by Nia Arthurs
His jaw clenches and his fingers tighten on the steering wheel.
I clear my throat. “The end of what?”
“Our time together.”
My heart drops to my toes.
Pavel laughs. “We can get you back home in about… a day? Maybe two?”
“So quickly?” I croak.
“Everything’s in place.” Pavel sounds quite proud of himself. “I’ve been preparing for this moment.”
Two days.
My fingers tighten around the bouquet and I can’t bring my eyes up to meet Morgan’s. Horror darkens the edges of my vision and steals the joy in my heart.
I set the bouquet down, unable to handle the sight of them. The flowers that looked so strong and gorgeous a second ago now taunt me with their mortality.
In two days, these petals will wilt.
And in two days, I’ll be gone.
25
Conroy
I drag my shaving knife over the underside of my jaw and enjoy the scraping sound it makes as it hits my stubble. The clean-shaven look isn’t my style, but I’ve been trying it out lately, preparing for the day Kaz will be in my arms.
Softly, I tap the knife against the side of the sink and watch the tiny hairs fall into the drain. Glancing up, I stare at my reflection.
A face carved by adversity and trials looks back at me. My skin is the warm, earthy brown of my ancestors and my thick nose and lips were handed down to me by my father.
Without the beard, I look like that frat boy Miles and it slightly angers me. I cool myself down with the thought of Kaz. The night we locked eyes at the club, she was frightened by me. I need to soften my approach so I don’t scare her.
I lift a hand to the tattoos on my neck and over my chest. My original plan involved slipping into her world and pretending to be the fiancé she knew, but I threw that idea away very quickly.
We share the same face, but I am nothing like that rich pansy she fell in love with. Miles was not a leader. Even the head of that frivolous boy group, B4… what was his name again? Hawk. Even Hawk had more guts than him.
It’s sickening, really. One would think that all the men who share this face would be cut from the same cloth. In reality, I’m ashamed to share any genetic links to Kaz’s old lover.
Turning the faucet, I pool my fingers beneath the stream and throw cold water on my face. The liquid is refreshing and I reach for a towel, slowly drying myself up. Roderick appears in the doorway.
My eyes meet his in the mirror. “Are there any more glimpses into her world?”
“We just reestablished connection.”
“Where is she?”
“Out.”
“Where, Roderick?”
“In a furniture store.”
“By herself?”
He pauses and his eyes turn cool. “No.”
My nostrils flare as an anger I’ve never known explodes inside of me. “She is with him?”
Before Roderick dips his sharp chin in a nod, I know the answer. If I were in that white man’s shoes, I would not hesitate to throw Kaz in my bed. I would rake my fingers down every smooth brown inch of her and fill her with my seed so she could never run away.
Kaz is beautiful, glorious, and her charms affected me from inside a television screen. But knowing her appeal only makes my frustration more palpable. It disturbs me to think of her under any other man, her lips calling any other name but mine.
I whirl around, snarling. “What were they doing all night?”
It’s a loaded question and I don’t really want to know the answer.
Roderick understands me too well and pins his lips together, but his reticence only confirms the truth that we both know and it fans the flames of my fury.
Anger sizzles in my veins. I whirl around, the soft robe flying behind me as I level a burning glare at Roderick. “Do you have a video?”
Still no answer.
“Roderick?”
“No, sir.” He stares at the floor. “We don’t have footage of that.”
“So why do you look so unsettled?”
Roderick licks his lips. “They seem friendlier, sir. More… intimate than before.”
“Show me.”
He flinches. “You will not want to see—”
Stalking to the doorway, I clamp my fingers around his throat. His eyes fall shut and he gasps for breath, but he doesn’t struggle. Roderick has been in this position too many times and he has come to accept that his life is in my hands.
I toss him aside and watch as he quickly climbs to his feet and brushes himself off. He inhales a deep breath, darting a hand to his neck for a moment before returning to his usual state of a stiff back and a blank expression.
We head down the stairs to my private room. The fire is flickering, as always, but I can hardly feel its warmth. My eyes fall on the screen. There’s a grainy picture of Kaz in a furniture store.
She is laughing, her head thrown back and her mouth open wide. Even with this crappy quality, her eyes are sparkling like two stars plucked right out of the sky.
My heart squeezes painfully as I watch her stunning face and tiny physique. An urgent pounding overwhelms me, demanding satisfaction.
Roderick’s crisp voice reaches my ears. “Should I give you… privacy, sir?”
I’m about to tell him ‘yes’ when pale arms wrap around Kaz from behind. Instead of slapping the man who would dare to touch her, she melts into his embrace, her head rolling back to fit into the dip between his neck and shoulder.
He whispers something in her ear. Something that makes her mouth part in unabashed pleasure and her hands tighten on top of his. They sway lightly before he backs away and points to a small table in the corner.
The room spins around me, getting smaller and smaller as I watch them flirt and laugh.
The world darkens.
Shadows choke out the light.
I stumble forward and go crashing to my knees.
Roderick sprints to my side. “Sir?”
Though it pains me, I keep my eyes on the television. Kaz is nestled in his side and she smiles sweetly when he presses a kiss to her forehead. When no one is looking, he tips her chin back and plants a passionate kiss on her lips.
She wraps her arms around his neck, thrusting her hips forward as if she wants to devour him in the middle of the store.
I roar and charge the television, unable to stand a moment longer.
Tearing the screen straight out of the wall, I throw it down. It crashes against the tiles, splintering into a hundred pieces.
My chest heaves violently as I growl out, “Tell the lab to get me there.”
“Where, sir?”
“Get me in front of Kaz.”
26
Morgan
I storm into the garage, my eyes flitting to the metal doorway that’s standing like a soldier waiting for orders. Jerking my gaze away, I glance around the large space until I find Pavel.
He’s behind a workbench, a mask on his face and a torch in his hands.
I cross the room until I’m standing directly in front of him, close enough that the heat of the torch rivals the heat in my veins.
Pavel stops welding and pushes the mask back. “You sabotaged her today.” His expression hardens until it becomes like stone. “I hope you know that.”
“You went back to the suppliers after I told you I’d dealt with them,” I snarl.
He sets the torch down. “I didn’t trust you.”
“This is my project.”
“No, Morgan. It’s ours.” He rounds the table. “We agreed to send her back.”
“Did I say anything to the contrary?”
“It’s not what you say. It’s what you’re doing.” He folds his arms over his chest. “It’s not just your decision to piss off the suppliers today. We agreed to work on the machine last night.”
“There was a change of plans.”
“Yes.” He arches an eyebrow knowingly. “McCarthy told me you we
re accompanying Kaz somewhere. I figured you were going to return after seeing her home safely, but you never made it back.”
“You spying on me now?”
“The fact that you would ask that is insulting.”
“Stop running around in circles and get to the point, Pavel.”
“Did you sleep with her, Morgan?”
I stiffen. Thrust a finger in his face. “Stay out of my business.”
“If I haven’t made it clear already, getting Kaz home is my business. I warned you. I won’t let anything stand in the way of that.”
“It’s her decision.”
“No, it’s not. She doesn’t belong to this world.” His stare turns blistering. “She doesn’t belong to you.”
My eyes narrow, but there’s nothing I can say to him. Kaz made it clear that our night was temporary and, even if we’re pretending things have changed, they haven’t.
She didn’t throw that damn engagement ring away, she just stuffed it under some clothes.
It’s still there.
Beneath it all.
Waiting for her to claim it.
My stomach aches like crazy and I know Doc will be on my case about keeping my stress levels down. Hell if I know how to do that.
I’ve fallen for a woman from another dimension.
There’s no running from the panic and anxiety.
“At any moment,” Pavel gestures to the doorway, “her world can snatch her back in the same way that it brought her here.”
A sharp pain seizes my breath. If it’s a fight against science, a calculation I need to solve—I’ll place my bets on me. But I’ve been in a war against fate before, and it shredded me to nothing. I left that fight with a broken heart, battle scars, and an empty bed.
“We can’t tame nature, Morgan.”
I squeeze my eyes shut to cancel Grace’s voice, to erase the picture of her sitting by the window watching a lightning storm and smiling at the rain.
A phone buzzes.
Mine.
It’s Kaz.
I suck in a deep breath and then let it go to voicemail. She’ll be worried. Anxious. She’s probably feeling more conflicted than I am about all this.
Not that she let it show.
On our date this evening, we did our best to be present, in the moment. She stuck to my side, drawing me into a fantasy where I almost, almost believed that everyday would be like this—sweet, sultry, perfect.
When I’m with her, it’s easy to pretend that nothing else matters.
But when we’re apart…
She’s leaving just like Grace.
Reality is cold. Unforgiving. Relentless.
It feels like I’m fighting a battle with one hand behind my back.
The more I try to hold on, the more she slips through my fingers. It’s a pain I’m not sure I want to endure again. The first time almost killed me.
“I need to know where your head is.” Pavel sits on a chair near the doorway. “Because in forty-eight hours, Kaz will be walking through this portal. She needs an escort.” He tilts his head. "Will you be able to let her go?”
“Forty eight hours is an unrealistic projection, don’t you think?” I shake my head. “You’re being overly ambitious.”
“Not if we work together.” He hands me a tablet.
I don’t move to take it. “Slow down.”
“So you can confuse her for longer?” Pavel laughs darkly. “Wake up, Morgan!”
“What the hell do you want from me, Pavel?”
He leans against the desk, his gaze steady. “Do you love her?”
“She’s leaving.”
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
I toss the tablet on the desk and lean over it, gripping the edges to keep myself upright. Love took me prisoner once. It held me in captivity. Stole my peace. Ruined my future. And it wants a second round. Another pound of flesh.
“What about her?” Pavel whispers.
I turn and glare at him over my shoulder. “Don’t.”
“Does she love you?” Pavel straightens and walks toward me. “Will she stay if you beg her? If you plead?” He chuckles bitterly. “I don’t think so, Morgan. And deep down, you don’t believe it either. If you did, you’d talk to her instead of trying to delay—”
“That’s enough, Pavel,” I hiss.
Grace is in my head again. She’s there on the bed, her chin in the pillow and her eyes that dull, impenetrable fortress of acceptance.
“Let me go, Morgan.”
She gave up on fighting her disease, but she also gave up on me. In the end, I wasn’t there with her and it’s haunted me for years.
“You need to let her go,” Pavel says, his voice low and firm. “Nothing you can do will change a thing, do you hear me? Nothing will stop this.” He moves over to me and grabs my shoulder. “Please end it now, Morgan. I’m saying this for your sake as well as hers.”
I brush him off. “It’s late.” Jutting my chin at the door, I speak as calmly as I can muster. “You should leave.”
Pavel pulls back, hesitating. With a sigh, he grabs his bag and leaves me in the garage alone.
The silence thickens around me, amplifying the disquiet in my soul. I glare at the portal. It’s just an empty shell of a doorway, seemingly leading to nowhere, but it’s the end of everything. It’s the finish line I never want to cross.
With Grace, I never had such a physical representation of our ending. She got sicker and sicker, but there was still hope. Until Death came and destroyed it all.
This time, it’s different. The portal isn’t some gloomy entity I can’t touch.
I can destroy this thing.
Break it into a thousand tiny pieces.
Erase all the data so it can never rise again.
My eyes land on a hammer. I inch toward it.
My phone buzzes, shaking that crazy thought.
I answer. “Hey.”
“Morgan.”
Her name is bittersweet on my lips. “Kaz.”
“You okay? You sound upset.”
“I’m—” Running a hand through my hair, I lean back. “I’m just thinking.”
“About?”
I struggle to share my thoughts and let the silence lengthen between us.
“Is it the past?” Kaz whispers. “Or the future?”
Falling into a chair, I admit, “Both.”
“Do you want company?”
If I see her, it’ll only fuddle my mind again. Every time I’m around Kaz, she fills me up and sends every other thought careening into oblivion.
It’s more than my body craving her. My obsession’s sunken to a desperate, emotional place. I’ve never needed anyone the way I need Kaz.
There’s no way I can think clearly if I spend the night giving into my desire for her.
I glance at the portal again. “Tonight, it would be better if we just…” My heart thumps painfully. “I think we should take a minute.”
“Oh.”
I hear a note of hurt in her voice and wince. “Kaz, look, don’t—”
“No, it’s fine.”
“Kaz.”
“Take all the time you need. I’ll see you around.”
“Wait.”
“Goodnight, Morgan.”
Click.
I pull the phone down and stare at the blank screen. Damn.
I just messed up, didn’t I?
Dropping my head in my hands, I let out a tortured moan.
Indecision tears me in two. I should get up and go to her. I know that.
But one dark question keeps me in my seat.
Will it take more courage to let Kaz go or ask her to stay?
27
Kaz
I toss my cell phone across the room and listen to it clatter on top of my laundry basket. With a grunt of frustration, I throw myself into my bed. The same bed where Morgan kissed me passionately, held me late into the night and filled me with so much pleasure I almost thought I’d split in hal
f.
But that night is over and now we’re left trying to bridge a chasm that got even wider than before.
His rejection is no surprise. I knew things would get complicated if we crossed the line, but expecting it did nothing to soften the blow.
I think we should take a minute. We both know he’s not asking for a minute. He threw the brakes so hard there was no room for misunderstandings.
Of course, he has every right to stop us before we get even deeper.
But it still caught me by surprise.
We spent all evening pretending Pavel didn’t just tell us we only have two days to be together.
We held hands as we walked down the aisles. Cuddled in beds to test them out. Kissed when no one was looking. There was a hesitancy in his green eyes, sure, but nothing that would have tipped me off to him retreating so intensely.
I wanted to keep my head buried in the sand for just a little longer. Now, there’s no running from it. Morgan’s put distance between us. He’s drawn the line in the sand again.
It hurts, but I can’t blame him.
Burying my head in my pillows, I sigh miserably.
Forget blaming him. I can’t even stay mad at him. As annoyed as I feel, I miss Morgan. I want him here, his arms around me and his heartbeat strong in my ears. I want his kisses, his teasing strokes, his hard grunts pushing me into oblivion.
I want it.
So badly.
But it’s not mine to have or to hold.
Getting up, I cross to the dresser, open the drawer and take out the necklace with my engagement ring. At the sight of the extravagant diamond, my heart twists painfully.
All my years with Miles rushes back over me like a volcano eruption.
“Why do you put up with me, Kaz?” Miles asked me as we sat across from each other at a fancy new restaurant.
I primped the sleeves of the designer dress I bought just for the occasion. “What do you mean?”
“I mean,” he folded his hands together, “I know David Forshire is trying to get with you.”
I bit down on my bottom lip and glanced away. David was always friendly, but lately he’d got even friendlier. I thought everyone respected my relationship with Miles, so I didn’t call him out on it.