25. CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 25
T he next morning, as promised, Gideon made his way across worlds, and with Matthew’s directions, continued on foot to Lexi’s apartment a few blocks away. Though Council meetings and an entire town of panicked people awaited his afternoon agenda, his top priority the moment he’d opened his eyes had been to return to her. To make sure she was okay and to lay out all the information regarding the transition process she’d have to go through if their relationship continued on its current path.
After the craziest twenty-four hours he’d ever experienced, with monumental highs and lows, he existed now in a state of exhaustion, fear, and outright jubilation. Like a mountain climber who’d reached the summit of Everest after a treacherous climb, danced with joy at the peak, but now had to climb back down as a bank of storm clouds loomed overhead.
This morning as he walked the streets of World Two, moving ever closer to Lexi and their possible future, Roberto accompanied him. Gideon cast a side glance at his friend in an effort to determine Roberto’s motive and mood, but his expression was stoic and unreadable as ever.
Earlier that morning he’d gone to Roberto’s home, bringing breakfast in hand and hoping to get some questions answered before facing Lexi and their conversation. Though hesitant to broach the subject after Roberto’s painfully recent loss, there’d been no one else to ask who was as informed on the topic. True to form, his friend had greeted him with a warm hug and welcomed his questions.
But when Gideon stood go, Roberto grabbed his hat and made to head out with him, and though Gideon had done his best to persuade him that his company on this trip was hardly necessary, especially given his very fresh emotional wounds, he’d insisted that his presence was needed, and stepped out toward the portal with Gideon in tow, refusing further argument.
Now as they moved side by side down the streets of the other Philadelphia, Gideon shoved his restless hands into his pockets and continued his attempts to puzzle out Roberto’s expression. It was completely unclear to him whether his friend meant to persuade or dissuade the potential transition. He prayed it was the former, but after what his friend had just been through, it was hard to imagine him believing this a good idea.
When they arrived at her home, though relieved to find her alive and well and indeed sipping a mug of coffee, trepidation set in. Seeing her in her own world, her private space, surrounded by the things that were important to her, she suddenly seemed fragile in a way he’d never envisioned when she was visiting him on his turf—the only way he’d ever seen her before other than when she was tied up in a storage unit, of course.
Here, he saw her as she was in everyday life. A pile of books with her reading glasses balanced on top, her vitamins, keys, and mail sitting on the kitchen counter, the magnet on her refrigerator with her veterinarian’s phone number. He examined the photos of her parents and friends that were placed everywhere, including a spectacular image of the Piazza della Signoria in Florence.
“Did you make this lovely photograph?” he asked. “When did you last travel to Italy?”
She laughed at his question. “ Last travel there? I’ve actually never been. That’s a postcard. My parents purchased it on one of their trips for me. I’ve always dreamed of exploring Tuscany. It’s number one on my travel bucket list.”
While he wasn’t sure what she meant by ‘bucket list,’ he got the gist. Lexi was real here, not just a fantasy. A woman with a family, a history, dreams and plans of her own. All of which he was hoping she might be willing to give up one day. For him.
He introduced her to Roberto, and she brought drinks and snacks into the small living room before settling in next to him on the sofa. Roberto sat across from them on a chair. Gideon longed for a moment of privacy to wrap her back in his arms and check her thoroughly for any remaining bruises, preferably with his lips. But that would have to wait.
He clasped her hand on his thigh. “You were okay last night, I take it? Did you sleep well?”
She squeezed his hand in response. “I was out cold with the help of a nice little pill. Margot stayed and left as soon as I woke this morning.” She picked up her coffee, eyes going from Roberto back to Gideon as she sipped. “I guess you brought in reinforcements to lay the next round of scary stuff on me?”
He winced at her words. “Roberto is a physician, and quite knowledgeable on the subject of transitioning to our world.”
“Then just tell me.” She reached to touch his cheek. “It’s clear you and I’ve got something here, right?” He nodded, taking her hand in his own. “Then you’re going to have to tell me sometime. Let’s just assume for now that at some point we might want to be together. I know you can’t live here in my universe; it’s too painful for you. Besides, we’d both fit better in yours. Tell me now. How does it work?”
He took a deep breath, beating back the asshole on his shoulder still yelling at him for even starting this relationship with her. “There is a process that will force your vibrational frequency to permanently shift to ours. Once that happens, you can live in my world and even return to your universe for a few hours like we occasionally do when we visit Taco Shots. As a bonus, once you’re a permanent resident of our universe, you’ll start to age more slowly as we do.” He attempted a half-hearted smile. “You won’t have to worry about being old and gray while I’m still young.”
“That all sounds great to me so far,” she said. “I know there’s a big ‘but’ coming though, yes?”
He nodded. “The process is incredibly painful. There’ll be a lot of other people there with us during the transition if you decide to do it. Many hands will be required to assist in various capacities, and some will be able to help ease the pain. But we’ll be forcing your body to stay in our dimension while it fights to return to yours.” He took both of her hands and held them tight, looking hard into her eyes. “It will go on for a quite a while, five or six hours or more, and it will hurt. Greatly. There is also significant risk.”
Her gaze moved toward a corner of the room as she thought, her face pinched. “I see.” She turned back to him, her chin lifting. “Okay. A day of pain. Bad pain.” She swallowed. “It’s worth it, right? Five hours of torture for a couple of hundred years together? Seems like a pretty great bargain to me.”
His mouth had gone dry, and he took a moment to sip some water, casting a glance at Roberto as he did so. His friend simply nodded for him to continue.
Lexi shifted in her seat, growing restless. “The risk part, though. Let’s get to that.”
He set his glass down. “The problem is, it doesn’t always work. And by that I mean it can be fatal. There might not be enough time to abort the process if it starts to go wrong.”
She pulled away, dropping her hands from him and sitting back against the sofa, staring off into the distance. He felt that familiar fist to his gut .
“I saw it happen once.” He chose not to mention just how recently he’d seen it happen, making an effort to wall off that scene in his mind. She didn’t need to witness the details. “It was Roberto’s own love, Cassandra.”
“Oh!” Lexi spun to her guest. “I’m so sorry. I—”
Roberto put his palms forward in a calming gesture. “Please don’t be uncomfortable, Lexi. I don’t mind talking about Cassandra. If any knowledge about the path she and I were fated to walk can help you to negotiate yours, then it would be my honor to assist you.” He looked back toward Gideon. “Please, continue.”
Gideon took her hand again, still unsure as to what Roberto’s opinion would be. “I was one of the people helping Cassandra through the transition. After nearly five hours of agony she went into cardiac arrest. Roberto and the other healers in the room were unable to bring her back.” He shifted to face her completely. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, but you needed to know. I couldn’t let you get any further into this… into us … without all the information.”
Neither of them spoke, Lexi staring off across the room once more. He couldn’t even hear her thoughts. The only sound he found was loud static, a white noise filling both of their heads—a clear sign of their mutual distress.
Roberto broke the silence. “Fear is there, yes. Vulnerability. But you two have been gifted the rare chance for a love and life so big it took two universes to bring it to existence. There is a price to be paid for that. You must be willing to risk all for it.” He paused and tented his fingers, looking down at his hands before returning his gaze to the two of them. “I believe that to have love and walk away from it because of fear, commits you to a darkness worse than death.”
And there it was. The answer to Gideon’s question. With his own soul freshly wracked in pain, Roberto still thought of this opportunity as a gift .
Gideon reached to place a hand on his friend’s shoulder and squeezed in silent appreciation.
Lexi studied Roberto intently. Gideon could see the gears turning in her head, and she chewed on that bottom lip almost to the point of bleeding. He wanted so badly to soothe her worry, give her the answer, tell her what the future held. But she was the seer. She’d have to reach out for that information on her own.
“What are my chances?” she asked Roberto. “I mean… how many others besides Cassandra have even tried?”
“I can’t tell you exactly, Lexi. From what I understand, there have been maybe a half dozen attempts in other portal cities, all of them successful with the exception of Cassandra.” Gideon noticed that despite his calm voice, Roberto’s hands were clenching the arms of his chair. “And as Gideon told you, many of us will be by your side to help you through.”
She looked down at her lap, one of her hands twirling a ring on the other.
Gideon placed a hand on her back, rubbing gently. “Any chance you might ask for a vision? Maybe you’re the lucky person who can actually know ahead of time how it will go.”
She sat up straighter and closed her eyes, but a long moment passed before she opened them and shook her head. “Nothing. I tried asking several different questions, but I’m not even getting a glimpse. How can that be?”
He had no reasonable response for her. Maybe her decision was still too uncertain, or too far out in the future. He offered her his weak explanations, noting her shoulders slump in response.
Roberto suddenly seemed weary, and he stood from his chair. Gideon and Lexi joined him.
“You do need to act fairly soon though, or else restrict her visits to the normal four hours with long breaks in between,” Roberto said. “You can’t keep extending her stays by replaying the music for very long before Lexi will begin to get sick from the constant pull on her body. It will affect her mentally as well as physically. You must watch for any signs of physical fatigue or erratic behavior.”
Gideon nodded, and then he gripped Roberto’s forearm in a warrior’s acknowledgement.
Lexi reached her arms to hug Roberto. “Thank you.”
“If you need me further, I am at your service.” he said, heading to the front door. “Gideon, I know the timing is poor, but we have several urgent meetings to attend. I’ll step outside and wait while you finish up. Please take your time.”
They shut the door behind him, and Gideon pulled her up against his chest, holding her so tightly he was probably close to crushing her. When she lifted her head, he caught her eyes, but the kiss he’d been needing to lay on her for an hour was again preempted, this time by the cat’s appearance. Dexter voiced his meow as he brushed up against their legs.
She lifted the fluffy white Persian into her arms and then moved to sit down at the kitchen table. “I guess there’s no way Dexter could come with me, is there?”
He shook his head. “I’m afraid not. He’d have to go through the same process as you, and he’s too small, too fragile.” He reached to scratch the cat’s head, and Dexter purred into his hand. “I’m sorry, love.”
Glossy wetness glazed her eyes, and she wiped them quickly. “It’s okay. My parents could take him—after I figured out what the hell to tell them. I suppose I could visit them now and then. Somehow. They’re in Phoenix though, is there a portal there?”
“No, we don’t have any big cities that far west.” His heart sank with every one of her questions, but she just nodded, accepting.
The cat jumped off her lap and he reached for her hands. “Sweetheart, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. You don’t need to make any decisions right now. In fact, this is a completely avoidable fate. You can simply choose to… not continue this.”
He gritted his teeth at the thought. He’d broken every one of his rules regarding relationships and the cannonball-sized lump in his gut told him he was already paying the price.
Her brow creased. “Not continue this?”
He hated himself for even suggesting it. Losing her now was not acceptable. No. But how incredibly selfish of him. It was her pain, her life. How could he ask it of her?
“No.” She verbally echoed his thoughts. “That’s ridiculous, Gideon. Not continue this? Continue us? Are you kidding?” She leaned forward, scooting her chair closer to his. “I’m not ready to give up on this just yet, are you? I know it’s only been, what, a couple weeks that we’ve known each other, but we have access to each other’s minds. We know one another more intimately than lovers who’ve known each other for years.” She put her forehead against his, and he closed his eyes, the emotion tightening his throat. “We both feel the same. Crazy though it may be, there’s no hiding it from each other.”
They pulled back, and he studied her face as he ran a finger along her cheek, finding he had few words in the face of her bravery.
“I admit, the thought scares me to death, but I can’t imagine just throwing in the towel and walking away from you, from us . From your amazing world. I mean… if we feel it’s right… when we feel it’s right, I’ve got to try, don’t you think?” She offered a fleeting smile. “It’d be a hell of a story to tell our grandkids.”
He chuckled in response, though the muscles along his spine tightened in a state of tension he knew would not let up until some point in the future when she’d safely completed the transition.
Still, his heart pounded with excitement as he imagined their life together in his world. “You’re amazing, you know that? And I know, too, that you’ll have lots of details in your world to work out first, and we’ll take as much time as we need to figure this all out, to make sure it’s what we want, what you want. As long as we don’t extend your stays beyond four hours, we can take our time until you’re ready.” He noticed her shoulders relax as she took a deep breath. “But yes, I agree. If you’re willing, we’ve got to try.”
With that, he leaned all the way in, finally taking that kiss. His lips pushed against hers, no time for patience, and she opened for him, her tongue reaching to taste his with equal urgency, his cock and his heart both responding to the strong, beautiful woman in his arms.
A knock at the door was a cold splash of water. “Gideon, I don’t mean to interrupt, but the Council meeting is soon.”
“I’ll be right there.”
Lexi gifted him with a patient smile, her blue eyes gentle and happy, her cheeks flushed and ready. Gideon held back a groan of frustration.
“You’d better get going, Hero.”
“Indeed.”
“Indee—” she started to imitate.
“Don’t,” he said, putting up his index finger to stop her, and she giggled.
Gideon’s gait was lighter as he and Roberto made their way back. Even knowing the scary facts, this woman was willing to risk it all to be with him. That knowledge would go a long way in helping get through the coming weeks as his world figured out what this Prometheus Group was all about, and what the hell they could do to stop them.