“No. No... Geoff... please.” I reached out to him and he came to me. Sat down on the bed next to me.

  I had to beg, and that was fine. “Please don’t go. Stay with me.”

  I lifted my head up and met Geoff’s gaze.

  We shared a look I’ve never shared with anyone.

  One where I felt like, for the first time, a person could see inside my soul, to the very truest part of me.

  A part I kept hidden, that wasn’t easy to see.

  And he wasn’t looking away in fear.

  Instead, he lifted his hand and touched my cheek.

  I turned my face to kiss his palm and he ran his thumb over my lips. The feeling made me shiver, pleasure pulsing through my blood.

  I stared at him, wondering if he’d kiss me if I asked.

  “So beautiful...” he murmured...

  And then the most horrible feeling starts to churn in my gut.

  “Oh, no.”

  I turned onto my side and vomited on Geoff’s shoes, the pain and alcohol of the night spraying out of me in a disgusting fashion.

  Mostly pink, but there were chunky bits too.

  Oh, gross.

  Geoff moved away and I pulled back my hair.

  Why hadn’t I tied it up?

  Rookie move.

  Geoff, bless him, came back with a towel and the world went black for the longest time.

  Chapter 10

  The morning light shone into my eyes with far too much enthusiasm.

  “Oh, fuck me.”

  I lifted my arms to shield my sensitive eyes and blinked a few times, trying to get my bearings.

  This wasn’t my bedroom.

  And this wasn’t my bed.

  I struggled to sit up on the pillows that were beneath my head, but did not belong on my bed.

  Then Geoff walked forward with a mug of what smelled like very strong coffee, and an open hand with a couple of aspirins on it.

  “Here you go. Take these.”

  I took the tablets and washed them down with the water already by my bed.

  Scratch that... Geoff’s bed. I think.

  “Thank you.”

  The coffee was next and I took it lovingly into my hands.

  I don’t usually drink black coffee, but I would today.

  I took a sip, the burn of heavy caffeine moving down my throat.

  “What happened yesterday, Sarah?”

  I struggled to sit up further, then leaned against the headboard.

  “Something totally horrible. I went to the police station to check out your police file, just to figure out why the hell they wanted to keep me away from you. And while I was there, I looked up my sister’s file. Yours didn’t make sense at all, and my sister’s was missing.”

  “Missing? What do you mean?”

  I took another sip of the black coffee, the hammers in my head continued to bang against my temples.

  I rubbed my scalp with my free hand.

  Ouch.

  “I mean... missing. Gone. Kaput. Not even a single sentence about her or her death.”

  Which was still not the oddest thing that had happened yesterday. Even with the shocking “truth” that I’d been told, the lack of any case file was just shady.

  “Okay, what happened next?”

  I’d expected him to ask what I’d found on him, but he didn’t seem too concerned about that.

  Which was good, I supposed.

  I sighed and forced my head to think clearly.

  Not an easy task.

  My body felt like I’d fallen down a flight of stairs last night and my brain was like Swiss cheese.

  “Um... okay. Let’s see. I went to my boss, who said my sister’s death was ruled an accident because there was no evidence. So I pushed for more information and was directed to go speak to the Commissioner. She was a real piece of work, I can tell you.”

  I shook my head, and regretted it instantly.

  Ow.

  More coffee needed.

  “What did she say?”

  I swallowed more black tar, though the sweetness was coming through now. He must have loaded it with sugar too.

  He really did know the tricks of surviving as a Time Hopper.

  “Sarah?”

  “Oh... um, sorry. She showed me camera surveillance of my sister blowing some guy, and she told me it was my sister’s way of paying for time shares. But I just can’t believe it. I don’t know why—I mean my sister wasn’t perfect—far from it. But this?”

  “It’s a lie,” Geoff said as strongly and with as much conviction as I’d ever heard him say anything.

  I lifted my gaze up to his and I could see the anger in the tenseness of his muscles, the set of his jaw.

  Oh, how I wished that to be true.

  “How do you know?”

  He walked over to the blinds and drew them down, the sunlight in the room reducing to a much more acceptable level.

  “Oh, thank you.”

  I sunk further into the pillows, wanting to go back to sleep.

  “Because, if that woman, Commissioner Monaghan, told you, it has to be a lie.”

  I stared up at him, wanting more information, but my brain hurt.

  He sighed. Heavily. Like he had to the weight of the world on his shoulders.

  “You okay?” I asked him.

  He crossed his arms over his chest and nodded.

  “I need to tell you why I time hopped backwards, before. I sent my brother back for me, because to be honest, I wasn’t sure if I could handle the scene I knew I’d be confronted with. I’d found out that someone had raped my girlfriend.”

  He paused as I gasped, then forced myself to listen harder. This was very different than I’d expected.

  He ran a hand through his hair and left the room suddenly, coming back in a moment, dragging a chair from what I could only assume was the kitchen.

  He sat down on it in front of me, his massive shoulders sagging in a posture I’d never seen on him.

  Geoff looked downtrodden, broken. And I didn’t like it.

  The man deserved better.

  “I... I... didn’t want to hop back myself. Cowardly, I know. But I was afraid of what I’d see, or that I’d kill the guy if I saw who it was. My brother had a lot better control than me, and he wasn’t emotionally invested, either.”

  That sounded intelligent, and in my opinion, a totally justifiable reason to time hop.

  “What happened?”

  I could only imagine what that decision would have been like for Geoff. Wanting to save her, but being afraid of what he’d see.

  I felt the same way about my sister.

  I wanted to save her, she didn’t deserve to die, no matter what she’d been doing at the time of her death. But if I time hopped backwards and found her fucking some random guy, what would I do?

  “Michelle, well, she’s a police sergeant herself, so I know I should never have done it. Interfered with the timeline, and what happened to her, but how could I not?”

  Hang on a minute...

  “Michelle Barker? I know her!”

  She was an absolute bitch. I couldn’t believe someone life Geoff would be with a person like Michelle. Sure, he was a cranky pain in my ass, but now that I knew more of his baggage, I was beginning to see why.

  “Yeah... I’m sure you do.” He still wasn’t looking at me, his gaze somewhere closer to the ground. “But, anyway.”

  He sighed and rested back against the chair, finally lifting his gaze to mine.

  “When Tommy time hopped back to save her, he found out what really happened, and there was no one to save. She wasn’t actually raped, that’s just what she’d told me when I’d smelled the man on her. She was having an affair.”

  Anger ripped through me like a gut punch right to the solar plexus.

  I hated women who’d done that, more than anything.

  They made a mockery of sexual assault and shamed every victim who came forward. Rape ruined a woman’s life more often than not, and women like Michelle made real victims’ lives so much harder.

  “That fucking bitch.”

  He choked out a strange laugh.

  “Yeah... well, I agree. But it gets worse. The man Michelle was cheating with was the commissioner’s husband.”

  “No!”

  Oh my God.

  “Yes. Which meant that Michelle turned me in to save herself. And thanks to the commissioner wanting to cover her own ass and save her marriage, that’s what went on record, not my testimony.”

  My mind was blown.

  Like totally shattered.

  I drank more coffee then put the mug down, determined to give Geoff one-hundred percent of my focus.

  “So that means... what?”

  My head was clearing thanks to the caffeine and aspirin, but I still couldn’t quite put it all together.

  “It means that the commissioner destroyed my life to protect her marriage. She’s evil. And corrupt. So you can safely assume that whatever she told you about your sister is a lie. You can’t trust that woman as far as you can throw her.”

  My silly brain imagined up a scenario where Geoff picked up the diminutive commissioner and tossed her halfway across Central Park.

  I shook my head. That wasn’t helpful.

  “So what do we do, then?”

  I swung my legs over the side of the bed and prepared myself to stand up. My stomach flipped and I swallowed quickly.

  Please don’t vomit.

  I still wore my sister’s black dress and I needed a long shower.

  I looked at Geoff patiently, and waited for his answer.

  He had a bigger score to settle than me, if that were possible.

  “It means that we’re going to hop back in time and find out what really went on. Because I guarantee you, the commissioner is involved somehow.”

  I froze. Was he serious?

  After everything Geoff had gone through... everything they’d put him through, he was still willing to help me? And even more so, he wanted to go with me?

  “You’ll come with me? Really?”

  He nodded and grabbed both of my hands, pulling me to my feet.

  My hands tingled where he touched me and the familiarity between us had grown substantially.

  He nodded. “Absolutely. I can’t wait to see what the bitch has been up to.”

  I looked up at him, meeting his gaze for a long moment.

  I so wished he would kiss me.

  He was just there. And for the first time in so long, I knew I’d found an amazing guy.

  But instead of going with the moment, he looked away and it was gone.

  “Um, I just need a quick shower and my clothes.”

  “Not a problem. You wanna go back to your place now?”

  That was probably the best solution.

  “Yeah. Let’s do that.”

  I gathered up my shoes and sat to pull them on.

  I wasn’t sure where I was, or where my cycle was. Oh, right. I walked to the bar last night.

  “Can you drive?”

  He smiled, one of the first I’ve ever seen on him.

  “Yeah, of course. I’ll grab my stuff and see you at the front door in a sec.”

  He went off to find whatever it was he needed and I stood up. The room still spun a little, and my stomach churned with its need for food, but my mind was clear.

  Geoff was so right. We needed to time hop backwards and find out what on earth was going on with my sister, and the police commissioner.

  And with that, probably unearth a whole lot of shit that we should never have found.

  I walked to the front door and Geoff was standing there in leathers similar to mine, old and worn.

  And he looked hot. Fit and strong.

  But I pushed those feelings away for another day.

  I gave him a once over, up and down glance. Then a smile.

  “Never picked you for a cycle guy.”

  He grinned—actually grinned!

  “Nah, it’s just what I wear to time hop. Cuts down on the wind pain.”

  Oh, a man after my own heart!

  “Yes! I totally agree!”

  For me, the bike had come first, but I’d soon worked out that the leathers were great for time hopping, as long as they had stretch for comfort and were insulated for warmth.

  “Let’s go.”

  We walked outside and down the two flights of stairs to the ground floor. I wasn’t surprised to find that I’d been right.

  “You do live on top of the restaurant.”

  He didn’t say anything, just smiled and opened the car in front of us. An old blue sedan with nothing conspicuous or interesting about it.

  I jumped in and the motor revved to life. A powerful V8 that did not belong in a car that any grandpa would be proud to own.

  “Whoa, wasn’t expecting that.” I put my seat belt on and Geoff pulled into traffic with the speed and skill of an expert.

  “You can’t always judge a book by its cover.”

  I laughed, my time hopping comrade relieving the tension of the situation perfectly.

  “So true.”

  Geoff was such a mixed bag of mystery and interest, and as his car indicated, had a lot more strength beneath the hood than his clothes or his demeanour indicated.

  We were home in twenty minutes and we both ran upstairs to my apartment, the adrenaline of the impending hop already hitting us both.

  I opened the door and waved at the piles of my sister’s junk.

  “Excuse the mess, I’m still sorting through my Amanda’s stuff. Give me five minutes and I’ll be ready to go.”

  I raced into the bathroom and jumped into the hot shower.

  God, I needed that. I could smell the alcohol seeping out of my pores. It was gross, like an old alcoholic.

  I scrubbed my skin, my face and my sweaty hair.

  But I didn’t want to waste time, so I hurried through my hair washing and whipped the purple mess into a quick braid before rushing to my bedroom.

  I pulled on my most comfortable leather pants and a grey, long sleeved top. Geoff was right about the wind chill factor with hopping, and I had to assume that it would be worse going back.

  When I stepped out into the living room, Geoff had moved the furniture to the edges of the room so that we had space around us.

  “We’re going to jump from here?”

  “Yes. Do you have something of your sister’s from that time to hold onto?”

  I wasn’t sure. Everything from that actual night had been thrown away.

  “I don’t know. I’m sorry, I know you told me to try and get something, but the police have been blocking me and the coroner hasn’t released anything to me yet.”

  He nodded. “This is just reeking of a cover up.”

  I grabbed a box from the table. “I have some of her jewelery. I’m not sure if it was worn that night, probably not. But I know which pieces were her favorites.”

  He inhaled sharply, his nostrils flaring. “It may still work. You’ve seen some of the footage from that night, you can visualize it. Wear some of her jewelery and focus really hard on the scene in your head that the commissioner showed you. You may be able to hop us straight there.”

  That sounded dangerous and not scientific at all.

  But what the hell, right? What did we have to lose at this point?

  “Okay.”

  I opened her jewelery box and pulled out two of her fancy necklaces. One she’d gotten from Nicole, and one I’d bought for her for Christmas.

  I draped them around my neck and patted them.

  A pretty ring was beneath the necklaces, one I’d given her for her twenty-first birthday.

  I slid it onto my finger, trying to ignore the jab of pain shooting through my chest.

  My sister... My sister was dead.

  No!

  I was going back to save her.

  Geoff put out his hand and I took it without question. “This is way more rushed than I originally wanted for you. So I apologize for the crash course.”

  I squeezed his hands. “Lead the way. I’m ready.”

  “We’re only going to have five minutes total, Sarah. Five. It’s not much. So you need to make it count.”

  He bowed his head and I closed my eyes.

  He whispered, “Concentrate on everything about her. Her face, her voice, the clothes she wore that night. Then take us there.”

  I did as he said and saw my sister in that part of my mind I reserved only for time hopping.

  I saw her name in my mind first, then I visualised her face.

  The top of the rooftop where the video had been taken.

  My eyes sprung open and I pulled my hands free to clap twice, then I pushed with all my force into that place.

  Wind whirled around us as a time hop portal opened.

  But it wasn’t like one I’d ever seen.

  It swirled the wrong way, and tugged and pulled at us.

  I grabbed Geoff’s hand once more.

  I yelled over all the noise in the room. “Let’s go!”

  We ran forward, together, and were zipped through the fabric of time at an alarming rate.

  I couldn’t breathe.

  It hurt.

  Geoff’s fingers tightened around mine and I held him fast.

  Despite the fear of how different this all was, I stayed focused, lest I lose him in this place.

  Strands of my hair flicked in my eyes and my feet tingled with cold.

  And then it was all gone and my knees sagged as we hit the concrete.

  My eyes popped open, my stomach roiling with sickness.

  I should have eaten something before I left.

  Chapter 11

  Where were we?

  I looked around. The cement floor beneath our feet was the rooftop, hopefully where I’d find my sister.

  The bar they said she’d never moved on from.

  I looked out in the distance. The city skyline flashed before my eyes.

  Geoff held a finger to his lips, signalling me to be quiet.

  There was a man’s voice speaking, and then I heard a woman’s. Behind us.

  We snuck towards the sounds.

  The voices were so familiar.

  “Go,” a woman said, her tone unimpressed.

  I watched a man zip up his pants and leave the rooftop, shaking his head as he opened the door and disappeared.

  Geoff indicated I should follow him and we snuck into an area that allowed some visibility for us, but not for those we were watching.

 

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