Karma - Forbidden Hearts Series Book 3

28| Birthday Exception

"So, it keeps making this reee-reee-reee noise and I have no idea what it is."

I glanced from Karma's small VW Beetle back to her. "And...when did it start making the noise?" 

"On the way here. It freaked me out and I was hoping you could look at it after our therapy session today." She fumbled with the keys and barely made eye contact with me. "We could, um, look under the hood and stuff." She dropped the keys and picked them up. "I know your dad showed you a thing or two about cars. I could pay you..."

Please. I would never take Karma's money. What had me arching an eyebrow at my gorgeous ex-girlfriend, was the fact that she was a terrible liar. I knew there was nothing wrong with her car. I was extremely curious about the reason she felt like she needed to lie to me about it. Considering what today was, I had my suspicions. 

"I see," I said as I held out my hand. "Let me see the keys." 

Her eyes widened slightly. Oh, yeah. She was lying through her teeth. "What—I thought you could look at it after. I mean, we're already late." 

She tried to walk past me towards the hospital. I reached out to gently grab her arm and pull her to a stop. I managed to swipe the keys from her and she tried to get them back as I held them out of her reach. 

"I thought you wanted me to look at your car." 

She nibbled her bottom lip. "I do! But after rehab."

"You're the worse liar in the history of the world, Karma. What's going on?" 

She pretended like she didn't know what I was talking about. She repeatedly opened and closed her mouth. "Nothing! I just don't want to be late. You know...for rehab." 

"Uh-huh." I started walking to the driver's door of her car. "Maybe I should check it out now." I turned back to her. "Unless you want to 'fess up." 

When she didn't say anything, I pushed the unlock button on her key fob. I reached for the handle...

"Fine!" she groaned as she stomped her foot. "Lanie is going to kill me." 

I stalked towards her. "I knew it! She's planning a surprise party, isn't she? Goddammit! I told her, no parties." 

Karma covered her face bashfully. "She asked me to distract you after rehab until the party." 

"When's the party?"

"Eight."

My mouth dropped. My therapy sessions were only an hour. "Eight? And you were expecting to keep me distracted for that long with some fake car issue?" 

She shrugged a shoulder and it was the most adorable thing I've ever seen. "I don't know. I couldn't think of anything else." Karma glanced away briefly before she added, "Nathan, Lanie is really excited about this. Please don't tell her I told you. You need to act surprised." 

I had a feeling Lanie was going to do something like this. She was obsessed with throwing surprise parties any time she could. Personally, I hated them ever since I was a kid. But Karma was right. I knew Lanie was looking forward to it. Hell, maybe this was something we all needed. We've had a shitty year so far. Well, except for the birth of nephew and my sister falling in love with my best friend. 

I looked back at Karma. Being with her again—even for the few days we had—was the best birthday present ever. 

"So are you going to tell on me?" she asked innocently. 

Fuck she was beautiful. I thought about her question and decided payback was going to be fun. "Well, I guess this can stay between us. On one condition."