Read Online Fated: Karma Series, Book Three by Donna Augustine - Free Book Online Page B

spluttered like it was on life support as we pulled out of the parking lot. The disappointment was so thick that I was having a hard time keeping it contained.
    “I think we need to focus more on Malokin. These names on your bucket list mean little to nothing.”
    I knew what he was trying to accomplish but it didn’t make me feel any better. “Maybe by themselves they don’t but as a whole, they can’t be helping the situation.”
    “It’s more important to locate Malokin.”
    Frustration and disappointment warred within me, and I wanted to bang my forehead into the cracked vinyl of the steering wheel. It did always come down to finding him, slippery eel that he was. I’d hunted him down before. Malokin didn’t get found until he wanted to.
    “Turn left over here,” Fate said, pointing.
    “Why? What’s down there?”
    “You losing your memory? Ice cream.”
    “I thought you were kidding. I really don’t want any.” Ice cream would sit like cement in my stomach the way I was feeling.
    “I want it.”
    I turned my head toward him. “You don’t eat it.”
    “I do once in a while.”
    “What, once every century?”
    “No, once a decade or so.”
    The sound of my phone vibrating in the middle console filled the car. We both looked down. It was ringing but no number came up on the caller ID. That could only mean one thing. Maybe he was coming to us.
    I hit speaker on the phone. “Malokin.”
    His voice was as smooth and genteel as ever as he spoke. “I’d like to offer you a proposition.”
    Propositions from Malokin never leaned in my favor. “Which is?”
    “I’d like to discuss it in person tomorrow night.”
    “She won’t be coming alone,” Fate added making his presence known.
    “Didn’t expect her to.” And from the sound of his voice, he really hadn’t.
    Malokin rattled off a time and place before hanging up abruptly.
    I let the shock of what had just happened filter slowly into my system for a minute before I spoke. “I’m not sure how I feel about that. Why would he agree to meet us when I’m sure he knows we want to kill him?”
    Fate threw his hands up as I passed the ice cream stand. “Where are you going?”
    “My condo.”
    “I still want ice cream.”
    “You still want ice cream?”
    “Yes.”
    Those calm waters must be a really nice place to dock your psyche, I thought to myself as I whipped a U-turn.
    I parked in the crowded lot and we got in line, me still pondering the situation and waiting for Fate to voice an opinion about something other than ice cream.
    “Order me a hot fudge sundae, extra whip and cherries,” Paddy said. “Tell them double fudge, too.”
    “I hate when you do that,” I said, as I turned to see him standing beside me when no one had been there a second before. I looked around, wondering why no one else noticed him just appear.
    “And sprinkles. I want a lot of sprinkles. The rainbow kind. Open table! I’ll go grab it before someone gets it.”
    His cane barely touched the ground as he ran toward the four top, nearly knocking a couple of kids who were eyeing up the same space out of the way.
    Crazy, rude misfits, the whole lot of them, even the ones at the top. Of course things were falling apart. How could they do anything but if we were the ones in charge?
    Fate handed me a bowl of cookie dough ice cream I hadn’t ordered as we made it over to the table that Paddy was actively protecting, waiving his cane around like a senior samurai. He plopped down a bowl in front of Paddy as we both took a seat.
    “Are you two aware that the chaos breaking out around here isn’t a limited occurrence?” Paddy asked right before a shovel-sized spoonful hit his mouth.
    “Obviously.” Fate took a spoonful of his ice cream then made a face. He turned and dipped his spoon in mine. He raised his eyebrows and nodded his approval.
    “Do you have anything to add that we don’t know?” Fate went to reach over and eat more of mine. I slid the cup towards