“Thank you,” I whispered into his neck.
“Fuckin’ hell,” he muttered but after a second, his arms gave me a squeeze.
Yep, totally a sweet guy.
Maybe, before I left this world, I should hook him up with Phoebe.
Um… no. That might be too weird.
Then again, I’d never feel it was weird because I’d be in my world with my Tor.
My Tor.
I’m coming home, baby, I sent my hope into the universe.
Then I pulled out of Noc’s arms, gave him another bright smile and ran to get my shoes.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Crash into Me Part Two
“I cannot believe this!” Phoebe shouted in my ear.
I watched the headlights of Noc’s SUV on the wet, winding coastal road, their light barely cutting through the dark night, the wispy fog and the drizzling mist and replied, “Believe it and hurry. I’ve already called Mom and Dad. They’re on their way.”
“I’m already out the door,” she told me then asked, “He’s with you right now?”
My head turned to the left and I saw Noc’s profile in the dashboard lights.
I looked forward again, “Yep.”
“Holy shit. Is it weird? Are you okay?”
“Totally and totally not.”
“Oh honey,” she whispered.
I loved my friend, I really loved her and her sweet understanding was one of the reasons I loved her but she had to get a freaking move on.
Therefore I cried loudly and bossily, “Would you quit talking and get your ass out here? I’ll be all right but I’m not going to Tor’s world without telling you good-bye so you have to hurry!”
“Right, I’m turning the key in the ignition now. I’ll be there in a jiffy.”
“Phoebe, it’s an hour away. Be safe. It’s drizzling, there’s fog and the roads are slick,” I warned.
“Right.”
My voice dropped. “But hurry, honey. I don’t want to miss saying good-bye.”
“I’ll hurry,” she said back. “See you soon, babe.”
“Later, babe.”
“Later.”
I flipped my phone shut.
Getting you up-to-date, obviously Noc had found Clarabelle. After two weeks of searching he found her in ten minutes. When he told me he’d found her, I shouted, “Hurrah!”, threw myself in his arms and kissed his cheek right in front of all his colleagues but I didn’t care.
He found her. He found her.
And now I could go to Tor.
When my arms closed around him, Noc had hesitated then he’d given me a tight squeeze before he pulled his head back, looked down at me and studied my face with a weird intensity before he let me go, wrote down the address, grabbed my hand and pulled me through the Station.
And now we were headed that way.
“Jesus, babe, I cannot believe you convinced your folks and your friend this shit is true,” Noc said quietly and I looked at him.
“It is true,” I stated. “And, by the way, they’ve also met Tor, the other Tor who is not you so they will so totally corroborate what I told you when you see them. That is, before you see me disappear to another realm.”
And this was true, so true, I should have thought of it before; so true, I should have thought of it two weeks ago and tried contacting Noc then.
Alas, I didn’t. But now, we were on our way. So, God willing, all’s well that ends well.
He glanced at me. Then he glanced back at the road, shaking his head.
Then he muttered an unconvinced, “Unh-hunh.”
Whatever. He’d see soon enough.
I hoped.
We fell into silence and I broke that silence because I was scared, nervous and excited so I had to do something.
“Thanks for doing this,” I told him.
“We get this shit done then we get you to someone who can really do somethin’ to help you, then you can thank me,” he muttered.
“I’m not crazy,” I told him something I knew he’d never believe until seeing made him believe.
Again, I hoped.
“Yeah, babe.” He was still muttering.
See. He didn’t believe me. He totally thought I was crazy.
Whatever.
“I’m sorry you’re dragged into this,” I said. “I’ve been cleaning up Cora’s messes for awhile and from everything I gather, she’s unpleasant.”
“Unh-hunh,” he mumbled again. “She’s unpleasant.” The last he said like he was humoring a small child.
I ignored his tone and kept talking.
“So, well, it sucks you met her and you’re caught up in all this mess. I mean, maybe not, seeing as she helped you bring down an illegal gambling racket, though, she kind of didn’t know she was doing it. Still, you did it but, you know, sorry if she was cold or unpleasant or a bitch.”
Noc was silent.
I was not.
“How did you meet her, can I ask?”
“Baby,” he said gently, “you were there.”
“No I wasn’t.”
“Right,” he muttered.
Okay, I’d leave that alone.
Then, I blurted (mainly because I was stupid, curious and stupid curious), “Why’d you sleep with her?”
“You’re hot,” he answered immediately. “And there was the small fact you were all over me and not takin’ no for an answer.”
Well, it was nice to know he thought I was hot.
“Okay, then why’d you continue to sleep with her?”
His hand came out and curled around my thigh where he squeezed then let me go.
“Cora, babe, sorry but at first, it served a purpose and you…” He shook his head. “You got somethin’ about you. A promise. It just never was fulfilled and for some reason, signs you gave me or things I wanted to believe, I kept thinkin’ it would be. I gotta tell you, there were times when I hoped it would be, when I thought maybe, no matter the fucked up way we hooked up, we could sort our shit out. But then you would…” he paused, “be you. You tried, I could tell you tried, but you couldn’t pull it off. But, if it helps, I know you tried.”
God, he thought I was a mental case and was trying to make me feel better about Cora failing to be able to play him.
Totally a sweet guy.
I looked back out the front window and muttered to myself, “I wonder why she’d give it to you and not Tor, who’s her husband. That’s weird.”
