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Everyone groaned.
Nick ignored them. He was used to it by now. “Once again, he defeated villains who attempted to commit crime in our fair city. I think we need to start another online petition for a solid gold statue to be erected in his honor.”
Gibby snorted. “Speaking of being erected in his honor—”
“Didn’t the last one only get seventeen signatures?” Jazz asked. “And yours were twelve of them, signing it with different names.”
“Right,” Nick said. “But that was before I ascended in popularity withScorch the Earth.As of this morning, I have the most viewed story in the fandom. And since I’ll probably let the power of being popular in a fandom go to my head, that means I should be able to get what I want.”
“And you want to start another petition,” Owen said, sounding bored.
“Yes. And we could—wait a minute.” Hold the motherfreaking phone.
“Oh no,” Seth moaned. “That’s his realization face.”
“We should probably have more boundaries than we do,” Jazz said as she squinted at Nick.
What had Rebecca Firestone said this morning? Something about— “Burke Tower.”
Thatgot their attention. “What about Burke Tower?” Gibby asked, glancing between Nick and Owen.
“It’s where the gunmen were going,” Nick said excitedly. “They were trying to break into Burke Tower. It was on the news this morning!”
“No, Nick,” Owen said. “It’s—”
Nick stared at Owen with wide eyes. “Owen Burke. Burke Tower. They were trying to break into yourfather’sbuilding. And Shadow Star was there.”
“Absolutely not,” Owen said, shaking his head. “You leave me out of this. I have nothing to—”
“You have to get me the security tapes! So I can watch them over and over again for my own personal reasons that don’t involve anything weird.”
Seth put his face in his hands.
“Youareweird,” Owen said. “And why do you think I would have access to the tapes?”
“Uh, because it’s your father.” What about this did he not understand? It seemed easy enough to Nick.
Owen snorted. “Right, because he listens to anything I say. I don’t even remember the last time I saw him.”
That caught Nick off guard. Owen Burke rarely let anything slip through the facade of douchedom that he’d perfected.
“Oh,” Nick said, suddenly uncomfortable with this tiny sign that Owen might be human after all. “That’s… too bad.” He wasn’t very adept when it came to comforting people he’d made out with. Or, at least, that appeared to be the case. He’d never made out with anyone else. He wondered if he needed to find someone else to make out with and then have them talk about their damaged relationship with their family to make sure.
“Gosh. Thanks, Nicky. Really.”
Nick tried to recover. “Didn’t you go yachting with him in Greece or Daytona?”
“Isn’t Daytona in Florida?” Jazz asked. “How exotic.”
“We were supposed to,” Owen said stiffly, picking at the peeling lunch table. “But he backed out at the last minute, so it was just my stepmom and her assistant who is also her boyfriend. And we weren’t in GreeceorDaytona. It was the Bahamas.”
“Whoa,” Nick breathed. “Rich people problems.”
Owen shrugged. “It’s whatever. I don’t care.”
Nick didn’t think that was quite the truth, but he was nothing if not pragmatic. “Maybe this could be a bonding experience for you and your dad. You know, going over the tapes and then making copies for me. Then you can go outside and toss a football back and forth. Or something.”
“Not going to happen.”
