Twice as Hot (28 page)

“I
did. While you were napping.”

I
flipped him off.

He
chuckled, a delicious sound of amusement.

Lexis
ground her teeth together. “Why does she get to go?”

His
gaze never left me. “Her powers might come in handy. Besides, you and Sherridan
will be watching the monitors and calling me if you catch sight of Desert Gal
or Cody.”

“Like
I told
Sherri,
you can check the monitors from your phone.”

“Oh,
no, you didn’t just call me that,” Sherridan said, baring her nails at Lexis.
“If you did, you would be dead.”

“This
way,” Rome continued as if my best friend hadn’t spoken, “I won’t have to and I
can keep my attention where it needs to be.”

Where
did it need to be and why?

There
was no time to ask. “Tell Belle what we learned about Candace Bright,” he
ordered, and strode from the room.

Think
about it : me, Lexis and Sherridan trapped in a small space together. For
several hours. With nothing to do but wait. I’d taken a shower and dyed my hair
black with the temporary color Rome had left behind, and inserted the violet
contacts into my eyes. The combination of dark hair and light eyes made me feel
exotic, as Lexis must feel, so I hadn’t minded the change. Strangely, though, I
barely recognized myself. It was as if the dark hair changed my skin tone,
lightening it, and colored contacts altered the shape of my face.

I
don’t think my dad would have recognized me.

Once
my hair was dried to a glossy shine, I’d donned the purple push-up bra and
equally purple thong Rome had left for me. For a guy who had been over-the-edge
furious when M-Squared bought me lingerie, he seemed to have no problem buying
it for me himself.

After
that, I’d shimmied into the Band-Aid, a.k.a. dress. It was skintight, a daring
mix of blue and purple, and hit just below my ass, reminding me of the skirt
Sherridan had made me wear the other day. Were we headed to a costume party?

Feeling
naked in the outfit, I had applied a layer (or two) of makeup. On my feet were
black leather boots with six-inch heels.

I
looked easy. Or expensive. Either way, men would expect to saddle me up and
take me for a wild ride. Sherridan approved. Lexis did not.

Oh,
and get this. While I was turning myself into a lady of the night, the
wedding-dress shop called to confirm my appointment the following day.
Apparently, the woman I’d last spoken to hadn’t rescheduled me as she’d
promised. So I’d had to cancel in front of Lexis, who had whistled under her
breath for a good ten minutes afterward.

Even
though I was once again working with Rome, my life was still crumbling around
me.

Now
Sherridan and I sat at the desk and pretended to play chess, even though
neither one of us knew how. (Lexis had brought the game for her and Rome.
Bitch.) Between moves, Sherridan threw questions at Lexis and I studied the
monitors.

Lexis
stood in front of the window, watching the day pass through the lens of Rome’s
telescope.

“Now
would be a good time to tell me what you learned about Candace,” I said during
a lull in my conversation with Sherridan. The other times I’d asked, Lexis had
told me she needed to concentrate, that she might have found something. She
hadn’t.

Now,
she popped her jaw. “I did some research on the plane.” Finally, we were
getting somewhere. “Candace bought Big Rocky about three months ago. Came into
some money unexpectedly. Vincent’s, I’m sure. Anyway, her first week, she fired
half the staff and replaced them with employees of her own choosing. We’re
guessing scrims. We also think, because her power is so connected to water, she
needs more of it than the average person. Running a supplier like Big Rocky,
she has an unlimited source.”

All
of that made sense and made me feel foolish for not having considered that type
of angle. “I really wish Cody had just knocked her out and brought her in.”
After all, if Candace was the bad guy, it seemed a little backward that the
only one getting knocked out and brought places was me.

“Knowing
Cody as Rome and I do,” Lexis said, and I just loved how she put herself and
Rome together as a couple, “we think Desert Gal has more people locked up and
he wants their location before he strikes.”

“Uh,
Cody and Rome texted,” Sherridan said. “That’s how you know there are more
people locked up.”

Lexis
tossed her a scowl.

“That’s
all that was learned,” Sherridan told me, apparently deciding it was better to
fill me in herself. “Well, except that Candace Bright is a redhead and Desert
Gal is a blonde. Dyeing her hair is as dumb as, like, removing her glasses to
switch her personas. No offense to your own fantastically colored black
tresses, Belle. So anyway, what superpower will I get?” she asked, changing the
subject to her favorite topic before a catfight erupted. “And when will I get
it? I’m tired of waiting.”

There
was so much for me to absorb, I was grateful for the reprieve.

Lexis
didn’t bother turning toward her this time. “I told you. I don’t know.”

“I
thought you knew everything.” She tapped her chin as she studied the pieces.
“Well, everything except when to quit chasing after a man.”

Gold
star for Sherridan. But speaking of knowing everything…“Any idea when Tanner is
going to wake up?” After my shower, I’d called his doctor. There’d been no
change, but then, Lexis could tell me more than a doctor could when it came to
a long-term prognosis.

“He’s
going to come out of it,” she said, flicking me a glance. Her eyes were
haunted.

“Really?”
I chewed on my bottom lip, joy bursting through me, almost afraid to hope.

She
adjusted the lens. “I have seen bits and pieces of his life. It does not end
with him in PSI’s hospital, drained of energy.”

That
was exactly what I’d needed to hear, and just like that a terrible weight
lifted off my shoulders. I might not like Lexis at the moment, but I was
suddenly grateful to her for sharing that. She could have kept it to herself,
watched me suffer and laughed about it behind my back.

She
wasn’t a cruel woman. Not deep down. I knew that. She just loved the wrong man
and was going about winning him in the wrong way. Would I have done the same,
if the situation were reversed? I liked to think I wouldn’t, I’d even told
Lexis I wouldn’t, but…

“Pay
attention, Wonder Girl.” Sherridan moved one of her horses to a square at the
right of the board. “Your move,” she said.

Now
I stared down at the pieces, shrugged and used one of my horses to jump
her…queen, I think the piece with the crown was called.

Lexis
threw us a quick glance. “You’re playing wrong,” she said irritably. I think
she even muttered
idiots.

“We’re
playing Bellidan style,” I said. Belle plus Sherridan equaled greatness. “So
we’re playing the right way.”

“There’s
no such thing as Bellidan.”

“Yeah,
there is.” Sherridan tossed her a sympathetic smile, then moved one of her
pieces to the left. “It’s sad that you’re so ill informed.”

Silence.

Wait,
no. I heard the gnashing of teeth, which reminded me of the way Elaine had
acted during the first few minutes of our meeting. And speaking of Elaine…“You
have any visions about our energy vampire?” I placed my queen in the square
Sherridan had just taken, scooting her horse out of the way.

Lexis’s
brow furrowed as she turned a dial on the scope. “Who?”

“Elaine
Daringer. You know—” ugh, I can’t believe I was going to say this “—Draino.” A
new name was definitely needed, and it was time I put my immense brainpower
into thinking of one. Let’s see, let’s see…The Zapper? No, that still had a
negative connotation and she wasn’t a negative girl. She was sweet and needy,
and had probably been made to feel unworthy all her life for something she
could not help or control. Princess Draina?

“No,”
Lexis said. “Nothing on her. But then, I haven’t really spent any time with
her. Haven’t touched her, which even I can’t do. And to learn something, I’d at
least need to go near her, which I don’t—”

“Great.
I’ll make arrangements when we get back.”

Finished
with the equipment, she threw herself against the mattress, staring up at the
ceiling. “You are so pushy. I don’t know what Rome sees in you.”

Truth
be told, all the months he and I had been together, I’d wondered the same
thing. I wasn’t easygoing like Lexis. I was more trouble than a school of
unsupervised four-year-olds. (If only the first step to recovery was admitting
it.) But for some reason Rome loved—had loved—me, and hadn’t wanted to change
me.

I’d
come to think he liked the excitement I brought to his life, the amusement. I
mean, I wasn’t just another of his lackeys. I didn’t take everything he dished.
Didn’t do everything he commanded. Well, some things I took, some things I did.
But only in the bedroom.

Was
that what Memory Man liked about me, as well? I found myself wondering.

“Like
you’re an angel,” I told Lexis, making one of my horses kiss one of Sherridan’s
horses. “But I don’t want to rehash the fact that you’ve stabbed me in the
back, betrayed Rome with your lies and destroyed Tanner’s heart. Actually, you
don’t get to talk badly about me.”

She
banged a fist into the comforter. “You don’t have a child with Rome! You don’t
know what it’s like, tucking your daughter into bed at night and having her ask
you if her daddy can come over and read her a story. You don’t have to watch in
horror as your daughter mists through walls you can’t reach, just to find her
daddy. You don’t have to hold your crying daughter at night and take care of
her by yourself when she’s sick.”

“No,”
I conceded softly, “I don’t.” And now, because of her, would I have the chance?
Yeah, my heart ached with each picture drawn by Lexis’s words. But…“Believe me,
I know what it’s like to grow up with only one parent. But, Lexis, Sunny is
lucky. She has two parents who love her. Two parents who will always be there
for her. And you know, deep down, that you and Rome are not meant to be. You
once told me that yourself.”

Sherridan
tapped her chin as she studied the board, as if she were deep in thought about
her countermove.

Another
thought slammed into me. If the world righted itself, meaning Rome’s memory
returned and we ended up married, would I
want
to have a child? I mean,
I didn’t know if the little tyke would inherit my powers, since they weren’t
actually part of my genetic makeup—or were they now? We also had to consider
Rome’s powers. If we had a four-elements-wielding, jaguar-shape-shifting
kid…wow. Just wow. Sunny placed herself in danger every time she walked through
walls. How much more danger would my kid be in? My stomach twisted, shooting a
sharp pain through my chest.

I
wanted so badly to talk to Rome about this, get his opinion, but he might freak
at the thought of me with a child. In his mind, we were practically strangers.
Strangers who had made out against my bathroom door, but strangers nonetheless.

I
wanted to interrogate Lexis, too, but wasn’t sure she’d tell the truth. She’d
told me I would end up marrying someone else, after all, and I
knew
that
wasn’t going to happen. Ever.

“Anyway,”
I said, “Rome’s a good father. He runs to your side anytime you call. He phones
Sunny every night, goes to see her every day. You don’t do everything on your
own. He and I have brought medicine and stayed with her, too. At your house, no
less. If that girl even sniffles, Rome and I are at her side as fast as we can
get there.”

She
had no reply to that, so Sherridan and I continued our “game” in silence, our
pieces practically making out with each other. My mind continued to swirl,
though. If Rome ever got his memories back, he and I would need to have a long
talk about this baby thing. Did he want to have one with me? Maybe even more
than one?

Those
were the kinds of questions couples needed to discuss before they walked down
the aisle. I’m not sure why we hadn’t. Or maybe I did know. We were crazy in
lust with each other, and sex seemed to be the only thing we concentrated on
when we were together.

Was
that a good thing? Don’t get me wrong, that kind of passion was a must for any
romantic relationship. But what kind of things did we have in common, aside
from our powers and PSI? He liked action-adventure movies (when he wasn’t
critiquing them and telling me “that could never happen”). I liked romantic
comedies. Well, he pretended not to like those, but it was really only his
tears during those black moments that he hated. He listened to crappy classical
music—I know, it had surprised me, too—and I listened to rock.

Depression
settled heavily on my shoulders. What if Rome’s memory returned, but we
realized we were never meant to be together? Not like I’d done any planning of
said wedding lately, anyway. I didn’t have a dress, hadn’t ordered invitations
yet, hadn’t reserved a church.