Page 38 of Karma

“Give me an honest fugitive any day over normal, is what I’m saying,” I add, hoping they can’t hear just how much effort it’s costing me to sound light and breezy.

From the way they’re both looking at me now, I think they probably do. Or I’m just imagining things. I do that when I get cornered like this by memories I wish I didn’t have.

Karma wraps her fingers around my forearm and it works well to ground me again. Even those memories lose some of their sharpness when she touches me. Never thought anyone could have that effect. And the way she looks at me. She didn’t need to get that tattoo of the cabin. That perfect week in time is all right there in her eyes. Grim’s got something going on in his eyes too, and I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but I’m done trying to figure him out for now.

“I get what you’re saying,” she says and smiles. “But is it too much to fucking ask for a room with clean sheets? At least once in a while.”

“No, it’s not,” I say and stand up. “Come on, we’ll find the fanciest hotel and get a room. I bet there’s a bunch around here.”

They rise too, but are exchanging looks like two scared little kids.

“It’s a room in a five-star hotel, not a death sentence,” I say. “No one’s gonna find you tonight and by tomorrow we’ll be gone again.”

They still don’t look convinced but I’m sure I can get them there.

“I thought you were dangerous outlaws. And you’re scared of a hotel room?”

Grim isn’t, I can tell that much by the sharpness in his eyes. And for all her talk of wanting a quiet, normal life I doubt anything actually scares Karma.

“What’s the point of being free, if you’re afraid of doing whatever the fuck you want? Let’s go,” I say and walk out, hoping they’ll just follow and not argue anymore.

They follow.

Good thing too, because my sage words of advice aren’t worth shit, but I can show them a good time. Because at the end of the day, life’s not about being normal, or being free, it’s about taking risks. It’s about doing the things that get your blood pumping and is not about dreading tomorrow. Or yesterday.

I eventually got real good at following that wisdom, but regressed some in the last couple of weeks with the war looming. But right now, nothing gets my blood pumping harder than figuring out how this threesome of ours will work. And peeling that tight leather skirt off Karma’s hips. And untucking Grim’s shirt. And all the rest of it.

None of us have much of a tomorrow going for us. Separately or together. Our yesterdays are shit too.

So we might as well make the most of today.

18

Karma

The hotel we chose is a huge building made of black glass currently reflecting the purple and orange hues of sunset. Those go well with all the deep gold accents inside the hotel, including the lobby.

My heart is pounding as Grim and I sip on whiskey at the bar, while Scorpio chats with the pretty woman at reception. She’s one of those good girl beauties, with an easy girl-next-door smile and a body as sleek as a gazelle’s. One of those girls I might’ve been, but never will be. Normal. And I really hate how she blushes and touches his arm and laughs, while he jokes with her way more than is needed to book a room, in my opinion.

“You might wanna soften that glare,” Grim says. “She’s not gonna steal him from you.”

I turn away from the scene at reception and throw back the rest of my drink. “He’s taking way too long. We shouldn’t even be here.”

“Hey, it’s you that wants clean sheets and a normal life,” he says, finishing his drink too.

It’s not easy to read Grim’s thoughts, and I gave up trying a long time ago. It was after I realized that claiming me as his meant exactly that—he would never leave me unless in death. But then he did. And now I’m trying to read his thoughts again and it’s just as frustrating as I remember it being.

“He’s not gonna steal me away from you either,” I tell him. “But I do want to settle down. Though places like these will always be out of reach for us.”

“They’re not for him,” he says, inclining his head towards Scorpio who is just paying for our room with a gold card. “At least he’s not flashing a wad of cash around. That would’ve been suspicious as fuck.”

“I want credit cards too,” I say. “And an ID card that I’m not afraid to use.”

“It is what it is, Karma,” he says. “At least you’re getting your clean hotel room for the night.”

Scorpio is walking towards us, grinning from ear to ear and holding up the black keycard with the hotel’s name printed on it in gold.

“I tried to get us the honeymoon suite, but they’re all out of those,” he says as he joins us. “But I got us a sweet top floor suite instead… at a discount too.”

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