Steel for 5 (Mags & Nats Book 3)

by Stephanie Fazio

  Michael paused and inclined his head. “Am I getting all of this right, Emory?”

  The Super Mag boy’s face appeared on the screen next to Michael’s.

  “Yep,” Emory said. “Felix figured out that Agent S could do crazy stuff, and that there was a huge deposit of it in the California desert.

  “The foreman helped Felix Remwald set up the mine, while Edwardian Remwald took care of everything at MagLab. Edwardian funneled money to the mine from the Alliance, and Felix sent the MRP back to MagLab.”

  “Thanks to the formula my parents developed,” Diego said under his breath.

  Emory continued, “The foreman has been Felix’s eyes and ears down in the mine for the last fifteen years.”

  I realized I was clutching Diego’s blanket in a death grip and forced my fists to relax. After everything the foreman had done to those kids, I would personally make sure he never made it out of that mine ever again.

  “In good news,” A.J. said, “since Sir Zachary torched the Energy Manipulator, all we have left to take care of are the Synthetics and the MRP gas. Well, and the foreman and Felix, of course.”

  “Yeah, real piece of cake,” Smith grumbled.

  “I don’t think we’ll have to worry about tracking down Felix and the foreman,” Kaira said. “I’m pretty sure they’ll come to us at some point.”

  And I’d be ready. I cracked my knuckles in anticipation.

  “I’ll make us gas masks,” Yutika offered. “So when that slime of a foreman tries that dirty trick a second time, the only one he’ll poison will be himself.”

  “Excellent idea,” Graysen said.

  “The Synthetics aren’t affected by the MRP gas,” Diego said. “Felix has probably been building up their tolerance.”

  “We already thought of that,” Kaira said. The look she leveled at Diego was somewhere between suspicious and tolerant. It was a marked improvement from the I’m going to kill you glares she’d given him before.

  If that wasn’t progress, then I didn’t know what was.

  “Emory thinks he might be able to convince the rest of the Super Mags—the real ones—to come with us,” Graysen said. “We figure with all of us, we’ll be able to deal with the Synthetics without endangering Lilly and the rest of the slaves.”

  That sounded reasonable.

  “Well, can we talk to the Super Mags now?” I asked, trying not to let my impatience come through too much.

  “That’s the only hiccup,” Graysen said. “Ma took all of them to the Blue Hills for an overnight bonding thing. Their cell service is shit, so Kai, Emory, and I are going to drive up there to talk to them. If they agree, we’ll bring them back here first thing in the morning.”

  No way. There was no way I was waiting twelve more hours to go back for Lilly.

  “I can’t wait that long.” I got up from the bed, shrugging off Diego when he tried to pull me back down.

  “Bri, honey pot,” A.J. said in his soothe-the-wild-Steel voice. “We’re going to get steamrolled if we try to go back there without help.”

  “Besides,” Graysen added. “Oliver said the only way to fully recover from the effects of MRP gas is to sleep.” He glanced at Kaira before turning back to me. “We’re going to go back for Lilly, but we won’t do her any good if we’re operating at partial-strength.”

  I knew he was right. But how could I snuggle up in my bed, safe and cozy and surrounded by my friends, when Lilly was still down in the mine?

  If I insisted on going now, though, my friends wouldn’t let me go alone. I didn’t have the right to put them at that kind of a risk.

  “Okay,” I relented. “Tomorrow morning.”

  “It’s a date,” Adam said, poking his head in front of the camera and winking at me.

  Diego scowled.

  “I’m sending your security team to the Blue Hills with you,” I told Kaira and Graysen, already texting my people. “You’re not driving all the way down there without backup.”

  “Fine,” Kaira said on a heavy sigh.

  Graysen gave me a thumbs-up.

  I rubbed my face, picturing my niece’s terror as Felix dragged her out of my reach.

  I’d been so close. So damn close.

  “Bri, we’re going to get her back,” Kaira said. She was wearing that fierce expression that promised she wouldn’t rest until we finished what we’d set out to do. “We just need to regroup, and then tomorrow, we’re going to tear that place apart.”

  I nodded.

  “Is Diego bringing you home, or should we come scoop you?” A.J. asked.

  “She’s staying with me tonight,” Diego said.

  “I—” I stuttered.

  Diego wrapped an arm around my shoulders, like this was all perfectly normal.

  I saw Yutika’s mouth drop open before A.J. elbowed her in the ribs.

  “Okey dokey, artichokey,” A.J. said amiably.

  Apparently, he had just given Diego his stamp of approval. That irked me, since I distinctly remembered having to try a lot harder to work my way into A.J.’s good graces when we first met. I thought it had something to do with him not trusting blondes.

  “Are you sure?” Kaira asked me, furrowing her brow.

  I knew she was thinking about Diego’s tiny apartment and the one bed. I was certainly thinking about it. My cheeks felt feverish all of a sudden.

  “Have you seen the frightful weather out?” A.J. demanded. “We’re all staying put until this storm blows over.”

  As if on cue, the rain pound harder against the window.

  “I have my truck,” Adam offered. “A little rain won’t stop me.”

  Diego stiffened beside me.

  “Uh, I’m good here,” I said. “I’ll meet you back at the mansion first thing tomorrow.”

  I wasn’t exactly sure why I was agreeing to this, except for the fact that spending the night alone in my room seemed like the worst kind of torture.

  We said our goodbyes and disconnected. And then, Diego and I were alone.

  CHAPTER 43

  Iemerged from Diego’s bathroom half an hour later, free of Synthetic eye goo and drowning in Diego’s clothes.

  He hadn’t been idle in my absence. There was a picnic laid out on his bed.

  “You can fight, dance, and cook?” I teased. “Now I’m really impressed.”

  “You forgot kiss,” Diego reminded me. He plucked a cherry tomato from his plate and made deep eye contact with me while he ate it.

  Laughing and blushing, I grabbed a seat on the floor next to him.

  “I like seeing you in my clothes,” Diego said.

  “What’s for dinner?” I asked, a tad louder than necessary.

  Smooth, Bri.

  Grinning, because he knew he’d unsettled me, Diego nodded at the plate in front of me. There was a piece of grilled chicken slathered in black beans and avocado chunks, with a spinach salad on the side. I hadn’t realized until this second that I was ravenous.

  “You didn’t have to do this,” I told him, even as I dug into the salad.

  Normally, I avoided meat for A.J.’s sake, but I didn’t want to be rude by snubbing the food Diego had cooked for me. Besides, it wasn’t like not eating this chicken would benefit him or her now.

  Muttering a quick apology to the chicken gods, I took a bite.

  Spice flooded my tongue, making my eyes water. I barely managed to swallow before I started to cough.

  “Like it?” Diego asked, his lip twitching.

  “Hot,” I said, quickly stuffing some spinach leaves in my mouth to put out the fire.

  Diego got up and came back with a glass of milk. “This’ll help cut it,” he told me.

  I noticed that Diego’s food had slices of chili peppers in addition to whatever edible lava he’d already put in.

  “I guess you really do like it hot,” I said, remembering his explanation for why he chewed cinnamon gum.

  “Boy do I.” Diego dragged his gaze lazily from my bare feet up to my eyes.r />
  “Diego.” I gave him an exasperated look.

  He retorted with an unapologetic grin.

  “How’s your leg?” I asked, inclining my head at the bandage around Diego’s calf.

  Diego cringed. “Can we not talk about the fact that I got slapped by a tail?”

  I snorted at that. “Yeah, I’m actually a little embarrassed for you.”

  Diego humphed. From his lack of an obnoxious response, and the way he was staring at the rain streaming down the window, I could tell his mind was elsewhere.

  “What are you thinking?” I asked.

  Diego took a long time to respond. When he did, there was no hint of levity. “I’m thinking I need the Agent S now more than ever. If those Synthetics ever get loose, it’ll be a nightmare.”

  I couldn’t disagree with him there, and yet, I couldn’t stop a flare of disappointment. After Diego brought me up to find Lilly instead of going after the Agent S, I’d thought we hit some kind of turning point.

  “I’m never going to change my mind on this, Bri,” Diego said, like he was reading my thoughts. “You know that, right?”

  I stabbed another bite of chicken.

  Instead of agreeing with him, I asked, “What was it like, growing up the way you did?”

  “It wasn’t so bad.” Diego rearranged the food on his plate with his fork. “For the first eighteen years of my life, I only left the house at night to fly. I had to stay high enough that no one would see me or sense my magic, so I never interacted with anyone. My parents taught me everything from chemistry to poetry to mandarin.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “I’m fluent in six languages, and I can seduce you in all of them.”

  “Maybe some other time.” I rolled my eyes, and then took a sip of milk to hide my smile.

  “After my parents discovered a temporary version of the MRP, I could start going out,” Diego said, getting serious again. “It was…strange to actually be in the world, instead of just observing it from books or TV.

  “I think my parents assumed I would go visit some historical monuments or museums or something.”

  “Where did you go?” I asked, curious. I had no idea where my first stop would be if I’d spent the first eighteen years of my life sequestered in my parents’ house.

  “Underground boxing rings and sex clubs.”

  I choked on my milk. For several seconds, it was touch and go whether it would come back out through my nose. Finally victorious, I asked, “Sex clubs?”

  “What do you expect from an eighteen-year-old who can get in anywhere he wants without an ID?” Diego retorted.

  Point taken.

  Diego shrugged. “I could only be out for a couple of hours at a time before the side effects of the MRP got to me. Too much of the temporary formula has a sedative effect, and it wasn’t like I could tell anyone what I was.”

  What…not who. Like Diego was a thing rather than a person. I wanted to correct him, but he spoke first.

  “I honestly don’t remember a whole lot from that year.” Diego’s smile turned sad. “If I’d known how little time I had left with my parents, I would have done things differently.”

  For several seconds, the rain beating on the glass was the only sound in the small apartment. I knew Diego didn’t want my pity, but I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.

  Diego had become very interested in his food, and I got the sense he regretted telling me so much. I didn’t want him to close himself off, though, so I decided to return the favor.

  “I get it,” I told him. “I only lived that life for a year after I took out my tracker, but it was awful. My brother spent every minute with his wife, and I barely saw him. My parents were so sad it felt like a viper was squeezing the life out of me every time I talked to them.”

  It took me a few seconds to compose myself as I reopened my box of memories from that year.

  “I spent most of my days watching shit daytime TV,” I admitted. “The high points of my week were when I got to bounce for Liquid Magic.”

  Diego’s attention was so intent on me that I found it difficult to hold his stare. He seemed like he was about to say something, but then he just shook his head.

  “Are you finished?” he asked, nodding at my plate.

  “Oh, right,” I said, feeling a little foolish. “You probably want to get some sleep.” I glanced at the bed.

  Diego’s chuckle was deep and rich.

  “Cariño, I have no intention of sleeping tonight.”

  “Presumptuous of you, don’t you think?” I gave him my best attempt at being scandalized. In truth, I was just grateful to be back to our sarcastic sniping.

  I’d begun feeling unbalanced by the personal turn our conversation had taken.

  “Presumptuous is my middle name,” Diego replied, taking our plates to the kitchen and putting them in the sink. He turned back to me and crossed his arms. “What’s between you and the blonde oaf?”

  “His name is Adam,” I corrected, a little thrown off by the unexpected question.

  “Okay. What’s between you and the blonde oaf named Adam?”

  I shook my head in exasperation. “We messed around a couple of times. There was nothing there, so we decided to just be friends.”

  “I don’t believe any man could just be friends with you.”

  “Believe it,” I replied, pulling my knees up to my chest and wrapping my arms around them. “I’m more cut out for friendship than romance.”

  Diego gave me a slow, predatory smile. “That changes here and now, Bri Hammond.”

  I believed him. He hadn’t even touched me, and he was driving me crazy with the tenor of his voice and the sensuous promise in his eyes.

  “What happens now?” I asked, feeling a little winded.

  “Now,” he said, scooping me up and depositing me on his mattress. “I’m going to get you naked. And then, I’m going to see if the rest of you tastes as sweet as your beautiful lips.”

  “Diego,” I managed, but that was as far as I got. He pulled me on top of him and drew my face down to his.

  If I’d thought our other kisses were passionate, they were nothing compared to this. I was instantly on fire. The torrential rain pounded against the window, drowning out the embarrassing moans I couldn’t hold back as Diego dragged his tongue across mine.

  I pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it across the room. I drank in the sight of his copper skin and tattoos, which seemed to come alive as his muscles flexed.

  Diego slid his hands up the too-big shorts I was wearing to grasp my hips. He pulled back from our kiss, his chest heaving. When I opened my eyes, it was to find him staring at me in amazement.

  “No panties?” he asked in a husky voice.

  “Excuse me for not packing an extra pair in my nonexistent overnight bag,” I said, a little defensively.

  “Fuck, that’s hot,” he growled. He freed his hands to tug my sweatshirt over my head.

  Rolling us over so I was beneath him, he looked at my chest and said something in Spanish I didn’t catch, but I didn’t need to be fluent to know that he liked what he saw. A lot.

  Instead of going for what was left of our clothes, he brought his scorching gaze up to mine.

  “I’ve never done this before,” he said, his eyes darting away from mine.

  If I didn’t know him better, I’d have thought there was a vulnerability to his expression.

  I barked out a laugh. “Right. Because sex clubs are for board games.”

  “No.” Diego shook his head. “I mean, I’ve had sex, but not like this.”

  Now, there was no denying that Diego’s expression had gone deadly serious. I searched his face, trying to understand.

  “Every other time, I was shot up with MRP,” he explained. “I set literal timers to make sure I was long gone before it wore off. It was always get in, get off, get out. I’ve never even bothered with names.”

  I winced at the crudeness of his words. At the same time, I ached at the thought of h
ow lonely he must have been. Even when Diego had been able to go out in public, he’d still been alone.

  “Trust me, cariño,” Diego said, misreading my silence. “None of them ever complained.” He gave me a cocky smile. “Except for when I didn’t stick around for seconds.”

  I reached up to cup his face and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.

  “I want you, Diego Agramonte,” I told him, staggered by the truth of those words. “You and all of your magic.”

  Diego’s expression softened. “That—” He cleared his throat. “That’s the hottest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

  “It’s the truth,” I told him.

  He gave me a long, searing kiss. When he pulled back, the tenderness in his eyes had been replaced with the arrogance that was all Diego.

  “In that case,” he said, easing his hand beneath the waistband of my shorts, “I’m going to spend the rest of the night seeing how many times I can make you scream my name.”

  “I’m not really the screaming type,” I told him, lifting my hips to help him get my clothes off. Not that he seemed to need any help in that department.

  A smirk played at the corner of Diego’s lips. “We’ll see, cariño. We’ll see.”

  ✽✽✽

  I had no sense of time, but I thought it was probably close to dawn. The rain had stopped. I was surrounded by the smell of cinnamon and the scorching heat of Diego’s magic. Even asleep, his arms stayed locked around me. When I nestled deeper into the crook of his shoulder, he made a rumbly purring sound.

  My hair was still wet from the shower we’d taken together. The blanket was crumpled in a heap on the floor. It was cold in the apartment, but I felt like I was on fire.

  Diego had kept his promise about making me scream, and I was pretty sure I’d have no voice in the morning. Tonight had been everything I’d always wanted…everything that had been missing in all of my other relationships.

  At one point, I’d glanced away from Diego and realized we were levitating two feet off the bed. We were so into each other neither of us had noticed.