15 Minutes- The Complete Saga Boxset

by Jill Cooper

  “You whisper her name in your sleep. You miss her and you know her when you’re subconscious takes over. If you think hard enough, you’ll remember. I’m sure of it. You just have to try, Don. None of this is real, try!”

  But he just shakes his head. “I don’t know what to believe.”

  “Believe me. I can save everyone and all this will be is a bad memory, but once we fix it, it’ll fade. A timeline abnormality that we’ll soon forget, but I need to get into that room.” I reach for the door and Donovan yanks me back.

  “We lose if we go back into that room.”

  “Let me go!” I push the gun into his chest. “Don’t make me do this, Don. Don’t make me kill you to save them.”

  “If you want to save them, you’re going to have to,” Don whispers with full commitment.

  I take a deep breath, my finger puts steady pressure on the trigger but I can’t do it. Tears spring to my eyes and I remember Lara and the fun we once had. I remember how she saved me from Rex and in that moment, I fire.

  Don stumbles backward and his eyes lock with mine as blood pours from his chest. “Cass…” his voice trails off weak and he slumps to the ground.

  “I’m sorry,” I whisper and turn to Molly’s room with heart wrenching guilt. The pain over taking me is so strong, that it nearly sends me crashing down to my knees. Just as I’m about to open the door to Molly’s room, a brilliant golden light fills my vision up above. So bright, that I have to hide my eyes from it.

  It’s a portal opening up from the ceiling and inside it, the bridge. That’s not all that happens. It’s Lara.

  Lara James.

  She rockets down onto the ground like a meteor. There’s a bright shining light all around her and an amount of energy like I’ve never seen before. It pulsates and the strands of time seem to dance all around her, but she’s in trouble. It’s almost as if bits of her are being pulled into the fabric of time, the pieces that keep us all held together.

  Oh God, we’ll lose her. We’re losing her. I can’t let that happen. She’d destroy herself for us, I know she would, but I can’t let that happen.

  “Lara!” I grab at her arm, but she burns like the sun. I scream and cradle my hand as Lara holds her hands out. She’s pushing against something and her hair floats away with curls resembling an ocean current. She pushes her hand against my mine and our fingers curl around each other.

  It’s hot. It burns and sears my flesh but I fight the impulse to let go. I fight against my own will to hold onto her.

  “Lara!”

  A tear falls from her eye. “Keep them safe for me. I’m sorry. For all of it, I’m sorry.”

  “No!” I grip her hand harder but it’s as if she’s dissolving around me. I’m losing her and I can’t fix it.

  Her face focuses and becomes serene as she screams so loud that throws me backward. It’s like a sonic boom, a cry of might and intelligence. It ripples through me and takes down the fake timeline around me. Brick by brick, pixel by pixel, the world is taken away and I stand in utter blackness and stand alone. Lara’s gone and everything else with her.

  I struggle to breathe at the thought I might be lost here in this place forever but things are put back into place the way it’s supposed to be. I’m standing back in my bride’s maid dress and the wedding hall reforms around me.

  First the tables appear out of nowhere and then people fill the seats around them. One by one everyone appears on the dance floor in a conga line. Miranda’s frozen smile at John and it takes my breath away to see them together again. How their eyes sparkle as they gaze at once another. It’s almost like pure magic.

  The musicians return to their instruments and then the wait staff. Molly appears by the refreshment table, right where she stood when Mike and Rex first started this all by hurting her. Lara appears last in her wedding dress, but rather on her feet, she slumps to the floor. Breathless and winded.

  She’s alive. She’s okay.

  “Lara!”

  I’m not the one who screams it but instead it’s Molly. She rushes toward her fallen sister and I rush to both of them. On my knees, we both reach for Lara’s hand at the same time and we squeeze her fingers. She raises her head off the floor with a fatigued smile, but it’s her smile. She’s back and I never would’ve realized how much I needed her, if not for her saving the day.

  There’s a scar running down her face that she hadn’t had before and her brown curls are cut radically short. I crush her with a hug and Molly does the same. “You came back,” I nearly cry as I hear Molly, poor dear Molly, sob against Lara’s middle.

  “I’ll always come back. Nothing will keep us apart, right?” Lara touches my cheek and then Molly’s. There’s something different about her way. A slight edge to her voice that hadn’t been there before. Whatever she’s been through, it must’ve been absolute hell. I wish I could take all that pain away.

  I feel pain every day. I didn’t want to admit it before, but now I can. I’m almost ready to embrace it.

  “I thought we were losing you,” I sob, burying my face against her short hair. Lara is everything, she holds us together. She makes us strong. Without her, there is no Montgomery family.

  “There’s so much I need to tell you,” I swallow hard. “So much that I’m….I need to apologize for.” I can’t even look at her but instead gaze down at Molly who shakes her head at me quickly. Almost as if something is wrong.

  “We can talk soon, I promise, but time won’t stay frozen forever. We need to get passed this moment. It’s this moment that Rex used to smuggle in all the versions of himself to throw the timeline off balance. If we can save Molly from future Mike, we’ll be able to stop him. Maybe even save Mike in the process.”

  “My Mike?” Molly asks.

  Lara nods. “You’re Mike.”

  Molly sighs with relief. “Then we better get started.”

  I help raise Lara up to her feet as Molly hurries off to her spot. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?” I can’t help but stare at the frozen Donovan. What will he remember and what will he forget?

  “I’m sure. When this is all over,” Lara stands in front of Donovan, slowly lowering his hands to her hips, “you can tell me what you need to. I promise, I’ll listen.”

  But would she like what I had to say? Only time would tell.

  Chapter Thirty-Two: Cassidy Winters

  The music starts up again and the wedding reception continues on like it never stopped. Lara smiles as the head of the conga line. If people notice her short hair, or her facial scar, no one says anything. Things seems normal except Donovan pats his chest and gazes down, and then back at me in horror.

  He remembers. I feel his horror and I reel from it. I back up into a table and spill a bottle of wine. I’m thrown off balance and that’s not a good thing because any second now…

  Molly’s talking to the adult version of Mike. Her posture is rigid and I’m afraid I’ve missed my chance to head over to her. A moment later, I use time, bouncing over every second to get to her. When I get there, I pull her backward so that Mike can’t stab her with the needle. I pull a little harder than I need to, sending her to the ground.

  Mike is about to stab me with the needle and I spin around, throwing my elbow back as Lara steps up and grabs his hand. “It’s over,” she says so harshly that it almost makes me cringe, but after what he’s done, who can blame her?

  He smiles at her before he disappears and just like that it’s over, but I don’t feel good about it. Inside I’m reeling. How could it be that easy? Where was Rex and why hadn’t he revealed himself yet?

  “Molly!” Miranda hurries over to her and John isn’t too far behind. The music has stopped and I rush over to the band as the Montgomery and Crane family work on coming to grips with whatever just happened.

  I don’t want to be part of it. I still feel like an outsider seeing in and maybe that’s the way it’ll always be, but inside, my heart is crushed. “Keep playing,” I order them. “Somet
hing upbeat. We need to put this behind us.”

  The band nods and goes back to playing a lively dance tune. When I turn back to the group, Miranda is crying on the ground, rocking Molly back and forth. John and Jax both have a lost look in their eye and Donovan stands far enough away so that he’s not really with anyone. That’s when it hits me.

  They all remember. We all remember the changes Mike made to the timeline. How is that possible?

  Lara looks as I rush over to her and there’s something unfamiliar in her eyes. “Mike’s power is different than mine. Different than Molly. He can rearrange the timeline, delete people’s memories. He doesn’t go back like I do. Somehow, the knowledge they have of what he did,” Lara shrugs, hopeless, “it’s still there.”

  I swallow hard and try to avoid Donovan’s gaze. He pulls further away, his eyes on the floor, and I’m not sure who he’s trying to avoid more. Me or Lara.

  “We’re okay now,” Lara says. “We just need to get past this and start…healing. We’ll be okay.” She leaves us and goes over to embrace her mother, then her father. There’s a longing and pain on her face I don’t recognize and it catches my breath. I’ve never seen Lara look so heartbroken.

  Donovan gazes at me and finally meets my eye for a split second before tearing his eyes away. “I’m…I don’t know what to say.”

  “It’s not your fault. Nothing was anyone’s fault.” The pat answer or was it just truth? Mike did this to us, no one chose what happened to us.

  He raises his eyebrows. “I sided with Patricia against you. Molly. I didn’t even remember Lara. I…” Donovan runs his hand through his hair and is so distraught, I want to take his pain away. I touch his chest and realizing what I’ve done, pull my hand away. The feelings from the other timeline are still there.

  I need to get away.

  “If you’ll excuse me,” I whisper to him, my emotions already betraying me.

  “Don’t run away because of me. I’ll leave.”

  “It’s your wedding,” I choke on the words and push past him.

  When Miranda speaks, it freezes me in my tracks. “Where’s Mike? Where’s our boy?”

  “I’m right here, Mom.” Fifteen-year-old Mike smiles as Miranda crushes him in a hug and Jax too wraps his arms around them both. He kisses the top of Mike’s head and holds him so close, he must be choking the boy.

  In the aletered time line, he hadn’t been anywhere. He hadn’t been in the hospital and no one had any memory of him. So where the hell was he the whole time?

  ****

  No one is in the mood for my rumor and speculation, not even Molly. The party is subduded as it goes on, but it is a celebration. After another hour, Miranda, John and Jax get the twins ready to leave. Everything is more cordial between the adults than I’ve seen in some time. Molly strains her head to look back at me. “I need to talk to Cassidy, Mom. Please.”

  What does she have to say? I step forward, but Miranda shields her from me.

  “You can’t talk to her right now,” Miranda’s voice is rich with resentment and pain. She gazes at me unkindly, like somehow what’s happened is my fault. I own that pain, I take it. She’s right. I messed things up long before now.

  Before long it’s just me and Donovan with Lara stands beside him. His suit jacket is over her small frame and her body language is cool, not like her at all. It hits me all at once that she knows what Mike did. He made me love Donovan, and vice versa. Lara probably doesn’t want to hold it against us, but how can she not?

  “Lara,” I say with such pain in my voice that I can’t mask it. I want to beg her to forgive me, but her eyes are on the floor. When I gaze at Donovan, he won’t meet my eyes either. Rex has torn us apart worse than ever and I don’t know if we’ll ever be okay again.

  “Please,” I strain. “We’re…you’re all I have.” I can’t keep my voice from cracking.

  “We need to make sure Rex doesn’t come back. Can you do that for me? Head to the bridge?” Lara’s lips twist to the side, but she looks anywhere but at me.

  I nod. “Sure. Whatever you need.”

  “I’m going to take her home,” Donovan says, his hand resting on the bottom of her neck and slowly guides her away. I stare after them, so despondent, I almost miss how Lara shrugs Donovan off, almost like she’s a different person.

  God, she knows, and it’s going to end things. It’s going to be the end of what we’ve worked so hard for, right on her wedding day.

  Chapter Thirty-Three: Donovan James

  I take Lara home to our apartment in Somerville and she doesn’t speak on the drive home. She won’t even look at me but instead gazes out the window as if she’s a million miles away. I can’t remember the last time I’ve felt so shut out from her.

  My own stomach lurches and does summersaults. I can’t get the images of kissing Cassidy out of my head and the other far worse ones. Working for my mother? Conspiring to help her gain the power she craved through illegal means? Killing Miranda in cold blood.

  None of it really happened. None of it was real, but I remember it as if it was real. Lara reset the timeline like she always does. I was never shot. I never kissed Cassidy, I never slept with her, but I remember the feel of her body.

  I remember wanting to control her at the same time I wanted to ravage her and those memories gnaw at me.

  We park the car in the cement garage and head on up to our apartment. Inside our home is as we left it, but it feels like days ago. Lara gazes around and I guess she must be feeling the same way. It’s like she’s seeing our living room for the first time. She stops by the fireplace and picks up the photos of us from our engagement shoot.

  Then she puts it down and picks up a picture of her mother. I take off my tie and lean against the wall. “First time I’ve seen you smile since this thing started.”

  Her smile falls and she puts the picture back. “Just worried. You know. Things were hard in the other timeline. It makes being back here hard.” She rubs her arms as if she’s cold.

  “It’ll get easier. The memories will fade with time.” I’m not sure if I’m talking to her or myself. “You save us all every day and I love you, Lara. I really do.”

  My voice sounds tortured but I’ve never meant the words more. Just standing there with her, thinking she might realize what a bastard I’ve been, is enough to tear me up. I need Lara, but most of all I want her. I need our life together more than I’ve ever needed anything.

  Her look says she feels sad for me. Lara reaches out and touches my chin. “You’re sweet,” she says.

  It doesn’t leave me with the warm fuzzies like she normally leaves me, but she might’ve been put through worse than I was and for that, I’ll always be sorry. “So, what’s up with that hair and your scar? Is that permanent?”

  She touches her scar and flinches. “Guess I forgot about that. The other Lara, it was her scar from childhood and she liked her hair short. I guess I’m stuck with it now. You think it’s, all right?”

  “I still think you’re beautiful,” I whisper.

  Lara gives a short burst of laughter and kisses my lips quickly. “You deserve a lot more than that.”

  “What was she like? The other version of you?” I hope if she can talk about it, maybe I can, too. Should I tell her about Cassidy and what happened? Should I leave it all on the cutting room floor—maybe, but I don’t know how to do that. I never have when it comes to her. My heart wants to bleed and beg forgiveness at her feet.

  Lara thinks, her lips twisting to the side. “She never changed time. Never got her powers. Instead she lived with Rick, and they were going to get married. The apartment was a drafty dump, but they were happy I guess.” Lara shrugs, in a non-committal way.

  “Rick,” I can’t keep the edge out of my voice, “so you and him…”

  “We’ve been playing house for the last few days. I didn’t do anything though except a quick kiss. I’d never be unfaithful.” Her eyes widen. “I hope you believe me.”

&nbs
p; “Of course, I do.” I feel uncomfortable as the topic’s broached. I clear my throat and shift from one foot to the other.

  Lara doesn’t seem to notice. “I’d never do anything that’d put us in jeopardy. I hope you realize that.” She runs her hands up my chest and then pulls me in for a kiss without warning. She wants to be close, reconnect, and God that’s all I want. It’s all I crave.

  I forget about Cassidy. I push her out of my mind as I pick Lara up and she snuggles against my chest, tight. She gazes into my eyes and I carry her over the threshold of our bedroom and lay her down onto the mattress.

  “You’re beautiful, no matter the scars you carry with you, James.”

  She smiles and for the first time since our nightmare has ended, it reaches her eye. “Prove it.” Her hand strokes the back of my head as she pushes me down and our lips seek each other out. We’re ready to meld and become one.

  We make love and it’s different than ever before. She’s aggressive and takes control, taking me to places we’ve never been together. When she rolls on top, I grip the back of her head and bring her down for another breathless kiss. She’s groaning, reading to climax and all I can think of as my fingers tangle in her short hair:

  The port on the back of her head is missing.

  ****

  I grab grapes, cheese, and wine for our wedding night celebration but I can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong. Not right. Lara’s not acting herself and her port is missing. If she doesn’t have a port it’s because the body she’s in, isn’t used to time travel. So how did she come back and save us all?

  In the bedroom, Lara’s put on one of her favorite pink satin night gowns. When she sees the foods, she shimmies across the bed on her knees and takes the tray from me. “This looks good,” she smiles. “You’re too good to me.”

  Sliding onto the bed, I watch eat. From the way she pops grapes into her mouth, I figure she must be starving. “Hey, Lar, I noticed when we were in bed together….”