Twice as Hot (Tales of an Extraordinary Girl #2)(83)
Author: Gena Showalter

Before my eyes, her skin turned blue. A glaze of ice smoothed over it, icicles forming in her hair. Only when she was completely motionless did I let her go. I crawled out from under her and fell back onto the ground, my strength now depleted. Didn’t matter. I’d won. Won!

I turned my head, searching for Rome. I saw Lexis instead. Jean-Luc had her cradled in his arms, and she was sobbing into his chest. I could also see Cody. He was cradling Sherridan as if she were a precious treasure. Sherridan tried to pull away, but gave up after a few moments and simply sagged into his arms.

Tanner stepped into my dimming line of sight, his features concerned. I think he would have come to me, but Elaine crumpled beside him, as used up as I was. He turned, bent down and scooped her up.

All the women were out for the count. Made sense. We’d done the most work. But had we won the battle only to lose ourselves?

"Belle," I heard Rome shout, sounding like he was in an underwater tunnel located in another state.

Where the hell was he? Didn’t matter, I supposed. He’d get me to safety.

It was the last thought I knew before darkness claimed me.

Chapter Twenty-Six

I awoke with my heartdrumming and my body sweating.

First thing I noticed was the beeping. Beep, beep, beep. The high-pitched noises came from every direction, a discordant symphony. One was fast, one slow, one in-between. One was a quick thump thump before a lengthy pause and another thump thump.

Confusion was a thick web inside my brain.

Through slitted eyelids and a fan of lashes, I saw that a light glowed overhead, dimmed but still too bright for my sensitive corneas. When I turned my head, I could see colored pinpricks shining off…monitors?

Heart monitors, then. The beeping suddenly made sense. Except, why was I hearing it?

Brow furrowing, I scanned the rest of my surroundings. A hospital room, by the looks of it. Gurneys, a nurse padding through and reading charts. Electrodes dotted my chest, and a paper-thin blue gown I remembered very well gaped over them. We must be back in Georgia. PSI headquarters.

Sherridan lay in the bed to my left, Lexis in the bed to my right. Elaine was in a bed across from us. All four of us were hooked to an IV and all the others were awake, eating. Groggy, I sat up – hello, dizziness – and scrubbed the sleep from my eyes. My IV tube caught on the bed rail, pulling the skin of my forearm. I winced, inhaling deeply and catching the scent of cleaners, medicine and…Rome?

I inhaled again, savoring the scent. Sure enough. Wild, earthy.

Rome had recently been beside my bed.

When had he left? Why had he left? I guess I could ask him next time I saw him. But I hated waiting.

"Hey," I said, drawing everyone’s attention. "How are the others doing? Rome, Tanner, Jean-Luc, Cody and the Shadow Boys?"

"They’re good," Elaine said. "Promise."

Sherridan grinned at me and waved. God, she looked good. There was a flush to her cheeks that bespoke health and vitality. Her hair was clean and brushed, the blond curls shining. There was a cut on her lip and a bruise on her cheek, but those would fade. She was alive. Nothing else mattered.

"How are you?" I asked her.

She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it with a snap. Her smile slowly faded.

"What’s wrong?" I asked.

She pointed to her mouth and shook her head.

"You lost your voice?"

She shook her head again. The vivid blue of her eyes dimmed, a sad, almost haunting edge creeping into them.

"She can’t talk to you unless you have special filters in your ears." Rome’s voice echoed through the room, nearly electrifying me.

Both Lexis and I jumped, I noticed. For different reasons? I wanted to watch her, to see if I could judge whether she realized he’d gotten his memories back, but I didn’t. My gaze sought Rome of its own accord, drawn to him by an invisible tether. Breath caught in my throat, burning.

He was as beautiful as ever. Tall, muscled, dressed in black. His unkempt hair shagged around his face, so damp it dripped onto his temples. His cheekbones were a little sharper, as if he’d lost weight, and fine stress lines branched from his eyes.

"Rome," Lexis said.

He ignored her. In fact, a muscle ticked in his jaw, the only reaction that he’d even heard her. So. He was mad at her. Mad about what she’d done, how she’d lied, manipulated and used him to try to win him back. I’d tried to warn her it would happen.

"How are you?" he asked me.

"Better." I pinned him with a stare, crossing my arms over my chest to hide my hardening ni**les. Now that the danger was over, now that my friends were safe, now that his memories were returned, my body was reacting as it always had when he neared. Like I was a live wire attached to a generator. Only now?

Ha! But still, not good in a room full of people.

"I’m glad. I was worried about you."

Sweet man. "What were you saying about Sherridan?"

"You mean Siren? That’s her new paranormal name. Because she now has a superpower," Rome explained, stepping into the room. He didn’t stop until he was beside my bed. There was a chair there, and he eased into it, leaning back and stretching out his legs.

Siren? The smell of soap wafted from him, distracting me. I was willing to bet he’d left me only long enough to shower. I smiled. My dear, sweet man. Who once dated Desert Dirtbag and never told me.

My smile disappeared.

Rome reached out, twined our fingers. I was stiff, but didn’t pull away. "What?"

"Nothing." Everything. My upcoming dates with Jean-Luc were approaching. Could Rome and I make it?

The question slammed through me – when would it leave me? Of course we’d make it, I told myself.

We’d made it through his memory loss. And yet, he hadn’t even hinted about whether or not he could see himself with me forever, now that I was putting the agency first.

I dragged my thoughts back to the matter at hand. "I still don’t understand." I looked over at Sherridan, who had tears in her eyes. "Whatever it is, we’ll make it better," I vowed.

Rome’s fingers squeezed mine. "Candace had her scientists mess with Sherridan’s voice. Now, when she speaks, anyone who hears her will fall under her spell. Male and female alike. They’ll be her slave, do anything she asks."

Oh, Sherridan. Poor Sherridan. She’d wanted a superpower, but hadn’t thought about the consequences. And there were always consequences. I’d come to realize that bad always balanced good and good always balanced bad. Otherwise, the world would swing too far to one side.

"What about Lexis?"

Something in his eyes hardened and he answered before Lexis could. "They didn’t mess with her. She already had a power."