"No." The names on their birth certificates were much duller than the ones they'd assumed. It had taken years to get used to calling each other by the false ones.
"Draco, what are you saying?"
He looked down into Wendy's trusting brown eyes and he knew what he had to do. "Powers, Inc . is most likely over. You and I both know it." She started to interrupt but he silenced her by shaking his head. "Someone is always going to want to kill me and I can't have a soft underbelly anymore. If they want me, let them come and get me. I won't be responsible for another beheading or some other terrible death."
"How can that happen? You live in the world. You've created personal relationships." Wendy pointed to the room with Kyle. "He doesn't matter."
"You're right, he doesn't." He nodded. "Other people do. I'm sorry, Wendy. I can't do this anymore. I can't be what you need me to be. I won't have someone I can lose to a psychopath with a machete and a bad case of inflated ego. Next time, I might not make it on time."
"Are you ending whatever this is between us?"
"I'm ending all of it." He stepped back, suddenly feeling, above all else, he had to get away from her before he suffocated from the need to have her. She could get killed being his girlfriend. That would be a mistake he couldn't take back.
He saw tears swim in Wendy's eyes and he looked away. "Ace." He shouted into the next room, not surprised to find his brother already stood in the doorway, clearly listening where he should have minded his own business.
"Are you out of your mind, Draco?"
He stared at his brother. "Take her home. Call the police to get these guys." There was nothing more to say. It was bad enough he'd always worry about Ace.
If he didn't get away from Wendy now before he got too attached to walk away, he'd be destroyed. Separation was the only answer. Even if doing so killed him.
****
He was ten miles outside New York City when his cell phone rang, dragging him out of his
dark thoughts. Sighing, he landed and tugged the contraption out of his pocket. It wasn't a number he recognized. He was leery, but finally gave in to curiosity and answered it.
"This is Draco."
He hoped whoever was on the other end wasn't calling with bad news. He might find a way to reach through the phone and rip out their throat.
"Mr. Powers, this is George Judge from the insurance company."
Draco closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as he spoke. "Judge, I have had a very shitty day.
It might be best if you just give me the bad news and hang up immediately."
"That's the thing, Mr. Powers. I'm not calling to give you bad news." And if the man's tone was any indication, George Judge was not happy about that. "I took your appeal to our board of directors. They seem to agree with Ms. Warner's opinion that the destruction of your building was the result of an act of terrorism and that you are covered under those circumstances."
"You're going to cover the expenses to rebuild the building?"
"We're going to pay to put the building back to where it was before the incident."
Draco went silent. It seemed impossible. He'd had to fight for everything he'd ever achieved.
His father had left when he was just a boy; they'd practically starved; he'd had to feed himself and his brother, help their mother, and find time to study because he knew college was the only way he'd ever get out of the hell hole that had become their life. All this and hide his powers from everyone. Now this man was telling him that a company was actually going to give him what they should?
Wendy had been right. Wendy, with her never-ending optimism fueled from her belief in a science fiction television show she had watched as a child. Wendy, whose eyes had filled with tears...who he'd left crying in a warehouse.
He shook his head. No, he couldn't start doubting himself now. It was the right thing to do.
She would be better off without him.
"Mr. Powers, are you going to hurt me?" Judge's nasal voice interrupted his thoughts.
Now, he was used to hearing that phrase. "No, George, you are safe from me." After ending their phone call, he dialed Ace.
"You better be calling to tell me you realized you behaved like a piece of shit.”
“Powers is yours, little brother. They're going to rebuild it. Use it or don't. It's up to you."
He hit the end call button.
****
The kid had been impossibly easy to find. It was amazing the police hadn't been able to locate him. He might not work for Powers, Inc. anymore, but Draco couldn't leave this particular stone unturned. The kid didn't even have a mother because Kyle had blown up her house trying to get to Draco. He didn't have to be a genius to know Kyle had headed up the charity that had sent the flower-obsessed woman his way.
The news reports that had followed the end of Kyle's reign at the Organization had given Ace credit for the take down and Draco was thrilled. He had meant what he said to his brother the last time they spoke. The company was his. He could run it, sell it, or close it down. No longer would he put himself out there in a way that got others hurt. Maybe he'd been okay with it when he'd been twenty-two and convinced of his own invincibility, but no more.
The shelter where he stood housed all kinds of runaways. Most of the kids looked to be boys of about fifteen, Lael's age. But there were some girls and some teenagers who were both younger and older than the young man he'd come to find. As for his particular runaway, Draco couldn't help but think he looked just like Ace had at that age, except for the brown hair.
Lael wore his hair long, past his waist, with a bandana around his head, which must have been some sort of statement Draco was no longer hip enough to interpret.
He moved forward. Today, he'd dressed in some clothes he'd bought at the local K-Mart the day before. Jeans and t-shirts were going to be his staple until he figured out what to do with himself. He didn't blend particularly well with his black silk shirts. It was time to move on.
As he approached, he could hear kids talking. One of them pointed to the small, twenty-inch television with the reception that jumped in and out of focus on the wall.
"He's my favorite. I've always liked the Guardian characters." The kid who sat next to Lael was pierced nearly everywhere Draco could see. "If I could do that, I'd turn back time to save the girl, too. I bet she did him hard because of that."
His coarse remark earned laughs from everyone but Lael, whose foot tapped loudly on the floor. As the laughter died, the boy Draco had come to find shrugged.
"That's not why he did it. He didn't do it to get laid."
"Yeah?" The kid who'd made the remark didn't like being challenged and Draco wondered if
he was about to witness a fight. "Then why'd he do it, genius?"
"He did it because he loved her. He loved her so much he no longer cared what the right thing to do was, what the rules were." Lael looked so sincere it panged Draco's heart. "He knew he wasn't supposed to interfere, but life was intolerable without her in it."
"So I guess you like that ,too?" The other boy had cooled down considerably at Lael's very adult statement.
"Nah, screw that. I used to be into cartoons but now I know it's just all shit." Draco stepped forward. "Why would you say that, Lael?"
At his name, his charge jumped up. The other kids followed suite, and before Draco could blink, they scattered, running off in different directions. Draco wished he could chase them all.
But today he was only here for one boy. He grabbed Lael by the back of the shirt and the kid began to fight him, landing a punch on his jaw that actually hurt. What the—?
"Hey, cool it." He pushed Lael up against the wall, more for the kid's own protection as anything else. "How are you so strong?"
"I'm a freak, okay?" Lael's eyes were wide with terror. "How are you restraining me?"
"I'm a freak too." Draco couldn't help his grin. "It runs in my family. Apparently it runs in yours too."
"You're that guy. You
're Draco Powers."
Draco narrowed his eyes at Lael. His initial impression of Lael having physical similarities to Ace hadn't changed, as he got closer to the kid. "That's one of my names. Let me ask you something, kid, who was your father?"
"He called himself Ben Monroe but I’m not convinced that was his name, really." Lael sighed. "He took off when I was a kid. I have a picture of him in my pocket."
Not wanting to give the kid a chance to run, he held on with one hand and let Lael reach into his pocket to retrieve the photograph. As Lael handed it over, Draco recognized the man in the picture before he really even got a close look at him.
It was his dad. The son-of-a-bitch had left another family behind and the boy he'd been hired to find was his brother.
"I'm afraid I've got some bad news about your mom but some good news about your future."
Chapter Thirteen
She'd thought she knew pain having grown up an orphan. She'd thought she knew pain when she'd been taunted in school for being parentless. She'd thought she knew pain when Kyle had betrayed her and turned out to be a mastermind behind countless deaths. Hell, she'd thought she'd known pain when Draco had broken up with her and left her in the warehouse.
But she hadn't really known pain, not at all.
No, pain was trying to date. She'd promised herself she would no longer sit at home and cry over Draco Powers, whose real name she didn't even know. She couldn't go to Space Adventures meetings any more. They reminded her of her stupid mistake in believing in the show. Humanity wasn't getting better; it was getting worse, and if Kyle's insanity hadn't convinced her, Draco taking off and leaving had.
The date she was on only added credence to the idea.
Dressed as fashionably as she could muster in a black dress that showed more cleavage than she usually allowed, she'd known immediately that her date was disappointed when she'd opened the door. She should have called off the date with "Daniel but call me Danny." Instead, she'd decided to give the night a try. What had he hoped she would look like? Her picture on the dating site hadn't been a lie. Oh well, she inwardly shrugged, nothing she could do about it now and at least the evening was almost over.
She wouldn't have to listen to any more stories of all the women he "banged" or how much money he made. Pleading an early day at work, she'd convinced him to take her home. It hadn't been a lie; her new boss did like her in the office before seven in the morning. Of course, she got to leave by three o'clock, which was a benefit, but still, she was exhausted. The CEO of an airline needed his personal assistant to be available at odd hours. She'd been elated to land the job and hadn't worried she was going to be so tired. Someday she might adjust but not yet.
She'd never been so grateful to see her doorstep as she was now. Turning, she held out her hand to shake Danny's goodbye and jumped at his sharp intake of breath. "What?"
Danny pointed behind her. "Isn't that Draco Powers leaning on your building?" She whirled around. Yes, it was Draco. He stood outside, leaning on the bricks, his arms crossed over his
chest. Dressed in faded dark blue jeans and a white shirt covered by a navy blue blazer, he looked the most casual she'd ever seen him outside of the bedroom.
His eyes, however, blazed with unrestrained dislike and they focused on Danny.
She raised an eyebrow. Well, he could go to hell. "Goodnight Daniel."
Walking toward Draco, she kept her back straight. He hadn't looked at her, his "death glare"
still on Daniel.
"Stop that."
He finally met her gaze. "Who's the guy?”
“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 Guardians. 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 Guardian 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 h
eadache 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 superhuman. 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."
Seductive Powers Page 13
