Page 34 of Intersect

“He wouldn’t have to follow us everywhere,” I say quietly, staring at my glass of wine. “He’d just have to follow us once successfully.”

Caroline throws her hands in the air. “This guy is obviously your soul mate! And when you find your soul mate, you can’t just curl up in a ball and decide to skip it because you’ve hit a little roadblock. Especially with a dude who looks like that.”

I wish they’d leave so I could sleep. I want to sleep until this is over with, whatever this is. Grief, pain, shock. Except it’s not going anywhere soon. “It’s not a little roadblock,” I reply. “He’s going to lose his medical license because of me if this continues. Do you know how many years he’s invested in this? How much money? Four years of college, four years of med school, four years of residency. All to end up empty-handed because of me. It would be selfish to even allow him to continue this.”

“Well, I think it’s selfish of you to try to make his decisions for him,” replies Caroline.

I swallow hard, running a finger over the rim of my wineglass. “I hung up the phone earlier today and he never called back, so he must agree at some level.” It’s for the best he didn’t argue with me about it, even if it sort of hurts at the same time.

The two of them continue to argue until the doorbell rings. Then they exchange a glance and jump to their feet.

“You invited someone else?” I ask.

They both ignore me. “Get your purse,” Trevor says to Caroline.

“Wait…” I demand, rising. “What’s going on here?” I start moving farther from the door. Knowing Trevor, he’s called a male prostitute to cheer me up.

“You, my little sad sack, are going to do some chatting,” says Trevor, heading toward the door with Caroline at his heels. They open it and walk out, which is when I hear a voice I’d recognize anywhere.

Nick.

He walks in, so beautiful I want to weep at the sight of him. He’s wearing a navy-blue tee that makes his eyes look impossibly blue and ends right at his biceps. An arrow saying look at my magnificent arms couldn’t do a better job of calling attention to them. “It’s ridiculously unfair that you’re wearing that shirt,” I whisper, my voice hoarse with the need to cry.

His eyes move over me—hair, face, moving down to the floor and back up—before he remembers to shut the door. “I needed to use every advantage available,” he says, with the barest of smiles.

I want nothing more in the entire world than to fall into his arms like this is some dumb movie, but it’s not. “I assume Caroline and Trevor are behind this?”

He shakes his head, his eyes never leaving mine. “Nope, this is all on me. Fortunately, they both agree you’re being insane.”

I groan. “It’s easy for them to say that. They’re not the ones who will lose a medical license because of this.”

He crosses the room and presses me to the wall. “I’m not going to lose my license either.” His mouth lands on mine, hard. He kisses me with a desperation I feel all the way to my bones, one that matches my own. His hands move from my hips, slide into my shirt and it’s only when I gasp—the good kind of gasp—that he backs away.

“Fuck,” he groans. “What am I doing? I’m trying to persuade you to take me back, but not like this.”

I inhale sharply, wishing I could regret it as much as he seems to. So far, my attempt to do the right thing is going really poorly.

He pulls me against his chest, tucking my head safely beneath his chin. “I’ve been sick to my stomach since you called.”

My breath hitches, a small sob trapped in my throat. “If I were healthy it would be different. But I’m not. How can I let you risk everything for what will amount to a year or two of your long life?”

He pulls back just enough to see my face. “I can only assume you don’t feel nearly as much for me as I do for you or you’d get this. I don’t care about the years after you’re gone. I’m not even sure I want those years. I just want the time you have left, every fucking minute of it.”

I feel light entering more of the dark space inside me, as something that’s waited a lifetime to blossom begins to unfurl. But this isn’t about me. “That’s exactly how I feel too, but Nick…you should have seen the look on his face. He was really determined. He’s going to stop at nothing until he has proof.”

He gives me that cocky grin of his. “We’ll just need to be a little cleverer than him which—no offense—shouldn’t be that hard. He might try to trail you for a little while but eventually he’s going to tire of coming up empty-handed. In the meantime, we figure out what’s behind the tumor and if we can cure it, and maybe we find your aunt or somebody else who can fabricate a past for the two of us.”

I sigh. “Okay. I’ll try harder—to time travel, I mean. Maybe I can—”

“No,” he says fiercely. “I don’t want you to try anymore.”

My eyes widen. “Why the sudden change?” I ask. “A day ago, you were pleading with me to try.”

“That’s before I talked to my grandfather. We can discuss it later, but suffice it to say, it’s a lot more dangerous than I realized. We need to find another way.”

“What if we don’t, though?” I ask.

“We will,” he says. “We’ll find another way because there’s no other choice. You’re my life. You’re the only part of it I want. And we will find a way to fix this.” I love his words and they break my heart at the same time, because there’s this deep sadness to his eyes as he voices them, a sadness I can’t explain. Maybe he’s finally decided I’m not going to beat this. Whatever the reason, I have no doubt I’m the source of his pain, and that I’ll continue to be for a long, long time.