Gena Showalter - Playing With Fire (tales of an extra ordinary girl)

Attractive. Pretty Boy… Vincent. It made sense. I’d wanted to tell Pretty Boy all my secrets, I recalled. The pulse in my neck hammered wildly. “Isn’t that what your boss wants to do to me? Test me, then make me work for him?”

“Not painfully, and not by force. You’ll either do what he wants or be imprisoned like the other naughty supernatural beings.”

“What kind of supernatural beings are we talking about?”

“Shape-shifters of every kind. People who can walk through walls or suck the soul right out of you. I believe I mentioned the people whose bodily fluids are so toxic they’ll kill you if they even breathe on you. Shall I go on?”

I shook my head. All of those things, creatures, living weapons… yet… “Why haven’t I ever heard of these people before, Rome? Why does no one know of them?”

“PSI is damn good at its job, that’s why. We make sure the world remains ignorant about the paras. About scrims. About all of it.”

Dear God. “Scrims?”

“Scrims are supernatural criminals. Vincent is a scrim because he inflicts unnecessary pain, he kills when he could lock away, and he enjoys doing it. But he also captures and controls other scrims-in fact, he’s captured more than anyone else and any other agency, so the government caters to him. They allow him to live, turning a blind eye to his experiments.”

It was too much to take in, almost unbelievable. “Are… are scrims born or made?”

“Some are born, some are made. The more experiments are done, the more scrims are born. It’s a vicious cycle.” His expression softened. “What I told you about the prison is true, too. Château Villain, as we’ve affectionately dubbed it, is very real, and you won’t like it. A sassy little thing like you would end up as Venom’s bitch.”

“Venom?”

“She used to work for Vincent. Her saliva has deadly toxins, and if she kisses you… ”

I swallowed.

“Vincent is one of the reasons PSI exists. Fixing the catastrophes he and his brotherhood of assholes cause is a full-time job.” Rome canted his head, considering me. “Do you remember that big warehouse fire in Chicago last year? The one that killed forty-two people and was blamed on faulty wiring? Lie. Vincent was testing the four-elements formula. Like I told you, several people burst into flames.”

I shuddered, and felt the vibration to the bone. “Why does he want people to control the four elements? Why kill them for it?”

“Think about it. He can cause a drought, then, if the price is right, he can save everyone with a rainstorm. He’ll make money from it, exploit it, kill people with it. Control people with it.”

My God. My mouth dried a little more with every word Rome spoke. If my hands hadn’t been bound, I would have covered my ears so I wouldn’t have to hear anymore. There was a villainous world out there I’d once thought could never touch or affect me. How wrong I’d been. I mourned the loss of such innocence.

“I’d already placed special locks and bolts on the doors and windows of your apartment,” Rome said, “so the assailant shouldn’t have been able to bypass them as silently as he did. He was good, and he was determined to get to you. Whoever else Vincent sends will be even more so.”

“What did you do with the man’s, uh, body?” I asked.

“I took care of everything and even cleaned your place. No reason to concern yourself with the details.”

I was kind of glad he didn’t elaborate. That was all I could handle at this point. Clandestine activities so were not for me.

Why had I ever despised my safe, normal, average life? More fool me.

Rome offered me another bite of eggs, but I shook my head. My stomach was now knotted and clenched, threatening to rebel. “I’m not feeling so hot,” I said softly.

There was a long silence, then, “I think you’re ready to hear the proposition I have for you.” He settled on the stool beside me and turned mine so that I faced him.

At first I kept my gaze on the open gape of his collar. I liked looking at him a whole lot more than I liked thinking about bad guys and evil plans. Against the stark black of Rome ’s shirt, his skin looked deeply tanned, worshipped by the sun. A thin smattering of black chest hair peeked through. Not enough to notice without staring, but enough to tantalize. What would it feel like if I traced my hands over his chest? Allowed my fingers to roam, explore… indulge?

What are you doing, you idiot? I could not let myself be attracted to him. Him, a man who had just admitted to killing someone. A man who’d been okay with knocking me out. No matter how sexy he was, I. Could. Not. Desire. Him. Right? Right. Even though he’d saved me from a murderer, I didn’t know if I could trust him fully.

“Belle?”

I blinked, snapping out of my internal conversation. “What?”

“I don’t think you’re listening.”

My gaze jerked up to Rome ’s face. He was watching me, a curious glint in his bright blue eyes. Several strands of inky hair had fallen onto his forehead. He should have looked boyish. He didn’t. Danger radiated from him too fiercely. Danger… and seduction. He looked like every woman’s most private fantasy, a god just roused from bed and eager to return.

We decided not to think that way, remember? “What were you saying?” I asked.

He rolled his eyes. “I was telling you that you were fired from the café, so you no longer have an income. You should have heard some of your phone messages from Ron.”

I sucked in an angry breath, not liking that Rome had listened to messages meant for my ears only. “Did my dad call?” I asked through gritted teeth.

“Yeah,” he answered, without hesitation and unapologetically. “We had a nice chat. He’s a little miffed at you for not mentioning me, but he’s glad you’ve finally found a man who will put up with your smart mouth. And he wanted me to know that you do have a sweet side, which I’ll apparently find if I stick around and search hard enough.”

A haze of red flashed over my eyes. “You talked to my dad?”

“Yes. Your friend Sherridan, too. She wanted to know why you haven’t called her in the last few days, and asked if you were mad at her about the twins. I told her you’ve been expending your energy trying to win me over, and she told me to tell you to wear black leather and carry a riding crop. Interesting girl. Is she single?”

Oh, this was too much! Did my childhood friend and the man responsible for my creation not think it was weird to chat with a strange man I’d never talked about or introduced them to? So what that Rome had been in my apartment and answered my phone. For all they knew, he could have sneaked inside with every intention of killing me. Wait…

“Anyway,” Rome said with a wave of his hand, “you might love them, and they might love you, but I’m all you’ve got right now. I’m the only one who can help you.”

The grim warning washed away my anger and brought fear. Cold, very real fear that froze the tips of my fingers. Since anger caused flames, it made sense that fear caused ice. Too quick on the emotional trigger, Rome had said. He was right. About everything. “What should I do? Hide?”

“No. You have no experience in that arena. You’d be caught before you reached the end of the block. No, what you need to do,” he said, tapping his finger against the counter, “is get OASS off your back. The best way to do that is to find the scientist who created the formula. Dr. Enrich Roberts.”

I stared at Rome, incredulous. “That sounds great, but how am I supposed to do that? I have trouble finding my keys.”

“I’ll help you. Maybe he can reverse what’s been done to you. If not, well, we can trade him-or pretend to trade him. His life for yours. I can’t actually let Vincent have him again. He convinced the good doctor once that working for him would benefit the world. I can’t take the chance of Vincent convincing him a second time.”