“He left.” His tone let me know I’d hit a bull’s-eye.
“What is your problem? Did you sleep poorly?” I'd always functioned best when I was working offense, why stop now?
“I've just been waiting for you to get your ass out of bed is all.” He got out of his seat and headed inside. “Be ready in an hour. We’ve got an appointment.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
An hour later and I was hanging on to the last drop of civility I had. Fate was on edge for no reason I could fathom. It’s not like I’d been the one making sure I was going to get rid of him.
Then there was the enhanced karma exposure. I felt a little like a ping pong ball, with alternating waves of good and bad karmic energy coming at me from every different direction, and he was of no help.
He yanked me into the stairwell of the office building, where we had appointment number two with Maxwell.
“Pull it together.”
“Don't you think I want to?” Ever since we'd left the house, I'd been bombarded by the energy of the people we'd come in contact with. I felt like I was on contact overload, my nerves rubbed raw by what they were putting out. And the why was even worse. When I got too close, I could sense exactly why their auras looked like they did. I was proud I was holding it together at all.
“You can't act like a freak when we walk into that office.”
“You know, I've had just about enough of you today. No one's asking you for hand holding through this process, but if you could tone down the attitude that would go a long way.”
“This is who I am. Did you think last night was going to change anything?”
I was doing my best to forget last night and he just kept bringing it back up. What was his issue!
“Actually, I think it might have done the impossible and made you worse. Trust me, I will not be looking for a repeat.”
Cupid better stay clear of me for the rest of the time I was here. He was lucky I didn't barge in and start breaking arrows the way I was feeling right now.
“You go in there, pick up on whatever you can and then get out before he starts picking up on how weird you're acting.”
“Not a problem.” I waved my hand toward the stairwell door. Quicker we got on with this the better. When he didn't budge for a second I tapped a nonexistent watch on my wrist and said, “Time’s a-ticking.” It was the last official sendoff of my southern manners, but it got him moving. It wasn't a huge loss. My manners were never really worthy of the south, anyway.
We headed to the office and it turned out I didn't even need to sit down. I walked into the office, said I needed to use the rest room and walked right out. I was in a cold sweat by time I made it out to the parking lot and it still didn't feel far enough from the impact Maxwell's karma had.
I sat in the boiling hot car and didn't care. I hadn't even had enough time to grab the keys off of him before I ran out of there and I didn't want to risk coming into contact with anyone else the way I was feeling.
I heard Fate get in the car just as I was getting the bile in my stomach under control.
“What did you get?”
“Too much. Way too much. He's evil to the core.” I wiped my forehead as I started to breathe a little easier.
“Details.”
“Embezzlement, beats his wife, contemplating killing his partner...need I go on?”
He leaned forward in silence as he started up the car. I looked at Fate and it didn’t make any sense.
“You don't get anything off of him?” I asked.
“No. I can't see his future.”
The AC came blasting on and I angled a car vent to shoot straight in my face while I pondered what he didn't say. “You went through the same ritual as I did, right?”
“Yes.”
There hadn't been a single person I'd come within fifty feet of that I hadn't picked up something from.
He's Fate. How could he not have picked up on his future? And then it hit.
“He has no future. He’s going to die soon.”
Fate nodded.
“So Suit is going to get to him.”
“Yes.”
“I don't know what he wants from him, but it's not because he's a wonderful individual. That's for certain. He's killing him because he's bad. But why would Suit care?”
“Either Maxwell has done something that would mess up his goal, or... Could he be looking to recruit him? The way Harold recruits? However he became one of us, maybe he can make others like us. But why would it be so hard to kill him?”
We sat there in the parking lot, AC blowing in my face as I bounced my head against the seat headrest.
We sat in silence for a while, just thinking, then he finally spoke.
“I think I know. He’s trying to do it under the radar.”
“How?”
“Certain types of deaths don't register as quickly and take longer to process.”
I instantly knew the type he meant. “Like mine. Sudden, traumatic and mass casualty.”
“Yes. It would buy him just enough time to get in there. We should stay local, because whatever Suit is planning is going to happen soon.”
“I agree.”
***
I'd seen movies where the couple approaches the front desk at a hotel and then do the silent debate as they gaze into each other's eyes. A private communication happens as they both acknowledge their desire for one another. A soft smile, a loving look, maybe a handhold right before they declare themselves by asking for one room.
This wasn't one of those moments.
“We'd like one—”
“Two—”
“No, just—”
“We'll be right back.” I grabbed his arm and dragged him to the other side of the lobby to pound this out in private.
“I'm on full blast so to speak on the karma front so there is no need for the coziness of one bedroom. I want separate rooms.” I crossed my arms, jutted a foot out and concentrated on beaming the message through his stubborn brain on every level that I was unmovable on this topic.
“But you won't pick up on Bad Guy. The only way I can is from the residual traces of the part he played in your past life. One room.”
“Suit will show up for Maxwell, so no, two rooms.”
He countered my foot jut with a forward leaning hover. Phew, if he thought that was going to work, he had no idea who I was. He'd reached a place in my psyche no man had ever gone before. The place where I'd cut off my nose—not once but repeatedly—just to spite him, and not regret it at all. Even as I was sucking air through two holes where I used to have nostrils.
“I'm not going to stand here arguing over something this stupid. I get that you feel awkward after the other night but we work together and you'll have to get past it.”
“I'm awkward? What about how miserable you are? Think maybe I need a break? Even if it's while I sleep? This has nothing to do with being uncomfortable.”
“Liar.”
“I am not a liar. Don't call me that.”
“Then don't lie.”
“I'm sorry your humongous ego can't handle the rejection,” I said in a tone that made it clear was anything of the sort. “But, I'm going to have to insist on having my own room. That's final.”
“Last chance.” He spoke softly as he closed the small distance between us and his hand reached up and cupped my cheek. Oh no, he was switching tactics. I didn't like this one little bit, but it wouldn’t work. All I had to do was remember his words right after we’d had sex. He’d still been inside of me, hadn’t even rolled off, before he started worrying about entanglements.
“Bring it on, big guy, we'll see who folds on this.”
His hand moved lower and right before he hit my pressure point, I realized what he was doing but it was too late. I passed out thinking about what a huge jerk I’d slept with.
***
I woke up in the bed of the hotel room. I could hear him in the bathroom, doing whatever it was he did.
“You knocked me out?” I knew he had, but I found it so appalling I needed to hear confirmation from his lips.
“Had to,” he yelled out over the sound of running water.
“I can't believe you did that.” No shock in my voice now, just verbal condemnation.