SKIPPING TIME

Chapter 26.5

Ray opened the door and stood, glaring at him. "Do that again and I'll break it down the first time you ignore me."

Jess shrugged. "Don't get your knickers in a knot, old man. If you want to break it down, break it down. It's your fucking door."

A dull flush of anger crept up Ray's neck. "That's right. It is. My door. My house. My food. My clothes. You might want to remember that, kid."

Jess rubbed the back of his neck, unaware of the pain that crossed his face as the stinging, pricking sensation started up again. Nor was he aware of the way his free hand began making an inconspicuous shoving movement at the air, as if pushing away some invisible force.

Down in the sub-cellars of his mind, the machines were cranking again, but in the upper levels, all Jess felt was a tense sort of wariness, as if he needed to be careful.

None of this showed on his face, which wore a sardonic grin as he said, "I don't want anything from you, old man. And I can leave. Say the word and Cacee and I are gone." He yawned loudly, resisting the urge to throw down an imaginary mic.

Because Ray might have destroyed his relationship with Cacee, but even Ray couldn't change the fact that Cacee wouldn't be able to return to her own time without him. Without him, she would never get home.

Ray crouched in front of the boxes and began reading labels as he said, "Cacee's signal has a Positive charge, like mine. Digit's has a Negative charge. She could skip with my partner with no problems at all, kid. In fact, she might be safer with Digits than she is with you."

Jess closed his eyes for a second. Why did he ever believe he could catch a break? To his credit his voice came out as blasé as Ray's. "And what? You're going to give her Digits and let yourself die in this time period because you don't like me?"

In the same smug tone, Ray replied, "I'm not the only one on the run from The Station. There's a whole network of us. I have people in this time period who would partner with me and get me back home."

Jess restrained himself from cuffing the back of Ray's head and asked, "Then what the hell am I still doing here?"

Ray said dryly, "My daughter isn't exactly the type who would agree to leave you behind to die, now is she?"

Somehow Ray made that sound like it was a bad thing. No doubt, in Ray's mind, it was.

Ray added, "And I'm going to give you one last warning—piss me off again and I might forget there are things you don't want Cacee to find out."

Jess felt a flash burn on the back of his neck and, on the opposite side of the small room, the top box crashed off one of the stacks. It slammed to the hardwood as if someone had hurled it. Trophies, ribbons and framed awards landed in a tumult of broken glass and bent aluminum.

Ray's jumped to his feet, his face wary and alert. "What the hell?"

Jess grinned. "Probably some surge in the power breakers. They tend to fuck up a lot when you wire them wrong." His words were mocking and light, but his throat was dry and his hands shook. He had to make an effort to stop himself from fidgeting or tugging on the collar of his shirt.

He told himself he was afraid of Cacee discovering the truth. And that's what he honestly believed. Had he been asked, he would've said Cacee finding out the truth would be the worst thing that could happen to him. But something much worse was already happening and part of him knew that...and was terrified by the knowledge.

But it was a tiny part. A hidden, mute, secret part that Jess had never once consciously acknowledged. Beneath the blanket now over his legs, his hands began making the shoving movement and some unsuspected voice in his subconscious whispered, "Quiet down. Quiet. Quiet."