He blinked before sliding me a look. “You’re really asking about farts?”
I shrugged. “I’m sure you’ve smelled some terrible stuff. I didn’t really want to go dark that fast.” I also didn’t want him to confirm he could smell when someone was turned on. That was definitely something to keep in mind.
He tilted his head to the side. “Alana’s make me gag,” he answered unexpectedly.
I laughed. “I wondered if you pooped in the first place.”
He made a noise in his throat. Was he smirking? “We do, not as often as you do. We burn through most of our calories and use it as energy.”
That explained so much. “That’s almost as amazing as being super strong.”
Alex snickered. “Let’s get this over with.”
I got out right after he did, tugging his jacket closer around my body as I waited for him to come around the side. I shivered as a strong breeze blew by, and I took a half step closer to Alex, using his body to block it. He glanced over but didn’t say a word about me being so close as we hustled toward the store.
Wait a minute.
I stopped and grabbed his arm, peering up at his face. “You’ve got contacts in?”
“I put them in when you used the bathroom.”
I grabbed the collar of his jacket and tried to tug him down.
He went, lowering his head willingly, his eyelids widening over dark blue eyes.
With my other hand, I touched the tip of his eyebrow and took in the color some more… and the smooth skin beneath them.
Those cheekbones.
That jaw.
“Are you still looking at my eyes or the rest of me?”
I let go. “The rest of you. The color looks real.”
“They only last a few hours. We’ve got to leave before they dissolve.”
“They dissolve?”
He stood up straight. “Yeah, come on.”
“Why don’t you wear a wig?” I asked. “You don’t need to?” I’d always wondered how they got around, how they survived among people. I’d thought for sure they wore wigs or simply just… hid from the world in general.
But Alex just looked like himself minus that charcoal suit and blue cape. Was that why he didn’t let his face get photographed or recorded? In the movies, Electro-Man wore a wig when he was in “normal” clothes to protect his identity. Even the Mistress of Mayhem had a little strip of cloth over her eyes.
“Alana goes all out with a disguise, but that’s because she’s tall so she draws more attention. Robert wears glasses and combs his hair different. They were both homeschooled. They rarely go out to be cautious.” He held up his wrist, showing me a plain rubber band. “When it gets long, I tie my hair back. Nobody notices.”
I gave him an incredulous look before taking my own hair tie off my wrist. I held it out toward him. “I’m sure your hair is super strong, and it’s too wonderful to even think about breaking but come on. Use a real hair tie.”
Those temporary dark blue eyes flicked toward me, and he took the elastic. He kept his eyes on me as he pulled his hair back and tied it into a short half-ponytail that was basically a nub.
Not many men could pull off a tiny ponytail, but Alex, he could pull off anything.
I smiled. “Now you’ll catch 99 people’s attention instead of 100. Good job.” Were people really that oblivious? How the fuck had no one ever figured it out?
Alex huffed as we walked through the automatic doors of the electronics store. I peered up at him, liking the security of him being right there, as we headed toward the computer department.
“What exactly are we looking for?” he asked when we got there.
I told him the name of the model, looking around to try and find an employee. There was one talking to a customer close by, but she was busy.
“I’ll start over there,” he said. “You look here.”
We split up. The section wasn’t large at all. I guess most people bought their stuff online now, but Alex headed toward the row farthest away, and I started on the opposite end. It said they had one in stock; they couldn’t have sold it already. But this was my luck, so they might have.
“Can I help you find something?”
I jumped.
“Is there something specific you’re looking for?” the employee asked from where she stood at the end of the aisle.
“Yes. Please.” I rattled off the name of the laptop I was looking for.
“You’re close, next row over. I’ll show you,” she said. “It’s on sale right now—oh my god.”
A big hand landed on my shoulder a split second before I heard, “Did you find what you were looking for?”
The girl made a noise that I totally understood.
I would have “oh my god” too.
“Yeah,” I confirmed.
Alex pulled out his wallet, handing me a card. “Buy what you need. I need to get something. Meet me in the food court.” Then he leaned forward, whispered a four-digit number into my ear, squeezed my shoulder quickly, and took off, heading straight to the exit that led into the mall.
I stared after him.
After that tight butt mostly.
“Wow,” the employee whispered so quietly I wasn’t even sure she knew what she’d said out loud.
I didn’t even have to glance over to know what she was talking about. “I know,” I agreed. Oh, I knew.
Twenty minutes later, with my computer in tow, I headed through the mall and followed the signs to the food court. There were so many stores. So many people. I’d been to malls a couple times before—behind my grandparents’ back because there were too many people—but I’d never seen so many people at one.
Plus, I had a card in my hand from a bank I’d never heard of. What was up with this family and their special credit cards and foreign debit cards? How much money did you have to have to qualify for one? Would Alex tell me?
Part of me had expected the cashier to ask for my ID or call the cops, but he hadn’t even made eye contact when I’d paid.
Clutching my heavy bag tight, I moved through the mall slowly, taking in everything. I was already worn out. At the food court, I used the last of the ten dollars that Selene had loaned me on a cinnamon coffee drink with drizzled chocolate over a mountain of whipped cream. Taking a seat at a table, I sipped on my drink and kept an eye out.
I didn’t have to wait long.
I’d only been sitting there a minute when I spotted the tall body striding through the crowd.
I bit my lip and kept watching that long frame move. I also got to witness how the women he passed reacted. Some of them totally stopped to check him out, and some of them tried to be discreet but checked him out anyway. I couldn’t blame them. I couldn’t blame them at all.
I smiled as we made eye contact. There was a big department store bag over his forearm and another smaller bag that looked like it may or may not have a shoebox in it. I didn’t take him to be a shopper, but he was still one of the great mysteries of the world, apparently. I held the drink out and he took it, instantly putting the straw between his lips and taking a big sip.
“Did you get what you needed?” I asked, not even trying to be sneaky about staring at his bags.
He narrowed those blue eyes, and I was pretty sure he held the bags closer as he nodded. “You?”