Page 70 of A Stop in Time
“I can’t.”
I cross my arms, not missing the way her eyes sweep over my tattoos before jerking back away. “Why not?”
“Because.” She gestures toward the people. “We can’t just disappear into thin air. I have to start time with us where we were.”
A scowl descends over my face. “I don’t want those fuckers near you.”
She lets out a dramatic sigh and rolls her eyes, striding past me and heading to where we’d been standing. “I appreciate your concern, Danny.”
“It’s Daniel.”
She taps a finger to her lips. “Ooh, guess what? Even though you fed me, I still don’t care.”
Fuck me. This woman’ll have me grinding my molars to dust.
Once we’re in position, she inhales deeply, her chest rising and falling, before pressing her finger to her thumb.
Instantly, everything resumes, a cacophony of sound nearly deafening after the sudden silence, and the two annoying fuckers yell obscenities.
Mac catches the cashier’s attention, gesturing to the money she’d set on the counter and indicating it’s for our meals. The woman flashes us an apologetic smile before her attention veers past me. “Oh, Mammy, thank goodness you’re here, because they’ve been causing trouble again…”
I trail Mac as we push through the exit and escape the restaurant’s chaos. She strides through the parking lot, and I fall into step beside her. We draw to a stop at the road, where a few cars pass by, along with a cyclist.
“I find it interestin’ as hell that the guy I came across this mornin’ who led me to you could go invisible.”
Her eyes go wide, and there’s no mistaking her honest reaction of shock. “What?” Her lips part, only to snap closed, appearing to be at a loss for words.
When she finally speaks, it’s a low murmur that gives me the impression she’s thinking out loud and not actually speaking to me. “A guy who has the ability to be invisible…”
Her eyes go wide, her tone soft and filled with wonder. “I always wondered if there were people out there who were like me.” Her head snaps around, and she pins me with an anxious expression. “Where is he?”
“I don’t fuckin’ know.” I shake my head. “He disappeared after tellin’ me you’ve got info about my sister.” My eyes bore into hers, my lips flat and my voice arctic. “So, you get where I’m comin’ from, ’cause I don’t believe in coincidences. First, the invisible guy, and now I find you can fuckin’ stop time.”
Mac smooths a hand over her hair, dragging it down the length of her ponytail. “I wasn’t lying to you earlier. I don’t know anything about your sister. But you can understand why I didn’t mention I can do”—she gestures in the direction of the restaurant before inspecting her right hand briefly—“what I do.”
I narrow my eyes on her hand. “That’s what you were tryin’ to do earlier.”
“What?”
“When your fingers were twitchin’, you weren’t thinkin’ about reachin’ for a weapon.” She was trying to stop time to get away from me.
A motherfucker who can choose when to be visible, and now this? A woman who can stop time? Goddamn if I don’t feel like I’m trapped in the fucking Twilight Zone.
She doesn’t say a word as we stride down the road, back toward her salvage yard. Silence hangs between us, and I get the impression we’re both attempting to process what we just discovered.
“Have you always been able to do that?” My attention is trained on the road ahead of us, but I keep constant watch of our surroundings.
“I wish I knew.”
When my head whips around and I pin her with a sharp stare, she holds up a hand and rushes on. “I’m not lying to you. I have a lot of memory issues, and the doctors told me it’s my brain protecting me from the traumatic events I experienced.
“Like when I got these”—she waves a hand to encompass the scars on her face—“beauties, for starters.” She averts her gaze, a haunted expression flashing across her features.
I sift through her words, searching for any indication she’s bullshitting me, but come up empty-handed.
Fuck. Frustration has my muscles so stiff, I half expect them to be brittle enough to shatter. I scrape a hand along my jaw while my mind cycles through everything, reason and suspicion battering away at me.
If I were in Mac’s position, I sure as hell wouldn’t be quick to reveal that kind of ability. I can see how somebody would want to take advantage of her for that reason. But my suspicions are in full force, wondering what the hell else she could be hiding.