AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Just the contingent forty-eight states?”
He sighed. “I’m not talking geography.”
“Details, please.”
Michael pulled his legs up, resting his forearms on his knees, his long fingers intertwined. “I’m trying to keep you out of trouble, Emerson. And that involves my keeping quiet for now. It’s not easy for me, but this is the way it has to be.”
“Not easy for you?” I scoffed. “How about you spill the information, and I’ll take care of myself?”
He looked up at the sliver of moon hanging in the sky. So did I.
“Michael, you need to understand I’ve been asking questions for the past four years. In my head, out loud, every way you can think of. And I’ve never gotten any answers until you came along.”
“We can’t cover four years in one night.” He slid his hand across the roof toward me, palm down.
I slid my hand toward his, palm up, the shingles rough on the back of my hand. Our fingers barely met, yet every inch of my skin responded. The desire to close the distance so more of me could touch more of him was overwhelming. My breath caught in my chest, and I looked at him.
He pulled away without looking back.
I left my hand open to the night sky. “How long before you tell me everything?”
“Not long, I promise. Can you wait?”
“Do I have a choice?”
He didn’t answer.
“You have no idea how frustrated I am.” About so many things.
“Give me until tomorrow. Tomorrow, I promise. I just want to make sure we do this the right way. Trust me?”
“Yes,” I answered, breaking my own rule.
Chapter 16
You want a ride to work?” Thomas asked as I grabbed my backpack. I was wearing my trusty pink rain jacket because it was raining. Again.
“No, it’s not that far.” My hair was already wet anyway. I’d had some difficulty motivating myself to wake up and shower and hadn’t had time to dry it. After I’d climbed in my window last night I could still sense Michael, could almost hear him breathing on the other side of the wall. It took sleep a long time to pull me under, my thoughts racing too fast for my brain to keep up.
As I walked to Murphy’s Law, I wondered why I had never seen Michael in a car. How did he get around? Probably he snapped and appeared places at will. Or maybe he time traveled where he wanted to go.
Or maybe he was delusional, and I was one small step away from buying it.
I snorted out loud, not even bothering to be embarrassed as a man in a Confederate soldier uniform looked at me strangely. He probably wasn’t really there anyway. I’d have liked to kick him just to see, but I didn’t want to take the chance.
Time travel? Saving the world? Had I fallen into a straight-to-DVD release? How could I believe Michael was telling me the truth? It was all so crazy. If I had learned about rips before I experienced one, I wouldn’t have believed it. Lots of unbelievable things happened. Every day. Things like gravity.
But time travel? Saving the world? At seventeen?
I pushed open the door to the coffee shop so hard I almost knocked the welcome bell from the doorframe. “Morning,” I mumbled to Lily as I walked past her, reaching greedily for the espresso machine.
o;Really, I’m sure the footage is stored in a computer somewhere.” He had two fingers over his lips, making every effort to hide his burgeoning smile.
Slamming the umbrella to the ground, I fisted my hands on my hips and glared at him.
He let go with a deep belly laugh. It would’ve been contagious if I weren’t so furious. My senses were reeling. I felt denied.
“Sweetheart, listen.” The term of endearment stopped me cold. Nothing else would have. I could not explain away the affection in his eyes because I felt it, too. “We’re in dangerous territory here.”
