Shattered Souls, page 8
She leaned across the center console, staring up at me with either guilt or pity shimmering in her blue eyes. I wasn’t sure which. “You sure you don’t want me to stay? I make a mean grilled cheese, and I’m virtually unbeatable at poker, just ask anyone. I even carry my own deck of cards.” She popped open her glove box and dug through the clutter.
“No, really, I’m good.” I forced an awkward smile. In the other timeline, Sam had been my best friend. I only hoped we’d be able to get to that place in this one. “There’s a claw-foot tub on the third floor calling my name, and Mom and Josh should be home soon.”
“Okay.” She abandoned her search and nodded. If I hadn’t known better, I would’ve thought she was disappointed. “Call me if you need anything. Even if it’s just to talk. I’m dying to hear more about your other hot, time-traveling boyfriend.”
“I will. I promise.” That time, my smile was genuine. Maybe there’s hope for us yet. I shut the door and waved as she pulled away, watching until she made the left at the second stop sign and her car disappeared from view.
Before I’d taken more than a single step toward the house, the familiar rumble of a motorcycle engine in the distance caught my attention. I absently counted the seconds the way I used to during a storm, judging the distance by the time between the lightning strike and the first crack of thunder. I barely made it to three before a blaring horn cut the air, followed by screeching tires and the loud growl of a motorcycle heading my way.
Maddox. His name had barely crossed my thoughts when the prickling at the back of my neck flared, hot and bright.
With another roar of the engine, the flame-orange Triumph whipped around the corner onto my street and accelerated toward me. My brain told me to run, but my feet may as well have been tied to lead weights. My rapid breaths rasped in and out as he quickly closed the distance between us. Would he really run me over? Before fate could answer the question for me, I squeezed my eyes shut and dove into the hedgerow lining the sidewalk. Sharp clawlike branches ripped a hole clean through my jeans, tearing into the first layer or two of skin.
While I lay bleeding on the ground, Maddox sped past, doing at least eighty. He blew through the stop sign and spun the bike around with a squeal at the end of the next block. Burning black streaks into the pavement, he did another donut, revving the engine until the bike roared like a pissed-off tiger.
My mouth went dry as he idled in the middle of the road. From almost two blocks away, I felt his eyes burning holes through my soul. He stared me down like a lion stalking a wounded gazelle separated from the herd. He sneered, and it turned my blood to slush. The hope that he had any good left in him faded with every second ticking by.
Oh my God, what have I done? By changing the past, I’d created an unstable future... and an unhinged Maddox.
He reared up on the bike, lifting the front tire completely off the ground before hitting the gas again. He looked like an avenging knight about to slay a dragon.
Shit. I’m the dragon in this fairy tale.
Panic washed over me in an icy wave, and I froze where I stood. With less than a dozen feet between us, Maddox came to a screeching halt. He jumped off and threw his bike into the hedges. The engine sputtered and kicked before coughing out a final growl.
With my soul mate in close range, the prickle at the base of my skull intensified, racing down my spine and spreading to my extremities in a rush of painful pleasure. Maddox’s eyes flashed, and I knew he felt the ferocity of our bond too. I’d pushed him away for too long—driven him to the breaking point. He’s really going to kill me, this time.
He marched forward, his expression torn between fury, pain, and desperation. This was the Maddox I’d seen battling Laith in the storm that night. The Maddox who’d let my brother tumble from the cliff at Casco Bay. He’d finally gone completely over the edge.
His hot breath washed over me, and he wrapped large hands around my arms like steel traps. I felt the impression of each finger digging into my skin as he dragged me to my feet.
Fighting angry tears, I struggled to break free from his iron grip. I opened my mouth to plead with him, and his name died on my lips. I couldn’t remember if he’d even mentioned his name in this timeline. He can’t find out how much I know. Not yet.
“Hold on,” he ordered. A knot formed in the pit of my stomach as he hauled me against his chest, clinging to me like a vine.
A whimper broke free from my throat as the familiar static licked and snapped at my already tingling skin. No! We can’t jump. If I leave now, I might never find Laith. The sudden change in air pressure raised the fine hairs on my arms and crackled through my clothes, stopping my weak protest. Self-preservation drove me to wrap my arms around Maddox’s waist. With my heart thundering in my ears, I grabbed onto his leather jacket with both hands. Even if I’d had the right words to stop him, I didn’t have a chance to voice them before the vortex pulled us in.
DESPITE MY RESENTMENT toward him, I nestled my face into Maddox’s chest, relaxing into his coiled muscles. I’d almost forgotten how terrifying it was to have the wind lashing at my clothes and threatening to rip me to pieces. Or how safe and warm I’d always felt with his arms around me.
With our bodies pressed tightly together, Maddox’s anger slowly melted away, along with the rigidity in his frame. For a split second, my soul hummed in contentment, remembering the man I’d fallen in love with not so long ago.
As if he sensed a moment of weakness, he slid a hand to the center of my back, drawing me even closer. When I didn’t push him away, he sighed and pressed a kiss to my temple. His heated lips on my skin jolted me out of whatever spell the soul bond had woven. I stiffened in his embrace, holding myself rigid against him without losing the necessary skin-to-skin contact that the time jump required, but refusing to allow myself to forget what he’d done. What I’d had with Maddox may as well have been a lifetime ago. Before I knew what it meant to truly love someone. Before I’d met Laith.
My hands clenched—nails biting into cool leather—as I remembered Maddox snatching away Laith’s stone. And Laith’s face as he was dragged into the time tunnel. My soul may have been drawn to Maddox, but my heart ached for his brother.
We landed with a thud on a soft patch of tall weeds overlooking the ocean. I shoved away from Maddox and tried to figure out where he’d taken me. I recognized the taste of brine in the air and the crash of the waves against the rocks below, but something was off about the towering white building jutting into the craggy coastline overlooking Casco Bay—as if the lighthouse had been altered since the last time I’d seen it. And the grounds surrounding it were all wrong. Nothing looked remotely familiar. The land was too barren. Too devoid of anything modern. No manicured lawn. No asphalt parking lot. No oldies station blasting eighties music from the open window of someone’s parked car. No cars at all, for that matter.
A ripple crawled up my spine. I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore, Toto... or even the same century.
“Where are we?” I asked, but what I really wanted to know was when are we.
Maddox didn’t speak. He paced in a tight circle, eyes wide, hands punishing his already tousled hair as if he suddenly realized how completely crazy he’d been to grab me and jump. As deranged as he’d been—charging toward me in the street, essentially kidnapping me in broad daylight—in the back of my mind, I hoped he’d never intentionally hurt me.
“Hey, you.” I snapped my fingers like a kid taunting the lions at the zoo—only I didn’t have the benefit of nearly an inch of bulletproof glass between us. “I asked you a question.”
He lifted his gaze to me, mouth hanging open as if he’d expected me to crumble into a teary mess. I’d surprised him.
When he didn’t reply, I asked again, slower this time. “Where. Are. We?”
He cocked his head to the side and blinked a few times, making me worry that I’d somehow broken him more than he already was.
I crossed my arms and squinted against the bright overcast sky, combing my memories for something that might shake some sense back into him. “Didn’t your mother ever tell you you’d catch more flies with honey?”
I’d apparently gotten his attention, because Maddox’s mouth snapped shut and his eyes narrowed into snake-like slits. “Leave my mother out of this.”
Great plan, Ava. Why don’t you tell him you’ve slept with his brother while you’re at it?
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
After my colossally bad decision to rub his nose in memories of his not-exactly-dead-but-not-quite-alive mother, I was fully prepared for Maddox’s wrath. What I wasn’t prepared for was his eerie calm.
Stony silence met me as we faced off in the clearing like a couple of kids having a staring contest. Each of us wordlessly stood our ground with the lighthouse playing referee in the distance and waves battering the rocks behind us, like an angry crowd, egging us on. Several minutes passed before Maddox took half a step forward and straightened his spine to tower over me.
An ominous dark cloud rolled in overhead, as if his suppressed anger had somehow conjured a storm, and I fought the urge to lick the salty sea air from my lips. He could try to intimidate me all he wanted. I refused to give an inch.
The first fat droplet of rain splashed against Maddox’s cheek, and he swore under his breath. He turned to the sky with a menacing scowl as if he thought he could scare it into backing off. Instead of complying, the sky opened up. With another low oath, he grabbed me by the wrist.
“Come on. Before we both get washed out to sea.” He glanced toward the edge of the cliff and shuddered, as if remembering the night I’d gone over the side. But since that hadn’t happened yet, it wasn’t possible. Was it?
My skin sizzled where Maddox’s fingers wrapped around my wrist. “So, what? Now you’re worried about my safety? Where was all that concern when you were dragging me... here?”
“Don’t be stubborn.” He scowled down at me. “You’re getting wet.”
“I’m not afraid of a little rain.” I tugged my arm free to cross it over the other and glowered at him. Despite the icy shower soaking me to the skin, my first instinct was to plant my feet and refuse to move. How dare he act like my savior when he’s the one who’d stranded me in a different century? “We can do this all day, buddy. I’m not going anywhere.”
An unexpected flash of lightning zigzagged across the horizon, weakening my resolve. The foghorn bellowed out a low, mournful cry, and Maddox grabbed my hand again. His eyebrows rose to his hairline in a silent question.
A loud boom cracked the sky, making up my mind for me. With a quick glance toward the heavens and a resigned sigh, I nodded. “Fine. Let’s go.”
Maddox’s lips twitched as he dragged me through the downpour to the lighthouse. He couldn’t have planned my abduction any better if he’d tried. For all I knew, he’d chosen this moment specifically for the impending deluge, knowing he held my fate in his hands. It wasn’t as if I could just take my toys and go home. I may have known exactly where we were, but that knowledge did absolutely nothing to help me when I had no idea what year it was.
I wasn’t surprised to find the lighthouse door unlocked. It always seemed to be when Maddox was around. We quickly ducked inside, closing the door against the storm. The musty stench of damp stone and rotting wood filled my senses. A shaft of light filtered down from high above, highlighting a hundred years of dust motes in the air. The tower’s redbrick walls hadn’t been painted in whatever time this was. The last time I’d been there, the white paint had yellowed, crackling and chipping from centuries of moisture and neglect. And the ornate iron staircase that wound all the way to the top of the tower hadn’t looked so new.
“I don’t know why I’m so drawn to this place.” Maddox glanced up the seemingly endless flight of stairs before turning his gaze to me. His hand trembled as he brushed my hair from my shoulder. “I’ve even dreamt of kissing you in this very spot.” His confession sucked the air from my lungs. We had kissed right there, at the base of the stairs. But how did he know about a kiss that, for him, hadn’t even happened yet, and with all the changes I’ve made, never will?
“Ma—” I choked on his name, almost forgetting to pretend he was a stranger. The truth burned its way to the surface, and I forced it back down. Telling him I knew who—and what—he was would only put Laith in more danger. If I wanted to save him—save myself—I needed to up my acting game. “M-Maybe it’s just wishful thinking?”
“Clearly.” A dark, bitter laugh rolled up his throat. “Either that or I’m losing my mind.”
Or both.
“Why have you been avoiding me?” Maddox stalked forward, pain and confusion etched across his face. “How can you resist the pull?”
I stepped back, with my heart in my throat, and banged my heel against the bottom step with a clang. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I didn’t have to pretend I was terrified of him.
“Don’t you feel it?” His features twisted as he absently stroked the back of his neck. “I can’t bear to be this close to you, only to have you push me away.”
My hand shook with the need to touch him, and I leaned away, gripping the rail until my knuckles whitened. Maddox was right. The closer we got, the more the soul bond stripped my emotions raw, laying my insides bare in front of him. But no matter how much my soul begged, I couldn’t give in. Part of me almost felt sorry for him. Another part wanted to scream at him for all the things he’d done to Laith. And to me in several lifetimes. And for all the things he hadn’t even done yet. But in the end, we were hopelessly caught between a future he didn’t remember and a past I couldn’t forget.
“No.” The lie practically choked me on the way out.
“That’s not possible!” His roar echoed up the stairs, scaring a nest of birds somewhere in the tower above us.
Guilt brought tears to my eyes, but fear kept them from falling. “I’m sorry.”
“Not good enough.” Maddox snatched my hand in his iron grip and dragged me up the stairs.
My stomach somersaulted on its way up my throat. His hold on me was the only thing keeping me from falling as we climbed. It had to be almost a hundred feet to the top of the lighthouse. One wrong step and it would be a hundred feet to the bottom too. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because this isn’t what’s supposed to happen.” His grip tightened, leaving my fingers cold and my heart numb. “We’re supposed to be together.”
“B-But I don’t even know you.” The lie came out easily this time, the very real fear of what he might do driving my performance.
Maddox came to an abrupt stop a few steps from the top and spun around to face me in the tight space. “I’ve tried to get to know you. You just push me away.”
“No. You’ve stalked and terrorized me. That’s not the same thing.”
“What?” His head cocked to the side as he studied me. He seemed genuinely confused by my statement. “That’s not true.”
I took advantage of his momentary distraction to take a step back, grabbing the rail to steady me. “Y-You haven’t tried to talk to me. You’ve never even told me your name. You just follow me around, all menacing and mysterious.” I took him by surprise, shoving him until he fell against the step above him. “I don’t know where you’re from, but where I’m from, that’s called stalking.”
“You’re right.” His throat worked as he swallowed, the fight draining from him before my eyes. “I-I just thought—I’m sorry. I only wanted to get to know you.” He looked like a little boy, gazing up from his perch on the steps.
Guilt swelled in me, and I had to stomp it back down where it belonged. I didn’t drag him here against his will. This is all on him.
Blissfully unaware of my internal debate, he cleared his throat and held out his hand. “I’m Maddox.” And I’m your sociopathic soul mate. I finished his introduction in my head, ignoring his outstretched peace offering.
“It’s nice to meet you, Maddox. I’m Ava, and I’d like you to take me home now.”
Maddox pressed his lips together as if considering my request. Then he blew out a breath, and his shoulders fell slightly. “I’m sorry, I can’t do that. Not yet.”
“What?” My voice echoed through the tower. “Why? Y-You haven’t even told me where here is.” If he was going to continue to be elusive, I would continue to fib my way to the truth.
“We’re at the lighthouse, of course.” He chuckled as if we were having a friendly debate.
I snorted, tamping down my very real frustration at his flippant attitude. “I can see it’s a lighthouse, but this isn’t the same lighthouse as our first official meeting, is it?”
“It is... and it isn’t.” He danced around the truth like an expert, his mood suddenly light and playful. Asshole.
“It either is or it isn’t. It can’t be both.”
“Fine.” He exhaled sharply. “It is. In a way.” He stood and pushed a hand roughly through his hair. “Does it really matter? I promise I’ll take you home after you’ve calmed down... and maybe given me a chance to get to know you a little better.”
“Ha!” I almost laughed. The irony of his statement wasn’t the least bit lost on me. Hadn’t Laith made that same deal with me not so long ago? But Laith had actually saved my life, rather than threaten it, before dragging me into the past. “I reject your offer. I want to go home.”
Maddox’s other hand joined the first in his snarled hair, punishing the roots until my scalp burned. He dropped his hands to his sides then climbed to the top of the lighthouse, taking the last few stairs two at a time.
Despite my better judgment, I followed him to the lantern room, where the massive lens rotated, sweeping a bright beam of light across the sea below.
