Twice as Hot (Tales of an Extraordinary Girl #2)(55)
Author: Gena Showalter

"Oh. Uh, I belong to Delta." That’s the name Rome had used to get in, so that’s the only name I’d use to refer to him. He hadn’t told me to do so, but better safe than sorry. I didn’t want to remove my attention from my unwanted guests, but I did for a second, searching for Rome.

He and the blonde were no longer by the wall. In fact, as far as I could tell, they were gone entirely.

My teeth ground together.

"Delta? Never heard of him. You want us to fight him for you?" another voice asked. It was identical to the other two.

I gasped when I spotted a third familiar face: same puppy-dog eyes, same dimpled smile. Triplets, then.

I’d never encountered triplets before. Like the second, this one lacked the half-moon freckles. "No," I said. Damn, they’d surrounded me. They weren’t big and muscled, were merely average height and lean.

Still. Three against one, not good odds when the one was me. Wait. You have powers, dummy. You are a force to be reckoned with. Oh, yeah. I hated that I had to keep reminding myself.

"Who do we have here?" a fourth voice asked.

No way. No freaking way. But there he was, the exact image of the others. He, too, was without the freckles. They all wore the same white button-up, same jeans. And all four were squished around me at the table.

My palms began to sweat. Which meant my heart began to race and my blood to thicken. I did not want to freeze these men in place. That would draw unwanted attention to myself.

"Gentlemen, I hate to be rude, but uh, could you kind of leave?" I shifted uncomfortably, grimaced when I rubbed against one of the quadruplets. "I’m expecting my date back any moment. He kind of frowns on me talking to other guys. And by frowns I mean kills." Any other time, that sort of statement would have made me cringe. And I would have looked down on any girl who said it, thinking she needed a new man.

Right now, I couldn’t get the words out fast enough.

"Oh, don’t send us away," the one with the freckles pouted.

"We only want to play," another said.

"You’ll have fun, we promise."

"You haven’t met our other brothers yet."

There was a fifth? Sixth? Dear God. "How many of you are there?"

"Eleven," they said in unison.

My eyes nearly bugged out of my head. "From the same litter?"

"Meow," one said.

"Of course," another replied.

I shook my head in disbelief. "You’re kidding, right?" They had to be. But in this world…maybe not.

All four shook their heads.

"But how’d your mother have you? That would have killed most women. Unless you’re petri babies?" Grown in a dish, perhaps? Hey, it was possible. Wasn’t it?

Now they all four burst into laughter.

"See, we’re having fun already," Three said.

Four rubbed his hands together in glee. "I love it when someone brings a novice into our midst."

"Petri babies. Cute."

"You look like you could use a drink," yet another familiar voice said. Five had just appeared. He motioned the waitress over. This time, she didn’t hesitate to rush to my table. Her bare br**sts jiggled as a round of tequila shots was ordered.

"And make one for yourself," Four said.

She grinned at him before bouncing off.

I clapped my hands to gain everyone’s attention. "Someone please explain to me how there can be eleven of you." I hadn’t forgotten that they’d easily sidestepped the question.

The brother across from me grinned – and disappeared. As I gaped, I directed my attention to the one to my left. He grinned – and disappeared. I stiffened, switching focus again. The brother to my right grinned – and disappeared. What…the…hell? A magic act? An illusion? But I’d seen and heard them all.

Only the brother in the middle, the one with the freckles, remained. He grinned, too, but didn’t disappear.

"How did you do that?" I gasped out.

Before he could reply, the waitress arrived with our drinks. She didn’t seem the least bit surprised that more than half of our table had vanished. Calmly she set the glasses on the tabletop, gulped one down herself, patted the remaining brother on the head and scampered away to take someone else’s order.

My uninvited guest scooted a glass in my direction and downed one himself.

I took it, but didn’t drink.

"We’re different people," he said, pounding his empty glass on the table, "but we’re trapped in the same body. Make sense?"

No. "Of course."

Laughing, the brothers materialized around the table one at a time until the entire eleven-member gang was there. What kind of power was this?

"We were born this way. Eleven minds in one body, though we’re all allowed to come out and play at times. Now drink," Six said, lifting my glass to my lips.

"I really shouldn’t." But I licked the rim and eyed the clear liquid. If I didn’t drink it, I’d look like a prude and the boys would probably leave me. If they left me, I wouldn’t be able to question them like a good agent should.

Question them…yes! That’s exactly what I needed to do. Sitting here looking, well, slutty, wasn’t exactly good agenting. Unlike Rome, who had dumped me here so he could chat up some dumb blonde, I would be a good agent.

"Come on." Eight. "You know you want to. All the cool kids are doing it." They laughed again.

"Well…" One shot wouldn’t destroy me. I knew that, at least. Still…

"Don’t be a downer."

Rome might have told me not to do this, but sometimes, to get results, rules had to be broken. "All right," I said. "Fine."

They cheered me on as I drained the shot.

The tequila burned my throat and settled like lead in my stomach. Had I eaten dinner? I didn’t think so, and maybe that was a good thing. I didn’t want to vomit. Thankfully, though, the burn subsided and the lead turned to jelly.

"That was good," I said on a cough.

More cheering.

"What’s your name?" Ten asked me.

"Viper," I said. Rome hadn’t given me a name to use, and I didn’t want to offer the truth, but I didn’t want to lie, either, and risk not answering when I was called.

"Cool. You’re a snake-shifter, then. Show us!"

I shook my head, experienced a wave of dizziness. "I’m not a shifter." Eleven frowns greeted my announcement. "Then what are you?" Crap. I’d walked right into that one. "Pleasure Girl," I said with a smile.

There was another round of laughter, as I’d hoped. There was even some backslapping and high-fiving, like they knew they’d picked the right girl to accost. Good. I had them right where I’d wanted them.