"I'll get back to you about the wedding. Maybe I'll bring it up over dinner tonight if I get a chance. When do you need an answer, Lexi?"
Kharmia answered for her. "Within the next week is fine. Just so long as we know what to tell the caterer to plan for and how much cake to get. We'll talk to you soon, okay?"
She hung up, leaving me alone with a pen, a jar of ink, and a book bound in leather as soft as-
I halted that thought. Only nightmares led that way. I refused to let myself believe it was anything other than cowhide. But maybe it hadn't been Scribe, after all. Or maybe some his powers remained attached to the book.
...Or maybe.
I picked up my pen and twirled it gently between my fingers. What were the ethics, I wondered? Were there any ethics to it? I put the pen back down in its holder and sat back, my ankles crossing on the desk as I eyed that book.
Cassie was supposed to be making curry tonight. It was the best thing she made, hot and sweet, just like her. She'd been craving it for a solid week but the store had been out. I'd found her several bricks the day prior and she'd practically torn my clothes off right then and there. None of us were sure if she was expecting or not, though we certainly ah. ...got plenty of practice in.
Most of the time we spent taking care of one another. No one was jealous if something happened and they couldn't make the quin-weekly group sex-a-thon that usually lead to me getting six hours of sleep a night when I deeply preferred eight. There were times, like there would be tonight, when I needed my own room to get the rest I had to have. The meeting tomorrow depended on me being on my toes, and, without it, would likely fail terribly.
I couldn't do that to the superheroes who looked up to me. Though I had to admit, there were times that I failed, too. No one could have a perfect record, no matter how hard they tried.
My eyes traveled back to the pen and I shook myself. I was stalling and my dinner was probably already getting cold. If I was going to do something about the past, if I was going to play a stupid game, I needed to get on with it.
But my hands didn't want to move. I struggled with myself. It wasn't right, but what was? Everything got very grey at the top of the world, even when you were just taking care of the Alliance as a whole. I glanced at my phone and thought it through. There was absolutely one guy whose entire personality wrapped around trying to do the right thing no matter what.
I called Adam and waited for him to answer.
"Hello?"
"It's Edwin. D'you have ten minutes to figure something out with me?"
A bag rustled on the other end of the phone. Someone thanked him for ordering today and a window clicked shut. "Yeah, just let me park."
My heart fluttered. It'd been because of me that he had a car at all. The fact that our heroes didn't have to run into trouble anymore, and could actually get there? It made me so happy. I know I mentioned they were buying cars and houses, but actually hearing him putter into a parking space and turn the car off; it meant so much.
"What's up?"
"I'm having a little dilemma. If you could fix something, would you?" I asked, twirling my hair with one finger.
I stopped as soon as I realized I was doing it. I will never admit to having a thing for Adam. In all honesty, I don't swing that way.... I think. But we'd done a few things together, experimented, and I loved -him-, I just wasn't really into his body. Sexual attraction and emotional attraction, when in flux, are a hell of a hard thing to deal with.
The bag rustled again. "It would depend on what it is, how big of a deal it was, and if I'm going to burn for it. I have a reason to stick around, snugglemunchkin."
"Yurgh," I said, pretending to gag. "Now I don't."
He laughed and said, "Most of the time, yeah. I probably would. It's important to set things right if you possibly can. But if it's going to impact other people poorly, nah. Like, imagine maybe you've got a plane going down."
"Mmhmm."
"And maybe that plane is about to land all screwed up and like, maybe it's flipped in the sky."
"If it did that, I think it'd be on its way down, yes."
Adam snorted. "Look, if you aren't going to work with me here, I'll just hang up. I have a triple-decker cheeseburger that's calling my name."
"I'm listening."
More paper rustled and I heard him take a bite. I rolled my eyes as he sighed happily and had to pull away from the phone when he chewed. "So you have a plane that's upside down and everybody's terrified inside, right? But you only have two choices. One is to let it hit the ground. The other is to let it hit the puppies and babies orphanage, which will obliterate everyone inside the plane and the orphanage, too."
"Is this really how you make decisions in a split-second situation." I asked, flatly.
"Kinda."
I sighed. "Proceed."
"Well, you don't let it hit the orphanage because that's wrong. And there's nothing you can do to save the people inside the plane, right? So, you're just sort of stuck."
I made a brief mental note to ask my apprentice support girl, Miranda, not to send Adam out on any calls involving planes. "Then you allow the plane to crash into the ground, kill the innocent people inside it, and save the puppies, kittens, and orphans."
"Yeah. Right. Unless there's some other extenuating circumstance."
"You're the best. Thanks for the help."
I hung up before he could say anything else and looked back up at the ceiling. Though I was nearly certain that it was the right thing to do, I wrestled with it. Nate wouldn't be able to answer his phone, Cassie would dither at me for the next two weeks while she slowly wormed the whole story out of me, and Nishelle would probably kick my ass for suggesting what I was thinking about doing.
There comes a time in every man's life when he has to sit down and face the challenges the world has built around him. The decision is often hard, sometimes meaning the potential loss of life or love if he chooses wrong. He has to work it out on his own, because there's just nobody left to help him with it.
And that had finally come for me. I'd thought it had been when I'd decided to be more involved with the superhero lot. I had wheeled a whole cannon out to help with the Melody issue so long ago; my first real attempt at bravery and fixing the world. I wasn't a superhero, but I'd been a participant with them for such a time now that I thought I was sort of an honorary one.
It was what had gotten me my position to begin with. The PTB Alliance at large had assumed a person with no powers would be a more capable leader for those who had them. It was only rational. I was clearly less likely to fall to offers of wealth or strength if I hadn't already tasted that sort of life.
Or that's what they'd thought, anyway.
Not like I would know.
I picked up the pen and filled it with ink. A drop landed on my hand but I'd made my decision and I was going to live with it. I pulled the book to me and flipped through crisp, yellowing pages that told the tales of so many battles and so many victories. In it, thousands had been reborn into the heroes our city so desperately needed.
But Scribe had always overlooked me.
There was a reason for that.
My wandering took me to a blank page. I set the lever on the pen and began to write, my letters long and flowy instead of the usual hard, block print that I used on scientific scripts or on the orders I set to be fulfilled. It only felt right to do it that way.
There was a harsh pop of air to my right and I smacked the pen down, satisfied. I would have one hell of an explanation to face, but it was worth it. If I had to be out in the open to make the world a better place, so be it. I'd take the chance that came with it.
After all, just because you had powers didn't mean that you had to serve the Alliance.
"Finally," she said. "So how has Sosie been treating my brother?"
I smiled, patted the chair next to me, and sat Isabella Reed down to explain the past three years to her.
We had a hell of a lot of catching
up to do.
About the Author
Katelyn Beckett is the kind of woman who likes her coffee black, her stories dark, and her heroines strong. When not writing, she's usually busy adding to an endless pile of useless knowledge such as exactly how much force a couch can withstand and how to break out of cable ties. Katelyn writes Reverse Harem Romance with Happily Ever After endings guaranteed... eventually.
You can find Katelyn on Twitter @Kbeckettloves
Or on Facebook at Katelyn Beckett’s Lovelies
Looking for another sweet temptation? Click here to head back to Katelyn’s author page to find something else to make your toes curl
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Epilogue
About the Author
Allied: A Superhero Reverse Harem Romance (The PTB Alliance Book 3) Page 19