Chapter 7
“Do you think it was the government?”
It took a moment before Lei smacked me on the shoulder, nearly knocking the coffee from my hand.
I had been staring at my phone for the better part of twenty minutes, waiting for Aiden to return a text message.
For the past few days, he had continued texting, keeping me informed about his investigation into the missing superheroes.
Well, more like he complained about the lack of leads and no information to be had.
“The government? No, I don’t think so. What would they have to gain?”
“You’re way more fun when you’re not deep dicking a man.”
I spat, barely able to keep from choking on the coffee. Slowly, I turned my head to see the devious grin. I might be the burly, large and in-charge type of guy, but Lei was the one who lacked censorship.
“What?”
“Don’t play me, fool. You’re staring at that phone like you’re waiting to find out if you won the lottery. I know when a medic is chasing skirt. Trousers? Kilts? What exactly is it you chase?”
“I don’t.”
“The death grip on your phone says otherwise.”
“Have I mentioned how much I hate you?”
“This hour? Wait, did you mention it when you said hello?”
“You’re exhausting.”
“I’m pretty sure you said it when—”
“What do I have to say to stop this conversation?”
“His name.”
“Aiden.”
“I took you more for a Marcus. Maybe a Deshawn.”
Lei would continue to take her jabs. Messing with me was her primary job, and she was more skilled at sarcasm than being a medic.
She was a riot most of the time until her boredom turned toward me and she poked the bear.
I enjoyed a good ribbing, but she had a knack for getting under the skin.
Being partnered with her was my ticket into heaven… if I didn’t kill her.
I couldn’t argue with her. My mind was altogether elsewhere.
Aiden was a pleasant distraction, something to take my mind away from the incident at the bank.
I couldn’t explain what had happened, how the bullets hadn’t torn through my skin.
Backpedaling through the events leading up to it, it all came down to Prometheus’ death in the back of the ambulance.
I rubbed the bandage on my left arm. I probably should have tested it with a needle before using a box cutter. Not only did it leave a nasty gash I had to stitch myself, the throbbing pain reminded me I was anything but a superhero.
“Supervillain,” I mumbled, returning to the conversation.
“Where?”
I held up my phone. “Aiden.” For a fledgling reporter, he certainly took his job seriously. He hoped to crack this story and launch his career. Unfortunately, the next message was about as soul-crushing as they came.
A: Vex took me off the story. Another reporter got the assignment. Bleh.
X: Want me to beat up Vex?
“Oh dear God,” Lei said. “You even grin while you’re texting him.” She reached down to her belt, tearing at the velcro, peeling it back as she wiggled about, trying to pull it through the loops.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to strangle myself. This is not okay. I like my Xander full of piss and vinegar. Xander in love, I can’t bear it.”
A: Dude is pretty damned scary. Think you can win?
X: I haven’t thrown a fist where I didn’t win.
A: Anger management issues. Noted.
I think the text message was him being playful. Did he think I was angry enough that it’d be a problem? Okay, perhaps I yelled far more than was appropriate. But it wasn’t like I had punched anybody, at least not in the last week.
A: He believes it’s a villain. Government contact says they’re scrambling to prepare for whatever comes next.
“What does he have to say? Do they know which villain did it? I bet it was Backtrack. He’s always trying to change the past. What about Pagania? She opened that portal to Hell once? Oh God, do you remember that? Everything smelled of sulfur.”
The memory alone caused a foul stench, forcing me to wrinkle my nose. “I had ash in my socks for a week.”
Lei and I had seen some weird shit over the years. I might have gripes with superheroes, but it allowed me to experience some unusual things. Except, now without heroes, we sat across the street from a bagel shop, praying that a vigilante broke a bone and called for help.
“He’s been chasing leads since it started and nothing. I’m rooting for him. A solid article like that could land him his dream job.”
“Listen to you.” She jabbed me in the arm. “You’re sweet on him. And here I thought you just swapped photos in jockstraps.”
I snorted. Not because she was wrong. I had spent yesterday posing in front of a mirror taking photos of just that. I hadn’t worked up the courage to send them. Hard to be playful when the world was in crisis. Maybe tonight I’d give him a taste of what he’d get in the bedroom.
X: Stay safe out there.
A: Aww. You care.
X: I still owe you coffee.
A: Don’t lie. You’re going to guzzle that coffee fast so you can get to dessert.
Screw it. I had nothing to lose. With a couple of clicks, there was a photo of me in a jockstrap. Perhaps a few too many pounds, but with some creative flexing, there were shadows proving I had abs. Sort of. I clicked send and dropped the phone in my lap.
“I have no idea what you did with Xander, but this.” Lei waved her hand around my face. “I don’t know what to do with a boy and his puppy dog love.”
“You know, I’ve figured out why you’re single.”
“Men get scared that I have bigger balls.”
I was about to comment on her ability to drive a man to skydive without a parachute when my phone shook.
It rested on my knee, and apparently I waited too long to answer.
Lei’s arm snapped with lightning speed, stealing my phone before I could stop her.
She turned it long enough that it recognized my face and opened.
I rolled my eyes and leaned my head back. There was no use in climbing across the ambulance and strangling her. If that had been an option, it’d have happened months ago.
“First. Nice package. You have my respect. And it looks like I’m not the only one.”
“What did he say?”
“I might be reading between the lines, but I think he wants to go bobbing for meat popsicles. I can’t say I blame him. Jesus, what do you feed that thing? Miracle grow?”
“What did he say!” Okay, yelling wasn’t the best idea. Now she knew how interested I was in Aiden’s response. I’d be hearing about this for weeks to come.
“If I wasn’t covering this stupid concert, I’d say let’s skip coffee.” She thrust the phone into my hand. “Rude of him to not at least send a photo of him in a leather harness. You guys do that, right?”
There was no point in protesting. I had taken those photos yesterday as well.
“Mass casualty incident at Vanguard concert hall. All available units respond to stage lot C. PD will advise when secure,” barked dispatch.
“We’re ignoring that, right?” I didn’t want to beg.
“Fine, let’s go save your piece of ass,” she said, firing up the engine. Once in a great while, I remembered why I chose her as my partner.
This was a stretch of bad luck, determined to make my life miserable. Now we needed to barrel into a concert filled with thousands of people and hope somebody, anybody, arrived to stop it from turning into a bloodbath.
She yanked the seatbelt and as soon as it clicked, she turned the key. “Let’s go save your man.”
I didn’t hate that thought. My man.
Thankfully, she didn’t see me blush.
I licked the chocolate from my fingers. Leave it to the nurses to always make sure there were snacks in the break room. Holding my hand under a bottle of disinfectant, I waited for the clear liquid and then massaged it into my hands. Okay, I was officially ready to go back into the field.
Lei leaned over the reception desk, talking to the nurse.
She was describing the concert and the sheer terror on people’s faces.
It had been difficult to tell if they were fleeing the scene, climbing over one another, or if they were attempting to tear each other apart.
I had never witnessed chaos at that level.
This job had its share of weird, but this left me scratching my head.
With thousands of people at the concert, the chances of finding Aiden were low.
I left him a final text, asking him to be careful.
He had responded with, “No guts, no glory.” I wanted to call him an idiot.
But it sounded dangerously similar to what I would have said, and I’m a smart guy. Sometimes.
“Come on, Lei. It’s going to be a long day.”
Lei reached out, bumping knuckles with the woman behind the counter.
How she went from brash and rough around the edges to turning on the charm never ceased to amaze.
The moment she turned in my direction, she froze.
Her eyes widened as she leaned to the side, carefully inspecting something between me and the entrance to the emergency room.
“Villain?”
She shook her head.
“Hot man?”
Her head nodded slowly.
“My hot, or your hot?”
“Boy has some meat around his bone. He’s everything—”
“Xander?” I almost didn’t recognize the voice. I turned slowly, unsure of why Aiden might be at the hospital yet again. We really needed to work on our meeting locations.
“Is that him?” Lei whispered, leaning against my back. “Now I see why you edited those photos so much, big boy.”
“Go to the truck. I’ll be out in a moment.”
“Not a chance in—”
I shot her a look that made it clear there was no negotiating. As she gave me the once over, I could almost hear her debating if she could take me in a fight. My biceps were as thick as her throat, and even then, I’d most likely bet on her.
“What are you doing here?”
“I hadn’t even gotten into the concert when a trio of villains showed up. It’s the first big event in Vanguard since the depowering. I knew something was going to happen.”
“You went looking for trouble?”