JINXED: (Karma Series, Book Two) (7 page)

Malokin was different. If Paddy was nervous about him, he was bad. He wouldn't scream or threaten; he'd just kill me.

But threat or not, I really couldn’t afford to piss more people off. Perhaps I should try and pretend I
was
scared, to plump up their egos.

“Did you hear me?” Cutty screamed.

Oh no. I’d been so focused on my concern over Malokin I’d already blown the whole fear charade. I'd been drifting off as Cutty had been mid-scream. Now they certainly weren’t going to want to be friends with me.

“No, I'm sorry. I didn't.” It was a tad ridiculous to admit I’d been distracted when he'd been bellowing an inch from my face.

“Give me the duct tape,” Cutty yelled to one of the other guys.

“Are you going to tape me to the chair?” I asked, still not overly concerned.

“Yes. You going to listen now?” he asked mistaking the reason for my squirming.

“Actually, I need to use the rest room first, if this is going to be a while.” That Maker’s Mark was flying through my system at an alarming rate.

“Tape her up,” Cutty said.

“But she's got to pee?” Bic said. “If she pees in the chair, I'm not cleaning it.”

“If she pees in the chair, she sits in it,” Cutty replied.

“Do you know what that'll smell like? She smells pretty now. I don't want her to be smelly,” Bic said.

“I don't want to be smelly either,” I added to the argument.

“Give me the goddamn tape!” Cutty ripped the roll from Bic’s hand.

A noise drew our attention to the door where Lars stepped into the room. His hair was flowing free around his shoulders as he came to stop a few feet from me

“You’re late,” Cutty said.

Lars didn’t argue, but instead motioned for Cutty to go over to the side with him and then walked away.

“Don't. Move,” Cutty said before following Lars.

“Okie dokie, smokie.” I crossed my legs, trying to buy my bladder another few minutes and dug the nail file out of my purse. I'd chipped a nail earlier today and it was driving me absolutely crazy.

Cutty threw me his best evil eye and then walked over to Lars. They must have underestimated my senses, me being a transfer and all, since I could hear everything they said.

“I'm not sure that’s a good idea,” Lars said.

“Why? We can't kill her or beat her, but he said nothing about scaring her. The tape is all we’ve got left.”

I glanced up quick enough to see Lars make a face.

“He never said anything about scaring, and this needs to be done. She's either with us or against us,” Cutty continued.

“He's going to care,” Lars shot back. “Just don’t do the tape thing, and maybe we should let her use the bathroom, too.”

“Why are you acting like such a wuss? It’s not like she’s his. They aren't together.”

“Not technically, no. But if you saw the way he looks at her...” Lars eyes widened a bit. “I’ve been with them. There’s something there.”

The way he looked at me? I'd never noticed Fate looking at me weird. Intense maybe but that was just how Fate was normally. What was Lars talking about? He was making it sound like I was dating the guy!

“If he wanted her, he’d be with her. He’s not,” Cutty replied.

“I’m not sure what they are.”

Cutty took a moment to ponder it over before he replied. “He slept with her?” Cutty’s tone had quickly switched gears from arguing to gossipy.

“I’ve got reason to believe so. Plus, I’ve heard some things.” Lars was nodding like, can you believe they’re doing it?

Keeping my face as neutral as possible, I forced myself to sit there. Bic and Angus had taken a few steps away from me, and closer to them, clearly enjoying the gossip as well.

Lars looked over at me and I tried to pretend I couldn’t hear every word he said. I couldn’t decide if it was better to stop the gossip or pretend I didn’t know. Either way was equally humiliating, so it was a tough call.

“The story is they slept together and then he dissed her,” Lars said. The other three all made gasping noises at this new tidbit.

Holy shit, this could not be happening. The second I left here, I was going to track Luck down and beat her with every last ounce of energy I had.

“So he dissed her?” Cutty asked, completely engrossed in the intimate details of my life.

Lars shot another look my way and then lowered his voice a notch before continuing. “From what my source said, it wasn't an
I'm not interested
in you
rejection as much as
it's better for you if we're apart
type.”

“What did she do?” Bic asked, he and Angus pretty much right on top of them now.

They were seriously going to stand there and gossip about me now? This just crossed every line I had, lines I didn’t even know existed until now.

“From what I've heard, she was pretty upset but pretended she didn't care. Then he was all
I don't care either
but he definitely does. I’ve seen them,” Lars added.

Cutty started nodding his head. “So what do you think is going to happen?”

Throwing my file down, I got to my feet. I couldn’t do a round of speculation, too. I marched over, forced myself in between the four of them and put my hands on my hips. “What has or has not happened between us is not for your discussion.”

Cutty looked down at me. Actually, they all did. Fate’s guys were freakishly tall, up close.

Cutty looked at me assessing and nodded. “Yep, They slept together.”

“I didn't say that.” I knew I shouldn’t raise my voice, but it happened anyway.

“You didn't say you
didn't
.” Cutty turned back to Lars. “This makes things much more difficult.”

“No shit.”

Cutty lifted the roll of tape in his hand. “We can't tape her to the chair, so what do you guys want to do tonight?”

“I'm not his girlfriend!”

They all looked at me and then decided to ignore me.

I poked a finger into Cutty's chest to get his full attention. “You tape me to that chair this instant!” I tried to rip the roll of tape from his hand but he wouldn't let go.

“No!” He yanked it back and held it up above my reach. “I won't do it and you can't make me.”

“Let's take a vote,” Lars said.

“What's the point?” the Bic said. “If she's doing Fate, what’s left to do?”

“Not about her, you idiot. Where we're going out tonight,” Cutty corrected.

“What about O'Toole’s?” Bic said.

“O'Toole’s is good with me. You two good with that?” Angus added in.

That was it? They were just going to leave? Probably to continue with the gossip over a beer. “I'm not good with that!”

“Karma, I'd like to help you out, but it's just not in the cards.” Cutty threw his hands up in the air. “I'm sorry. Nothing I can do about it.”

Cutty headed toward the door and the other guys followed.

I ran in front of them and tried to block the door. “No. No one is leaving here!”

“Can someone else step in here? I just can't keep doing this with her when she won't take no for an answer.” Cutty stepped aside and Angus stepped forward. He put his hands on my waist, picked me up and then deposited me to the side.

“That's it?” I yelled out after them.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry. We're finished here. You need a ride or something?” Lars asked.

“I hate you all.”

“Are you sure he didn't dump her cause she's crazy?” I heard Bic say as they walked out without me.

Chapter Nine

Even a cat only has nine lives.

Luck was sashaying through the lobby, her five-inch heels clicking away, when I finally spotted her.

“Wait up,” I yelled, and hurried after her, wanting to catch her before she made it into the office.

Once I caught up, and she got a good look at me, the instinctive smile she naturally wore dropped into something closer to concern.

“What's wrong?”

“How much of the story did you tell people about what happened with me and Fate?”

She looked skyward, as if trying to recall all the details. “Well, you know I warned Murphy about the Cupid thing—”

“No, I mean about
how
it went down. Like the specifics of things said after the act happened.” Even though I knew the truth, I was still hoping she’d tell me she held back.

“Oh, yes. I told Murphy about that too.” She smiled, like it was the most natural thing in the world.

It took a second before I could get the word to unstick from my tongue. “Why?”

“Why what?” Her face was pure confusion.

“Why would you do that? Tell him?” The words flew out of my mouth.

“Isn't that what you're supposed to do? You were upset about it, so of course I got upset for you. Well, obviously then I needed to confide my emotional hurt. You weren't in any shape to comfort me, so I talked to Murphy. That's what besties do. I've studied them.” She nodded her head through this whole explanation.

I covered my eyes with my palm for a few seconds. It was hard to remember she'd never been mortal and didn't really understand the concept of a human friendship. She hadn't meant to be a complete blabbermouth.

Dropping my hand to see her confused stare, I explained, “This is the thing, besties tell each other secrets. But, they aren't supposed to repeat them to anyone.”

“Yes, but Murphy is my bestie, so then it’s okay to tell him,” she said, quite confidently, as if she was filling me in on some inner workings of human friendship that I’d skipped over.

She seemed so proud of herself I almost felt bad about having to explain the finer details, but I had to do it. “It’s okay to tell him your secrets, not mine.”

She started to fiddle with the chain on her neck. “When I watch the humans, they repeat everything.”

She was shifting from one foot to the other, moving out of confident territory and into flustered. I was afraid if I didn't let her off the hook, I was going to send her into a complete tizzy at any minute. “It's okay. Just no more repeating secrets.”

She looked very solemn as she nodded in agreement but was staring down at the floor now. “Does this mean we aren't besties anymore?”

“No, we're still besties.” How did I become the one who was feeling bad?

She kicked out a toe, making an arc pattern on the floor, still looking down. “Does this mean I can be in the manual?”

“Murphy already told you about the manual?” This confirmed it. The entire office had a huge mouth. I wasn’t really trying to keep the book under wraps, but this had to be a record.

“Yes. Can I help?” She was looking at me now and smiling, clearing excited at the possibility of being included.

“Sure,” I said, having known from the beginning she’d want to be included.

She leaned in closer and whispered, “It's against the rules right? I've always wanted to be a rebel.”

“Hey, Karma!” Jockey, usually fairly reserved, was sprinting down the hall toward us. “You're making a manual?”

I shot Luck a look that said,
this has got to be a joke?
The whole office must know. 

“Why?” Luck asked Jockey before I did. Her enthusiasm made me look a bit closer at her. Why was Luck so excited?

“Could I help?” Jockey asked.

“Well, that depends. She'll need full access.” Luck stepped forward, partially blocking me and obviously looking to be the negotiator.

“What do you have to do with this?” Jockey looked pointedly at Luck and then tried to see past her to me. Luck simply moved with him, blocking access again. If I'd been human, I might've tried to diffuse this but I'd since learned to let them do their crazy shit and stay out of it.

“I'm her second in charge.” She nodded her head repeatedly. “So, full access or not?”

He eyed up Luck and then his shoulders seemed to ease a bit. “Yes. I will grant her access.”

I opened my mouth to respond to Jockey, but Luck cut me off again before I could say anything. “Can we see them?”

Jockey pointed to me. “She can and only when they are ready.”

Uh oh.

After an extremely loud sigh from Luck, she nodded.

“I'll come find you when it’s time,” Jockey said, and took off briskly in the opposite direction.

“Sorry.”

Luck shrugged. “At least one of us gets to go. No one ever gets to see the Night Mares, like ever.”

“Nobody?”

“Zilch! Not even Santa, and everyone’s always kissing his butt to get the good stuff around the holidays.” She moved a step in the direction of our office. “You coming?”

“Yeah.”

As soon as we took the turn down the hallway, I knew something was wrong. One of Mother's gardeners walked out of our office almost in tears.

“What happened?” I asked, but he just shook his head, unable to speak.

Quickening our step, we rushed in.

The office was in a complete uproar. Something was very wrong. It was so wrong in fact, that people weren't even running from Cupid, who was in the middle of the fray. Everyone was here but Fate, even some of the Tooth Fairy's dental assistants.

“What happened?” I asked as we walked over to Murphy, who was on the outskirts of the group.

His eyes dropped down and although he opened his mouth to speak, it took him several seconds to find the words. “Kitty
retired
.” The stress he put on the latter word made it sound like he believed anything but.

Luck turned to me opened her mouth to speak but immediately started to sob instead. Murphy folded her in his arms.

Luck spoke on an exhaled sob and my brain had trouble processing her words. A second later it clicked and I realized she'd said, “No, she didn't.”

Luck, turned away from Murphy, her breathing still heavy and erratic, but a bit of an improvement. “She wouldn't have left without saying goodbye. She wasn't even up for retirement.” She dragged a hand across her cheeks. “Where are her cats?”

“They're still in her apartment, with all her things,” Murphy said looking down. “We’re going to go over there shortly.”

As if the thought of the abandoned cats triggered another breakdown, Luck’s sobs renewed their force. Her pain was understandable. Luck had been a friend of Kitty’s for centuries. She’d been a maternal figure in Luck's life; in truth, the only mother she'd really ever had, never having been human.

I sank into the nearest chair. I hadn't known Kitty for long, but there was one thing everyone was aware of, including me; she'd never abandon her cats like that.

The next thought that came into my mind was something no one else in the office would know. I wasn't even sure myself but I feared it deep in my gut.

This was Malokin. He had her, and it was because of me. The waffles from breakfast felt like an unwelcome lump in my stomach as my fingers clenched the arms of the chair.

Luck was still crying; Murphy was hanging his head so you couldn't see his face. Death was walking over and I wasn't sure how I was even going to speak to him when he got there.

I stood abruptly, even though my legs shook. “I've got a job in twenty minutes,” I said, trying to scramble in my mind for details if they asked.

I didn't need a whole concocted excuse. They nodded, too consumed by their shared grief to care.