35. Bad August
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
BAD AUGUST
TALK DIRTY TO ME
Ihave no regrets.
Okay, well, I do, a lot of them, but as far as this one very specific situation goes, I’m good.
I’ve got my man, I’ve got four of the brightest minds I’ve ever encountered, plus Jon and Amber, and I’ve got a reason to live.
Energised, my first direction slides out effortlessly. “Shashi, you’d better see if you can log on to the intranet in this world.”
Her hands are shaking, but she moves straight for a computer, Amber running across the room after her. Amber drops to her knees beside her, while Shashi stares hard at the screen. “I didn’t want you to die,” she says softly. “You saw it. That world was crumbling around us. We had no time.”
“Amber…” Shashi stares a few seconds longer, fingers suspended above the keys, then bursts into tears. Her arms fling around Amber, and the two of them fall into a relatively useless mess of snot and apologies.
And it’s okay. Because I’ve got this.
“We’re going to need food, shelter, and money. But we can’t stay long in this world, not with so many of us having doubles here. We need to get back to London as soon as possible.”
“My van!” Jon’s cry makes every head turn on him in thick judgement. “Sorry. I know… um… maybe it’s not as important as the clicky thing. That’s definitely more important.”
He’s really been such a massive dick to both me and August, but I have to admit, there’s something endearing about his general, idiotic goodwill, even if it is tied up in desperately stupid selfishness. “We’ll get you back to your van. But for now, let’s try a train. Shashi? Is that working?”
She pulls away from Amber, offers a determined nod, then tries the computer. “Not working. I can’t tell if I don’t exist on this network or if I just have a different login.”
“I’ll search you up on the internet.” Amber pulls the phone from her pocket.
“That won’t work,” I warn her. But she tries anyway, soon slamming her fingers down on the screen repeatedly in frustration.
“Your bank cards won’t work; phone numbers won’t be the same. We have to pray this world even has trains, or has a London for us to go to. Every time, it’s different. But if we stick together, with a bit of luck, we can do this. Let’s get to the station.”
“How can we catch a train with no money or tickets?” Amber asks.
“Trust me, I’ve got systems. I’ll explain on the way.”
“Could someone maybe untie me first?” I’d just about forgotten Asshole August down on the floor, glaring up at me. “I’m not going to kill you. What would even be the point? I can’t get out now anyway. Not unless this plan works.”
Seems pretty reasonable, but I turn to August first to get a read on his thoughts.
He studies the other August a moment. “Fine.” Then he grabs hold of the bottom of his sweater, and my knees go weak when he rips it up, sexy abs flashing everywhere as he takes out the gun, which I’d also forgotten he’d shoved down there.
“But if you’re thinking of trying anything, you know what I’ll do. ”
Sexy August.
So sexy with his gun and his mildly threatening speech.
I have got to get this man alone again.
We’ve got plenty of time now. This world can take one for the team, surely? We’re going to put it all right back.
“Whatever,” Asshole August mutters, and how is he not moved by this display of masculine perfection? There’s something seriously wrong with this guy.
Thankfully, I don’t have to go anywhere near him because Jon’s down on his knees already, taking back his belt. He’s apologising for bringing him through, and to his credit, Asshole August’s not yelling at him. He’s even letting Jon help him up.
I glance over at my lovely August, who’s watching them with a weird smile.
“What?”
“Nothing. Just…” A soft chuckle. “Nothing.”
“Are we ready to go?” Shashi calls.
I’m relieved to have her on the team. She’s probably more capable than the rest of us put together.
“Let’s do it.” They all shuffle towards the exit, August and me bringing up the rear. But just before we leave the room, there’s a breeze out of nowhere, and the air turns hot.
August looks over at me. “Was that it? My universe is gone?”
“Yep. It’s all in here now.”
He lowers his head, schools his expression, and walks ahead of me.
From the university, we make our way towards Cambridge Station.
No one’s happy when I make them walk further still, past the station and along the tracks until we find a spot to jump the fence.
That’s easy enough. More difficult is keeping Jon and Amber’s excitement quiet while we run back up the tracks, as close as we can get to the station platform, to find a hiding place this side of the turnstiles.
Thankfully, darkness is on our side, though it’s just lifting. We must have shifted several hours in the transfer. But that’s perfect. We need to be in London early for this plan to work.
When the train pulls into the station just ahead of us, we all scramble down the embankment and into the last carriage, shuffling up the train to somewhere about the centre where we can keep a better lookout for ticket inspectors.
Shashi and Amber take a seat together, giving an evident cold shoulder to the rest of us.
I guess they have things to talk about. Jon’s pulled Asshole August into their own private spot, showing him his phone, which maybe isn’t a great idea since I did tell him he has next to no chance of finding any way to recharge it in this world if he runs it down.
He doesn’t seem to care. And to be honest, that’s fine, because once I’ve seen we’re all safe on board, I find August standing, waiting by me with a smile.
It feels entirely too good to be true that I get a whole hour and a half of train time just to sit with him, talk with him.
We drop into the seats in front of Jon and Asshole.
It’s a strange moment of calm in the chaos.
The sun’s turning this world pink and purple; I can hear Bon Jovi drifting from Jon’s phone behind us.
The six of us have the carriage all to ourselves, filling it with music and quiet murmurs of conversation.
August’s leaning against the window, sunshine lighting the tips of his hair, actually smiling at me. “Thanks for coming for me.”
I can’t believe he ever doubted I would. “Of course I came for you.”
He’s holding himself back against the wall. It’s in the taut breathlessness in his chest, fingers curling against his jeans. “How much will we fuck up this world if you kiss me right now?”
“Want to find out?”
His lower lip curls beneath the white teeth he presses into it. “We probably shouldn’t.”
“Then don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Do that thing with your teeth. You’re killing me.”
He does it again. “What am I doing?”
I fling myself back, sinking lower in my seat. “Every time I look at you, my whole body is on fire.”
He sinks down too, a mirror to me in every possible way. Except for how goddamn sexy he is. His breath tickles my cheek when he whispers, “You know, there are probably other things we could do. If you like to watch…”
Heat floods my face, and fresh blood shoots straight to my dick. “Stop it.”
“I mean, you liked it on the phone.”
My voice comes out hoarse and hungry. “I loved it on the phone.”
“I wonder what you were thinking of me doing.”
“August…” It’s both a warning for him to stop and a plea for him to continue.
“You could tell me, you know, what you’d like to see?” He runs a hand up his thigh, and I think he’s actually trying to destroy me. “I’d like to take some direction—”
My head snaps across, and quick as lightning, I capture his lips. The sound of his fingers digging into his thigh takes my imagination, and I have to break the kiss to control myself. I pull away, plastering my forehead against the empty seat in front of me. “I don’t think I can do this.”
He leans in close, voice painfully seductive. “I would kill to get down on the floor for you. Right here on the train. Imagine that. All the commuters reading their papers, and the whole time I’ve got a mouthful of your big—”
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“Way too much,” he cackles out.
I swivel in my seat to face him. “What’s your endgame, Slayer? Have me do it so you don’t have to feel guilty about making the first move?”
His gorgeous smile deepens. “Bingo.”
Easy as breathing, I steal another kiss from him. He sighs into my mouth, and like it has a mind of its own, my hand drops to his inner thigh. Christ, he feels good. He shuffles closer, so I’m an inch from his cock. His tongue toys with mine, teasingly.
I was kind of counting on him to be the mature one in this situation, and I’m both vaguely worried and thrilled to discover he’s just as useless as I am when it comes to keeping our hands off each other. Maybe I should have expected that…
A loud snap right by my ear rips our lips apart. Shashi’s furious face looms over the back of the seats. “Stop. That.”
“Sorry, Shashi,” August mutters, moving back against the wall. Even his retreat is sexy. Goddamn it.
Shashi throws herself down in the seat opposite us with a glare, while Amber moves in next to her to lean over and talk with Jon and August.
Jon’s playing ‘In These Arms,’ and explaining, “The artistry isn’t just the music—that signature sound. It’s in the lyrics. This is the great poetry of our world.”
My eyes roll back in my head, but August shifts to peer at them through the crack between our seats. “There’s nothing like Bon Jovi.”
The other August, who I’d expected to be a prick about it, says, “This is incredible. I’ve never heard anything like this.”
“You’ve what?” Now I’m battling August for the crack, and he’s not giving it up, so I climb up to look over at them.
“You don’t have Bon Jovi in your world?” August gasps out.
“So that’s why you didn’t recognise me!” Jon blurts.
I bite my tongue like a good boyfriend should.
“No,” says Asshole August, staring at Jon’s phone like it’s a living miracle. “No, I’ve never heard this. Is this a thing in other worlds? Why don’t we have this?”
“There is no world without this,” Jon declares, a little melodramatically. “What have you even been living for?”
“I don’t know!” Asshole August cries.
“No wonder you’re so miserable,” is all I have to offer before dropping back down.
“Imagine that,” August says, coming to land with his shoulder millimetres from my own. “A world without Bon Jovi.”
He looks almost as distraught as Jon at the idea. And I love him for it.
The journey is already speeding by faster than I want it to. As soon as we get to London, it’ll be work of every kind. That’s hard enough on my own, but with six of us…
I can only hope this version of London has a fuck-off-amazing particle accelerator right in the centre of town that we can break into without too much trouble.
Or that I can keep my hands off August long enough to prevent the destruction of this universe while we try to find our way into another one.