Chosen One Gone Wrong (Villains & Monsters #1)

Chapter Five

Her aunt always told her not to stare. But when there's someone as beautiful as they are deadly, it's very hard not to. 

Now up close, she took in all of his details. His eyes were hazel, and his skin was slightly glowing from the use of his flames. From here, his hair looked soft and fluffy, and she would be lying if she said she didn't want to run her fingers through it.

Truly perfect. Fuck, she was so screwed.

Simon smiled. "Well, are you going to say anything?"

Daija stood up, brushing some dust from her leggings and sighing shakily. "Um, I won't lie to you. I have about fifteen things I want to say and the first thirteen of them are considered very inappropriate for a first meeting."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, so I'm just going to stick with the last two."

He raised a brow. "Which are?"

"First," She wiped her sweaty palms on her leggings again, "are you going to kill me?"

"Are you going to give me a reason to?" He asked. He may have been smiling, but even an idiot could tell that he definitely wasn't joking.

"No. Not at all."

"Mhm, and what's the second thing?"

She smiled nervously, her voice coming out small, "Hi."

"Hello," the playful gleam in his eyes returned. "Wanna explain to me why you're hanging out with a bunch of heroes at two in the morning in your PJ's?"

"I was dragged here. Does it look like I'm the type to hang out with heroes at two a.m?"

"Hmm, don't know," He muttered as he looked her up and down. She guessed that he was figuring out how to kill her if she tried anything stupid.

"So," She cleared her throat, "you're Simon?"

He looked back up at her. "Yup."

"And your power is stopping time?"

"One of them, yeah."

One of them? Before she could ask anything else, he said, "I'm still a little curious about you."

"I told you, I was dragged here," She sighed, "If I had the choice, I wouldn't be here. Trust me." She then rolled her eyes at the thought of Aniya, mimicking her voice, "Daija! Oh, Daija! Come observe or stay in jail! Use your powers for the good of the city or stay in jail-"

"Pause. Powers?" Simon asked.

Shit. Shit. "Oh," Daija tried to save herself quickly, "What I meant was-"

"Don't lie to me now. We've been doing well so far." He warned.

She immediately stopped, too exhausted to care about covering it up at this point. "Okay, fine. Powers manifested, I went across the city and brought down a building or eight-"

He looked shocked. "Wait-- That was you?"

"Yes."

He smiled, leaning back against the car. "Well, was it fun?"

She snickered, nodding happily as she recalled the memories. "God, it was everything," she then summarized the rest of her story, doing her best to keep it short and simple, "I laid down to take a nap and I woke up in jail. Been sluggish for about a week and now we're here. But back to you."

"And what would you like to know?"

Daija mentally cursed at herself for every single thought that went through her head at his question.