Page 125 of XO Karma

“Well.” She tries and fails to wipe the grin off her face. “I take it back.”

“No take backsies.” I throw an arm around her and continue our walk to find the fun house.

She groans. “You make my brain hurt.”

“I could make something else hurt later,” I tease, and she fakes a gag, but I don’t miss the way she leans her head against me. I place a kiss in the blonde of her hair, and it all just feels so normal.

For a moment I allow myself to wonder what it’s like to be ordinary. To not have the weight of the world’s responsibility on me to rid it of horrible people. I wish I could pass off the baton to someone else, but I don’t trust anyone the way I trust myself. What if they target those undeserving? What if they can’t handle the pressure? What if they get caught?

She pulls out her phone, the word Unknown on the caller ID, then shoves it in her pocket.

“You don’t want to answer it?” I ask.

“Nah, it’s probably spam.”

“Would the lovely couple like to take a chance?” a man calls out as we pass by a carnival game. It’s one of those where you have to toss the ball in the bucket and get all three in to win.

“No, we’re⁠—”

“Yes!” Lily cuts me off. She leans to my ear. “I’m good at this one.”

Five minutes later, I’m grinning, holding a stuffed tiger as we continue along, nearing the fun house. My eyes find Paul immediately, a forced smile on his face as he lets another group of kids inside.

“Let’s hang back for a few,” Lily says, tugging me towards a crowd. “Wait for him to take his break?”

“Yeah. That’s a good idea. Have you found anything in the file Liam gave you?”

She gnaws on her inner cheek. “I haven’t looked yet.”

“Really?” I ask in disbelief. “I assumed you’d crack it open the second you got it.”

She plays with her nails. “Liam said there’s stuff in there he doesn’t think I can handle.”

“You can handle plenty.”

“I know. But maybe he’s right. If what’s in there is what I think it is… it’s going to be hard to get those images out of my head.”

“We can look at it together later?”

“How about tomorrow? We could have one normal karma-fulfilling night and do it in the morning?”

I know she’s avoiding it. Delaying opening a folder that could blow to pieces this ideology she’s built about the life of her best friend—and especially about her death. So even though I truly feel time is of the essence, I say, “Okay.” My gaze returns to Paul. Where the hell is Paul? “Lily, where’d the target go?”

She follows my line of sight. “Shit!”

“It’s okay, he probably just went to the back to take a smoke or a piss,” I say, and we head towards the side of the structure.

I throw my arm around Lily, and she tries to shrug me off. “What are you doing?”

I bring my lips to her ear. “If someone sees us walking here all lovey dovey, they’ll assume we just want a moment of privacy.”

She laughs. “Why is your solution to getting caught always faking a quickie?”

I grin. “Easy to be convincing when it’s what I’d rather do anyways.”

“Shameless.”

“You’re going to stay out of sight.” I grab the mask out of my pocket.