Blindside (14 page)
Authors: Jayden Alexander
A gentle tug had her sitting down on the mattress—a good thing, since the adrenaline waned away.
“Bullet missed a lung. Good thing my kind heals fast.”
She nodded at the silent unsaid question, her hand resting in his. Damned if it didn’t feel right, laying there, his large palm curved around hers. “The cop at the door. Wojo put up a guard because your power hasn’t come back.”
“To keep reporters out.” The warmth of his hand left her for a moment, and a soft weight of a pillow slid behind her neck. “It’s back, twenty-four hours, on the dot. The wound’s healing nicely. The doc who stitched me up had a bum leg. He asked if he could take some samples.”
Funny tone in his voice, surprise, amusement. “Samples—as in skin or blood? You let him?”
“Yeah.” He waited, as if expecting her to berate him for it then said, “I’ve been poisoning myself for the past three years. Didn’t think I’d see a day when I wanted the power back. Maybe it’ll help him….” Mac took a quiet breath. “I bet Avalon will have a field day with ratings. I’m surprised there weren’t reporters breathing behind your back.”
“Wojo scared them shitless. And actually….” With her good arm, Lana fished out a pen out of her jeans pocket. “She swore she wouldn’t say a word about me. Besides, Williams gave her plenty for good ratings.”
“You trust her?”
She thought for a long moment and put the pen back in her pocket. “Yes.”
A long stretch of warm silence.
“So if this healing thing comes with power, why do you think I still can’t stand the light?”
She felt rather than saw that sad, small smile. “Maybe because it was still building in your system. And the surgeries—”
Lana guessed his meaning. “The surgeries only made it worse.”
“Will you be okay with that?”
“I’ll have to be.”
He killed the overhead lights without moving.
“That’s not very hero like,” she said and shoved the goggles off to finally see him.
“When you’re better, you can kick my ass.” The bed dipped when he settled in beside her. Two heroes beat to shit after a hellish day.
Lana leaned her head against his shoulder.
“What if we partner up? Do this thing together?”
“What thing?” Tired voice, his shoulder comforting and strong.
“Superheroing.” Somehow the word came out funny, and Lana couldn’t help but snort. Maybe the meds the doctors shoved into her veins had some sort of a timed release. “Help people. Save the innocents.”
“The innocents.” He made a humming noise, his heartbeat slow and steady. “I have a job lined up, you know. Wojo wants me to run the dojo while he sorts out the department.”
“So it’s a money thing.” She poked him in the ribs, lightly, so very lightly. “There’s this fund called Friend of the City. I bet I could get them….”
His chest shook with a quiet laugh.
It hurt, but the next elbow shove was harder. “What?”
“Nothing. Let’s just say you’re sitting next to the Friend of the City. No more elbows,” he muttered and pressed her to his side to stem the next round of violence.
She waited to be pissed. Maybe she was still high on meds because she couldn’t summon up any anger. Instead, she snuggled into his scent. “So you were always there. Helping. Why?”
“I love you.” He gave another a soft laugh, his lips against her hair. “I just love you, that’s all.”
Jayden Alexander
is a space pilot, a ninth degree black belt in three styles of martial arts, a computer hacker, a mountain climber, a jazz singer, a weightlifter, a superspy with a talent for languages, and an evil genius.
All in her own head.
In life, she is a web developer and an author of kickass, action-packed romances, possesses a brown belt in Tae Kwon Do and blue belt in Aikido, loves jazz piano, can bench-press about twenty pounds—with effort, speaks Russian, is scared to death of heights, and, when not plotting murder and mayhem, enjoys steamy romance novels, sexy spy thrillers, murky mysteries and movies where things frequently blow up.
You can visit Jayden at:
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