Page 30 of City of Love

After all, she reminded herself, Gideon was clearly a flirt, and he’d no doubt been around the block once or twice. Hell, who was she kidding? If he was as old as everyone kept hinting at, he’d probably been around the block a couple hundred times. Besides, he kept discouraging her from returning. He said it was for her own safety, but Lexi sure didn’t feel any safer in her world at the moment. It was probably just his way of letting her know his flirtations were nothing more than that, despite what she’d seen in her visions of romance. It was time to stop fantasizing about him. Time to start preparing herself for whatever shit storm was wending its way toward her.

She changed the subject. “So, what’s new with you, lady?”

“I have big news, actually. Matthew’s making me a partner in his business.” She beamed as she swirled the toothpick in her drink.

Lexi froze, her own drink midway to her lips. “Really? In security?”

“Well, not his security business, just the club itself,” Margot said. “Taco Shots sits unused most nights of the week when the portal isn’t open, and that’s a waste. I’m going to open it up as a regular, non-portal club the other nights and run it. Matt spends all his time vetting the portal guests, doing background checks, and keeping tabs on the visitors once they’ve been over there to make sure they don’t have loose lips. He doesn’t have time for things like managing a dinner menu and marketing a club.”

Matt nodded. “Especially with what happened last Friday, Gideon’s more stressed about secrecy than usual and I’m about to get even busier with that.”

“Matt’s been away from the club so much lately, supposedly working on all his behind-the-scenes portal enforcement stuff, I’m beginning to think he’s got a hot piece of ass on the side.” Margot waggled her eyebrows.

He rolled his eyes. “You’re the only hot piece of ass I have time for.”

The waitress showed up with their food, and Lexi dug into her creamy pasta, savoring the flavor and blessing Margot for the treat. She swallowed and wiped her mouth. “So, it’s mainly scientists and artists that go over there? Cultural and academic trade?”

Matthew nodded.

“Like, what, our punk rock music for their tricks on bending spoons with their minds?” she asked.

Margot snickered, quoting a line from The Matrix. “It is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.”

They laughed before Matt continued. “Of course, our folks don’t have a clue as to what they’ve really got going on over there, and for the most part the people of that world want to keep it that way. It would be dangerous for them if too many people from our world had a sense of the actual technology they use.”

Lexi poked at the food on her plate, thinking of the young man she’d seen floating down the street, and Vik’s manipulation of the rain, when memories of her dark visions resurfaced.

The food suddenly tasted bland on her tongue. She hated to admit it, but she’d feel safer with Gideon by her side, for whatever limited amount of time that was possible. No matter how strong he and Alana seemed to think she was, Lexi certainly didn’t feel any more powerful or in control of her life than she did a week ago.

She turned to stare out the window, imaging the streets of Gideon’s world, when she saw him. Long legs striding across Market, completely ignoring the cars as he traversed with leisure through the middle of traffic from Taco Shots toward a three-story brick colonial across the street. A man approached him as he stepped up to the home, and they began to talk.

“Gideon!” She flew up from the booth.

Matthew and Margot swiveled and leaned around each other to get a glimpse out the window. “What? Where?”

“He just crossed the street. He’s talking to someone in front of that rowhouse.” Lexi threw her purse over her shoulder and bolted for the door, Margot hot on her heels as Matthew scrambled for his wallet.

Lexi watched the two men as she waited to cross at the busy intersection, fast-moving cars holding her up. Gideon’s back was to her as he argued with a short-statured man.

The lights changed, and she darted across the road, dodging other pedestrians as she kept her eyes on them. She could see the face of the other man, his arms gesturing in frustration. Gideon turned to enter the home, leaving the shorter man standing there, when suddenly the stranger looked up at her. Lexi halted, time standing still as the man held her gaze, studying her. A chill gripped her spine. She realized now that something was off. From the moment she’d spotted Gideon crossing the street, the world had felt soupy and muffled.

Margot bumped into her. “What’s going on, babe? What did you see? And why’d you stop walking so suddenly?”

Lexi blinked, sound rushing back in, and turned to Margot. “Didn’t you see him? He was right over there.”

Her bestie shrugged, confusion on her face.

Lexi looked back toward the house, but Gideon must have gone inside, and the other man had vanished. “Come on. I’ll show you.”

She ran the remaining distance to the home he’d entered, and dashed up the two flagstone steps, her hand already outstretched to knock. “Gideon?”

Two more rounds of knocking brought only silence before Margot pulled her back.

“It was him,” Lexi said. “I saw him cross the street, argue with some dude, and then enter this house.”

Margot scanned the street, her eyes settling on the congestion of cars at the busy intersection. “He just walked through traffic?”

Somewhat out of breath, Matthew joined them. He studied the façade of the building. “It does seem to be the twin to his home. It’s a very old house, so it probably exists in both worlds. But the shutters and door are painted a different color than his.”

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