JINXED: (Karma Series, Book Two)

by Donna Augustine

  The receptionist dropped the magazine onto the desk, dropping the subterfuge of not watching me with it. “Yeah, you are.”

  “It’s these shoes. They aren’t that comfortable.” I was wearing sneakers.

  She forced her mouth into a smile, but it didn’t wipe the doubt from her eyes. I smiled back and hoped I did a better job of faking it than her.

  I pulled open the interior office door to the back, never noticing the full weight of it until now. My knee felt like it was going to tell my shin it wanted to go its own way. I focused on walking as normally as I could, while maintaining a face that showed anything but pain. Even annoyance would do.

  I took a quick inventory of its occupants. Luck wasn’t in, which was a good thing. She read me better than most and almost as well as Fate.

  “Hey, guys,” I greeted, as I made my way past Crow who was talking to Jockey. I waved to Bernie as he watered a potted four-leaf clover on his desk and went to sit over at my table by the window.

  Gripping the chair, it helped support my weight as I sat down. I whipped a book out of my purse and pretended everything was good in my world. As if I wasn’t fighting the force of the Universe on a daily basis and barely escaping.

  The arrival of Buddy, Bobby and Billy, the Jinxes, was heralded by the skidding sound of skateboards. They knocked into the table I was sitting at, pushing its leg into a collision course with my knee. I grimaced before I could stop myself and then forced my teeth to unclench.

  “Chickie, you don’t look so good,” Bobby said, and Billy and Buddy didn’t hesitate to back up his opinion.

  “I’m fine. And a gentleman should never criticize a woman’s appearance,” I replied, hoping to shut down this line of questioning.

  It had the opposite effect on the three of them. They looked at each other and made mocking faces before breaking into a fit of laughter. Yeah, I wasn’t operating on all cylinders today.

  “Chickie, that’s the funniest shit we’ve heard in a decade!”

  The Jinxes were laughing so hard I didn’t notice when Fate walked in. I was clued in to his arrival as soon as I saw the Jinxes start to lean on the table, wall, windowsill or whatever else they could place their little hands on.

  He was heading in our direction. I could feel the way his eyes bored into my skin as he neared. Every inch of my body seemed to become more alive, as if it had some sort of intrinsic awareness of him on a cellular level, or whatever it was that my body was now comprised of. Or maybe it was a heightened sensitivity after our last romp.

  “Hey, what’s up?” Buddy addressed him, leaning on the table with his ankles crossed, trying to play it cool.

  Fate looked over, as if he hadn’t noticed them until they spoke. He nodded, and then turned his full attention back to me.

  “Need to talk.” His tone meant business, but I wasn’t sure which business it was. Did he want to talk about our moment the other day, to put it nicely, or was this about the job he’d shown up at a few nights prior? I could still see that woman choking in my mind.

  Either way, it meant getting up. That would, in turn, lead to him noticing my limp. Fate saw everything; I’d never be able to hide it from him if I couldn’t even make it past the receptionist.

  “Right this second?” I motioned to the boys, as if I didn’t want to leave their company. I knew it was a stretch.

  “Now.” He didn’t scream the word; he didn’t have to. And yet somehow the whole office heard him say it anyway. Maybe it was because they had an ear in our direction every time we were together. Fate and I were the hottest piece of gossip currently circulating through the building.

  The Jinxes looked at Fate, then me, then each other, and quickly decided the other side of the room looked more appealing. Couldn’t blame them. He wasn’t happy, and a pissed off Fate was a scary Fate. Not that I was particularly worried. Fate wasn’t threatening Kitty’s life, or kicking me in the gut, so he wasn’t listed as a top threat in my book. No one got that honor these days until they’d nailed me in the head with a metal-reinforced boot toe.

  I remained in my chair and looked out the window. His presence hovering over me was palpable. He wasn’t going to leave. I couldn’t hide the limp and after that last knock to my knee, I wasn’t completely sure I could even stand, yet.

  Waiting him out wasn’t going to work. “Why don’t you sit?” I motioned to the empty seat next to me.

  “No. Not here.” He grabbed my chair and pulled it out for me, banging my knee against the table leg again. An instant burst of pain exploded, causing me to catch my breath. I was impressed I hadn’t screamed or made a noise, but my cover was completely blown.

  His brow furrowed and his eyes squinted accusingly. The vein pulsed in his neck and his body seemed stiffer than it had been even a minute ago. That was impressive. If he got any tenser, he might turn to stone.

  “Do you need me to carry you?” The words were said softly but with a definite edge. He looked so angry I wasn’t sure if he was mad or trying to help.

  “No.” The last thing I wanted was to be carried out of there.

  I turned in my seat and tried to get a read on him. An idiot would’ve known he was pissed but beyond that I got nothing. Why was he the only person in my life I had so much trouble reading?

  He started to lean down and I realized that I was out of time.

  “Don’t you dare,” I said, trying to delay whatever action he was preparing to take. Looked like my stall quota had been all used up. If I’d had any delusions of him cutting me any slack because of what had happened between us, I was quickly realizing how wrong I’d been. He seemed even worse.

  He moved closer and grabbed me under one arm. But not hard, and I realized he was actually trying to be helpful with his previous offer when he tried to assist me in getting up.

  “Stop,” I hissed under my breath, not caring what his intentions were, at this point, everyone was staring at us, and he was drawing attention to the fact I was wounded.

  He gave me space as I pretended everything was fine. I stood, waiting to see if my knee would hold my weight. His jaw was clenched and he wasn’t leaning while he waited. When Fate didn’t lean, it was bad. The less horizontal he was, the worse it was. A happy Fate was at full tilt.

  I went to grab my things, but he did it for me. He threw me a look that said “don’t you dare argue.” I shrugged it off, like it wasn’t a big deal, and made my way outside, now with an obvious limp, him maintaining less than a foot distance behind me.

  Once we got into the hallway, he pushed open the door to the stairwell that was right near our office entrance. Stairs? I was wrong about him again. He was trying to aggravate me.

  I wasn’t going to argue or say I couldn’t, so I limped through the door he held open. The second it closed he shoved me against the wall.

  “What are you doing?” His stare sent a chill through me, the flecks of green looking almost gold and ablaze. Last time I’d looked at his eyes, I would’ve sworn they were darker. I tried not to shrink away, not that I could. He had a hand on each shoulder, pinning me to the wall.

  “What the hell is your problem?” My voice was a few notches above normal but not quite a scream.

  He moved in even further, until my breasts were pressed against the front of his shirt. “When did you hurt your knee?”

  “I was running and tripped on a rock.” It was so lame I was embarrassed at my lack of creativity.

  “You don’t run.” I could feel his breath fan my cheek as he spoke.

  I rolled my eyes. “That must’ve been why I hurt it. It was right after I saw you last. Too bad you ran out of there so quick. You might have been able to warn me.” My cheeks grew hot at what I’d just revealed but hadn’t meant to. I hadn’t even admitted it to myself how bad it had felt when he’d just up and left.

  I got it, though. It was Cupid again, or at most a base sexual desire. At least it had been for him. In all honesty, I didn’t know what it was for me.

 
He his head bent down slightly and he lowered his voice. “I didn’t mean to run out like that. I just had to—”

  “Call Cupid? Yes. I know.” I didn’t need any fake excuses. I had enough lies in my life without adding his to the heap. It was what it was. He wouldn’t have done it without Cupid, and I probably would’ve. He didn’t need to know that part, though.

  “Then you know it was the iced tea.” He sounded slightly relieved, and it hurt me more than the throbbing knee or the bruised ribs.

  It hadn’t been a question, but I answered it anyway. “Yes. It wasn’t a big deal. Let’s not make it into one.” I tried to shrug his hands off my shoulders. “If that’s all you wanted, I need to get going.”

  He didn’t budge. “Where?”

  For someone who was so relieved to be let off the hook, I couldn’t shake his grip loose. If anything, his hands on my shoulders were even tighter. I wasn’t in the mood to put up with him. I’d given him an easy out; he needed to take it.

  “I thought we just established that the other day wasn’t a big deal, so why don’t you back off?” I’d had trouble maintaining eye contact before from embarrassment, but that was quickly fading as my anger rose. My back was against the wall—literally and figuratively—and I was ready to fight my way out.

  “We have other matters to discuss.”

  Now the real panic started. This went beyond embarrassment. We were heading into lethal territory.

  I stared at him, silently asking what had happened to the unspoken truce I thought we’d had. The night at the house, I thought he’d realized. Then at the condo, again, he seemed to know not to ask, even as I let him survey my home. And yet here he was, pushing the issue.

  As if in response, he raised his hand and brushed the hair back from the bruise I’d covered with makeup. It was such a gentle gesture that if I didn’t get away from him soon, I’d melt right in place. I forced myself to remember how he’d basically rejected me twice, now. I couldn’t let myself fall apart because of something so small.

  “If you don’t get your hands off me, I’m going to kick the shit out of you.” I stared into his eyes; I had my own anger. I was doing the best I could by myself, and I didn’t need additional shit from him. I didn’t need someone messing my head up worse than it already was or walking in and out of my life whenever they felt like it.

  “Try.”

  It was a low blow, but I brought my knee up. The rage I felt was swallowing me up whole. Given any excuse, it flowed out of me. Having him stalk me and now manhandle me made it explode like a volcano a thousand years past its due date.

  He blocked it with his knee and took a step between mine. His hands shifted down to my arms, pinning them to my sides. In that moment, I would’ve torn him apart if I could’ve.

  “I can help you.” I was wrong. He wasn’t angry. He was frustrated. I saw the concern there, and it drained everything I had.

  I stared at him, wishing I could speak. My body sagged against the wall. I wish you could help. I don’t want to do this alone, but you can’t. But I couldn’t say any of that to him. More than anything, I wanted to collapse into his arms and tell him everything.

  He stood in front of me, not budging, our eyes locked in a nonverbal standoff. As we stood there, something started to change. The tension shifted from something combative into a different type of beast. My chest rose and fell a bit quicker as I wet my lips.

  He seemed to get closer and closer, until his forearms were resting on the wall behind me, and his body pressed against mine.

  “Karma…”

  I wouldn’t find out what Fate was going to say, because a buzzing sound came from the purse I’d dropped by my feet. It was the throwaway phone. The work phone wasn’t muted. I’m not sure why vibrate is considered silent when it’s so goddamn loud, sometimes. The thing sounded like it was filling the whole stairwell with noise.

  We both stared down at it intensely but for different reasons. My body went rigid again, blood was pounding in my ears as my heart thudded. I had to answer that call. Luke wasn’t the type to wait, and if he had to, either Kitty or I would pay for it later.

  It stopped vibrating.

  “That wasn’t your work phone.” Fate’s attention had returned to me completely.

  “Yes, it was.” How could he possibly know?

  “No, it wasn’t. I know the rate of vibration on your work phone.”

  Who—even someone supernatural—knew the sound of a different rate of vibration? It was insane but completely believable if you considered this was Fate.

  “So what? You’ve got a second phone.”

  “Exactly,” he said.

  How had that point gone so wrong? I was getting rusty. The stress of the situation was dulling my brain. I used to operate better under high-pressure conditions, like a well-tuned car opening up on the highway. Now I puttered and died, hoping to limp along the shoulder.

  Maybe it was the Kitty element. Holding an innocent life in your hands was a whole different type of pressure compared to trying to beat a drug charge for a junkie.

  The phone started vibrating again, and my breathing got rougher. If I didn’t answer it this time, there’d be hell to pay.

  His eyes moved from my purse to nail me with a condemning stare. “Are you going to talk to me, or should I just answer it and introduce myself?”

  “I’m done playing around with you. Let. Me. Go.” I licked my lips. With every burst of vibration, I felt more and more desperate.

  “Who’s playing?” His hands slid down again, his grip just beneath my shoulders.

  I tried to lift my arms from my side again but couldn’t.

  Then his hands were gone.

  He took the tiniest step back. “Answer it.”

  “No.” I moved to grab my purse but he got to it first and pulled the phone out, while I fought to get it from him.

  “Hello?” he said, his eyes on me the entire time. He took the phone from his ear. They must not have spoken, because Fate lowered it without another word.

  He dropped the phone into my purse and handed it to me. I grasped it and turned my back to him, digging into my purse. But the phone wasn’t in there. He had taken it with him. I turned back quickly, but he’d already left the stairwell, the door shut behind him, my phone in his possession.

  I yanked at the door but it didn’t open. Slamming a fist repeatedly, I screamed for someone to let me out but was ignored. My fist was sore when it finally opened a few minutes later.

  The Jinxes stood in a line in front of me. They threw their hands into the air. “Hey, don’t bust our chops! He told us to do it.” Bobby, front and center, thumbed the air in the direction of the lobby.

  I was furious at them but the only thing I could come up with was, “Don’t look for your scotch next week.”

  I sprinted out of the building, ignoring how my knee burned in pain and their yells about how unfair that was. By time I got outside, Fate was gone, along with his car. He’d left and taken my phone with him. And I didn’t know Luke’s number by heart, I only recognized it from the three zeros in the area code. Why hadn’t I written it down? Sloppy. How could I be so careless?

  The Honda sat ten feet away and I rushed to it. In my haste, my fingers fumbled and dropped the keys. My knuckles scraped on the pavement in my rush to retrieve them.

  “Are you alright?”

  I let out a small yelp, startled by the voice. It was Fred, the accountant and single human occupant. “What?”

  “Are you okay?” The words you don’t look it didn’t come from his mouth, but his expression was screaming them.

  “I’m fine. Just in a rush. I forgot about an appointment.” I smiled half-heartedly.

  “Okay.” He nodded politely and moved away slowly, as if he doubted it was the right direction.

  The door creaked open as I got in and I drove straight to Wal-Mart, while I tried to remember Luke’s full number. The last two digits were stubbornly evading my memory, but I’d try ev
ery combination until I got him.

  By time I got to Wal-Mart, my knee refused to bend, but it also didn’t want to completely straighten out. It was clearly rebelling against the sprint. I grabbed a cart to lean my weight on and headed off toward the electronics section.

  It didn’t matter what phone it was, I just needed it quickly. Dodging children and adults, I grabbed the first pay-as-you-go phone I saw and handed it to the teen behind the register, shoving bills at him before he had a chance to ask.

  “No bag.” I grabbed the phone back and started trying to tear into that horrible hard plastic. It would have been easier to break out of handcuffs than to get this hard clear stuff off the phone. The young man behind the register took pity on me and handed me a pair of scissors.

  “Thanks.”

  I nearly jumped out of my skin when it rang the second it was torn free. The area code to Nowhere, USA, displayed on the ID. I’d forgotten; as soon as I knew the new number, so did they.

  I answered it while returning the scissors. I hobbled as quickly as I could to the front of the store, afraid I’d lose the signal.

  It was time to do damage control, because Luke was going to be pissed. Losing connection now could be disastrous. “Hello?”

  He rattled off an address. “Be there at eight o’clock.”

  “Sure.” He didn’t say anything about Fate answering the phone. Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad. Perhaps he wasn’t that mad.

  “And don’t ever let that happen again.”

  No, he wasn’t mad, he was furious, and either Kitty or I would be paying for it later. I just hoped I could afford the price.

  Chapter 24

  My own private horror show.

  The address was a one-story cinder block building located at the end of a dirt road, in the middle of no man’s land, South Carolina. There was no one around to hear the screams but the birds.

  Luke was smiling when I walked in. If I hadn’t known it was going to be bad, I would’ve known now. Luke wasn’t happy unless he was inflicting pain.