Locked Out of Love

by Mary K. Norris

  Melanie repressed a smile. It was hard to stay frosty with a guy who was so openly nervous. He clearly wasn’t a threat; his reaction to her was proof enough. Still, she wasn’t going to let her guard down. “How’d you know I’d be here?”

  Joel instantly started looking around as if searching for potential eavesdroppers. The sudden change in his behavior made her stiffen.

  “Is there somewhere we can talk privately?” he asked. “I’m sure you have plenty of questions about last Saturday.”

  Melanie quickly went on the defensive. She took a step away from him. “What do you want?”

  “I only want to talk,” Joel said. Those guileless, midnight-blue eyes stared steadily into hers, promising no harm.

  Go with him, a small voice deep inside whispered.

  Don’t go with him. It could be some elaborate trap, the paranoid and usually sane part of her brain spoke up.

  Suddenly, she was the nervous one, and Melanie didn’t like it one bit. She licked her dry lips. Joel followed the movement, something flickering across his face. The hair on her arms rose. The air around them felt too heavy to breathe. She hastily took another step back. “Follow me,” she rasped. “There shouldn’t be anyone back at my yoga class for at least another half hour.” Not bothering to check if he followed, she scurried back the way she’d come.

  • • •

  Joel watched as Melanie toyed with the leather band around her left wrist. They both sat across from each other on separate yoga mats, waiting. Joel didn’t know where to start. He thought she’d have question after question for him, but as soon as he’d mentioned last Saturday, something in Melanie’s expression closed off. Was she trying to pretend the whole thing hadn’t happened?

  “So,” he drawled to fill the oppressive silence. “I should probably introduce myself, huh? I’m Joel Kegler. I also possess the power to Lock any object to anything else.” Maybe if he shared about himself first, she’d feel a little more comfortable. Like those anonymous group meetings he saw on TV. ‘Hi, I’m Joel and I’m a super-powered individual.’

  “Melanie,” she said crisply.

  He waited for anything to follow. For her to mention her powers. For her to mention his powers.

  Nothing.

  Fan-fucking-tastic.

  This was going to be harder than he thought.

  He rubbed the back of his neck before coming to a decision. “All right, look, I’m just going to lay it all out here. I’m a part of a guild that uses our abilities for good, the Guild of Aletheia or Guild of Truth if you’re like the rest of those bastards in our group who are too lazy to use our real name.” He cleared his throat. “Like I’ve said, I Lock things. I’m a LockSmith. My buddy Felix can Erase anything, his future wife can manipulate sound, our friend Niella is a Dreamer and can see the future.” Here a ripple of awareness crossed her face, but she quickly covered it.

  “My girl—” Joel caught himself, but Melanie’s brow furrowed, catching his slip-up. He plowed on. “My friend, Sydney, can negate power around her, and her boyfriend can read impressions from objects. Our newest member, Luke, has regenerative capabilities.” He stopped, studied her. “You’re not freaking out,” he said after a few seconds. “Why aren’t you freaking out?” Then it hit him. “You already know people with powers exist.”

  Melanie glanced away, playing with the leather band around her wrist again. It was clearly her nervous tell. She was hesitant to tell him something, and that bothered him more than he liked to admit. His chest ached and his fingers itched to reach out and touch her.

  Dressed as she was in tight yoga crop pants that showcased her legs and a hoodie that was unzipped enough to give him a teasing glimpse of her ample breasts, Joel had a hell of a time keeping himself in check. She wasn’t short like Sydney. Joel would put Melanie at around five eight with a lithe frame that came from years of yoga.

  His groin tightened. Fuck. Finally Melanie sighed, her hands dropping into her lap. “I know people with powers exist because my brother is one of them. He’s like your friend, Niella. What did you call her? A Dreamer?”

  That was the last thing Joel expected. “That’s amazing, but what do you mean your brother is one of them? You’re one of us too.”

  Melanie shot to her feet. “I’m not!”

  Okay, so she was in denial. Tread carefully; remember Felix’s advice. Go slow. Joel carefully started to stand. “Yes, you are. I was there. I witnessed it. You absorbed my power. You accidentally Locked that man’s arm to his chest.”

  “No. It was a fluke.”

  He scoffed. “It was not a fluke.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t come any closer,” she warned.

  Joel stopped his advance. She was only a few feet away. One lunge really. So close he could smell her, white chocolate and strawberries.

  His throat went dry as desire flared.

  There was an answering flare deep within Melanie’s gaze. She gasped and quickly grabbed the back of her neck. “No.”

  “Yes,” Joel whispered. She’d felt something between them, something strong enough to send her emotions on the fritz. And when emotions were going haywire, powers reared their ugly heads. He knew that better than anyone. Why else would she grab her neck if it weren’t to stop the tingling? Joel had done it countless times when he’d first gotten his powers. He took a gamble and closed the distance between them. “You feel it, don’t you? That sensation means your powers are activated.”

  Her crystal-blue eyes widened. “No.” She turned to run. Joel grabbed her, felt the spark of her skin meeting his. His cock stirred. A few seconds later his hand started to go numb.

  She must’ve felt something because she tried to pull away. He held on.

  “See?” he said and held up their conjoined hands. The prickling sensation started to travel up his forearm. “You’re accessing your powers, and that’s not a bad thing. There’s nothing to be scared of. You’re borrowing my power; there’s no harm in it.”

  She tugged again and this time he released her. She backed up. One foot, two …

  Joel heaved a sigh. “Would you stop already? Or do I have to Lock you to the floor?” He was only half joking.

  Melanie froze.

  Joel grinned, an idea coming to him. “You know, now that I think of it, teaching you to Lock would probably be a good first step.” Before she could react, he dropped to the floor and covered the top of her sneaker with his hand.

  Melanie yelped and kicked out.

  And the craziest part was that her foot actually came off the floor. Joel had a split second for what the hell? before pain exploded in his jaw.

  He went reeling. “Fuckin’ hell.”

  Tentative hands touched his shoulders. He was flat on his back. “I’m sorry. You startled me. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.” He started to sit up but found he couldn’t move his shoulder blades off the floor. “What the—?”

  Melanie instantly released him and drew back. “What’s wrong?”

  “Well, this is embarrassing. You Locked me to the floor, but not to worry, this’ll only take a second.” Joel put his hands on his shoulders and waited for the tingle at the back of his neck.

  “You’re still on the floor,” Melanie said after a few moments.

  He shot her a quelling look. He closed his eyes and concentrated, but the only thing he felt were the pins and needles in the hand he’d grabbed Melanie with.

  His eyes shot open, instantly seeking Melanie. “You.” He tried to get up. Failed. Damn, this was frustrating as hell. Was this what people felt like when he Locked them? “You took my power.”

  Melanie crossed her arms over her chest. “Isn’t that what you wanted? You’re the one who pounced on my foot.”

  “Yes, but—” He tried again to rise. No luck. Dammit. “Would you hurry up and Unlock me?”

  Melanie widened her stance, as if settling in for the long haul, arms still firmly crossed. “No,” she said plainly. “I rather like it
this way, and while you’re just lying there, why don’t you tell me why you sought me out. I don’t like it when people try to track me down. More specifically, I don’t like it when men try to track me down.”

  Joel stopped struggling. Was someone else looking for her? Like the man outside the bar?

  “Is someone after you?”

  His concern caught her off guard. That much he could tell.

  He renewed his struggle with her Lock. “I’ll protect you,” he vowed. Especially if it was that bastard, Vander, who was sniffing around.

  When next he glanced up, her arms were hanging by her sides. Their eyes locked. Joel felt the air sucked from his lungs. Fucking hell, she was gorgeous. Silver-blonde hair framed her face, cut in one of those trendy fashions Joel could never remember the name of. A-line? B-line?

  “Why?”

  He barely heard her. “What?”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “Why would I do what?”

  “Protect me.”

  Joel opened his mouth but nothing came out. He didn’t know.

  Liar.

  Deep down a part of him suspected why, but he refused to listen.

  Attraction. That was all this was. He’d been celibate long enough to be in the running as the next saint.

  She started to make her way toward him, as if drawn to him against her will. She stopped a foot away from his shoulder and crouched down. “Why do I have this weird … feeling inside me?” She placed her hand over her heart.

  Joel’s body went tight with wanting. He couldn’t drag enough air into his lungs. He couldn’t think past what her mouth would taste like against his own. What she’d feel like naked beneath him.

  “Unlock me.” The words slid from his lips, roughened with need.

  Melanie swallowed. Her body was trembling as she leaned over him. She hadn’t Locked his arms, and it would have been so easy to simply grab her and kiss her, but Joel held himself back. He’d wait until Melanie closed the gap between them.

  And she was so close.

  Her breath tickled his cheek, his chin, his lips.

  “CPR is in the next room over,” a bored voice spoke up from the doorway.

  Melanie fell backward with a yelp, giving Joel a view of the young girl who’d interrupted them. She looked to be around thirteen, with her arms crossed, and half of her hair in her face.

  He narrowed his eyes at the teen and growled, “Get out.”

  The girl scurried away. But where she had been standing, another figure stepped out from the shadows into the foreground.

  Joel’s blood froze.

  Chapter 5

  Mr. Richardson, Juliet’s right-hand man she’d run into at her bar—literally.

  Melanie scrambled to her feet.

  “Wait.” Strong fingers wrapped around her bare ankle. Heat bloomed low in her abdomen. Joel stared up at her from the floor. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. I’ll protect you.”

  Nothing to be afraid of?

  There was plenty, including this unwanted—unneeded—deep yearning she had for him. But she couldn’t concern herself with that now. She had to leave. How long had Mr. Richardson been there? Had he seen her use her powers? She didn’t want anyone to know about them; she didn’t even want them. Juliet’s group might treat her differently, they might change their mind about helping Nathan.

  She needed to clear her head. And she couldn’t think straight with Joel’s hand on her. The warmth from his skin seeped all the way into her bones and made her blood pound and her breasts ache. She’d very nearly kissed him.

  I still want to kiss him.

  She wanted much more than that and she had no idea why.

  “I need to leave.” She wrenched her ankle from Joel’s grasp and rushed to the back exit of her yoga class.

  “Wait.” She heard Joel struggle behind her. “Motherfucker. Wait, Melanie.”

  Her name from his lips sent a shiver straight down her spine. She continued out the door without looking back, before her nerves failed her.

  She needed to reach another exit, maybe the woman’s locker room. The locker room led out onto the pool deck and from there she could slip out the side gate—

  A firm hand clasped her upper arm and dragged her sideways. “Your presence is requested.”

  Melanie stared up into the cold, hard eyes of Mr. Richardson.

  Shit.

  Her stomach turned to lead. She experimentally tugged on her arm, but his fingers were like a vise.

  “This way.” Mr. Richardson led her to the east end of the community center where they slipped out one of the side exits. A sleek BMW sat idling by the curb, and she was roughly steered into the backseat.

  She didn’t scream; she didn’t struggle. She needed to stay calm. Nathan needed her. She still didn’t know if Mr. Richardson had seen anything. And if he did and they asked her about it, she could always play dumb blonde. It was the only good thing about having stereotypical large breasts and silver-blonde hair.

  As the car pulled away from the curb, Melanie rubbed her aching chest. She turned around in her seat to survey the community center and saw Joel burst out of the doors. Her heart constricted. He was looking around frantically.

  He’s looking for me.

  She wrapped her arms around herself for comfort and hunched over so he wouldn’t catch sight of her.

  Why? Why would he want to look for me? Why did he promise to protect me? And why … why do I want him to be the one to protect me?

  A few minutes later, the car came to an abrupt stop. The driver and Mr. Richardson made no move to get out, and Melanie let out a surprised yelp when her car door opened.

  Juliet appeared and smiled at Melanie. “Come with me, Miss Vyntra.” She walked away, leaving Melanie the option of following or staying in a car with the two men, who remained unmoving.

  Melanie hastened from the car. They were pulled over on the side of a street with office buildings on either side. Juliet was already making her way toward one of them and Melanie quickened her steps to catch up to her. Juliet didn’t speak until they were inside a small office in one of the buildings that had a For Lease sign out front. The space was sparsely furnished with nothing but a table and two chairs. Juliet gestured for Melanie to take one.

  “It appears that you haven’t been completely honest with me,” Juliet said when they were both seated.

  “You were spying on me!” Melanie shot at her.

  Juliet held up her finger. “Correction. We were spying on him.”

  Him. Joel.

  “What kind of person would I be if I let you go out into the field without backup? You’re essentially working for us now, Melanie, and I take care of my employees. But as it turns out, you haven’t been telling me the whole truth, have you?”

  Moment of truth. Did she admit to her powers or lie? She could already taste the lie on her lips, but twenty-six years of having honesty pounded into her by her mother made it difficult.

  Don’t lie to them, Lanie. A voice sounding eerily like Nathan’s spoke inside her head. What if they find out you’re lying and ditch me? Who’ll help me then?

  But what if they found out she had powers and kicked her and him to the curb anyway?

  Her brother’s cryptic voice didn’t answer.

  She pictured Nathan before everything got so messed up. His tawny hair rustling in the wind as they rode horseback on their ranch, before it was scammed from their parents; his blue eyes sparkling with laughter, the dimple in his cheek flashing.

  She owed this to him. She couldn’t risk the lie.

  “No,” she answered Juliet. “I haven’t been honest with you. But you have to believe me when I say that I was protecting myself. I didn’t know enough about you and your company.” She still didn’t, but that was beside the point now. “I have powers, too. I can—” How was she supposed to describe her powers? She barely understood them, barely understood anything in this crazy world that she thought only her brother belonged
to. She’d been naïve to think only a select few would have abilities. There must be hundreds of them—thousands—and she’d gone from being a sibling to someone with powers, to a comic book character herself. How would she describe what she could do? “I can take another person’s abilities.” She stared down at her hands. “Temporarily.”

  When Juliet didn’t speak right away, Melanie glanced up and found her leaning back in her chair, her hands steepled under her chin in thought. “And how long have you had this power?”

  Melanie fiddled with her leather bracelet. “I didn’t find out until that night I ran into Mr. Richardson,” she confessed.

  “Well, that explains why you didn’t want to say anything.”

  “Are you still going to help my brother?” Melanie dreaded the answer. What if they said no?

  That shark’s smile was back on Juliet’s face. She leaned forward and gently touched Melanie’s forearm. “Most definitely, only now, you’ve become much more valuable to us.”

  Melanie pulled her arm away from Juliet’s touch. “What do you mean I’ve become more valuable?”

  “So,” Juliet completely ignored the question, “did Joel tell you what he wanted? Why he was searching you out?”

  “He didn’t exactly say.” Melanie remembered the fierce look in his eyes. “He kept saying he’d keep me safe and protect me, but I don’t understand why. He mentioned teaching me to Lock too, whatever that means.”

  “Hmm.” Juliet steepled her hands once more, making Melanie feel like a schoolgirl sitting in the principal’s office. “I think that is a good idea. I want you to continue getting closer to him. Let him teach you to use your abilities. It’ll come in handy later.”

  “Come in handy?” Melanie echoed.

  Juliet got to her feet. “I think it’s time for you to understand first.” She left the room. Simply walked out without a word.

  “What the heck is going on?” Melanie mumbled to herself. She followed after Juliet and found her waiting in the hall by an open door.

  “In here,” she said.

  Melanie craned her head to see into the room. She wasn’t about to be led so easily into a trap if that’s what this was. But the room wasn’t a cage or any sort of containment cell—it was a computer room. The blinds were shut, the lights dimmed, the whirl of the computers’ fans filling the silence.