More Than Jamie Baker (Jamie Baker #2) (34 page)

I swallowed back my annoyance at his calling it my
old
life. “Whatever. It was fine. He’s all the way in New York and like I said, we’re not exactly friends. I doubt Visticorp would ever make the connection between us.”

“Still, you can’t risk it.”

“I had to. He was doing me a favor and I went to tell him he didn’t need to do it anymore. Plus, I sort of owe him an interview as Chelsea’s Angel.”

“What?” Teddy jumped to his feet and began angrily pacing the room. “How could you promise that? What kind of favor was he doing for you?”

I cringed. “An extensive background check on you.”

Teddy jolted to a stop and gaped at me. He looked betrayed enough that I almost felt guilty. Almost. “Oh, come on,” I said. “You came out of nowhere, I knew nothing about you, and you had
powers
? Was I just supposed to believe that the only two people in the world with superpowers just happened to go to the same random college in Sacramento, California and ran into each other by coincidence?”

“I can’t believe you didn’t trust me.”

“I was just being cautious. And I was right, anyway. We didn’t meet by coincidence, did we?”

I folded my arms across my chest and stared Teddy down, daring him to argue with me. He looked pretty pissed, but after a moment he let it go and asked, “So did he find anything good, at least? Something worth a Chelsea’s Angel interview?”

“That’s just it. He never called me back, and I know he wasn’t planning to waste time getting me the info. He wanted that interview. He should have contacted me by now. This is the third time I’ve stopped by his office this week and he wasn’t there. Carter’s
always
in his office. The guy’s a workaholic.”

I abandoned my dinner, and suddenly Teddy was sitting next to me again, resting his hand on my leg. “Hey,” he said, flipping from anger to concern in a flash. “I’m sure he’s fine. You haven’t had your cell phone for a month. How was he supposed to contact you at all? He probably just got sent out on assignment.”

Duh! Of course he couldn’t have contacted me all this time. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of that. The obvious oversight made me feel stupid. “You’re right. I’m an idiot.”

“You’re not an idiot, Jamie. You’ve just been through a lot lately.”

Teddy wrapped his arms around me and I melted against him, suddenly feeling completely frayed. “The whole Visticorp thing has made me completely paranoid.” I let out a big breath. “I’m not sure how much longer I can do this.”

Teddy pulled back and frowned at me. “Do what?”

“Live like this.”

Teddy’s frown got even bigger and it made me restless. He may have understood me on a lot of levels, but he would never grasp how difficult being away from home was for me. As far as he was concerned, our life was fantastic now.

I wasn’t in the mood to argue about it with him again, so I rose to my feet. “I’m going out.”

“As Chelsea’s Angel? Again? But you just got back.”

“I need some air.”

“How can you need more air? You’re always gone!”

“I just do!” I snapped. “This house is becoming more suffocating by the minute! Have you found
anything
on Visticorp yet? Are you even
trying
to? Because sometimes it feels like you’re just stringing me along waiting for me to forget about my ‘old life’ and accept you instead, and I’m sorry, but that’s not going to happen!”

All the blood drained from Teddy’s face. He looked so devastated that I felt awful for accusing him of not trying after everything he’d done for me.

I opened my mouth to apologize and at the same time he said, “You’re right.”

My stomach turned in on itself. “What do you mean? What am I right about?”

“I haven’t found anything on Visticorp. The company is squeaky clean. I don’t know where they’re hiding all of their info, but I’ve tried everything I can think of.”

Teddy let out a weighted breath and stared at his feet, unable to look me in the eyes. “I’ve known for about a week now that there’s nothing I can do to help you. I’ve just been trying to figure out a way to break it to you.”

It took a moment for Teddy’s words to register and then my anger popped like an over-inflated balloon. “So that’s it, then,” I said sinking back down to the couch. “I’m never getting my life back.”

Teddy’s face crumpled. “I’m sorry, Jamie.”

I sat there in a daze. That was it. The end of the road. I had no plan now. Taking down Visticorp was the only way I’d ever be safe to go home, and if Teddy couldn’t do it…

“Is it really so awful?” Teddy asked. “You’ve been happy enough here this month, haven’t you?”

“That was when I thought I was going to get my family and Ryan back. When I thought I had something worth living for.”

Teddy’s voice was really small when he replied. “And now you don’t?”

I sighed and forced myself to pull it together. “Of course I do. You’re a great friend, Teddy. Like the brother I always wanted.”

“Brother?” Teddy made a choking noise.

“Teddy…”

I tried to grab his hand but he scrambled off the couch away from me. “Don’t, Jamie. Don’t say that. Don’t think about me like that.”

“I can’t help how I feel.”

“Yes, you can!” Teddy suddenly shouted. “You’ve never tried to see me as anything but a friend! You’ve never given the idea a chance! I get that you loved him. I do. I can be patient. I can wait for you to get over him.”

My jaw dropped. “Get over him? I can’t just get over him! Why would I?”

“Ryan is your past and you can’t go back! You’ve got to think about your future now.”

“What future?” I yelled. Angry tears started to gather in my eyes. “Spending the rest of my life hiding out in the middle of the freaking desert pretending everything and everyone I’ve ever cared about doesn’t exist is
not
a future!”

“What about finding other people like us?”

“What does it matter? Say we do find others like us, then what? Bring them back here so they can hide out with us? Why would we go find them just to ruin their lives, too? Let it go, Teddy! If there are others, leave them in peace!”

Teddy had been about to yell back, but suddenly lost all the air in his lungs. “Is that how you really feel? That I ruined your life by coming to find you?”

I almost said yes. I was so angry that I almost placed the blame of all my problems on the guy who’d done nothing but risk his life for me, then save me and help me when I needed it most.

“Of course not,” I said. “I don’t blame you. They were already coming for me, and you were the one who helped me save what little of my life is left. I’m happy that you came to find me, but I can’t give you what you want. It doesn’t matter how long you wait. You can’t have my heart. I already gave it to Ryan.”

“So that’s it? You love Ryan, so you’re just giving up on me? You’re not even going to try?”

I saw his point, and for a second I honestly tried to imagine this life he’d laid out for me. Maybe when I’d first arrived I could have imagined it possible, but after spending a month away from Ryan I realized he was right that day when he told me that life wouldn’t matter if I wasn’t there with him. It was the same for me.

Maybe Ryan was safer away from me, but I had no doubt that he was every bit as miserable as I was, and what kind of life was that? Some things were worth the risk. The love Ryan and I shared was worth the danger.

“I’m not giving up on you, Teddy. I’m saying good-bye.”

“What?” Teddy looked genuinely startled.

“If I can’t stop Visticorp and go home, then I’m bringing my home to me. I’m going to get Ryan. And then I’m going to get my parents and his if they’ll come, and we’ll do exactly what Ryan suggested. We’ll get lost like Gilligan together.”

“Jamie, you can’t do that.”

“Why not? I’ve been perfectly safe here with you. We’ll get them new identities as well and find a place where we can all be together. I don’t know about Ryan’s parents, but Ryan and my mom and dad would rather give up their lives than lose me forever. I’m sure of it. I’m going to at least give them the option.”

I could see Teddy’s mind racing, trying to come up with another solution—any other solution. Eventually the spark left his eyes and he gave up.

“You could come with us,” I said, hating the look of despair on his face. “I can’t be what you want me to be, but I
am
your friend. You would be welcome with us. My parents would no doubt adopt you into the family. We could still try to find others like us. If we had our own island or whatever, we could find them and bring them to us if they wanted to come. We could form our own little town—a refuge for others like us and their families or something.” I smirked. “Hell, we could even invite Carter. He could be our devious little partner in crime. We could take down people like Visticorp for real and start a real-life Justice League. Who knows, maybe we’d find you a hotter girl than me with cooler powers and a thing for adorkableness.”

“Jamie, wait. Why don’t you just give me a little more time? I’ll try again. Maybe I missed something.”

I shook my head. I didn’t even have to think about it now. The future I’d just laid out sounded better than the thought of going back home and always having to lie to my friends and worry about whether or not I was really safe. In fact, how Ryan and I hadn’t come up with this idea before was a little surprising. It was so simple.

“Please, Teddy?” A real smile crept across my face. The first genuine one I’d managed since I’d left home. “I’ll do it without you, but I really want you to come with me. At least think about it?”

Teddy looked defeated as he finally nodded his head. “Okay. Fine, okay. I’ll help you.”

“Really?” I actually squeaked from excitement.

I wished Teddy shared my enthusiasm. I hated seeing him so sad when I was finally so happy. “It’s better than losing you and being alone forever,” he said. “But it’s going to take me a few days to get IDs made for them and bank accounts transferred and stuff.”

“No problem. We’ll give you as much time as you need. We need to do this right. I’ll meet you back here on Friday with whoever is going with us and we’ll hang out here until we have everything sorted out. I’m sure nobody will mind the cramped quarters for a while.”

“You’ll meet me—wait, where are you going?”

I felt my smile spread all the way to my ears. “I owe my boyfriend a trip to the Grand Canyon.”

The first thing I did
was hike a bunch of gear from The Lair out to my absolute favorite spot on the northern rim of the Grand Canyon and set up the perfect camp for two. It was miles from anywhere. Not even hikers or other campers ever came close to this spot. The only thing that would be there after sunset would be Ryan, me, and a universe of stars.

Next I had to do some reconnaissance. I couldn’t just call and ask Ryan where he was. Teddy and I had new cell phones, but he insisted that I could never call anyone from my old life because Visticorp could be monitoring their cell phones, then figure out it was me and trace it back to The Lair.

Normally, Ryan would be at practice this time of day. I ran past the stadium just in case, but he wasn’t there. Becky was, though, practicing with the cheerleaders. As much as it hurt my heart to see her and not speak to her, I was at least grateful to confirm that she was alive and well and going on with her life. I hated to think about how it was going to be for her after I stole Ryan from her. I wanted to take her with me, but she had an entire family that would be devastated if she were to disappear.

It took me forever to find Ryan. I had to carefully zoom past all of his normal haunts. Then, when that proved unsuccessful, I searched the entire campus and finally found him in a park near campus throwing a football around with Mike.

I gasped at the sight of him. It had been so long and I’d missed him so badly that my eyes stung just looking at him. I felt as if I didn’t touch him soon I might never again be able to fill my lungs with air.

I made my way to the roof of a building that was as far away as I could get from them and still see and hear them. Then I ducked as out of sight as possible and watched them toss the ball for a few minutes.