Time After Time (27 page)

‘I thought you’d like to go out.’

It didn’t seem to be a question so I didn’t answer.

‘So?’ he said after a few moments.

‘So what?’

‘So do you want to go out?’

‘With you? You have to be joking,’ I scoffed. ‘I know exactly what going out with you entails.’

He narrowed his eyes, watching me carefully. ‘Do you, Abbie? Do you really?’

‘Of course.’ The slits of silver shining from his narrow eyes made me uncomfortable so I began to walk. Away.

‘Oh come on,’ he called, ‘let me take you out. Let’s get to know each other a little better. Marcus would like it.’

Turning around, I stalked back to where he lounged, infuriated to see a playful smirk on his face. ‘Marcus would
not
like it, I’m sure of it. And Marcus would not like you anywhere near me if he knew.’

‘If he knew what, babe?’

‘If he knew what you were,’ I hissed, my skin prickling. ‘And don’t call me babe.’

‘And what is that,
babe
?’ he challenged, ignoring my warning. ‘What exactly am I? What are
we
?’

I chewed my lip; my lungs felt like they might burst, I was so wound up. ‘You’re wrong. You’re just…wrong. How are you even here? How do you keep finding me? And what do you want?’

Rem shrugged and reached out, but I flinched away, feeling the coldness of him all around me. ‘The answer is simple.
You
.’

‘Me? What?’

‘I’m here because of
you
, I keep finding you because of
you
and I want…
you
.’ He tilted his head and regarded me. ‘I thought you knew all this.’

I bristled, uncomfortable under such close scrutiny. Especially
his
close scrutiny. ‘Of course I do.’

‘Then if you know all of that, you’ll get on the bike and come with me.’

My heart hammered in my chest, and I felt like a deer caught in the headlights. I didn’t know what he was talking about, but I had to pretend I did. And somehow I knew he was right. He wouldn’t hurt me…yet.

Without thinking, I walked towards him, ignoring the delighted, perfect smile that spread across his face and the brilliant flash in his eyes. He handed me a helmet that seemed to be made for me—don’t think about
that
—and climbed on. I suspected I flashed my underwear at him when I swung my leg over the bike, judging by the twitch of his lips. Making a mental note, I promised myself to wear jeans next time.

Next time
…Was I mad? There would be no next time. There shouldn’t even be a
this
time.

‘Where do you want to go?’ he asked, starting the bike with a roar.

I shrugged. The bike suddenly lurched and I threw my arms around his waist. He laughed. ‘You can hold on to me, Abbie. Any time you like.’

I swallowed, trying not to think about how hard his body felt beneath my fingers and against my chest, trying not to remember him as Penelope had last seen him. His chest bare, hair tousled, eyes heated.

We didn’t drive far, and I was both surprised and disappointed when he pulled up in front of
Delilah’s
. Great. Now everyone was bound to see me with Marcus’ brother, including Lilly Hamilton, who was guaranteed to be there.

Climbing off, I smoothed down my dress and hair, fiddling nervously with the stud in my nose. To my surprise, Rem swatted my hand away. ‘Don’t do that.’

‘Excuse me?’ I asked, stunned.

‘You should take it out,’ he said, putting his hand possessively on the small of my back and leading me into the crowded cafe. ‘I don’t like you with that stuff all over you.’

‘Well, I like me very much with this stuff all over me,’ I replied hotly, stepping to the side so his hand fell away.

‘It’s not you. You’re pretty without it.’ He sat down at a table and I slid into the seat opposite. ‘Beautiful, even. But I guess you know that already.’

I didn’t respond but hid behind the menu, which blocked my view of him, feeling hot and itchy. I could feel that my cheeks were flushed, the colour blotching my neck as well. I wasn’t used to compliments, if those were what he was offering.

‘So, Becca…’

‘Abbie,’ I corrected, lowering the menu just enough so he could see my eyes. ‘My name’s Abbie.’

‘Ah, semantics.’ He waved his hand. ‘You’ll always be Rebecca to me, just as I’m sure I’ll always be Anthony.’

I looked back at the menu. Rebecca and Anthony. They were the key.

‘So, you and Marcus are over now?’

‘You ask a lot of questions.’

‘
You
don’t ask enough,’ he countered, ‘and I know you must have them. Or is it true that this time you actually remember everything?’

‘I remember everything,’ I told him, putting the menu down and glaring at him across the table. ‘Every little thing. So be warned. I’ll be watching you this time.’

‘Watching me?’

‘You won’t get a chance to…you know. I’ll tell Marcus.’

‘I’ll tell Marcus,’ he mimicked. ‘And what do you think Marcus will do? The same thing he did last time? Look where that got him.’

I blinked, my heart frozen in my chest. An image of Heath’s tombstone flashed through my mind.

‘Ah, c’mon Abbie, if you remember everything then you’ll at least give me a chance.’

‘Give you a chance? Are you crazy? Give you a chance to
kill
me?’ I lowered my voice and glanced at the other patrons. Thankfully, no one seemed to have noticed us.

‘What are you talking about? I don’t want to kill you!’

My mind spun. What was he talking about? He looked completely and utterly surprised, as if the idea of killing me had never entered his head, though it had entered it plenty of times before. I didn’t understand. We seemed to be talking in riddles.

‘I don’t want to hurt you. I want to…’ he paused and leaned forward, his silver eyes glowering, his perfect face serious and intense.

Involuntarily, I leaned forward to hear what he was going to say, almost hanging on the edge of my seat with anticipation. Our faces were inches apart, and I felt his cool breath on my face.

‘Abbie, I want to love you. All I’m asking for is a chance. That’s all I’ve ever asked, but you’ve always said no. Always. Even when you didn’t want to, even when your heart and body were telling you not to, you still said no. But this time,’ he grinned, perfect white teeth flashing, ‘this time you know better. If you remember, as you seem to, then not only will you give me a chance, but you’re also already half in love with me. Am I right?’

I stared at him. I had to choose my words carefully. ‘What about Marcus?’

‘What about him?’

‘Well, he and I…’

‘What?’ he said, his voice hard and cutting, ‘What about you and him? You haven’t…?’

‘No.’ I shifted uncomfortably. Was I really talking about my and Marcus’ sex life with his brother? Not that we even had one. But this was wrong on so many levels.

‘Well then,’ Rem said smugly. ‘You and he never…but you and I…’ His voice trailed off suggestively.

My flush deepened, and I couldn’t meet his eyes. He laughed, a deep chuckle, which only made the colour spread. I felt more like Penelope Broadhurst than Abbie Harper.

‘It’s been a long time, Becca.’

‘Stop talking like that.’

‘Hey, it’s been two thousand years; a guy can get pretty horny.’

I stared at him, my mouth hanging open. Was he telling me than this
thing
, this cycle we were looped in, had been going on for
two thousand years
? And that at some stage we had been lovers? Suddenly, my throat felt tight and nausea swelled in my stomach.

‘Can you just order already,’ I hissed.

‘Sure. I won’t embarrass you anymore,’ he said, winking at me. ‘But just know that I’m looking forward to renewing our acquaintance,
all
aspects of it. Very much so.’

There were no more dreams for me. I couldn’t believe it. After all this time, after all those years of wishing and praying for the dreams to go, I couldn’t believe that I would be free from the torment of my past lives. Now, the moment they vanished, I wished I had them back again.

I missed Penelope. And Georgina and Harry.

I missed Heath, and strangely, I missed Sebastian too, although I wouldn’t admit that to anyone. I wanted to know what had happened. It wasn’t right that they should just vanish.

Leaving my house under another beautiful, cloudless sky in Brookdale, I was about to make my way to the bus, when I stopped short. Marcus was there.

Leaning against his car, wearing jeans and a white t-shirt, he looked utterly adorable, his brown hair flopping in front of his eyes, which met mine with such intensity I felt my heart might burst.

Rem was there too. I glanced away from him guiltily.

‘Do you want a lift to school?’ Marcus asked, his voice low and hesitant.

‘With him as well?’ I flicked my gaze to Rem, who winked at me while grinning delightedly.

‘Yeah, he wants to borrow my car.’

‘Is he leaving town?’

‘C’mon Abbie, I thought you and I were going to be friends,’ Rem said, teasing me. ‘I told Marcus we would be friends.’

I couldn’t look at him. I couldn’t look at either of them, feeling prickly all over. ‘I think I’ll catch the bus.’

‘You’re too late,’ Marcus told me. ‘It left.’

‘I’ll walk.’

‘Ah, c’mon Abbie, are we back to this again?’ Marcus complained. ‘Just let me give you a lift.’

‘What about him? There’s only two seats.’ I eyed Rem carefully.

‘You can sit on my lap, Abbie,’ Rem replied, and his lips twitched in amusement. He was obviously delighting in my discomfort, and all I could do was stare hotly at him.

‘There’s a back seat,’ Marcus glared at his brother, ‘He can sit there.’

And have him stab me in the back
, I thought. But despite my misgivings, I climbed in the front seat, pulling the seat belt on. Marcus was a complete mystery to me; I envied his ignorance.

‘So are you guys back together?’ Rem asked, leaning forward and letting his hand dangle on my shoulder.

Looking out the window, I trembled where he touched me, feeling my skin dimple of its own accord; I was unsure if I wanted to pull away or lean into him.

‘I don’t know.’ Marcus glanced sideways at me.

‘Ah, maybe she’s got another guy. Hey Abbie, is that it?’

‘No. That is
definitely
not it,’ I ground out through clenched teeth. His fingers were moving against my bare skin, and I cursed the weather for being so fine and warm, encouraging me to wear a t-shirt. If only it’d been raining, I could have wrapped myself in a thick coat. Then his touch wouldn’t bother me so much.

‘Did you tell Marcus you went out with me yesterday?’

I sucked in a breath, not believing he had just said that, and in such a benign voice as well.

‘You what?’ Marcus looked at me and I saw his eyes darken then clear. As if a cloud had momentarily passed in front of them. Or something else. I watched him carefully.
Did he just remember something?

‘It’s nothing,’ I said lightly, ‘He came by the library and we went to
Delilah’s
for a coffee as friends.’ I made sure I stressed the ‘friends’ part for both Marcus’ and Rem’s benefit.

‘You took out Abbie?’ Marcus parked the car in the school parking lot and rounded on his brother, his face a picture of shock and hurt. I saw betrayal there as well.

Has this happened before?
I wondered, looking at Marcus. Had I seen that look on his face before? If only the dreams hadn’t gone, if only I knew what had happened between Penelope, Heath and Sebastian.

‘Hey, all’s fair in love and war,’ Rem said lightly, ignoring the hurt on Marcus’ face.

‘Marcus, it was nothing,’ I explained. ‘We went as
friends
. You wanted me to be nice, remember?’

‘Not
that
nice,’ he sounded like a sulky child, and I felt my ire rise. For goodness sake, I’d been rude to Rem and he’d scolded me, and now I’d gone for coffee with him and he scolded me.

‘Marcus! It’s nothing.’

‘Oh, c’mon Abbie,’ crooned Rem, making an impossible situation worse. ‘You should at least let Marcus know he has competition.
Serious
competition. Be more honest than you were last time.’

I glared at him and opened my mouth to retort before changing my mind. I had better things to worry about than Rem and Marcus and some strange love triangle from two hundred years ago. Climbing out of the car, I didn’t look at either of them as I slammed the door, loudly, and stalked off.

To make matters worse, Lilly Hamilton stood there, watching me stalk across the lawn.

‘What?’ I spat at her, forgetting my rule of never initiating conversation with Lilly. ‘You have something to say?’

‘Is that…’ Lilly stared at the car. ‘Is that…
Sebastian
?’

‘Yeah. You want him? Take him,
please
,’ I replied hotly and continued to class.

Only after I’d slid into my seat and my pulse had returned to a somewhat normal rate did I realise what bothered me the most about what had happened.

It wasn’t Rem touching me. It wasn’t Rem baiting Marcus. It wasn’t Marcus looking at me with hurt in his eyes.

It was Lilly.

Lilly bloody Hamilton.

She’d called Rem…
Sebastian
.

‘Abbie.’

I looked up. Marcus was leaning against the lockers, waiting patiently for me.

‘Marcus…if this is about your brother…’ I said wearily, feeling so tired of it all. So very tired.

‘It is. Kinda. Look, I’m sorry,’ he said, lowering his voice and glancing around. I followed his gaze and frowned, spying Lilly down the end of the hallway, watching us with narrowed eyes. Thank God she was too far away to hear us.

‘It’s fine, forget it. And just for the record, I don’t want to be friends with your brother, Marcus.’

‘I know. I think. It’s just that,’ he paused and looked sheepish, ‘it’s just that…’

‘What?’ I glanced beyond him to Lilly. She couldn’t hear us, could she? She was too far away. But she was looking at us with such intense scrutiny, as if she
could
hear what we were talking about.