Amy Rench - Fallen Rogue

Holy cow, these brownies are good.

“Their only retreat would be back into the facility. The quad’s formation would work against them. But we need to get them there first.”

“So use me as bait,” she said again. Watching him chew his little piece of bliss, she caught the troubled look in his eyes. Was he scared for her? She had to reassure him. “I’m not afraid.”

“I am,” he said simply, his intense gaze burning into hers. “I’m afraid of losing you, Harper.”

Rome’s vulnerability touched a chord deep inside as no other words had before. His stark concern was both reassuring and disconcerting at the same time. But it wasn’t necessary.

“You won’t,” she insisted stubbornly. They would not lose each other. At least not this way. “I will not let them tear us apart like they did to Bobby and me.”

He just looked at her, his uneasy gaze still swirling, beseeching.

“I won’t let that happen to us.” She reached across the counter to clutch his chilled wrist with both of her hands. “I promise you, I will kill every single one of them before I let anything like that happen again.” She gazed squarely into his eyes and squeezed his hand in a silent vow, asking him to believe in her. “You won’t lose me.”

“I already have,” Rome said, sadness and frustration coloring his tone.

“What are you talking about?”

Rome lowered his gaze and looked away for a long moment. She sat there, just waiting. He finally turned to face her, his hand almost twitching in her grasp, as though he wanted to pull it away. She wouldn’t let him and tightened her grip.

“You’re losing yourself, Harper,” he said quietly. Well, that explained nothing. “You just want to go in there and wipe them out.”

“What’s wrong with that?” she asked, seriously wondering why he had a problem with the old eye for an eye. He should know much better than she did. This was his job, wasn’t it?

“Do you want justice or revenge?” he asked, yanking his hand out of her grasp and sliding off the stool to stand, his motions jerky and tense.

“What’s the difference?” She slipped from her stool as well to stand before him, nearly face-to-face. Anger simmered in the pit of her stomach, leaden and coarse. “I want retribution. I want each and every one of them to know just what they did to me. I want them to get what they deserve.”

He took a step away from her, shaking his head and clenching his jaw.

“Harper, listen to yourself,” he snapped, holding his arms out wide, his eyes demanding. “You’re consumed by your need for revenge. And frankly, it’s really creepy.” Taking a deep breath, he gestured at her in frustration. “And it’s not you.”

Harper was livid. More than livid. Heated anger raced in her blood, and she fought with all her might to keep it down. To keep from lashing out at the one person she thought for sure was on her side. She took a deep breath and two steps back, struggling to control her budding rage.

“How do you know me?” she asked in a calm, still voice, narrowing her eyes. “You don’t know anything about me.”

He looked as though she’d slapped him. She certainly felt like doing it, but his expression said she didn’t need to. Her words had done the trick, cutting deeper than any knife could. She winced inside with the knowledge that she’d hurt him.

“I know that a few weeks ago, my life was hollow.” His rich voice was quiet now, almost disenchanted. “I know that now you’ve become the center of my world. That’s all I need to know.”

“That’s all you need to know?” she asked incredulously, comforted by his words and at the same time, restless from their message. But she needed to set him straight. “You need to know that a few weeks ago I was an Olympic hopeful, training for my swimming trials. Excited to spend some downtime with my brother. Now my brother is dead and I’m a fallen rogue with superhero powers, a fugitive from a covert and ruthless government faction that wants to dissect me like some lab rat in hopes that they can create supercommandos from the serum I inadvertently injected inside my body.”

Breathing heavily from her long tirade, she just stood there staring at him. A blank expression covered his face, as if he had no idea what to say. Heck, she had no idea what she wanted him to say.

Harper shook her head slowly, calming her tangled nerves. She was tired. So tired of what her life had become. She wanted to end this once and for all so that she could begin to move on in what little time she had. Was that so wrong?

“I’m just becoming what I need to be to make sure Bobby’s murder gets avenged,” Harper added after the long minutes of charged silence.

“No.” Rome’s voice was low and unyielding, his eyes brimming with anger and accusation. “You’re becoming the very thing Bobby tried to prevent.”

“How can you say that?” she roared, fury in every fiber of her being.

“Why can’t you see that?” he barked back. Stepping closer, he was now just a breath away, his steely gaze drilling into hers. “Bobby risked his life, his last moments on this earth, to save the serum and make sure you got that flash drive of data. He put everything there for you so that you could take that information and do the right thing.”

She shook her head, fuming, wanting to lash out at him yet knowing somewhere deep down that he had a very good point.

She just didn’t know whether she could let it go so easily. She’d made a vow. But maybe Rome was right. Maybe justice was the right thing.

Rome’s strong hands clasped her upper arms gently, rubbing her flushed skin with soothing motions.

“Harper, these are genuine,” he said quietly yet forcefully as he gripped her biceps. He rested his hands on her chest over her heart. “This is genuine.” He then lowered his hands to grasp hers and pull them up, hugging them to his chest. “Your strength comes from inside you, not some artificial serum.”

Harper stilled, willing herself to believe what Rome was saying. Wanting so badly for it to be true. She knew her physical limits. And yet the psi power could extend those limits to cease this horrible nightmare.

“I don’t know if I can believe that anymore, Rome,” she whispered, desperately wanting to trust in herself, but not quite sure she could. Her need for revenge was a thirst she didn’t think she could quench without destruction. She wanted to fight. That was her nature. But Rome’s voice battled within her to be heard.

“Harper, this is the right thing to do,” he said, his blue gaze boring into her. “Sometimes doing the right thing isn’t always the thing you want to do.”

His words reached out to embrace her as if a heavy cloak of responsibility. Though Rome wholly believed in her strength, she didn’t know whether she could bear the crushing weight.

“Bobby trusted you,” Rome continued, folding her hands tighter against his warm body. “He trusted that you’d do the right thing.” He leaned in and placed a kiss on her forehead, the tenderest kiss she could ever imagine. “And I trust you, too. Isn’t that enough?”

Was it? It would have to be.

“I guess so,” she answered, still unsure. But knowing that Rome had such strong faith in her went a very long way.

She shook her head to clear away her anger and uncertainty. They had a job to do. And no matter what plan they came up with, she was going to make sure justice was had.

One way or another.

“I still don’t like it,” Rome grumbled, his gaze riveted on the map resting on his lap.

Her gaze was riveted to the same area, but for a very different reason, his being naked and all. They’d released some of their tension by spending some heated time in the big bed and were just now finalizing a plan to bring Jeff and his faction to justice.