Rewind Twice Novels & Stories

he said, somewhat confused as to why we were just staring at a box. “Exactly,” I nodded. Silence lingered for about a second or two. “Which is exactly what it’s supposed to—” “Keep playing,” I interrupted him, and the footage resumed. Seconds passed…then a minute. And then two…still nothing. Then…. Jose sat up straighter. “…Wait,” he interjected. The technician frowned. “Here?” The technician asked. Jose pointed at the screen. “Go back two seconds,” he said. The footage rewound and played again. Jose leaned closer, his eyes squinting.

"And I wanted to see if my new partner knew how to trace a shadow key under pressure." "I don't just trace them, Killian," I breathed, my hand sliding onto the desk, my fingers brushing against his large, heavy wrist. The contact was a sudden, localized heat, my thumb tracing the outer edge of his platinum cuff with a silent, demanding pressure of my own. "I rewrite them. The tracking worm didn't just log the terminal ID. I just locked Croft's Swiss intermediary in a recursive feedback loop."

Read it once. Sent it.

Then— A micro-stutter. Barely visible. Frame skip between 22:52 and 22:53. I zoomed in. Timecode increment jumped by 1.8 seconds. Not compression artifact. Manual edit. Small. Precise. Calculated. My pulse steadied. He hadn’t fabricated. He had omitted. The door opening at 22:50. The frame skip at 22:52. What happened in those two seconds? I replayed again. And there it was.

Once she brought back the supplies, it was time for all business and forget about everything else from earlier. “Alright guys, let’s get started. Just open up you presentation deck to the first slide. Project Second Chance is ready to start.”

Rowan didn’t answer. His eyes stayed fixed on the top corner of the screen on the timestamp ticking forward in quiet precision. Seconds. Minutes. Then A skip. So small it almost passed as nothing. Rowan’s fingers stilled. “There,” he said. Taryn stepped closer. “What?” He pointed. “The time.” She leaned in, squinting slightly. “…it jumps.” “Yeah.” “By how much?” Rowan dragged the cursor back, slower this time. “Forty-seven seconds.”

It’s a delicious torture that leaves me breathless and wanting. When he finally pulls away and I’m dazed, my body is humming with a restless energy. He takes a step back and allow his eyes rove over me, then he hooks his fingers into the waistband of my jeans so that his knuckles brush against the sensitive skin of my lower abdomen. "These," he says, his voice low and husky, "have to go."

Its redemption price was an astronomical figure that an average employee would need to work a whole year to achieve. I saw that Simon's redemption status displayed the word "Redeemed". I could not help smiling. Picking up my phone, I texted Simon. Samuel: [Simon, prepare your sunscreen, take your daughter, and enjoy your vacation. This is a unique reward you deserve.] He quickly replied to me. Simon: [Thank you, Mr. Sander! I will!] With a calm mind, I leaned back in my large executive chair, watching the bustling traffic outside the window.

I leaned closer, cradling Milly's head against my chest while her hands skillfully moved on their own to massage without needing to be asked. I deliberately whispered in her ear hoarsely, "Imagine if that... was swiped here...." Watching her observe Aryo's self-stimulation, I'm sure Milly was also tempted to the point of not realizing that my forefinger was rubbing her backside. "Up and down. Until it breaks inside ...." I continued, slipping just one finger into Milly's back. Ah, it turns out she's been through this too. Milly's back arched like a wet and slippery slide. She offered no resistance other than swearing in a language I didn't recognize. Swear, from the intonation of her voice.

Back when we were just Gregory and Stephanie. I traced the edge of her smile with my finger. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I was so scared of losing control, of being vulnerable, I didn’t realize I was already losing you.” I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes. History was repeating itself. I had driven her away once when I rejected her. Now I had driven her away again, only this time, she might never come back. I wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t or even gave her heart to someone else or even chose Davies.