on acid.”
Because what other explanation was there?
As he stepped through the cave wall and stood before me, it all became too much for my brain. That’s when the darkness slammed into me and I passed out.
Chapter 2
I assumed that I only lost consciousness for a few moments, because when I came to he was still standing in the exact same position, looking around the cave, that slightly confused—intimidating—expression on his face.
With a groan, I rubbed at my head, before remembering that I’d cut my hand and was now probably wearing a grisly mask of my own blood.
“Shit.”
His head turned back to me as I cursed, and I found myself scrambling away from him.
“Are you a ghost?” I asked.
Maybe that would explain him. I mean, this cave was haunted, right?
He narrowed his eyes on me, giving me the “are you fucking stupid?” look, before he took a step forward. For the first time I managed to drag my eyes off his perfect face to notice that his mostly bare chest had an armored plate on it, gold and bronze, with symbols etched into the metal. The symbols looked a lot like the symbols on the portal thing, and I was starting to get a really bad feeling about what had just happened here.
He’d said “You released me” right before I passed out. Which meant…
My eyes landed back on the portal, and that bad feeling intensified.
“Where am I?” he asked, in that same deep, accented voice. “What time is this?”
“It’s like 8 P.M,” I stuttered out. “In Santa Barbara.”
He shook his head. “No. What time on the calendar? What age have I found myself in?”
Oh Jesus. I was starting to understand what he wanted to know. What I didn’t understand was why he wanted to know it. Because surely it wasn’t because he just stepped out of a stone wall portal. Right?
#I’mSoScrewed
“It’s the age of social media, dude,” I said, trying to lighten the mood in here before he killed me. “Twenty-nineteen.” He still looked confused, so I added: “Two thousand and nineteen AD.”
I’d been half joking, but some clarity appeared on his face. “It’s been … over a thousand years.”
Oh fuck. He’d better not be talking about how long since he’d stepped out of a wall, because there was only so much my tequila-addled brain could handle at this minute.
“So … this has been…” horrible, scary, completely fucked up. “...fun and all … but I’ve gotta go now. So … like … have a great life.”
I scrambled to my feet and launched myself toward the entrance of the cave. I’d made it two steps out when an intense pain ripped through my spine so fast and painful that I cried out.
He had me. He hit me or something.
I looked over my shoulder to find that he was still at least six feet away from me. The pain intensified, making me feel like I was being ripped in two, and this time I screamed.
My friends must have heard from the beach. They were suddenly shouting my name, and I heard scrambling below as some of them started to climb up to me. I could just barely see over the edge of the cave to their frightened faces below.
Before I could say anything, strong hands wrapped around my waist, hauling me up off the ground and back into the cave. The moment he touched me, the pain faded, and I was left breathless and totally freaking out.
“Put me down!” I demanded as he held me over his shoulder like a caveman. No guy had ever held me like this … like I weighed fucking nothing. How strong was this guy?
He moved and more of our bare skin touched as something dark and potent opened up in my chest, warmth spreading through me. He set me down and then stared at me for many long moments. Was he a Viking or something? Because there was no way he was a normal dude from around here.
No freaking way.
“I wonder,” he mused aloud, staring at my chest as if he expected something to pop out of it.
His head moved closer to mine as his grip around my waist tightened. “Only one way to find out,” he whispered.
Then he chucked me off the cliff.
Another scream ripped from me as I sailed through the air, the pain returning, slicing through me, along with the fear that I was about to die.
#FML
Before I had too much time to anticipate my demise, my fall started to slow, and like I’d