Belle Fury: Manhatten Ten, Book 3 (4 page)

Angel was really losing it. How could putting Belle in my guest room ever be a good idea?

I was treating her like glass and tiptoeing around, doing anything I could to keep her from going off again. That was why Tank handled new supers. It was nothing for him to cut off someone’s powers. Belle would’ve been no danger to herself or anyone else if he’d just get his ass back here.

It was too late to call…but no, it wasn’t, was it? Vegas was three hours earlier than us. I grabbed my phone from the nightstand.

The ringer went on and on. I was probably interrupting date night.

Finally, he picked up. “Ruin. How’d it go?” Tank cleared his throat.

Guy never did that. I’d definitely interrupted, and it had to be some kind of man code violation, but some of us had shit to accomplish. “Hey, brother. Brought her in. She’s sleeping it off, but we’re going to be dealing with some major emotional blowout over here.”

“You can handle it.” Jenny’s laugh rang in the background. Glad he was taking this seriously.

“I’m managing, but the girl’s a force of nature. If you don’t come back we’re looking at property damage.”

“Even if I were there, you’d be point on this. You’re the best one to level with her.”

“Right.” Maybe the sexcapades were melting his brain. “The dude with lightning can level with her better than the mind reader can?”

“You’re irritated.” That perked him up. “You into her?”

“That’s the point. She’s fucking hot and she’s sleeping in my guest room. You try not to be irritated.”

“Didn’t Angel—”

“Dude. Angel’s more twisted than I am. You know something’s wrong when her überbrain starts forgetting things.”

“I’ll call her in the morning.”

“Yeah. And maybe try not to have Jenny giggling in the background when you do.”

“Ryan.” He spoke in leader mode, sounding more like my dad than my former college roommate. “You’re the only one of us who really understands what she’s going through. My suppressing her powers won’t help her adjust to her new life, and you’re fully capable of helping her with the control. Still, I’ll get on a plane if you think it’s necessary.”

Damn it. He would too. Then I’d be the asshole who couldn’t handle the responsibility and ruined the only vacation Tank had ever taken in his life. “I can probably hang on. I’ll call if it gets out of hand.”

“I owe you one.”

“Not really.” He’d saved my ass enough times I’d be in debt ’til we both retired.

“It’s only a week. I’ll be back in time for Pan and Ivory’s wedding.”

“Sooner would be fine too.”

“Later, Ryan.”

“Later.” I tossed the phone. I couldn’t begrudge Tank his time away. Count on him to flip me from pissed to feeling like a letdown in three seconds.
 

The wall rocked again and something crashed. Might as well go check on her.

“Belle?” I whispered as I opened the door.

Well,
shit
.

The table lamp lay shattered, but Belle hadn’t woken. She lay tangled in the sheets, and she hadn’t bothered with a nightie.

You’d never guess how short she was with those long dancer’s muscles curving from heel to thigh. And that ass was a masterpiece. My eye followed lines made by God himself, over her hips and slender shoulder blades to the cascade of dark tangles that wet her pillow. The shadowy curve of her breast was just out of sight.

My whole body hardened.

Belle moaned in her sleep and started to roll over. The noise hit me straight in the groin and I pulled the door closed before I got another eyeful. It rattled in its frame as Belle’s energy hit the other side.

Leaning against the wood, I tried to cool down. I’d always been a sucker for dancers, and with Mom’s studio, they’d always been around. Belle was on a whole new level.

I would’ve felt for anyone in her situation, but something about the strength in her caramel brown eyes tugged at me. She’d taken a huge blow and freaked out for a while, but she wasn’t giving up.

Now wasn’t the best time to go after her. Sex plus wild powers equaled disaster every time. I’d had enough of my teenage make-out sessions interrupted by house fires to remember that.
 

If we hooked up, we’d probably tear the building down.

Instead of toughing it out with her nighttime moans, I headed downstairs to the office. Paperwork was just what I needed.

Chapter Four

Belle

When I woke, I stretched so luxuriously my headboard rattled.
Right
.

Welcome back to reality.

I belted on my robe and peeked into the apartment. “Hello? Ryan?” He’d said to come downstairs when I was ready, so I hoped he was busy at the office. I really didn’t want him there while I raided his closet.

I knocked on the closed door. When he didn’t answer, I figured it was safe.

Rumpled sheets covered a massive king-sized bed, but rather than let my imagination take over, I moved to the closet. As soon as the double doors opened, I lost my breath.

Tall mirrored cabinets and an army of custom shelves ran from floor to ceiling. It was a socialite’s dream, and it couldn’t have been more wasted. Ryan had maybe thirty hangers worth of clothes and that gorgeous custom shoe cabinet had five—count them—
five
pairs of footwear.

“Honey, you don’t know what you’re doing.” I gave a wistful sigh and dove into his drawers. He needed a woman, and fast.

I unearthed a pair of sweats with a drawstring and the most shrunken T-shirt I could find. Unfortunately, unless he’d stashed some ex’s panties, I was going commando today. Braless was fine since I didn’t have much there anyway, but I hated going without undies. It was one thing in a sexy dress, but in sweatpants? Ick.

One of the many convenient mirrors confirmed that I looked like a little boy, drowning in Ryan’s clothes, but there was no helping it. I took a deep breath, inhaling the subtle cologne ingrained in the clean shirt.

I grabbed an orange from the bowl of fruit on Ryan’s countertop and headed for the office. At least it’d be empty on a Saturday.

Well, it should’ve been.

The doors opened to cubicle chaos. People bustled everywhere with file folders and cell phones. The mix of chatter and ringing phones hit me like a roar. This was the weekend?

I caught a few looks on my way to Ryan’s office, but no one stared. They were probably too busy for it. Most of the lights in the hero offices were off. Panther’s were on, but I glimpsed a long set of female legs through the panel of glass. Maybe they were doing a different kind of business?

Ruin’s door was open, so I knocked on the frame. “Morning.”

“Morning.” He didn’t look away from his e-mail, so I took a seat on the sofa in the corner and started peeling my orange. I’d be committed to my “training” once it started, but until then I could stall.

“Did you—” Ryan cut off. “Why are you wearing my clothes?”

“Sorry.” I dumped part of the orange peel into the basket. “It was either this or a bath robe.”

“It’s okay. But your stuff didn’t come?” He picked up his phone. I popped an orange segment into my mouth. “Yeah, Angel? When are… Today? Promise? Fine.”

He rubbed his temples. “Someone’s bringing your things over later.”

Tired circles hung under Ryan’s eyes, and he had that glazed look like he’d been staring at the computer screen for hours. “So this is what hero work looks like in real life?”

“You don’t know how much I wish someone would rob a bank right now.” He pushed back his chair. “Coffee. Then we’ll figure out your training.”

As we passed Angel’s empty desk, I caught the picture on one of her monitors. She had it playing news, and apparently that still meant me.

The sound was down, but the headline jumped right out.
Belle Fury, Super Ballerina!

“Super ballerina?” The half-eaten orange in my hand exploded, spraying juice everywhere. “I can’t…”

The coverage scrolled through a litany of speculations. What would I be able to do with my dancey-powers? Would I fight crime in a tutu?
 

Like everything I’d ever done had been in pursuit of my new job as a punch line. I was an internationally acclaimed dancer, but no one cared how many shows I’d starred in now that I was a
hero
. Because wasn’t it soooooo much more important to entertain people with the very idea of me?

“Belle!” Ryan grabbed my shoulder. “Relax.”

The monitors shook and the lights flickered as waves of power shimmered off of me. “Would it make your day better if I trashed a news station?” Or I could rob a bank. I needed to do something.

“Come with me.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me to the elevator.

The physical contact helped me focus. As energy built, I concentrated it into his hand. Red lightning sparked between us, but it didn’t hurt. It tingled like a caress.

“That’s some power.” Ryan squeezed my hand. “Do that, though. I can channel it better than you can.”

I sent him another jolt and he sucked in a breath. Lightning sparked all the way up to his shoulder and the elevator’s lights flickered, but we weren’t in freefall, so that was good. Did it feel the same to him as it did to me? It was like his fingertips stroking up and down my arm.

We went past the garage levels, down to the building’s basement, and the ride was taking too long. Way too long.

The basement was more of a cavern. Ryan pushed me out into a massive underground dome. It had a few bunker windows along the edges and some target-looking things in the middle of the huge space.

“Have at it.” When he let go, my energy surged.
 

“At what?” Swirls danced up and down my arms and I wasn’t even moving.

“Destroy some stuff. You’ll feel better.”
 

That was a plan.

I sprinted to the middle of the dome. My blood would boil if I didn’t purge the tension from my system.

So far, I’d been too afraid to test what I was up against, but now I needed to work it out. As my arms and legs pumped, whorls of compressed energy danced around my body. They looked like waves of heat on pavement or the liquidy air that spat out of jet engines.

A row of those plastic torso men for boxing—or whatever—lined up nearby. Punching just wasn’t going to cut it.

Already barefoot, I swung my right leg into a quick
fouletté
, using the aggressive kick to bring my left leg
en pointe
and execute a pirouette. A massive boom sounded.
 

It was only one spin before I came down to balance, and every one of those plastic armless bastards was on his back. The energy still whirled from my hands, so not even my mega kick was enough to get rid of it all.
 

Keeping my feet planted on their line in first position, I lifted my arms into my
port de bras
. Instead of going for grace, I focused on aggression and sending the energy out with each change in position.

Nothing happened until second position, when my rounded arms opened out. Jets of energy hit the walls on either side of me. Third and fifth positions worked the best, sending gusts to the ceiling. When I lowered my arms to finish, I glared at the fallen dummies and sent the power their way. The wave crashed and they skittered for the wall. They probably weighed twice what I did and I could toss them like tumbleweeds.

My chest heaved. I stood still, not quite sure if I could believe it all.

“Better now?” Ryan crossed the floor.
 

“I don’t know.” At least I didn’t think I was going to explode anymore, but better was relative. I didn’t feel anything close to normal.

“We’ll have to work on your aim.” He righted one of the few dummies that hadn’t been tossed across the room. “Your broad motions are great, but I think you’ll be more efficient if you can zero in on a target.”

As Ryan lifted his arm, lightning arced between his fingers. He aimed for the dummy, and the scarlet flash almost blinded me. When the thunder and smoke cleared, a smoldering crater sank into the dummy’s forehead.

“Do me a favor and don’t point that thing my way.”

Ryan smiled, and my breath quickened. I really hadn’t appreciated how deadly he was. Or how gorgeous. God, those eyes. He was turning into this lethal bad boy/farm boy cocktail, and I wasn’t one to resist a good drink.

“Let’s try something.” He took my hand and held it tight. “Work some energy and try to funnel it through me the way you did in the elevator.”

If we were funneling things through each other, I had some better suggestions, but I kept them to myself. “How do I build up the energy if I’m just standing here?”

“You tell me.” Ryan’s shrug carried down my arm, sparking a twinge of power.

I had to flap my free arm like a deranged bird, but the swirls of motion appeared. I focused on Ryan’s warm hand.
Go there.

The power surged through me and into him. Suddenly, holding hands was a lot more than physical. My world narrowed to the point where my motion met his lightning and I could feel
Ryan
. His power. His incredible focus and the strength of his will. He aimed and fired a blast of our combined energies.