Read Reckless Karma (Sinners & Saints #2) for Free Online Page B

doesn’t. No one talks about me without discussing my mother.
      “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry. It must’ve been
terrible.” The usual sincere sympathy comes from her tone.
                “It
was the usual dramatics. Hugo saw the whole thing. He’s been fucked up ever
since.”
                “What
about you?” No one ever asked about me and I feel prone to answer, especially
if it gains points with her.
                “When
my father came home, the first thing he did was ask where I was. As if she was
our responsibility, not his. The world has been an unkind place since then.
I’ve hated it ever since.”
                She
just looks at me and it makes me feel uneasy. Her brown eyes tear into me,
digging through the bullshit and grabbing out the one thing I thought I got rid
of.
                “It
must suck,” she says.
                “What?”
                “Being
you.”
                Something
is occurring inside me. It’s very unpleasant. What the hell? No one makes me
feel this way. No one.
    The
cart comes to a stop.
                “Are
we getting off or what?” I ask with an attitude.
                “I’m
sorry.” She looks at me not with pity but understanding, and it pisses me off
more.
                “It’s
fine,” I lie. “But are we?”
                “My
little sister just comes on. She’s twelve and very smart and talkative, so be
nice.”
                “Karlie!”
A girl with pigtail braids runs into the cart. She jumps over me and hugs
Karlie. I hate kids.
    The
little girl stares at me as she sits across behind us. “Who’s this?”
                “This
is Gabriel Mandrake. We go to school together. Gabriel, this is my little
sister, Anika.”
                “Hey.”
I make the greeting quick.
                “Are
you rich?” Anika doesn’t want to make it quick. “You look rich.”
                “Filthy.”
                “One
day we’re gonna be rich.”
                “Anika,
don’t,” Karlie warns her.
                “Really?”
Now I’m interested.
                “My
big sister is a genius and Mama says she’s gonna go to Harvard and become a
famous lawyer and buy us a big house.”
                “Don’t
pay her no mind.” Karlie is embarrassed.
                Her
mom believes in her. How sweet. Most likely this will happen. Karlie is
ambitious. Smart. Brave. After knowing her for two days, she is really quite
incredible.
    “Sit
back,” she tells her sister.
    I
learn more about Karlie through her very talkative little sister. She spends
her time studying and taking care of her little sister while their mother works
as a clerk at a non-profit law firm. She has friends from their neighborhood
but rarely goes out with them. She likes to watch cooking shows and music
videos. Anika hates that they only have one television. They fight every day on
who gets to watch what. They share a bedroom, and Anika embarrasses Karlie by
informing me that she has a poster of Simba from The Lion King on their wall. Even though he is a cartoon lion,
Karlie finds him very handsome and he was her first crush when she was a kid. I
don’t judge. I kind of thought the Lady was cute from Lady and the Tramp . Lions are my spirit animal, so we have
something in common.
    The
talking doesn’t stop once we get to our stop or on the walk from the Queens
Plaza Subway Station. Of course my limo is waiting for me as we reach their apartment
building.
                “Whoa!”
Anika yells in excitement. “Is that yours?”
                “Yes.”
I see an older woman is already standing by it looking at it suspiciously. She
looks exactly like an older version of Karlie’s little sister, meaning this is
their mother.