The Super Jerk Trilogy (Now 3-in-1)

11. are you feeling it now

{Cameron}

We end up in another small town, this time high in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. Fortunately, after Kelly healed Jocelyn, her condition progressed rapidly. She'd even been able to sit up a few hours afterward. After that, even though she still hadn't had the strength to use her powers, I'd gotten us out of there and flown over another state line. Green probably had guys on our tail right now.

   "So what are we going to do without any money?" Jocelyn asks while we sit outside the candy store on the main street. "Unless you've got some hidden away somewhere."

   "I don't," I say with a shrug. I was used to living with limited funds, since Mom couldn't really work. "But we'll just have to see, I guess."

   "I really wish we didn't have to hide out like this," Jocelyn says, dropping her head back against the wall behind us.

   "Me neither," I say. "But you know Green...he'll stop at nothing to get at us in any way possible."

   "We've got to go back sometime. To your friends that you mentioned in St. Louis."

   "I know." I think of Sarah, Trevor, Kaelie, Ellis. Even Zach. He wasn't such a bad guy, once you got past his exterior. "But we can't yet. Green'll think we had help."

   "Let him." Jocelyn rakes both hands through her hair. "I want him to come out and fight us face-to-face. Not send all his little villains to do his bidding."

   "I'd hardly call his villains little," I say, thinking of my dad.

   She shrugs. "Small-minded, maybe."

   I nod. Can't argue with that. We get up from the bench and make our slow hobbling way down the street. I wonder just how long it'll be until we can return to St. Louis. Word tended to spread in the super community like wildfire.

   I manage to find us an unused cabin a ways down the road from town. Summer homes are convenient during this time of year. The only hard part is getting in, but the chimney offers us a convenient entrance point. It spits us out right into the living room, onto the Navajo-patterned rug. Unfortunately, we've left a trail of soot across it. I'll have to figure out how to clean that up before we leave.

   But it's got everything we need: running water, clean clothes, and a fully stocked pantry. While Jocelyn's in the shower, I try to make the difficult decision of what to eat. There's green beans, peaches, tomatoes, tuna, chicken, asparagus, even boxes of mashed potatoes. We could have a whole feast here if we wanted to.

   "Find what you're looking for?" Jocelyn's voice from the opposite side of the counter shocks me back into the real world. I poke my head out of the walk-in pantry, immediately glad she can't see my blush under all this soot. She's wrapped in nothing but a towel, revealing the bruises I didn't see the first time over her shoulders and upper chest.

   "More than enough food here." I give her a lopsided grin to cover my embarrassment.

   "I can see that," she says, finished with wringing water out of her hair. "Enjoying yourself, are you?"

   "Yeah," I answer through a breath and looking away. I wish she hadn't leaned over the counter and rested her elbows on it. Maybe my shower would have to be cold.

   "Well, you don't get it all to yourself." Finally she returns my lopsided grin, rounding the end of the counter. "Let me have a look while you get cleaned up."

   "Yes, ma'am." I let her past me, stepping aside and taking a discreet whiff at the same time. She smells like flowers. Damn. Now I definitely need a cold shower.