Reality Hero (5 page)

Zane opened the door. Lights hung off the low wall and a table was set up in the middle of their potted-plant garden. Candles burned low and there were real plates. He’d gone to a lot of work. She had no clue when he’d found time to do all of this.

He went over and pulled out a chair, motioning for her to sit down. “I love you. Di, I promise to take care of you. If the whole city were on fire, I’d come to you if you’d so much as stubbed your toe.”

She rolled her eyes, but deep inside his words stirred a deep, primal need for a protector. Most of the time she didn’t feel safe. She was always looking over her shoulder. Someday those men who’d experimented on her would find her again, but when Zane was with her she felt safe. Love overflowed from her heart. She didn’t know how it was possible to love someone like she loved Zane. Nothing would ever make her stop feeling this way about him—nothing.

He smiled and handed her a bread stick. “For my lady,” he said gregariously.

She shook her head with amusement, but accepted his token. Then she noticed something strange on the stick. She pulled it closer to her face. A ring. He’d actually found money for a real ring. His words weren’t all talk. He really wanted to marry her.

She pulled the precious, simple, gold band off the bread. The gold was inscribed. The words “infinity times ten” were etched into the metal along with their initials. She looked up at him and raised her eyebrow, her head cocking to the side.

“That’s how long I plan to love you, Dina Dell, infinity times ten.” He took the ring out of her limp hand and placed it on the ring finger of her left hand. “Always.”

She swallowed around the lump in her throat. Tears prickled threateningly in her eyes. “Always,” she echoed.

Dina’s alarm went off. She slapped at it hatefully. She seldom dreamed, and when she did, it was usually a nightmare about the hellish dungeon where she’d been tortured for four years of her young life. This dream was a memory of the best day she’d ever enjoyed. Her last week with Zane before she realized staying would kill him. Tears filled her eyes and she curled up on her side, sobbing her heart out.

Chapter 3

Ervin loved her again. He even made the janitor give her back the premium, executive parking spot. All the ad people buzzed around, crazy to promote this historic television extravaganza. Each time someone raved about the idea or praised her, Dina cringed inside. She’d sold out the love of her life for a job she was starting to hate, yet she couldn’t lose the only thing she’d ever felt she was good at—the only thing that made
her
special.

Dina didn’t have the exciting and important business of being a hero after her day’s work, not like the rest of the survivors. She’d remained just what she was—ordinary. Her day of “special” came when she’d landed a job in the mail room at the studio. With hard work, she clawed her way up, and when she’d seen her break, she’d taken it. Catching the wily, old Ervin’s attention hadn’t been easy. He could smell ratings a mile away. She must have stunk of them because he’d taken her under his wing.

Here she was, six years later. She wasn’t a doe-eyed twenty-year-old anymore. She was about to score a career homerun, but she didn’t feel happy. She gazed at the promotional material in front of her. A picture of Zane, all decked out in his Mind Man spandex, smiled up at her. He’d agreed to do the photo shoot on one condition. Dina glanced at the clock. In three hours, she was going to live up to her end of the bargain. Gritting her teeth, she slapped the cover of the portfolio on her desk back down. Dinner with an old friend, it wouldn’t be so bad, or so she told herself. Just a casual bite to eat, at least that was all she was willing to give him. Memories of why she left assaulted her and she closed her eyes, overwhelmed.

Dina was home alone, as usual. She sat curled on the couch, worrying while the others risked their lives patrolling the streets. They’d started helping out in the neighborhood by chance, but now it was becoming a nightly thing. Ella had even made them all costumes, everyone but Dina, the-one-who-wasn’t-good-for-anything-but-worrying. The place they lived in was a dive, but it was better than the squatting in abandoned buildings as they’d done when they’d been younger.

She had to work in the morning, but she couldn’t sleep, not when her sister, boyfriend, and the others were out there in danger. She stood at the window, looking at the city that never gave her loved ones a moment of rest. She needed to find a better job than the gas station, something where she didn’t have to hide behind bulletproof glass and pray she wasn’t going to get robbed.

She barely heard the door opening. They were back early. Relief filled her. The clock told her it was just after midnight. Dina turned to welcome them when hands came around her, pushing her roughly against the wall. A scream burst from her lips, but a strong hand clamped over her mouth. In this neighborhood, it was unlikely anyone would come to help if they’d heard her anyway. Painfully, she struggled as her attacker pushed her brutally against the rough wood paneling.

“Don’t fight me.” His voice was familiar. Ian?

Confusion filled her. He turned her around to face him. Dina looked into the face of the youngest of them, a boy she considered her brother. He took his hand off her mouth.

“Let go of me. What are you doing?” she screamed while glaring at him.

“We’re alone, Di.”

“Don’t call me that.” Only Zane called her by the nickname.

Ian scowled. Dark rage filled his eyes. “Don’t be blind, Dina. I’ve loved you since I was able to understand the emotion. I know you don’t see it yet, but we’re meant to be together. You’d love me if Zane weren’t around. I’m stronger than he is. I may be younger, but my abilities are the best of them all. I’ll take care of you, Dina. Be with me and I’ll give you a life that’ll make up for all the abuse and pain we went through as kids. You’re weak, I need to protect you. I’m seventeen now. I know what I want. You’ve always been the one I love.”

She couldn’t understand why he was saying such crazy stuff.

“Please let me go. I do love you, but like a kid brother. You’re hurting me.” He was strong and she could see the energy running up and down his arms. The way his face scrunched and sweat beaded on his forehead told her he was charging up to use his power of electrical current. Her life hung by a very slender thread. If he lost the small amount of control he had, she’d die instantly.

“I can do things with this. I’m more powerful than the others—than Zane. You’re the weakest, we belong together. I can protect you.”

“Right now the only thing I need protection from is you,” she spat angrily.

“Be with me, Di…or I’ll kill them—him. I’ll take him away from you. Tell me you’ll give me a chance. Have sex with me, you’ll see I’m better.”

She was certain Ian was a virgin, which only made his boastfulness more ridiculous. Normally, she’d have said something sassy, but the crazed look in his eyes kept her silent. She knew enough not to throw water on electricity. His power was unstable, as was his mind. She wasn’t giving him a reason to destroy her.

Pity constricted her heart. Even after what he’d done, she hurt for him. He’d only been six when they’d started experimenting on him. Anger had kept him alive, but it had also twisted him. “Please let me go now. I don’t want this, and I know you don’t want to hurt me,” she whispered quietly.

Hurt and rage filled his eyes. Not a good combination, especially in someone who controlled electricity. Her heart pounded.

“I’m going to have you, Dina. I’m going to have you right now,” he said with a childish edge in his tone.

Ian pinned her again before she could move. He was so fast, so strong. She’d never realized how dangerous he was until now.

“You’re mine.”

She turned her head before he could kiss her mouth. She whimpered as his clammy lips connected with her throat. He sucked and then bit her. Dina screamed. He forced his lips against hers in a brutal kiss.

When he released her mouth she turned her head to the side and spat blood on the floor. “Don’t kill me. I’ll never love you like a woman, but I’ll always love you like a sister.”

She gasped with relief as he pushed her away. Her hand clamped over the wound on her throat. Panting, glad the terrible moment was over, she turned to look at the shaking young man. He looked so vulnerable it broke her heart.

“I’m so sorry, Ian.”

Her tender words didn’t have the desired effect. He moved with unnatural speed, holding her back against the chair. This time he used his human strength, and it was still too much for her. She tried to push him away when he began to kiss her, but he was just so much larger, all muscle and desire. She couldn’t budge him. His erection pressed painfully into her thigh. Terror filled her, tears trailed rivers down her cheeks. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out what was happening. Then his unwelcome weight was gone.

Zane stood toe to toe with Ian, their height equal, neither backing down.

“Ms. Dell, marketing asked me to come and get the proofs if they have your okay.”

She gasped. The messenger interrupted her terrible memory, she was grateful.

“They look great. Tell Jonny he did good.”

The young man nodded and took the portfolio from her hands. He rushed away and she sat back with a sad sigh. Dina ran her hand through her hair and opened her browser. She looked at the station’s website. They’d just updated it again. The hype machine was already working overtime. The studio ran with the idea so quickly. In only four short weeks, her show had gone from idea to anticipated sensation.

Guilt nibbled at her constantly. Staying on top meant standing on Zane’s bleached bones as the media vultures picked him clean. So many times she’d thought about marching into Ervin’s big, plush office. All she had to do was say it had all been a terrible mistake and Mind Man wouldn’t be able to be on the show. Each time she chickened out long before she arrived at his door. She was a coward.

Crime wouldn’t take a vacation, and Zane had a real job too. He was going to have to fit filming a show into his schedule. The whole damn city relied on him. They needed him. As much as she hated him risking his life, what he did mattered. Kids looked up to him. The weak and poor worshiped him. Begrudgingly, the police allowed him to do what he did because they were spread too thin.

She grabbed her purse and headed out the door. It took her the normal twenty minutes to get home and when she arrived, Zane was already there, waiting in the parking lot.

“Sorry, work was crazy—I... Never mind.”

She cringed when he smiled. He didn’t seem the least bit pissed and that only added to her guilt. He wanted something she’d never give him.

“So where are we eating? I’m starved. Should I run and change?” Maybe eating like a linebacker would turn him off.

“No place fancy. You look perfect.”

“Thanks,” she replied stiffly. She needed him to do the show, but didn’t want to let him know her feelings hadn’t died as she’d tried to make him believe. Dina walked the line between pissing him off and being cold carefully. He didn’t seem the least bit fazed, which annoyed her, she was working hard at being a bitch.
Don’t hate me, but don’t love me so damn much.
She just wanted him to be her friend, but not to want what they could never have.

“You’re tense,” he observed.

“Sure. There’s a lot going on. I’m exhausted. Let’s get going.”