Page 77 of Not All Himbos Wear Capes
My phone rang and I snatched it up, hoping it was Butch calling me back. I sighed heavily to see it was my mother. She’d been trying to get a hold of me since our disastrous dinner, but I hadn’t trusted myself not to lay into her for how she’d behaved.
But I’m choosing violence tonight.
“Who is Harold Holt?” I barked into the phone, skipping hellos altogether.
“What did you say?” Her voice was dangerously low.
“Harold Holt. I had the pleasure of meeting him today at Biggs Enterprises,” I laughed, sounding exactly as unhinged as I felt. “He took me up to the roof for a little chat, then tried to toss me off with a gust of wind. I somehow threw it back at him and oh! He says he knows you and father well. Old friend of yours?”
“You…” my mother choked out. “You matched the windpower ofVortexio?!”
My blood ran so cold it froze and shattered. If I’d known the man I was giving major attitude was THE Vortexio, I would have shut the fuck up and taken several seats.
Okay, maybe not, but still.
More puzzle pieces fell into place while others disappeared entirely. Butch had clearly been nervous in Vortexio’s presence, and even more frightened of leavingmein his care, which meant he knew what he was capable of. Harold had also given his real name in front of both Biggs and Butch, which meant Butch had much higher clearance than I’d originally suspected.
Maybe I should just tell him I’m a supe…
“What happened when you revealed your powers to Vortexio?” My mother’s oddly concerned voice brought me careening back to our conversation. “He didn’t… threaten you, did he?”
I scoffed. “Besides the attempted murder, no. He even gave me the name of the supe responsible for hurting Butch, so I could go after him. Captain Masculine.”
“WHAT?!”she shrieked, nearly blowing out my eardrum. “That little shit. Just wait until I tell your father—”
“I know!” I shouted, glad we were seeing eye to eye for a change. “Big City’s golden boy is nothing but a meathead bully, and now I have the evidence to prove it. Oh, I can’twaitto get my hands on him. I will make him suffer and I will make it last.”
It will be glorious.
“Wait. No, Xanny,” my mother sounded distracted, no doubt already taking the elevator to my father’s workshop to fill him in on the gossip. “You…can’tgo after Captain Masculine, because, ah....”
I glared at my phone, willing my rage to somehow travel through the ether. “And why not, mother? Because I’m notstrongenough? Because my powers aren’t developed? Whose fault is that?! You and father kept me in the dark for so long, I was practically existing as anormie!”
Before she could reply, I hung up and tossed my phone onto the coffee table, but immediately grabbed it again so I could fire off a text to Butch.
There are things I need to tell you
about myself as well.
It was helpful that Butch already had insider knowledge of supes, but at this point, I didn’t give two shits about our ‘rules’ for dealing with normies. I was going to drag that hottie himbo into my world so fast, he would practically become a supe himself.
It would solve so many problems if he were one.
Butch didn’t immediately reply, and I remembered he said he had something to do. The idea of spending another night alone in my bed was depressing, so I packed up a few things and headed out, deciding I’d rather go to my lair and lose myself in work for a few hours.
After grabbing some emotional-support fried chicken to go…
A few hours turned into half the night, and I woke up stiff and cranky on my warehouse cot. Maybe because it was the lesser of two evils, but I’d chosen to focus on how to isolate DNA instead of microplastics with my ray gun, and actually came up with a solution. I still needed to test it out, but at least this meant Apocalypto Man would let me live another day.
I avoided using live animals in the lab, but pulled on my supersuit and boarded a WaveRunner, intent on trolling around the Bay until I found a fresh corpse ofsomethingto bring back with me.
If it’s a human, even better.
Nothing turned up, and I found myself bobbing in the waves near ‘our’ beach again, thinking about the future. The possibility of leaving such a beautiful area to go into hiding sent an unexpected pang of loss through me, but I knew I’d do anything to keep Butch safe from those who’d hurt him.
There are plenty of other beaches in the world.
My gaze drifted to the cliffs and my jaw dropped to see a familiar figure watching me once again—making my rage flare and my vision go red.
