A past life.
Her face went pale, and she covered her mouth. “I think I’m car sick,” she whispered, covering her stomach. I watched her press her fingers to her skin, holding her breath. “I’m pregnant,” she breathed, shocked.
I was losing her. She was panicking; I could hear it in her voice. I tugged her closer.
“I know. Everything that I told you about happened later tonight. We’re already ahead, since I’m sober and I know you have no intention of aborting the baby.” I spoke under my breath, out of the driver’s earshot.
“Of course not,” she groaned, holding her mouth. “Talk to me- I’m going to throw up,” she begged.
“Don’t hurl in my cab, bunny,” the driver threatened.
“Did he just call me bunny?”
“Pull over,” I growled. She made it out the door and to a trashcan in just enough time.
When we finally reached the motel, the BYWAY sign brought a rush of memories back, memories I’d tried to keep buried for too many years. She reached for my hand.
“What can I do to help?”
I turned to her. She widened her eyes as I closed mine, pressing my lips to hers in a faithful, comforting kiss. “What was that about?” She asked, breathless.
“Just checking to see my little Roam is still in there,” I responded, still with my mouth against hers. “Offering to help was so out of character for Julie. It reminded me that it’s still you.”
“I’m sure I’ll cry or faint any moment, rest assured,” she answered, sighing.
“Stop it. You’re being too hard on yourself. So many things have happened for you in just a few short weeks, baby. Give yourself a break.”
She shrugged.
“Well, now what?”
“Now, I get our key from the office, and we go to our room. And we… think.”
She followed me. She trusted me inexplicably. Guilt tore at my chest.
We were waiting… for Troy.
I was going to save her this time. I had to trust that she carried our child. I had to believe that what I was about to do was the only way. Trapping Troy and giving her a safe world to raise our baby in was the last plan I had.
Logan knew to wait at the fountain, moving back and forth through time until he saw that we were there, waiting.
I just had to lure Troy back to the fountain… and send Roam home.
Logan would make the call to have the fountain destroyed… and I would trap Troy in 1977.
With me.
Forever… or until I could find a way back to her.
The hotel room brought on horrible memories for both of us; mine of the past, hers of her nightmare. The bed was still unmade, the sheets still rumpled from our lovemaking earlier that day.
Drug paraphernalia littered every surface of the room, and empty bottles of booze lined the counters.
She only looked at me, at my eyes, and I kissed her forehead, pleading. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
I’m sorry, Julie.
“I forgive you. It wasn’t you, West, just like it wasn’t me. Let the past lie,” she hushed, gripping me to her, and I nodded against her hair.
It was time to say goodbye to her.
It was time to say goodbye to the only girl that had ever made me feel whole, and truly needed…
And devastatingly loved.
“Roam, please don’t ever forget me. Everything I’ve done- and everything I’m going to do- is for you. I love you, and I will always love you.”
“I love you, too,” she answered, crying as I crushed my lips to hers.
Three knocks thundered with my heartbeat.
I pushed her behind me, fucking furious that I hadn’t gone straight for a gun before coming there. I’d thought I’d have more time.
Rush him. I threw the door open, ready to take him out at waist level…
Until I saw her.
Troy stood before us, holding a young girl about Roam’s age at gunpoint. He had a handful of her platinum curls, and she was crying out angrily every time he yanked on her hair.
“Surprise. Hey there Jules. Or Roam, back from the dead. This is the first time I’ve ever had to kill you twice. Maybe I’m making up for my missed opportunity with Julie, right, West?” Troy sneered.
“You sonofabitch,” I blocked Roam, my eyes sweeping over the girl in front of me.
Her blue eyes met mine, and it was like looking in a mirror.
Violet.
My daughter, almost eighteen years old.
“Where did you find her?” I was beyond angry. I had to pull it together, and fast.
He laughed, and Roam moaned, swaying on her feet behind me. He pistol whipped my daughter, and I watched her drop to her knees in agony.
“Stop!” Roam screamed, sobbing, reaching for Violet. Violet stared at us, confused and terrified.
She has no idea who I am.
“So you just came here to wait for me. So confident.” Troy gestured to the old Buick in the parking lot. “Come on, you know where we’re going.”
“Stay behind me,” I ordered Roam, and I could feel her breakdown before her voice reached a hysterical level.
“What? No! We can’t go with him!”
I turned to her, my fingers encircling her wrist. “Without question,” I breathed, reminding her of her promise before we’d even left.
She sobbed, nodding finally and following me to the car.
Violet.
Now I had to worry about both of them. God, she’s beautiful… I wondered if she even knew who I was, or what was happening to her.
I half listened to Troy’s ramblings, making sure we were headed back to the fountain. When I realized he was going to use Violet against me, and keep Roam here to kill her, I knew I needed to think.
Can Logan take them both back safely? Can I get them both in a position for Logan to save them… far enough away from Troy?
I was going to get shot. I already knew that much. What I needed to do was make sure that both Violet and Roam were safe before I lost consciousness.
Roam gripped my hand, paralyzed in fear.
Violet was fully conscious, fighting against Troy’s hold… even after he’d nearly knocked her out.
I tried to think clearly. To think back to the day I found my infant daughter not breathing, pale and cold in her crib.
I’d breathed into her mouth, trying to pump her chest, trying to restart a heart that had stopped for far too long.
Leaving the room, I slid down the wall in the hallway, crying for the first time in my entire life.
I knew Laurel was sick. I knew she was depressed, but I could never imagine she’d harm our child. Minutes passed, and I cried, pleading with God to forgive me for Julie, not to take my baby away… that when the numbers came, I’d leave, I’d go as far away from them as possible and protect them from Troy and the Alter.
I’d do anything.
When her tiny, four-month-old cries filled the cabin, I burst to my feet, running to the crib. She cried and cried, pink and miserable but so healthy, and I waited with her in my arms as the paramedics examined her.
Perfectly healthy.
Not a thing wrong with her, Mr. Perry.
Are you sure she’d stopped breathing? Sometimes babies sleep very soundly.
At that moment, I suspected.
I made sure Laurel had plenty of help, and medication, and was doing well again before I got into my car and drove away from the only family I’d ever had. I knew she’d be safe.
And I guessed that she was immortal.
“West here is going to escort young Violet back to 2012. And Roam, you and I are going to stay back and have some fun.”
“Now why would I do that, letting the world end?” I asked, trying to keep Roam calm.
“You really know nothing, do you? A world ends- the world that you know. The world that I know, my world, prevails. We cease to exist in this reality, and we exist in my reality- the one where I am king again, and the two
of you are nothing.”
Two worlds? I tried to concentrate. This is the prophecy? This is what the red headed girl in the forest knew, all those years ago?
“Wait a minute,” Roam scoffed through her tears, her voice taking on the same tone she had in my classroom on the first day of school. Are you opposed to us voicing our opinions on history, or forming them all together? “Are you trying to say that there are two universes, two worlds, and in one you’re a king?” She laughed, really laughed, and I glared at her. She’s losing it. “This is what we’re fighting over? And my child, my unborn child, will save this world. You couldn’t possibly be a king. You’re serving someone higher than yourself.”
“Sarcasm? That’s new, you little bitch,” Troy swerved, sending her flying into the window. She smacked her head against the glass, and I reached for her. “You think this is funny?”
“Why would West give me up? When the child in my belly will save our world?”
I stared at her, shocked.
She’s so brave. Even scared to death, she’s so goddamn brave.
“Because Laurel is alive.”
I whipped my face to Troy’s.
“That shut you up, didn’t it? Yes, Laurel is alive. And she is in my world. Just as there are fountains- doors- in this world, there are doors to my world.”
Laurel… “There was no body,” I realized, remembering back to the investigation surrounding her death. I’d almost gone back for Violet until I’d realized I’d only be putting her in danger, breaking a vow I’d made long ago.
Put distance between us; keep her safe.
“You took her.”
“You were weak. You left her unguarded. Not smart.”
“And she’s alive?” I demanded. We were nearing the fountain.
“Oh, she’s alive. You could all three be together. One happy family,” he hit the brakes and parked along the street, pointing the gun at Violet’s head. “Move. To the fountain.”
I kept Roam close behind me, and could feel her trembling. “Parallel universes?” She managed, her voice thin. I turned to her, watching tears tumble down her cheeks. “When I die here, will I die in the future? In 2012?”
“You’re not going to die,” I told her firmly, stopping at the base of the fountain.
“Someone is. Either your beautiful blonde daughter… or this pain in the ass you’ve been dragging through history. Pick one.”
When he pushed my daughter to her knees, execution style, Roam finally lost it.
“No! West, no, please, just take her back. It’s over. There’s nothing we can do, just save her,” she begged.
Choose between the two of them? I loved them both in different ways, and there was no way either of them would die today.
Roam needs to know. She needed to back up to the fountain. I needed Violet in my arms, so I could push her at Logan. He was traveling back and forth in the darkness, and could appear any moment. It’d only take one glance from Troy for him to see Logan appear.
And put a bullet in Roam’s head.
“I need to say goodbye to her,” I finally said.
“Whatever. Fast,” Troy answered impatiently.
I knew a small part of her expected me to turn to Violet to say goodbye. No one could be that selfless when their life was on the line. When I turned to her, it made it easier to see Julie’s face, but I knew Roam’s heart was breaking inside.
Gripping her right arm, I moved closer to her. “Remember what I told you, in the motel. I love you. Everything I did is for you,” I almost couldn’t finish my words; the thought of losing her now was destroying me.
Her fear consumed her, and she sobbed. “I love you, West,” she whispered, her voice wavering. “I need to run, please let me go,” she pulled at her arm, and I could barely make out her terrified words.
I ran my thumb over her numbers… the same numbers that were etched on my own arm. “They shouldn’t match,” I hissed, trying desperately to make her understand what I was saying.
She was startled; confused.
My eyes pleaded with hers.
Comprehend. Understand.
Hear me, Roam.
She held her breath, and I lowered my mouth to hers, kissing softly. “Back up to the fountain,” I hushed, calming.
Knowing.
She nodded, inching backwards. I turned to Troy. “Now give her to me,” I demanded, reaching for my daughter.
He tossed her to me, and I caught her.
Logan appeared at that moment.
I almost didn’t recognize him; the blonde stranger grabbed for Roam, and I thrust Violet at him before crashing into Troy.
They were already disappearing as I knocked Troy to the ground. The gun went off, but I didn’t feel it- not yet. I managed to wrestle it from him and shoot him in the chest.
The pain permeated the stillness around us. I knew Logan was making the call… I knew they were running.
Staring at the rainy sky, I blinked at the moisture in my eyes.
And then nothing.
When I woke up in a hospital room, I pulled the IV out and found my clothes in a bag near the wall. Police would have swarmed the room in 2012, but not here, not in 1977.
When I found my wallet intact, I took a cab to the fountain, constantly keeping my eyes open for Troy.
He was gone.
Thrusting my arm into the water, I almost expected it to work.
I expected to be back in Russia, only hundreds of miles from her… not lost in another time, so very far from her arms.
The rain picked up, and I sat at the edge of the fountain, even as passersby stared at me, confused. Logan had come through. He’d made the call, and a half a million dollars had been transferred, along with a debt that was owed to me… paid.
Untraceable.
The fountain had been bombed. By me.
I wondered how many people had died for me to destroy my only path back to Roam... back to her bright smile, her warm body… and a child I may have left behind.
I opened my wallet and counted my money. Three hundred dollars.
Standing, I spied a gas station on the corner. I bought a pack of Camels and matches.
The rain began to dissipate, and I lifted my eyes to the sky.
I love you, Roam.
ROAM SERIES
ROAM
FALL
RISE
RUSH
RULE
WEST (Novella)
REIGN
West (A Roam Series Novella) Page 8
