The Certainty (Book Four in The Illusion of Certainty Series)

Karma, I Guess

Go kiss someone else.

No one kisses like you, Ana.

I let out an irritated noise. I closed my eyes and tried to calm down. Michael was still tuned into my emotions and if he picked up on anything stronger than complacency he’d be in my head in a heart beat.

Try to remember why we broke up. That’ll be a splash of cold water.

Ana, even a cold shower wouldn’t get rid of the fire you set last night.

I closed out messenger and went back to my essay. I finished editing it within thirty minutes and then I ran out of things to do. I finished my homework, I’d cleaned my room yesterday, hell I even did my laundry.

I put on my jogging clothes, strapped on my iPod and headed to Luke’s room. I knocked and he answered.

“Go for a run with me?”

He smiled and shook his head. “Don’t you ever stop moving?”

“Come on, Luke. Please?”

“Fine. Give me five minutes to change.”

I headed out to the living room and started stretching. Sebastis came out then and plopped down on the floor next to me.

“Sophie’s mad at you.”

I snorted. “I don’t care what she says. I’m never going to be friends with Aidan.”

“Is that what this is all about?”

“She wants us all to go back to the way things were.”

“I didn’t tell her about last night,” Sebastis said. “Do you think if I mentioned what I saw…?”

“No.” I looked at him. “Don’t tell anyone about that. Ever. It’s not going to happen again.”

“Gee, you obviously still feel something…”

“That was never the problem. The problem is it’s all a lie. And I’m not going to be just a body to keep his bed warm. There are plenty of other girls at this school to do that.”

He nodded. “Just keep your wits about you. If he still feels anything for you, and I think he does, he’ll use anything he can find to get back into your life.”

“I know. I’m staying away from him, Bast. I can’t…” I looked down at my hands. “When I’m around him…it’s hard to remember why I shouldn’t…”

He reached out and touched the scar on my neck. “When he’s around, think of this, think of how he almost killed you.”

I looked at my baby brother, suddenly thankful that my parents adopted him after my aunt died. He was the only one who could remind me of things I didn’t want to think of.

“Ok.”

“And if he gets too far out of hand, if you allow him close enough, just try to picture Michael. I know that can’t be hard. He’ll bring you back to your senses.”

“Come on, Luke! You’re slacking!”

I jogged in place for a bit waiting for Luke to catch up.

“Don’t you think two laps were enough?”

I grinned at him. “Stamina, Luke. You have to have stamina.”

“Well I’m all out of stamina. Can we go home now?”

“I think you’ve been playing video games with Sebastis too much.”

“I’m an eighteen year old boy, Gee. Cut me some slack.”