Belle Fury: Manhatten Ten, Book 3 (5 page)

It was twice the explosion as before, and this time I could almost see it through Ryan’s eyes. He controlled the lightning down to the smallest vibration and it probably hit exactly where he wanted it.

“Wow.” I didn’t bother to let go. Instead I tried to seal the memory into myself.
That’s what I need to learn
. Until I reached the same Zen level, I wasn’t getting back to my real life.

“No kidding.” Ryan was the one who pulled away. “I don’t know who’s amplifying who, but we could take over a country if we wanted.”

“Definitely England.” I flexed my fingers, trying to dissolve the feel of him. “I can be the next queen.”

“I don’t do coups before lunch.” Ryan stretched his arms, drawing my gaze to the flex of powerful shoulders. “I’m going up there.” He pointed to the only set of stairs around. “To hit my inbox. For now, work some things out without me on your back. Figure out how the motions feel and see what you can do. I’ll check on you in a few.”

“Deal.” I waited for him to get upstairs and shut the door before I let loose any pyrotechnics. Once he was out of the danger zone, I took a deep breath and lifted
en pointe
.

Let’s see what I can do
.

Red Ruin

So much for the inbox. I didn’t even get the stadium’s office computer booted. Instead, I stood glued to the window with no will to walk away.

Belle danced like a woman possessed, and every move she made took my breath away. It was like ropes lifted her from the ceiling. No other dancer could jump that high, moving like the air supported her. I’d watched enough student dancers to know the difference.

Even swimming in my sweatpants, she looked like a feather on the wind. How could so much raw power be that graceful?

And power she had. Blasting those dummies was nothing compared to what she’d do when she had control.

With that much firepower, Belle should’ve come into her abilities a long time ago. She must’ve been fueling her dance with it for years. Now she’d broken the seal and I couldn’t imagine her dancing without reaching into the reserve.

Sure, I could help her control the accidental destruction, but there was no way she could do ballet without summoning the forces.

She didn’t seem to realize what that meant yet. Belle worked through her repertoire like the pro she was, perfecting each jump and hand movement until the energy around her smoothed into concentric circles. They were beautiful, but they weren’t going away.

Belle fully thought of her powers as something to overcome, and she was throwing everything she had at that goal. Most people would kill to be super—and bask in all the attention and perks that came with the powers. I’d been a cocky prick, thinking I was king of the universe until UCLA kicked my ass.

Here Belle was, getting her life turned upside down and refusing to back down. I doubted she’d given a thought to what she could get out of her powers and all the press attention.

Kind of fucking impressive.

When she finally collapsed onto the floor, her ribcage heaving, it was time to stop gawking. My shoulders cracked. How long had I been staring?

I checked my phone and winced. Almost lunchtime and I hadn’t accomplished anything I was supposed to. Even if I’d only been watching, training another super was full-time work.

Belle still lay there breathing. Her T-shirt—my T-shirt—hiked over her ribs and the oversized pants dipped low on her hips. She glistened with sweat. Whether it was her position or all that exposed skin, I was fully prepared to drop down there with her.

“Finish your work?” Belle gazed through her lashes.

“Nope.” Before I fell on her, I offered Belle a hand up. “Lunch?”

“Might as well.” She grabbed my hand and it was nothing to swing her into the air.

Her motion sparked a swirl of energy, but she channeled it into her foot where a little kick dispersed the waves. “I guess I’m getting used to it.”

“You’re getting it. We’ll keep practicing.”
And we’ll get you some clothes that don’t show everything
. “What do you want?”

“So much pulled pork. And sweet tea.” She patted her stomach. “If I don’t have to squeeze my ass into a leotard, I’m eating what I please.”

That shot me all kinds of visuals. I turned my back on Belle and headed to the elevator before she came up with any more temptations. “You know a place?”

“Daisy May’s. They’ll deliver.”

“On it.” I pulled out my phone as we stepped into the elevator.

“Get some bourbon peaches too.” Belle stretched her arms over her head. As the T-shirt pulled, it was obvious she wasn’t wearing a bra. She was actually trying to kill me.

“And creamed corn—”

“You order for both of us.” I tossed her the phone. “I’ll pick up the tab.” That shit was getting expensed along with a whole new wardrobe for Belle. Seeing her in my clothes reminded me too much of a morning after when we hadn’t had the main event.

Yet.

Chapter Five

Belle

Hanging with superheroes wasn’t so bad. After such a draining workout, I needed comfort and a Manhattan-Ten delivery address got my pulled pork to Ryan’s office within fifteen minutes. The delivery guy must’ve stolen someone else’s order and teleported across Midtown. Maybe supers worked in the food industry too.

Not that we saw the delivery guy. A swank attendant brought our basket up from the lobby.

Lying on Ryan’s office couch with bourbon peaches on my chest and a straw in my mason jar of sweet tea, I managed to stay tethered. He nibbled at the ribs I’d ordered for him, but his glazed, overstressed look was back.

Good thing he was occupied. He wouldn’t see my brain unlacing.

I could control the power. I wasn’t there yet, but even one all-out dance session had made a difference. Eventually I’d be able to direct my energy wherever I wanted.

I just couldn’t get rid of it.

Given time, I could probably stamp the power out of the smaller movements like my
port de bras
and
barre
work. Those little motions were more grace and muscle memory than oomph.

The jumps would be the death of me. Like a
grand jeté
? How was I supposed to do a midair split without using everything I had?
 

I’d felt the truth as soon as I focused. It wasn’t so much the dance summoning the power. I’d pulled it from inside myself to fuel the dance.

I could still perform as long as I did it someplace like the stadium, which was clearly built to stand up to abuse from supers. Give me a wooden stage and I’d crash through the boards and become the first dancer in history to literally knock the audience out of their seats.

Maybe,
maybe
, I could harness it. If I could use the power to do things that other dancers couldn’t, then I could still make it work somehow.

I jammed another spoonful of peaches into my mouth. I was gonna need the real bourbon after this.

And a hell of a lot of distracting.

Ryan cursed at the computer screen. That man could distract me anytime he wanted.
 

I put down the peaches and tilted onto my side. “Trouble?”

“Your things are here.” He glanced at me around his monitor. “But Angel moved you into my apartment.”

“Oh?” This was going to be…interesting.

“Apparently she spoke with our fearless leader this morning. He thinks I’ll have a positive effect until you’re fully in control. I’m not sure about that, but I want to be close in case the power slips.”

Staying near Ryan was fine, but I couldn’t stare at his shoulders all day. At least not every day. “So I just follow you? And then I do what, once I’m in control?” I had to be under serious probation at the studio, so even if things got magically better right now, I had nowhere to go.

“Focus on training and we’ll figure the rest out as we go.” Ryan looked away from the screen and met my gaze. “I’m going to help you through this.”

Warm fuzzies danced in my stomach. No one ever helped me. Everything I’d ever done, I’d had to fight alone. And it wasn’t like Ryan had tons of free time to pick up strays.
 

“Thank you.” If I put in technique and combined the power training with my regular routine, how many hours could I do before I danced myself into the ground? I’d test it. I wouldn’t be able to worry about the future if I was sweating blood. “Can you get me a
barre
?”

“Make a list of whatever you need and Angel will get it.” Ryan cracked his knuckles. “And you’re welcome to stay with me, but I don’t want you to feel like this is a corporate job shadow. You shouldn’t leave the building, but you can roam around.”

I doubted many corporate citizens looked like Ryan, but I didn’t want to keep him from his work, especially if I was going to be imposing on his apartment. I tossed my garbage and took my mason jar to go. “Thanks for lunch. See you later?”

“Later.” He finally met my gaze, and I didn’t think I was imagining a flash of heat. I shivered. Could it be later
now
?

It wasn’t the best time to get involved with a man, but Ryan wasn’t going anywhere. He was my lifeline until I got my head on straight, and I was glad to have him. Someone who grew up expecting to develop powers wouldn’t know what it was like to have your life derailed.
 

I headed to Angel’s desk. Her circle of monitors was on and firing, but she was nowhere to be found. I poked my head over the nearest cubicle. “Sorry. Have you seen Angel?”

The girl sloshed her coffee. She was more wide-eyed than I’d expected in this kind of nonstop work deal. Did superhero organizations have college internship programs?

“Roof.” She blotted the spill with a tissue. “Lunchtime yoga.”

“Thanks.” I headed for the elevator and made my first stop Ryan’s apartment. Boxes of my stuff were heaped in the entryway. I winced and grabbed the one on top. I’d never lived with a guy before and this made it seem like I was nesting instead of visiting. If it annoyed him, I’d get out, but for now I wanted to stay close. If I had another episode, Ryan was the only one I trusted to channel my powers to safety.
 

He made things a lot safer.

I set the box down on the guest bed. My clothes already hung in closet.
That
made me uncomfortable. I’d done whole shows in London without unpacking my suitcase. It felt way too permanent, seeing all my hangers lined up the same way they’d been at home. I lived like a transient, always on tour and always looking forward to the next show.

Now there was no next show.
 

Ditching the sweaty borrowed clothes, I dug out some leggings, a bra-tank and a wrap sweater. I had a few pairs of my custom
pointe
shoes, but I’d burn through them pretty quick if I trained full strength. Powers would probably speed that up. Maybe Angel could get the rest from the studio. I doubted anyone there wanted to see my face.

Someone had rescued my purse, and my cell phone was plugged into its charger on the nightstand. No way I was ready for that. As long as I was living in penthouses and hanging with heroes, the real world was far, far away, and that was how it needed to stay.

Slinging two pairs of
pointe
shoes over my shoulder, I headed for the roof. As soon as I stepped outside, I wished I’d worn something heavier than the sweater. It was freezing outside.

And…snow? In April?

Angel and another woman bent deep into downward dog. When they dropped, moving into cobra and stretching their backs, icicles sprouted from the woman’s fingertips.

Was this some new thing? Like the hipster version of hot yoga?

The one with the icicles spotted me as the two of them made it back to their feet. “We’ve a guest, Angel.”

“Belle.” Angel grabbed her water bottle. “I should’ve introduced you to the team sooner. This is Ivory.”

“Very nice to meet you.” Ivory flipped her sheet of platinum hair over her shoulder with a flurry of snowflakes. She was more than a foot taller than me and Photoshop-gorgeous. The Nordic version of an Amazon.

We shook hands, hers being ice cold and extremely firm. “Glad to meet you too.”

“You’re training with Ruin?” Ivory tipped her head to the sky, and the last few snowflakes settled. That must be fun.

“Trying to. It’s gonna take a while.”

“I have to get back.” Angel grabbed her towel. “Stay. Chat with Ivory. She’s the girl to talk to about power control.”

“I wanted to ask you about…” But Angel was already waving on her way downstairs. So much for my
barre
.
 

“She’s distracted.” Ivory stretched her fingers, flicking shards of ice. “That’s no easy thing to fix, with a mind like hers.”

“Ryan, er, Ruin, said something like that.” Seemed to me like they expected her to do everything around here.

“I won’t speak of her business, but Angel mourns a lost possibility. Without our leader, much of the work falls to her, and when she insisted on planning my wedding…” Ivory shook her head. “It’s too much even for her.”