Karma (Karma Series) by Donna Augustine Read Free Book Online

know what to do?” I leaned in a little.
    “ Simple. Through my orders.” His eyes started to twitch.
    “ Which you get how?”
    “ My memos.”
    “ Then you can send a memo to the universe. I won't work with him.”
    “ I'll file your complaint but it won't matter. And don't forget, as I've already explained, it has to be an active month.”
    Twenty-five days. I've dealt with worse for longer. One case in particular came to mind. The guy actually tried to bite me when we lost. Harold didn't seem inclined to bite and he didn't get into my personal space. I could deal with him.
    On the other hand, Fate looked like he might be the biting sort.
    “ Do the last five days count toward the thirty? Time served and all?”
    “ Yes.”
    “ These first days were highly unpleasant. Do you think I could get extra credit for those? Maybe, I don't know, you could knock off a day or two? Like they do in jail for good behavior?”
    He squinted his eyes and tilted his head. I was going to take that for a no.
    “Follow me.” He stood and headed out of his office and back into the main room.
    We'd barely taken a step out the door when I saw him ; Fate, supervisor from hell. His eyes met mine and it was as if all the cells in my body had decided to wake up. Which was quite ironic, considering I was technically dead.
    The room could have been packed wall to wall with people and it wouldn't have mattered. It couldn't be attraction , because I hated him. In my human life, if someone had treated me the way he had, I would have set them straight and then never spoken to them again. But I couldn't seem to stop the awareness I had for him and it made me dislike him even more.
    I broke eye contact first as he walked over toward Harold and me.
    Fate stared straight at me but didn't actually acknowledge me, not even the slightest tilt of the head. But he dismissed me pretty clearly when he turned and spoke only to Harold.
    “ Anything with her?”
    “ Doesn't appear to be, but it's early.”
    “ Any what? You can direct your questions about me directly to me.”
    He shifted his attention fully back to me and I wished I'd kept my temper in check. His presence was more intense up close. I should've just shut up and let him go along his not -so-merry way.
    The first time I'd interacted with him, I hadn't been in my right mind. Like so many things in retrospect, it was crystal clear just how out of whack I'd been. I never would've agreed to this if I had been thinking clearly.
    Then, when I'd been writhing in pain, I couldn't see past the intensity of what I was feeling.
    This was technically my second coherent contact with Fate and the full impact of his presence seemed to get worse with subsequent exposures. Twenty-five days was suddenly a lifetime.
    “Have you noticed anything different, yet?”
    “ What?”
    “ You said to address you, so I am. Have you noticed anything different?”
    He knew he was making me uncomfortable. The corner of his mouth quirked up. Worse than him doing it on purpose was that little twitch of the lips meant he didn't care if I knew he was doing it on purpose. Maybe he even wanted me to know? What was this guy's problem? Decent folk didn't openly mock you and admit to it. They would feign ignorance. Rude man!
    “ Nope, nothing out of the ordinary here.” And there was no way I was going to let him know how much he was indeed getting under my skin. I raise your smirk with a full on, double row of pearly whites smile. Take that, you ogre in man's clothing!
    He didn't respond, just turned back to Harold. “Your office,” he said and then strode off in that direction, making me wonder who was really in charge here.
    Harold claimed to be calling the shots , but it certainly didn't look like that right now. And if Fate was the secret power holder, man, things just weren't looking good. He seemed to dislike me even more than Harold
    “ Luck?” Harold said and waved over a raven-haired beauty with the reddest lips