by Rush, Lynn
I glanced up at the dark night. I was glad this college-town was up higher in the mountains. It meant it was a little cooler, but what I liked most was that we were closer to the stars. They shone brighter. Georgia and I would have to find a place here, like the meadow back in Trifle, so we could steal away and goof around with our powers.
“Mandy. You’re killin’ me here.”
I faced my sister and spilled the whole, heart-warming story.
“He asked if he could kiss you?”
“But he wouldn’t even ask until I told him I was single.”
“That is so romantic.” Her smile split her face. “Is he really only eighteen? Man, that’s stuff I read about in my little romance novels, and all those guys are, like, old. You know, in their twenties and stuff. They have jobs, crap like that.”
“You’ve always come across to me as older, too.” I chuckled. “I think you two have old souls. But then what’s that mean for me? I’m the young one, right?”
She hip-checked me, then draped an arm around my shoulders. “Nice way to forget about Zach. You went out and snagged an equally hot guy who is totally into you.”
“How ‘bout you? You hooking up with the redhead. Seth? Is that his name?”
“That’s his name. He’s sweet. We’ll see.” She sipped her soda. “It’s just nice to have someone flirting with me. I’m glad your whole scowl thing is gone now, sis. I’m digging this beautiful, confident—well mostly confident—sister of mine.”
I grabbed my phone from my pocket. “I think Dr. Phil is calling. Wants you to consult for his show.”
Georgia smacked me on the shoulder. She was mostly right, though. Sure. Zach totally ripped my guts out by dumping me for stupid Samantha Jones, but at least I got something from him.
Confidence.
“Strange, though. I almost felt like I was cheating on him. Less than five hours ago, we were technically still dating.”
Georgia leaned forward again. “Don’t think about it now. Just have fun—but not too much fun, you hear?”
“Yes, mother.”
My phone rang, and I saw it was Scott, but then I noticed it was nearly midnight. “Wow, didn’t know it was so late.”
“Hey, Scott.” Georgia stepped close, and I put the call on speaker. “What’s up?”
“There’s another Center.”
“Shit,” I said. “Where?”
“Last time the guys you iced knew, it was California.”
“The one we burned down?” Georgia asked.
“No. Another mobile.”
I glanced at Georgia, then back to the phone. “Do those losers know what’s up with Mom’s book?”
“He knows Mom had something that could harm them, but doesn’t know where it is. They were on a recon mission to try and retrieve it.”
Georgia gasped. “Do they know Gary and Lois had it? Are they in trouble?”
“Doesn’t look like it.”
“Andrey?”
“That’s the kicker, guys. They’ve never heard of him.”
The sliding glass door slid open behind us. I whirled. It was Nate.
I clicked it off speaker and pressed the phone to my ear. “Oh, okay, yeah. Thanks Scott. Um. Glad to help out.”
“What are you doing?”
“Sure. That sounds good. See you tomorrow.”
“Oh. Okay. I get it. Someone’s there. All right. Be on your toes, Mandy. Jas will be there early tomorrow.”
“Bye.”
“Hey, what’s going on out here?” Nate asked, winking at me.
“Just some chick-time,” Georgia said. She looked out over the parking lot below us. “Plus, it’s hotter than Hades in there.”
Nate stepped beside me. His shoulder touching mine, he leaned into me. It was amazing how electric he felt. Okay, now Zach curled my toes, big time, but Nate felt different.
Maybe it was just the fact that I was more comfortable with my powers now. That I wasn’t so worried I was going to freeze off a body part like I was with Zach.
“Nice out, huh?” Nate asked.
“Yep.” I looked at Georgia.
Her eyes scanned the darkness below. Her eyebrows furrowed. The balcony overlooked the side lot, like ours, considering it was just above us. The parking lot was full, and the two lights that lit the lot barely made a dent in the darkness.
Georgia’s eyes narrowed, and I followed her line of sight. Two girls wove through the mass of cars toward the entrance. Their laughter trickled up to where we stood. “You okay, Georgia?”
She glanced at me, eyes moist. “Oh, yeah. I’m fine.”
The sliding door opened again. Jeez, grand central station again. I couldn’t catch a break. That massive hulk of a man who’d knocked me over earlier filled the door.
I put my hands up. “Dude. You can’t come out here.”
He tilted his head back, exposing more of his belly flesh than I wanted to see. Ever. In my life. It just kinda flopped out over his jeans. Seriously, this guy had to be six-foot-seven and had to have played pro football somewhere. “Well, isn’t the girl with a blue streak of hair just freaking hilarious.”
He stepped out and the metal groaned beneath his weight. The hairs went up on the back of my neck. “Nate, we’re running low on beer. Want me to go try and rustle up some more?”
More metal groaned. He was seriously freaking me out. The balcony was tiny, attached to a brick apartment building. Sure, me and Georgia don’t weigh much, but Nate… He was a big boy, tipping the scale at nearly six-foot-three and a buck-eighty to two-hundred-pounds if I had to guess.
Gigantor stepped out further, as if to taunt me. I nudged Georgia toward the now clear window. “Let’s get out of here.”
She nodded. Didn’t need any special twin connection to see her relief. She hopped through the window, but before I could jump through, Gigantor stepped toward me. “So, who are you, anyway?”
I looked up and actually got a neck cramp he was so freaking tall. Nate came by my side. “I’m Amanda. I was just joking around with ya, you know that right?”
“It’s fine. I was just curious who was all up on the funnies like you were.” His double chin jiggled as he chuckled. “I’m Martin.”
“Cool. Nice to meet you.”
“I’m down on the first floor. For obvious reasons.” He gestured to his bulging belly. “A-2 if you need anything. I kinda look out for the young ladies of this complex.”
“Cool.” And so not necessary, but he didn’t know that.
Ping!
I ducked at the sound of metal bouncing off metal. Sounded like a dart bouncing off the brick or something.
Nate ducked, too, his arm over my shoulder. “What the heck?”
Ping! Ping! Ping!
“Ah, shit!” Martin dove back toward the sliding glass window. Half of him hit the window part. I might have heard something crack, but my world tilted and not because I was fainting or anything like that. I was used to that feeling after being stabbed by tranq darts or needles.
No, I was literally tilting.
The metal railing detached from the brick. The pings we’d heard were the bolts giving way to the stress of the weight.
“Come on!” Martin yelled.
Despite his size, he was quite agile. Nate pushed me toward him, but gravity began to take hold. I grabbed the window frame. Martin yanked my hand and hoisted me up to the window. Unfortunately, my arm grazed against the frame and gouged it pretty good.
I looked back. The balcony tilted so much that Nate was knocked further away from the window. The railing, which was now the floor, stopped his free fall.
“Nate!”
Ping!
Ping!
Ping!
The metal creaked and groaned again, then shifted further back. Nate climbed toward the window. I curled my fingers around the frame and leaned forward, hand outstretched.
“Grab my hand.”
He jumped for it but missed. The effect of his weight lan
ding pushed the balcony further down.
Ping!
Ping!
I wasn’t an engineer-type, but I couldn’t imagine there were many more of those bolts left to fling out.
I leaned further. I felt two hands weave around my waist.
“I gotcha, Mandy.” Martin stood behind me.
“Wait. Hold on. Nate doesn’t have my hand yet.”
“Let me get him,” Martin said.
“Nate. Jump.”
“You can’t hold me,” Nate said, shaking his head.
“Yes I can. Do it. You’re going to f—”
The metal groaned again and fell away. Nate jumped, I lurched forward, squeezing the window frame enough to probably bend it, but I had to. I had to reach my Nate.
His fingers met mine. They started to slip. I squeezed, then with a quick jerk I pulled him up a fraction and got a better grip around his wrist.
His eyes shot wide, then his fingers curled around my wrist and we were connected.
Man he was strong.
Good thing I was, too.
“Got him.”
Martin’s grip around my hips tightened as he tried to pull me back in. Nate was a big boy, though, so it was slow going. I hung on the window, my left arm squeezing the middle frame and my right hand way down, holding Nate.
Now, I could have just given a quick jerk, then Nate and I would be back in the apartment. But yeah, that probably wouldn’t look right.
So, instead, I used the arm that held the window frame and pushed with that slightly. Martin would think it was his efforts pulling me back up through the window. Man his hands dug into my stomach, though.
“Hold on, Nate,” I said. “I got you.”
His body swung, and his hand waved trying to keep himself steady. Inch-by-inch we hoisted him up. He reached out to the brick wall and kept himself steady.
A metal-on-metal ring vibrated my eardrums as the balcony fell away from the building. It crashed with a thunderous boom onto my patio. Good thing we hadn’t put any furniture out there yet.
“Oh sweet Jesus what was that?” Someone behind Martin said.
“Shut up and help me.”
Some more gentle tugs followed and inched Nate closer to the window. I continued to push against the frame, helping with the hoisting, hopefully unnoticed. The metal began to give way, though.
Oh great.
It warped from the pressure of my hand against it. If I let go, though, I didn’t think Martin could keep us steady. It groaned. Similar to the sound of the balcony before it gave way. The glass crackled.
When Martin had hit it while he jumped off the balcony, he’d weakened it. I was going to have to hoist Nate back up here.
“On three. Big pull, Martin. This window’s getting weak. Nate. Hold on!” He nodded.
“One,” Martin said.
I sucked in a deep breath.
“Two.”
Martin’s grip around me tightened.
“Three.”
A massive hoist behind me followed, then I pushed with most of my strength, and I yanked. The window shattered. I fell back with a thud against Martin’s soft belly but quickly felt more weight on top of me. The sudden weight forced the air from my lungs.
Nate’s forehead smacked against my cheek, which made my head snap back and crack against Martin’s padded chest. Felt like my eye might explode.
“Mandy,” Georgia screamed.
I put my arms around Nate and held him close. I wasn’t quite sure how far he’d come through the window. If he was still halfway hanging out, I needed to keep a grip, because he’d let go of my hand.
His back popped like a popcorn maker. His breath whooshed over me, and he grunted. I felt Martin’s body shuffle beneath me, then disappear. I sank to the carpet, then two hands curled around my armpits and tugged me back. Nate went with me. A few seconds later the motion stopped.
“You’re in,” Martin said.
His pudgy face came into focus as he leaned over and looked down at me. I lifted my head and looked at Nate on top of me. Speckles of blood spotted his cheek and forehead, but he looked okay other than that.
“Okay, Mandy. You can let go,” Nate said. His voice pressured.
I released him, and he sucked in a gasp of air like I’d squeezed it all out of him. He rolled off me and went to all fours, heaving. A cough shook his body, then he looked at me and scrambled to my side.
“Are you okay?” He brushed his fingers against my cheek.
That drew a good-sized flinch from me. Must have some cuts.
He withdrew his hand and scanned my body from head to toe. “How did you pull me up like that?”
Let the lies begin…
Chapter 17
“You really know how to throw a party,” Georgia said to Nate. “Can’t wait for the next one.”
“I can’t believe that happened.” Nate shook his head.
I perched on the tabletop in his little kitchen while Georgia sat in a chair in front of me, picking out the glass and dabbing demon-possessed peroxide on my cuts. “Should we get you to the ER?”
“No. No. I’m fine. You okay, Nate? You need a doc?”
His face blanched. “Nope. I’m good. You got the brunt of the injuries.” His gaze drifted to my arm.
“Martin, you’re never allowed on a balcony again, you hear me?” I teased. He’d flopped onto the couch and hadn’t moved. It looked like it took everything out of him holding onto us. “He’s the real star here. We would have been flattened.”
“Manager’s on his way up,” some guy standing next to Nate said.
“Shit.” Nate got up and strode over to a guy. I assumed it was his roommate, Tim, because he’d just walked in. They whispered, and now was a time I wished I’d had Jasmine’s hearing.
The guy Nate spoke with walked over to Martin, and they talked for a few minutes, then both got up and left the apartment. Most people had cleared out, except Martin, Tim, Nate, me, Georgia, and about five or six people I didn’t know yet.
Nate strode toward me, eyes wide. “Want to run down to your place for a while?”
“What’s going on?”
“I’ll tell you on our way. Let’s take the back stairs. You okay to walk?”
“I’m fine. G, let’s go.” I grabbed her hand, and she helped me off the table. Oh yeah, my arm stung like a son of a monkey.
“Okay, hurry,” Nate said.
“What’s going on?” Georgia asked as she led out the door. She went to the right instead of left, to the back stairwell. “Why are we sneaking out?”
“Tim’s going to have Martin just tell them that he went out there, and it started to go down. He jumped to safety.”
“Why not tell him about us? Surely some of the tenants saw us hanging.”
“Doesn’t look like the cops have been called, so the Supe will take care of everything, I’m sure.”
Georgia held the door open to the stairwell. Our flip-flops echoed against the cement walls. The bright stairwell lights burned my eyes. We rounded the stairs to the second level and clicked open the door. Ours was six down and on the left.
“So, why are we doing this again?” I asked, suddenly very curious as to why he wanted to stay out of the limelight. Not to mention the all serious face he’d switched on. Gone was the playful guy I’d gotten to know a little better tonight. Sure, this one was awesome, too, but the abrupt switch triggered my ever-present paranoia.
“I’ll tell you inside. Come on.”
Georgia opened the door, and we all filed into the kitchen.
“Mandy, sit on the table. I’ll go get some stuff for your arm.”
“Thanks.” Man, it’d be so much easier if I could just heal myself. It looked like it was back to hiding who and what I truly was.
Fun times.
Nate sat in the chair in front of me. He reached for my feet, took off my flip-flops and set my bare feet on his thighs. “I can’t believe what just happened.”
“I tried to
warn him not to come out there. I must have ESP or something, because I just knew nothing good could come of a four-hundred-pound giant coming out on that tiny balcony. But he didn’t listen.”
“Enough joking, Mandy. That was really serious.”
“I get a little sarcastic when I’m nervous. You don’t know that about me yet.”
“What I really want to know is, how did you hold on to me so long? And to Martin?”
“I told you. I’m deceivingly strong. Don’t let my little size fool you.”
He arched an eyebrow and rested his hands on my thighs. His dark eyes bore right through me.
I wove my fingers through his hair and gave the best smile I could through the stinging pain in my arm. His face softened, and the fun, relaxed Nate shone through again.
With a gentle tug to his hair, I urged him toward me. His hands slid off my thighs as he rose and planted on the table, bracketing me close to him. Heat wafted off him, and I readily absorbed it.
His gaze shifted down and whether he realized it or not, his tongue swept over his bottom lip. Such a tease.
“You’re hurt,” he whispered as he inched closer to my mouth.
“I’ve seen worse.” I pulled him the rest of the way and greedily claimed his lips.
He pulled in a sharp breath and let me in. I wasn’t really sure what prompted me to kiss him right then and there. Maybe it was the rush of what had just happened.
His hand cupped my neck as he eased back. Wide, dilated eyes stared down at me. He cocked his eyebrow up and tilted his head slightly as if working to figure out an equation or something. It was cute but also really intense. How he looked at me was different than anything I’d ever experienced.
Not that I had a wealth of experience with guys, but still. There was a mix of wonder, longing, and…fear. Maybe I was just whacked out because of my arm injury or something, but at that moment I felt so connected to him.
I cleared my throat and asked, “So, you going to tell me why you high-tailed it right out of there after talking to Tim. That was your roommate Tim, right?”
He held my gaze a breath longer, then nodded as his thumb brushed along my bottom lip. He sat down in front of me, and said, “I was kind of hoping to get to know you a little better before telling you all this.”