Paradigm (Travelers Series Book 3) (11 page)

“Looking for me?”

I jump back about a foot. Maybe I do have to go to the ladies’—his little blitz attack almost makes me pee my pants! “Jeez, don’t sneak up on me like that!”

“Sorry, darlin’. Just making it easier for you to find me.”

“Ugh! What the hell are you doing here anyway? Trying to ruin my night, not to mention my life?”

Cooper feigned mock surprise. “Who me? Etta, come on. It’s me, Coop. You can’t stand there and tell me you don’t feel that spark between us. Do you really think I’m here to ruin your life?”

“No, I –”

And right there in the middle of the hallway, he kisses me. The kind of kiss that sends electric sparks from the tips of your toes all the way to the top of your head. My body begins to generate the type of heat that under other circumstances would normally signal the start of my powers, but this is an altogether different kind of heat. A hungry heat, the kind you want to swallow up whole.

Surprisingly, Cooper is the first to let go. “Now do you feel anything?”

“Damn.” That’s all I can come up with. Then reality sinks in. “No, no,” I stammer, trying to convince myself more than him. “You can’t just waltz in here, pretend to be a waiter, and then just kiss me like that.” As much as I enjoyed the kiss—more than enjoyed the kiss, actually—I can’t let him get the better of me. Damn, it was a good kiss. I’m grateful he can’t see the goose bumps under my long sleeve shirt.

“I’m just trying to give you a glimpse of your future. Our future.”

If I could turn back time—and knowing what I know now, I’m sure there’s a way to do that I’m sure—I wish I could totally scrape the word “future” from Webster's Dictionary. I’m sick and tired about hearing about my future, planning for the future, and most of all, waiting for the future.

I saw what happens to us in the past, thanks to Chance, and I didn’t like what I felt when he abandoned me in that other reality. “And speaking of which, that was pretty clever what you did there.”

“What?”

“Sending in your friend to make me believe all this nonsense about alternate realities and being your future leader. You guys make it sound like we’re going into some intergalactic war or something. Having Chance take me to my past and what I had to see? That wasn’t fair.”

“I promise you, it’s no joke. Etta. You’re the leader of a rebellion, which means you’re smart enough not to fall for any tricks that come your way, and this isn’t one of them. I’ll admit that Chance
is
my friend, but he’s also yours.”

I’m still not sold. I singlehandedly lead a rebellion? How in the world is this even possible?

“I still don’t understand why you’re here, crashing my night.” Good kiss or no kiss, it’s still rude to butt in on another person’s date.

“I wanted to see how your day with Chance went. Learn anything new?”

Yeah, that you’re pretty good about abandoning me and how much you being here is ruining my relationship
, I answer to myself.

“Do you really think I’m here to ruin your relationship? Etta, I have better things to do than to worry about you and Alex. Trust me, if I thought he was a threat, I’d do something about it. And just so you know, I’d never intentionally leave you. I’m here now, right? Isn’t that proof enough?”

It’s like he can read my mind. “And what do you know about my relationship with Alex?”

Cooper smiles. “I know enough not to be worried.”

He may not be worried, but I am.

Lord help me, I kiss him again. Only this time, it was slow and purposeful, allowing myself to fully be taken in by his lips pressed against mine. I let myself get wrapped up in the moment and allow myself to give in to him completely.

Then I realize what a big mistake kissing Cooper is. What the hell did I just do? My actions surprise not only myself, but Cooper, as I flee from the restaurant, leaving Cooper dumbfounded and Alex back in the dining room with the check.

Back at my apartment, I leave a message on Alex’s voice mail apologizing for bailing out on dinner. I feigned being sick and left it at that. Hopefully he’ll buy it and allow me to make it up to him. Again.

At this point, I feel like I’m being pulled in so many different directions I don’t know how to think for myself. Something I’ve always had control over was how I lived my life. My terms, my rules. Now it’s like everyone is making decisions for me. Cooper trying to change my world—literally—Alex making wedding plans, and even Jaime, trying to meddle in my relationships.

Enough is enough, and I’ve decided not to let anyone dictate my future.

Ugh! There’s that word again.

Thornberry Reality 2017

“Y
ou knew there was a chance this wouldn’t work, right?” Moose asks Cooper.

It was a possibility Cooper hadn’t wanted to consider, but he knew his friend could feel the fearful emotions that radiated throughout his body. “Yeah, I know.”

“Did you really think Etta is going to be moved by you professing your love? Remember, she has a boyfriend in that reality. Didn’t you think she’d only end up being confused?”

Cooper looks to his best friend. “That was a possibility I considered, yes. But I didn’t really know what else to do. I thought by appealing to her emotionally, she’d be receptive.”

They’d expected all the different scenarios, they expected the worst. That they’d wake up one morning and Etta would not be a part of their future. It had happened before, but this time the realization that their plan backfired again was just too much to bear, especially for Cooper. He woke up this morning without a wife and without a wedding ring.

“She isn’t here today, dammit!”

Perhaps he was a bit brash in crashing her date with Alex. Was kissing her a wrong move on his part? It no doubt shook her up, but then she turned around and kissed him right back. He took it as a sign that things were going to work out. Then she ran out of the restaurant and he knew he’d underestimated her reaction. He could hear her thoughts and they screamed:
leave me alone.

The hurt was more than he could bear. Both knowing she wasn’t here by his side and that he’d left the past version of herself full of self-doubt. It wasn’t just about having Etta here to lead them in their mission against Thornberry. It was about the love that they’d shared throughout the many years and countless realities they’d experienced together.

“You don’t have to explain, I know how you feel.” Literally. Moose could feel the emotions poring out of his friend. He almost had to take a step back from Cooper before the blackness consumed him as well. “We just keep trying. I haven’t visited her yet, and I think I have a way of appealing to her sense of duty.”

“And how do you plan on doing that?” Cooper didn’t doubt his friend, but nothing so far had convinced him that she would return to him. Today was proof of that.

“We gotta go way back, my brother.”

Cooper nods, already resigned to the fact that Etta may never come back to them—to him.

Moose continues. “And you have to go back and correct whatever it is you think might have done to change her mind.”

That meant Cooper has to apologize. He wasn’t sorry about the kiss, but he was sorry about putting Etta in a compromising situation. The last thing he wanted was to confuse her even more. He had to win her back.

Present Reality

A
lmost everyone who enters the law office has an appointment. And with Audrey in court (as usual), and the calendar pretty clear for the day (which is not so usual), I totally wasn’t expecting anyone to burst through the doors this early in the morning. Especially not Jaime.

“Spill,” is the first thing that comes out of her mouth. Not so much as a “Hey, how ya doing? Thought I might stop by to say, hi.”

“What?” I really have no idea what’s she’s talking about.

“I
saw
you last night,” she accuses.

“Last night? I was out with Alex. So what? Aren’t you the one who said I needed to work on my relationship?” I say, in between filing. Audrey had a fit if her client files weren’t properly filed ASAP.

“That’s not what I saw.”

I’m really beginning to suspect Jaime has some sort of crystal ball that tells her about every waking moment of my life. But I have a sneaking suspicion to what she’s referring to. I drop the file in the cabinet and turned to face Jaime. “Then what exactly did you see?”

“You, locking lips with some guy.”

It’s a good thing I already placed the other folders on my desk, or I would have dropped them on the floor. How does she know all this? “What are you talking about? I just told you I was with Alex. You must have seen someone who looked like me.”

“It was you, and you were kissing that
guy
. Cooper. And don’t think for a moment that I don’t remember him. Trust me, I don’t think I could ever forget.” She flounces herself on the couch all dramatic-like, as if me being seen with Cooper was a personal affront to her.

“Were you spying on me?” Forget the fact that she’s mad at me for something she knows nothing about, but to spy on me? That’s low, even for Jaime.

“Of course not! But I probably should have. If I’d known you’d be fraternizing with Cooper, I would have started tailing you months ago. Shit, Etta, what the hell were you doing kissing him? And what about Alex? Where was he during your little tonsil hockey game, huh?”

Jaime can be dramatic, but this goes well beyond her normal drama queen routine. How dare she come in and tell me what I can or can’t do? Why is she taking this so personally? It’s like she’s made it her mission to make sure Alex and I stay together.

“You’re my best friend, Jaime, but you don’t know everything about me. It’s not what you think.”

She’s not even that close to Alex and yet, she’s acting as if I were cheating on
her
. As if I don’t have any other pressing things going on, now I have to worry about her telling Alex about my kiss with Cooper. This is exactly what I was afraid of happening. People thinking they can control my life.

“You’d like to think that, but I know more than you think. Actually, more than you possibly know,” Jaime went on.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Let’s just say it’s my job as your best friend to protect you.”

Again with this protection stuff. She mentioned it the other night at happy hour. Maybe she’s forgotten, but I’ve been taking care of myself for years. If anything, I’ve been the strong one, with Jaime following my lead.

“Yeah, about that. Why do you keep insisting it’s your job to protect me?”

From the look on her face, I don’t think she was expecting me to turn the tables and confront her. I’m usually passive-aggressive when it comes to Jaime, usually allowing her to get her way just so I don’t have to argue with her. But not this time.

“Nothing. Forget I said anything.”

“No. You come storming in here, accusing me of something you know nothing about, expect answers, and yet you can’t answer a simple question yourself?”

“Look, I said forget about it, okay? I’m just worried about you.” Her voice calms down a notch. “Just what exactly happened last night?”

I sigh. “Fine. You were right. It was Cooper there at the restaurant last night. But you should know
he
kissed
me
. Not the other way around.”

“From where I was standing, it looked like you enjoyed it.”

I don’t say anything. How can I refute that? I totally enjoyed kissing Cooper, but that’s not the point, so I ignore her accusation. Did she even notice the part where I ran out of Alessandro’s after I kissed him? If she had, I doubt we’d be having this conversation.

“Etta, do you remember how he stalked you around town back in high school and now he’s back?”

What am I supposed to say? That Cooper’s really from some future reality and he’s trying to recruit me to join some rebellion to take over some egoistical war monger? “I know. He just caught me by surprise. Ambushed is more like it. But don’t worry, I let him know I was there with Alex, so he left me alone after that.” Okay, it’s partly the truth. Cooper
did
take me by surprise showing up after all these years. Jaime just doesn’t need to know he approached me days ago. “What were you doing around Alessandro’s anyway?”

Damn it! Cooper shouldn’t have been there. While I don’t really mind him popping in and out of my life, the only thing he did was make everything just that more confusing for me. My feelings about Alex, my existence in this world. And to what end? All so that I can be a part of a future I’m not even sure I belong in? At this point, there’s nothing that can convince me to go back to the future with him. I just don’t see how I can.

But she seems to be buying my concern over the whole situation. “Oh, that. Well, Alex told Brett that you two were going there for dinner. We tried to catch up with you guys for drinks at Cashen’s afterwards, but we were running a bit late. When we finally showed up, I caught you, well, you
know
.”

“And now you
know
what really happened. Why do you care if I talk to Cooper anyway?” Then something dawns on me. “Do you know something about him I don’t?”

•  •  •

I’m still seething after I met with Jaime this morning. What the hell am I going to do now that she knows Cooper’s back in my life? I can’t continue to lie to her and I can’t entirely trust her to keep this information to herself.

Even though my mind is made up, what if I did decide to take Cooper up on his offer to go with him? What do I tell her then? Not that I owe her or anyone else any explanations. But I would definitely owe one to Alex. And what about him? If I’m honest with myself, I know that it’s not just about me, no matter what Cooper says. My decisions affect everyone around me, even if I am mad at Jaime. She’s still a big part of my life.

The rest of the day is pretty boring, seeing that we didn’t have many appointments, so I close up and head home. Just how exactly did my life turn upside down? As I walk down King Street, I take in all the sights around me. Tourists enjoying overpriced ice cream, window shopping at upscale boutiques they can’t afford to go into, simply enjoying the pleasant summer evening. Others are rushing to meet friends for dinner, while locals are walking their dogs after a hard day at the office. It might be the end of May, but the nights are still crisp and cool; everyone is taking advantage. I feel sorry for them almost. Everyone is oblivious to the fact that there are worlds beyond this one. For a brief moment, I wish I were like them—clueless.