More Than Jamie Baker (Jamie Baker #2) (19 page)

I sucked it up for a little while, but after about an hour my head hurt so badly I was fending off blackouts.

“You don’t look so good,” Ryan shouted over the noise.

“I’m tempted to add to the smell of puke coming from the women’s room.”

Ryan glanced around the club with understanding. “Why don’t we get some drinks and go outside for a while?”

I looked toward the crowded bar and grimaced. “How about you get the drinks and meet me out front?”

Ryan’s concern doubled. “That bad?”

I could only nod.

Ryan kissed my head and sent me toward the exit. “I’ll be right behind you.”

Outside there was a group of people smoking by the club entrance. I ducked into the side alley of the building where it was quieter and the only scent on the air was the smell of the ocean caught on the breeze. I leaned back against the cool brick wall and tried to rub the tension out of my head.

“Is everything okay, miss?” a nice baritone voice asked.

“I’m fine,” I said without opening my eyes.

“Are you sure? Can I buy you a drink?”

Now I looked at the guy. He was handsome, someone most girls would be happy to let hit on them. He had short brown hair, brown eyes, a nice smile, and an outfit that screamed rich and fashionable. I’d bet there was a Porsche somewhere out there with his name on it.

I doubt he ever got rejected and wondered how he’d take it. “Aren’t you a little old to be sniffing around me?”

Yeah, I could have been nicer, but I didn’t like the fact that this guy looked close to thirty and was at an eighteen and up club singling out a girl without that telltale wrist band identifying her as someone of legal drinking age.

The man’s lips quirked. “I didn’t mean to cause offense.” There was laughter in his tone. “I’m just a concerned citizen. I saw you inside. You looked like you were about to pass out. And for the record? I’m only twenty-nine, which is not
old
.”

“Well, I’m not even nineteen yet—which is a lot less old than you—and not nearly old enough to be accepting drinks from strangers.”

Now the man grinned. “Nothing illegal about drinking Coke.”

“You’re still a stranger, and almost twice my age, which just so you know is a little pervy.”

He laughed. “Twenty-nine is not twice your age.”

“I said ‘almost.’” Apparently the guy liked attitude. I needed to switch up my game. Unfortunately, I wasn’t very good at that. “Thank you for your concern, Pervy- Stranger-Who-Is-Not-Twice-My-Age-But-Close-Enough, but I’m really fine. I only needed a little air.”

“Because you have a headache? Was the noise getting to you? Are you one of those people who have sensitive ears or something?”

My eyes, which I’d closed again as I continued to knead my aching head, flashed up to the man standing in front of me. No one asks a question like that unless he’s fishing for answers.

I studied the guy closely. I didn’t recognize him, but he had the same rakish look about him as the others who’d been spying on me. He was one of them. I was sure of it.

“Way to be subtle, moron.”

“Excuse me?” The guy looked so taken aback that I laughed. He tugged at his collar and I could smell the nervous sweat gathering on his forehead. The idiot was probably wired and making a fool of himself in front of his boss.

“Sensitive ears?” I asked, pushing myself off the wall. I was ready to run or zap as necessary. “You guys finally make contact after spying on me for weeks and
that
was your segue? I’ve got to say, I’m a bit disappointed. At least Murphy had me thinking he was a dumb reporter.”

The guy gasped when I mentioned his co-worker by name. Then I heard a gruff voice say “What the hell?” and noticed the tiny piece of plastic in the stranger’s ear.

I clenched my hands into fists and my necklace started to glow. I took a deep breath, then grabbed the guy’s wrist. “That sounded like Demakis. Was that Demakis?” I pushed a button on the guy’s watch and said, “What’s the matter, Demakis? You and Reynolds didn’t want to come dancing? Or are you inside keeping an eye on my friends? You know, I’m getting really sick of this. I don’t know what you guys want from me, but you aren’t going to get it. Operation Stalk Jamie ends now, or we’re going to have problems and trust me, you
don’t
want to have problems with me.”

I smiled at my dumbfounded new friend. “Sorry, I didn’t catch your name?”

“Lorenz,” he said, too shocked to do anything but answer me.

“Well, Lorenz, this has been fun. You should totally call me sometime. Not.”

I gave his hand a good shake, but couldn’t resist letting my grip turn electric. I gave him just enough of a jolt to make him drop to his knees. I must be sadistic, because part of me enjoyed the sound of his labored breathing as I walked away.

I would have probably noticed the sound of Lorenz getting to his feet and drawing a gun if I hadn’t been listening to Ryan’s concerned voice calling my name.

“I’m here,” I called just as he rounded the corner into the alley.

“Hey, is everything okay? I thought—” He gasped and suddenly tackled me to the ground, shielding me with his body just as the sound of a quiet gun fired.

I didn’t waste a second. I whirled around, ready to push Ryan out of the way of any bullet and take care of Lorenz before he could fire another one, but what I saw stopped me in my tracks.

Floating, frozen in the air just five feet from me was the dart that had just been shot from Lorenz’s tranquilizer gun. The sight was so impossible—impossible even by my standards—that I didn’t realize what was happening until that dart turned itself around and sank into the soft skin of Lorenz’s neck.

Ryan and I looked at each other in shock and then noticed Teddy standing behind us, his murderous gaze focused on Lorenz. His hand was stretched out in front of him as if he’d used it to send the dart back at the person who’d fired it. Maybe he had.

Lorenz glared wildly at Teddy as he reached for the dart, but whatever poison it was laced with was extremely fast-acting. He didn’t get a single word out before he dropped to the ground in an unconscious heap.

I stood there, gaping at his sleeping form. It was impossible! Lorenz had just been stopped…with superpowers! But not mine!

“Jamie, we have to get out of here,” Teddy whispered in a panicked voice as he shook me from my daze.

My eyes locked on Ryan’s, understanding finally catching up to us. Teddy was like me! Well, not exactly like me, but he had powers! How was it possible?

“You did that!” I said, finally breaking from Ryan’s shocked gaze to meet Teddy’s anxious one. “How did you do that?
What
did you do?”

Teddy shook his head and started dragging me by the arm out of the alley. “Not important.”

“The hell it’s not!” I yanked myself free of his grip.

“Who are you?” Ryan asked.

“You guys,
Jamie
, please!” Teddy pleaded. “I promise I will explain, but I need to get out of here. I can’t be here when that guy wakes up. He could have friends.”

That snapped me out of it. Lorenz did have friends. Where there was one Visticorp thug, there were usually others. That tranquilizer had taken effect on Lorenz before he could report what happened, but I knew Demakis had been listening in from somewhere close by. Reynolds had to be around, too. Probably keeping an eye on...My stomach lurched.

“Where’s Becky?”

“Still inside.”

“You left her alone?” I screeched.

“I’m sure she’s fine. She said she was going to the bathroom so I came to check on you. You didn’t look so good before.”

I pulled out my phone as I started dragging Ryan back to the club entrance. My heart slowed a little when she answered. “Hey, Beck? Can you meet us out front? We need to leave.”

“Everything okay?” she asked.

“Yeah. I just need to leave. Now.”

Teddy pulled me to a stop just before I went back inside the crowded club. He was frantically scanning our surroundings. He was scared and paranoid.

I knew the feeling.

I understood that sense of panic he was experiencing, knowing that he’d just revealed himself. I knew exactly how important it was for him not to be anywhere near here when Lorenz woke up. I probably understood better than he did.

I’m sure Teddy thought he’d rescued Ryan and me from a random mugger. He had no idea that the man he’d just used his powers on was a dangerous “retrieval expert” from an evil corporation that would be very interested in him now.

I had to sit down when I realized the kind of danger I’d just put Teddy in. Visticorp had been there for
me
. They hadn’t had the faintest clue that Teddy was anything but human—I hadn’t, either—but they sure knew it now, and they would come after him just as surely as they would be back for me. He’d just endangered his life in an attempt to save mine, not knowing that I was more than capable of taking care of myself.

Teddy squatted down in front of me. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

Teddy’s eyes softened and he gave me a patronizing smile. “Try not to be frightened. I promise you, I’ll keep you safe. Can you stay calm for me?”

I looked up at Ryan as if to say, “Is he for real?”

Ryan winked at me and stepped around Teddy to help me to my feet. “I’ll take it from here, Teddy. Thanks for watching out for my girl.”

Teddy moved aside, grumbling under his breath. “I just saved both your butts and he still gets the girl.”

His tone made me angry, but Ryan laughed. Of course, he hadn’t been there when Teddy asked me to dump Ryan for him. I’d thought it best for everyone to keep that little gem of a conversation to myself.

Teddy was harmless and Ryan wasn’t the jealous type, but if there was one thing Ryan wouldn’t tolerate it would be someone trying to take me from him. I had a feeling if the subject ever came up, Teddy was probably bold enough to admit that’s what he was doing. Superpowers or not, it wouldn’t go over so well for him. Ryan might kill him.

The conversation dropped, so I used the opportunity to try and get answers. I turned to Teddy and only got out the word “what” before Becky found us. “Hey, you guys! Is everything okay?” she asked, worry evident in her voice.

Teddy didn’t miss a beat. “Jamie was just attacked.”

“What?” Becky rushed to me and threw her arms around me.

Teddy’d just given me the perfect opening and I used it. “A man with a gun tried to mug me, but Ryan and Teddy saved me.”

Teddy balked at the lie, but I think it was over the “him and Ryan both saving me” part and not the “random mugger” part, which is exactly what I hoped would happen. “I’m fine,” I said again. “They scared the guy away before anything bad happened.”

As Becky proceeded to freak out over this news, I dragged her in the direction of our car. “Wait!” she said. “Shouldn’t we stay and call the police?”

“Won’t do any good,” Teddy said quickly. “The guy is already gone.”

“I just want to go home,” I added.

Teddy, Ryan, and I all held our breath as Becky thought this over and then collectively breathed again when she nodded. Once we were well out of San Francisco and on our way back to Sacramento, everyone finally relaxed a little.

I’d always thought myself to have more than enough superpowers for one person, but as I drove back home I would have killed for a little telepathy. I was dying to know what Ryan and Teddy were thinking, and to talk about what had just happened.

Hello, I wasn’t the only person in the world with powers! This was life-altering, earth-shattering news and the three of us just had to pretend like everything was normal all the way back to school because none of us were willing to spill the beans to Becky.

When Teddy caught me watching him in the rearview mirror for the bazillionth time, he decided to break the silence. “What were you doing out in that alley?” he asked, a lecture in his tone. It wasn’t the conversation I’d been expecting.

“You were
where
?” Becky screamed.

I shrugged defensively, my pride injured because to them I looked like an idiot. I couldn’t explain that I don’t have to be afraid of places like that.

Ryan reached over the center console and squeezed my hand. I was glad at least one person understood me.

“I wasn’t feeling well,” I finally answered. “I needed fresh air, but there were a ton of people smoking all kinds of things by the door.”

“So you wandered into a dark alley by yourself in the middle of the night?” Becky snapped. “That was stupid, Jamie!”

I didn’t begrudge her her anger. She was just scared for me, and from her perspective it
was
stupid. I’d been through the same self-defense class she had over the summer. There was more than one lecture on not doing dumb things, such as wandering alone at night in dark, secluded places.

“Yeah,” Teddy added dryly. “It was very MJ of you.”