Page 5 of My Karmic Destiny

I try to brush off my stupid hurt feelings. “Yeah. Makes sense. It’s all been a lot.”

“That’s the truth,” Evan agrees and restarts the paused game.

Kurtis bounces back into the room and tosses me a water bottle. “Thought I forgot about you, didn’t ya?” He chuckles. “Nope. That’s what you do.”

I roll my eyes, but my gut sinks as I realize how I’ve failed my friends. They were there for me while we worked for Instant. How many times did we bail each other out? Too many.

Kurtis and Evan were working together years before I came along, and because of that, they’ve always been closer than I was with either of them. Evan took Kurtis under his wing and kept an eye on him when we were out at clubs or in dangerous situations, since he can spin out quickly and become self-destructive. Buttheir closeness is no excuse for me to ignore our friendship. Our history.

I sense Kurtis is more level-headed than he’s been in a long time, maybe ever. I wonder if his improvement is because Instant isn’t actively draining his soul anymore. I feel better too, but I’ve attributed it to Tessa’s love healing me.

Evan and Kurtis get back to their playful elbowing and get lost in the game. Actually, Evan’s acting different, too. I don’t think I’ve seen him so free-spirited. Not that he’s dancing on tabletops or anything, but his demeanor feels more open, more relaxed, at least toward Kurtis.

We continue playing until the early evening. Eventually, I stand up to stretch, wondering if I should head upstairs to the showers since Tessa should be home soon.

“I need to workout.” Evan tilts his head in an invitation. “Want to go down to the gym? You’re both welcome to join me.”

“I could use a workout.”

Kurtis cocks his brow at both of us, then his shoulders relax.

We head downstairs to the fancy ass gym in the mansion. It’s equipped with weight machines, treadmills, and mats for sparring. It rivals a lot of smaller commercial gyms.

I start on the treadmill to warm up, and the guys follow my lead.

After a few minutes of silence, Evan speaks up. “We’ve missed hanging with you.”

For Evan to admit that is the equivalent of him bawling his eyes out. He’s a known control freak, rarely showing emotion. He’s dealt with Kurtis and me for years, and he’s loosened up a bit, but not as much as I would like.

“I missed you guys, too.” I regret abandoning them to tend to my relationship with Tessa. This must have been hard on them—almost dying and realizing their souls were damaged by Instant Karma. “Sorry. I got caught up in finding my someone.”

Evan hums his acknowledgment of my apology. Then a moment later, he says, “I’m jealous.” He eyes Kurtis. “We both are.”

“I’ll spend more time with you,” I promise.

Both Evan and Kurtis chuckle with no humor.

“No, about Tessa,” he corrects.

“You’ll find someone,” I offer.

Evan shuts off his machine and turns to face me.

Something’s going on that I’m missing.

I stop my treadmill too. “What?” I demand.

“We wanted Tessa.”

I scoff. “Okay. Not sure what you want me to do about that. I love her.” I shake my head in confusion. “You had your chance with her. Not my fault she picked me.”

“We didn’t have a shot with you hogging all her attention,” Kurtis grumbles.

“And now, with Original Karma, we have a way to heal and live our lives.” Evan rubs the back of his neck. “I want a chance at love.”

Next to Evan, Kurtis nods his agreement, as if this were some sort of debate. As if backing off for their sake is an option.

“I’m not stopping you from finding love, but I’m not going to give you the go-ahead to steal it from me.” I toss my sweat rag at my machine and storm off.

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