Page 68 of Not All Himbos Wear Capes
Why the fuck is Captain Masculinewavingat me?
Seeing that I wasn’t returning the gesture, he slowly lowered his hand, and I wasted no time getting the hell out of there. Knocking my WaveRunner into sub-mode, I shot beneath the surface, escaping with my life and a plan for the future.
CHAPTER31
BUTCH
Why can’t we be friends?
I sighed heavily as Doctor Antihero disappeared beneath the waves. There was no good reason for Solomon Biggs to suddenly want me closely monitoring the mysterious villain once again, especially when the file we had on him was so vague.
It’s not like he’s hurting anyone.
Biggs sending me out to the Bay was a blessing and a curse. The last place I wanted to be was in the office—working on yet another spreadsheet—but coming tothisbeach only reminded me of Xander. Antihero had been MIA for the last couple of weeks, so it was a pleasant surprise to see him at all. It almost felt like we were drawn to the same place at the same time…
Shaking my head, I banished my misguided fascination with the villain. I didn'tknowhim or even know who he was. Xander was the only villain I was interested in—the only person I wanted—and right now, my energy needed to go into not panicking over how hestillhadn’t replied to my text from last night.
He must be angry with me.
Xander had neverpunishedme for anything before—and it didn’t seem like his style—but the way I left things outside The Gloucester obviously hurt him deeply, so if ever there was a reason to ignore me...
I hope he gives me another chance.
Luckily, Kai had insisted on exchanging phone numbers the day we met, and she’d texted this morning to say Xander was a wreck without me. This made me feel betterandworse, but when I swooped by his apartment on my way to the beach, his car was gone from the garage.
I didn’t want to be annoying by texting him again, so now I was simply counting down the hours until I called him after work, like I’d promised.
Suddenly my phone vibrated in my pocket, causing me to almost drop it off the cliff in my haste to bring up the message.
Daddy Xan:I just saw your text. Please call me.
You don’t have to ask me twice.
He picked up on the first ring. “Baby? Fuck, I’m sorry. My phone died, and I had to get all my shit transferred to a new one, so I didn’t see your text until—”
“If anyone should be apologizing, it’s me,” I interrupted, desperate to make things right. “It wasn’t fair of me to walk away like I did.”
He was quiet for a long moment. “Actually, it was fair. My family was fuckingawfulto you, for absolutely no good reason.”
It’s because I’m your enemy.
“Your brother wasn’t so bad,” I offered. “Wolfgang…”
The freakin’ Hand of Death.
Xander sighed. “Yeah, well, none of them do anything without an ulterior motive, so who the fuck knows what his agenda is… But regardless, I should never have brought you there. I don’t give a shit what they think of you—ofus—because we’re going to be together now matter what.”
I fought back tears, almost choking on the lump in my throat. Xander deserved to know the truth about who I was, but the idea of telling him now… after a declaration like that…
“Can you meet me at the USN?” I blurted out, too selfish to do anything but hold on to this bliss for as long as possible. “I, uh, got approval to bring you there for your research.” It was another lie, but I decided it was safer in this case to ask my boss for forgiveness than permission.
What Biggs doesn’t know won’t hurt him.
“Yes,” Xander answered immediately. “Just let me get changed. I’ll meet you there in an hour.”
“Okay, see you then,” I murmured, feeling better already.
I had limited experience with the United Super Nations’ archives, but the organization provided a fair and balanced venue for high-profile cases to be resolved—whether between supes and normies or heroes and villains. I trusted they’d have something on file that could help with our unusual situation.
