It was at that moment I knew it was time to tell him everything, my real name, the time travel, Greg, and my Aunt Rainbow. I’d even planned to tell him about my freaky-deaky dreams and the brooding Professor Cooper.
I smiled, excited to have a fresh start with Jax.
“There you are,” Charlie said as she stepped out onto the porch and held out a telephone handset. “It’s Jax.”
I laughed at what appeared to be the longest telephone cord in the world attached to the handset.
“What’s funny?” she asked.
“Nothing. Really. It’ll be great not to be attached to so many wires and cords. Maybe it’ll happen someday.”
“Um, yeah.” She eyed me strangely. “So, I’m going to grab a chair and join you.”
“Jax?” I spoke into the phone when she went back inside.
“We did it, Nicole! We still need to clean the place before we unpack, but we’re finally out of there. And Mom said that she’s leaving him for good. Ask Charlie if she can hook us up with a good lawyer.”
“That’s great. I’ll ask her. I’ll be there in a few minutes to help you clean.”
“I couldn’t do it without you.”
“Yes you could,” I said with a wide smile on my face.
“Nicole.”
“Yes.”
“I love you.”
I held the phone tight. I would never get tired of hearing him say that.
“I love you too,” I said before hanging up.
“Charlie, do you—oh, hey, thanks. You read my mind,” I said when Charlie came back outside and handed me a rain poncho and umbrella.
“So it sounds like everything is good,” she said.
“Yeah, I’m going to help them clean. Thanks for the umbrella, but it’s kind of hard to hold it and drive the moped at the same time.”
“Right.” She laughed. “Not sure how much help the poncho will be once it pours. You’ll still get drenched. Looks like a big storm is coming. So be careful.” She placed a chair next to me and sat.
“I don’t care. I’m too happy to care,” I said, slipping the poncho over my head. “Oh, Jax asked if you could help hook them up with a lawyer.”
“You bet. The shelter has an attorney who does pro bono work. I’ll give him a call. I wonder if Julie will want to change back to her maiden name.”
“Do most women do that?” I patted my pockets, searching for the moped key.
“Yeah. We encourage it. It’s a way of getting their identity back. Make a clean break. Besides Julie Cooper is such a pretty name, don’t you think?”
I froze.
“Uh, what did you say?”
“I said that we encourage it to help women get their own identity back and—”
“No not that part. Did you say her last name was,” I gulped, “Cooper?”
“Yeah, Cooper. What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Oh god. Oh my god!
I held onto the railing as the world around me began to spin. Everything hit me all at once as images, actual memories, flooded through my mind. Sapphire eyes staring at a photo and then at me, a haunted face gazing at me as I sang at Jitters, and that mysterious pull that I’d always had to him—Professor Cooper.
“What’s Jax’s father’s name?”
I waited with baited breath, knowing the answer before she even said it.
“Jackson.”
“Jax is a nickname for Jackson.”
“Uh, yeah.” She looked at me like I was crazy. “He’s named after his father, Jackson Reynolds.”
“Everyone calls him Jax because,” the wheels in my head were spinning, “because he doesn’t want to be reminded that he’s like his father.”
“Well, that would make sense. Why is that important? Nicole!”
I dashed down the steps and hopped onto the moped. The wheels screeched as I raced away.
I’d been right all along. Jax was Jackson Cooper. My professor.
The wind, mixed with light rain, blew hard as I sped down the street, biting my face. My poncho flapped wildly behind me.
What happened to Jax that made him so hard, so closed off to everyone? Did his mother go back his father?
There was a strong gust followed by a loud crack of thunder. It blew so hard my hood fell back. The dark sky lit up as lightning zigzagged across it. There was another crash of thunder. It was so loud it rumbled in my chest. Sheets of rained soon followed. It poured down, drenching me. I could barely see the road.
A cold feeling hit the pit of my stomach. I had to let him know. I had to warn him. He was not going back into that dark place of his if I could help it. I’d seen him there. It’d only been for a short time, but that was enough. I couldn’t fathom him having to be there for years or maybe even for the rest of his life.
I accelerated the moped taking it as fast as it would go.
A cold panic washed over me. Something was urging me to go faster to get to him as soon as possible. Even though I didn’t have a clue what it was that would change his life like that, I had to get to him. Maybe by telling him who I really was and where I was from, I could change things.
Damn it! I stomped my foot against the floor of the moped. I should’ve told him the first time I’d met him. I knew it was him all along. Why didn’t I trust my instinct?
It was too late to go back now. I hoped it wasn’t too late to prevent whatever it was that was going to change the beautiful soul I’d fallen in love with.
When I approached the bridge, the wind and rain suddenly stopped. There was an eerie silence as I drove over the bridge.
And then everything appeared to go in slow motion.
I could see every crevice on the road, every leaf fluttering as I flew by, every feather on the birds sitting along the railing, every flap as they opened their wings, every movement of their claws as they let go of the rail, every pebble that shot out as I swerved the bike to miss crashing into them, and every eyelet of the shoe that shot out to stop me from falling over.
Then I heard it: A loud whooshing sound rumbled in the sky like the sound of a freight train.
Turning, I arched my neck, inch by inch, until I was finally looking up into the dark sky. My jaw dropped at the sheer beauty of the ominous cloud as it whirled, kissed the ground, and leapt back up again.
I watched, transfixed with fear and awe, as the funnel twirled then touch the ground again, pulling trees like a reluctant dance partner and forcing them to join it in the sky.
The vortex.
If you surrender yourself to it, you’ll be lost forever.
There will be a time when you will need to make a choice. Go home or stay.
And then I knew. This was the vortex that Madame Zahra and Zarina had warned me about. One said to fear the vortex, and the other had said it was my choice. Was this the way back home?
I stared at the tornado that blocked my way to Jax. It swayed back and forth, taunting me. Then it turned and headed straight for me. The fortunetellers’ voices echoed in my mind.
Go home or stay.
If you surrender yourself to it, you’ll be lost forever.
You’ll be lost forever.
Forever.
Stay!
In a flash, I turned the moped around and turned the ignition. It jammed. I hit it again, cursing at it to turn on. I looked over my shoulder; the dark funnel was growing closer.
The wind whipped my wet hair, lashing it against my cheeks.
Come on! Turn on stupid bike!
I didn’t want to go home. This was my home. Right here, in 1984, with Jax and Caroline.
I whacked the moped again.
Turn.
On!
The motor roared to life. Just as I placed my hand on the accelerator, I felt my body being lifted. I couldn’t breathe as an enormous pressure crushed my lungs.
Suddenly, I was out of control. Everything was a blur as I was twirled and tossed like a rag doll. My bike and the bridge grew smaller as I
went higher and higher and around and around.
I was too late.
“Jax!” I was too late to save him. In the future, my kind, sweet, silly Jax would be gone. His beautiful soul would be buried in a dark hole hidden underneath an arrogant, hard exterior, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
Something banged against my head and everything grew dark. Within the murky haze, I saw him, his sexy grin, his bright blue eyes, his lips mouthing, “I love you.”
I reached out into the spiraling wind for the love of my life, knowing I’d never see him again.
Download Your Gravity - Part Three
Can destiny defy gravity?
Returning to 2002, Nicole knows for certain that her past was meant to be her future. Loving Jax was her natural course of life. So now, letting go of the brooding professor he's become is not an option; he's endured too much. She can't walk away. When love like theirs defies time and space, it's worth fighting for. But convincing him to let go of the demons of his past might be harder than battling gravity itself. Can Nicole hold on to what she's traveled through time to find or is clinging to the pull on her heart like grasping air?
Also by L.G. CASTILLO
Strong & Wilde Series
Secrets & Surrender Series
Your Gravity Series
Broken Angel Series
www.lgcastillo.com
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Your Gravity: Part Two Page 8
