eyes met hers and he smiled.
Before he could step back and close the door, Cassie leaned out of the truck’s cab and placed a kiss on Aiden’s lips.
She’d meant for it to be brief peck, but apparently her lips never got the memo.
And neither did her hands , obviously, because in the next moment they’d reached up to take hold of Aiden’s shirt in an attempt to draw him closer.
It wasn’t until after she pulled away some moments later, that Cassie realized they were both completely drenched. The kiss took Aiden so much by surprise, he forgot to redirect the rain.
Cassie sat perched on the edge of the truck’s bench seat, grinning up at Aiden’s bemused expression.
“I really owe Kenzie that new phone now, don’t I?”
“Yes,” said Cassie, leaning in for another kiss. “You really do.”
— 10 —
T he storm that moved ashore that night was unlike anything the town of Bay View had seen since Hurricane Charlotte skirted inland just north of them, three years earlier.
Trees were uprooted, homes and property damaged, and many of the buildings along the shoreline came precariously close to flooding.
Thankfully— miraculously —no one was injured as a result of the freakish weather.
Alex, meanwhile, was content to spend the entire weekend locked in her bedroom under a self-imposed quarantine, oblivious to the wind and rain ravaging her hometown. She was too distracted by the storm raging inside her own thoughts to pay the weather any mind.
After explaining to her friends what happened in the woods and where she went when she’d jumped, she’d been met first with blank stares, and then with a unified front of carefully phrased dismissals.
They didn’t believe her.
Worse, they’d suddenly felt the need to console her.
Cassie had hugged Alex tightly, slid a hand over her dark, matted curls in an effort to tame them, then insisted that the stress of everything that was happening must have finally gotten to her. It had been a rough few weeks. What she needed, was rest.
She hadn’t seen Masterson in the forest, Kenzie assured her. With her telepathic ability, Kenzie would have sensed him the instant he’d appeared. No one could hide from her if they were nearby. That voice she’d heard had been nothing more than the wind whispering through the branches. The shadows, a trick of the light.
And her unexpected jump into the past?
Declan shook his head slowly and explained that what she’d experienced simply wasn’t possible. Traveling through time was definitely not a part of a jumper’s ability, no matter how powerful they were. Heck. Time travel wasn’t even a Variant ability in the first place.
She was unconscious when she jumped. Wasn’t it more likely that she’d just dreamed it ?
By Saturday evening, Aunt Cil gave up trying to con Alex into leaving her room so that they could discuss what happened to her the night before. Out of desperation, she’d resorted to carrying on an entire conversation with her niece through the whitewashed oak door.
After her pleas were once again met with stubborn refusals, her aunt changed tactics.
“Declan’s here to see you,” she said. “He’s waiting for you downstairs. Says you’re not answering his calls.”
Alex cast a sidelong glance at the cell phone lying face-down on her desk.
She’d turned it off the night before. She only ever received texts from Kenzie and Cass, anyway, and right now she had no desire to speak to either one of them.
She wasn’t angry, just frustrated.
Mental exhaustion or no, somethinghappened to her last night. There was no way she imagined the entire thing.
Seated cross-legged on the floor in front of her bed, Alex drew her legs up toward her chest and ran her fingers lightly over the dark purple marks adorning her knees.
When she reappeared in the parking lot the night before, she had twin bruises on her kneecaps and an arm washed clean of dirt. How had that happened if what she saw wasn’t
Before he could step back and close the door, Cassie leaned out of the truck’s cab and placed a kiss on Aiden’s lips.
She’d meant for it to be brief peck, but apparently her lips never got the memo.
And neither did her hands , obviously, because in the next moment they’d reached up to take hold of Aiden’s shirt in an attempt to draw him closer.
It wasn’t until after she pulled away some moments later, that Cassie realized they were both completely drenched. The kiss took Aiden so much by surprise, he forgot to redirect the rain.
Cassie sat perched on the edge of the truck’s bench seat, grinning up at Aiden’s bemused expression.
“I really owe Kenzie that new phone now, don’t I?”
“Yes,” said Cassie, leaning in for another kiss. “You really do.”
— 10 —
T he storm that moved ashore that night was unlike anything the town of Bay View had seen since Hurricane Charlotte skirted inland just north of them, three years earlier.
Trees were uprooted, homes and property damaged, and many of the buildings along the shoreline came precariously close to flooding.
Thankfully— miraculously —no one was injured as a result of the freakish weather.
Alex, meanwhile, was content to spend the entire weekend locked in her bedroom under a self-imposed quarantine, oblivious to the wind and rain ravaging her hometown. She was too distracted by the storm raging inside her own thoughts to pay the weather any mind.
After explaining to her friends what happened in the woods and where she went when she’d jumped, she’d been met first with blank stares, and then with a unified front of carefully phrased dismissals.
They didn’t believe her.
Worse, they’d suddenly felt the need to console her.
Cassie had hugged Alex tightly, slid a hand over her dark, matted curls in an effort to tame them, then insisted that the stress of everything that was happening must have finally gotten to her. It had been a rough few weeks. What she needed, was rest.
She hadn’t seen Masterson in the forest, Kenzie assured her. With her telepathic ability, Kenzie would have sensed him the instant he’d appeared. No one could hide from her if they were nearby. That voice she’d heard had been nothing more than the wind whispering through the branches. The shadows, a trick of the light.
And her unexpected jump into the past?
Declan shook his head slowly and explained that what she’d experienced simply wasn’t possible. Traveling through time was definitely not a part of a jumper’s ability, no matter how powerful they were. Heck. Time travel wasn’t even a Variant ability in the first place.
She was unconscious when she jumped. Wasn’t it more likely that she’d just dreamed it ?
By Saturday evening, Aunt Cil gave up trying to con Alex into leaving her room so that they could discuss what happened to her the night before. Out of desperation, she’d resorted to carrying on an entire conversation with her niece through the whitewashed oak door.
After her pleas were once again met with stubborn refusals, her aunt changed tactics.
“Declan’s here to see you,” she said. “He’s waiting for you downstairs. Says you’re not answering his calls.”
Alex cast a sidelong glance at the cell phone lying face-down on her desk.
She’d turned it off the night before. She only ever received texts from Kenzie and Cass, anyway, and right now she had no desire to speak to either one of them.
She wasn’t angry, just frustrated.
Mental exhaustion or no, somethinghappened to her last night. There was no way she imagined the entire thing.
Seated cross-legged on the floor in front of her bed, Alex drew her legs up toward her chest and ran her fingers lightly over the dark purple marks adorning her knees.
When she reappeared in the parking lot the night before, she had twin bruises on her kneecaps and an arm washed clean of dirt. How had that happened if what she saw wasn’t
Similar Books
