Landlocked (Atlas Link Series Book 2) (32 page)

“Chelsea!” Sarah called after me, knowing full well what I was up to.

“Hey, Chels,” Josh said, arms held open for me.

My anger squelched any feelings of guilt for not falling into his embrace as I brushed past all three of them. When I reached the chain-link fence, I gripped onto some links above my head, lifted one foot, and vaulted myself over the fence. The hot Jersey sun warmed my skin, which had run cold at seeing both Trevor
and
Lexi in the crowd.

Like, legit. Did the idiot think he could just show up here, like I wouldn’t know what had happened?

I hopped onto an overturned trashcan to get a good vantage point, balancing as it rolled beneath my feet. Off to my left I saw Lexi’s conspicuous bleach-mess she called hair—tied up to show off her stupid 3D diamonds tattoo—and a few yards to her left, I saw the back of Trevor’s head as he weaved through the crowd. Lexi I could deal with another time. It was Trevor I wasn’t going to see again without going back to TAO. It didn’t help that Logan wanted to pummel him the next time he showed his face in Boston.

As I started off toward him, weaving through the crowd with practiced perfection, people started talking.

“Isn’t that the lead singer?”

“Great show!”

“Your music rocks!”

“Come back to Jersey!”

On any other day, I would have stopped to chat. To sign whatever they wanted signed. To pass out free EPs. But today, I ignored them and pushed until Trevor was right in front of me.

I put a hand on his shoulder and spun him around. “Who the
fuck
do you think you are?”

He brought his hands up to break the contact. “It’s not what you think.”

All the blood had drained from his face. He
knew
who Lexi was. What she’d done.

“My ass it’s not,” I spat. “You slept with
her
!”

His shoulders rose as he asked, “Why do you even care so much anyway? We’re not dating.”

“Every other girl in the world Trevor,
any
other one, and you picked
her
.” I pointed a finger at his chest on the last word.

Trevor glanced over my shoulder at something, oceanic eyes narrowing. “‘Cause sleeping with the first guy you meet outside TAO is any better.”

I resisted the urge to look. I knew Josh and the others were headed this way. “Stop judging me when this is your fault.”

“You have no idea,” he said, almost pleading.

“Everything okay?” Josh asked. He stood beside me, a hand lightly pressed against the small of my back. Reassuring, yet protective. Strong. That’s the vibe I got from Josh every single time he was around.

“Peachy,” I said.

“Are you the guy?” Trevor asked Josh.

“The guy?” Josh asked.

Weyland stepped forward. “Hey, Trevor. Long time, no see.” He put his hand out for Trevor to shake, trying to ease the tension and shift the conversation to something more civil.

“Lieutenant Weyland?” Trevor asked. “What are you doing all the way out here?” He’d known I was in Ohio with Weyland, but had clearly never expected Weyland to come out to Jersey to support the show.

Weyland chuckled. “I came out to see what Phoenix and Lobster’s up to after two years. They were great today, weren’t they?”

It was meant as polite conversation, but Trevor’s eyes grew dark.
You don’t know
, his words filled my head.
You don’t know what’s been going on.
“Yeah, I came out to support them.”

You don’t know, either,
I told him now.

Chelsea, we need to talk. Alone and not like this.

I didn’t budge.
Just leave. This is not a fight you want to pick. Believe me.

He looked at me like he wanted to unleash a speech or lay down a diagnosis. Like he had a lot to say, but didn’t want to force me to listen.
Whatever,
he thought. “I’ve got to go. Later.”

And with that, Trevor walked away, but not without a lingering sidelong glance at me. Was that regret I saw there? Worry replaced it so quick I wasn’t able to decide.

I watched him walk until he met up with a group of people in the distance—Dr. Hill, Sophia, and Major Pike. I clamped down on my thoughts. Now wouldn’t be a good time to see them. Not with Josh and the others in tow. Not after my argument with Trevor.

“Minus you almost clobbering that kid after the show, that was pretty fun!” Mara said, laughing. The guys and I piled into a van that Mara drove back to our hotel.

No taxi-Chelsea today. There was an after-party scheduled in the band’s hotel suite in a few hours, so we had to play it normal. Which, as one can imagine, drove me
insane
. So many times I wished I didn’t even have powers and now the one time I really wanted to use them, I couldn’t. All I wanted was to just up and teleport, and only come back when I’d calmed down.

The air inside the car was humid and stale, making breathing almost impossible when coupled with my leftover anger. There was more to what had happened than I thought, that much was obvious. Trevor’s pale face might have been a clue. I just wasn’t sure if I really wanted to know what Trevor had left out. Who else had he slept with? How many were close friends? Or was it something with TAO and SeaSat5? If it was important, the others would have approached me, too, but they hadn’t.

Josh poked my ribs. When I didn’t react, he leaned in and brushed his lips against my exposed neck. A chill erupted from the spot, somersaulting my stomach. I moaned and turned into him.

Before I could kiss him, he pulled back. “What’s got you so zoned only that can bring you out?”

“Seriously gross,” Mara said from the front seat. “That’s my cousin.”

Hesitation gripped my tongue as I ignored Mara’s comment. “I told you my ex caused drama back home. I’m still mad about it.”

“And I told you I’d kick his ass if you wanted me to,” Josh said. “He clearly hasn’t gotten the message about you two not being together anymore.”

Except
I
had sought him out.

I shrugged. “I think I handed enough of it to him today for now.”

Mara peered at me in the rearview mirror. “No guy should break your heart, that’s for sure. That song cut me and I didn’t date you!” She reached behind her and clapped Josh’s knee. “Better watch out, man.”

Josh snaked an arm around my shoulders and pulled me in for a much-needed embrace. “I don’t plan on ever breaking her heart. Seems like a risky business endeavor.”

Everyone else laughed it off, but his words struck me hard.
I don’t plan on ever breaking her heart.

Don’t plan.

Ever.

I looked up at him. His attention was on the road in front of us, on Mara as she drove. His thumb traced lazy circles in my palm. I tried to force how good it felt, how reassuring, out of my mind. We’d been dating for less than a month, what did he know? Anything could happen. How could he know he’d never want to break my heart, that he’d never want to end it, whatever this was? And why was I more confused by his intensity than necessarily intimidated by it?

The answer came as a cozy warmth that started in my heart, expanding slowly to every limb, every nerve ending in my body. A chill ran the length of me, from my toes, up through my abdomen and chest, to the tips of my nose and fingers.

Josh was the kind of man I could love. The kind I could spend a lot of time with. Years. Decades. The kind of man I could count on to be there, strong and loyal. I could live a simple life, black and white. Him doing what he did, me teaching archaeology and playing shows. It seemed simple. Easy. A non-fantasy compared to the life I was living now, where ancient civilizations had placed me as a pawn in the middle of their war for control over
time-travel
. And what would he do if I told him my secret?
When
I told him. I knew I had to, but this hardly seemed the right time.

I’d always thought this feeling was a joke, the kind of thing you only experienced in movies or reading a book. I thought I knew what love was before. But this was more. It was quiet and loud at the same time, like that sense of peace after knowing you made the right decision regarding an impossible problem. It was more than lust or infatuation. It was wholeness. It was warmth.

I shook my head the tiniest bit. I might have been wrong, but for now I’d accept this feeling as being right.

Someone lightly rapped their knuckles on the side of my head. I snapped out of my reverie to find Josh grinning down at me with twinkling brown eyes. “You okay in there, space cadet?”

I bit my lip to keep my thoughts from spilling out. Now wasn’t the time to explore those feelings. Instead, I lifted my lips to his ear and whispered, “I don’t want to break your heart, either.”

He kissed me once on my forehead, then lightly on my lips. “Good.”

he only thing worse than waking up with a headache brought on by a constant barrage of images showing you every connection the Waterstar map can make, was waking up to my alarm clock blaring a song on the radio by my ex-girlfriend.

But you lied again. Lied again.

Lied again.

LI-ED. A-GAIN.

I bolted upright, ears straining to confirm that the song being broadcast over the radio was indeed what it sounded like. Sure enough, Chelsea’s voice and Kris’s guitar riffs ripped me into full consciousness.