by Kelly Oram
I smiled to myself. I knew he was going to be excited about my plan. You see, the last time I superkissed Ryan and passed him my energy, he ended up catching a falling tree with his bare hands and tossing it like a toy. The reining theory is that my powers come from my energy. When I pass that energy to Ryan, it temporarily gives him my powers as well. He’s begged me every single day since it happened to experiment with this, but, like I said, I’ve put a ban on pumping him full of mutant energy.
“I superkissed you earlier,” I explained. “You should be feeling pretty charged up right now, right? Why don’t we test your Super Ryan theory and supersneak into the ICU?”
Ryan gasped when he got it. “Are you serious?”
“Why not? The damage has already been done. May as well give it a try, right? It’s either that or you don’t sleep a wink tonight.”
Ryan glanced at the hospital and then back at me. I could read the curiosity and excitement on his face, but there was an equal amount of nervousness there. I couldn’t blame him for being a little anxious, but I still teased him. “Why, Ryan Miller, are you scared?”
He didn’t take the bait. “What if it doesn’t work?”
“Then we look a little silly running toward the doors and we go back to my dorm.” I grabbed his hand into mine and gave it a slight tug. “Come on. Let’s go visit Mike.”
We walked back through the hospital lobby, me smiling at the suspicious Joy as we made our way to the elevators. Once we got to the third floor we waited until someone in scrubs was buzzed through the secure doors.
I took off, dragging Ryan with me at superspeed. Before Ryan even had time to register what was happening we slipped through the door behind the doctor, circled behind the nurse’s station, looked up Mike’s room number, and were standing in front of Mike’s door.
I beamed at my boyfriend, because as much as I was adamant about not charging him up, it was so amazing to have him being super right alongside me.
Ryan looked startled, but he was grinning from ear to ear. “It worked!” he whisper-squealed. “I told you it would work! We are so going to the Grand Canyon now!”
I told Ryan once that my favorite place to visit is the Grand Canyon. I love the peace and quiet of it, and the sunsets can’t compare with anywhere else on the planet. Ryan has been trying to talk me into a camping trip ever since.
“Sure,” I said. “Book a plane ticket and we’ll go.”
“But, Jamie, it worked!”
“I know,” I said and took a breath. “So let’s forget about experimenting with powers and go see Mike before someone realizes we aren’t supposed to be here and kicks us out.”
Ryan rolled his eyes but he couldn’t really argue. The reminder of his reason for being here made him forget about the powers and brought back his wariness.
“What are we going to say if his parents are in there?” Ryan asked.
I listened for a minute and shook my head. “I don’t hear them. Maybe they went on a coffee run or something. It is pretty late.”
“Okay,” Ryan said in a small voice. He stared at the door with dread and determination.
He was braver than I was. I was closer to the doorknob but I couldn’t turn it. Ryan had to do the honors. Then he had to physically drag me in the room. I didn’t look up until I felt Ryan stumble to an abrupt halt. I gasped at what I saw and had to swallow back bile. My entire stomach seemed to be trying to escape my body via my throat.
Mike was barely recognizable. Both legs were in casts as well as one arm. He had more wires and tubes sticking out of him than someone plugged into the Matrix, and every inch of his visible skin was black and blue. Death probably would have looked better.
My fault.
The lights in the halls flickered and then all of the machines hooked up to Mike blitzed for a moment. I had to get a grip or I’d start killing patients. “I have to go,” I whispered.
I shot out of there before Ryan even had a chance to respond.
. . . . .
By the time Ryan found me in my room, my eyes were bloodshot from all the tears I’d shed. Thank goodness I wasn’t splotchy with snot running everywhere. I was certainly crying hard enough for that, but someone in the heavens had decided to take pity and make me one of those pretty criers.
I suppose it was the least He could do after turning me into a mutant superpowered freak. It’s a good thing too because I’ve always been emotional. My schoolmates may have deemed me an ice queen, but to my parents I will always be a drama queen.
There was a time after the accident, when I was in super ice queen mode, that nothing bothered me. I was completely numb from everything. Frozen, if you will. I didn’t cry for over a year. But then Ryan Miller came along with his buckets of sunshine and warm fuzzies, determined to thaw me out. Since then, I seem to be making up for lost time with the crying. It’s ridiculous. I was starting to get better, but this whole Mike thing was proving to be a huge setback in my progress.
Ryan’s whispered voice echoed through the quiet room. “Jamie?”
“I’m here,” I muttered from beneath a mound of blankets.
Moments later I felt my bed sag and then warmth spread through me when Ryan’s body practically enveloped me. He curled himself around every part of me that he was physically capable of as if to shield me from everything but him.
Have I mentioned before how much I love Ryan Miller?
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, shattering the stillness that had settled over us. “I know you needed me there, but I was about to fry the place and I’ve already caused enough damage for one day.”
Ryan tightened his grip on me and nuzzled his face in my neck. “What’s going on with you? You haven’t lost control this much since we first met. Not that you’d want to see Mike hurt, but the two of you aren’t exactly close, so why are you this upset?”
“Because I didn’t stop it,” I said. My admission set my tears off again.
I hadn’t wanted to tell Ryan. Obviously he knew I didn’t prevent the accident, but he hadn’t put together the implications of that yet. He wouldn’t have either. To him, my superpowers are kind of like a fun toy.
There’s nothing fun about knowing you could have saved someone’s life and chose not to.
“The accident,” I said when Ryan didn’t immediately understand what I was saying. “I didn’t stop it. I didn’t save him.”
And then he understood. “Jamie,” he started in a gentle but stern tone.
“I could have. I could have pulled him to safety. I had time, but I didn’t do it.”
“What happened to Mike was not your fault. He was drunk, Jamie. He was responsible for his own actions.”
“Doesn’t change the fact that I let him get hurt.”
“You couldn’t have stepped in,” Ryan argued. “It was a crowded intersection full of witnesses. People would have seen you. It would have exposed you.”
I wished I could believe that was the reason I didn’t act. “If it was you or Becky I would have done it,” I said. That was the absolute truth. “If it were my parents, I wouldn’t have hesitated. I might have even done it if it were a stranger. I have done it for a stranger before. But it was Mike. It was Mike, and I hate him, so I didn’t save him. I’m awful.”
I started crying again. I was ashamed. What I’d done was heartless, selfish, and vengeful. I really was the ice queen everyone claimed I was. “I may as well have pushed him in front of that car myself.”
Ryan rolled me over, forcing me to look at him. I wiped my eyes and was surprised to find anger in his. “Stop,” he said. “I’m not going to let you do this to yourself. You know very well that isn’t true. You are not the monster you think you are. You didn’t hurt Mike. You acted in self-preservation and there is nothing wrong with that.”
“But Ryan, I—”
“No! You remembered what happened last time you saved someone. You knew how much danger that put you in—how much danger it put your parents in. And me. I was almos
t killed because of it.”
I frowned. “That does not make me feel any better.”
“You did the right thing,” Ryan insisted. “I know what you’re thinking, but you didn’t let him get hurt out of spite. You know how I know?”
“How?” My disbelief was obvious.
“Because you didn’t kill Edwards when he hurt me. You could have—you would have been justified—but you didn’t. And you’ve never hurt Carter as many times as he’s made you want to. You aren’t friends with Mike, but if you could have safely helped him today without endangering everyone you love, you would have done it.”
I wasn’t so sure, but I could see his point, and it did make me feel a little less guilty.
“You’re a good person, Jamie.” Ryan gave me a soft kiss on my tear-salted cheek. “You’re beautiful inside and out. The proof is right… here…”
Ryan rolled me onto my back and pressed me into the mattress beneath him as he gave me a long, searching kiss. Just when I thought I would lose control again and turn him into a walking battery, he removed his mouth from mine and leaned up only far enough to let me see the grin on his face.
“How is your kissing me proof that I’m a good person?” I asked just to be difficult. He’d already obliterated my depression.
Ryan’s smile grew even bigger and his eyes sparkled with mischief. “Because I could have any girl I want, and despite being surrounded by beautiful college girls all the time, I only want you. And I would never want someone who wasn’t the very best person on the planet.”
My eyebrows flew sky high. “Excuse me? Surrounded by beautiful college girls all the time? You—”
Ryan cut me off with another kiss. A deep, lustful one that sent shivers rocketing through my body, erasing any argument I’d been tempted to have.
Ryan Miller has never played fair.
Two minutes later the lamp beside my bed exploded.
Ryan groaned and then climbed off me. “I should go,” he said as he attempted to smooth the static electricity out of his hair. So much for not pumping him full of mutant energy. “It’s been a long day and I really need a shower.”
“I suppose you’re right,” I said, sighing as I followed him to the door.
Ryan lingered in the doorway and pulled me to him for one last kiss. “You going to be okay?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “I just… What am I supposed to do the next time it happens? I can’t stand by and watch someone get hurt like that again. There’s no way. But I can’t just give up my secret either.”
Ryan, ever the optimist, said, “We’ll figure something out.”
“Like what?”
I sounded desperate and slightly panicked, but Ryan smiled at me, completely serene. “Don’t know yet, but something. Trust me.” He smirked then and added, “If I could help the Ice Queen solve her problems, then I can certainly help Jamie Baker.”
He had a point.
Not that I was going to admit that to him.
Kelly Oram wrote her first novel at age fifteen–a fan fiction about her favorite music group, The Backstreet Boys, for which family and friends still tease her. She’s obsessed with reading, talks way too much, and loves to eat frosting by the spoonful. She lives outside of Phoenix, Arizona with her husband and four children. Connect with Kelly through social media: Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and Blog.
Table of Contents
TITLE
ALSO BY KELLY ORAM
COPYRIGHT
DEDICATION
THE PROPHECY
PROLOGUE
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
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
EPILOGUE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
SNEAK PEEK - MORE THAN JAMIE BAKER
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
