by Jones, D. F.
Breaking slightly away, Phillip stared down at her with a lazy grin. “I quit teaching and began to write. At first, the writing was therapeutic. But then it became the only way for me to be near you, alone and away from the world. I began to research dreams because I kept having dreams of you and I found articles on lucid dreams.” He grinned broadly and rubbed his hands together. “Oh, and I built you a room with a recording studio, and you’re going to love it.”
Phillip held her hand as they rushed down the stairs to the second-floor landing. It seemed like ages ago since Julia had been with Phillip. But in an instant, the time melted away, and it was like she had never left him.
Swiftly walking down a narrow hallway and around a corner nook, Phillip pushed open a door. “Your very own soundproof recording studio. With a wireless server, you can broadcast to anyone, anywhere in the world. I didn’t forget. You dreamed of having your own radio show.”
Julia circled her arms around Phillip’s waist, and tears freely flowed down her cheeks. “It’s wonderful, Phillip. I can’t believe it.”
Phillip kissed Julia’s forehead and brushed the tears away with the back of his hand. “Believe it, love. Let’s step outside on the front porch. The views are just as spectacular as the one from the top floor.”
Outside, Julia said, “I love it here. I never want this to end. I never want you and me to end.”
Phillip tucked a wispy strand of Julia’s hair behind her ear. “I like the short hair, but I’m not quite sure about the black. I want my platinum blonde back.”
She giggled. “If you look at the roots, you’ll see the blonde growing. I promise not to color it again. I did it because Andy suggested it.”
“He’s a good boy, isn’t he?”
Julia nuzzled her face into his neck. Looking up into Phillip’s eyes, she said, “He’s the best. He reminds me so much of you.”
Phillip caressed her cheek with his hand. “We don’t have to leave here. When you dream, think of me, and we’ll be together. Do you believe me? This is real, Julia. I found a way for us to be together. I found a way to travel through time beyond life or death using lucid dreams. Physical laws don’t apply here.”
She reached up and kissed him softly on the lips. “I hope this dream lasts forever. Oh, Phillip, I’m pregnant. I’m going to have your son.”
Tears filled Phillip’s eyes, he dropped to his knees, and placed his cheek next to Julia’s abdomen as he slipped his arm around her waist. “You’ve made me the happiest man in the world, Julie. I love you.”
* * *
“Julia, what are you doing on the porch in the middle of the night?” Ruben asked.
Ruben gently placed his hand on Julia’s shoulder, and she swept her arms up and around his neck, kissing him with so much passion and desire his mind went blank.
Nudging her face into the crook of his neck, she whispered, “I love you, Phillip. I love you so much it hurts.”
Ruben swallowed hard, holding her tightly in his arms. His heart broke for Julia. She was sleepwalking. Scooping Julia into his arms, Ruben kicked the door ajar, stepping inside.
He laid her on the bed, tucking the covers around Julia. He leaned down and kissed her forehead.
Phillip Clayborn was a damn lucky man.
* * *
Charlie drove the back roads to Mount Rieve College while Andy punched in his playlist and clicked until he found Rufus Wainwright’s version of Across the Universe. Damn, I can’t get her off my mind. Andy hoped she couldn’t read his thoughts.
Charlie parked the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat in a nearly full parking lot.
The car matched her personality—sexy, sleek, and needed to be driven fast. Andy shook his head with a double take when Charlie cut her big baby blues at him. He had tried pushing the sexy images out of his mind so she wouldn’t pick up on his vibe. He swallowed hard again.
She turned to Andy and said, “We have to steal a car.”
Stealing a car? Crap. He was turning into a criminal.
“Andy, I like you. I do. But you need to stop looking at me with those incredible bedroom eyes.”
“I’ll try, but you’re oh so sexy, and I’m so into you.” Andy returned her smoldering gaze, and she never looked away.
Placing her hand on his forearm sent desire pooling in the pit of his stomach. She looked at his lips. Smiling, she said, “Pretty boy, it’s been a long time since I’ve had sex. I’m afraid that I’d hurt you.”
Andy smirked. “I think I could handle some hurt.”
Charlie released her hand and threw her head back in laughter. “You’re funny. But we have a job to do.”
Andy brushed away the lock of hair that fell into his eyes. With a raised brow, he teased, “Okay, Ms. Charlie. But when we get to my house, I make no promises.”
They exited the car, and Charlie opened the trunk and pulled out a small case and a license plate. She scanned the parking lot and spotted a royal blue Ford Shelby GT350. In no time, smoke rose as Charlie left blisters on the asphalt. The look of unadulterated joy spread across her face as the car jolted from zero to sixty in about three and a half seconds. Hugging the curves spiked his adrenaline. God, he loved this woman.
Charlie backed off the gas once she made Sugar Hill Road.
He turned to Charlie and said, “How did you become a Tracker?”
One hand rested on the steering wheel, and her forearm leaned on the console. She briefly turned to him and then back to the road. “I went to Woodstock in ’69 with a group from Berkeley. I was the consummate hippie back in those days. I studied hard, but on my downtime, I partied hard. It was the coolest scene. Everyone was stoned, but the festival was about peace, love, sex, and rock and roll. Some dude gave me a hit of acid, and I tripped. I ended up in 1989, and Ruben found me.”
Shaking her head, Charlie exhaled deeply. “I fell for Ruben in a big way. I would’ve done anything he asked me back then and guess I still would. But Ruben isn’t into me. Oh, so that you know, ATTRA injects their citizens with a serum that makes physical aging stop. We can die, but we don’t age.”
Twenty minutes later, Charlie turned left onto Country Park Lane. She took another left onto Rucker Road and parked. “I need to case your place before I pull into the garage. Don’t move.”
Charlie straightened her spine and reached into her backpack pulling out several weapons, placing one in her hand, one in her boot, and another one in the back of her pants. “Breathe, Andy. I’ll be back soon.” Charlie stealthily disappeared into the inky night.
Andy was physically fit. Lean, muscular from strength training, and he ran five miles every other day. But he’d never been in a fight in his life. He kept glancing at the car clock. Time seemed to pass interminably slow. After an hour, his heart began to pound, his pulse raced, and his pits started sweating. Where in the hell is Charlie?
Andy opened the door and slid out of the car seat, when someone grabbed him from behind, placing him in a choke until his knees buckled.
Charlie whispered, “I told you to stay put, idiot.” He felt her warm breath against his cheeks. “I’ve checked inside and out, but that doesn’t mean we’re in the clear. Go on and pull into the garage. I’ll backtrack two blocks and enter from the patio. Okay?”
Andy tilted his head back. “I will if you let me go. Damn, woman, you're strong. You scared the shit out of me.” Shaking like a leaf, Andy started the car and drove down Country Park Lane, pulled into his driveway, and parked in the garage. He grabbed his duffle bag and went inside.
Terry, his friend at the Sheriff’s Department, had boarded up the shot-out windows in the sunroom and cleaned up the mess. Andy stepped into the kitchen and pulled out a Samuel Adams, opened it, and drained the bottle. His nerves settled down some, and he took another deep breath.
The doorbell rang.
“What the hell?” Andy thought Charlie was supposed to be invisible. He walked through the house and flung the front door open. He stared in shock. “Laney? What
are you doing here? It’s late. What’s wrong with you?” Laney, his ex-fiancée, had broken his heart into a million pieces six months ago, but damn she still looked good.
Laney stood on the front porch in a skimpy outfit, her long blonde hair falling over her shoulders, and biting her bottom lip. “I’m sorry, Andy. Is it a bad time?”
Bad time? Hell yeah, in more ways than one. “Yeah, it’s a bad time. What do you want?”
Laney pushed by him, and he grabbed her upper arm. “I don’t believe I invited you into my house.”
Tears welled in her eyes, and her lips quivered. “I need you, Andy.” She fell into his arms, and he looked around for Charlie.
“I’ll give you five minutes then you’re outta here. Understood?”
Laney nodded and went into the kitchen. “Are you alone? Is someone here?”
Andy glared at Laney and placed his hands on his hips. “You lost that privilege when you had sex with one of my students in my laundry room. You told me you loved me. You were my fiancée, for crying out loud, and you brought a student into my house and fucked him. Do you know how messed up you are?”
Laney ran her fingers up his chest. “I was scared, and I made bad decisions, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t love you. So, I hear some woman has been living with you. What’s her name? Do you love her?” He knocked her hand away from his face.
“Last time, Laney. What do you want?” Andy stepped away from her and leaned against the kitchen counter, his arms crossed over his chest.
“I want you back. I miss you, and I need you, Andy.” She leaned toward his chest and he threw his hands up.
Andy grabbed Laney by the elbow and escorted her to the front door. “You should’ve thought about that before you brought another man into my home. I’m so over you. I don’t want you. Don’t ever come back here again.”
“Please, Andy. Let me explain,” she begged.
“Not on your life. Knock on someone else’s door with your bullshit. I’ve already got a plate full of it here.” He slammed the door on Laney and pressed his back against the frame.
Charlie must’ve seen Laney. Where did she go? Suddenly, exhausted from the last twenty-four hours, Andy walked back to his bedroom and flopped on the bed. He was asleep in seconds.
* * *
Charlie stood in the shadows watching Monica talk with Andy. She nearly drew her weapon, but Andy recognized Monica. What the hell? She crept along the landscape and through the bushes to peek inside the kitchen window. Andy yelled at Monica, and she was acting like some besotted teenager.
Pulse racing, Charlie watched and waited until Andy threw Monica out the front door. Then she followed Monica across the street. Out of earshot, Charlie couldn’t tell who Monica called, but it wasn’t good if Monica knew Andy.
Charlie waited outside for another hour before she felt comfortable enough to go inside. She slipped through the patio and used the house key Andy had given her. The quiet was deafening. She tip-toed down the hallway, peeking into each room until she saw Andy sprawled across a king-sized bed.
It was against ATTRA protocols, but Charlie climbed on top of Andy. Her hands ran up his chest, and suddenly he grabbed her wrists and flipped her on her back. She chuckled and said, “It’s Charlie.”
Andy’s eyes seem to adjust, and he let out a breath. He released her hands. “Dammit, Charlie. My ex showed up at the front door. I thought the deranged bitch broke in.” He leaned against the headboard.
Charlie straddled him again and brushed the hair away from his face. “We have a problem, Houston.”
Andy grabbed her hips and scooted her closer. “What’s that?”
“Your ex is my ex-boss.”
Andy flung Charlie off him and stood. “What? What are you saying? Laney’s your boss? Like, who exactly?”
“Laney, huh?” Charlie backed against the headboard and drew her right knee to her chest. “That woman, my dear, is none other than Commander Monica Adams. How long have you known her?”
Andy plopped onto the bed, and his face fell into his hands. He rubbed his face vigorously before he collapsed on his back and turned to Charlie. “This is craziness. I met her last year at a faculty party. We dated for six months, and I fell in love with her. I asked Laney to marry me. She was sweet yet strong, sad but happy. Then one day, I came home early from school and caught her screwing some dude in my laundry room. I was livid and broke our engagement. She left, and I never heard from her again until tonight.”
Charlie crawled over to him and draped her arm across his chest, resting her head on his shoulder. “Boy, is she one cold-hearted, calculating bitch. She wants Julia. Monica also knows you’re Phillip’s grandson. But she doesn’t know that you’re Julia’s grandson or that you’re the one with the time machine formula. Or you’d be living in Lunar City with Monica’s thumb stuck up your ass.”
“Ew, that’s a gruesome image.”
Twisting his hair into her fingers, Charlie said, “After we close the house, and you place your leave at the university, we need to make you disappear with no trace. Or she’ll find all of us. While you’re at the university, I’ll start eliminating any paper trails. By the time I’m through with you, it’ll be like you were never born.”
Andy grabbed her by the nape of her neck and kissed her hard. He chuckled. “But first, I need you to hurt me.”
Charlie straddled him. “Gladly.”
With a husky and slightly breathless voice, Andy said, “Hug me, kiss me, love me all night long.” Threading his fingers through Charlie’s short red hair, Andy pulled her down, kissing her and delving his tongue into her warm hot mouth. He teased and tugged at her full pink pouty lips.
Escalating sexual tension unleashed as Charlie tore at his clothes. He yanked down her tight ass pants, and then she straddled him again.
Wild and fierce, Charlie grabbed his hands and pushed them over his head. She licked his lips with slow and sensual strokes making his adrenaline kick in, and lightning unfurled in his belly. Charlie’s sweet hotness pressed against the length of him.
She pulled her black spandex top over her head and revealed she wore no bra. Her perfect peach-size breasts were firm and ripe for the sucking. He reached up to place an elongated nipple in his mouth, and she shoved him back on the bed, shaking her head no.
“I’m going to take you hard and fast. Then I’m going to love you painstakingly slow and deliberate until there’s nothing left of you.”
Moaning, he said, “Use me up, baby.”
“Oh, I’m going to, baby.”
Charlie made good on her word. Suddenly, they were all over the bed. He knocked off a lamp, and it broke against the wall. He laughed and rolled her onto her back before she took control of him again. Switching multiple positions as Charlie played Kama Sutra cards, in the bed, the chair, and against the wall until they collapsed onto the floor exhausted, breathless, and sweating.
Charlie slipped back on top of Andy and leaned next to his ear. She whispered, “Don’t get comfortable.” Andy sighed and moaned as Charlie went into the bathroom and the silhouette of her perfect naked body reflected in the light.
He threw his forearm over his head. Laney, or well, Monica had shredded him emotionally. But Charlie would destroy the remnants of his remaining manhood. Why am I into dominant women?
Images of sweet Denise crossed his mind. They were so compatible in many ways. But the magnitude of his sexual experience with Charlie went off the Richter scale. He was glad Denise was out of town for another month. She never made demands of him, and by the time she came around, maybe Charlie would be gone.
He sucked in a breath as Charlie strode back into the bedroom. She exuded confidence and raw sex appeal. With a grin, Andy said, “Hey, I think I’m crazy about you.”
Reaching down for his hand, Charlie pulled Andy to his feet. With a wry smile, she said, “Yeah, well, just don’t fall in love with me. I'm going to be honest with you, Andy. I’m in love with Ruben and always have been.
He just doesn’t see me in a romantic way. If you understand that, we’ll do it again.”
She stepped slightly back, and Andy licked his lips. “Oh, yeah, I get it, baby. You bet your sweet ass we’re doing it again, and you can use me anytime you want to make Ruben jealous.”
Leaning down, Charlie placed feather-light kisses across his chest, then sucked his nipples hard while trailing her fingers down his biceps. Andy moaned, “Oh baby, yeah, you can use me anytime you want.”
Charlie moved around to his back and trailed her tongue down his spine to his buttocks, then moved back to the front and dropped to her knees.
No doubt, Charlie would leave him for Ruben.
No doubt, she’d leave him scarred for life.
* * *
Monica stared out of Andy’s neighbor’s master bedroom window with her arms tight around her chest. Her fingernails bit into her skin. Her team set up residence watching and waiting for Andy to return home after the debacle of losing Azaria and Kalsan. What a freaking mess. Julia had been alone all night and her team, living next door, had been oblivious. They blamed it on the damn dog, Klock.
To her surprise, Charlie returned with Andy and cased the place, which meant she’d turned traitor and was working for Ruben. The shadows cast on Andy’s bedroom window left nothing to the imagination and revealed that Charlie was screwing Andy too.
Zane walked into the room without turning on the lights. “Why are you torturing yourself? Just say the word, and I’ll exterminate the bugs.”
Turning, Monica placed a hand on Zane’s shoulder. “Not too fast, Zane. Let’s meet with the others.” The plush baby blue carpet cushioned the soles of her tired feet as she walked into the small dining room. Stormy and Johnnie stood at the antique walnut table peering at a map of the Black Mountains.
Monica said, “By god, in the morning, we’re going to follow them. Charlie is slippery as a snake, so she’ll try to lose us. They’ll lead us to wherever Ruben has Julia in hiding.”