Page 28 of My Karmic Destiny

Tessa saunters over to where I’m sitting. Her movements and intensity remind me of a wildcat, and I’m the prey. I shift uncomfortably in my chair. I’m usually the dominant one in the room, but she holds her own and then some.

Her gaze drops to the spread of tarot cards, and I see her readied interrogation is temporarily set aside. She probably sees what they are saying, but half of what cards reveal is in the question asked.

“What do they have to say to you?” she says, and an icy breeze rushes over my skin.

Was that her power?

“That I probably fucked up,” I say and dare to raise my gaze to meet hers.

Tessa smirks. “Probably?”

“Definitely.” I flick my chin at her. “It’s confirmed in the way you’re looking at me like I’m on your reap list.”

“And how did you fuck up?” she asks in a soft, yet leading manner, so I know I better answer to her satisfaction, or this conversation is over.

“I went after the woman I love in a completely wrong way.”

Tessa flinches when the wordlovefalls from my lips. “Evan?” she whispers. “You can’t mean that.”

“Can’t I?” I show her the lovers’ card prominently centered in my spread. “I loved you when you tried to protect us from Instant Karma. When you were so fucking brave and strong and willing to sacrifice everything to save us and the world. But if I’m honest, I began to fall the second I laid eyes on you when you first walked into this house. And again when you figured out our prank about sleeping together in the same bed. And fuck, I wished you wouldn’t have been so smart. I would have claimed a spot next to you.”

She appears dazed for a long moment, but recovers with a bit of bite to her words. “And then what? Why didn’t you make your feelings known back then? Not after I was committed to Dante?”

“I thought I had to keep my feelings inside. I thought I couldn’t have a relationship when I was Instant’s lackey and your team leader. I didn’t want you to feel pressured because of the position of authority I held over you. Then there was Kurtis. He wasn’t okay,” I curse. “No, not just him. Webothweren’t doing well with the damage being done to our souls. But now, we have a chance at a life again.” I rub the back of my neck, feeling like an asshole even if I believe in what I’m saying. “I was trying to do the right thing and stay away. Besides, I didn’t want to step on Dante’s toes, especially if he made you happy. And I thought he could make you happier than I could. Until now.”

“Funny. You’re stepping on his toes now.”

Guilt eats at my soul. Am I fucking over my friend? Am I more damaged than I realize?

“I’m sorry. You’re right. I shouldn’t have overstepped.” I collect my tarot cards and avoid looking into her dark pools which see all of me. Which means she sees the bad, too.

That’s the blessing and curse with her—Tessa’s a person of substance. She can see past my walls. Maybe that’s why she wants Dante. He must have less fucked-up pieces of him than I do. Than Kurtis does.

As I wrap my cards up, I ask, “Can you ever forgive me?”

“Evan?” she calls, and I look up again. “We’re all trying our best. The reason we are in this house is that none of us made great life choices, but that doesn’t mean we can’t figure it out. You didn’t ruin anything with our friendship. Unless the option of being only my friend isn’t appealing to you.”

“Of course I want to be friends.” I stand and come around the table. “No matter what happens, I will be there for you.”

She slides her arms around my waist and gives me a tight hug. “Good. Because I sense we will all need our friendships for what’s coming.”

“What’scoming?” I reluctantly step back to study her face.

She looks a bit baffled. “I don’t know. Sometimes prophetic things just slip out of my mouth. But I can’t say I liked the sound of that one.”

“Neither did I.” I frown and nod to the stairs. “You going up?”

“Yeah. I need to check in with Dante to see how he’s doing. Earlier, he had the impression that I’m already hooking up with you and Kurtis.”

“Oh, yeah, I could see how he might have misinterpreted when Kurtis hinted we told you how we feel.”

“Hm…” She doesn’t sound pleased, but I don’t envy her having to deal with a jealous Dante. He’s intense. Passionate.

We make it up the stairs, and as we approach our set of rooms, Dante’s door flies open, and he glowers at me.

“What’s up?” he asks, with an accusation in his tone. His gaze falls poignantly onto Tessa’s door and then back at us.

“See you later, Evan,” she dismisses me, clearly seeing the potential for this to go to shit. She heads straight for Dante and slips into his room, pulling him inside.

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