Twice as Hot (Tales of an Extraordinary Girl #2)(68)

Done with them, she moved toward me again.

"Excuse me. I'll have a - "

Once more, she couldn't be bothered to spare me a glance. Perhaps karma was belatedly kicking in, punishing me for having been a less than solicitous coffee wench - er, barista - back in my days at Utopia Cafe. Or maybe the waitresses were instructed to only answer to the men. That made sense. I hated it, but it did seem fitting in this Men Are Superior club. I wondered how many of said men would feel superior to me while writhing in the heat of my fire.

Now, Belle. You are not a violent person. You do not enjoy doing bad things. What would your mother say?

My shoulders sagged. My dad's voice kept popping into my head at the oddest moments. It wasn't fair, either. He knew just how to get to me, how to shame me into better behavior. It was one thing to hurt someone in order to save a loved one, but quite another to do so out of spite.

"Hey, hot stuff. We've never seen you here before," a male voice said.

Next thing I knew, a twentysomething guy with cute, puppy-dog eyes and a dimpled smile was sidled up to me. He smelled of expensive cologne - and sex.

I crinkled my nose. "I'm taken," I said. Kind of.

"By who? You don't look taken to me."

The voice was identical to the one that had first spoken, but it came from my other side. I quickly switched my attention - and found myself staring into a face identical to the one I'd just been looking at.

Another quick switch - first guy was still there. Twins, then. I studied them closely. Only difference was, guy number one had three freckles beside his right eye, like a half-moon. Guy two didn't.

"What?" I asked, having lost the thread of the conversation.

Both men laughed.

"Whose woman are you?" the second asked.

"Oh. Uh, I belong to Delta." That's the name Rome had used to get in, so that's the only name I'd use to refer to him. He hadn't told me to do so, but better safe than sorry. I didn't want to remove my attention from my unwanted guests, but I did for a second, searching for Rome.

He and the blonde were no longer by the wall. In fact, as far as I could tell, they were gone entirely.

My teeth ground together.

"Delta? Never heard of him. You want us to fight him for you?" another voice asked. It was identical to the other two.

I gasped when I spotted a third familiar face: same puppy-dog eyes, same dimpled smile. Triplets, then.

I'd never encountered triplets before. Like the second, this one lacked the half-moon freckles. "No," I said. Damn, they'd surrounded me. They weren't big and muscled, were merely average height and lean.

Still. Three against one, not good odds when the one was me. Wait. You have powers, dummy. You are a force to be reckoned with. Oh, yeah. I hated that I had to keep reminding myself.

"Who do we have here?" a fourth voice asked.

No way. No freaking way. But there he was, the exact image of the others. He, too, was without the freckles. They all wore the same white button-up, same jeans. And all four were squished around me at the table.

My palms began to sweat. Which meant my heart began to race and my blood to thicken. I did not want to freeze these men in place. That would draw unwanted attention to myself.

"Gentlemen, I hate to be rude, but uh, could you kind of leave?" I shifted uncomfortably, grimaced when I rubbed against one of the quadruplets. "I'm expecting my date back any moment. He kind of frowns on me talking to other guys. And by frowns I mean kills." Any other time, that sort of statement would have made me cringe. And I would have looked down on any girl who said it, thinking she needed a new man.

Right now, I couldn't get the words out fast enough.

"Oh, don't send us away," the one with the freckles pouted.

"We only want to play," another said.

"You'll have fun, we promise."

"You haven't met our other brothers yet."

There was a fifth? Sixth? Dear God. "How many of you are there?"

"Eleven," they said in unison.

My eyes nearly bugged out of my head. "From the same litter?"

"Meow," one said.

"Of course," another replied.

I shook my head in disbelief. "You're kidding, right?" They had to be. But in this world...maybe not.

All four shook their heads.

"But how'd your mother have you? That would have killed most women. Unless you're petri babies?" Grown in a dish, perhaps? Hey, it was possible. Wasn't it?

Now they all four burst into laughter.

"See, we're having fun already," Three said.

Four rubbed his hands together in glee. "I love it when someone brings a novice into our midst."

"Petri babies. Cute."

"You look like you could use a drink," yet another familiar voice said. Five had just appeared. He motioned the waitress over. This time, she didn't hesitate to rush to my table. Her bare breasts jiggled as a round of tequila shots was ordered.

"And make one for yourself," Four said.

She grinned at him before bouncing off.

I clapped my hands to gain everyone's attention. "Someone please explain to me how there can be eleven of you." I hadn't forgotten that they'd easily sidestepped the question.