Vs Reality by Blake Northcott Read Free Book Online Page A

says, gazing upward, “I don’t want any trouble. I’m just looking for my friend: tall, skinny dude with black hair? He’s all messed up…looks like he just walked away from a plane crash? He was in the bar with this hot dominatrix chick with angel wings tattooed on her back?”
    Narrowing his eyes, Jens examines Goto, and can’t help but marvel at the fact that he’s brandishing a very large, very illegal handgun, braids of smoke twisting from its barrel. “Hey man, that looks like a gun. What about the ban? Where did you get a—”
    His sentence is cut short by an explosive right hand, cracking the side of his skull. One punch from Heinreich sends Jens spinning like a top, rotating before he hits the pavement.
    Heinreich scoops up Jens like a toddler, flinging his limp body over his shoulder.

Chapter Nine – Aftermath
    New York City
August 26, 2011
3:47 am, Eastern Daylight Time
     
    Dia and Cole lie naked in her king-sized bed, half draped in silky white sheets. The candle-lit room reflects orange and gold flecks off the fabric, filtering the room with a soft hazy glow.
    Still fascinated with his new form, Cole raises a muscular arm overhead, slowly running his fingers along the edges of his intricate snake tattoo. The scales, the texture – it’s incredible how detailed the design is. It’s just like the ink he’d always dreamed of getting done, but had never taken the time. He’d never had the courage , if he was being honest with himself. It always seemed so permanent – such a commitment to a single image. He never liked the idea of something he couldn’t change, especially if it was something that turned out to be a mistake. He had enough of that in his life already.
    The tattoo, his body, this incredible girl...Cole was still confounded by everything that’s happened in the last few hours, but oddly, he’s not interested in searching for answers. At least not at the moment. After a never-ending streak of bad luck, Cole’s faith in karma has been fully restored. He feels like he’s won the lottery twice in the same day, and isn’t about to start asking why.
    Cole rolls onto his side and props himself up on an elbow.
    Dia rolls to face him, cheek pressed to her pillow, platinum locks cascading over her face.
    They gaze into each other’s eyes, warm and breathless, glistening with a sheen of perspiration. Cole hasn’t been in this position in ages . Not sure how to proceed, he asks the question that one person inevitably asks the other in this relaxed, but sometimes painfully awkward situation. “So…what are you thinking about?”
    She sighs. “I was just wondering how the universe was created.”
    “Huh.” Donovan raises an eyebrow and brushes the hair from his forehead. “You really aren’t into boring, run-of-the-mill chit-chat, are you?”
    Dia sits up, hugging her knees close to her chest. “I think they have it all wrong. Most science-types have everyone convinced that it was a big bang: one powerful explosion a few billion years ago and ‘poof’, out pops this entire universe. Matter comes first, then comes consciousness, and before you know it people are here on this remote chunk of rock: munching on cheeseburgers, driving SUVs, watching crappy reality television shows – but they don’t know the real truth.”
    Cole’s lips curl at the edges. “All right, doctor, so what’s the ‘real truth’? Don’t keep me in suspense.”
    She leans in closer. “That this has all happened before,” she whispers.
    Cole blurts out an awkward laugh. “Dia, I have no idea where you’re going with this, but if you start babbling about Sea Orgs or ask for my banking information, I’m out of here.”
    Now smiling, Dia playfully shoves Cole into the supple mattress and climbs on top of him, straddling his waist. She presses down on his muscular chest with both her palms as if he’s going to try and escape.
    He’s more than happy to concede, letting his arms fall to his sides in