Page 78 of All Superheroes Need PR
I herd my brothers into my living room and unlock my laptop for Charles, who immediately proceeds to log in to some scary looking database. He enters Roland’s phone number into a flashing green search bar.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
Charles angles the computer away from me and gives me a good glare. “Are you making your calls?”
“No one’s picking up at the COE headquarters.”
“Isn’t it Saturday?”
“Mr. Singkham works most weekends. He should definitely be in.”
Charlie’s expression mirrors my unease. He glances past me toward the TV. I reach for the remote control, but in my scan of relevant news channels, I don’t see anything alarming. Mostly just shots of theinsanely gorgeous Olympian with her glowing dark-brown skin and waist-length black hair.
“The Olympian celebrates with the mayor of Sundale in advance of the Forty-Eight Hour Festival to commemorate the landing of the Forty-Eight superbeings who decided to make Earth their new home twenty-two years ago ...”
There’s a loud knock on my front door, followed by the doorbell ringing three times in quick succession. Luca and Charles share a look, and even though I’m first to turn toward the door, Luca beats me there. He reaches for the knob at the same time that it starts to open.
“I cannot believe ... Oh, hi, Luca. Charles—you’re here too. Why are you guys here? Anyway, never mind—the nerve!” Margerie bursts into my house wearing sneakers—sneakers—leggings, and an oversize shirt. Granted, all the labels I see are designer, but this is the first time, maybe the second, I’ve ever seen her in anything close to casual.
“I got a memo saying that the two of you weren’t coming in to work next week? It’s design week, and the Forty-Eight Hour Festival is two weeks away! Shandra is pissed, and so is Monika! She’s been shouting at me in German all morning. Do you know how scary that is?
“The group photo with the other Champions of North America is scheduled for this Thursday! Pele is flying in for this! You can’t snub her, no matter how much amazing alien sex you’re getting!” Her gaze finally drops to me, and her head ticks to the side, her Louis Vuitton tote dropping from her shoulder to her elbow. “You really do look like you’re getting good alien dick, don’t you?”
“Margerie, you may be cute, but I will duct tape your mouth,” Charlie mutters from the computer while Luca shouts, “Gross! Margerie! That’s my sister!”
Margerie’s face transforms slowly into a mask of shock as her gaze pans from Luca to me. “Did you really?”
I blush, my mouth working like a fish’s.
“You Fucked Roland?” Her voice could be heard through time with how loud she screams. And then she starts bouncing up anddown on the balls of her feet. “You fucked the Wyvern! I knew you had it in you! How was it? Smoky? Fiery? Hotter than hell?” She winks at me, but when she finally stops jumping, she must register my expression because her own smile falls. “What is it? Did he hurt you?” She gasps and covers her mouth with both hands as her gaze moves over my face, finally taking in the bruises.
I shake my head and touch my mouth, my tongue sneaking out to taste the edge of my bandage. “No. This wasn’t him. This is why he didn’t want me to come in to work. It happened the day before yesterday, and yesterday we did ... have sex. But he left. I think someone took him.”
“Wait, wait, wait. Start over—no, start backward. He left like a sleazy one-night stand, or he was ‘taken’ like he’s the daughter and you’re Liam Neeson?”
“That’s what I said!” Luca shouts from the front door, where he’s talking on the phone to one of my other brothers.
I confirm. “The latter.”
Her gasp gets even more theatrical. “Who?”
I suck in a breath, hesitate, and then confesseverythingthat has happened in the past forty-eight hours. Well, noteverything, but I tell Margerie and my brothers about Three, even though it scares the piss out of me. But with the COE not answering, I don’t know what to do.
“He wasn’t at the office?” I ask.
Margerie shakes her head. “I haven’t been in today. I was at our old offices helping Dan and Jem. The folks holding our old lease agreement are being dicks—you know what? Never mind. I was going to head there, hopefully after grabbing you, so we could meet with design. Shandra wanted to do a final fitting for his new—you know what? This doesn’t matter. Let me try Mrs. Morales’s cell.”
She holds her phone to her ear and, while it dials, says, “You’re serious? You think there really are fourteen more aliens who landed here?”
I nod.
“Bad ones?”
I shrug, then nod again.
Margerie shakes her head. “I’m not getting anything.” She heads to the dining room, where Charlie’s moved with my laptop. Standing over his shoulder, she points at his screen. “Are you trying to track him?”
“Trying to get my buddy at the SDD to locate his phone. I used the cell number to get the sim number. Just need to wait on him to get back.”
