by Kelly Oram
“There aren’t many people in this world I really care about. The list of people I trust is even shorter.”
Teodoro raised his hands up in surrender, flashing his dimples as if he knew they softened people’s defenses. “Hopefully soon you’ll be able to add my name to that list.” His eyes glinted with humor. “If you can remember it, that is.”
He sobered up suddenly and gave me a very sincere smile. “I’ll take every caution with your friend tonight, and I’ll get her back safely. You have my word.”
It was enough. I believed him. “Thank you.”
Ryan gave me a suspicious look once he and Becky finally joined us. He pulled me against him and smiled at Teodoro. “So, has she threatened to end your life if you hurt Becky yet?”
Teodoro threw his head back and released a loud laugh.
“Am I really so predictable?” I grumbled.
“Only when it comes to your temper,” Ryan promised, kissing the frown off my face. He looked to Teodoro and said, “Word of advice? Don’t disappoint Jamie. It can be hazardous to your health.”
Teodoro raised a curious brow. “Speaking from experience?”
“Hardly. Jamie’s way too smitten to ever be disappointed in anything I do.”
“Smitten?” I asked dryly.
“Yeah, you know. Besotted? Infatuated? Obsessed? Head over heels in love with me?”
“Like you are with yourself?” I deadpanned, laughing despite myself.
Ryan grinned. “There’s the smile I’ve been waiting for. I knew you had one in you somewhere.”
I gave up and wrapped my arms around Ryan’s waist like the “smitten” girlfriend that I was. “I love you.”
“D-R-I-S-C-O-L-L,” Ryan spelled for the hospital receptionist. “Mike Driscoll. He was brought in this afternoon after a car accident.”
The woman behind the desk sighed, as if having to type in a patient’s name was the world’s biggest inconvenience. I wanted to throttle her. My boyfriend’s best friend could be dead, and this lady was giving him attitude because he’d interrupted her study of Us Weekly.
I cleared my throat and glared at the woman. She didn’t seem impressed, but she did answer Ryan. “Driscoll, Mike. Yeah, he’s here. He’s in the ICU.”
Ryan took a deep breath. I squeezed his hand in mine. “At least that means he’s not dead.”
“You’re right.” Ryan forced a smile at the miserable nurse. “How is he? Do you know if he’s going to be okay?”
The woman sighed and removed her glasses from her face. “I can only give that information to immediate family.”
“I’m his sister,” I said quickly.
Nazi Nurse didn’t miss a beat. “Sure, you are.” She picked up her magazine again and mindlessly waved us off. “Have a good day, you two.”
I seriously wanted to kill the woman. I was so mad that I lost control of my power for the second time that night. A burst of energy surged from my body, causing all the lights in the building to flicker.
Ryan shot me a sharp look that I ignored.
The receptionist looked up at the lights curiously, and then realized Ryan and I were still standing there. When she raised her brow I said, “Where’s the ICU?”
“Third floor,” she answered. “But again, only immediate family is allowed to visit.”
I glanced at the woman’s name tag and smiled sweetly. “Joy. Such a nice name. A bit ironic, but pretty.”
The woman sighed again. “Watch out, we’ve got a live one here, folks!” she droned in a flat voice.
The lights flickered again and Ryan grabbed my hand. “Come on, Jamie,” he whispered. “I’ll just keep trying his parents.” He forced a polite smile at the receptionist and said, “Thank you.”
If you ask me, the woman didn’t deserve Ryan’s gratitude.
As Ryan tugged me toward the exit, the phone on the troll’s desk began to ring. I sent a wave of electricity its way. When the woman picked up the receiver, she yelped and dropped it.
Ryan looked at me, but I just shrugged and dragged him out of the building. We got about ten paces before Ryan stopped me. “Jamie, what’s going on with you?”
“What?” I snapped. “She was awful!”
“But zapping her?”
“It’s not like it hurt,” I grumbled. “Much.”
“What’s wrong? This isn’t like you.”
I laughed harshly. “Hello, I’m the Ice Queen. Or have you forgotten?”
“Fine.” Ryan sighed and let go of my hand. “If that’s how you’re going to be, then I’m going home.”
“What? Why? You just got here.”
“I can’t handle the Ice Queen right now, all right? My best friend almost died today. I really, really need my girlfriend right now. Would you please call me if you see her?”
In that moment, I realized exactly how much I didn’t deserve Ryan Miller.
Ryan is the equivalent of rainbows and sunshine and all things fluffy wrapped up in an extremely gorgeous package. If he were a superhero, he’d be Happy Go Lucky Man and his power would be the ability to kill you with kindness. Ryan never gets mad. Like, ever. Especially not at me. But he was definitely angry right then.
If I was the Ice Queen, then Ryan was officially the Guilt King. I felt so bad that he didn’t even get a step away from me before there were tears in my eyes.
“Ryan, wait. I’m sorry. You’re right. I’m not dealing with this very well.”
Ryan wrapped his arms around me and sighed heavily. “No more Ice Queen?”
“No more Ice Queen.” I buried my head in his shoulder. “I promise. From now on, I’m Jamie Baker—loving, supportive, supergirlfriend.”
“Oh? Does Supergirlfriend come with a costume?”
I groaned. Ever since Ryan learned about my powers, he’s had sick fantasies about dressing me up like Wonder Woman. So not happening.
“Nice try.”
Ryan’s answering sigh started out playful but ended up as heavy as his heart felt. I hated seeing him so upset, and suddenly I knew exactly how to cheer him up. “Do you want to go see Mike?” I asked.
“Of course I do, but you heard what the lady said. We aren’t immediate family.”
I shrugged. “She can’t stop us if she can’t catch us. You got your running shoes on?”
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 reigning 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 in 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 had 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 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 into 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 and one arm were in casts. He had more wires and tubes sticking out of him than someone plugged into the Matrix, and every inch of his skin that was visible was black and blue. Death probably would have looked better.
My fault.
The lights in the halls flickered and 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, 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 the Big Guy Upstairs 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 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. 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 against 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 hurt Mike, 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 but chose not to.
“The accident,” I explained 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. 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 were you or Becky, I would have done it.” 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 almost 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 Mr. 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.
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 sighed 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 serenely. “I don’t know yet, but something. Trust me.” He smirked and then 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.
If possible, Mike looked even closer to death the next day when I went back to see him. His swelling was worse and his bruises deeper, but at least this time the shock of his condition wasn’t so bad I was resetting pacemakers every five seconds.
I don’t know what possessed me to go back, but it was as if I were compelled. I couldn’t stay away. I’d waited until his parents left again for dinner and then slipped into his room.
His heavily medicated, unconscious state seemed deceivingly peaceful. He looked relaxed, vulnerable. He seemed younger and less of an idiot than he really was. I felt a million times guiltier than I had the day before when he was just the drunk jerk who’d hurt my best friend.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “Ryan says I did the right thing by not exposing myself, but he’s wrong. I should have saved you.”
I wished I’d stood by and not acted because I was thinking of Ryan, Becky, and my parents. The truth is, I’d just been scared. I’d stayed my hand because I didn’t want to be exposed to the world. I didn’t want people to know the truth about me.
