Twice as Hot (Tales of an Extraordinary Girl #2)(62)

Were we headed to a costume party?

Feeling naked in the outfit, I had applied a layer (or two) of makeup. On my feet were black leather boots with six-inch heels.

I looked easy. Or expensive. Either way, men would expect to saddle me up and take me for a wild ride. Sherridan approved. Lexis did not.

Oh, and get this. While I was turning myself into a lady of the night, the wedding-dress shop called to confirm my appointment the following day. Apparently, the woman I'd last spoken to hadn't rescheduled me as she'd promised. So I'd had to cancel in front of Lexis, who had whistled under her breath for a good ten minutes afterward.

Even though I was once again working with Rome, my life was still crumbling around me.

Now Sherridan and I sat at the desk and pretended to play chess, even though neither one of us knew how. (Lexis had brought the game for her and Rome. Bitch.) Between moves, Sherridan threw questions at Lexis and I studied the monitors.

Lexis stood in front of the window, watching the day pass through the lens of Rome's telescope.

"Now would be a good time to tell me what you learned about Candace," I said during a lull in my conversation with Sherridan. The other times I'd asked, Lexis had told me she needed to concentrate, that she might have found something. She hadn't.

Now, she popped her jaw. "I did some research on the plane." Finally, we were getting somewhere.

"Candace bought Big Rocky about three months ago. Came into some money unexpectedly. Vincent's, I'm sure. Anyway, her first week, she fired half the staff and replaced them with employees of her own choosing. We're guessing scrims. We also think, because her power is so connected to water, she needs more of it than the average person. Running a supplier like Big Rocky, she has an unlimited source." All of that made sense and made me feel foolish for not having considered that type of angle. "I really wish Cody had just knocked her out and brought her in." After all, if Candace was the bad guy, it seemed a little backward that the only one getting knocked out and brought places was me.

"Knowing Cody as Rome and I do," Lexis said, and I just loved how she put herself and Rome together as a couple, "we think Desert Gall has more people locked up and he wants their location before he strikes."

"Uh, Cody and Rome texted," Sherridan said. "That's how you know there are more people locked up."

Lexis tossed her a scowl.

"That's all that was learned," Sherridan told me, apparently deciding it was better to fill me in herself.

"Well, except that Candace Bright is a redhead and Desert Gall is a blonde. Dyeing her hair is as dumb as, like, removing her glasses to switch her personas. No offense to your own fantastically colored black tresses, Belle. So anyway, what superpower will I get?" she asked, changing the subject to her favorite topic before a catfight erupted. "And when will I get it? I'm tired of waiting." There was so much for me to absorb, I was grateful for the reprieve.

Lexis didn't bother turning toward her this time. "I told you. I don't know."

"I thought you knew everything." She tapped her chin as she studied the pieces. "Well, everything except when to quit chasing after a man."

Gold star for Sherridan. But speaking of knowing everything..."Any idea when Tanner is going to wake up?" After my shower, I'd called his doctor. There'd been no change, but then, Lexis could tell me more than a doctor could when it came to a long-term prognosis.

"He's going to come out of it," she said, flicking me a glance. Her eyes were haunted.

"Really?" I chewed on my bottom lip, joy bursting through me, almost afraid to hope.

She adjusted the lens. "I have seen bits and pieces of his life. It does not end with him in PSI's hospital, drained of energy."

That was exactly what I'd needed to hear, and just like that a terrible weight lifted off my shoulders. I might not like Lexis at the moment, but I was suddenly grateful to her for sharing that. She could have kept it to herself, watched me suffer and laughed about it behind my back.

She wasn't a cruel woman. Not deep down. I knew that. She just loved the wrong man and was going about winning him in the wrong way. Would I have done the same, if the situation were reversed? I liked to think I wouldn't, I'd even told Lexis I wouldn't, but...

"Pay attention, Wonder Girl." Sherridan moved one of her horses to a square at the right of the board.

"Your move," she said.

Now I stared down at the pieces, shrugged and used one of my horses to jump her...queen, I think the piece with the crown was called.

Lexis threw us a quick glance. "You're playing wrong," she said irritably. I think she even muttered idiots.

"We're playing Bellidan style," I said. Belle plus Sherridan equaled greatness. "So we're playing the right way."

"There's no such thing as Bellidan."

"Yeah, there is." Sherridan tossed her a sympathetic smile, then moved one of her pieces to the left. "It's sad that you're so ill informed."

Silence.

Wait, no. I heard the gnashing of teeth, which reminded me of the way Elaine had acted during the first few minutes of our meeting. And speaking of Elaine..."You have any visions about our energy vampire?" I placed my queen in the square Sherridan had just taken, scooting her horse out of the way.