Fated: Karma Series, Book Three (9 page)

I knew it was Knox’s way of apologizing, and he didn’t need to tell me who issued them.
Paddy.
There was no way Knox would go against him, not in all eternity. The chips were piling up against me, and I was getting too tired to argue. A quiet corner was starting to outweigh who was there.

“How many people do you think you can fit at your place?” Knox questioned Fate. “The larger the group the better.”

“I’ll take whoever wants to come,” Fate said. “We’ll make it work.”

“I want to come! I love a good slumber party!” Luck said.

Murphy jumped on the bandwagon and I saw the Jinxes’ ears perk up as if they’d heard something of interest.

Would these people ever not seem weird? I didn’t think so.

I forced my legs to straighten underneath me and set off another dusting of ash. “Smoke and I are going to Luck’s tonight. That’s final. Tomorrow is soon enough for everyone to have to climb all over each other.”

Luck started rubbing a hand across her brow like someone would rub their cheek if you had a dirt spot on your face.

“What?” I asked, having a hard time thinking what could be seen on my face past all the dirt.

“Your eyes are glowing,” Fate offered.

Shit. I’d thought I’d gotten that under control. They were all looking at me like I was finally starting to crack.

“Now can I go to Luck’s in peace?”

“I’ll pick you up tomorrow,” Fate said. I think he was taking pity on me.

Luck stepped forward. “Come on, I’ve got an outfit you can borrow for now. Let’s go to the bathroom and clean you up a bit.”

I didn’t argue with that. I was leaving a trail of dirt as I walked away.

“Looks like we have a base,” I heard Knox say as we left.

Huh? Did that mean he was coming too?

Everyone was treating me with kid gloves since fiasco one, the near gang rape, and fiasco two, the condo burning down that almost took my cat with it. Fate had picked me up from Luck’s house the next evening. But he’d backed off only to sic his boys on me. I’d seen both Cutty and Lars in Luck’s backyard throughout the evening.

Luck was planning on staying with him too so I wasn’t sure why I needed a personal escort. She’d promised to drive Smoke over with her since Fate had wanted to make a stop. I’d burnt out my arguing skills over the past day—something I never thought would happen—and I was slightly more agreeable while I waited for my words to replenish.

Fate pulled the car up behind a closed strip mall about halfway between Luck’s place and his house. Every store in the row had been boarded up in the past week. I knew because I’d slowly watched it happen. I passed by here every day on my way to the office and I’d kept count. The last store in this strip mall had closed as of a few days ago.

“What are we doing here?” I asked.

“You’re going to need clothes.” He got out of the car and waited until I followed. He pulled out a set of keys and opened the backdoor to a place called Sandy’s Boutique. I’d shopped here when I was human and made better money. I hadn’t stepped foot into the place since I’d begun my new job.

“You own this place?” Fate and a women’s boutique went together about as well as a wolf in a hen house.

“I own the building, not the store.” He held the rear entrance door open for me and flipped on the lights. “Pick out whatever you need. I’ll cover it with the owner.”

Who would cover it with him? I walked around the store, knowing I couldn’t afford anything here without even having to look at a tag. Wow, this was awkward. Maybe I should just get one outfit to hold me over.

No, this was ridiculous. I was going to pick up two items that would cost me my whole pay for a month? “I can’t afford this place. There’s a clothing store down the street that’s still open. I’ll go there tomorrow.”

“I told you not to worry about it.” He shrugged, as if he didn’t understand my problem. Dismissing the issue, he looked back down at his phone as he leaned against the counter.

“But I can’t not worry about it.”

“You can pay me back if it makes you feel better.” He was still looking down at his phone as if he didn’t understand the concept of worrying about money.

“On my pay, it’ll take me fifty years with the price of things in here.”

“You’ve got the time.” His voice faltered on the last word and I looked away.

I knew what he was thinking because I was as well. I might
not
have the time; not if the vision he’d seen of me being killed was accurate. Neither of us brought it up often but it wasn’t something easily forgotten, not when you were the walking dead.

I grabbed a shopping bag from the counter beside him, figuring debt was the least of my issues right now and tried to forget the reminder from a moment ago.

I walked around the store debating on which was more depressing, ceasing to exist or minimum wage for an eternity. My intention had been to grab the basic essentials but the reminder of my throat getting slit added an additional level of stress that drove my need for shopping therapy way past the point of subduing.

Twenty minutes later, Fate looked up from his phone to the bags and heaps of shoeboxes I was trying to juggle. He reached into his pocket to add another wad of cash to the pile he’d already left near the register. He scribbled a note and placed that and the cash in the drawer before we left.

We got to his place less than five minutes later and he helped me carry in all my new belongings. I’d thought he was being a gentleman when he’d grabbed them for me.

He walked past the kitchen and living room. Things didn’t go bad until, instead of taking the stairs to the bedrooms above, he headed straight towards the master suite—his suite—the lair of the… That was the scariest part about it. I didn’t even know what the hell he really was.

My body, which had been simply watching, finally sprang into action and chased him down as my bags disappeared inside with him.

He was placing them on the bed when I walked into the room.

“Why are you putting my things in here? I know you have guest rooms. I’ve seen them.”

“We need the space. You heard them back at the office. We’re going to have half the place staying here. No one can afford to have their own room. Going to have to double up at minimum.”

“Double. Up.” I said the words as if I’d never heard them before. How could I have not thought of this scenario? That’s right, I’d been worried about everything falling apart while he’d been worried about falling into bed.

He said it as if he had no control of the situation. No—worse—like he was as stuck as I was. Fate didn’t do anything he didn’t want.

It all made sense. It was why he didn’t mind the entire office cramming into his house.

“You did this to…” My words faltered. I couldn’t say he did it to win. Oh no, that might lead to an outright discussion about what he wanted to win. Next thing, we’d be talking about sex. Then what if it led to a discussion about why I wouldn’t? The warning bells were starting to chime. I needed to abort this conversation immediately. I could picture it now, me in a pile on the floor crying
why don’t you love me?
Because that was the only thing left that could make this week complete.

And it could happen. I never would’ve imagined I’d be
that
girl, the kind who would grovel and beg. Now it hung over me like a looming threat. If I veered too close to the edge, I’d fall over, broken, desperate and clinging to whatever flimsy root I could.

“I don’t need to double with you. I think it would be better if I doubled with another female. Luck is coming tonight.”

He shook his head. “She’s rooming with Mother.”

“What about—”

“The Jinxes are in with Knox.”

He hadn’t merely been texting or surfing the web on his phone while I’d been shopping; he’d been tightening the noose. I guess that was what I got for being lured in by pretty linen sundresses. Oh the shame of it! He’d used the lure of frilly things in my time of need to distract me. A row of pretty colors and strappy sandals and I’d been a lamb to the slaughter.

“You’ve got other rooms.”

Legs wide, hands in his pockets, he said, “Taken.” The low husky way he pronounced that word gave me an altogether different idea of what he meant.

I watched him walk past me and shut the door while I was still looking at my new things on his bed, like a piece of meat sitting in the center of metal claws ready to snap its teeth into me. What would I do? Would I go quietly or would I chew off my paw?

So stunned at how neatly his trap had been set, I didn’t realize he was still there until he was standing before me, smelling all sorts of good and looking all manners of broad and handsome. How was a girl supposed to fight against this caliber of ammunition?

“I like when Luck dresses you,” he said, as his hand lifted to run over the swell of my hip. Luck had lent me the dress this morning. Her washing machine had mysteriously not been working. I knew I should have put my smoky, stinky clothes back on.

“Thanks.” I wasn’t surprised he liked it. Luck’s wardrobe had one goal in mind, make as many men drool as possible. She was extremely good at it. She never gave it all away, just hinted enough here and there to keep their eyes glued to her, waiting to catch another glimpse, a little more cleavage when she bent over or a bit more thigh when her step went a little wider at just the right moment. She was like a sex appeal ninja and she’d armed me with one of her secret weapons.

“I’m sorry about this,” he said, not demonstrating an ounce of remorse. His fingers tested the span of my waist where the dress showed it off to its best, before returning down to the swell of my hip again, fingers splaying

“Sorry about sharing the room?” I needed to break off contact because I was going down hard and soon. Maybe I wanted to. No, I
knew
I wanted to, and I couldn’t remember why I was fighting it. Maybe the ride was worth the crash.

“No. Not that.” His right arm wrapped around my waist as his left hand bunched in my hair, angling my head back, the better to access it. I was too shocked to think or doing anything before his lips were on mine. The only thing that came to mind briefly was what had happened to covert tactics, subtle attacks that came from the side and nipped away slowly at my reserve? This was nothing like the kisses he’d been stealing over the last few weeks. This was a full siege.

I quickly realized that he’d been going soft on me but he wasn’t anymore. The other thing I was sure of was that it hadn’t been all Cupid those other times. In fact, I might have highly overestimated his contribution. He might have pushed us both into the same boat but he wasn’t the one who’d raised the sail to full mast.

He walked me backward and I was too overwhelmed to even think of stopping him. The bed hit the back of my calves as he bent forward, and I fell back upon it, him following me down. He pulled me with him further onto the center of the bed. His legs wedged in between mine as he settled his weight against me, full erection pressing exactly where it would do the most damage and feeling absolutely exquisite against me. The only thing I was thinking then was I wanted him in me.

My arms were holding him close and I would’ve crawled inside him if I could’ve, just to get closer. I loved the weight of him pressing me into the mattress, being surrounded by him on all sides as his arms cradled my head, as if I’d pull away. That wasn’t an option.

“Whoa, sorry!”

Murphy’s voice and then the sound of the door closing broke my lust-induced state enough to pull back just slightly.

He rested above me, his face inches from mine and the look on his face was about to make me melt right back in oblivion.

His eyes shot to my lips again before he rolled onto his side. He had me, bed to rights—no, that was supposed to be dead to rights—and he was pulling back? He was stopping?

I quickly scooted off the bed while I could still think straight and he changed his mind.

“What the hell was that?” I asked once I had a good distance between us and my brain was functioning on all cylinders.

“You should know. It’s nothing we haven’t done before.”

Leaning on his side, completely at ease, just waiting on the bed for me, a slight smile touching his lips. It would be so easy to walk back over and let all my worries fall to the wayside. Except for the prospect of an eternity of pining for him. “Why did you do that?”

“I want you in my bed, and I’m tired of waiting.”

He did not just say that. Knowing a man like Fate wants you can have some serious potency. Delivered from his lips, it was devastating.

“And that’s what you apologized for?”

“I was apologizing because I’ve reached the point that I’ve decided to stoop to unfair tactics if that’s what it takes.” He shrugged.

I should’ve been more alarmed than anything else. Instead I was intrigued. This was a very bad reaction. The normal car alarm that went off was blasting like a five-alarm fire was burning. I needed to evacuate the area immediately.

I practically ran to the door and just as I had my hand on the knob, he said, “You know it’s going to happen.”

I slammed the door shut, not looking back.