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“Liam documented me.” I turned to Michael. “He documented me, and you know because you looked.”
“After I met you, that first time. I needed to prove to myself that you were real. I asked Kaleb to open the safe for me. I should’ve taken your file that day,” Michael said.
“It’s not just Emerson’s file. Think about all the people he has access to now,” Cat said. “We have to find him.”
“If the Hourglass can’t, what makes you think we can?” Kaleb argued.
“We have to. Because we all know exactly who he’s going to target first.” Michael’s face was a controlled mask. “Travelers who can go to the past are rare. Really rare. Some physicists believe they’ll eventually be able to travel to the future on their own, gene or no gene. But not to the past.”
o;Are there any wrong reasons to save someone’s life?”
“No, but there could be regrets.”
“My only regret is that I ever thought there could be something between us. Point me in the direction of my clothes. I’ll find them myself.”
Michael jerked a thumb toward the kitchen.
“I’ll be here after lunch tomorrow to hear Cat’s verdict. If she says we can go back, I’ll still help you rescue Liam. But then you never have to see me again. And I never have to see you.”
I thought I caught a hint of regret in his eyes as I left the room.
It had to be a trick of the light.
I slept late. Dru checked on me before she left for work, but the sun shone down from the middle of the sky before I finally got out of bed. I felt like I’d run a marathon or been hit by a truck. It was a familiar—and terrifying—feeling.
What had I done?
I stumbled into the bathroom, turning on the shower to let it heat up while I undressed. Four years of shutting people out, keeping my own counsel, and in less than twenty-four hours Thomas, Dru, and Lily knew all my dirty secrets.
And Michael knew way more than I wanted him to know. So did Kaleb.
I stood under the spray without moving, trying to absorb all the damage I’d done to my life.
Where had my head been? How could someone like me ever trust another person with the complete truth? Way more was “out there” about me than I ever intended to share. At least Dru and Thomas were family. They’d stand by me no matter what. They already had.
Lily had stuck with me for years. Everyone else had cut me off.
I dressed, wishing I could turn off my mind, stop thinking about my circumstances. Relationships were such a risk. At boarding school I’d kept everything light, easy. Always the funny one, but when it came down to building deep relationships, an introvert. The reason I understood Kaleb’s protective wall was because I had built a pretty sturdy one of my own over the past few years.
Until Michael came along and blew it to kingdom come.
I took a long look at myself in the mirror. The truth was written all over my face.
I had fallen for him, hard, and I didn’t even know until it was already over.
I picked Dru’s keys up from my dresser and slipped on my sneakers. I could stop this. It wasn’t too late. The protective wall could be rebuilt, brick by brick. Loving Michael wasn’t a possibility.
Even if I was already halfway there, I could still make a U-turn.
Even if I thought it might kill me.
Chapter 40
Where’s Kaleb? I thought he’d want to be part of this conversation, too.” Cat’s face registered surprise.
“He went to get the rest of his stuff from the Hourglass.” Michael opened the front door when I knocked without a word. I’d followed him into the kitchen in silence, my heart breaking a little more with every step. “He said to start without him.”
We all sat down around the kitchen table. An empty seat occupied the space between Michael and me.
