Mr. Real (Code of Shadows #1) Read Online Free Page B

that!”
    “Look, come on, I’m excited, aren’t you? Think of something for me to order.”
    “Don’t mess with the magic until I’m there,” Karen said. “Do NOT.”
    “So you can mess with the magic, but not me? Don’t let Crazy Alix at it!”
    “You know I’m just better at this stuff,” Karen said, in a very reasonable and placating tone. “You can wait three days, right? I’ll think things through and help handle it if things get weird.”
    “And I won’t.”
    “Oh, come on, Alix. You’re going to act like you don’t get crazy and reactive when things go wrong? This is serious.”
    Alix’s throat clogged. Is that how Karen felt about her?
    “Crazy and reactive? That’s what you think?” A horrible idea came to Alix. “Is that what you thought about the Manuel incident?”
    “Alix, I know your heart was in the right place—”
    “Oh my god, you do!”
    “Try to understand. It’s world balance stuff.”
    Alix swallowed with difficulty. “I understand,” she whispered.
    “I can tell you don’t. No—please—I’m sorry. I’m just freaked out about this. Can we rewind the conversation?”
    “No, we can’t rewind the conversation!” Alix blurted, feeling the tears come. She couldn’t think straight in emotional situations. She didn’t understand how Karen always could.
    “Alix! Talk to me.”
    Crazy and reactive?
    “I have to go,” Alix whispered, feeling ashamed. Karen was the one who’d always believed in her.
    “I’m serious. Don’t do anything until you discuss it with me. Don’t even touch your computer.”
    “Don’t worry, I won’t destroy the world. I have to go.” She clicked off and turned off the phone.
    Lindy came over and nosed her lap. Alix sat down on the floor and hugged her, letting the tears dribble down her cheeks, not caring about the black mascara and eyeliner tracks that were no doubt forming.
    If that’s how Karen felt, hell, why were they even friends? Sure, Alix was aware that Karen relied on her to add a sense of fun and play in her life, that she coaxed Karen out of her overly ponderous life in new ways, and even helped her connect with guys. But that was something a puppy could do. Alix had always thought that by some miracle Karen respected her, too. How could you be friends with somebody you didn’t respect?
    “Screw it,” she said, wiping her tears, so incredibly tired of feeling inadequate.
    She grabbed a six-pack of beers from the fridge and stuffed it into her backpack along with a bag of chips. She’d take Lindy for a walk along the bluff, Lindy’s favorite place to go. Doing nice things for Lindy always made Alix feel better when she was blue.
    Thirty minutes later they reached the bluff. She drank one beer and then another, throwing sticks with Lindy and watching her chase squirrels and chipmunks. By the third beer, she was leaning against a tree trunk, staring dolefully out over the Mississippi. The river was low and lazy this time of year, surrounded by weeds and cattails. You could see all the way to the rolling hills on the Wisconsin side, all neat squares of cropland.
    Crazy and reactive.

    She and Karen had always been allies against the world, allies against people like her overachieving sisters. And Hardass Paul.
    She’d never admit it out loud, but it still stung that Hardass Paul had kicked her out of his class those four years ago. She and Karen had been house sitting for Karen’s cousin in Oakland that summer—Alix was between jobs, Karen on break from college. Alix had spotted Paul on the street, been taken by his choppy brown hair and deep blue eyes, but mostly by the way he walked. So loose and strong and commanding—just his walk had been beautiful to her. They’d shadowed him to a martial arts school and discovered he was a teacher there. Alix had begged Karen to sign up for a four-week class right then and there. The first week she’d flirted shamelessly with Paul, who had just turned twenty five.
    “He’s