Free Forever Layla: A Time Travel Romance by Melissa Turner Lee

I need you to take this paper and keep it forever. I need you to look at it and memorize it when you get old enough to read. It will save your life.”
    I took the paper from her and looked at the words and numbers. I folded it and stuck it in my pocket.
    Then the lady leaned across the table and took my hand. Her eyes were big and brown like mine. Her forehead s crunched before she finally spoke. “I need you to know that today you waited and I came to rescue you. And that was good. But that is the last time someone else will ever step in to rescue you again. You have to make sure that you are brave and strong and learn to take care of yourself. Not only that, but it’s all on you to rescue everyone else. And if you really love them, you can’t ever let them see you scared or sad. You suck it up and smile at them. There is no need for them to suffer with you. So when you grow up and find yourself waiting in a motel for someone to come save you, just forget it. No one will ever come to rescue you again like this. No one is coming. It’s all on you from now on.”
    I shot up from the bed, blinking in the dark, trying to orient myself. This wasn’t my apartment. I swallowed hard. I was in a motel room, and I shuddered.
    “Hey, what’s going on?” a soothing and familiar ma le voice spoke in the dark. Soon the light next to that voice was on.
    I let out a sigh and r ubbed my eyes. David rubbed his too, and he came to sit beside me in my bed. He put his arm around me. I grabbed hold of his neck and clung to him. He didn’t smell like a kid. He smelled musky and male, and his back muscles were hard and solid. I felt so safe there as he encircled me with his strong arms. I felt like crying but I sucked it in. … you can’t ever let them see you scared or sad.
    David pulled me closer. “You screamed and it woke me. Are you all right?” His voice was so mellow and soothing.
    “Yeah . I had a dream…a memory.” I swallowed. “I’m sorry I woke you.” The last line of the dream echoed over and over in my head. ‘ No one is coming. It’s all on you from now on.’
    I pulled away just long enough to look into David’s blue eyes. No one was coming for me. I was Layla.
    If I was Layla, I knew the story from beginning to end. The pull toward David was real. It was always real. The childhood dream had come to reality there holding me. I moved my hands to the back of David’s head and pulled his face to mine until his lips were touching mine. I kissed him softly at first, breathing him in as I did. I continued the kiss but more deeply and more animalistic. David crawled onto the bed . His knees were on the outside of mine as he pressed into me, pushing me down onto my pillows. The weight of him felt more like armor covering and protecting me than like a cage hemming me in. His lips moved from my lips to my cheek, then to just under my ear, and down my neck. I gasped for air. I’d never allowed this before with anyone, but I’d never felt this for anyone before either. The kisses trailed to the rim of the t-shirt as David’s hand had moved to rest on my outer thigh.
    Suddenly, my grandmother’s voice was in my head , along with all the promises she asked me to make before she died. I moved my hands until my palms rested on David’s chest and pushed him away. He sat up; his gaze was dreamy, like he was in a trance.
    “I’m sorry, I can’t.” If we didn’t stop now, I’d break one of my promises to my grandma, and that was something I had never done. “We need to stop before we get carried away.”
    David rested his forehead on mine and closed his eyes and clenched his teeth together. It made the muscles and his strong jaw line more pronounced under his stubble as he let out an agonizing groan. “Okay. Right. Sorry.”
    He moved back and stood , but I reached out and grabbed his hand.
    “No, not sorry. Just… not yet. This is hard for me too.”
    “You aren’t mad at me?”
    “No, of course not.” I