Twice as Hot (Tales of an Extraordinary Girl #2)(21)

After the way he'd looked at her in John's office, part of me had seen this coming. I faced him, crossing my arms over my chest, prepared to do what was necessary. "Do you like high-maintenance women?"

"No."

I'd known that. In the months since I'd met him, I'd watched Cody interact with the opposite sex.

Those who enjoyed a good time - and nothing more - he charmed. Those who preferred hearth and home, he avoided. "Then stay away from Sherridan. She's as high as they come." His head tilted, and he studied me intently. Even propped his hip against the counter as though he were settling in for a long conversation. "What makes her high-maintenance?" I shrugged. "I told you she had a crappy childhood. I wasn't lying. And that's all I'm going to tell you about her." Crappy wasn't the half of it. She'd been ignored and neglected most of her life, and that had made her a needy adult. Nothing wrong with that, I adored her, but some men couldn't tolerate it for long.

Cody didn't look properly horrified, though.

"Fine," I continued. "I'll tell you something else. I can guess how a relationship between the two of you would go down. You'd sleep with her, then walk away from her because you can't commit, and she'd come running to me and ask me to kill you. Friend that I am, I wouldn't be able to say no. Don't try and deny it."

His brow furrowed. "Did I look like I was going to deny it? One, most girls want to kill me when I'm done with them because I'm taking away their chance of being pleasured into speechlessness again and two, I don't even have a house because I can't make myself stay in one location long enough. And as for girls, I have a three-date min-max rule."

"Min-max?"

"No less, no more."

O-kay. I'd dated a few commitment-phobes over the years, but that...wow. "Why?"

"One date, you're left wanting more. Don't see the girl again, and she becomes an obsession. The one who got away. Two dates, you begin to notice little annoyances, but not enough to stop the sex from happening. Three dates, the little annoyances become big annoyances and the attraction fades completely. You can walk away a free man."

I stared at him for several long, drawn-out moments, then shook my head in wonder. "God, you're a mess."

"But I'm cute, so..."

Yeah. So. I rolled my eyes. "Anyway, you break up with Sherridan and she'll think it's because of something she did." Normally I wouldn't have discussed my friend's problems without permission from the friend herself. In this case, I realized there wasn't time to gain permission. I had to murder this little attraction right away. Couldn't have Cody veering into Obsession Land. And any more of Sherridan's Happy Place, and I'd need a vacation mind-spot. "She won't be able to help herself. Everything was her fault as a kid. A plant died, and she must have overwatered it. A bad grade on her report card, and she must not have tried hard enough. Her dad had an affair, so her attitude must have driven him away." Cody's features softened with understanding, the silver in his eyes liquefying. "Poor kid."

"Ugh. You sound more intrigued by her. I mean it," I added, jabbing a fingertip into his chest. "She's not for you. Stay away."

Cody held up his hands, palms up, and laughed. "Fine. I'll avoid her like she's a married nun looking for another husband to keep out of her bed. Scout's honor."

I eyed him suspiciously. "Were you even a Scout?"

He gave a mock shudder. "Hell, no. I was too busy talking the girls into playing Show Me Yours, and I'll Show You Mine."

Now I laughed. "I think Scouts do that, too. Anyway, was Sherridan the only thing you wanted to talk to me about, you pervert? If so, I need to - "

"Nope," he interjected. "There's more."

When he said nothing else, I prompted, "Well?"

A sigh parted his lips. "Maybe you should sit down for this." No. No, no, no. No more bad news. Instantly my affinity with the four elements made itself known. Mist formed in front of my nose, dancing over my face like fairy glitter. Or rather, demon dust. I plopped into the nearest seat, accidentally slid out and thumped onto the kitchen floor. Dumb ice crystals. Why couldn't they have remained hidden?

"So melodramatic." He tsked under his tongue.

I righted myself, disconcerted to realize my lungs were beginning to freeze. "Tell me!"

"Okay, here goes. So...while you interviewed Rome, one of our agents finally decoded a few of the papers John's recovery team found. Papers that were hidden in the wallpaper, of all places. Maybe Dr.

Roberts did it, since that's his style. Anyway, they were records of some of OASS's prisoners. I decided not to wait for our meeting tomorrow to inform you because I wanted you to thank me with Sherridan's phone number, but never mind."

"You're babbling! Get on with it."

"Right. So the guy who stole Rome's and my memories is known by other scrims as, big surprise, Memory Man. Pretty Boy captured him and when PB died, Desert Gall took over Memory Man's care .

You know what I mean by care, right? I mean - "

"I'm not stupid. Continue."

"Okay, okay. To our knowledge, MM wasn't part of the experiments but actually alternated between being a prisoner and an employee. I'm guessing he didn't like working for them, but they threatened him in some way and got him to do things. Then PB died, of course, and DG moved MM. We found him soon after that."