The Powerful Pride of an Immortal (Immortal Supers Book 4) by Kurtis Eckstein (ebook reader for surface pro .TXT) 📗

avoided all eye contact and pretty much ignored me entirely. Which was perfectly fine with me.

Instead, it was actually Nick and Tyrone, with Nick doing Jujitsu or something inside a special room that had sensors on the wall to detect the changes in air pressure. It was basically a speed and strength measuring system for supers who were over-the-top strong like my friend – an alternative to them working on improving without breaking shit.

Tyrone was standing outside the large window, cheering him on, seeming sincerely impressed and excited about the numbers popping up next to the door. Kind of made me curious too.

However, just as I considered going over there to learn more about it, someone else entered the large gym, not wearing workout clothing.

It was Benjamin, the guy with stark red hair, who also happened to have an affinity for insects and loved to talk about his GMO Hornets.

“Hey Sam,” he called out. “Jackie sent me for you. She wants you to stop by her office before you leave for the day. Said she messaged you, but you didn’t respond.”

I knew someone had messaged me earlier, but I didn’t bother checking it right away, and then forgot. Most of the messages I received weren’t urgent anyway. And if Freya or Lily ever called with an emergency, then it was programmed to sound with an extremely shrill alarm tone.

“Okay, will do,” I replied. “I think we’re just about done.”

He nodded and left, as was his usual behavior. He wasn’t awkward or anything to talk to, and he was very outgoing and animated during lunch and such, definitely reminding me of some dude from a rock band, but when he was in work-mode, he usually kind of skipped over pleasantries.

Lexi sat up on the bench, breathing heavily after working a couple of lower-weight dumbbells. She was pretty spent at this point, and was doing everything with lighter weights now just to get in that little extra.

After a second, she sucked in a deep breath. “I’ll go ahead and shower, if you want to go see what Jackie wants,” she suggested. “That way, we should both be done about the same time.”

“Sure,” I agreed. We still hadn’t really done anything even remotely intimate, even after being officially given the green light to progress our relationship, so I simply gave her a light hug and took off to change clothes.

I was knocking on Jackie’s door about five minutes later.

“Come in.”

“Hey, you wanted to see me?”

Jackie looked up at me with a smile. “Yes. Please close the door behind you.”

I did so, and then took a seat, glancing around the room at the various potted plants before giving her my attention.

“How are things going so far?” she wondered pleasantly, folding her hands over each other on the desk.

“Fine. Lots of reading, but otherwise fine.”

She nodded sympathetically. “Yes, you wouldn’t imagine the number of heroes that walk through our doors the first time only to discover the bulk of the work wasn’t what they were expecting. But, the scarcity of missions is partly indicative of the quality and effectiveness of our work.”

I nodded. “So what did you want to talk about?”

Her smile became a little strained. “I actually wanted to speak to you about Lexi. Or more specifically, about you spending time in her private office. I don’t have a problem with that arrangement, but I would like to ask that you keep all your behavior professional.”

I looked at her in shock. “Well, of course. And we have.” I paused. “Wait. Why are you even bringing this up?”

She finally frowned. “We’ve had a complaint.”

My eyes narrowed. “Radley Lockhart?” I assumed, knowing his full name now.

She didn’t respond, but she didn’t need to. Technically, she should probably say something about not being able to disclose the identity of the person, but I knew it wouldn’t be anyone else. No one else cared, except him.

I continued. “Did you hear about what happened the first day I was here?” I wondered.

She nodded with another strained smile. “Yes. I understand that he attacked you and you stopped him.”

I shook my head. “Not exactly. I didn’t do anything at first. Mrs. Knight was still here and I let her shield stop him. In fact, I wasn’t planning on doing anything at all, and I even tried to get him to calm down by clarifying that Lexi and I weren’t together. That’s why he was angry. He misinterpreted seeing me holding onto her arm – I grabbed it to steady myself when Tyrone showed me his ability. And Lexi told him to back off and that me holding her arm was fine, but he wouldn’t listen.”

Jackie was sitting there with wide eyes, as if suddenly all the puzzle pieces were fitting together now. “I apologize,” she replied. “I actually did have a discussion with him earlier this week, but I didn’t realize how one-sided the potential assault was.”

“Well, I did push him down after he tried kicking me from behind. But he risked hitting Lexi that time, and while Knight’s shield probably would have stopped it, I wasn’t going to take a chance at that point.” I sighed. “Why didn’t you ask me about this? Or Lexi for that matter?”

She took a deep breath. “Because Sam, my job is to keep the peace, among other things. You dealt with the problem without harming anyone, and my job was to make sure that your hostile encounter with him would be the last one. Asking you about it when I’d already heard from several of the witnesses just seemed like a good way to just prolong the conflict.”

“I get it, and I appreciate you dealing with that on my behalf, but I think it’s important you hear my side.”

She nodded.

“And we’ve kept it professional,” I added. “Radley is just making shit up. He’s jealous about the situation, even though he really has no right to be.”

She nodded again. “Yes, well, to be completely honest, even if something unprofessional did happen, there’s nothing I