Chapter 16 #2
Instead, his only thought was what to do to make Carly come. He dragged the back of his knuckles up, up, up her leg and across
her thigh. Then he brushed over her clit with the pad of his thumb. Again. Again. Again. She twitched against his touch, letting
out surprised gasps.
He hadn’t even revealed what he could do with his tongue. Adam got on his knees to show exactly how excited he was. Carly’s
eyes fluttered as he licked her inner thigh, slowly making his way closer until she took a sharp inhale as he reached the
center of her. She knocked her knee to the side to let him inch in. He held her hips steady with a hand and sucked the bud
of her clit into his mouth.
He pulled back only to blow a cool breath against her warmth, and he watched her shiver. He was playing with her now. She
was a toy he was batting around, seeing how far she’d let him go, and he was really enjoying the game. His hand palmed her
ass as he licked inside her.
“Oh, God,” she said.
She did not taste like peppermint; she was salty and deliciously soft. He circled her clit with his tongue and she moaned.
The hand that had been on her ass moved to put a finger inside her. Adam gently found his way in, pulled out, then in again.
He licked and sucked at her bud as he found the very deepest part of her. Carly let out a groan as he brought her closer to
the edge. Just as he’d played with her before, he was also playing with her now. As each time she got close, he pulled her
back and then ramped her up again only to stop before she was too far gone.
Carly’s body began to tighten. “I’m going to . . .” she started to say.
His thumb rubbed slow circles on her as wave after wave of an orgasm rolled through. At some point, her body relaxed. Adam gave a mischievous kind of smile.
“I hope that was okay,” he said.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re cocky about this,” she deduced. “You know when you’re good at something, and because you’re so damn competitive, you’re loving how more than okay that was.”
“I’m not competitive.” He handed her the panties he’d so deftly removed.
She did a laugh-cough of surprise. “Okay, you’re not competitive and I’m not wearing glasses.” She reached up to feel her glasses, but they weren’t there. Adam spotted them on the floor, where they must’ve
fallen off during the encounter, and handed them over. “As I said . . .” She cleared her throat as she placed them back on
her face. “I am not wearing glasses.”
Adam finally stood up. He could still taste the salt of her and had to readjust himself. “That escalated quickly.”
“I have to send the Dewey Decimal system a thank-you card,” she said. “Speaking of which . . .”
Carly stepped into Adam’s space and traced a line with her nail across the side of his neck. His head instinctively leaned
in the direction of her hand. They’d gone from kissing, to making out, to him eating her out. And now she seemed about ready
to—
“Adam?” a loud voice called out. “Adam Rhodes, shadow band guy, are you in here?”
Carly gave Adam a curious look. “Your reputation precedes you, sir.”
He frowned. Shadow band guy? Who the hell would be calling him that? The only people he’d spoken to about shadow bands were Carly, Shireen and—
Dr. Song came into the room and zeroed in on him. “Adam? I spotted that hearse you drive at the top of the street. I’ve been
going into every store in town to find you.”
Adam adjusted his button-down shirt, reminded that only moments ago he’d been on his knees in front of Carly.
“Let me formally introduce myself. I’m Dr. Heather Song, Director of Astronomy at Caltech.” She held out a hand, as if he
didn’t know who she was, but he shook it nonetheless.
Why was she here? What could she possibly want that would require her searching the entire town for him?
“Adam?” Carly’s curiosity had turned to worry, it seemed.
“I met Dr. Song two loops ago,” he told Carly. “I thought maybe she could help put some of the missing pieces together for
the shadow band theory.”
“Forget the shadow bands,” Dr. Song quickly said. “You were right about the eclipse, and the time shortening. It was a minute
shorter this loop, I’m sure you’re aware.”
“Yes,” Adam said with a gulp. There was something to be said for vibes, and the vibes coming off this woman were not great.
“I flagged the time change to my colleagues.” Dr. Song shoved her hands in the pockets of her cargo pants and rocked back
on her heels. “Their concern, which is also mine, frankly, is that while any change is exciting, in theory, we have to consider
all of the options.”
“Right,” Adam responded, not totally clear where she was going.
“I think this could very well be a wormhole we’re in the presence of,” Dr. Song said with the kind of gravity he’d become
accustomed to using at his role in the funeral home.
A wormhole? Adam’s skin cooled.
She sighed. “Are you familiar with wormholes?”
Oh, yes, Adam was familiar with the idea of what a wormhole was. Some scientists thought that wormholes didn’t exist at all, while others believed wormholes could potentially be manmade.
He could’ve said that, if Carly ever allowed him a moment to think before speaking. Instead, she began with, “I’ve seen them
in sci-fi movies. They’re kind of like a teleportation through space. Helps you get somewhere faster?”
“In sci-fi movies, yes, that’s what a wormhole does.” Dr. Song seemed to be fighting an eyeroll, which really annoyed Adam.
Not everyone was a scientist, and besides—Carly wasn’t wrong. The potential side effect of a wormhole could be the ability
to bend time.
“Scientists have never found one,” Adam said to Carly. “But it’s more that they think it’s very possible they exist.”
It was at this moment that Dr. Song chose to say what Adam knew, but didn’t necessarily want to voice. “More urgently, if
they do exist, they eventually collapse on themselves.”
Maybe it was all in Adam’s head, but the air seemed to be sucked right out of the room. Carly, though, didn’t immediately
notice the lack of oxygen.
“Collapse?” Carly’s brows furrowed as she looked back to Adam. “Like, the time loop ending, right?”
“Ending, yes,” she said again, in that grave tone.
“Isn’t that a good thing?” Carly asked.
“It could be,” Adam said, trying to be hopeful.
Dr. Song chimed in. “If you consider falling into a black void a good thing.”
Carly looked nauseated. “A void?”
“What we know is that being in the loop is keeping us alive,” Dr. Song said. “If it collapses, who knows what’s on the other
side.”
Of course, the loop ending didn’t necessarily mean the people in Julian would be saved. In fact, it could very well mean the opposite. Adam had been so blinded by Carly’s optimism that he hadn’t even considered the idea.
Carly’s hand reached out and grabbed on to his, which caused Adam’s doomsday thoughts to slow. He squeezed back, relieved
to have her to hold on to. And he realized that they both were likely experiencing the same kind of lopsided feeling.
What if the loop ended, and their world did, too?