Dead Ink(Karma Series Book 4)(8)

Chapter Six





She woke in the softest bed she'd ever slept on, in a room by herself. A  double window lit the space with warm morning sunshine. It was clean,  bright and devoid of a single picture. There wasn't even a knick-knack  to be found. She had a funny feeling that Cutty was definitely a  bachelor.

She saw her arm, still with the filthy shirt covering it, contrasting as  it rested on top of the clean grey comforter. She got out of the bed  quicker than she wanted to and turned to see if she'd left stains  behind. Only a guy would've put her in that bed as filthy as she was.  Now she was positive he was single.

She'd slept like a baby but couldn't remember how she'd gotten here.  Blurred out transportation was becoming quite common for her lately.  Maybe she should start drinking more; that way when she couldn't  remember how she'd gotten somewhere, at least she'd have booze to blame.

This time was different though. She'd landed somewhere safe … she thought.  She was a fairly good at reading people and her instincts told her that  Cutty was a good guy.

But now what did she do? She couldn't stay here forever but she had no  life and no identity. The panic started to rise and found a nice comfy  home in the center of her throat. No, she wasn't going to freak out.  She'd reached somewhere safe, away from Malokin and his plans for her  and away from the other one, his companion she couldn't bear to think  of. That was the first step. She'd figure out the next one, too. She  hoped.

She looked around the sparsely furnished room and saw a stack of clothes sitting on the single dresser, a note lying on top.



We weren't sure of your size. There are more options in the closet. Help  yourself to any of the toiletries in the bathroom. Will be back with  breakfast by ten but sleep as long as you want.



Cutty



She laid the note down and took a good look at herself in the mirror  above the dresser. It was jarring to see someone who looked nothing like  her. She leaned in closer. This version of her had better skin, at  least. That was a plus. She smiled, wanting to see what her teeth looked  like and noticed she'd scored a nice set of dimples along with some  straight pearly whites. Looked like as far as appearances went, she'd  gotten an upgrade. After she got the dead vegetation out of her hair,  and put clothes on that weren't covered in dirt, she might look pretty  good.

Her eyes shot to the attached private bathroom and there was nothing  that was going to keep her from the longest, hottest shower in history.  There was something liberating about stripping off the filthy clothes  Malokin and the other one had dressed her in, even if she was replacing  them with clothes others had given her. Yes, these other guys weren't  exactly Boy Scouts either but they had left her clothes on when they put  her in bed. Most of the human men she'd known would've undressed her  just to sneak a peek.

And she had to believe there was a sliding scale to bad. Maybe the guys  she was with now were capable of some shady actions but there was no way  they had souls as black as Malokin and the other one's. In her book,  dingy grey was the new white.

She thought back to what she'd seen as she'd left the hotel that day, as  she scrubbed the grime from her hair almost violently. She let the near  boiling water pound her body, feeling the pain intensely where it hit  the raw flesh of the new tattoo but she didn't care. She would've  suffered far worse than that to get rid of any connection to them. And  as far as not moving on? She'd never been religious anyway. She used to  think she'd get tossed in a ditch, so this outcome was actually a step  up from what she'd expected. And there was no cost too high if it meant  being free of them.

Plates clanking and male voices drove her from the room, her skin still  bright pink from the long scrubbing and her hair in a wet makeshift bun  on top of her head. She tiptoed down the stairs, trying to make herself  as inconspicuous as possible. It didn't matter. Angus, Bic and Cutty  were watching her as she came into view, as if they'd known she was  approaching.

"Yes!" Angus screamed. "I win, motherfuckers! I told you so. You  assholes can't pick out women's clothes for shit." He held out his hand,  palm up. "Pay up, losers!"                       
       
           



       

The eclectic nature of the wardrobe supplied for her suddenly made  sense. She'd wondered how stretchy faux leather pants with matching  halter-tops had ended up alongside pleated plaid skirts. Luckily, there  had been some normal choices mixed in with the costume-like attire. In  the end, she'd opted for a soft white t-shirt, light blue shorts and  wedged sandals that were only a half size too big.

Cutty muttered a curse under his breath but slapped a bill into Angus' palm. He pocketed the cash and immediately turned to Bic.

Bic's face warned it wouldn't go as smoothly with him before he spoke. "You still owe me for when Cutty-"

Cutty punched Bic in the arm. Bic's head swung back to her, hesitated  for a second and then he continued. "Well, you know what you owe me for,  and I'm not paying you."

"Yeah, forgot about that." Angus turned his attention back to Faith.  "Come here," Angus said, waving her over excitedly, forgetting the lost  cash.

As she got closer, he started twirling his finger. Even though it seemed  sort of odd to her, she spun around slowly as he clearly wanted her to  do. She would've cartwheeled through the living room if that was what he  wanted. Keeping her hosts happy and not getting thrown out was the plan  for now. She'd keep the peace as long as she could, until she figured  out another alternative. Or they drove her crazy.

"Angus, can you let her eat instead of gloating?" Cutty roughly bumped into Angus, shoving him a couple feet away.

"Just admit it, she looks good in what I picked. This is how normal  women dress, not the skanks you like to bang. You would have had people  offering her twenty dollar bills for five minutes in their backseats if  she left the house in what you picked," Angus said, bumping back into  Cutty, them both moving in the other direction now.

"I didn't think my choices were bad," Bic, the guy with the shaved head  said as he sat down on the far side of the table that was loaded down  with, pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage and every other breakfast food  known to man.

Angus took the chair next to him. "Bic, you're my buddy, but most women  don't walk the streets looking like they attend the sluttiest catholic  school ever."

Cutty pulled out a chair for her and then used it to corral her snugly  up to the table. The second he let go of the chair, he started heaping  scrambled eggs onto her plate. Bic contributed by leaning over and  adding five links of sausage. Just as Faith started to panic about how  she was going to eat it all, Angus cut in. "What the fuck you guys  doing?"

Her relief didn't last long.

"Now we have to give her a separate plate for the bacon because you didn't leave any room."

"She can heap it on," Bic explained and then demonstrated by tossing some slices on top of the eggs.

"We're not animals. How is she going to cut her food?" Angus said and  then laid another plate alongside the first. He then filled it  completely with bacon. After they had piled up enough food in front of  her to last a week, they went back to their own plates, which were  heaped equally high.

The talking ceased for a bit as they all dug into their food, like they'd been the ones who'd barely eaten lately.

It was the strangest thing but as she sat there with these three  intimidating men, she actually felt comfortable. There was an easiness  and a self-assuredness about them that spread outward. They were okay  with themselves, and strangely, she felt like they were okay with her as  well. It went against all logic of how things should've been.

It took her about five minutes of eating in silence to get up the nerve to speak. "Can I ask a question?"

Her eyes darted back and forth between the three of them and they all  had the same expression. Uh oh. What did they think she was going to ask  them?

Angus finally spoke, and probably only because the silence was reaching a  level of intense awkwardness. "Sure. What exactly did you want to  know?"

"If I'm dead, am I, like, technically a ghost or something?"

"No one explained this?" There was obvious surprise in Bic's voice.

"Lars sort of did but I'm still trying to understand all this. I've got a  body, but not the body I had, and I can still get hurt?"

Angus leaned forward a bit. "You do know you aren't human anymore,  right?" he said it like he was worried he might have to give the birds  and the bees explanation to a preteen, and the other two had stopped  eating to wait for her answer.

"Yes, I understand that part."

Angus let out a loud sigh and they all resumed eating.

"Thank the Universe for small favors." Cutty leaned back, sipping on his  coffee before he continued. "You don't know the hysterics some people  have when you tell them they died. Ugly scene." He picked up a piece of  burnt bacon, pointing with it. "I certainly don't want to be on the end  of one of those conversations again."