“You owe me,” I whispered.“We’re jumping time together.”
ChapterThirteen
Reed
Disoriented,groggy, and vaguely nauseous, I blinked into the dim, gray light.As my eyes adjusted, they focused on the corrugated roof above me.My gaze then wandered instinctively down the rusted walls of the shipping container that confined me.
What the hell?
Avalie had been here.She’d caught me by surprise.I’d never expected her to be in this place.
And she’d attacked me.Thrown me against the wall.My shoulders and back ached at the memory.She’d even used an immobilizer on me.
My head was throbbing and my heart racing.Jeez, my stomach was churning.
Were these the after-effects of being stunned by the device?I had no way of knowing.No one had ever used that weapon on me before.
I tried lifting my head off the ground.My skull felt as if it weighed a hundred pounds, and everything around me began to tilt and spin.I laid my head back down and looked at the partially open door.Daylight.
No, it was night when I came down here.One shot from the immobilizer had knocked me out that long?It was supposed to stun the target only temporarily.So, why did I feel like a bulldozer had run over me?
I tried moving my hands.They worked, at least.That’s when I noticed the transporter clipped to the front of my shirt.Recognition set in.
“Fuck me,” I muttered.
She was a time traveler, like me.She hadn’t just knocked me out with that device of hers.She’d jumped me through time.
That explained the physical side effects.What I was experiencing happened every time I made a quantum leap.
As for where I was, I seemed to be in the same shipping container where I ran into her.The question was,whenwas I now?
I took a few deep breaths, trying to keep from vomiting, and attempted to sit up.
And there she was, sprawled on the ground a couple of feet away from me, moving slightly.She was about to regain consciousness.
Her eyes cracked open, and her gaze locked onto my face for a long moment.She was still unable to move, unable to sync into place and time.Suddenly, the brown eyes opened wide as recognition dawned on her.
Anger washed through me at the extent of her deceit.She must have read the feelings in my face.Avalie’s eyes shifted, but not before her expression exposed the facade.Once a bridge of connection between us, they now laid bare the reality of her secrets.
Seconds ticked by.I had to move.The shipping container began to feel too confined, too cramped.Every moment we had shared before flashed through my brain, and they now felt tainted.The connection I’d once thought so genuine turned out to be fake.At least, from her side.
“You lied to me,” I said, forcing myself to a sitting position, despite the pounding in my head.The spinning and the nausea had subsided, anyway.
“And you told the truth?”she retorted, sitting up, as well.
“A freelance editor?”
“A fucking insurance salesman?”A pained expression spread across her face, suggesting she was grappling with the normal side effects of jumping.
“Who are you?”I asked.“And no more lies.”
She struggled to her feet, and I followed suit.I stood between her and the door.
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
She tried to move past me, but I stayed where I was.
Avalie’s eyes narrowed.“Move...or I’ll move you.”
