24. Gabriel

CHAPTER 24

GAbrIEL

Go Go Gadget: Has anyone seen Gabe?

Lizard Dick: There's still time to delete this, bro.

The kitchen seemed like the safest place to loiter before dinner was served.

Although I'm apparently not the only one who had the idea.

"Okay, but hear me out… combine my special sauce with your special sauce to create the most epic special sauce of all time!"

Izzy Salah was rambling on to the normie— Felix? —that Wolfy had flown in to fix Xanny's "fried chicken emergency" while gesturing wildly at a crate containing bottles full of bright orange liquid.

I would bet money that special sauce is laced with something extra special.

I'm still gonna try it, though.

Supes had an incredibly high tolerance to things that would put normies in the hospital or six feet underground. Pain, extreme temperatures, lack of sleep, five-alarm fire spicy food…

"Hey, Izzy," I interrupted, realizing to my horror that I was the voice of reason in the room. "We do have a couple people on the guest list with, you know, less than super stomachs."

As far as I knew, Felix didn't know Xanny was a supe—and therefore had no idea he was serving his legendary fried chicken to a bunch of superpowered customers.

The hero in the room, however, should know better.

Understanding lit up Izzy's deep brown eyes— so similar to Micah's— before he removed a bottle from the crate with a flourish.

"Never fear, baby boy!" he chuckled, turning the bottle to show me the label. "It's alllll natural ingredients from Cook's garden back home."

Which could mean anything to this fool.

I peered at the clearly homemade label. The standard ingredients were listed on one side and a Kawaii-style avatar of Isaiah's floating head was on the other beneath the words "Izzy's Good Ish."

Seems legit.

"That's pretty cool that you have a garden at home," I continued the conversation, desperate to give myself a good reason for hiding out like a little bitch. "I bet Balty likes that… since he's the master chef in our family."

Izzy nodded sagely as handed the bottle to Felix. "You know it! Luckily, Cook has taken him under her terrifying wing, and he's gotten over his fear of the garden fence."

"Why would my brother be afraid of a fence…?" I trailed off, realizing it was probably a stupid question .

If anyone would be, it's him.

Izzy howled with laughter. "Baby Hulk got himself tangled in the fence so badly, Zion had to cut him out of it with his Kaiju claws! I only knew about it because Micah had to go fix his creation?—"

"Micah made the fence?" I asked, a shameful amount of eagerness in my voice.

I'm such a mess.

I couldn't help it. All confusing feelings aside, I was fascinated with Micah as Exo-Tech. He was obviously a scientifically-minded person—like Xanny—but what he could create with his powers was nothing short of art.

Like those mechanical tendrils of his…

Maybe it was because my degree was in industrial design, but Micah replicating otherworldly tendrils with inorganic material was wild. What was even wilder was how just seeing them made my stomach do some very incriminating somersaults.

Fuck.

Maybe I have a Doc Ock kink.

"He sure did!" Izzy crowed before shooting a wary glance at Felix. Finding the normie busy unpacking his crate of "Ish," he elaborated, "Meeks, uh, designed the fence to completely immobilize anyone daring to infiltrate Cook's sacred grounds. Kinda like… industrial-strength bondage rope."

My mouth dried up as my dick kicked. Having Stellarian tendrils was still so new to me, I rarely unleashed them outside of the bedroom. Theo loved to pin me down—and fuck me—with his, but the trick that gave me out-of-body orgasms was when he wrapped our tendrils together and …

Oh, gawd.

That's why Ziggy didn't want me touching Micah's tendrils with mine.

"Just let it happen, Gabe."

I sighed heavily. Then, I debated shutting Dre out of my head completely while I made myself scarce, but his nosey ass already knew about my forbidden fantasy, so I didn't see the point.

We open door now.

"Not. Helping. What I need to do is stop fantasizing about my FRIEND ? —"

"Nah. You should keep going."

He really is a demon.

My irritation started to rise until a stray thought had me sharply inhaling.

"Are you… using me as bait again, dude?"

The last time Dre had done this, it was right after we'd moved into Theo's mansion as undercover agents. It had been obvious our lecherous host had his eye on me, so we decided together that I would be the distraction while my twin hunted our prey.

The key words being "decided together."

Dre chuckled in my head, which confirmed my suspicions.

"Maaaybe. But this trap is for the greater good, trust. "

TRAP?!

My chest constricted at the idea our mark might be the sweet little supe I couldn't stop thinking about. Micah had done nothing wrong in this situation. I'd flirted, like the insatiable slut Dre knew I was, but the last thing I wanted to do was hurt the hero.

I don't want to hurt anyone.

"Gabe, listen ? —"

"You good, baby boy?" Izzy's concerned voice had me slamming the door on whatever bullshit Dre was about to spout in my head. "You're looking a little green…"

I need some green right about now.

"Damn, bro, this is the good ish!" Felix exclaimed, blessedly drawing our attention to him as he licked his spoon clean. "I'll have to talk to my boss at Sun-Mart about importing a few crates to add to the menu."

Izzy beamed while I watched the normie closely for signs of distress. I even went so far as to briefly slide into his head to check for any neurotransmitters registering pain.

Or imminent death.

When nothing happened and he went in for seconds, I breathed a sigh of relief. Yes, Wolfy had bought the resort—the entire island, actually—and every normie employee had signed an NDA, but that didn't mean we could afford to leave a trail of bodies.

Simon would lose his shit over the bad press on SNZ.

I also worried about how annoyed our Mafia Queen might get with another unplanned—aka, out of his control—pairing between clans. While Wolfy had apparently suspected that putting Balty and Zion in the same house would result in our brother switching teams, Simon tore Baby Hulk a new one for the inconvenient timing of his coming out.

Tough shit.

While I had opinions about how Simon had handled that situation, I was self-aware enough to realize I was probably about to piss him off as well. It was quite possible I'd be seen as the "homewrecker" of both Simon's father's and brother's relationships.

Fuck my life.

I cleared my throat. "Do you happen to have any herbal refreshments on you, Izzy? I could use an appetizer."

And an excuse to get the hell out of here.

He brightened. "Does the pope shit in the woods? C'mon!"

Already breathing easier, I wordlessly followed the hero outside to a rocky ledge with a fantastic view of the beach and sunset-colored ocean beyond.

And the approaching cyclone that seemed to be permanently hovering just beyond the reef.

What is the deal with that…?

"Here," Izzy said in a strained voice, holding in the smoke while passing me a joint. "Let your troubles melt away."

Yes please.

We sat in companionable silence for a bit, which I normally would have appreciated, but all that did was encourage my overactive brain to focus on the most fucked up part of my entire fucked up situation .

I resonated for someone other than my stellar collision.

I resonated for Micah.

And Theo heard it.

I knew this because the instant it had happened, my gaze had found Theo across the bar. He wasn't the easiest man to read anyway, but the way he cocked his head and looked me over—with a sly smile that didn't quite reach his eyes—made me assume I'd just ruined everything.

Unsurprisingly, Dre had shown up soon after this canon event, which relieved the tension between Micah and me, and the rest of the night passed in a drunken blur. I'd found myself alone when I woke up earlier today so, of course, all I'd done since then was obsess over my bullshit and avoid Theo and Dre like the plague.

I need someone to send me cat videos.

My phone vibrated the same moment Dre tapped insistently in my mental walls, but I was uninspired to let in either communication.

Just let me wallow in peace, dude.

The attempted intrusion did give me an idea, however, and before I could talk myself out of it, I was sliding into Izzy's head to poke around.

As expected, his brain was as chaotic as Balty's, but with a much happier veneer. Dude was quite literally high on life, with even little things—like Felix approving of his hot sauce—sparking joy. There was an underlying hint of sadness, however, but I didn't want to deep dive into Izzy's personal shit. What I was after was specific and, while not totally harmless, was nothing that could be considered too awful …

I just wanna see ? —

"What are you looking for, Suarez?" he asked as I handed him back the joint, calmly and without accusation. "Because if you just ask, I'll tell you."

Well, fuck.

The fact he'd sensed me in there at all meant he was powerful enough to lock me out if he wanted to. Yet, here he was, offering to give me whatever I'd been trying to steal.

"I'm sorry, man," I huffed, beyond ashamed for being shady. "I was just looking for… your happy memories about… Micah. I didn't want to ask because it sounds so dumb and?—"

"Because of trauma," he interrupted, although there was still no judgment in his tone. "You probably grew up walking on eggshells around your parents, so you think you need to sneak around for everything, no matter how valid your needs actually are."

Holy.

Shit.

I coughed out a cloud of smoke so violently, he had to clap me on the back. When I finally had enough air to reply, my vision was so clouded with tears, I could barely see the man beside me.

We'll blame it on the weed.

"Read me to filth, why don't ya," I grumbled, even if I had a lot to think about now. "Jesus Christ."

Izzy chuckled. "It's not your fault, Gabriel. Our parents all did a number on us, and they lacked the emotional intelligence to do any better. Or… they just didn't care. "

I laughed humorlessly. "Yeah, that tracks."

This earned me a fist-bump in solidarity before Izzy added, "The only reason I even know this therapy shit is because Meeks studies psychology and brain stuff for funsies." He cocked his head and gave me the same sly smile I'd received from Theo last night. "It's no wonder he's equally obsessed with you."

This time, I choked on absolutely nothing, even as I was flooded with warmth. "I'm not…! Okay, fine. But even you have to admit what your brother does is a fucking sorcery—even compared to the rest of us."

I would trade powers with him in an instant.

Even if I'd mostly use those powers to make sex toys.

Izzy's gaze drifted toward the lurking storm as he turned uncharacteristically serious. "Meeks has always been underestimated by our parents, just like most of us were. You know how it is. The clan heir is the lead singer, and the rest of us are just expendable band members."

Speaking of unresolved baggage…

He huffed and shook his head, seeming to snap himself out of his dark mood. "But, yeah. It's cool that we can all just fangirl over each other now—no matter if we're heroes or villains."

That comment lifted some of the weight in my shoulders. While there were definitely some deeper feelings between Micah and me in this situation—and implications I was doing my best to hide from—the foundation of our apparently mutual obsession was straight up admiration.

He really is so fucking dope.

"Agreed." I accepted the joint again and finally relaxed. "Now, tell me all the embarrassing childhood stories about Micah. I beg. Help me get over this hero worship I'm afflicted with."

Tell me everything.

Izzy laughed. "Whatever you want, little Suarez. Anything to show you our boy is just as villainous as you."