Amy Rench - Fallen Rogue

Harper finished her omelet in silence and then studied Rome while she crunched on a piece of cinnamonsugar toast. His muscles were tensed, as if he was upset and wanted nothing but to spring away from there. He was wearing jeans and a black T-shirt, which she was beginning to think was his usual garb. The shirt hugged his chest and shoulders like a second skin. Corded muscles flexed along his forearms as he consumed his meal. His jaw sported dark stubble and his close-cropped hair looked a tad mussed. Rugged and sexy. Like her own personal model for the annual firemen’s calendar. Being able to look at him was the one bright spot in this whole thing right now.

As if sensing her gaze, he took a deep breath, but kept his eyes on his own plate.

“I didn’t know they’d hurt you,” he said quietly. “I mean, I did. I know exactly what they do there, but I…” His voice trailed off and he took another bite. His jaw was hard with tension as he chomped hard. She watched him swallow and sigh heavily through his nose. “I didn’t know what to do, Harper. Your power-or whatever it is-it’s like nothing I’d ever seen. It scared me.” He took another deep breath and unleashed his blue gaze upon her. “I’m so very sorry.”

Sitting there, enraptured by him, Harper had no idea what to say. It’s okay? No, it wasn’t. He’d betrayed her. He’d just admitted it. As alone as she was now, that wasn’t something she could just forget. She took the last bite of her toast and set her plate down on the wooden table with a slight thud.

“You said to trust you,” she said softly, squinting with the aching thought. “Then you turned on me.” She watched him wince ever so slightly.

“You should have told me,” he countered.

“It shouldn’t have mattered,” she shot back. He whipped his glance away from her. Trust was trust. Wasn’t it?

“You still should have told me,” Rome persisted, turning back to her. A puzzled look crossed his face. “How can you do…that?” He wiggled his hand around, obviously referring to her power.

“I don’t really know,” Harper answered, leaning back into the chair. Its tiny foam balls wrapped around her nicely, as if she were sitting in a cloud. “Bobby left me a syringe of something. Some kind of serum.” She could practically hear her brother’s last words. “The men who killed Bobby tracked me down. We fought and the serum was injected into my arm by accident.” She could practically feel the intense fire racing in her head to consume her mind. See the fierce energy surge through the air toward the men. Killing them in less than an instant. “Right after that, I felt this power run through my body. It made my mind burn. And I killed them. Just like you saw at Bobby’s house.”

She kept her weary gaze on him, hoping he didn’t see her as some monster. She still hated that he’d betrayed her trust, but she didn’t hate him. In fact, she rather liked him. More than she knew she should. But she wasn’t sure she could ever trust him again.

“I never believed you were dangerous,” Rome finally said after a moment of soaking in her words. He clenched his jaw, a sign of tension she was coming to recognize. “Then I saw what you could do. You tore up that room. Killed those men. With some kind of semi-invisible force that came from your body.” He shook his head slowly and faced her once more. “That’s dangerous.”

Tightening her lips, she vividly recalled the scene in Bobby’s house. The bright sunlight filtering in. The guns pointed at her and Rome. The thought of being captured. She hadn’t meant to kill anyone. It made her sick to her stomach. She’d never even thought she was capable of something like that. Heck, every fish she’d ever caught, she’d set free.

But in that moment, just like at the Barracks, she’d come to know what was truly meant by “life or death.” It was them or the bad guys.

She’d chosen them.

And he’d chosen the bad guys.

Harper suddenly realized she shouldn’t be there. With him. The little respite he’d given her was now over.

“You’re right.” She shook her head sadly. “I am dangerous.” She looked around the room, searching for answers. This afternoon, she was able to control the power somewhat. That was good, right? She wouldn’t need his help now. But somehow that made her feel more alone than she ever had in the cold, dark cell. More than his betrayal had. She swung her gaze to meet his unreadable one. “I guess I’d better go. Thank you for helping me escape.” She began to wiggle out of the low chair.

“Harper, wait.” Rome rested his warm hand on her wrist, halting her antsy movement. “I can’t change what I did. I was just doing my job. My duty. You need to understand that.” He lifted his hand away from her and shook his head. “But you also need to understand this: There’s something about you. Something…I don’t know. I just know that I want to help you. Help you get your answers.” His imploring look captured her completely. He genuinely seemed out of his element. Well, they were on even ground there. “I know I said that before, but you weren’t telling me everything. Now I know what you were hiding. And I want to help you. Now more than ever.”

“Why?” she asked. “Why do you care so much?” And he did care. The fact that he’d helped her escape and coddled her since were all the evidence she needed. But could she trust him again?

He was right. She hadn’t told him everything. A girl had to have some secrets. And she still had one more. One she needed to keep to herself for now, just in case.

“I told you I had an instinct about you.” He sighed, rubbing his hand over his head. She remembered him saying that when she was tied up on his couch. “I need to trust that.” His gaze became a little unfocused and uneasy. “A couple of years ago, I worked with a team. Three other people. We were supposed to go into a warehouse and steal some contraband weapons. That’s all.”

She watched him reach to take a sip from his bottled water before he continued, obviously upset, but trying hard to hide it.

“Once we got in,” he continued, “we got the weapons, but we also saw the leaders of the smugglers’ ring in a meeting. My gut told me to wait and call for backup. Our orders were to only take the weapons. I’d never gone against my instincts, but I did this time because I thought it was too good of an opportunity. So I ordered the attack and my team was killed. I was the only one who survived. My mistake killed them. Since then, I’ve worked alone, strictly following orders. And I’ve never doubted my instincts again. Until I turned you in.”

“So what does your gut tell you now?” Harper asked, fascinated that he’d open up like that. And at the same time, his honesty touched the part of her that wanted to believe in him again. Believe they could figure this all out together. Yet his betrayal pricked at her like a bee sting.

“It tells me something isn’t right.” His voice was troubled. “What’s inside of you. What you can do. There’s something else going on here.”

“What do you mean?” She frowned.

“Those guys at the facility,” he started. “I saw you face off against them.” She remembered. Her power had been met head-on with theirs. Maybe he was right.

“They were like me,” Harper said, watching his face closely. It had surprised her when those men had negated her power with ease and without fear as though they possessed it, too. Maybe she wasn’t unique in this mess after all.

“They were like you,” he confirmed. “Only different somehow.”

“Different?” She was confused now. What exactly did he mean by that?

“I know it sounds crazy, but they just didn’t seem, I don’t know, as pure as you.” Rome smiled and held up his hands in a puzzled gesture. “Their powers were foggy, not clear like yours. It was like looking at dishwater.”