Page 33 of Gluttony
“I did it!” she exclaimed, eyes flashing and excited.
“That’s good,” he bit out. “Good.”
“Now what?” Bailey prompted.
“Um.” Elena’s gaze darted around. Then she bit her lip, unsure. “Run?”
Bailey clapped. “Yes! You run.” She turned back to the group. “Don’t be heroes. Get out of there.”
“Let the Deadly Seven do the rest!” A kid with a nose ring piped up.
More snickers and shouts. Somehow, the conversation shifted to which of the vigilantes was the best. Feeling awkward, Tony rolled to his feet and handed the cell phone back to Elena.
“Which one do you think, Tony?” someone’s voice rose above the rest.
“Huh?” he asked, frowning.
“Which is your favorite?”
Tony searched and found the voice belonged to a boy of about fifteen. He had dreadlocks and wore a hoodie.
“What’s your name?”
“Simon.”
“Gluttony,” he answered without thinking, then inwardly groaned. He should have said Pride. What kind of idiot said he liked himself the best?
“Pfft,” Simon replied. “He’s not been sighted for ages. Neither has Lust. They could be dead. Anyway, I think I’d trust the ones I hear about more. Like Envy electrocuted some dude when…”
A rushing sound stole Simon’s voice and Tony’s thoughts grew loud. The kid was right. Tony hadn’t been out in a while. Months. He rubbed his forehead, mouth going dry. They thought he was dead.
His entire body felt heavy with shame.
Bailey looked at him strange, as though she could read his mind, then clapped her hands loudly. “Right. That’s it kids. We’re over time.”
Any wrongness he’d felt immediately dissipated when the chorus of booing and moans filled the small room. Each student begged Bailey for more. They’d watched avidly throughout the demonstration as though it was a movie. It may as well have been with the acting prowess Tony put into his performance. Every kid loved it, except a quiet one toward the back. Brown-skinned, shaved head, and with headphones in the whole time. A hip-hop beat blared loud enough that Tony could hear. Seeing the class was ending, he surreptitiously unplugged his ears and folded his arms. But he stayed. He watched. And now he was listening.
“Right, everyone on the mat.” Bailey clapped her hands again to cut through their raucous babbling. “As soon as you’re quiet, it’s question time.”
That hushed everyone up. Tony went to stand next to Bailey at the front of the class. He dusted off his baseball cap and held it to stop his hands fidgeting. And to stop him reaching out to touch Bailey. A visceral reaction had rocked him every time they’d connected, and the residual echo still rode his system. He wanted more.
But the defensive way she’d reacted to their first kiss played on his mind.She’d wiped her mouth in disgust.He’d have to gain her trust before trying again. From the moment he’d stepped across the threshold to Hudson House and seen her leaning against the doorjamb to the media room, he knew she wasn’t an active agent. She was there to help the kids. He could trust her. Everything else was his own paranoid delusion.
“Who’s got the first question?” Bailey asked the students, a grin brightening her face to something so extraordinary, Tony’s heart stopped beating. This was the first time he’d seen her smile. Beautiful.
“Tony?” she asked, interrupting his thoughts.
“Sorry, was there a question?”
“Ooohh,” one student teased. “Lazarus has it bad for our lady.”
Another wolf-whistle punctuated the air, and Bailey’s cheeks reddened. “They wanted to know if you’ll come back.”
Tony shifted his smile to the group. “Absolutely.”
“Can we get a selfie?” Michael asked.
He grinned and waved them up. “Yeah, but we have to be quick about it. Your lady here is my bodyguard, and we have to go to work.”
