Breaking Karma

by Charity Ferrell

  "That seems to be normal around here.” I rolled my eyes. “I swear to God, every girl within fifty miles of this damn city was injected with a bug to make them want to screw the man I love.”

  "Too bad Keegan has only been injected with the, ‘I want Daisy bug,’" Gabby teased, with a wink.

  "Yeah right, I bet he's screwing every girl that opens her legs up to him. He hasn't even been coming home at night," I revealed, instantly regretting my confession that I'd been spying on him.

  "That's because he's been staying over at Lane's, and I'm close to kicking his depressed ass out because he's messing up my alone time with my man. Lane feels bad making him hang out alone, considering all he does is sulk around the house. By now, I’m expecting to walk in on Keegan devouring a whole pint of Ben & Jerry's and watching The Notebook. I don’t know what went down between the two of you, because you’re both being all hush-hush about it like you committed murder or something, but maybe you need to talk to him.”

  Gabby snorted. "You're just saying that because you want to get laid, and Keegan is being a cock block."

  "That's only a small percentage," Cora answered, holding out two fingers apart from one another, "and Ragan's comment is the rest. Plus, I want you to be happy, and you have been miserable since you two broke things off."

  "I haven't been miserable," I disputed, looking over at Gabby for backup.

  Gabby raised her hand. "Uh uh, I'm with Cora on this one. Now that we know he's not screwing Ragan, we can root for your guys again. You better go talk to him before I lock you two in a room together."

  They both looked at me expectantly, waiting on my answer. "Fine," I said, holding out my hands in defeat. "I'll find a way to talk to him, but don't expect anything to change.”

  ***

  My feet hit the pavement as I marched across the parking lot and stopped at the familiar, black SUV. My insides quivered with fear, but I had to do this. I was a woman on a mission, and I wasn’t going to stop until it ended up in my favor. I couldn't lose another person I loved.

  I wrapped my clammy hands around the door handle and swung the door open to face two very surprised people.

  "Out," I demanded, startling the girl in the passenger seat as I pointed my thumb out the door.

  Her jaw dropped. "What?" she asked, puzzled. "But he's my ride home."

  I moved to the side, allowing her room to get out. “Get another one.”

  "Not happening. Find someone else to stalk. He doesn't want you anymore." Her hands slid through her red hair, and she flipped it over her shoulder.

  I stifled an eye roll and threw Keegan a quick look. He stared at me in interest. "Out, Ragan," he ordered, keeping his eyes on me.

  Her fiery hair swung halfway out of the car, nearly taking out my eye as she twisted to look at him. "You can't be serious?" she asked, raising her voice.

  "He is," I answered for him. "Now out.”

  She waited for Keegan to say something, but he kept his eyes trained on me. Snagging her bag from the floorboard, she stumbled out of the car. "Bitch," she mumbled under her breath, rolling her eyes, and bumping into my shoulder harshly, causing me to stumble back in surprise.

  "Keep rolling your eyes, sweetheart. Maybe you'll find a brain back there," I called out behind her, catching the quick movement of her middle finger waving through the air at me.

  I shook my head, ignoring her gesture, and hopped into the car.

  "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Keegan spat out as soon as I shut the door behind me. "You can't just go around kicking girls out of my car."

  I eyed the person next to me who drove me absolutely nuts, but made me happy at the same time. His hair had grown out a bit in the past week, and it looked like he hadn't shaved in days, giving him an unruly, but sexy look.

  "Yes I can.”

  He gripped the steering wheel. "The hell you can. Surprise Daisy, you don't call the shots anymore," he fired back, his jaw clenching.

  "I can because you’re mine, you belong to me, Keegan Montgomery.”

  "Bullshit," he snapped, shaking his head and narrowing his eyes my way. "Now it's your turn to get out." He turned the keys in the ignition, starting the car.

  "Let's play a game real quick," I rushed out, fumbling through my bag for my phone hurriedly. I was nervous he was going to kick me out before I had a chance to tell him everything.

  His jaw muscles clenched together as the veins in his neck grew more prominent. "I've already played enough of your games.”

  "You'll like this one," I promised, plugging the USB cord hanging out of his radio into my phone. "Give me five minutes. If you don't want anything to do with me after, I understand, but please listen first." My stomach fell at my own words. What was I going to do if he rejected me?

  "Five minutes," he bit out, proving how serious he was by pulling out his phone and setting a five-minute timer on it. "Alright, let's see what you got." He leaned forward, propping his phone up on the dashboard, and I watched my time start to count down.

  "We're going to play a game where we both play a song that reminds us of each other, or how we feel about the other," I told him, nervously. "I'll go first."

  He gaped at me, blinking. I could do this.

  My pulse raced when I tapped my finger against the play button. The song I'd been playing on repeat all night, Nickelback's, Far Away, started to pour out of the speakers.

  I allowed the words of the song to tell him my feelings. He stayed silent throughout the song, his lips pressed together in a firm line with an unreadable expression until it ended.

  The song fit us perfectly. We'd both been lost and made mistakes. We ran away from each other, even when our bodies and hearts ached with the need to be together.

  "When I lost Tanner, I lost myself," I said, trying to stop the threatening tears from releasing themselves. "I hated my life. I honestly hated everything. Then you came crashing through and made me do things I thought I’d never do again. You make me feel things I thought I’d never feel again. You make me smile. You make me laugh. You make me happy. You showed me that I could love more than one person in my life. Trust me, I know I'm not perfect. There will always be a broken part inside of me from losing Tanner, but I want you to finish the job you took on of healing me."

  By the time I was finished, the tears had broken through and were streaming down my face, the salty taste hitting my lips.

  I paused, waiting for him to give me something but received nothing in return. "Say something," I said, softly. Every muscle in my body locked up in fear of his rejection. "I know I have my faults. It's my fault Tanner is gone, and it's my fault we're broken up but …”

  "About damn time you came to your senses," he said, over my words. Smiling, he leaned over and pulled me into his lap. "Baby, we all have plenty of faults, but I think ours go pretty damn well together." His hand ran down my back, pulling my ass into him. "And I mean, very well together," he groaned, kissing my neck. "And I'm sorry for being such a stubborn jackass. I told you I'd do stupid shit, just be patient with me."

  I laughed, holding my arms out against his shoulders to look into his electrifying eyes. "I love you," I told him, enunciating every word slowly.

  “And I love you, too. More than I ever thought possible,” he rasped out, his soft lips pressing into mine softly.

  The warm sensation of his tongue gliding along the outer corner of my mouth made me crazy. I leaned in closer, wanting more. My mouth edged open to allow his tongue access.

  I jumped at the loud bang on the hood of his car and knocked my head on the ceiling. I twisted around on his lap to see Lane standing at the front of the SUV.

  "Damn, keep it in the bedroom you little freaks," he hollered, giving us a thumbs up.

  "Everywhere we go, we create an audience," I said, sighing, and using my hands to cover my shaking head.

  "That's because not only are we in love with each other, but we also have this raw, animalistic sexual chemistry between us that i
s undeniable. It intrigues people. They envy us," he said, pulling me back into him. "Now, shall we take this to the balcony where we first saw each other? I was undressing you with my eyes while you-"

  "Were watching you have sex with someone else," I interrupted, smacking his chest. "Way to ruin the mood, and hell no, that balcony has been corrupted. We need to burn it down."

  "Nah," he said, putting the car in drive, and I climbed back to my seat, receiving a small smack on my ass. "We're going to give it some new memories. Or we can make a movie?” I frowned. “Too soon?”

  “I don’t think there will ever be a good time we can joke about that,” I answered, shaking my head and smiling.

  Keegan wasn't the storybook prince charming. He had his faults. He wasn’t innocent, but he was still my happy ending. He gave me something I thought I’d never have again: happiness. When we met, I was broken, unfixable, but somehow he managed to put the broken shards back together.

  He helped me heal, move on, and love again. And despite our faults, we both loved each other too much to allow them to get in our way.

  The tragic ending of my first love ended up being the beautiful beginning to my next one.

  About the Author

  Charity Ferrell was born, and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana and still resides there with her future hubby, two Yorkies (who run the house), and cat. When she’s not writing, you can find her reading, spending time with her chaotic family, or online shopping.

  Find her on:

  http://www.charityferrell.com

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  Other Books by Charity:

  Karma

  Revive Me

  Pretty & Reckless

  Stepbrother Aflame

  Bad For You