And I thought about that baby with my eyes.
I thought about what that meant a lot.
CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT
I cameout of the shower and strained, thinking I was imagining hearing voices.
Just a little while ago, Alex and I had been downstairs eating chicken tacos in front of the television with the second Electro-Man movie, calledElectro-Man United,playing on the TV. It was the movie where they’d introduced his secret brother, a smart-ass that simply called himself Steelflyer. It was my favorite movie. The two actors had such incredible chemistry. I’d tried my best to watch it at least. I’d been lost in my thoughts for half of it, and I was pretty sure he had too from the faces he’d made when I’d peeked and caught his attention already on me.
Mine happened to revolve around him.
I knew it was a waste of time to like him. My heart was being dumb by speeding up every time we were together. My brain had better things to do than try and put this puzzle that was our pasts and why we’d met together.
But it happened anyway.
The second the credits started rolling, I’d trudged upstairs to shower, hearing the quiet rumble of Alex’s voice as he spoke to someone on the phone. Who he was talking to or what he was talking about was beyond me. He’d been awfully quiet since our snow day, and it hadn’t escaped me that he still hadn’t gone back to “work.” I guessed he was still trying to make a decision about his future, but I had a feeling it had to do more with him not being totally healed yet than him not wanting to continue being a member of the Trinity.
So I was surprised to come out and hear voices other than just his.
I yawned and peeked at the alarm clock on the nightstand. 9:28. I was still taking my time showering, making sure not to get water on my face unless I splashed it myself. I had been spoiling myself by taking a bath every other day, alternating it with a shower. Getting my face wet had gotten slightly easier, but I meantslightly. I still breathed heavily the whole time, and my heart beat crazy enough that Alex had come and knocked on the bathroom door a few times to ask a random question while I was in there. I knew what he was doing though. He was checking up on me. Distracting me.
Tugging my sleep pants up a little higher on my hips, I snagged the oversized sweatshirt I’d taken out of Alex’s library that he’d left hung over a chair. I slipped it on, grabbed my multi-tool from the top of the dresser, and moved toward the doorway in my socks, still hearing the slight murmur of talking coming from down the hall.
I hesitated. Should I stay in my room? It sounded like they were in the library.
“Gracie,” Alex’s voice called out.
Busted. Always busted. I forgot I couldn’t get away with anything here. I’d started muffling my farts and turning on the exhaust fan so that he wouldn’t hear me being human so easily.
I made my way toward the library and stopped before I went in. Alex was there, but so were two other heads. Both of them stood and turned toward me.
One of them was long and lean, his blond hair cut short. He was handsome, but it was his bright blue eyes that were the most amazing. They were just like Selene’s. And the other person…
The other…
The woman was sitting in the spot perpendicular to the chair Alex was on. Her hand was on the armrest, her body angled toward him. I felt like the biggest country bumpkin in the land, standing there in his sweatshirt, oversized flannel pajama pants, and socks, my damp hair probably making me look like a drowned rat.
And she was there, in a turtleneck, her hair pulled back into a bun, being just as ethereal as Alex.
“Hi,” I said, suddenly more awake than I’d ever been. “I’m Gracie.” My voice broke, and I tried to glue it back instantly. They already knew that. Idiot. I cleared my throat and focused on the man first. “Hi, Robert.” That’s what everyone called him after all.
The blond man smiled so bright and sweet, it instantly made me happy. “Nice to finally meet you, Gracie.”
The being known as The Centurion, with his gold and red suit, held his hand out, and I took it. I shook it. Low, cool power flowed from his pores as he smiled a little more before letting go.
Then I turned.
The woman held out her hand just as I pulled away from her brother. Another bright, shining smile came over her mouth, and I almost fainted from intense fangirling. “I’ve heard so much about you. I’m Alana.”
She knew my name.
The words got stuck in my fucking throat. It took me two tries to say, “Hello, madam… Miss Primordial… Alana.”
What was wrong with me?
She took my hand, her already big smile getting even bigger, and I’d swear a breeze swept into the room because it sure seemed like her hair flowed backward for a second.
But it was the big head that popped around the side of her body, giving me the flattest, most incredulous look he’d ever given me, and that was saying something because he’d given me some crazy looks in the time we’d known each other, that snapped me out of it. Alex’s mouth was cracked, but somehow the corners were tilted just a little. “What did you call her?”
