Return to the Darkness - Ripley Proserpina Page 0,32

I’d keep Oliver from murdering him. Since he wasn’t dead in this reality. It was all incredibly confusing.

But before I got caught up in the whole is-he-dead-or-is-he-not-dead part of this, I had to get those stones. And that meant breaking into the house where I’d arrived. The place that we were renting in the other now. They must have fallen out there. What other explanation could there be?

As I stood there, thinking about the intricacies of this alternative reality, I slowly became aware of the silent standoff happening between the guys.

Oliver still stood leaning against the door, but there was a tenseness to him that his whole, I’m just a guy who leans, posture belied.

They stared at each other, like they were sizing each other up.

“No fighting.” I might as well get that out of the way. We wouldn’t accomplish anything if we were at each other’s throats.

“You went to him first?” Colton asked, his voice giving away a tinge of hurt.

Fuck my life. “Actually, I went to Aaron first. Because he was the one whose number came up in my phone first.” It suddenly struck me that the Aaron in both of these realities had the same phone number. How weird. And also mind blowing. Maybe they’d think the same thing. “Do you know you have the same phone numbers?” I pulled my phone from my pocket and dialed Colton’s number.

I stared at him, eyebrows raised, but it didn’t connect. There went that theory.

“Guess it was a good thing I called Aaron, huh?” I chuckled, but it was one of those awkward chuckles that follow not-very-funny jokes. Okay. Time to move on. “It doesn’t matter who I called first. I need all of your help. So—can we go get those fancy stones that help me jump between realities and work the rest out later?”

The guys exchanged glances. It was Thorn who shrugged. “Whatever you need, Lacey. We’re in.”

“Susan!” Colton led the way from his office, breezing right by Oliver like he didn’t exist. “Cancel my meetings! I’m leaving for the afternoon!”

Chapter 9

Aaron studied the four of us as we emerged from the building. Colton took one look at him, then one look at his car, and shook his head. “Nope. No way. That thing has scabies.”

“Don’t be a snob.” My hands twitched with the need to smack Colton upside the head. I clenched my fists to stop myself. This Colton was different, and he didn’t think about other people’s feelings.

Aaron’s car was fine.

“Hey, if you want to drive, go ahead,” Aaron replied, surprising me with his shrug and casual response. “Save me gas money.”

Colton nodded, leading us to a fancy, shiny SUV in the parking lot. I stared at it, more than aware that it cost more than I made in all the years I worked for Rick.

Oliver whistled. “I’m in the wrong career.”

“Nah. Christopher had it coming,” Colton replied. “If you hadn’t done it, I would have. Never thought to thank you for it.”

Oliver paused before jumping in the car. “Yeah. Uh. Sure.”

Thorn patted him on the back before opening the passenger door and sliding in. Huh. For all of Aaron’s warnings about their relationship, it seemed like they were sort of sliding into old habits. When the five of us were together, things just… worked.

It was like I had to be there for this to function the way that it had to. Or maybe I was overthinking this. I had a tendency to do that.

We were all quiet for a long moment before Oliver spoke again. “This would be just like my father to think he had the right to go ahead and mess with time. Why couldn’t he just leave things as they were?”

“Dad always thinks he can do better.” Aaron shrugged. “There’s nothing wrong with trying to improve upon yourself, but I agree, he did wrong this time.”

That was a change. Aaron always sided with Oliver when it came to their dad, and it wasn’t that he wasn’t this time, but the feeling was different. He wasn’t one hundred percent with him. But then again, Oliver had spent time in jail. What had that done to the Chees? Maybe that bonded Aaron differently with his father. Time Aaron spent in the other timeline with Oliver, he spent with his father.

Maybe. I was still trying to figure all of this out. If that was even possible.

Chapter 10

Aaron was watching me weirdly. His gaze kept going to the window, and then over to me. Back and forth.