Page 134 of A Stop in Time
“I love you, Daniel.” She says it so softly that I strain to hear her. The last syllable of my name is slurred, and her breathing abruptly stops.
“Don’t you dare fuckin’ die, you hear me?” My words sound like they’re being ripped from somewhere deep inside me. “Don’t you dare!”
Her eyes stare sightlessly at nothing, her body slack and lifeless. “Fuck!” I howl, frantically smoothing her hair back from her face. This mouth will never again give me any grief. These blue eyes won’t glare at me and she won’t try to hide a smile.
I’ll never get to kiss her tattoos and remind her how beautiful she is. Drops of water plunk onto her cheeks and it dawns on me they’re my own tears.
“Please evacuate the premises within five minutes.”
“You need to get out of here.”
I jerk in the direction of the voice, but nobody’s there. The hell?
A man slowly materializes a few feet away. Him again. White-blond hair and those pale blue eyes.
“You need to get out of here. Now. This place is set to blow.”
Grief has my temper exploding. “You said I could save her!”
“No.” His calmness has me itching to slam my fist in his face. “I said you can choose to try and save her. I never said you would succeed.”
I see red, but before I can lunge for him, his next words stop me. “I can still save her. But you need to get out of here.”
“You can save her?” I demand. “How?”
He expels a long breath. “I just need to get my hands on her.”
Every molecule of my body revolts at the idea of this man touching her, but I’d give anything to see her alive.
“Okay.”
“You need to go. I can help her, but I need to do it fast without you here.”
Nothing nefarious comes through in his eyes or demeanor even though I’m skeptical as hell. When I rise slowly, every part of me protests at the distance I’m putting between myself and Mac.
With terse movements, he unbuttons his black shirt and removes it, tossing it at me. I accept the shirt and jam my arms through the sleeves, fastening a few buttons with numb fingers.
“Now, go,” he commands quietly. “There’s a piece of fence torn away from the rest at the two o’clock mark. Use that and keep to the tree line running parallel to the road until you at least make it to the outskirts of town. I’ll meet you at her place.”
As if he senses my hesitation to leave her, he urges, “Go. Now.”
“Please evacuate the premises within three minutes.”
I take off running out of the building, following his directions. My emotions propel me forward. Anger. Grief. Heartbreak. Guilt. They all war inside me as my arms and legs pump in rapid movements.
I’m not sure I even take a full breath until I venture past a blinking streetlight. It has me looking down at myself and realizing my hands are discolored from Mac’s blood.
My eyes drift down over the black shirt I’ve been loaned and my black pants that disguise the blood that’s soaked in the dark fabric.
A strangled laugh claws its way up my throat, because I imagine Mac commenting on my all-black outfit and how ninja-like it is. My laugh morphs into a hoarse cry, and Christ, I’m going fucking crazy.
Boom! The explosive sound reverberates, and even though a part of me yells to not turn around, I do it anyway. I have to. A golden-red glow frames the bottom of where thick plumes of black smoke barrel up to the night sky in the distance.
My muscles jump beneath my skin, urging me to run back there even though I know Mac’s already dead. But for some delusional fucking reason, I’m hoping like hell the invisible man isn’t full of shit and he’ll be able to save her.
Somehow, I make it to the outskirts of town and catch a taxi for the remaining twenty-minute drive to Mac’s. The driver looks high as shit, and since his vehicle reeks of weed, he probably is. But he doesn’t spare a second glance at my bloodstained hands, so I’m grateful.
I have him drop me at the end of Mac’s street so I can walk the remaining distance. The less traffic I bring this way, the better. I run toward her place, willing myself not to get my hopes up.