“None of your business.”
He glared at her. “Is he going to try to kill you like your last date did?”
She rolled her eyes. “Really, Draco, that’s so beneath you.”
Turning on her heel, she stepped up to the building.
He grabbed her arm and pulled her back. “Hey.” She yanked away. He’d lost the right to handle her that like that.
He raised his hands in the air as if surrendering. “You’re right, I’m sorry.”
She put her hands on her hips. “I’m right, and you’re sorry about what?”
He put his hands in the pockets of his blazer. “It was beneath me and I was out of line both for saying it and grabbing you.”
Speechless, she could only stare. Had he just apologized? She opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out.
“Is he going to stand there all night?”
What? She shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Draco motioned with his head past her on the sidewalk. “Lover boy.”
Turning, she realized Daniel still stood where he had when he spotted Draco.
Evidently, he must be a fan of the Superheroes. He looked to have all but ceased breathing.
“Go home, Daniel.” She called, but her date didn’t move. Rolling her eyes, she looked back at Draco. “You go home too. I’m tired and there’s nothing more to say.”
Without another word, she walked into the building.
“Wendy, wait, please.”
His “please” almost stopped her. She took a deep breath as she nodded at the doorman and approached the elevators. Draco Powers brought nothing but heartbreak.
She’d had enough.
* * * * *
Signing online later that night, she regarded her screensaver with weary eyes.
She’d taken down all her Space Adventures posters but just hadn’t been able to bring herself to get rid of the screenshot from her desktop. It was pathetic, but she liked the idea of people from different galaxies finding common ground and coming together on their mutual love for humanity.
She sighed and waited for her Hero Land avatar to load. Tonight would be the last night she played as Lost. She was going to let this go too.
Piece-by-piece, it was time to let go of childhood dreams.
If she wanted to be a happy adult, she needed to act like one.
At least, she kept telling herself that. Maybe if she said it enough times, she’d really believe it.
Almost immediately, the chat box appeared and the Superman character she’d befriended showed up. She smiled. Actually, she was going to miss him. Though he’d disappeared the first night they’d met, he was on every night afterward, and they’d always had the best conversations as they beat the puzzles together.
How are you?
She thought about it before she typed. Tired.
You need to go to bed earlier … only I would miss you if you did.
Smiling, she inhaled the pleasant scents of her lit candles. LOL. I’m glad you’re here tonight. I’ve decided this will be my last night on here.
Why???
It just feels like this has come to an end. I have a new job. I’m trying to make new friends.
Well, she would be trying soon. It’s time for me to be a new version of me.
No!
She shook her head. Excuse me?
She nearly jumped out of her skin at the tapping on her window and shrieked before realizing who it was.
“Draco?” She crossed her room to the closed window. He floated outside, his arms crossed again, only this time his glare was on her.
He tapped again. “Are you going to let me in?”
“I don’t know. Isn’t there some kind of law about banging on a woman’s window in the middle of the night, even if you can fly?”
He rolled his eyes. “I’m sure there is. Come on, Wendy, let me in.”
She bit her lip. She should send him away. Only he looked tired and sad, maybe pathetic, none of which were her problems, but she opened the window and allowed him to climb inside.
“You can’t stop playing your games. Nothing about you needs to change. Not one thing.”
“What?” Wendy tried to digest what he said. Openmouthed, she pointed at the computer. “That’s you?”
Now, she yelled. “Why would you do that? Why would you go online and pretend to be a stranger?”
“Initially, I did it because I was worried about you after we were almost killed.”
“Why didn’t you just call me to check?” She grabbed her forehead, feeling a headache brewing. “That’s what normal people do, Draco. How did you even find out who I was on there?”
He cleared his throat. “Ace and, once again, you’re right.”
“Once again, I’m right? You’re going to have to do better than that.”
“All right.” He kicked her desk with the corner of his foot in what had to be gentle for him since it didn’t topple over. “I’m not used to doing things the way others do them. I created this world where I could have anything I wanted, when I wanted it. I didn’t have to speak to anyone who I didn’t want to. Finding you in the online world seemed like a good way to find out how you were without actually telling you how much I cared. It seemed like a safe way to make sure you didn’t realize my level of interest in you. I was so in love with you, Wendy, had been for so long, I didn’t know what to do about it.”
Wendy felt her mouth fall open as all the fight left her body. “You can’t say things like that.” Her knees felt weak and she let herself collapse in the chair.
He knelt beside her. She looked away, not liking the sincerity she saw in his eyes.
“Why not? Why can’t I say them?”
“You ended us because you didn’t want to have things you care about.”
He put his hands on her knees. “I was a fool. I’ve learned a lot since then.”
She swallowed. A smart woman would end this conversation now. She was not a smart woman. “What have you learned?”
“I learned that I don’t have to be Superman. I just have to be a good man. It’s better and it’s more important. I learned that we all have soft underbellies—we all have people who could hurt us badly if something happened to them— and it’s part of being a good person to want to protect them from harm.” He drummed his fingers lightly on her knee, sending shivers up her leg. “I learned that sometimes the right thing does happen just because it’s the right thing. You taught me that.”
She’d read in the newspaper that Powers, Inc. would be rebuilt. That must have been what he was referring to. “Who taught you the other stuff?”
“My brother.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Ace taught you that?”
He shook his head. “Lael.”
“Lael? The teenager we were looking for?”
Draco stood, moved behind her, and started massaging her shoulders. She should tell him to stop, but she didn’t. “That’s right. I found him and he’s my brother.”
Her head whirled. “That’s crazy.”
“I know.” His voice was so close to her ear she could feel the heat of his breath. If she leaned back just so, he might kiss her there. God, she wanted to. This time, she stayed still.
“How did he teach you those things?”
Draco’s hands did amazing things to her shoulders. She almost sagged with relief as he worked out a kink in her neck. “Ace was really angry, but he forgave me when I came home with Lael. Neither of us could turn him away. He’s our brother. The same man abandoned us all. It’s not an excuse, but I think I thought because my father was that way, I had to be that way too, that somehow, I was designed to fail at relationships at a genetic level.”
Wendy’s heart turned over. God, the pain. She didn’t want to feel his pain so acutely. Right or wrong, she was still in love with him.
“Only I couldn’t leave Lael and neither could Ace and that told me we weren’t built like the man wh
o fathered us all. It told me that if I could be a worthy person, the kind who spends all day helping my teenaged brother cope with grief, loss, and betrayal, then maybe, I could be worthy enough to be with you.”
Wendy stood and spun around so fast, she nearly knocked him over. “You were always worthy.”
He shook his head. “I should have been, but I wasn’t. Somewhere along the line, I started to believe my own press. The way you saw me, the way you thought I was really good, I want to be that man.”
“You are that man. I’ve never seen you as anything other than that, Draco.”
He shook his head. “We’re going to have to disagree.”
She huffed as she pointed a finger at him. “This doesn’t change anything. You told me you didn’t want people you could lose.”
“Wendy.” He looked at the floor. “As I watched Lael grieve over the loss of his crazy mother, even though he chose to run away from her, I’ve learned that even if I run away from you I’m going to miss you every day for the rest of my life.” He looked up.
“If you’ll have me, I’d rather spend what time we do have loving each other. I’d like to take you home, cherish you, love you, sleep with you in my bed—where, by the way, no one has ever slept but me because I was saving it for my wife—so if you’ll have me, I’d—”
“Your wife?” She could hardly breathe.
“Can you? Can you forgive me and, maybe, love me forever? Could you be my family?”
Jumping on him, she pushed her mouth on his, hard. God, there were so many reasons to say no, so many reasons not to be his wife, but she didn’t care. This was Draco. He loved her and she’d been in love with him forever. Yes, she would be his wife. Yes, she would love him forever.
She kissed him. “What is your real name?”
“What?”
“Don’t you think I should know your real name? You said Draco wasn’t your real name.”
“Oh.” He laughed. “I forgot I told you that. It’s been so long since anyone called me anything but Draco. I actually think of myself as Draco now.”
“You’re stalling.”
“It’s not that it’s bad, it’s just kind of ordinary. It’s Daniel.”
Daniel … hmm … he was right, it was too ordinary for him. Even as just a
“good man,” he was Draco Powers.
He pulled away and she felt bereft. “I do have some conditions.”
“Conditions?” Her heart pounded stronger.
“Yes, you have to play that game.” He pointed to her computer. “Every night for at least one hour until you unlock the secret vault that lets you into the expert levels, and when I go back to work you have to be my Handler again. Other than that, you just have to agree to let me love you forever.”
“All right.” She grinned. “But if you ever pull that shit again like you did after you rescued me, I’m going to let Ace do all the things he muttered about that night when he took me home.”
He bit down gently on her lower lip. “He’d never be able to pull it off. I’m twice as strong as he is.”
Swatting him lightly on the shoulder, she couldn’t help but laugh at his audacity.
He was Draco, after all, her Superhero. Now if she could just get him to watch Space Adventures with her every night … .
She was back in the mood to watch.
~The End~
About the Author
As a teenager, Rebecca would hide in her room to read her favorite romance novels when she was supposed to be doing her homework. She hopes, these days, that her parents think it was worth it.
She is the mother of three adorable boys and she is fortunate to be married to her best friend. They live in northern New Jersey and try not to freeze too badly during the winter months.
She is in love with science fiction, fantasy, and the paranormal, and tries to use all of these elements in her writing. She’s been told she’s a little bloodthirsty, so she hopes that when you read her work you’ll enjoy the action-packed ride that always ends in romance. She loves to write series because she loves to see characters develop over time and it always makes her happy to see her favorite characters make guest appearances in other books.
In her world, anything is possible, anything can happen, and you should expect that it will.
Learn more about Rebecca at www.rebeccaroyce.com
Screwing the Superhero Page 14