Chapter 17
Aiden snuck a piece of bacon off the plate while I finished the eggs. I never cooked breakfast for myself and I couldn’t recall the last time somebody spent the night. My chef skills were rusty, but any man could make bacon. It was programmed into our DNA, much like our need for sunlight.
“Scrambled eggs, okay?”
“I’m not picky.”
Good. They were supposed to be fried, but that had gone horribly wrong.
Bacon I could handle, but even something as simple as eggs was a disaster from the onset.
As I tried to stop them from sticking to the bottom of the pan, I wanted to know why nobody had come up with a breakfast delivery business.
“I didn’t want to ruin last night,” he said, as if the statement didn’t make the hair on my arms stand on end. “But I have some good news of my own.”
I dished the eggs onto two plates before sitting at the table. Aiden took a mouthful of eggs before covering his mouth to speak.
“First, your eggs are awful.” I took a bite and agreed as I forced myself to swallow them. How on God’s green Earth could I screw up something as simple as scrambled eggs? “Second, I have a story coming out in the magazine. Not just any story, but it’ll get billing on the front page.”
“You let me yammer on all night when you had this?”
He pulled out his phone, swiping back and forth until he set it down in front of me. “It’s the funniest thing. My managing editor called me, and we got to talking. I mentioned the story I wanted to do on Blaze.”
“Please give the idiot a better name. Heroes deserve something classy.”
“Funny you should say that. I got talking to William, and after bouncing some ideas around, I found my angle for the story. It just so happened he mentioned the three powerhouses duking it out downtown and suggested I see if I could find anything there.”
I didn’t like where this was going. If he had been downtown, he might have glimpsed me beating Dozer until he fell.
“William thought my entire article about Blaze’s origin was a good jumping-off point. But he really pushed me to dig deeper. What do you know, my article is going in the next issue of Revelations.”
He included the last bit as if it was a simple fact. But it wasn’t a simple article, not by a long shot. This moment meant he had taken a massive stride toward a lifelong dream.
“You say that like it’s no big deal.”
“I mean…” he tore through another piece of bacon. “I guess it is.”
“Isn’t your dream being a reporter?”
“Well, yeah.”
“Let’s do this again.” I set my fork down, pushing the plate away. “Aiden, what’s this good news you have?”
His face turned red as he swallowed the last of his bacon. There was something adorable about the way he struggled to build himself up. If he wasn’t going to do it, I’d have to be his hype man, a role I’d gladly step into. I wanted to see him shine.
“Oh my God.” He laughed, trying to dial up the drama. “The most amazing thing happened.”
“What’s that?” I leaned in, resting my elbows on the table, hands holding my head up as I leaned forward.
“My article is being published!”
He threw his hands in the air. If that wasn’t enough, he pushed his chair back. Standing, he started a victory dance. Or, I think he was dancing. Whatever was unfolding in front of me would make any man blush from embarrassment.
“Woohoo!” Okay, watching a big man move was like Christmas morning and I wasn’t on the naughty list. At least not yet.
I snaked my hand in his jeans, pulling him close. I pressed my face into his belly, kissing his torso as I squeezed him in a tight hug. Aiden’s cuteness continued to impress.
“Now tell me about the article.”
“Remember how I suspected Blaze was the only hero to keep his abilities?”
“Can you please give him a better name?”
“Of course not, cause that dude is going to crash and burn. He had us fooled, or at least me.”
Wait, what? This suddenly took an unfortunate turn. I eyed his phone, picking it up and read the first line.
“Blaze, a supposed hero who survived the depowering, tried to win our hearts before revealing himself to be a villain in a hero’s cape.”
I scanned through the rest of the article.
It recounted the first day I went out to protect the city, before Hellcat set me straight.
I wanted to argue that it was filled with inaccuracies and speculation, but Aiden had stumbled onto every error I made on my way to becoming a hero.
It was hard to refute the facts, but his story was one-sided.
And then, he goes into detail about the death of Dozer, including the coroner’s report.
“A villain of villains does not make a hero.” The last line drove the knife through my heart.
“If it wasn’t for William,” —I wanted to punch his managing editor— “I’d have been writing some misguided puff piece. When he gave me the tip-off about Blaze fighting Dozer, that sealed the deal.”
I fought to keep my eyebrow from rising at the statement. I would need to talk to Sebastian and find out what kind of disaster William was creating. But I couldn’t resist playing devil’s advocate.
“But hasn’t this guy done some good in the city?”
“I suppose…” Aiden finished his eggs. “But does a few good deeds make him a hero? And what about the powers?”
“I don’t want to rain on your parade…” Yes, Xander Bennett came in like a storm. “But it reads kind of like a one-sided slant piece. It sounds like you’re missing the other side of the story.”
I should have kept my mouth shut. It was bad enough to drop the energy as I reflected on his words. But no, I had to say the one thing that would cut through the news and kick him in the heart. Without saying it, I called his pursuit of the truth into question.
I could see the hurt on his face. “Oh, I… uh… thought you’d be happy.”
“I am!” I reached out, covered his hand with mine. “But it sounds like William pushed you into slandering a hero. Shouldn’t you have talked to Blaze or find somebody close to him?”
“Cause he’s been great about talking to the press.”
Is that why the heroes stayed around after defeating the bad guy?
I assumed they wanted to see if they could land the front page of the paper.
But was there a chance what I believed to be narcissism allowed the press to give a well-rounded portrayal?
I couldn’t fathom the number of apologies I’d have to give Griffin when this was over.
“I know one of the public relations team for the Centurions. Maybe he can get a hold of Blaze for you.”
“The magazine is at the presses. I don’t know why you’re poking at this. I’ve been trying to get my break forever. Least you could do is be happy for me.”
Aiden didn’t deserve to be in the middle of my drama between me and… well, me. I forced a smile onto my face. “What if I take you out tonight? Like a good ol’ fashioned date. Movie and dinner?”
The damage had been done. “I can’t. The magazine is doing its launch party tonight. I’m getting invited because my article is going on the front cover. Another time?”
At least he suggested another date. That meant I hadn’t ruined things beyond repair.
I didn’t know what else to say. He was absolutely writing a piece meant to discredit Blaze.
But Blaze hadn’t upheld his end of a social contract with the people.
Even with this, my alter ego had to sit through all of them.
“I should head out.”
He grabbed his sneakers from the corner and started sliding them on, too stubborn to untie the laces. I jumped to my feet, trying to force the words, “I’m Blaze,” from my mouth. With two words, I could put an end to this charade and give him the actual story.
“Congratulations.” It should have been a celebration, but I could barely muster enthusiasm. Aiden believed I was a menace, and worse yet, a killer. These were relationship issues I hadn’t encountered before.
“Thanks.” With a quick peck on the lips, he turned and left. I stared at the door, hoping he’d return. It’d be a movie ending where we admitted we couldn’t be mad with another one, and after a tearful embrace, I’d admit the truth.
“I’m Blaze,” I whispered. But the door never opened.