14. Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

Quinn ~Day Thirteen~

My alarm goes off at the same time it always does, leaving me blinking slowly as my brain comes back online. I flip over and switch it off.

My chest hurts and I absently rub at the center of it, trying to get it to stop aching. Last night I’d fallen asleep against Bennet’s chest. I felt so safe and dare I admit, I felt so loved. This morning, I’m once again in my bed, all alone, on Friday the 13th.

I don’t think I can take this much longer.

Last night was everything to me. Being with Bennet like that, being able to touch him and taste him and kiss him felt like a dream come true. Literally a dream, because I woke up to find it all gone.

I want every night to be like that. I want him, all of him, for real. I want to tell him the truth about my feelings. But gods, I’m terrified.

Pulling the pocket watch off the side table, I stare at it for a long moment.

That’s when it hits me.

Gods, I’ve been so stupid ! We’ve been looking everywhere except the one place we might actually get some answers! The previous owner!

I have no idea if this estate came because someone has recently passed away or what, but either way it’s a lead that’s taken me far too long to look into.

As quickly as I can with an excitement running through me, I get ready for the day. After dressing, feeding Fluffy, and grabbing myself something for breakfast, I make my way out the door.

There’s practically a skip in my step as I move down the sidewalk to where I know Aiden will be. “Good morning, Aiden!”

Aiden startles, stopping in his tracks and turning towards me. He’s completely distracted which means I don’t even need to yank him out of the way because he’s solidly on the sidewalk as the usual car speeds past. Aiden looks at the car and then at me with wide eyes.

“Umm, good morning, Professor?”

I nod my head in his direction before skipping across the street towards the coffee shop. It’s been an unspoken agreement to always meet Bennet there. I’m excited about this lead, but I’m also filled with a little bit of nervousness. What if they don’t know anything? What if there’s no family left to talk to? That’s without thinking about my biggest worry, which leaves me both confused and guilty; what if they can get us out of this time loop once and for all?

“Bennet!” I call out as I enter the coffee shop. “What are we trying this morning?”

Bennet turns towards me, grinning. The look on his face fills my belly with butterflies, my face mirroring his. “How about an iced toffee coffee?”

“Brilliant. Make it two, please!”

Bennet pays for our coffees and we head out, walking towards the university. He clears his throat and I look over at him, raising my brow. “I have something I want to say.”

There’s something about his look that makes my stomach drop to my toes. I can’t handle the thought of him telling me he regrets everything that happened yesterday. If he says that, it might actually break me.

“Can it wait?” I ask softly, hoping he doesn’t see the panic in my face that I’m feeling inside. “I have a lead on our timepiece I want us to check out. Once we’ve done with that, you’ll have my unadulterated full attention, okay?”

Bennet blows out a long breath before nodding. “You got it, Quinn. What’s the plan?”

I take a sip of my iced toffee coffee, using it as a way to give myself a moment to find the right words. The flavor is delicious and hey, if all else fails, at least this morning I’m getting to enjoy a great cup of coffee.

“I’m going to cancel my classes for the day and then head into Stephan’s office. I’m hoping to find some information about whoever owned this timepiece before us. Best case scenario? We can head over to their place today and ask them some questions. Worst case? We get another day off.”

Bennet nods along as I speak. “Alright, sounds like a good plan to me. Lead the way.”

The two of us email our respective classes as we walk. When Bennet puts his phone away, his free hand goes to my back. The easy touch leaves me breathless and I do all I can not to show it.

Maybe last night wasn’t just a one and done thing. Hope blooms inside my chest. Maybe last night meant as much to Bennet as it did to me. I was so worried today would be weird or that I would be heartbroken by Bennet’s reaction, but right now he’s acting at ease, like it’s the most natural thing in the world to touch me like this.

I refuse to bring it up, mostly because I don’t want to spook him into stopping.

Stephan is easy to find. We run into him in the hall like I do when I’m having a normal Friday the 13th.

“Thank you again for sorting everything last night,” Stephan says with a wide smile, the same thing he always says when he sees me first thing in the morning.

“No worries, Stephan. I was happy to do it,” I tell him with a nod. “But I do have one question, if you don’t mind.”

“What’s up?”

“Can you give me the information for the estate this all came from? I have a really, really important question to ask them about one of the magical items.”

Mister Addemac’s brows wrinkle and he crosses his arms over his chest. “Normally we can’t just give that sort of information out, Quinn.”

“I know, and you have to know, I wouldn’t ask unless it was really important.”

He looks at me and then his eyes dart over to Bennet before coming back to me. His eyes seem to find something because they soften. “Alright, Quinn. Come to my office and I’ll give you the information.”

Stephan goes to his file cabinet and pulls out a document, handing it over. The estate belonged to Peter Anders who happens to have a daughter, Sandra.

“Do you have an address for Sandra?”

“Right there,” Stephan says, pointing to the bottom of the paper.

I thank him before heading out. We need to go see Sandra as soon as possible. The sooner we know something, the sooner it’s possible for us to break free of the time loop.

“We’ll take my car,” Bennet says as he puts his hand on my lower back, walking us towards the doors outside. My insides are so warm it wouldn’t surprise me if I could cook an egg on my stomach! Having him touch me so freely, so casually has me absolutely melting.

The drive over to Sandra’s house is uneventful. Well, if Bennet’s hand on my thigh as he drives is considered uneventful, that is! I can’t stop smiling and every time Bennet looks over, he smiles right back. My cheeks are starting to ache with how much I’m smiling.

Today feels like a dream, one that I’m ironically trying to wake up from.

“Okay,” I breathe out when Bennet puts the car into park in front of the address we have on file for Sandra Anders. “I have a good feeling about this.”

“I do too,” Bennet says, squeezing my thigh one last time before getting out of the car. My stomach is a mess of butterflies, some of them from Bennet’s new attention, some from what we’re about to do, and some for the obvious unknown. Will we wake up tomorrow to another Friday the 13th or will Sandra know something that’ll help us finally move forward.

The biggest question my brain keeps hounding is will Bennet be this attentive come tomorrow?

I wipe my hands on my slacks as I walk up the long driveway. Taking a steadying breath, I knock on the door.

We wait. And wait. I look over at Bennet and he shrugs. Just when I’m about to give up hope, someone opens the door.

“Hello? Can I help you?”

The woman in front of me is shorter than me with snow white hair. If I had to guess, I’d say she’s probably around Bennet’s age, dressed well like someone about to head into a business meeting.

“Hi,” I say, putting on my most friendly smile. “Are you Sandra by chance?”

“I am. May I ask who you two are?”

“My name is Quinn and this is Bennet. We’re from the university where your father’s estate was donated. We ran into a bit of a pickle with one of the magical items and we had a few questions, if you don’t mind?”

Sandra opens the door for us, letting us inside. She crosses her arms over her chest, looking worried. “Which item?”

Instead of saying anything, I pull the timepiece from my pocket. Sandra jumps back, like the thing might have a mind of its own and reach out to touch her. She curses under her breath, looking between the two of us. “You touched it with someone, didn’t you?”

I look over at Bennet. “Yeah, we touched it at the same time. Why? Do you know about this thing?”

“Of course I do! This pocket watch was packaged in a box with a note, explaining that two people should not touch it at the same time.”

“Damn it, Gen,” Bennet says under his breath. “I bet she saw the stupid note and didn’t tell us.”

“Why would she do that?”

Sandra clears her throat. “I have a theory.”

“I’m all ears,” I tell her.

Sandra turns around, gesturing for us to follow her deeper into her home. “The timepiece has a very specific trigger,” she starts to explain, stopping at a large wall that’s filled with pictures. She points to one, the tiniest smile on her face. “It’s all about confessing one’s true feelings. Look at this picture, see how the hands are both broken hearts? That’s because these two people needed to get something off their chests, air out their grievances for each other.”

“Okay,” I say slowly, looking down at the pocket watch in my hand. “But ours has two hearts for the hands.”

Sandra raises her brow at me. She gives the two of us a very pointed look. “But you do have something that needs to be aired out between you? I might have only just met you but the timepiece doesn’t lie. You’ll be stuck until you air everything out. Maybe some unspoken feelings? Maybe some sort of confession needs to happen?”

“Oh,” Bennet says softly, barely loud enough for us to hear. But I hear it and it makes my heart pick up speed.

“Yeah. Oh,” I say, unable to keep myself from smiling. I already promised myself I would tell Bennet the truth about how I feel about him, but it turns out, the pocket watch has been waiting for me to find my nerve.

I can barely believe it. We know how to break the time loop and it was as simple as telling Bennet that I love him.

Turning back to Sandra, I give her a little bow of thanks. “Thank you so much for your time. It would appear Bennet and I have some things to talk about.”

Sandra gives us a soft smile. “Don’t worry. If both hands are hearts, you both have nothing to worry about.” As she leads us out the door she adds, “good luck, boys!”

There’s an awkward silence between Bennet and I as we make our way back to his car. I can’t even begin to describe what my stomach feels like. I can’t decide if I’m gonna toss up my toffee coffee or giggle so hard I pass out. There’s equal parts nervousness and excitement welling up inside me. Oh gods, even knowing the hearts on the timepiece match doesn’t make my nerves calm.

They won’t calm until everything is finally out in the open.

Once we’re both in the car, we turn, almost in unison, to look at each other. Bennet opens his mouth at the same time as I do and we both freeze.

“Bennet.”

“Quinn.”

At that, I can’t help but laugh. Some of the tension rising in the car seems to snap. I shake my head and grin. “You go first.”

“Okay,” Bennet says, blowing out a long breath. He runs his fingers through his long hair, letting me admire how pretty it is with it all down for once. My stomach warms as I realize I told him yesterday how much I wanted to see it down and here he is, wearing it down just for me.

Fuck, I adore this man and I can’t wait to hear what he’s about to say. Anticipation makes my hands shake but I sit on them so Bennet doesn’t notice.

“Quinn, these last two weeks have been a whirlwind. Whenever I wanted to give up, you were always there, bright as ever, reminding us that we’d get out of here.” He looks down, a small smile on his face. “Last night you said something that’s stuck in my brain, probably forever. You said that being stuck with me made it feel like you weren’t stuck at all. I couldn’t relate to that sentence more because I’ve loved every second of getting closer to you.”

“I feel the same way,” I say, reaching over in order to connect us with a soft touch. I take his hand in my own, giving him a gentle squeeze.

“I care about you,” Bennet says, his voice cracking with nerves. “I more than care about you. I umm, well? I love you, Quinn.”

I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to stop smiling. I had my hopes that just maybe he could feel the same about me that I feel for him but hearing it from Bennet’s lips is another thing entirely. I’m overcome with how happy I am and I lean forward in order to kiss Bennet.

His lips are perfect against my own, just like every other time we’ve kissed. There is one thing different though. There’s no uncertainty or questions in this kiss. Our feelings are certain and that somehow makes it even better.

I pull back and grin against Bennet’s lips. “I love you too. Before all of this, I was harboring the biggest crush but now I can say without a shadow of a doubt that I love you, Bennet.”

Bennet clears his throat. “That’s umm, that’s good to hear.”

We kiss again. And again. And again. We kiss until my head is spinning and my body begins craving more. We kiss until our lips are pink and puffy. I’m pretty sure that if Bennet let me, I’d sit here and kiss him all night.

“When do you think we’ll know?”

I just barely keep myself from pouting at having our kisses stopped but I hold it back. “I have no idea. I guess when we wake up tomorrow?”

“Would you like to spend the night together, that way we’re together when Saturday hits?”

“Hell yeah,” I say, lacing my fingers with Bennet as he pulls his car onto the street. “I have a few ideas how we can spend the hours leading up to that.”

Bennet’s cheeks flush and he gives me a cheeky grin. “You’re on.”