She launched into a series of demonstrations involving different maneuvers. From kicks, to using furniture, to twisting the weapon out of his hand. It impressed Tony. And turned him on. It had taken all his focus to remain stoic every time her body brushed up against his. When she’d grasped his arm, twisted so her back was to his front, and he felt the cushion of her ass against his crotch, he had to think of baseball to stay unaroused. She had no idea how she affected him, and when it became time for a volunteer, he pointed at Elena, grateful for a respite from the sensation of Bailey’s body.
“Come on, Elena. You know you want to.” He took her hand and dragged her to her feet, despite the belligerent look on her face. Tony knew that look. He’d caught himself making something similar many times in his youth. It was self-doubt. She needed her confidence boosted, so Tony asked the rest of them. “What move do you think she should pull on me? The twist and body slam. The kick to the guts. The elbow to the face.”
A few shouts of suggestions came back, but it was Elena’s voice that had him.
“Kick to the guts,” she murmured, then immediately rubbed her arms.
Bailey stood back. “Good girl. Legs are longer than arms. Use your surroundings to give you an anchor. Tony will come at you, and you keep his body away by holding onto something, and then kicking.”
Tony lunged toward Elena, pretending the cell was a knife. She squeaked. But then glanced over her shoulder, shuffled back until she hit the couch, and when Tony came at her again, she braced and kicked him—right in the gut. It knocked the wind out of him.
Eyes watering, he grunted and went down, clutching his middle. He was only half-acting. She really did have a strong kick. On someone less trained than him, it would do damage.
“I did it!” she exclaimed, eyes flashing and excited.
“That’s good,” he bit out. “Good.”
“Now what?” Bailey prompted.
“Um.” Elena’s gaze darted around. Then she bit her lip, unsure. “Run?”
Bailey clapped. “Yes! You run.” She turned back to the group. “Don’t be heroes. Get out of there.”
“Let the Deadly Seven do the rest!” A kid with a nose ring piped up.
More snickers and shouts. Somehow, the conversation shifted to which of the vigilantes was the best. Feeling awkward, Tony rolled to his feet and handed the cell phone back to Elena.
“Which one do you think, Tony?” someone’s voice rose above the rest.
“Huh?” he asked, frowning.
“Which is your favorite?”
Tony searched and found the voice belonged to a boy of about fifteen. He had dreadlocks and wore a hoodie.
“What’s your name?”
“Simon.”
“Gluttony,” he answered without thinking, then inwardly groaned. He should have said Pride. What kind of idiot said he liked himself the best?
“Pfft,” Simon replied. “He’s not been sighted for ages. Neither has Lust. They could be dead. Anyway, I think I’d trust the ones I hear about more. Like Envy electrocuted some dude when…”
A rushing sound stole Simon’s voice and Tony’s thoughts grew loud. The kid was right. Tony hadn’t been out in a while. Months. He rubbed his forehead, mouth going dry. They thought he was dead.
His entire body felt heavy with shame.
Bailey looked at him strange, as though she could read his mind, then clapped her hands loudly. “Right. That’s it kids. We’re over time.”
Any wrongness he’d felt immediately dissipated when the chorus of booing and moans filled the small room. Each student begged Bailey for more. They’d watched avidly throughout the demonstration as though it was a movie. It may as well have been with the acting prowess Tony put into his performance. Every kid loved it, except a quiet one toward the back. Brown-skinned, shaved head, and with headphones in the whole time. A hip-hop beat blared loud enough that Tony could hear. Seeing the class was ending, he surreptitiously unplugged his ears and folded his arms. But he stayed. He watched. And now he was listening.
“Right, everyone on the mat.” Bailey clapped her hands again to cut through their raucous babbling. “As soon as you’re quiet, it’s question time.”
That hushed everyone up. Tony went to stand next to Bailey at the front of the class. He dusted off his baseball cap and held it to stop his hands fidgeting. And to stop him reaching out to touch Bailey. A visceral reaction had rocked him every time they’d connected, and the residual echo still rode his system. He wanted more.
But the defensive way she’d reacted to their first kiss played on his mind. She’d wiped her mouth in disgust. He’d have to gain her trust before trying again. From the moment he’d stepped across the threshold to Hudson House and seen her leaning against the doorjamb to the media room, he knew she wasn’t an active agent. She was there to help the kids. He could trust her. Everything else was his own paranoid delusion.
“Who’s got the first question?” Bailey asked the students, a grin brightening her face to something so extraordinary, Tony’s heart stopped beating. This was the first time he’d seen her smile. Beautiful.
“Tony?” she asked, interrupting his thoughts.
“Sorry, was there a question?”
“Ooohh,” one student teased. “Lazarus has it bad for our lady.”
Another wolf-whistle punctuated the air, and Bailey’s cheeks reddened. “They wanted to know if you’ll come back.”
Tony shifted his smile to the group. “Absolutely.”
“Can we get a selfie?” Michael asked.
He grinned and waved them up. “Yeah, but we have to be quick about it. Your lady here is my bodyguard, and we have to go to work.”
“Bodyguard!” Elena exclaimed. “A woman?”
“That’s right, and…” Tony paused and looked at Bailey. “Can I tell them where you used to work?”
A little frown marred her brow, but then she nodded.
Tony’s eyes lit up as he faced the group. “She’s ex-CIA.”
“No way!”
“Get out!”
“As if!”
This time, Tony couldn’t help himself. He slid a proprietary arm around Bailey’s shoulders and squeezed. “She’s pretty special, right?” After a wave of nods and exclamations, he added with a twinkle in his eye, “So you see, everything she taught you about protecting yourself is the honest-to-God truth.”
“Damn,” Akeef muttered. He studied Bailey with a new interest. “So, you be like, from a good family, yeah?”
Bailey shook her head. “That depends on your perspective. My family had money, but there was addiction in my home like most of yours. That’s why I’m here.”
“But your college was paid for,” Akeef added bitterly.
Bailey tensed. “My parents paid for boarding school, but I worked hard to get a scholarship for college so I didn’t need to rely on them. We have many facilities here to help foster opportunities. We’re all ready to help. You just bring the will, and we’ll try our hardest to help you succeed. And success doesn’t have to mean a fancy job. Sometimes success is just making your own choice.”
The class started chatting amongst themselves, already lost. Akeef scowled and left the room.
It seemed like the class was finished, so Tony used the opportunity to pull Bailey aside. “We need to talk.”
“Just give me a minute to officially wind up, and we’ll head out. I have to talk to Agnes about a few things.”
While Bailey packed her things, Tony took a few pictures with the teens. He enjoyed spending time at the house and couldn’t quite put his finger on why. It was more than the one-on-one with Bailey, or some time with fans. He rubbed his chest. It felt good to help.
Ten
Bailey filled Agnes in on the success of the class and Tony’s input. She had to sign him in and keep a record of his attendance. When she was done, she went to find Tony. Half expecting him to have left, or maybe just to be standing around waiting, it surprised her to find him in
another room, lying on the floor with Akeef.
She stopped outside the door and kept herself hidden. With a hand on the wall beside the door, she tilted her head. Tony hummed a tune she couldn’t place.
“So,” Tony said from inside. “Put your hand on your stomach and focus on your breathing.”
“Like this?”
“Yeah. And when you sing, doing it from down here can really teach you how to access that deep part of your lungs. You want to give it a go?”
Silence.
“What makes you think I want to sing?”
“Come on, kid. I heard you in here when you thought no one was listening.”
“Singing is for pussies.”
“I sing. Am I a pussy?”
“Guess not.”
Tony sang?
“Come on, try it. At least give the humming a try.”
When the kid started, Bailey’s hand went to cover her smile. Tony did it. With only an hour or so here, he’d chipped away at the armor of more than one troubled youth. Maybe she was wrong about him. Maybe he had the capacity to think of someone other than himself.
After five minutes, she was about to walk in, but something Akeef said stopped her.
“How did you get away from it all, man? You know, the need.”
Tony’s deep inhale was audible. “It’s there all the time, bro. But you keep yourself busy. You remind yourself of your goals, and you power through. And you get help.”
“I don’t know.”
“Sure you do. You love this shit.” A pause. “Tell you what. I’ll come back next week and we’ll record some stuff. Make a Youtube or something. Keep taking steps forward, and before you know it, you’re far away from your doubts.”
Bailey placed her palm over her heart. Tony was doing this all on his own. She’d not asked him. He’d offered. There was no one else in there but the two of them. Her mind whirled. He was nothing like she’d expected. The man in there was humble, caring and generous. Why did he hide that part of him?
Eleven
Tony hooked up a time with Akeef to come back to the house. The kid didn’t ask, and he kind of fobbed off the suggestion to make a music video, but Tony had expected that. Building confidence took time and in the end, Tony casually suggested they hold a video game tournament. He’d slip in a few sneaky karaoke moments while they played. He had a plan. And Sloan’s old X-box console would help. The media room had been grossly understocked with things teens actually enjoyed doing. He left Akeef and went to find Bailey.
He didn’t have to look far. She was right outside the room. Coming up behind Tony, Akeef cast a sideways glance at Bailey, then plugged his earphones back in. He lifted his hand for Tony to fist bump.
“Later, bro,” Akeef mumbled.
“Laters.” Tony’s heartbeat quickened as he turned to Bailey. “Um. Hi.”
“You’re fantastic with them,” she noted, eyes crinkling at the sides.
He shrugged. “It’s part of my job.”
“You were acting?”
He thought about it. “No, I wasn’t.”
“So it wasn’t part of your job.”
Huh. “Guess not.”
When she spoke next, it was with a shy lowering of the lashes. “You know, this is the kind of thing I was talking about using your celebrity for. It’s not always about money or donations, but about hope.”
He couldn’t help it. He hooked his finger under her chin, lifting her gaze to meet his. What stared back at him was something raw, earnest, and for once unguarded.
“Go on a date with me,” he said.
She blinked. “Date?”
“You heard me.” His fingers trailed up her jawline to tuck a stray hair behind her ear, and then, as if it fit, he curled his hand around her warm neck. A breathy grunt of approval rumbled through his chest.
Hot breath fanned between them. Electricity sizzled in the air. And when she spoke next, it was as if she had trouble breathing.
“And what does a date with Tony Lazarus look like?”
“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never been on one.”
“None?”
“You’ll be my first.”
She lifted two incredulous eyebrows.
They both burst into laughter.
“Not that kind of first,” he added. “There have been many… others.” Heat rose up his neck. Aw, hell, this was coming out wrong. “Just no one I wanted to date.”
The roar of an engine blared from the street. It was so loud, it filtered through the house. Bailey tensed under his touch.
“Wait here,” she said. “I’ll check it out.”
Fear skipped up his spine. Alarm shot through his veins. He should be the one checking it out. Not her. But it had been months since he’d relied on his deadly skills. Did this situation even need those skills?
Realizing she’d already left, he jogged after her through the house and out the front door. Some kids were sitting on the porch, chatting away. Akeef had music playing on his cell phone speaker, and they all bopped and danced.
When Bailey caught sight of the vehicle making the noise, her eyes widened.
Turning toward the kids, she snapped, “Get inside now!”
Bailey ushered them through the doors. Taking her lead, he blocked any of them trying to get down the steps for a look, but before they had a chance to safely ensconce themselves inside, a prickle of intuition ran along the back of Tony’s neck. He turned back to the street.
A black Cadillac filled with rough-looking men had settled curbside. Each car window began rolling down, giving him a good look inside. A flash of metal, of promised violence, and Tony’s years of training had him moving before his mind registered what was coming for them—guns. Lots of them.
Enough to spray through the doors if the kids still stood on the other side. The blood drained from his face. He had to do something.
“Keep them inside,” he ordered Bailey.
She opened her mouth to protest, but he launched from the porch up onto the concrete balustrade and surfed on his shoes down, assessing the situation as he went.
All windows were open.
Two in the back, one in the front.
The occupants looked this way.
The narrow sidewalk made a six-foot gap to the car.
A plan formed in his head as he got to the end of the balustrade, jumped onto the top of the gate’s pillar, bounced across to the other, and then dove. He sailed over the sidewalk and landed on the Cadillac’s roof, stomach first. Skidding across, he braced, reached down and inside the opposite window. His fist closed around the scruff of a big thug and heaved. The man came shoulders-out before Tony jammed an elbow into his temple. Tony dropped to the ground. As he wrenched the door open, he let his power advance, feeling the rush inside his blood. A blue glow rose within him so swiftly that he’d wondered how he’d ever had trouble controlling it before. But this felt right. Protecting those kids was right. With the open door, the body in the window tumbled down, giving Tony ample opportunity to get in the car before its two surprised occupants realized what was happening. They adjusted their aim, but Tony’s hands snapped out and took hold of each muzzle. Then he let his fire out and couldn’t help feeling amazed as his power rushed to do his bidding. Maybe he was good at this too.
A bright blue flash blinded the interior.
The men shouted, screamed.
Heat scorched Tony’s palms and he winced. Parts of the car smoldered. Okay, maybe he wasn’t so good. But better. When the light faded, he knocked any weapon out of range. It didn’t matter. They wouldn’t have been able to discharge the guns. His power had melted them into macabre twisted sculptures.
Tony leaned back and kicked the man in the back seat, knocking him out. Then he looped the seatbelt around the driver’s neck and choked. Tony eased off the pressure as the tension left the driver’s body. Once he’d completely passed out, it was only a matter of readjusting the belt to secure his wrists. Tony did the same for the second
man in the rear. The residual blue sparks from his hands almost set fire to the cab and he had to swat them out.
Bailey’s shouts warned of her approach. Tony’s heart leapt into his throat and he clamped down hard on his power. Painful heat blocked up, and he pushed it down some more. Couldn’t let her see this side of him. The complete turnabout of power direction was like shutting a valve suddenly. Everything inside him screamed in denial. The energy wanted out. It kept building inside, but he wanted to confess his truth to Bailey on his terms. He wanted to be the one to decide. So he pushed, he stifled, and he acted calm.
He was calm.
My terms.
And he’d just taken down three assailants on his own. The kids were safe. Bailey was safe. He guessed he wasn’t so rusty after all.
Scooting out of the car and into the street, he quickly grabbed hold of the fallen thug under the arms and dragged him into the open passenger side.
“Tony.” Bailey breathed hard as she came around the car. She collected the dropped rifle, and then aimed it like a pro at the thugs. He put his hand on the muzzle and lowered it.
“Situation is contained.”
It took her a moment to adjust to what he was saying, but she lowered the rifle and switched her attention to Tony. “Are you okay?”
Out of the corner of Tony’s eye, he could see a twisted gun at the bottom of the car, right under the thug’s feet. Trying not to look conspicuous, he picked up the thug’s legs and folded them into the cabin, then secured the man’s hands with the seatbelt. He shut the door, straightened, and acted like nothing was wrong.
“You called the cops?” he asked.
But Bailey had a horrified expression on her face. She must have seen the melted weapons. Her eyes smartened. “What the hell is going on, Lazarus?”
Damn. This wasn’t going to plan. He’d wanted to tell her in his own way. He glanced over the Cadillac to see the teens filter out of the house again, crowding onto the stoop to watch. A few had their cell phones out, recording on their cameras. Shit. Hopefully most of his damning action had been hidden in the car.
Gluttony Page 9