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“Being trapped under that building was probably the scariest thing that’s ever happened to me. It didn’t help that one of the kids I saved kept reminding me I wasn’t doing an outstanding job.”
“What were you thinking?” Theo asked. “You could have been crushed.”
“It wasn’t exactly my plan. Running and hiding with Griffin and Chad was the goal. But then I heard the kids screaming. I couldn’t leave them behind, and before I could get Griffin to help, he vanished in a cloud of rubble.” I was thankful there were only a few scratches, but the ache had already started working its way into my bones. Tylenol and a hot bath would not cut it tonight.
“I tried texting you, but my phone died.”
“The reports hadn’t come in yet. I thought you were joking.”
I caught my breath, trying to keep my lips from frowning. He had received the text? I had been stuck underneath a building, risking my life saving two munchkins, and he thought I was joking. It was bad enough when Griffin ignored my GIFs of sexy men saving puppies. But to be ignored when I could have died?
I was about to lay out the guilt when the waitress appeared. While Theo ordered half a dozen rolls of sushi, my attention turned from being ignored to the rumbling in my stomach. I’d bring it up later, but right now, all I wanted to do was stuff my face.
Try as I might to focus on the upcoming feast, the nagging disappointment rivaled my desire for raw fish. Keeping my thoughts to myself had never been my strong suit. But if I didn’t say it now…
“I almost died. A building nearly crushed me. If it hadn’t been for Sentinel, at best, I’d still be stuck down there. At worst…” I let the words trail off. It almost felt foolish putting the thought into the universe. Living in Vanguard City meant the constant threat of being killed by villains with a grudge. But this wasn’t a flashy bad guy trying to get revenge. It was me trying to be a good person and almost paying the price. More than that, the one person I needed at that moment had thought I was being dramatic.
Theo reached across the table, wrapping his hands around mine. His thumb ran across my knuckles. I wanted to relish the feeling, to let my heart thump against my ribs as this handsome man turned his focus on me. I had been worried that sharing him with Julian would be complicated and that I wouldn’t be able to compete with their marriage. But Julian didn’t factor into the reasons my chest ached. When I needed Theo the most, he ignored me.
“I can’t imagine what was going through your head.” His words were slow, deliberate as he tread carefully through the minefield I had laid. “I’m sorry. This one is on me. I should have been there.”
I get it. He wasn’t my personal savior. I didn’t have a monopoly on this hero, and he couldn’t be there to save me every time I found myself in danger. I didn’t need him to be my everything. I needed him to be mysomething.
“You ignored my text.” I caught the sob in my throat. This wasn’t the date I had planned. It should have a little romance, maybe some staring across the table, and end with me dragging him into the bedroom. Instead, this dinner for two invited my insecurities as a third wheel.
“I can apologize all day for that, but it doesn’t change what I did. Alejandro, you didn’t deserve that. If you’ll forgive me.” He paused as his phone vibrated. I expected him to pick it up and make sure the world wasn’t burning.
“It won’t happen again.”
He maintained eye contact. They were the softest pools of blue. How many arguments had he escaped with them? I wanted to forgive him, to allow it to become a misunderstanding that we grew from. The logic rattling around inside my brain didn’t convince my heart. The two remained at odds even as I nodded my head and smiled.
“Sorry,” I said, “dinner wasn’t supposed to be a guilt trip.”
“I hurt your feelings,” he jumped in. “Never keep your feelings bottled up. I’m mad at myself for beingthatguy. You have nothing to apologize for.”
Validation. It didn’t solve the problem, but it put a band-aid on the wound so it could heal. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a start. As he squeezed my hands, I realized I hadn’t felt this way about a person in a long time. All the time spent naked with the heroes from Midnight Alley, I hadn’t considered opening myself to the possibility of something other than a tryst. Something about Theo broke down my walls, but without defenses, I feared I was preparing for a world of pain.
His phone vibrated again. I swore it grew angrier, shaking about the table as if it were throwing a tantrum. “Are you going to get that?”
Theo kept one hand stretched across the table, locked around my fingers as if he were attempting to save me from falling off a building. He picked up the phone and flicked at the screen with his thumb. I recognized the expression, the furrowed brow and the slight downturn of the lip. Duty called, and as a protector of the city, he couldn’t say no. It was the burden of being a superhero’s trophy husband.
“If you need to go—“
“I’d much rather be here with you.”
“Duty calls,” I said. “The other mistress.” Well, I guess in this case, it was one of several. I’d have to work out the details on that.
“Be right back. I’m going to pay.”
“You don’t—“
“I’ve been enough of a jerk today.”
He jumped from the table and I half expected him to step into a portal to hunt down our waitress. He vanished toward the entrance while his phone continued to vibrate violently. I picked it up, ready to shout for Theo that his little box of doom demanded attention. But he had turned the corner to pay the tab.
“Man, and I thought my phone got used and abused.”
I spun it around to see where the HeroApp™ would take him. The notifications on the Lock Screen weren’t from an app. They were texts. I hadn’t imagined the heroes passed out their numbers and activated the phone tree when danger struck. It seemed like an inefficient way to—
