Reckless Karma (Sinners & Saints #2)

Reckless Karma

Book 2 of Sinners
& Saints

Chelsea Ballinger

Reckless
Karma © 2016 Chelsea Ballinger

All
rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval
system, without the prior written approval of the author except for the use of
brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.


Published
by Chelsea Ballinger


Cover
created by Chelsea Ballinger


This
is a work of fiction. Names, titles, places, characters, and events are the

product
of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to

actual
events or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Any trademarks,

service
marks, product names, or named features are assumed to be the property of their
respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied

endorsement.

Playlist

“Music
gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and
life to everything.” –Plato

MS
MR – All The Things Lost

Frank
Ocean – Wise Man

Post
Malone – Too Young

Aquilo
– Waiting

Ruelle
– Take It All

Zella
Day - Shadow Preachers

Adele
– I Miss You

Adele
– Love in the Dark

Halsey
– Young God

Sleeping
At Last – Already Gone

Vaults
– Poison

Sarah
McLachlan – Answer

Florence
and the Machine – Various Storms & Saints

Paper
Route – Dance On Our Graves

Birdy
– Without A Word

Real
Life – The Weeknd

Lykke
Li – No Rest For The Wicked

Somo
– Slowdancing in a Burning Room (Cover)

Sam
Smith – Nirvana

HAIM
- Falling

MS
MR – Fantasy

Ruelle
– Up in Flames

FOR THE DREAMERS AND INSPIRERS

Part 1

“If I had a flower for every time I
thought of you… I could walk through my garden forever.”

-Alfred Lord Tennyson

1

GABRIEL

“Gabriel!!!!!!!!!”
I hear my little brother’s lungs shatter like glass as he calls out my name.

           
“Hugo!”
I yell back, running down the hall. I almost run into my other little brother,
August, who comes out of his room scared.

           
“Go
back in your room,” I tell him.

           
I
get to my parents’ room and I see the white curtains that lead to the balcony
getting beaten by the wind and my little brother Hugo staring at them. His one
green, one blue eye both filled with horror. I look around.

           
“Hugo?”
I reach him. “Where’s Mom?” He doesn’t look up at me or say anything. He just
continues staring at the curtains. One tear falls down his pale cheek and his
bottom lip trembles and I know. I know where she is. I slowly walk through the
curtains and Hugo follows me. I should keep him from seeing this. I’m his big
brother. I’m supposed to protect him, but it’s too late. He saw it before it
happened. What’s the point of stopping him from seeing the aftermath? I push
the curtains out of our way and head to the stone rail of the balcony. I hear
the cars honking and people screaming. I hear everyone outside our building
wondering what happened. I hear Hugo’s breathing getting louder, and I feel my
heart beating out of my chest. My stomach doesn’t feel good either. Hugo grabs
my hand and his small feet push up to see over the rail. I’m tall enough to see
clearly. I’m old enough to understand clearly while he’s not. I’m thirteen.
He’s eight. The first thing I see is the white gown surrounded by blood.

HUGO

I
don’t know why I’m thinking about my mother’s death. Thinking about the time
Gabriel held my hand just as we looked over the rail and saw her lying on the
ground.
 
Death is a funny thing. I’m
realizing that I’ve never really been afraid to die. People die – that is
what we do. It’s all just a ticking timer on our souls waiting to run out. Some
end it early like my mother and my brother
—
or so I thought my brother.

           
“So
how are we gonna do it?” Poppy asks. “How are we gonna kill her? Are we gonna
make it look like an accident? I don’t know if this is the right thing to do,
guys.”

           
We
look at her confused. “Poppy,” Jordana says rubbing her temple, “no one is
killing anyone.”

           
“But
Juliet said, ‘Let’s kill the bitch.’” Poppy mimics Juliet’s British accent in very
terrible form.

           
“Poppy,
that was metaphorically speaking,” Juliet answers.

           
“So
you’re okay with this?” I ask Juliet. My friend. My girlfriend now. The woman I
love. I’m not a man that needed someone to love me, but she made me into a man
that wanted someone to love me. Well, not someone. Just her. I was gonna take
her on our first date yesterday, but the plans changed when I was arrested for
alleged rape of a minor. A very sloppy plan, I must say, created by Scarlett
Brayson.

           
 
“I am,” Juliet answers. “She has no right
to do this, and…” she looks at our new guest, “if what you are saying is true
—
that
Hugo’s brother didn’t kill himself
—
then we have to stop her.”

           
Karlie
Fairchild, formerly known as Karlie Dale. She said she loved my brother and
that Scarlett destroyed that love. She even says that Scarlett killed him. She
was raped. Apparently Scarlett likes to get girls raped. Something else I never
knew about her, but at the same time I’m not shocked.

           
“Scarlett
is literally insane,” Karlie says.

           
“So
we’ve noticed,” Jordana says.

           
“But
she does have a weakness,” Karlie continues. “You.” She focuses her eyes on me.

           
“How
am I her weakness?” I ask. “Unless you’ve already forgotten, she is framing me
for the rape of Rebecca Townsend.”

           
“Yes,
she is… just like she used me to get to Gabriel, she used your love for your
girlfriend against you. No offense.” She turns her head towards Juliet. “But
you’ve weakened him.”

           
“Excuse
me? What?” Juliet’s head cocks back.

           
“She’s
right,” I say without thinking. Juliet looks at me in disbelief. “I don’t mean
it in a derogative way, but she is right. My guard went down, Juliet. I don’t
regret us, but it did. Scarlett took me out with ease like she does everyone
else. That should not have happened that way. I should’ve seen it. Scarlett
never gives up that easy.”
 

           
“And
now that you know just how far Scarlett is willing to go, nothing can stand in
your way. You know almost everything. I know the past. You and I… we can take
her down.” Karlie smirks proudly, and it’s as nerve-wracking as Scarlett’s.

           
“Well,
whatever you guys decide to do…” Cody announces, “I’ll help.”

           
He
turns around, but Anika
—
the girl Cody just lost his virginity to and
Karlie’s little sister
—
grabs his arm. He snatches it away before turning
around and facing her with a fury I have never seen in the little punk.

           
“Cody,
just let me explain,” Anika pleads.

           
“Explain
what? How much of a liar you are?” Anika can’t respond. “Nah, I’m good.”

JULIET

I
feel bad for Cody. He finally meets a girl who likes him for him, and
unfortunately in the beginning her intentions were deceptive.

           
He
stomps off and heads to his room. Anika starts to head after him.

           
“Anika,”
I stop her. “Just let him be for the day.”

           
Anika
looks at me, and after careful consideration nods her head and glares at her
sister Karlie, and I see the resemblance. Anika is a few shades lighter than
Karlie, but they both are the same. Same round dark brown eyes, same long
jet-black hair, small noses, and voluptuous lips. It’s obvious Anika is upset
with her sister’s actions with outing the truth, and I truly believe she has
feelings for Cody. Personally, Karlie is a mystery that I’m nervous of. It’s
obvious that what happened to her when she was just a young girl affected her
to the extreme. They said she was kind and good, but now she is a woman on a
path of clear vengeance. Also that statement about me weakening Hugo? Worse
—
he
agreed. I get it
—
I did something to his smug I-hate-the-world armor,
but weaken him? I never meant to do that, and I don’t want him to see me as
something that relates to weakness.

           
“Hugo!”
Ms. Eleanor comes running in her silk, red robe and yellow headscarf and hugs
him. Tears fall from her face and Hugo, who is not into intimate contact with
most, reluctantly wraps his arms around her. “Are you alright?”

           
“I
will be,” he answers.

           
August
comes in next, but before he can reach his twin brother, he sees Karlie. He
quickly looks down at his feet and scratches his head.

           
A
sad smile appears on Karlie’s face once she sets eyes on him. “Hi, August. It’s
good to see you again.”

           
August
says nothing back. He does move closer to me and grabs my arm.

           
“You
know her, August?” Hugo asks.

           
August
just nods and continues scratching.

           
“We
met once,” Karlie adds. “Damn, you guys really do look exactly alike.” She’s
referring to Hugo and August’s uncanny resemblance, given that they are
identical twins. They have the exact same brown hair, height, shape of their
hands, and the contrast in their eyes. One blue eye. One green eye. Except
August is autistic. The fact that August never mentioned Karlie bothers Hugo.

           
Karlie
continues staring at August in an odd way. She licks her lips, her eyes
fluttering as if she’s trying to stop herself from crying. “I better get going.
Anika, lets go.”

           
Before
she leaves, she moves closer to Hugo and gently places her hand on his arm.

           
“We’ll
talk more about this tomorrow. I promise you we will end this.”

           
He
nods.

           
“And
Happy Birthday.”

           
She
leaves and Anika, who is still furious, follows her out while I gape at Hugo.

           
“It’s
you’re birthday?” I ask.

           
“My
dear, we forgot,” Ms. Eleanor says.

           
“It’s
alright.” Hugo raises his hand. “We have more problems in hand.”

           
“I
don’t like birthdays anyway,” August nervously says shaking his head.

           
“What
all is going on?” Ms. Eleanor asks.

           
“Ms.
Eleanor, you do not want to know, trust me,” Jordana says and leaves, Poppy
close behind her.

           
“Hugo,”
I say, but he just holds his hands up higher, closing his eyes in frustration.

           
“I
just need to be alone for a second.” He leaves us and that cliché girly
insecurity that I vowed to never possess crawls up in me. Am I losing Hugo just
when I have him? Or maybe I never had him to begin with.

           
“She’s
bad.” August’s confession snaps me out of my insecurities.

           
“What?
Karlie? She’s bad, August?”

           
He
doesn’t respond, only runs off to his room.

           
Why
would he say that?

KARLIE

I
don’t want anyone to think I’m some sort of savior. I’m not. I am a long way
from the girl I used to be. Seeing August sort of reminded me of that girl.
Hugo reminds me of Gabriel. I sort of found him comforting, and I don’t find a
lot of people comforting.

           
“I
can’t believe you.” I was wondering when my little sister would talk to me.
She’s been pouting since we got in the car.

           
“I
had to.”

           
“Well,
you could’ve left me out of it.”

           
“You’re
the one who caved in once I walked in the room, Anika.”

           
“I
never even wanted to do this in the beginning. You sent me to college so I
could spy on your dead boyfriend’s brother.”

“No,
you wanted to go to Columbia. You got into Columbia all on your own, Anika. I
just took the opportunity to take advantage.”

“Some
advantage. All I did was keep an eye on Hugo Mandrake and then I got the job at
the restaurant not knowing that Cody would be there and… and he returned over
and over again… for me.” Her voice calms down and I can hear the hurt. “I
couldn’t just tell him the truth out of my loyalty for you.”

           
“Exactly.”
I face her and she’s beginning to cry. “Out of loyalty to your sister, your
family. Anika, he’ll get over it and if he doesn’t, he’s as weak as I thought.”

           
“He’s
not weak,” she murmurs in his defense.

           
“We’ll
see.”

           
“Well,
you’re right about one thing. That girl Scarlett is a bitch.”

           
“What
was she like when you saw her?”

           
“I
don’t know… cunning, confident, a bitch. When they arrested Hugo,” she shakes
her head in disbelief, “she had this look that was so cold. It was the coldest
I’ve ever seen. It reminded me of what she did to you, and I imagined that same
cold stare followed with a smile as big as the damn city. It pissed me off and
reminded me why I’m doing this.”

           
I
stare back out the window and reach for my baby sister’s hand and hold on to
it. I hold on to it like it’s the only breath I have left. I have a habit of
squeezing tight. I have since the night my world changed forever.

           
“Karlie,
just promise me this will end well,” she says as she squeezes back.