Karma

by Charity Ferrell

  "I can't stand that man!" I screamed, trying my hardest not to stumble in my heels at the same time I was forcing back tears. I will not cry. I will not cry. That asshole would never see me cry. Ever.

  A cold hand wrapped around my wrist when I reached the car. "I know," he said, swinging me around to face him. I leaned back against the car, and he swiped wind-blown hair out of my face. "I'm sorry he talked to you like that," he said, looking down at me and rubbing my shoulders.

  "Why did you make me come?" I choked out.

  He massaged my shoulders. "I didn't know he was going to act like that. I wanted to spend the day with you and we hadn't eaten, so I figured it would be okay. I was wrong. I'm so sorry, baby."

  I blew out a breath. "I'm not going back in there," I said, crossing my arms across my chest. My heart was racing as I silently prayed he wouldn't ask me to, either.

  His arms slid down to my waist, and he tucked me into his chest, resting his chin at the top of my head. "I don't blame you; I'm not either. We're in this together.

  I pulled away slightly and looked up at him. "Really?"

  "Really. I guess you were right when you said we needed to park so we'd have an easier escape," he said, trying to make light of the situation and giving my hips a squeeze.

  I gave him a weak smile. "I told you, I know these things.”

  I shifted my car into drive before swerving out of the parking lot into the busy intersection. "That sucked as much as I figured it would," Gabby grumbled, rolling down her window, and I felt the warm sun smack me in the side of the face. It was too hot to have the windows down, but I chose not to say anything in fear of pissing her off further.

  "I'm sorry, again. I feel like I just threw you into the damn shark tank," I replied, turning in the opposite direction of the office. I wasn't in the mood to go back there, and I felt bad dragging Gabby back into the place she dreaded.

  When Gabby had raced out of the restaurant, my dad had tried to stop me from going after her. I ignored him and his rude comments, choosing to chase after the girl over him. I knew he'd rip me a new asshole about it next time I saw him, but I didn’t give a shit.

  "Where are we going?" she asked, her attention moving away from the road as her eyes whipped over to look at me.

  I stayed quiet and chose not to answer her. Instead, I turned up the radio and continued to drive until I pulled into my complex’s garage. Circling around the parking lot, I parked into my space. "Hang out with me tonight?"

  She looked up at me through thick lashes and hesitated a minute before opening up her mouth. "I don't think that's a good idea." She was right, it probably wasn't, but I didn't give a shit. All of my brain cells completely shut down when it came to whether something was a good or bad idea when it came to Gabby. Just being around her was always a good fucking idea.

  "Please," I said, practically begging. I couldn't believe I was begging a chick to hang out with me. "I need a fucking breather from all this bullshit. I'm sorry for dragging you to lunch, let me make it up to you," I added, desperately, searching for any way to change her mind.

  She shifted around in my passenger's seat. "I really need to get home." I knew she was lying. The girl sucked at lying and making excuses. Her mom and my uncle were out of town, so they most likely didn't give two shits about what she did or where she stayed.

  "What's the difference between us hanging out in my office or us hanging out at my house? If you're at my house, at least you won't have the chance of seeing my dad," I added, giving her a weak smile.

  Her sharp eyes lifted up to meet mine. "Um, there are other people around so we don't do anything stupid, and my clothes stay on."

  "What’s wrong with you not having your clothes on?" I asked, tapping my fingers against my steering wheel.

  She groaned, her head falling back into the seat's headrest. "Take me home." Fuck, wrong thing to say.

  "We both need a break. We can hang out here for a while and I'll feed you, since you hardly touched your food."

  "Okay, fine," she groaned. I had to resist the urge to throw my hands up and scream out in my victory. She pointed a finger my way and narrowed her eyes. "One hour, that's it. And that's only because you're feeding me."

  I chuckled. "You sure know how to make a guy feel special," I said, leaning over and kissing the tip of her nose.

  She swatted me away with her hands. "And no more kissing," she warned, palming my face and shoving me back. "Whether it be on my lips, nose or cheek. No more kissing, period."

  "What about other regions that aren't on your face? Are those off-limits for my mouth, as well?" I asked, raising a brow and waiting for her answer while hoping it wasn't a smack across the face.

  She crossed her arms across her chest. "I'm being serious. What happened with us was a one-time thing. No more."

  I held out my hands in defeat. "Okay, okay. No more." I turned off my car, got out and circled around the space to open her door. She hoisted her purse over her shoulder and followed me through the parking garage to take the elevator up to my place.

  "Wow, this is nice," she said when we walked through the front door. I loved my new place. I'd just bought it a few weeks ago when I'd graduated from school and received a quarter of my inheritance. It still needed a few more touches, but I was relieved to be out of my parents’ house for good. That place was the home of misery. It bred nothing but bad moods; no one was happy in that damn place.

  My place had a modern look with an open floor plan. The walls were painted a light grey color, and every room was filled with black furniture. I wanted everything simple and clean. A giant, kick-ass TV was mounted onto my living room wall adjacent from the couch and surrounded by every gaming system they made. I wasn't big on video games, but I liked to play them when I had friends over. My mind raced and I wondered if Gabby liked the place enough to stay there with me. I shook my head. Shit, what was wrong with me? I couldn’t be thinking about that shit.

  I shut the door behind us, and she walked into my living room. Damn, she looked like she belonged in there. "Really?" she asked, stopping at the glass coffee table, picking up something and holding it into the air.

  "What?" I asked, looking at the True Blood DVD in her hand. "You guys were talking about it like it was some secret society I was missing out on. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about." The truth was, when I'd watched her and Asher get all hyped over some damn TV show, I got jealous. I'd never been a jealous guy. So when I dropped her off after dinner, I ran by the electronics store and bought every season. "I haven't started watching it yet. You up for some re-runs?"

  She flopped down onto the couch and glanced up at me. "I'm like the re-run queen. I've seriously watched every season like three times."

  I laughed. "Damn, babe, you really need to find something better to do with your time." I headed into the living room and snatched the DVD from her hand. Opening the player, I grabbed a blanket from the edge of the couch and threw it over her body. She made herself comfortable and dragged the blanket over her. I looked back over my shoulder, admiring the view. I liked seeing her snug on my couch, wrapped in my blanket and waiting for me to join her. If I could’ve taken a picture of her in any way to keep forever, it would be her, in that moment, curled up and waiting for me.

  "My girlfriends and I are obsessed with hot, vampire boys. Every girls' night, we veg out on the couch, drink and have hot-guy TV show marathons."

  I snagged the remote from the table and positioned myself next to her. "You still close with Brenner's girl?" My dad had always invited the Brenners to all our parties; they were some big-shots in the Atlanta music scene since his dad owned one of the top record companies. Whenever they showed, Gabby always hung out with their son and his crazy, redheaded girlfriend.

  "Cora, yeah, she's my best friend," she answered, smiling. "I seriously don't know what I'd do without that girl."

  I stretched my legs out in front of me. "She's a little firecracker." Her and my younger sister, Piper, di
dn't get along. They'd had a few verbal smack downs I'd witnessed at those parties before, usually over Piper hitting on her boyfriend.

  "That's because you're related to Satan," Gabby fired back. "No offense, but I can't stand your sister."

  "Not too many people can." I loved my sister, but Gabby was right; she had a long list of people who disliked her. She was vindictive, manipulative and spoiled. What people didn't understand, though, was that Piper acted out because she wanted to get attention from our parents. "How about we order a pizza and begin our little marathon?" I asked, turning on the TV.

  She shook her head, moving a strand of hair behind her ear. "Nu uh, I said one hour."

  The menu screen popped up, and I hit the play button. "The first episode is an hour long," I said, watching the show start. "We'll watch that one and then pick up episode two next time you come over."

  Her attention went from the TV screen and back to me. "There will be no next time, buddy." I knew why she was fighting me, but I also knew she was fighting herself in the process. She wanted to hang out with me just as much as I wanted to be around her, she was just too terrified to show it.

  "We'll see," I sighed under my breath and moved in closer to her body.

  Six hours, six episodes and one large pizza later, I was still up watching the vampire porn while Gabby snored lightly in front of me, her back to my chest and my arm draped around her waist. Her head rested on a pillow that was positioned on top of my other arm.

  When we’d finished our pizza, she’d yawned and snuggled closer into me, which I had no problem with. I carefully bent forward to turn down the volume on the TV and glanced down at her sleeping body. She looked so peaceful just lying there. Her mouth was opened slightly, and her hair was sprawled out across the pillow and away from her face. Her eyelashes fluttered as her breathing settled. I knew I should've woken her up but I didn't want to. If I woke her up, she’d want to go home, and I didn’t want that to happen.

  Instead, I clicked the power button to the TV, delicately wrapped her into my arms and carried her over to my bedroom. It was Friday night, so neither one of us had to work in the morning. I gently laid her down on the bed, pulling down the blankets before scooting her over and tucking her in. Her mouth released a light whimper, and my body tensed up, scared I'd waken her, but she didn't stir.

  Walking back into the living room, I flipped off all the lights and grabbed our trash when her phone began to ring on the table. I picked it up and saw Asher's name lighting across the screen above a picture of the two of them smiling together. I clicked the accept button and brought the phone to my ear. "What's up, dude? She's sleeping."

  If there was ever a time when Asher wanted to beat my ass that was it. "What the fuck. I told you not to fuck with her, and you pull this shit," he seethed.

  "Chill out," I said, dumping our dirty dishes into the dishwasher and holding the phone up with my shoulder. "We were watching TV, and she fell asleep. I didn't want to wake her up; we've all had a long week."

  "I'm sure you didn't want to wake her," he huffed. "I'm on my way to get her.”

  I kicked the dishwasher shut with my foot. "She's sleeping in my guest bed," I lied. "I'll have her call you in the morning when she wakes up."

  "Fine, but one more thing."

  "What's that?"

  "You tell her tomorrow you're getting married, or I'll do it myself. I don't give a shit if we’re blood or not, I won't allow her to get hurt on my watch."

  "Got it," I snarled, hanging up the call. Asher was going to fuck up everything for me before I had the chance to fix it. Telling Gabby about Eva was the last thing I wanted to do. I knew she wouldn't want anything to do with my lying ass and I'd lose her. I'd lose her because the one girl I actually had feelings for wasn't up to my parents’ standards, and they didn't give a shit about their own children's happiness; they only cared about their own selfish needs. I kicked my shoes across the room before taking off my clothes and falling into my bed.

  There were a number of different ways I'd been woken up in the morning. Sometimes it was my annoying-as-hell alarm clock blaring into my right ear. Other times it was the girl from the night before telling me goodbye or wanting a go at round two. One thing that had never been on that list was getting woken up by a damn slap across the face. Good fucking morning to me.

  "What the hell!" I shouted, my eyes flying open. I raised my hand and rubbed the sudden sting on the side of my cheek. My eyes flicked over to find Gabby beside me, sitting Indian-style with a giant smirk spread across her face. "I can't believe you just bitch-slapped me while I was sleeping. Who pissed in your Wheaties this morning?" I grumbled, frowning.

  Her auburn hair was tangled and her eyes still looked sleepy. I could tell she'd just woken up and most likely was ready to flip shit when she'd noticed whose bed she was in. "A slap in the face is better than someone waking you up and threatening you with water. Payback's a bitch."

  I blinked a few times, fighting my eyes against the sunlight coming through my blinds. "I'm pretty sure threatening someone and doing physical harm are two totally different things. The latter being the worst."

  She shrugged, tossing her messy hair over a shoulder. "Oh, well, you deserved it. I can't believe you let me fall asleep last night."

  I rose up. "I let you fall asleep? I'm sorry, did you want me to wake your ass up and kick you out of my house? I figured the precious princess would need her beauty sleep. Excuse me for trying to be a gentleman, damn." I balled my hands up and rubbed my eyes; it was way too early for this shit.

  She slapped my arm. "You should've called Asher. He would've come and gotten me."

  "I definitely wasn't fucking calling Asher to come get you from my house." Was she fucking crazy? Why would I hand her over to my competition?

  She groaned, falling back against the bed. "Get over your bullshit with him. I don't know why you two seem to have such hard-ons for each other, but you seriously need to get the hell over it."

  I peeked down at her. "I don't have any beef with Asher; he's my cousin. I just want him to stay the hell away from what's mine."

  Her eyes narrowed into slits. "You better be talking about your dad's company or some stray puppy you two found on the street."

  "I think you know better.”

  She pushed up until she was practically in my face. "This is the last time I'm going to say these words. We are-" I inched forward, smashing my mouth into hers. The last thing I needed to hear first thing in the morning was her telling me we were nothing. She knew better. There was something going on between us, and we needed to explore it.

  I was shoved back roughly and my back smacked against the headboard. She began to pull away from my hold, but I tightened it up. Her green eyes glared into mine, but she never moved away to break eye contact. We both stared at each other, daring the other to cave, to give in to what we both desperately wanted. As much as I wanted to feel her luscious lips against mine again, I wanted her to be the one to initiate it. I needed to know she wanted me just as much as I craved her.

  We continued our staring game, our breathing growing ragged from fighting our desires versus our brains. I grinned, internally giving myself a huge-ass high-five when she inched forward and ran her tongue across my bottom lip. "Kissing is okay," she whispered, gliding her lips against mine and kissing me full on the mouth.

  I reached my arm around her back, pulling her into me closer. "Fuck, yes, kissing is definitely okay," I replied, kissing her harder. She pushed up my body and I straightened up, allowing her to straddle my hips. She'd taken off her shorts, now only wearing her shirt from last night and a tiny pair of panties. I raised the shirt up as her hips began to rock across mine. Goddamn, what was this girl doing to me? I groaned out in pleasure at the feeling of her softness grinding against my aching hardness. We fit together perfectly.

  I dug my fingers into her waist, and my heart thumped against my chest as her pace picked up. My lips parted and I inched up to kiss her again as
we both moved against each other. "Take these off," I grunted, pulling her shirt and bra off her silky body feverishly. I was rushing this, but I'd been dreaming and jacking off about this moment happening again. She rose up, her beautiful breasts bouncing in front of my face, begging my mouth to suck on her hard nipples. Leaning forward, I wrapped my lips around one and she arched her chest forward, telling me to give her more. I sucked on her nipple, giving her what she wanted and reached my arm back to cup her ass firmly.

  Her head fell down, her hair covering both of our heads. "That feels so good," she panted, and I released her nipple before flipping us over so I was on top. Fuck, I couldn't wait to pleasure this girl again. I racked my brain, trying to remember every touch I'd made last time that had excited her.

  Holding myself up on one arm, my eyes scanned her tight, sexy body, memorizing every curve. Her breasts were moving up and down along with her heaving chest as her brown eyes gazed up at me. Her puffy lips were slightly parted as she waited for me to make a move. The only barrier now between what I wanted was a pair of black, lacy panties. I hooked my index finger into the strings and quickly dragged them down her toned legs to the floor.

  My mouth became moist as I trailed my lips down her stomach and stopped just above her soft clit. "I've thought about touching you again every single day," I said, rubbing my hands up and down her thighs, satisfied when I noticed the goose bumps form in their wake. My cock stirred as I slid in between her legs and ran a single finger through her wet juices. Goddamn, she was so wet and ready for me.

  "Have you thought about me touching you again?" I rasped, rubbing my aching finger back and forth around her clit.

  She nodded. "I have," she choked out, her eyes fluttering shut. She knew what was coming, and she was ready for it.

  "I know you have because you're so fucking wet for me right now." I hoisted both legs over each side of my shoulders and bowed my head down to take the first lick. The first lick was always the best. I was not a selfish bastard in bed; I loved pleasing the woman, and I loved eating pussy. Her head shot back as a high-pitched moan echoed through my bedroom. Fuck, yeah, she was going to love this. I moved my head down lower, devouring her as the taste of her grew stronger against my tongue with each lick. "And you taste so fucking sweet," I muttered against her between long licks.