Twice as Hot (Tales of an Extraordinary Girl #2)(8)
Author: Gena Showalter

I kept replaying his rejection through my mind, trying to make sense of things.

"Stop kidding and give me a hug," I’d said to him after his "Who are you?" crack. Lexis had already taken off to find John, so it was just the two of us. We should have been making out by then.

"I don’t want to hurt you, lady, but if you don’t move away from me I’m going to snap you in half." He’d ripped free of my grip and gritted out, "John." He looked past me to the door, searching for any sign of our commander.

"Rome," I’d said shakily.

He ignored me. "John! Get in here. What’s going on?"

"Rome, you’re scaring me." Even when he’d planned to neutralize me, he hadn’t spoken so coldly.

His irritated gaze swung back to me. "Is this a joke? Who the hell are you?"

"I’m Belle." My chin quivered, the words emerging as a horrified whisper. "Your Belle."

"You aren’t my anything."

He meant it. More than his voice, there was a coldness in his eyes I’d never seen before. Well, not directed at me. Scrims, yes, but never me.

Icy tears ran down my face. "How can you not know who I am? We’re getting married!" He stared over at me, the coldness finally melting – only to spark into anger. "The joke is now officially old. You can leave."

At last, John entered the room, an annoyingly triumphant Lexis beside him. "You rang?" he asked drily.

"Must say, I’m glad to see you’re awake, but your timing stinks. I was in the middle of an interrogation."

"Why is this – " When Rome noticed Lexis, he smiled slowly, happily, his question clearly forgotten. It was the kind of smile I’d dreamed of receiving. "There you are," he said. He even held out his arm for her, and she rushed over to twine their fingers. "I’ve been worried about you." Nausea churned in my stomach as they cooed at each other, doing all the things Rome and I should be doing. What was happening? I almost couldn’t process it.

"You were worried about Lexis?" John asked, as confused as I was.

"Of course." Rome’s gaze never left his ex as they continued to coo.

John cleared his throat. "Okay, you two. That’s enough. Do you know who you are, Rome?"

"Telling him his name kind of defeats the question," I muttered. I wasn’t in a good mood.

"Of course I do." He cast a pointed make-her-leave glance at me. "And I’d like to talk to you.

Privately."

Me, leave? I wanted to die.

"She’s one of us." John pursed his lips. "She stays. Now tell us who you think you are."

"It’s okay, darling," Lexis said, petting his bare shoulder. "You can speak freely." I wanted to kill.

Rome nodded stiffly. "Who am I, you asked. I’m Agent Rome Masters, PSI elite."

"Excellent." John clasped his hands behind his back. "And you remember Lexis." That earned another earth-shattering, "Of course," which caused Lexis to exhale with relief. And smug satisfaction, if I wasn’t mistaken.

"But you don’t remember Belle?"

"Who?"

Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God.

"I’ll explain later. First tell me if you remember Tanner Bradshaw," John said.

Again, "Who?"

Clearly not.

As John continued to question Rome, it became all too apparent that the only things he’d forgotten were me and all things pertaining to me. It was as if I’d never entered his life. As if he’d never loved me.

Why? It made no sense.

John propped his elbows on his desk, the ensuing thud jolting me from my terrible thoughts. He rested his chin in his flattened palms. He had thinning gray hair, wore thick bifocals when he forgot to apply his contacts and had a slightly rotund belly. Despite all of that, he managed to radiate intense power.

He probably had a superpower, but I didn’t know what it was. And yeah, I’d pestered him for the info about a million times, but he was the most secretive man I’d ever met. Which was smart, I guess. If you didn’t know what he could do, you couldn’t guard yourself against it.

"I’ve talked to Rome some more, explained who you are to him," John said. "At first he thought I was doing some sort of test, trying to gauge his reactions. But there at the end he accepted what I was saying as truth. That didn’t change his mind about you, though. You’re a stranger to him. A…nothing, much as I hate to say it. I’d lock you guys in a room, force you to talk it out, but a simple conversation or even a knock-down-drag-out fight isn’t going to fix this. His memory of you is gone, which means his feelings for you are, too."

I nodded for him to continue, though I hated his every word. Sadly, everything he’d said I had already figured out.

"The man Lexis saw jump inside Rome’s body, well, we think he was a memory eraser."

"That would explain why I lost some of my memories, too," Cody said.

I stopped pacing for a moment and gaped at him. "You don’t remember the man, but you do remember me."

Two damn days had passed since Rome had woken up and looked at me like I was a strange horned alien. Two damn days of John promising to learn more, to provide me with new information but getting nothing. Finally, I’d called this meeting because – my hands fisted at my sides – Rome had been released.

Physically, he was fine and yeah, he’d been quite vocal about getting back to work. But had he come home to the woman he was supposed to cherish for eternity? No! He’d remained on the premises to be close to Lexis. God Almighty, that still hurt.

"Besides that," I added through clenched teeth, "Rome remembers Lexis." The way they’d comforted each other those first few moments after he’d woken up…my hurt sharpened around the edges, slicing me so deeply I knew I’d bear the internal scars for eternity. "Why doesn’t he remember me? " From the corner of my eye, I saw Lexis peer down at the floor, perhaps hoping to hide her smugness.

Lately, she wore it like a cloak.

Tanner, bless his heart, looked ready to bitchslap her.

"Belle, listen to me." John’s eyes were like lasers as they pinned me in place. "I’ve spoken with him at length. I think the memories of you were somehow tangled with his memories of the man who attacked him and when one was taken, the other was dragged along for the ride." My stomach twisted into itself, squeezing, churning. "No way. No damn way that’s what happened.

One, there’s no reason good enough to make me believe every single memory he had of me was tied to that case. Two, memories or not, Rome should feel something when he looks at me. Something besides disdain, that is." More than not remembering me, he seemed to hate me and I didn’t know why. If I was a stranger to him, why show me such hostility?