’s not with him,” Lars’s voice was firm and more than a little defensive. His hand ran through his long black hair as he sighed. It took a full minute before he spoke again, less decisive this time. “At least I don’t think she is. Talking about fucked up relationships, how’s yours?”

“I don’t have a relationship.”

“
Sure
you don’t. You two walk around saying nothing about anything and pretend it’s completely normal. Worry about your own issues.”

He resettled the rifle in his lap as I stared at the chips in my nail polish in the heavy silence.

“We’re both screwed up. But your situation is still worse.” All I needed to do was stick my tongue out to make that statement complete.

He turned his head toward me and raised his eyebrows. “Care to debate that?”

I stared down at my nails again, thinking that having them plucked off one by one would be preferable. “I won’t talk about yours, if you don’t talk about mine.”

“Done. That was significantly easier than I had imagined.” He waved a finger toward my hip. “On to other subjects, I’m supposed to take a peek at that.”

“Sure.” I kicked my feet up on the railing beside his but with not nearly the same satisfying thud.

“I’m not going to see anything wrong with the tattoo, am I?” he asked as neither of us made an effort toward show and tell.

“Nope.”

“Care to share what the issue is?”

“Nope.”

“Understood.”

I stood and stretched out my arms with a yawn. “It’s been nice chatting with you, Lars. Sort of, anyway.”

“Back at ya, babe,” he said, using the top of the gun to salute me.

We all watched The Matrix the next night—for our own individual reasons. I’d seen the movie more times than I could remember and was looking for a mindless diversion while I waited to see if there would be retaliation from the recent hit on Malokin’s men. Luck would do anything that avoided being in the room she shared with Mother. I swore Mother was just there to annoy Luck. The Jinxes thought Neo was almost as cool as Fate and Murphy—well, he just went along with the plans usually.

When the doorbell chimed, every head popped up. People came and went constantly now. The only oddity about getting company was who would bother to ring before entering?

Fate rose and headed over to the door as if he’d expected guests.

“Hey, good to see you. Come on in,” Fate said to someone still out of sight.

“Thanks!”

No, that couldn’t be who I thought it was. Then he stepped in and I saw him with my own eyes. Cupid, dressed in his signature silk, a Louie Vuitton suitcase on wheels trailing behind him.

I stopped chewing mid-popcorn bite and looked around the room, gauging everyone’s reaction. I couldn’t be the only one freaked out about living with Cupid. When I hadn’t seen him recently, I’d figured he had some cloud to go hang out on. When he hadn’t made the meeting, I figured said cloud was a bitch of a commute. Not so lucky.

Taking in the expressions, it looked like we were all frozen in a moment of silent panic. The only thing keeping me in my seat was Fate’s warm greeting. He’d known he was coming. What was this about?

Fate stood next to him—not just close to him but he actually patted him on the back. “Cupid is going to be staying with us. He’s promised to be on his very best behavior.”

Cupid couldn’t have looked happier about it. So much so, I felt a twinge of guilt over the fact that I was fighting tooth and nail to not run from the room.

All of us tried to utter greetings in varying degrees of forced enthusiasm while keeping our distance. Knox, poor shmuck, rose and went to greet Cupid and shook his hand. Clearly no one had bothered to warn him.

While Cupid was distracted by Knox, and everyone else was distracted by Cupid, I got up, and this time it was me grabbing Fate’s arm and dragging him behind me. I didn’t stop until I got into the bedroom and shut the door behind us.

“What are you doing?” I nailed him with the question before the lock clicked into place. I waited for his answer even though I had my own suspicions. Fate had declared war on my libido. He’d said no more messing around, and this had to be part of his master plan. Cupid was full proof. He could get a girl in bed quicker than a bottle of tequila and Brad Pitt on bended knee.

He relaxed back against the dresser, not a hair out of place. “He needed somewhere to stay.”

“And he couldn’t stay with his people? Those little flying cherubs couldn’t whisk him away to safety somewhere?”

“He wanted to feel included.”

Yes, that was the Fate I knew. So worried about people feeling like they were part of the gang. I was having a hard time not choking on the bull he was spewing. “I will not stay here with him.”

“You can’t leave. You made a deal.” Fate plopped down on the bed as if he were preparing to take a nap.

“I didn’t agree to stay here with him.”

“Then tell him to leave.” He stretched out his arms and tucked them behind his head and then had the nerve to yawn.

“You invited him here to...”

“To what?”

“Why me? Can’t you find someone else to sleep with to amuse yourself?” Someone that wouldn’t be torn apart when you moved on from her.

“Because I don’t want anyone else.”

If he had just stopped speaking then, I might have grabbed on to him with both hands and thrown caution to the wind, but he didn’t.

“I want to amuse myself with you.”

All the warm and fuzzy feelings from a moment ago were now cold, wet and soggy. I’d gone from warm plush teddy bear kind of feelings to something you found at the curb, discarded after a flood.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“I’m going to go ask Cupid to stay somewhere else.”

“Really? You’re going to tell Cupid to go?” He acted like I’d said I was going to get the Jinxes to stop drinking. Then he started laughing.

“Yes. In the nicest way possible, I’m going to explain that due to his past behavior, it isn’t a comfortable situation.”

He got up from the bed and walked toward the door. I thought he was going to try and stop me but he opened it and took a step back. “It’ll never happen. That southern girl is going to rear her polite little head, but I can’t wait to watch you try.”

“You’ll see.”

“Please, I’m dying to.”

It took me a minute or two to track Cupid down in Fate’s office, while Fate himself dogged my steps. The door was ajar when I got there. The furniture had been moved to the side and an air mattress was in the middle. I was still nervous about getting too close but this had to be done. I could do this and be uncomfortable for a few minutes, or not and be waiting for a sex bomb to blow at any moment.

I tapped on the wood of the open door as I watched him unpacking his clothes onto a freestanding rack along the back wall. “Cupid? Do you have a minute?”

“For my favorite couple? Of course I do! Come in,” he said, smiling a hundred-watt smile and waving us both in. “Sit!”

I took the office chair and Fate perched a hip by my side.

“Cupid—”

“Please,” he held up his hands, “before you speak, I have to get something off my chest.”

I nodded, hoping it had something to do with how he wouldn’t be able to stay long.

“When Fate asked me to come here, I can’t tell you how happy I was. My job, well, it hasn’t always made me the most popular. There have been many a night I’ve lain awake, pining to be one of the
gang
. To now have you embrace me, along with Fate, it really means the universe to me.” He laid a manicured hand above his heart.

I was torn between wanting to ask him where he was still able to get his nails done or what exactly had Fate told him. This was going to be trickier than I’d initially thought. Still, if I dug deep, I had the social graces buried somewhere inside that would be able to pull this off without him being completely insulted.

“Cupid… I—”

“You know, I really thought after that last little nudge I gave the two of you that you were very upset with me. I only did it because I felt it was for the best. I’m so thrilled you aren’t holding a grudge.”

“I… You know, um… ” My words died and I forced a smile onto my lips. Looked like I was going to use those southern manners to go down gracefully instead.

I felt Fate’s hand land on my shoulder. “She’s trying to say she’s so happy you’re here, too.”

I let out a long sigh and then agreed; all the while my brain was silently screaming
shit, shit, shit
in my head.