by Bailey James
Damn it.
I close my eyes and tell him what had happened, leaving out the bit about how I was thinking of him while making out with Ty, but I do mention how my relationship with Ty is changing and that’s why I’m a mess.
Jackson watches me carefully, then asks, “So…he didn’t hurt you or push you into anything you didn’t want?”
I shake my head.
He smiles and leans back. “Good. So, what did you learn at the Science Center?”
Startled by the abrupt change of topic, I find myself recounting the scene with Tyler and the young girl.
Jackson starts laughing. “You’re kidding. The girl is actively flirting with him, and he tries explaining the concept of an internal combustion engine? Wow.”
“Yep.”
“I’ve been watching you two for months. You guys don’t seem to have anything in common,” he prompts me.
“Sure we do,” I say.
I know I should be upset about him basically being a Peeping Tom for two months, but I’m not. And I don’t know why. And I’m sure he would have said something sooner if he could.
He sits back with a smirk and crosses his arms over his chest. “Yeah? Name something.”
Well, crap. He would have to ask me to prove it. “We both…like the beach.”
He just gives me a look. “Name something else.”
“We both want to be engineers.”
Jackson stares at me and then starts laughing. “Engineers. I ask for things you have in common, and you tell me you share an interest in the beach and professions. Okay, then. Well, I think I’ve proved my point.”
I scowl. “Yeah, okay, well name something we,” I gesture between Jackson and myself, “have in common then,” I blurt out.
“Music,” he says immediately.
“What?” I say, knitting my eyebrows together.
“We both like the same kind of music.”
I cross my arms and lean back. “How do you know that?”
“I’ve been watching you for months, remember? I’ve heard you play the radio so often I think I have an idea of what music you like. It sounds very close to what I listen to here. So…music.”
“Okay, well, name something else.”
“Books,” he says and smiles. “action adventures and thrillers. Movies. Again, action and thrillers, with the occasional rom-com thrown in. We actually like to listen to each other.”
I opened my mouth to ask him how he knows about the movies but remember what he just said and slam it shut again.
“There’s more,” he says, with no small amount of smugness. Would you like me to keep going?”
“No, that’s okay,” I say while he continues to gloat at me. He’s right. The two of us do have more in common than Ty and I do. Ty hates my movies. Music is the same. I’m reasonably eclectic, but I prefer pop and almost anything from the ‘90s. He’s all hard rock. I love me some good Metallica and Five Finger Death Punch, too, but not all the time. And books? Yeah right. Ty wouldn’t crack open a book any more than I’d jump naked into a volcano.
Trying to act casual, I ask, “So, do you have a girlfriend? Maybe I should compare her and you like what you’re doing with Ty and me.”
He only flashes a grin. “Nope. No girlfriend here.”
I raise my brows and give a snort.
He shrugs. “I’m kind of busy with swim and school. There’s been nobody I’ve wanted to date.” He shoots me a look. “Until recently, that is.”
“Oh,” I say and blush. I avert my eyes but feel the butterflies start bounding around my stomach.
“You have to notice there’s a connection between us?” He meets my gaze. “Tell me I’m not the only one that feels this.”
I lick my lips, but don’t answer. Of course I feel it, though. I’m just not convinced it’s not the work of the portal.
Suddenly, he jumps up, startling me. “Do you want to see something?”
“Uh, sure.”
He jogs to his closet and then flings it open. He hurries back over and holds out his hand, palm up. In it sits a little blue egg no bigger than a dime. As I watch, it hatches and out pops a little ruby-colored dragon. It growls and then roars before spitting a tiny flame out of his mouth.
I smile as Jackson taps it, and it curls up in his palm, staring at him with emerald eyes until once again it turns back into an egg.
He looks over. “What do you think?”
“Wow, that’s…that’s awesome! Is it real?”
“No. It’s just a toy, but I thought you’d like it.” He jerks his head to my collection of dragons I have on a shelf by my window.
“It’s a toy?” Wow, that had to be expensive. Then I shake my head. His world is something like two thousand years ahead of mine; it’s probably no more costly than a pack of cards is here. “That is so cool.”
“It’s the first toy I remember my dad getting me.”
“I think I was born in the wrong dimension,” I say with a little laugh.
His face turns serious. “Yeah, me too.” I blush again but keep my gaze steady this time. He smiles and touches the mirror with just his fingertips. “You know you’re beautiful when you do that.”
I blush brighter and fight to keep my eyes on his. “Do what?” I manage.
“Blush. It makes you almost glow.” His voice almost sounds like he’s in awe.
“Thank you.” I finally have to move my eyes under the intensity of his. I almost feel like I can’t breathe.
“Lily?” he whispers.
“Yes?” I move my eyes to meet his again. We’re so close that, had the glass not been between us, our noses would touch. As it is, every time he breaths and fogs the mirror, I almost feel his breath against my cheek.
“I…”
“Yeah?” My voice is barely a whisper.
“I…uh…”
“Yes, Jackson.” It isn’t a question; it’s an answer to something he hasn’t even asked—my heart races in time with the flutter I see in the groove of his throat.
His eyes are intense and shadowed, and he leans closer, his nose pressing on the glass as I do the same. His steamy breaths come in shallow gasps that match mine.
“I…uh…” Suddenly, he pulls his gaze from mine and sits back on his heels, leaving me blinking at him. “I think you should go to sleep. It’s late.”
My heart drops to the floor. “Yeah. You’re probably right.”
Trying not to show my disappointment, I sit back and push myself to a standing position. I turn to walk toward my bed but glance over my shoulder. “Good night. Jackson.”
He nods his head once, and then the mirror bounces my reflection back at me.
The first thing on my mind, before I’ve even opened my eyes, is Jackson. Should I try and see if he’s available? I want to see him. I want to talk to him just as severely as I had yesterday. I legit feel like a pre-teen with a crush.
No. I won’t try to talk to him. I need to try and find answers. I just spoke to him a few hours ago.
Despite my best efforts to ignore it, though, I find myself turning to the mirror anyway. A huge goofy—I’m sure—smile splits my face when I see Jackson already there and waiting for me. He grins back almost immediately.
I rush over, practically bouncing on my toes. “Hi!”
“Hey. How are you?” He’s still smiling, but he gives me a once-over.
“Much better. You?”
“I’m good. Now.” The look he gives me is all heat, and my center bursts with warmth.
My heart skips a beat, and I twist my lips into another smile. Jackson traces a finger over the glass as if to smooth away the wrinkles along my nose.
“I like that,” he says.
“Like what?”
“Your smile. I like how you crinkle your nose.”
“My nose?” I lift a hand and cover it. “You like my nose?”
His hand bumps the glass, and he sighs. “Well, not just your nose, but your eyes, too.”
“My eyes?”
“Yeah, I love how you smile with your whole face. It’s so completely you. No one else smiles like you.”
I can practically feel my heart grow a few sizes. I tuck a lock of hair behind my ear as my insides quiver. I have to force a laugh because otherwise I’ll just stand here staring stupidly at him.
“Well, with two whole dimensions to choose from, I’m sure you can find someone else.” I internally face palm. Why in the hell did I say that?
He shakes his head. “I don’t want anyone else. As long as I have you.”
I blush and look down at the floor, unsure how to respond. Even Tyler’s best lines have nothing on Jackson’s. I let my hair curtain my face. “Thank you,” I whisper in a shaky voice.
Jackson groans, and I look up through my hair to see him scowling at his hand, and somehow, I know what he wanted to do. My heart still gooey, I reach out and place my hand against his, splaying my fingers so they fill the empty spaces between his and wish that, for once, the mirror would do what we want. If for no other reason than for me to hold his hand.
He stares at our “joined” hands and then meets my eyes. My heart stumbles as we peer into each other’s eyes. He brings his other hand up and spreads his fingers in the same way he has with his left in slow motion. Without hesitation, I bring my second hand up and do the same. His eyes turn sad when my cast makes a clunking sound against the glass.
Not taking his eyes from mine, he removes his hand and brings it to his lips. I keep my hand where it is, curious what he’s doing. In slow motion, his eyes never leaving mine, he kisses his fingertips and then presses them to mine at the glass.
Sparks shoot through my hand and up my arm, my pulse speeding up, then just as suddenly returning to normal, as everything in my body—and mind—seems to settle at once.
“I’m sorry, Tiger Lily,” he whispers, his voice gruff.
Taking a steadying breath, I close my eyes, but they fly open when a banging on my door makes us both jump. My heart hammers in my chest. Jackson starts to move away, but I quickly say, “Stay? Please?”
He smiles, this one crinkling his eyes and nods.
The pounding starts again. “Lily? Why is your door locked?” Mom calls through it.
With one last glance at Jackson, I dash over and toss it open. “Don’t know. Must’ve done it on accident.”
She sighs; it isn’t the first time that’s happened. I’m always locking doors and then shutting them, forgetting they’re locked. It’s the whole reason why we have a keypad on all the outside doors now. Once I even locked myself out of my own room. It took Dad over an hour to unlock it, and he hadn’t been too happy afterward.
“Okay, well, you really need to be careful, honey. Your dad won’t be too happy if he has to try unlocking it again. Tyler’s here.” She grins and winks at me. “He’s got flowers,” she says in the sugary sweet voice she uses whenever she wants me to do something.
With an inward groan, I say, “Mom, please tell me you didn’t let him in.” After what happened yesterday, and my emotions being all over the place, I just wanted a minute to try and figure shit out. I should have known Ty would try and come over and “fix” things. He is a fixer. That’s what he does.
She frowns at me. “Of course I did. He looked miserable. Whatever he did, I’m sure it’s not that bad.” She pats my hand. “Just talk to him at least.”
The way she’d phrases it tells me it isn’t a request; the look she gives me assures me it’s a demand.
You’d think she’s the one dating him.
I sigh. “Yeah, okay, fine. I’ll be down in a minute.”
She frowns at me again and I can see worry in the lines around her eyes. “You don’t want me to send him up here?”
I fight the urge to glance over at the mirror. “No. I think it would be better if we went outside, actually.”
Mom raises an eyebrow. “All right. I’ll send him out to the back patio. You will be down shortly, right?” Her tone brokers no argument.
“Yes, I just want to do something with my hair first.” I fluff it as if to prove my words.
Apparently, that means more to her than me because she smiles. “There’s my girl,” she says.
When she leaves, I walk back to Jackson, who’s staring at me with worried eyes. “Wait for me?” I ask.
“I don’t like this,” he says softly.
I give him an incredulous look. “I’ll be fine.”
Jackson’s hand rests on the glass as if he could reach out and stop me. “Please don’t.”
His tone almost breaks me, but I shake my head. “Jackson. Stop. I get it. I do, but Ty is my boyfriend.” And I’m the one acting like a weirdo.
“Not a very good one,” Jackson says under his breath, but I catch it, and for some reason, that pisses me off.
“That’s your opinion,” I hiss and spin around. Ty is a good boyfriend. Everything that’s happening is my fault. And that is exactly the problem.
“Lily, please don’t go. He’s not right for you.”
“How do you know what’s good for me? You barely know me.” I take a step toward the door but stop when he speaks again.
“From the moment I saw you, I knew you better than anyone else in my life.”
I feel it, too. But I don’t know him, and I refuse to acknowledge that strangeness in my life, so I say, “That’s not normal. Do you even hear yourself right now?”
“We just make sense. And I know you feel it too.”
As much as I don’t want to admit it, I do know precisely what he means. From the moment his lips touched mine on the rocky shore of the lake, it’s like a switch had been flipped inside me, in my soul. But that’s crazy. Ty is real. He’s here in the same world. And he loves me. Jackson is someone I barely know, and no one I can ever do anything with because he doesn’t even live in the same dimension.
“I can’t talk about this right now,” I finally manage to say.
“We don’t have to talk about it. You already know it’s true.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Jackson, please—I have to go.”
He thumps his hand against the mirror with a growl. “I hate that I can’t reach you.”
I cross my arms. “Why?”
“Because if I could, I wouldn’t let you leave.”
Let me? I narrow my eyes. “Sounds like kidnapping to me.”
“You wouldn’t think that if I could reach you.” The look in his eyes should be registered with some kind of authority. It’s all heat, and it’s setting me on fire.
I shake myself to clear the lust from my brain. “Jackson.” I’m getting dangerously close to blowing Ty off and I can’t let that happen.
“Just think about it while you’re with him, Tiger Lily. Just remember that if it were up to me, you wouldn’t be there. You’d be right here.”
He doesn’t mean here in my room either. He means here as in his world. In his room.
I don’t say anything, nor do I move. I’m lost. Torn between forces I can’t even try to understand.
Chapter Eighteen
Tyler stands on the back porch, staring at the pool with a bouquet of Asian Stargazer lilies in his hand. And my heart melts. Those are my favorite, and usually really hard to find. How he managed to find them on such short notice, I don’t know.
He smiles when he sees me, but it’s not his normal bright one. It’s unsure. “I love you,” he blurts. His tone is just as uncertain as his smile, and it makes my heart ache.
“I love you, too,” I say out of habit, even though it rings a little hollow now. Do I still? Or has this shit with Jackson changed all that?
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br /> Of course, guilt floods me at that thought. Of course I still love Ty. Jackson is just an added complication. I quickly slap on a smile and hug Ty, pulling him as tight as I can to me.
Ty’s arms tighten around me as if he can hear my thoughts, then he releases me and shoves the flowers into my hands. “Here.”
With a small smile, I press my nose into the bouquet and breathe in their sweet scent. “Thank you.”
He grins and then frowns. “You didn’t sleep again.” I shake my head, and he presses his forehead to mine. “I’m sorry. Here you’re supposed to be resting, and I’m pushing you and making everything worse.” He pulls back to stare into my eyes. “I promise that will never happen again, okay?”
God, what a mess this is. And it’s all my fault: mine and the stupid portal.
I look directly into his eyes. “You don’t have anything to apologize for.” He opens his mouth to argue, but I place my finger over his lips and say, “You didn’t push me, Ty. Yesterday was all me. I’m just a mess right now.”
“Which is why I shouldn’t have done what I did.”
I shake my head, my heart breaking for my gentle giant as I wrap him up in a hug, resting my head on his chest. He just holds me to him. We stay that way as everything fades away. And, for a blissful minute, everything feels right. Like it did before the accident. Before Jackson.
A stab of guilt hits my heart at the thought of Jackson, and suddenly being in Ty’s arms doesn’t feel “right” anymore. It feels scratchy and uncomfortable, like I’m wearing a hair shirt. Ty’s hand runs down my hair like he likes to do, but all I want to do is get away from him.
What the hell is wrong with me?
I step out of his embrace, wrapping my arms around myself. “Listen, Ty. I’m tired. I’m going to go upstairs to sleep, okay?” I back away, my heart pinching.
He frowns but nods. “Okay, let’s go.” He reaches for my hand, but I step further out of reach.
“No. Ty, I want to be by myself.”
He sighs and looks to the ground. “You’re still mad?”
He looks like I just kicked his puppy, and I wince.