Holding out his hand, Ryan helped Ethan to his feet,
ignoring the tingles that shot up his arm. Licking his lips to moisten them. “I
apologize if I startled you.”
Letting go of Ryan’s hand and shaking off the electric
shock he felt, Ethan responded, “It’s okay Ryan. I’m Ethan. Ethan Evans.” Wow is this guy awesomely hot. I know
everyone around here. He must be just passing through on his way somewhere.
“I restore old furniture, and sometimes I help with the restoration of old
houses.”
“So, I’m guessing that you’re really good with your
hands.”
Ethan fought to keep from rolling his eyes. Did you really just say that? He thought
to himself. He couldn’t count the number of times he heard that, especially as
a pick-up line, and a lame one at that. This time, however, he was kind of
wishing it was. He was really taken in by Ryan. He shrugged. “I guess. Did you
have something you wanted to have restored?”
“Possibly; I’m not really sure yet, but if I do, I’ll
definitely be in touch. I’m going to head out and let you get back to work.
Again, I apologize for startling you. It was nice to meet you.”
“Same here; let me know as soon as you find out and
I’ll give you a free estimate on what it will take.”
“Thanks. Take care, Ethan!”
“You too, Ryan.”
₪₪₪₪₪
As soon as he was in the clear Ryan activated his
beacon. A few seconds later he stepped out of the travellator and rounded on
Liam, his rage barely controlled. “Reynolds!
What is the number one precept of this organization regarding interacting with
people from the past?”
Liam recoiled slightly at the anger in Ryan’s voice.
Responding weakly, he said, “It’s to be avoided at all costs.”
“Well guess what, genius. You fucked up entering the
geographic coordinates and I materialized right in front of a person, close
enough to kiss him. Scared him so bad he passed out. If I hadn’t caught him as
he fell, he would have cracked his head open on a workbench. God only knows
what damage to the timeline that
would have done.
“Who knows what damage this fuck-up has done, and I
still haven’t been able to find out what the timeline alteration is that I went
back in time to fix in the first place. I need to report this incident and
figure out how to fix it!” He jabbed a finger into Liam’s chest. “You need to
figure out what went wrong with the coordinates and fix that immediately!” He
left, seething, to find the boss and fill him in on what was happening.
₪₪₪₪₪
Unable to concentrate on anything, Ethan decided to
call it a day. He needed to talk to someone about what had happened and what he
was feeling. He knew his oldest brother, Troy, who, as a real estate agent, was
showing houses today. His other brother, Chris, who was a Neurological Patient
Care Technician, was off today. Glancing at his watch, he hopped into his hover
car and headed for the gym where he knew Chris would be working out.
Arriving at the gym, he found Chris in the corner of
one of the exercise rooms skipping rope. Looking around, this time he did roll
his eyes at the looks his hunky brother, dressed in black shorts and a tight
black t-shirt was getting, ranging from covert glances to outright ogling.
“Hey, Chris, can I talk with you for a minute? I know you hate having your
workouts interrupted, but it’s kinda important.”
Chris stopped, folded his jump rope in half and placed
it around his neck. “You can talk to me anytime, little brother. Is this
something we can talk about here, or would you rather go someplace more
private?”
“I’d rather do it in private.”
“Sure, just let me shower real quick then we can head
home.” A half-hour later they were sitting in their living room, each with a
beer in hand. “Okay, so what’s up?”
Ethan took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“Something happened today at the shop.”
A look of concern crossed Chris’ face. “Are you okay?”
“No not really. I was looking over this roll-top desk
I’m restoring and when I turned around to look at the original pictures, a guy
suddenly appeared right in front of me, right out of thin air.”
Chris raised an eyebrow. “You mean you turned around
and he was standing there?”
“No, I turned around and then he appeared. He was so
close I could have kissed him. I freaked and passed out. When I came to, this
guy, his name was Ryan, grabbed my hand to help me up and I swear it was like
touching a live wire. You know the song ‘Sometimes I feel like I’m trapped in
time...’? That’s the way he made me feel. I know its cliché, but it felt like
time had stopped.”
“Are you sure you’re not imagining all this? It could
be an after-effect of the trauma you just went through.”
“Yes, I’m sure. I haven’t been able to stop thinking
about him.” What Ethan didn’t know was that he was having the same effect on
Ryan. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Have you thought about talking to him?”
“I don’t have any way to get in touch with him. He did
say he might have something to be restored, and that if he did, he’d contact
me.”
“Let’s hope he does. In the meantime, I need food.
Let’s get some dinner?”
“Sounds good to me.”
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