I didn’t need to look back to know he’d followed me.
The night was quiet. The sky was full of stars, and I could feel Hugh’s heat gaze at my back. His soft words against my ear. “I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know how to be a good brother to Teddy and date you.”
I dropped my gaze to the stone beneath my feet. I couldn’t tell him that I’d seen Teddy. He wouldn’t believe me. I also wasn’t going to hold his hand while he figured things out. I wanted him to know without a shadow of a doubt that I was the girl for him. Second-guessing would only break my already fragile heart.
“It’s fine,” I said, turning in place and taking a step back to put more distance between us. “I get it.”
“I don’t think you do,” Hugh said, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me closer, holding me firmly against his body. “I didn’t expect to fall for my brother’s girl, but I did, and I’m not ready to let you go.”
I dropped my gaze to his chest. He crooked his finger and gently eased my chin up to meet his gaze. “I’m sorry I didn’t call, but as for your astral state, I don’t know why we didn’t connect. I changed my sleeping habits so that we’d be asleep at the same time.”
I shook my head as I grinned. “So did I. I reverted mine back to a normal time.”
“So, you were sleeping when I was awake.” He chuckled. “That’s us, always doing things backward.”
The whip-whipping noise of a helicopter approaching drew my attention. The familiar helicopter was descending and blowing my hair. “Looks like your ride’s here.”
“Our ride.” He corrected. “I think you owe me a date.”
“I can’t leave my sister’s reception.” I gawked.
Hugh made a line across his throat, and the helicopter powered down. “You’re right. I should at least meet the rest of my future sisters-in-law.”
He lowered his lips to mine in a kiss that was decades in the making. Tender and sweet with just enough heat that the kiss alone told the story that he was mine and mine alone.
Thank you for taking the time to read Train Wreck. If you enjoyed it, please leave a review.
Keep reading for a sneak peek at Controlled Chaos, Book 1 of The Other Bennetts.
Clara Bennett
Chapter Twenty
Doing the right thing means now I have to die.
It’s inevitable like the turning of the tides.
If I thought it would help and wanted a second opinion, I’d go to one of my newly found Bennett cousins who, with one touch, could tell you how and when that death would occur, but it didn’t matter. There was no changing my fate.
What I see is always what will be.
And in this case, it’s me lying in a shallow grave with a gunshot to my chest.
I don’t know how I get there or who pulls the trigger…yet, but I knew that time was coming near.
I see things, sometimes in the future, sometimes in the past, and some in ways that seem impossible, like the designs I draw. When touched, they initiate contact with what we desire most. Most of the time it was lost loved ones or those that still hold a place in your heart. Other times I draw symbols for other nefarious deeds.
And right now, in this moment, it wasn’t answers I needed. No, I already had those. There would be no stopping my vision from coming true. What I needed most was coffee, and the line in front of me was moving at a snail’s pace.
The fresh aroma of espresso mingling with vanilla drifted around the room, teasing my senses. The low murmurs of people sighing in contentment while sipping their brews taunted me with the fact that I hadn’t joined them yet.
Fresh-brewed, mind-waking coffee was what I needed.
That energy was in my immediate future.
I stepped forward. Only two people left in front of me and then the barista wearing the blue smock would take my order. Within minutes, the brain fog would lift and my day could start.
While others rushed off to work and school, I’d still be here in the same cafe for the next hour. By the time my company arrived, I’d be nice and awake with a functioning brain.
“You shouldn’t have left,” Fillpot said, appearing by my side.
Just like my death, this conversation was inevitable too. The FBI agent was on his game to track me down. “I warned you the first day you recruited me that this day would come and you’d need to find a replacement.”
“So that’s it? You give up?” Fillpot asked as I stepped forward again. One person now stood between me and my functioning brain.
“You know how this works. It’s inevitable, just like I knew you’d show up here, just like I know the mystery man will arrive in”—I glanced down at my watch—“fifty-five minutes, while I’m nursing my third cup.”
Fillpot nodded and slid his hands into his suit pockets. The FBI guy who specialized in working with freaks like me slowly nodded as if accepting my words as gospel. In the years that I’d worked with him, I’d never seen him blow his lid or overreact. He was strait-laced and somber, unfazed by what any of us freaks could do. “So, you think that just because you’ve seen the outcome that things can’t change?”
I sighed and tapped my foot in impatience. The man in front of me was taking an exorbitant amount of time ordering two coffees.
“I’ve seen how this plays out, regardless of whether you approve,” I said, nudging his shoulder. “It will be okay. You’ll have other weirdos to help solve your cases.”
“Fifty-five minutes, huh?” Fillpot asked.
“Yep,” I answered, peering around the man in front of me to see what was taking so long.
“You’re never wrong?” Fillpot asked.
“Never. You can wait with me to see that I’m right,” I offered, although we both knew it was a waste of his time. This meeting was too important to have miscalculated. When he arrived, I was going to be short and to the point in telling him no and walking out of his life. This was my one shot to live to see my next birthday.
“I bet your parents never surprised you at Christmas time. You already knew the presents and what everyone was getting.”
My lips twitched into a smile. Fillpot may have been my handler, but sometimes when the moon was full, and the timing was perfect, he showed an empathetic side.
“I never spoiled it for my family if that’s what you're asking.” I chuckled as the barista slid the two coffees across the counter to the guy and he paid.
I rubbed my hands and practically bounced on my heels, just thinking about the first sip that I’d been craving all morning.
The man turned around with the coffees in hand and held one out in my direction. “Clara Bennett, I presume.”
My mouth parted, and my eyes widened at my future. The man I was supposed to meet in fifty-five minutes stood in front of me.
And he was early.
“How…” The question died on my lips.
“Surprise.” Fillpot chuckled as he rested his fingers beneath my chin to ease my mouth closed.