Chapter Seventeen

“I don’t believe it,” Aimee said from behind her. “You’re actually up and cooking breakfast? I even heard you come in early last night. Are you sure you’re my sister?”

Karla flipped the bacon over. She stood in front of the stove, wearing nothing but a long T-shirt she stole from some guy whose name she couldn’t even remember, staring at the sizzling strips in the frying pan. She left work last night as soon as she could get out of there and went straight to bed. Paul seemed happy to get her out the door, her sour mood affecting customers. He probably thought it was still about him, but it wasn’t. It was about her. “Just felt like being up, that’s all.”

Karla heard the chair slide around the table and Aimee sat down. “What? No after party? No last call booty hookup?” Aimee asked.

Karla gave a soft laugh. “I don’t think people talk that way.”

“But you knew what I meant. So, what happened last night?”

“Nothing. Last night was boring and normal.”

“What are you not telling me?”

Karla sighed. “I just realized I was right all along, that’s all. Men are asses, and good for one thing only.” And I’m not worth loving.

“Mitch?”

Karla nodded. “The entire time he’s been trying to get me into a relationship with him, he’s been banging Sandy Elantra, who I thought was a friend.”

“How did that come out?”

Karla flipped the bacon over again. “After one hell of a night of sex, she shows up on his doorstep in the morning, all casual and intimate.” She could feel her gut clenching at the memory. Sandy and she had known each other for a while, had even shared lovers, even at the same time. The fact that she slept with Mitch didn’t bother Karla in the least. It was the fact that Mitch tried to get Karla to commit to him while he screwed around with her friend that stung. Karla was used to being the one who played the other in a relationship, not the other way around. This isn’t how it was done. Not in Karla’s world. “She even knew he was trying to get me to be his girl, it seems. Well, both of them can go to hell.”

Aimee left her chair and walked over to where Karla stood by the stove, taking the fork from her sister’s hand. “Let me. If you keep flipping the bacon, it’s never going to cook.”

Karla collapsed against the counter, arms crossed over her chest, shoulders slumped in defeat. “How did I let this happen? I know better.”

Aimee glanced at her, a sad smile on her face. “Because you like him. It happens. Even to you.”

“It’s not supposed to happen to me. It hasn’t happened to me. Not since high school, at least. This sucks.”

“Now you know how the ones you leave in your wake feel.”

“Thanks. You’re saying karma finally caught up to me?”

Aimee shrugged. “I’m saying that now you know how they feel, that’s all.”

“That’s something I already knew, sister dear. Trust me. That feeling never leaves you.” It was her initiation into the fact that she wasn’t worth loving, only fucking. It was that feeling that led to her philosophy of love them, get what you can, and then get the hell out. It had worked perfectly.

Until now.

“So, what are you going to do?” Aimee started to pull the bacon out and stretch it out on a paper towel.

“I’m going to hurt. Then I’m going to toughen up and go back to what I know.”

Aimee sighed, turning to face her sister, hand on her hip. “Karla, that’s not the way to live your life. Just because Mitch was an ass, doesn’t mean the next guy will be.”

Karla gave her sister a sarcastic smile. “They’re all that way. Men think with their dicks. That hasn’t changed since David saw Bathsheba on the rooftop. It’s not going to change. Ever.” She stared at the bacon a moment, the churning in her stomach twisting. “I’m not hungry.” She pushed herself away from the counter and trudged toward the hall. “I’ll clean up. Have a great day at work.”

She sloughed into her room and collapsed onto the bed backward, arms outstretched as she stared at the ceiling. This week could not get any worse. First her mother and Paul, now Mitch and Sandy. Her chest felt as if a giant weight crushed down on it as tears threatened to rip her feelings out of her. She was not going to cry! Nope, not going to do it. They didn’t deserve it. None of them. This is what she got for allowing her guard to come down, even for a moment. Never again.

Mitch texted. Several times. He even tried calling her. She ignored them all. There was nothing he could say at this point. She was done. She had been humiliated enough. She didn’t need to listen to hours of him telling her that it wasn’t what she thought while he screwed Sandy in the background. Men are asses.

She swiped at the tear that snailed its way down her cheek. For the briefest of moments, she believed him, believed that someone—some man—could be just as twisted as herself. Yet, he was worse.

With a deep breath, she sat up in the bed. What the hell was she doing? She shoved herself off the bed. Karla Harper does not wallow like some weak-minded bimbo who needs men to validate her existence. She kept repeating it to herself while she made her way to the bathroom. She jerked the cold water on, shoved her hands underneath, and drowned her face, washing away the self-pity she was shedding. With another deep breath, she stared at herself in the mirror. “I’m stronger than this. I don’t get used by men. I use them.” She pressed her lips together into a thin line. She was through with all of them. Mitch. Paul. Even Brad, the poor naïve bastard. She needed new blood, fresh meat. She sighed. “What I need is a life.”

She heard Aimee leave through the front door. She was alone. In more ways than one.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mitch wiped his hands on an old rag as he stepped away from the Dodge Dakota. He still couldn’t figure out why the damn thing wasn’t running, and it drove him crazy. He hated not being able to figure out how to make something tick.

It was the same frustration he had with Karla. He blew out a deep breath. He just didn’t get it. She used sex like currency; she was unfaithful to everyone she met, so why was she getting her panties in a wad over him sleeping with Sandy when Karla and he didn’t have any real type of relationship? At least, not at the time. That woman could drive him fricking nuts.

Which is why he couldn’t just let her go. She wasn’t a challenge or a game or a distraction. She was the one who could give him what he’s always craved. Someone who was as twisted as himself, who enjoyed sex as much as he did, but not the sex everyone else wanted. No, they both needed it to be out of control, sizzling, free… Twisted. Now he just needed to figure out how to get her to talk to him again.

He ran his hand over his head, staring at the truck, but only seeing Karla dancing at The Lily Pad, strangers running their hands under her skirts as they ground their bodies against her. And her grin, that passionate, lustful, totally lost, grin. Just remembering it made his cock hard.

“Trying to fix it by osmosis?”

Turning, he saw Aimee Harper walking into the bay of his shop. He knew she wasn’t there because of her car; he was too damn good of a mechanic. No, the only reason she would be here would be because of her sister. He sighed as he slid the towel he used to wipe his hands into his back pocket and braced for whatever scolding he was about to receive. “Actually, my mind wasn’t even on the truck,” he said. “It was on your sister.”

She nodded as she glanced around the place. “We alone?”

“Yup. Just little ol’ me here today.”

He should have lied and said someone was in the back of the shop getting parts. As soon as she knew there were no witnesses, she unleashed everything she obviously held inside. “Why the hell did you screw with my sister? I know she’s not the most faithful of individuals, hard to get along with, and can be stubborn and… Well, I know all her faults. Still, she didn’t deserve what you did to her.”

“What I did to her?” Mitch slipped his hands into his front pockets and moved to lean back on his workbench. “Aimee, I didn’t do anything to your sister. I’m not sure what she told you, but when I slept with Sandy, Karla and I weren’t together, and she was sleeping with other men. She really has no complaint with me other than she wanted me pining away for her while she hopped in bed with others. I didn’t wait on her, and she’s pissed.”

“You led her to believe she could possess what everyone else has and then you ripped it out from under her. I get it; you didn’t cheat on her. I know. But she doesn’t see it that way, and she’s the one you need to convince.” She sighed as she walked over to stand beside him at the workbench. “You can’t go about this with her the way you would anyone else. Trust me, I’ve been trying to get her to play on the same field as other people since we were kids.”

“But I don’t want the same field. I want Karla’s field.” He grinned at Aimee, showing her that he meant every word he said. “I think the two of us are exactly alike. I can give her a relationship that will last, but it won’t be like yours and Clint’s. It’ll be ours.”

“If you can get her to talk to you again,” Aimee said.

He grinned. “She’ll talk to me. She won’t be able to help it. She knows as much as I do that we mesh. It’ll just take her a bit to remember, and in the meantime, she’ll drive herself batty wondering what the hell she’s doing even thinking about it.”

Aimee laughed. “I think she’s already doing that. She was miserable this morning.”

“Good,” Mitch said with a chuckle. Then his expression turned serious. “How’s it going with Clint’s ex?”

Aimee shrugged her thin shoulders. “I wish I knew. She’s definitely not giving up and according to Ginny, since he never divorced her, Bonnie still has rights as his partner and Abigail’s mother. She could very easily take Abby and there isn’t anything he could do about it. It’s scary.”

“Has she seen the little girl, yet?”

Aimee shook her head. “He’s been able to keep that from happening, but I’m not sure how long he can keep it up. That presents a whole other set of legal issues.” Mitch could see the anguish all over her face as well as in her posture. “I wish there was an easy answer.”

“Life has no easy answers, unfortunately.”

“For Clint or you. It’s not going to be easy getting Karla to see things your way,” she said.

“I like a challenge.”

“And where exactly does Sandy fit into all of this?”

“She doesn’t,” he said with a shrug. “I used her as a fun distraction.”

Aimee glanced out the bay door to the late morning sky. “A distraction who may have hurt your cause rather than help it.”

“I doubt that. Karla’s had her own distractions. I’ll just give her time and she’ll show up. Again. The thing with your sister is that if you dangle just enough nonchalance her way, it drives her crazy. She likes to pretend she’s Miss Unpredictable, but she is easily predictable.”

“You really do like playing with fire.”

“She’s definitely a hot one.”

Aimee groaned. “Please, don’t describe my sister to me.” She pushed herself away from the workbench. “Now, I’m already late for work. Good luck. I really think you’re going to need it.”

As Aimee reached the bay doors, Mitch said, “You know, she’s lucky to have a sister to look out for her as much as you do.”

Aimee turned back around, her eyes soft, sad. “I wish I had always been there. Let’s just say you figured out my sister long before I did.” She gave a weak shrug. “Just don’t hurt her.”

“I promise, that’s not my intention.”

She nodded as she turned and walked away.

Mitch just stared at her for a moment, wondering about the differences between the two sisters. While he asked Aimee out first, he knew she would not have been the one for him. She was too conservative, still hiding in her shell. He didn’t want to be the one to corrupt someone like that, although it would be fun. Been there, done that. The fallout was too great if things went south. No, he wanted a canvas that was already smeared with paint that he could just brush into the image he wanted. Karla was that canvas. She was perfect, even if she didn’t realize it. She would, though. He’d make sure of it.