Seeking Karma

by Melanie J. Cole

  “Hey, I was just checking to make sure you made it home safely.”

  “Yep, I’m safe and sound tucked into my bed.”

  Fuck yeah! I close my eyes, and picture her lying on her stomach, with her perfect ass in the air. “What are you wearing?” This is not the way I intended for this conversation to go, but when it comes to her, I can’t help myself. “Are you naked?”

  I hear her sharp intake of breath. “Trent! What’s gotten into you?”

  I laugh at her. She’s such a good girl. “Hey, a guy can dream.”

  “I’m wearing a white t-shirt.” She completely floors me with her answer. Maybe she has a wild streak, after all. I wasn’t expecting her to answer the question - at all. Now, I’m wondering if she’s serious. “Is that all you’re wearing? No underwear?” She has me panting like a dog.

  “I’m…hold on. Someone’s at the door.” Yep, I know. It’s me. I really hope she was being honest - about what she was wearing.

  She opens the door, and her mouth falls open when she takes me in. I’m holding a bag of microwave popcorn, and my Psycho DVD. My jaw nearly hits the floor, when I take her in. She wasn’t lying. She’s wearing a white t-shirt, that barely covers her ass, and even though she didn’t answer my last question - I’m pretty sure there’s nothing underneath. I think I’ve just died and gone to Heaven.

  “Hi,” I slip my phone back into my pocket - and hold up the DVD - so that she can see what it is. “I thought we could have a mini movie night. What do you say?”

  She blinks up at me. “Um…okay…sure.” I’ve caught her completely off guard.

  I step around her and close the door. “Do you want to make the popcorn, or start the movie?”

  “Um…make the popcorn. I guess.” She takes the bag and heads towards the kitchen. When she’s out of the room, I actually fist bump the air. All of our small steps at getting to know one another, are becoming so much more. She’s starting to trust me, and knowing that is mind blowing. I will make her mine.

  “Hey Trent,” she calls out from the kitchen.

  “Yeah…”

  “What do you want to drink?”

  “Do you have any Pepsi?” I walk into the kitchen, and watch her moving around.

  She pulls a bowl out from underneath a cabinet. “Yeah, sure do.” She looks up at me, as she pours the popcorn into the bowl. “Help yourself,” she motions to the fridge.

  “Do you want one?”

  “Yeah, thanks.” I reach in and grab two cans. She grabs the popcorn, and we head to her bedroom.

  By the time I get the DVD in, Karma is lying on her bed - beneath the covers - with the popcorn sitting on her lap. Unlike all of the other times we’ve hung out, I don’t hesitate. Hell, I don’t even ask permission. I jump in next to her, and pull the covers over me. I hear her laugh when I grab a fist full of popcorn, and cram it into my mouth.

  “What?” I ask around a mouth full of popcorn. This just makes her laugh that much harder. God, I love the sound of her laughing.

  She shakes her head. “Are you hungry?”

  I force the popcorn down, and debate on whether or not to try Jude’s

  approach – brutal honesty. Because honestly, I’d much rather be tasting her, but I take the high road instead. “I’m starving.”

  “I’m sorry we all skipped out on dinner. I really was tired.”

  “Don’t worry about it. We can do that some other time.”

  She nods her head and looks over at the T.V. “Is this movie really scary?”

  “Nah, it’s not that bad.” I pick up her remote and hit play. I keep stealing glances at her through the entire movie. Her gray eyes are large, as she focuses all of her attention on the movie. “Karma…” I reach over and brush a strand of her hair off of her cheek. I can’t seem to help myself around her. Being so close to her, and not being able to touch, kiss, and feel her is pure torture.

  “Um huh,” she leans her head towards me, but doesn’t take her eyes off of the movie.

  I chew on my bottom lip. “How do you like the movie, so far?” Not what I wanted to say, but hell, I get so tongue tied when it comes to talking about my feelings.

  “I like it.” She brings the Pepsi up to her mouth, and takes a drink. I want to kiss her so badly - but when I do - I want to be sure she wants it, too. We finish the movie in silence.

  “Well, I guess I better get going.” I swing my legs over the bed. It’s time for another cold shower. “Hey, what did you think about the self defense class?” I take out the DVD and put it back into its case.

  “I liked it, but…”

  I look over my shoulder at her. “But what?”

  She sucks her bottom lip into her mouth. “I just hope that if the time ever comes, I can actually do it. You know, not panic.”

  “I think you’ll be fine. You just need to have the mind-set that you can do it.”

  She nods her head a couple of times. “I guess you’re right.”

  “I’m always right, Karma.” She gives me a shy smile. I love that smile. “Well, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  “Trent, wait.” I turn to look at her. She has her pillow cradled against her chest, looking all nervous. “You don’t have to go. I mean, you can spend the night - if you want.” She rolls her eyes looking all irritated. “Please, don’t get the wrong idea. We’d just sleep, but I just don’t feel like being alone tonight.”

  I cannot believe I actually have to think about this. But I’m not so sure I can just sleep, in her bed. I’d much rather spend the night getting to know her body - much better. I’m scared I’ll attack her in my sleep. My dreams have gotten a lot more vivid, since she’s came back into my life. Hell, they’re full-blown fantasies.

  “I can do that.” I hope. My mouth feels like the Sahara Desert. I really hope my dick behaves himself, because I could never refuse anything Karma wants. Even if she asked me to say away from her. As much as it would fucking kill me, I’d do it. For her.

  CHAPTER 32

  KARMA

  When I open my eyes, I find myself nose to nose - with Trent. His long arm is draped across my waist. He’s sleeping soundly, and his fresh scent is surrounding me. I can’t help but to smile. He is so handsome, and somehow he manages to make me feel safe. I didn’t think that I would ever feel safe around any guy - ever again. I still can’t believe I invited him to spend the night. I’ve never spent the night with any guy - except for Dusty. He’s always my one exception. Dusty and I have a very close relationship. Over the years he’s become more like a brother, than a friend. As long as I dated Aaron, I never spent the night with him. We had sex - well he’d force me to have sex with him - after he beat me. He always wanted to be sure that I forgave him. He was a sick and twisted bastard. I shake my head to clear my thoughts. I don’t want to think about Aaron, especially while I’m staring at Trent. Wow, I feel like a school girl with her first crush. I really need to get up, before he wakes, and catches me memorizing every single one of his sharp features.

  I carefully remove his arm from my hip, and slide out of the bed. I want to shower and get dressed before he wakes up.

  When I get back to my bedroom, Trent is bent over tying his shoes. “Good morning. Did you sleep okay?”

  He looks up at me, and rakes his hand through his hair a few times. “Yeah, how about you? Were you okay with me being in your bed, all night?”

  I nod my head enthusiastically. “Better than okay. I haven’t slept that well in a long time. I didn’t even have any nightmares.”

  He cocks his brow at me. “You have nightmares?”

  I stare down at my hands, “sometimes.”

  He walks over to me and takes my hands into his. “What are they about?”

  I shake my head. Why did I even bring them up? “You don’t want to know.”

  He uses his index finger to tip my chin up. “Yes I do. I want to know everything about you, Karma.” His eyes search mine intently.

  I take a deep breath, and deb
ate on telling him. I honestly believe - talking about the details - of the hell Aaron put me through - would be a good thing. Even Anna doesn’t know the details. I’ve already confided in Trent about my thoughts of suicide. There’s something about him, that makes me want to open up to him, and let him in. “I want to tell you. I really do, but I don’t like people knowing my business.”

  He squeezes my hands. “Hey, whatever you tell me doesn’t leave this room. I promise.”

  I nod my head as my entire body begins to tremble. It’s excruciating reliving my time with Aaron, but hopefully, it’ll help me to move on. “Maybe we should sit down.” We walk over to my bed hand in hand, and sit down on the edge. “I’m sure you can guess that all of my nightmares are about Aaron. It’s like I’m reliving the abuse every single night. No matter how far I run, I can’t get away from him. He always catches me in the end.” I force the huge lump down my throat. This is so hard.

  “In the beginning he’d never hit me in the face. He didn’t want anyone seeing the bruises. I don’t know how many times I had to wear long sleeve shirts and pants, on a hot day.” I shake my head - disgusted at myself - for taking Aaron’s shit for as long as I did.

  “The worst beating was about three months before I finally got up the nerve to break-up with him. We were sitting at a red light. Aaron accused me of flirting with the guy in the car next to us. I swear, I didn’t even look at the freaking car. As soon as the light turned green, he punched me in the head so hard, that I blacked out.”

  I can feel Trent tense up next to me. I quickly rub his arm. “Hey, I can stop, if this is too much for you.”

  His mouth is set in a firm line, and he’s shaking his head. “No. I want to know.”

  I nod my head solemnly. “When I came to, we were in a parking lot and he was crouched down next to me.

  ‘You fucked him. Didn’t you?’ He’d accused.

  I rolled my head from side to side. ‘No Aaron. I swear. I don’t even know who that was. I’ve never seen him before.’

  ‘You’re a lying fucking whore, and whores deserve to be beat.’ He brought his fist down onto my chest, and I swear I think he may have cracked one of my ribs. I was gasping for air, but he didn’t stop. He continued to hit me. My left eye was swelled so badly, I couldn’t see out of it. He kept saying that I was his, and only his.

  After he had all of his anger out, he ripped my clothes off and had sex with me.”

  I shake my head bitterly. “We were in his car in a nasty parking lot.”

  “He raped you!” Trent says, jumping off of the bed. He begins pacing back and forth in front of me. “He fucking raped you!” He rakes his hands through his hair, roughly.

  Okay my little stroll down memory lane is over. Trent obviously can’t handle the gory details. I reach out and grab his arm. “Hey, it’s over. I’m never going to go back to him. I’m through.” I assure him.

  “God damnit Karma! You can’t let him get away with that. He has to pay. You need to press charges.”

  His words have me leaping to my feet. “No. There’s no way I’m going to press charges. All that would do is piss him off. Do you think his parents would let him spend one minute in jail?” I shake my head. “No. He’d get off and come after me.”

  Trent is so angry he’s physically shaking. “God damnit! You’re right. I should have fucking killed him when I had the chance.”

  “Trent, you need to calm down.” I wrap my arms around his neck, and pull him against me. “I’m fine now. What’s done is done.” I can feel his heart pounding through his shirt.

  He wraps his long arms around my waist and lifts me off of the ground. “I’m so sorry, Karma. I swear, I’ll never let him hurt you again.”

  “I know you won’t. I trust you.” Wow, this comes as a shock to me, but it’s true. I do trust Trent.

  CHAPTER 33

  TRENT

  I rake my hand down my jaw. I’m pacing around my room. Fuck! The things that Aaron did to her. He fucking raped her! How can anyone be so cruel? I will make him pay. Beating him to death would be too humane for that scum-bag. I want him to have fucking nightmares. He needs to constantly be looking over his shoulder. I just need to figure out a way to do it, without being too involved. I’m sure that mother fucker is just looking for an excuse to have me locked up. He already suspects something is going on between Karma and I. I absolutely cannot get myself arrested. I have to be free, so that I can protect Karma.

  Jude sticks his head inside of my door. “Hey, the pizzas here.”

  I nod my head. “I’ll be right there.” My mind is in over-drive, as I make my way to the kitchen. Karma is right - her pressing charges won’t do any good. It will be her word against his. Without any proof, his parents would have him off in a heartbeat. If he’s going to go down - it will have to be for something - that there will be so much evidence, that his parents won’t be able to dispute it.

  I reach out and grab a slice of pizza, as I sit down. “Have you heard from Jimmy, lately?” Jimmy’s a friend of Jude’s. He was a drug dealer turned informant for the DEA. I’ve got in on pretty good authority that Aaron deals in pot and pills. Knowing the way Aaron is, I’m pretty sure he’s into more than that.

  Jude eyes me skeptically. “Why do you want to know?”

  I shrug my shoulders. “I was just curious.” I have to be careful. Jude is pretty good at reading me, and I promised Karma that I’d keep her secret. I’m a man of my word.

  “He came by the garage a couple of weeks ago.” He takes a bite of his pizza, and washes it down with his beer.

  “Is he still a rat?”

  Jude sets his bottle down onto the table. “What are you up to, Trent?” He has me pinned with a pointed expression. “Don’t you think that you’ve put Mom and Dad through enough, over the past eight years? You promised me that you were going to keep yourself in check, when you moved in here.”

  “Hey, I’m not up to anything. I just have some information that he might be interested in, is all. Do you have his number?”

  Jude leans back in his chair. “What kind of information?”

  “I have the name of a dealer.” He doesn’t know about my hostility, towards Aaron. When I moved in here, I never mentioned Aaron by his name. I have to keep Karma out of all of this. I don’t want Aaron to be able to link any of this back to her. I don’t think she has a clue about his extracurricular activities.

  Jude pushes his chair back, onto its back legs. “Since when are you such a law abiding citizen?”

  “Since now.”

  He keeps staring at me for several more seconds. “It’s 422-3950.” I pull out my phone, and quickly punch in Jimmy’s number. “Trent…”

  “Yeah?”

  “Don’t make me regret this.” He pushes away from the table and walks out of the room.

  CHAPTER 34

  KARMA

  I’m stretched out on the sofa, reading ‘Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince’ - for the tenth time - when Anna comes in. She hangs her bag and keys on the hook, by the door. “What are you doing here? I thought you were going out with Trent.” She pushes my legs off of the sofa, and sits down next to me.

  “I am. He said he had some things he had to do, before he picked me up. Where have you been?” It’s going on nine o’clock. I reach out and put my Kindle onto the table.

  “I’ve been with our friend, Dusty. He’s all in a tizzy about some report he has to do. I was helping him do research.” She stretches her arms above her head and yawns. “Research is really exhausting.”

  “He hasn’t mentioned a report to me.” This bothers me. Dusty and I used to tell each other everything. Now, he seems closer to Anna. I’m not mad, or anything. I just wish we could go back to being as close as we used to be.

  “He just got the assignment today. So, where are you and Trent going? It’s getting late.”

  I shrug my shoulders. “I don’t have a clue. He won’t tell me.”

  Her eyes widen and she sits
up. “Ooh, a mystery. That sounds like fun.”

  I roll my eyes at her. “Well, I’m glad you think so. You know how much I hate surprises.”

  “Just relax and have some fun. You’ll be fine.” She pats me on the knee. “What is going on between you two? You’ve been spending a lot of time together, lately.”

  “Yeah, we have.” I chew on my lip, trying to figure out a way to describe mine and Trent’s relationship. I’ve confided in him more than once. I really enjoy spending time with him. He makes me feel safe. “I’m not for sure what’s going on between us. We’re kind of taking it slow.”

  She arches her brow at me. “But, you do like him?”

  “Yeah, I definitely like him. I’m just not sure, if I’m ready to get involved too much.”

  “Well, I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” She pushes off of the couch. “I’m going to bed. Have fun tonight.”

  “I’ll do my best.” I get up when I hear someone at the door. I grab my phone and keys and open the door.

  “Are you ready to go?” Trent is dressed in a pair of black jeans and a white t-shirt. He reaches out a gift bag to me. “I hope you like it. I’m not a flowers kind of guy.” I stare down at the bag for several seconds. “Go ahead, open it.” He steps inside of the door and closes it behind him.

  I slowly open it and pull out the blue tissue paper. Its season one of ‘The Bates Motel.’ I look up at him, and he has this big cheeky grin stamped onto his face. “Do you like it? I thought we could watch them together. I told you, we had to get you up to date on all things Norman Bates.”

  “I love it. Thank you.” I’m amazed at how normal this feels. Especially, since this is the first time we’ve been face to face, since I told him the details of mine and Aaron’s relationship. At least some of the details. He kind of flipped out, and I’m not so sure he can handle all of it. It was still a huge step for me.

  “You may want to grab a change of clothes, and a toothbrush.”

  “What? We’re going to be gone overnight?” I can’t hide the shock in my voice.

  “Yep, don’t worry. I’ll take real good care of you.”