Page 89 of All Superheroes Need PR
Rollo’s feet lift from the ground. He comes back to collect me, and as he gathers me in his arms and floats us over piles of airplane debris, I awkwardly try not to cut him on my new weapon. Smoke clears around us, and when we touch down outside of the hangar, I can see that my brothers have already claimed their victory. Three and the female aregone. Wounds are being nursed. Margerie is running around filming everything with her cell phone camera. Dan and Jeremy have their phones out, despite whatever pain they’re in, and are hopefully calling the right people.
“They left!” Luca says with a shrug before turning around and seeing us and shrieking. “Jesus Christ! What the fuck is that! Get him, boys!”
“Don’t fucking get him!” Charlie shouts, running forward from where he’d been kneeling at Dan’s side and grabbing Luca’s arm. “Can’t you see? That’s fuckingRoland.”
Luca’s face has gone slack. He runs his hand through his curls and shakes his head. “Roland? No. No way. That can’t be the goddamnWyvern.”
I twist in Roland’s grip, letting my feet find the tarmac. All I want is to lay my head on his shoulder and burrow deep into his massive chest, but I need to make this clear first. I position my body in front of his and hold up my hands.
“Vanessa, put that shit down!” David shouts, coughing from his position on his knees near Jeremy’s body. He’s got blood all over his hands, but I can see Jeremy gaping at me and know that he’s going to be all right despite the gash in his left leg and whatever is going on with his knee.
“It’s hers,” Rollo says from behind me. “She’s the only one who can lift it.”
I am?
“She is?” Margerie says.
“She unlocked it. Might be possible for me to carry now, but she can have it if she wants. She can have whatever she wants.”
“Christ, it really is Roland,” Mani mutters as he staggers up to his feet. He’s covered in sand and dirt and has blood leaking down his face from a wound near his hairline.
I swallow, feeling my heart hammering hard in my chest. “Fam, I see how you might be confused given that a wyvern might not seem likesuch an apt descriptor anymore, but if it helps, I’d like to reintroduce you. This is Rollo.” I place my free hand on his stomach and step back into the cage of his warmth. “My boyfriend, who I very much love.”
“Gonna be her husband soon enough,” Rollo says.
“You better get permission from William first. Puta madre,” Mani curses.
“William? Elena’s the one he’s gotta please,” Vinny hisses, just as pissed. “By the way, I got off the phone with Arnold. We’re gonna need help. He’s in Paraguay at a bar, and he doesn’t have a passport.”
“I’ll make some calls,” Charlie and Margerie say verbatim in the same instant. They share a glance, both of them softening. I hear the K-I-S-S-I-N-G song playing in my head on repeat and laugh.
“Ugh, I hate all of you. The two of you especially,” Luca says, pointing at me and Rollo.
“Can’t believe you let her fall in love with this sorry Charlie,” David adds.
“Ain’t nothing wrong with Charlies,” Charlie mutters, never breaking eye contact with Margerie, even as he cocks his head toward Roland. “And this guy’s okay too.”
My brothers continue muttering at each other while I look up at Rollo, my nose scrunched. Rollo glances away first—first!—and sounds oddlyembarrassedwhen he clears his throat. Embarrassed? That’s my thing! “Everyone okay?”
“Everyone but Arnold,” Vinny says, shaking his head down at his cell. “He’s drunk on tequila and telling everybody he got teleported from Sundale to Asunción by an alien—so he’ll probably be in jail soon.”
“We’ll fix it,” Margerie says.
“I’m getting a dial tone at the COE. I think they might be okay,” Dan adds.
Jeremy says, “I’m calling the police. They’ve got me on hold. For fuck’s sake ...”
Rollo clears his throat. “Before the cavalry arrives ...”
“Hey, we are the cavalry!” Luca interrupts.
Rollo smiles to show a mouth full of extrasharp teeth and rolls his pretty pink eyes. “Before therestof the cavalry arrives, I just wanted to thank y’all for the rescue.”
Charlie just grunts. “Course, man. You might look like a gigantic roided-out bottle of Pepto-Bismol, but that’s what you do for family.”
“Though truth be told,” Luca adds, “we were actually coming to kick your ass for doing ... stuff to our baby sister.”
“I’m older than you,” I sigh.
