AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"That's more like it." She kisses my chest. "Should we get dressed and…do something? You know, something useful."
I close my hand over her ass cheek. "I happen to think sex with you is very useful."
"But we need to understand how the Brain—"
"Yeah, yeah, I know." I sigh with no small measure of sarcasm. "You just can't let me enjoy the afterglow, can you?"
"Sorry." She rests her head on my chest again. "Let's enjoy the afterglow for a while. Time is frozen right now, anyway, so we can do whatever we want."
I wrap my arms around her. "Let's just lie here, then."
Though I know we can't lounge in bed forever, we can take a few minutes to revel in the afterglow. Her body feels warm and soft, and the scent of sex wafts around us. I love the way her breasts are mounded against me, her hair tickles my cheek, and her fingers tease my skin. I've never experienced relaxation like this, and I doubt I ever will again—unless I have Sarah with me. I barely know her, yet I feel like I belong with her.
Nobody can deny anymore that fate exists. The Echo taught us all that the unbelievable can be true.
Are Sarah and I destined to become the two halves of the Brain? I don't even know what that means. We need to find out before we commit to something that monumental. Grantand Erin have become the Heart and Lifeblood, but I don't understand what that means either. When I mention that to Sarah, she props her chin on her folded hands to look at me.
"It means they help keep the Echo in balance," she says. "This world was having seizures, of a sort, before Erin and Grant came to the stronghold."
"Yeah, but what did they actually do?"
"If you're expecting a nuts-and-bolts explanation, no one can give you that. We're talking about magics here."
"Right. But I need to understand what the Brain is before I can sign on for becoming one hemisphere of it."
She sits up and shakes her head. "Honestly, you lived in the Echo for three years. How can you still be skeptical about magics? They exist. We can't explain how or why they work, but we do what feels right to fix any problems."
"You mean problems in the Echo."
"Or on Earth. The two worlds are intertwined, Gabriel."
This conversation is not clearing up the issue for me, not at all. "Living in the Echo didn't give me any insight into how this world works. And it definitely didn't give me knowledge of how magic works."
"You're still trying to squeeze the supernatural into a box designed for the mundane."
"I have no idea what that means."
"Until you can accept that magic exists and you will never understand it, I don't see how we can save the worlds."
Chapter Twelve
Sarah
How can I convince a stubborn man to accept that he will never understand the supernatural? I get that before the apocalypse Gabriel led a life built on logic. But he lived in the Echo for three years. He must have seen all sorts of things he couldn't explain or understand. Yet he refuses to accept that we are the two halves of the Echo's Brain, the only people who might have a chance to change the fate of both worlds.
I don't know how that will work. But I'm willing to accept the unknown. That's the difference between me and Gabriel. We forged a bond when we had sex, both times. But he still won't accept that it meant more than really hot orgasms.
Gabriel slides off the bed and starts hunting for his clothes.
I watch him, only in part so I can admire his body.
Once he's pulled on his pants, he pauses to glower at me. "Why are you staring? Get dressed."
Wonderful. We're back to grumpy Gabriel.
Sex with me must've knocked him off kilter. It threw me for a loop too. Our quickie in the woods had stunned me, but our little bondage experience in this bed had shown me things about myself I never knew. Like that I enjoy being tied up. And I love it when he gets bossy in bed.
Bossy the rest of time? No, I'm not crazy about that.
