Seems like solid advice.
“Wait here,” I say, palms on Jasper’s chest. God, I even missed this flannel shirt, but it’s the only thing keeping me from groping him in public right now. I go back to my table and pack up my things.
Vee says, “Not staying?”
I hand her some money for my drink. “I’ll be back. Just have to take care of something first.”
She gives me a knowing wink. “So I see.”
I want to stay. I want to tell her everything, but Jasper is here and it turns out I want him more.
I say, “We need to talk. I’m sorry I’ve been so awful.”
Her smile grows. “You know where to find me.”
“In the super-secret walk-in fridge lair in the basement?”
Vee’s eyes get wide. I pull her into a quick hug, then hurry back to Jasper, basically dragging him out the front door.
“Are you okay?” Jasper says. I’m so impatient I nearly get us both killed and stumble to a halt at the curb as the bus goes by. Then we’re moving again, Jasper trailing after me with a litany of questions. “Did Wolfe kill you too? Does it always happen like that? One second I was in his condo, and the next second I was on the street again. I guess we know now that it works both ways.”
I fumble to find my car key. I’m so preoccupied I don’t even look at him. “What works both ways?”
“It doesn’t have to be you that dies every time. That’s great, right?” His smile lights up the dusky evening around us.
Oh. There’s something I hadn’t thought of.
“Jasper,” I say as I get into the car. “You were dead for two days.”
“What?” He slides into the passenger seat his face creased with worry. God, I missed him. It has to be me who dies every time from now on, because I can’t go that long without seeing him again. “No. It was... it felt like...”
I turn the motor on, then lean over the centre console. My fists tangle in Jasper’s shirt and I pull him forward, kissing him hard. He grunts, but his mouth opens when I drag my tongue over his lips. He looks dazed when I pull back, which is fine by me.
“We have lots to talk about,” I say. “But later.” I put the car in reverse.
“Oh. Sure,” Jasper says, sounding bewildered. “Where are we going now?”
“We’re finishing what we started.”
We drive across town. Periodically, Jasper rubs his chest, and I wonder if it hurts the way my injuries do when I come back. It doesn’t seem to worry him too much, though, because he keeps rattling off questions.
“Where’s Wolfe?”
Dunno. Don’t care right now.
“What did you do while I was dead?”
I’ll tell him later.
“Is there really a time machine?”
Maybe? I don’t know? We need to return to the lab and get a better look at the machine... and my mother. But Indigo is there, and there are things I need to do before I let him sear my insides again.
Jasper’s still going, though. “We should go back to Wolfe Tech and steal the plans again. I think I know how to disable thecameras properly. I didn’t think they’d realize what I’d done so fast last time.”
But halfway across the town his attention finally turns toward the streets. He frowns a little, then says, “We’re going to my place.”
I step on the gas. “We can’t very well go to mine. Indigo might be there, and that will sort of spoil the mood, don’t you think?”
