Don’t climb a mountain, and you won’t fall down it.
Karma couldn’t work unless you deserved what rebounded on you.
That was how she felt about Jonathan and David.
Yes, it was terrible he cut his finger off. Kind of. But he was a jerk.
If David didn’t want men attacking him, then perhaps he shouldn’t sleep with their wives. And film it. And keep the film on his phone, which he then hooked up to the church’s projection system. It really wasn’t ...
Yes, the spell might have gained momentum as it rolled downhill, an avalanche of karma, but it was still rooted in the men’s actions. Their own behavior was being doled out to them by the universe. That was exactly what she asked for. That they would feel the same pain they inflicted.
She drove past her house. She just wasn’t feeling like being by herself. Sam had driven her home earlier, and she wanted to see him again. He was the only thing that felt steady and stable in the middle of all this. She ignored what had happened at his place before she got the call.
Pushed that out of her mind. She had stopped it. So ... that was all that mattered.
She got out of the car and walked up to his door, knocking on it. Then she waited. It opened, and he was there, shirtless, wearing nothing but gray sweatpants. Something inside her shifted, and she felt ... afraid. That she had made a very serious miscalculation. She kept her eyes on his face, very deliberately didn’t look at his sculpted chest and abs, because she just didn’t need to focus on that. He was Sam. The familiar shape of his features, the comforting sensation she felt when she looked into his eyes.
“I just didn’t want to be by myself.”
“Yeah.” He stepped away from the door.
“David’s house burned down. They arrested the pastor from their church. The one who ... you know, the one whose wife he was banging.”
“Is everyone okay?”
“Yeah. Everyone’s fine. Soraya is catatonic. She thinks the spell we did caused all of this.”
“The spell?”
“Yes. It’s entirely possible that we did a little spell for justice and karma when Ben’s affair came out.”
“Right.”
“I just ... They deserved it. You know?”
“No argument from me.”
He walked into the kitchen, and she followed him. He went to stand behind the island, his palms braced on it. The overhead light cast a dark shadow in the hard-cut groove of his biceps, drawing her focus more intently to his shoulders, his muscles.
“Do you want anything?” he asked.
“A drink, maybe. I might ... I might need to crash on your couch.”
His eyes clashed with hers and held. He didn’t have to say it. She could read it in his eyes. His couch?
What about his bed?
“Sam. Please ... I don’t want to do this.” She took a step back. “I can’t.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“But before ...” She didn’t really want to address it, and in fact, she would much rather ignore it, but there was this tension between them, and she needed it to go away. She just couldn’t have everything with him changing on top of her marriage collapsing. She needed him to be Sam. Stable, easy Sam.
“Before the phone call, I was going to kiss you,” he said.
God. Dammit.
She swallowed hard. “Okay. But I just need to table that right now. Please.”
