Belle Fury: Manhatten Ten, Book 3 (10 page)

I can go back.
 

Chapter Nine

Red Ruin

I sat in Tank’s office, trying not to project, but my head spun with Belle. I was only scratching her surface, and I wanted more. I wanted everything.

“Everything?” Tank lifted an eyebrow.

“Get out.” I put my hands on my temples, as if it would make a difference. It was the thought that counted.

“Then rein it in. Didn’t you want to talk business?”

“You’re talking business now?”

“Relax.” Tank leaned back in his chair. “You make a good leader.”

“Screw you.” I didn’t need all of Tank’s responsibilities heaped onto mine.

“You handled everything as well as I could,” Tank said. “Better, maybe.”

“Right.” I wasn’t buying that one.

“Really. After everything with Jenny, I feel like I’ve built too much of this job around my powers.” Tank tapped a finger to his temple. “Powers can go away.”

“What? You have a fight with your girl?” Jenny was the only way that would happen, and she’d take away everyone else’s before Tank’s.

“No. But we thought we knew everything. Turns out we don’t.”

“Not half.” Everything changed after Belle.

“Shit.” Tank tensed forward as the door blew open.

A cloud of energy swirled around Belle. She cast me an icy glance that froze me to my chair.
What happened?

Jenny came in on her heels. “She wants me to take her powers.”

My stomach bottomed. Shit, indeed. I’d thought she’d change her mind, but that was before I knew her better. I hadn’t realized she’d bump into Jenny so soon.
 

“Do we need to debate it?” Belle’s hands fisted and the swirls of energy pooled around them.

This is all you, brother
. Tank’s spoke in my mind.
She’s pissed.

Like I need you to tell me.
Belle wouldn’t even look at me. That was a shot to the gut, especially after such a perfect morning. “Belle—”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Her shoulders hunched in.

“Because it would be like cutting off your arm. We have no idea what it could do to you.” It
would
sap her strength and weaken her, maybe permanently. What she was already dealing with was bad, but it could sure as hell get worse. “You can’t live with half yourself.”

“Better half of me than none.” Belle finally met my gaze. “Maybe you all think I’m crazy because I don’t want this life, but all I’ve ever wanted to do is dance. After everything I’ve sacrificed, I don’t care about losing powers I never wanted.”

Damn it
. “Dance isn’t the issue here. This could hurt you, Belle.”
 

And that would hurt me.

“I’ll take the risk. Please.” She directed the last toward Jenny.
 

“I understand.” Jenny touched Belle’s shoulder. She must’ve been using one of her own powers, because Belle’s restless energy quieted. “I’ll try this, but no one’s ever volunteered before, and I can’t guarantee you can get the powers back if you change your mind. Sometimes they do what they want.”

“You can keep them.” Belle took a deep breath and the rest of her power faded. “What do I do?”

“Close your eyes.” Jenny put her hands on Belle’s shoulders.

I wouldn’t watch.

“No.” I tried to shove between them, but a wall of air pushed me back to the couch.

From Jenny? Tank? My lightning crackled against the force. “You can’t run away from who you are.”

“Leave me alone, Ruin,” Belle said.

Ruin.
She always called me Ryan. And those were her powers shoving me away. The last time she used them would be to push me out of her way.
 

I threw myself again, but Tank’s powers snagged me.

What the fuck?

Let me try
, he said.

“Belle.” Tank spoke, and Belle turned her head. The rest of their conversation was mental. I strained against Tank’s hold, but it wouldn’t break.

Belle nodded. “I haven’t changed my mind.”

Jenny sighed. “Here goes.”

“Don’t.” I couldn’t move. Couldn’t stop this huge mistake. “Please, Belle.”

“Do it.” She closed her eyes.

Jenny kissed her. It was just a peck. A brush of lips. I couldn’t see what happened or how Jenny did what she did. All I felt was the numbness spreading through my veins.

Belle sagged and Jenny caught her in her arms. “It’s done.”

Belle

Jenny’s kiss was like a week of performances rolled into a second. I barely had the energy to stand.

I felt…empty.

The biggest motion I could manage was a finger wiggle. When I did it, nothing happened. No waves of power, no destruction.

Normal.

I can be normal again.
 

A burst of joy gave me the energy to stand without Jenny’s support. “It’s all gone?”

“All of it.” Jenny waved a hand, and a blur of power—my power—spun away, shaking Tank’s desk.

“Can someone send my things back to my apartment?” I needed to get out as soon as possible. If I had to look at Ruin again…I didn’t know how I felt about that yet. Still betrayed, and that was enough to keep from looking back.

“We’ll take care of it.” His voice continued on in my head.
You don’t have to leave right away. You can stay as long as you need.

I need to leave now
. Before conversations in my brain and super powers felt any more mundane. Before any of my old life slipped away. “I want to get back to the studio as soon as I can.”

It wasn’t like me, but I hugged Jenny. “Thank you.” We’d already kissed and she’d given me my life back.

“If you change your mind…”

“I won’t.” I gave them all a parting wave and strode out of the office.

Ryan followed. I could see him in the corner of my eye and feel his energy. He wasn’t crackling, but without my own powers, I sensed the sheer energy of him and shivered. This would be what a superhero felt like to a normal girl.
 

Did I have any business being with him now?

I didn’t want to throw Ryan away, but he’d managed to mislead me about the one thing that hurt the most. I couldn’t talk to him yet.

“Don’t do this.” I tried to block him out of the elevator, but it was nothing for him to push me aside. As soon as the doors shut, he slammed a hand against the panel. Angry red lightning jolted from his fingertips into the elevator’s circuits. We weren’t going anywhere until he let go.

“You don’t have to leave.”

“I kinda do. Stop messing with the elevator.”

Lightning climbed Ryan’s arms. “I should’ve told you the truth about Jenny, but you weren’t in the best frame of mind back then. No super would throw away their powers.”

“I already did.”

“I don’t think you can go back that easy, Belle.” Ryan moved toward me, crackling with so much power he was almost a flame.

I backed into the corner, but there was nowhere to escape. “I could go if you’d get out of the elevator.” He was so close the hairs on my arms lifted.

“Forget the powers.” Ryan braced his arms around me, not touching, but trapping as he filled my nose with ozone. “Don’t we have something worth keeping?”

My pulse fluttered.
Probably
.

But not right now. Not when the hurt was so fresh.

“Was I starting to care about you?” I slipped under his arm and backed into the opposite corner. “Yes.”

I couldn’t deny that. “But I’m not one of you anymore, and I can’t be here right now.”

“So what? We were just playing around all that time?” His arm dropped and cold lightning filled his eyes.

“You tell me.”

“I wasn’t.” Ryan’s voice softened.

That warmed me a little, but it wasn’t keeping me in the elevator. I needed to get back to my world and see what was left. “You’re as much about your job as I am mine. How would you feel if you had to leave? I want to get back.” I lifted a hand before he could argue. “I’m not saying it’s over. I need to think for a while.”

“I
am
sorry,” Ryan said. “But this isn’t the right choice. Not for either of us.”

If only I could agree. “Just let me breathe, Ryan. This is too much, too fast, and I think I lost some part of myself along the way.” In reality, I was always working or on the road. I didn’t hang around, waiting for my boyfriend. I’d enjoyed our time together, but I needed to make sure we had something real, and it wasn’t an illusion I’d created to help me through a hard time.

“You’re not lost.” He stepped aside. “You know exactly where you belong.”

I ducked past him and made it out of the elevator without looking back, but I didn’t feel close to victorious. I could say that I didn’t need a complicated relationship in my life, but Ryan was already dug in. I needed to do some deep breathing, and then I could figure out where he fit.

All I needed was my purse and a few essentials. My phone was destroyed, but I had my keys. Did I still have an apartment? I’d only been away a week, but I’d definitely missed a rent payment. How long did it take to get evicted?

On my way out, I grabbed one of Ryan’s massive hoodies and slipped it over my outfit. For camouflage. Not because I’d miss the smell of him.

Nope.

No one recognized me—if anyone was supposed to care anymore. I caught a cab and thought about stopping back at the apartment which may or may not have evicted me, but why waste time?
 

It felt like years since I’d been to the studio. The same old scent of sweat and glass cleaner hit me as I opened the door. My botched
Giselle
was a lifetime ago. This was home.

“Belle?” The receptionist dropped her pen. “We didn’t think you’d be back…”

“Neither did I. “

“Are you still…?” She didn’t know what to call it.
 

“All gone. I’m back.”

“Oh.” Vivi punched something into her phone—either letting the director know I was here or avoiding my eyes. “You’ll have to talk to Steven.”

So they’d called in an understudy. Anger bubbled up, but so did my drive. Whoever she was, I could out-dance her.

It was three o’clock, and that meant rehearsal in Studio A. Time to kick the bitch off my throne. “I’ll let myself in.”

The muffled music made my spine tingle. I didn’t doubt my abilities, but even if it felt like years had passed, it had only been a few days since I destroyed the show and almost killed our entire company.
Nobody’s forgetting that.
I could almost hear Ivory telling me to breathe. After one big inhale, I pushed the door open.
 

At full blast, the music hit me like a piano. Everyone on the fringes turned my way in varying degrees of horror, but the principals didn’t miss a step. Didn’t even notice me.

Aaron danced the
pas-de-deux
with a skeletal blonde whose neck and leg stretched for days. She wasn’t from the company. Where…

Russia.

Goddamn. Katrina Jesky? We were importing them from Moscow now?

If she weren’t wearing
my
costume, I might’ve admired her long, clean lines. And that extension.
 

She’d make an excellent understudy.

This was still my company, and no way was she horning in. I’d worked too hard.

Shucking off the baggy sweatshirt, I made my way to the sound system. Steven had noticed me. Some director. He should’ve come over as soon as I walked in.

If they weren’t going to welcome me, then I’d welcome myself. I flicked the speakers off. The music cut and the dancing pair made a few awkward steps before they realized. Katrina gasped.

“Belle?” Aaron backed away. I’d almost blown him up, so I couldn’t hold a grudge. “What are you doing?”

“Great question.” Steven folded his arms. “You owe me a new stage.”

“Dock my salary.” I’d be dead before I made up the cost. I folded my arms right back at him. It was totally my fault, but I wasn’t giving him an inch. If I showed any weakness, I’d be out on my ass.

“I would, but your hero friends are taking care of it. Care to explain why you’re gracing us with your super presence?”

“Are you still a hazard?” Katrina’s accent was barely there. Just a flirty little roll to her Rs. Not cute. Not her business.

“I’m cured. They’re real problem solvers, those Manhattan Ten.” And money throwers, apparently. What did it cost to repair a landmark?
 

“They can do that?” Aaron took back the step he’d retreated. That was a start.

“I’m pretty sure they can do anything they want.” It was nice to be out of fantasyland. “Including strip my powers.”

“How?” Now Katrina folded her arms. Wasn’t it just a stubborn party? But someone was realizing her cushy headline by-invitation was about to disappear.

“Does it matter?” They didn’t need to know about Jenny. She hadn’t said anything, but her gift was better left secret. People didn’t need to know the girl was like an ATM for superpowers. Deposits and withdrawals. Not that I planned to cash out.