Cowboy from the Future (28 page)

Okay,
Addy was a
little
impressed.  “I haven’t changed my mind.  I sort of
love you
a lot
.  You know that.  But, loving you a lot doesn’t mean that
I
like
you very much, right now.”

“Should
I ask why or will that just get me in more trouble?”

“More
trouble.”

“That’s
what I thought.”  Cade glanced down at her hand caught in his and his mouth
curved.  “At least, you’re wearing the nail paint I gave you.  And you agreed
to dance with me without making me beg.”  He bent her backwards her into a neat
dip.  “Those seem like good signs.”

Cade
must’ve been studying Addy’s dance lessons with Jacobi more closely than she’d
known, because he knew exactly how to move.  There was something so charming
about the idea of him watching her and pretending not to.  Damn it, she really
was starting to forgive him.

“You
do have good taste in nail polish.”  Addy admitted.  She was still carrying
around the bottle in her pocket like a lucky charm.  “And even though I
presently hate you, the dancing is nice.”  She closed her eyes, enjoying the
mangled music and the feel of Cade’s arms.  “Very nice.”

“As
nice as with Patrick Swayze?”

“Don’t
push it.  Patrick Swayze was a god among men.  He could do this move where he
picked her up…”

Addy
broke off with a squeak as Cade swept her into his arms.  He was so damn strong
that he didn’t even have to hesitate.  Cade lifted her into a spin that had her
toes leaving the floor and Addy was pretty sure it was the most graceful she’d
ever looked.  For a girl who didn’t get invited to prom, he zoomed right past
“impressive” and into the realm of fairytales.

Addy
laughed as he set her back down, surprised and delighted that he was playing
along.  “Alright, alright!  Better than Patrick Swayze. You win the dance off.” 
She beamed.  “I think you might have a future in epic romance, Mr. Westin.”

“Only
with certain redheads.”

“No
kidding.  You try epic-romancing another girl and I will slaughter you both. 
Believe it.”

Cade’s
smile grew wider.  “I’m okay with that.  I’m okay with everything, just so
you’re with me, lady.”

That
sounded very promising.  “I
am
with you.”  She stared up at him.  “There
is nowhere I’d rather be, Cade.”

He
tugged her closer and Addy leaned into the strength of his body.  God, he was
such
a good dancer.  She wasn’t surprised.  Cade did everything well.  Even his
terrible carpentry was adorable as hell.  He probably stayed up at night,
thinking of ways to make all other men seem uninteresting, unhandsome, and
untalented.

Cade
held her for a long moment and then took a deep breath, like he was bracing
himself.  “So, I was thinking about your Yellowstone.”  He announced very
casually.  “You said you’re not sure exactly sure what sent you to
Shadow-of-the-Gods.  That this ‘geyser’ just erupted and you didn’t anticipate
it.”

“That’s
right.”

He
cleared his throat.  “But, if your journey here was random, how can you
recreate it?  Even if you get back to Why o’ Ming, how exactly do you plan to return
to your
time?
”

Addy
had no idea “exactly.”  She just sensed that getting to Yellowstone was the key. 
That damn geyser would take her back home.  She
knew
it.  “I’m hoping that
whatever happened to me will happen
again
, only in reverse.  I have a
feeling that it’ll work.”

“A
feeling?”

Addy
couldn’t explain her certainty to Cade, when she didn’t understand it herself. 
“It’s a pretty strong feeling.”  She finally told him.  The same sort of
feeling she had about the maybe-baby, in fact.

He
grunted.  “Strong or not, ‘I have a feeling’ sounds unreliable to me.”

“Well,
I don’t really have much of a choice.  It’s not like I have anywhere else to
go.”  She gave a meaningful pause.  “Not unless
someone
asks me to stay
with him, anyway.”

That
went right over his empty head.  Cade was still thinking over her time travel
problem.  “What were you doing right before you were sent forward?  Maybe we
can recreate it.”

“I
was being unconscious on the ground.”  Since the man was an oblivious numbskull,
she decided to offer a less subtle hint.  “Are you going to ask me to stay here
or not, Cade?”

Lavender
eyes flicked to hers, as if the question startled him.  “No!  You cannot stay
here, Adeline.  It would be a disaster.”

....And
there went her burgeoning forgiveness.

“Oh
for God’s sake.”  Addy shoved away from him and jabbed a finger into his chest. 
“Like talking to brick walls, I swear to Christ.”

Deke
groaned and slammed his tankard down on the table.  “Fucking hell, Cade. 
Now
what did you do?”

“Nothing! 
I hadn’t even started asking her yet.  The woman is impossible to romance!”

“You
can go ferovred yourself, Cade!”  Addy headed for the door, ignoring Deke’s
hoot of laughter at her poor attempts at futuristic swearing.

Cade
rolled his eyes.  “It’s pronounced
fvred
and you don’t even know what it
means.”

“Whatever
it is, it’s not bad enough for you.”

Sensing
disaster, Jacobi switched to the only other tune he (barely) knew, hoping it
improved the romantic mood.  
The Facts of Life
theme song blared out, in
all its earworm glory.

What
the hell had Addy been thinking teaching him that God awful jingle?  Why did
she even know how to play it?  She was going back to reality --
right now
--and
learning nothing but tasteful, useful,
important
things.  Like how to
kill morons with her bare hands.

“Shit.” 
Cade chased after her.  “Adeline, stop!”

She
shook her head and didn’t look back.  If she looked back she would see him and
seeing him almost always led to lousy choices.  Like even
considering
living her life inside of
Blazing Saddles
, when Cade was too stupid to
even propose.  “Leave me alone!”  Addy marched across the dirt road, raising
her voice so he could hear her.  “I’m done with you, Cade!”

He
ignored that and started after her.  “Addy…”

“No!” 
She jabbed a finger at him and he stopped short.  “I mean it.
 
Just go
away.
 
You’re
hopeless!
”

“I’m
not.  I swear it.  And I’m not going anywhere until you hear me out.”

“Fine. 
You talk on
your
side of the street and I’ll stay on my side, ignoring
you.”

“It
isn’t safe for a lady to walk through Big Rock by herself.”  Cade followed
along on the parallel sidewalk, keeping pace with her.  “Where are you even
going?”

“I’m
going back to that low-rent, Bates Motel, nightmare of a room and getting my
stuff.  Then, I’m escaping this horrible town.  And I’m escaping this horrible
H.G. Well’s novel of a century.  And I’m escaping horrible
you
.”

“You
can’t do that.”

“Of
course I can!”  Addy vaguely noticed all the attention they were attracting
with their across-the-street screaming match, but she didn’t much care.  “I’m
through
with being Calamity Jane!  I’m forgetting I ever
met
you and got
mixed up in all your craziness, Cade!”

“
My
craziness?  Most everything you
say
is incomprehensible, lady!”

She
was on a roll now, so she disregarded that.  “I’m forgetting that I sort of
love you!  I’m forgetting you even exist!  In fact, I’ve already started
forgetting
everything,
except your colossal stupidity!”

“Is
that Voltyn trash bothering you, woman?”  Some grizzled prospector-looking guy
called from a tavern doorway in slurred English.  Like most of the men in Big
Rock, someone had tricked him into believing that the shirtless-overalls look
was
the
trend to embrace this season.  Maybe they all wanted to prove
their manhood by braving the cold in the stupidest way possible.  “I’ll teach the
uppity freak his place and show you what a human male can…”

For
the first time ever, Cade didn’t accept the anti-Voltyn smack talk.  “Shut the
fuck up!”  He roared, cutting the bastard off.

“Stay
out of it!”  Addy shouted at the same time.  Since she was stalking right
passed the bigoted jerkoff, she gave him a shove.  Way passed the legal limit
and caught off guard, he stumbled backwards through the swinging doors in a
grimy, flailing mass of bad clothes.

“Godsdamn
it.”  Cade’s purple gaze stayed locked on Addy.  People had to dodge out of his
way to avoid being knocked over, as he prowled down the elevated wooden planks
on his side of the road.  “Do
not
start fights with huge men in bars for
me.  I will defend
myself
, alright?”

“I
can’t hear a word you’re saying, because you’ve ceased to exist here in
AddyLand.”

“What
the hell does
that
mean?”

“It
means I’m leaving on the first wagon train out of town and you’re not invited!”

“You
see what I mean?  Your language makes no sense!
 
‘Train’ isn’t even a
word.”

“Of
course it’s a word!”

“You’re
just making up craziness to…
Shit!
”  Not watching where he was going,
Cade tripped over a crudely-painted wooden sign advertising half-priced sex
acts.  He quickly caught his balance, shoving the three-sided sandwich board
out of the way to continue his pursuit.  “Just calm down and listen to me.”

“I
am
calm, you dickhead.  I’m also going
home
.  That should make
you very happy, since you’ll be free of me and our maybe-baby!”

“I
want you to go home, but I don’t want to be free of you
or
the maybe-baby.”

Addy
disregarded that.  “I’m buying a nice house in the suburbs, giving the maybe-baby
my
name, and telling her completely fabricated stories about how her
daddy
wasn’t
an asshole!”

“Damn
it, our possible-daughter is mine too and I want
both
of you with me. 
If you would just…”

Whatever
else he planned to say was lost by the thundering of hooves.  The street was
suddenly filled with sanbors.  Hundreds of buffalo-sized lizards came tearing
through the middle of the town.  The horses tied to hitching posts reared,
screaming with panic and trying to escape.  The ground shook.  Windows broke.  Mud
and snow flew through the air as the sanbors ran down everything in their path
like something out of
The Lion King
.

Addy
grabbed hold of the side of the building for balance.  “Cade!”

He
shouted something back at her, but she couldn’t hear him.  The tsunami of green
monsters crashed against the walkway on Cade’s side of the street.  Wooden
planks exploded into splinters.  The people who couldn’t dive out of the way
were pulled under and disappeared in the crushing onslaught.

Addy’s
heart stopped as she lost sight of him.  “
Cade!
”

Did
he get out of the way in time?  She wasn’t sure.  Oh God, what if he was hurt? 
Addy looked around, desperate to find a way through the rampaging sanbors.  Without
Cade, she would have
nothing
.  She loved him so much.  She had to get to
him and make sure he was okay.

Before
she could figure out a way to wade through the chaos and save him, someone
grabbed her.  Addy let out a cry of surprise as she was dragged into the
abandoned church behind her.  A man’s huge hands lifted her up and she
instinctively struggled against his grip.

Items
fell from the pocket of her coat, as they fought.  Her iPhone spiraled to the
ground, the screen cracking as it bounced.  Her precious bottle of nail polish
tumbled free.  It burst open and purple varnish splashed everywhere.  That
pissed her off more than the loss of irreplaceable Steve Job-sian technology. 
Some idiot just ruined her gift from Cade!”

“Goddamn
it!”  Addy fought against him.  “Let me go!”

“Stop
it!”  Quel snapped, spinning her around.  “This is
my
time, woman!”  His
transparent-y skin had been burned from the fire Cade started back at the
Outlanders’ camp, his yellow eyes crazed.  “You’re coming with me, and accessing
your magic, and I am leaving this place forever!”

“Are
you out of your mind?!”

“You
must open the portal to your world.”  Gripping her shoulders, Quel gave her a
shake.  “I have your book, so now I know the way to the Apple Store.”  Shoving
her away, he held up her lost copy of
Brown’s Pocket Guide
.  He’d folded
back the pages to the photo of Strickland Geyser.  “That’s why I’ve done all
this!  To escape my mother and all poly-eyers who look down on me.”

Addy
abruptly recalled Jacobi’s words when they were planning to break Cade out of
jail.  The plan he’d stolen from some adventure story: 
Crooks stampeded this
herd of sanbor straight down the street to distract the sheriff.