Big City Villain | BOOK ONE

Epilogue.

Some months later...

I stared at the date written down on the off-white paper. Oh, excuse me, air quote creamy vanilla bean vintage finish paper end air quote. Girls can be so specific sometimes, but then so incredibly not specific at times it matters most!

Like right now, does it matter what exact pen we use to write the names and dates down? No. Not at all. Not by a long shot. But does it matter whose names are written down? Yes, it is incredibly important. Yet, Molly is persistent we use a soft black calligraphy pen thing I have no clue how to use but won't give me a solid name to attempt to write out.

"Molly, babe, I think it'd be wiser to actually get our official guest list down in stone before we write out any invitations," I suggested for the millionth time. I untucked my legs from under me, grimacing at the pins and needles that stabbed from my knees down to my toes. Painful.

"The man has a point," Charlie said, flicking his calligraphy pen at me, nib pointed in my direction as well as the several drops of black ink that decided to fly out by the jerky movement.

I grimaced as the ink landed on my face and last good white t-shirt. "You so owe me one, Charlie."

Molly and Ellie laughed from their perches on the couch, but Charlie, who was sitting across from me on the floor, looked utterly horrified. It's just a shirt. At least it's not on the creamy vanilla bean vintage finish paper.

"Crap," he said, his face pale.

"It's just a shirt dude. It'll be fine." I shook my head but then noticed it.

It being the nice blob of ink on the just so happens to be hard to get paper. Oh great, Charlie's and my head are so going to roll. Molly stopped laughing when she saw what Charlie and I were staring at.

"It's just paper, we'll get some more," she said, shrugging it off and crumbling up the ruined sheet of paper. "Okay, so we'll work out the guest list first."

"How big is the wedding going to be?" Ellie asked, grabbing a throw blanket from the cushion beside her and draping it across her lap. The movement wasn't really out of place, considering that Molly was sitting next to her, but Charlie was staring at her with concern.

Ever since her powers were removed no one could miss that she was considerably weaker now, nor could they miss that Charlie was a lot more protective of her. She didn't seem to mind, which was good because no one could get Charlie to lay off.

Molly sighed. "Smaller weddings are better."

"Agreed," I said quickly, shaking the thoughts from my mind and turning my attention back to the beautiful girl sitting on the couch.

Her hair was down and curled, bouncing on her shoulders with every movement, her gray eyes bright and her voice as smooth as honey. "But we both have big families and a lot of friends."

I groaned. "Okay, so maybe we can have a big ceremony but small reception? Compromise? Meet in the middle, sweet love?"

"Have you realized how he always tries to butter me up with calling me these names?" Molly asked Ellie, shaking her head and rolling her eyes.

Distracting me from Ellie's answer, my phone buzzed in my back pocket. I saw Charlie take his phone out as he presumably got the same message. I tried reading his closed expression to get a hint at what it could be about since I was too lazy to reach back and grab my phone. Hey, I was out and about in the city last night, so don't judge man.

"What's wrong?" I asked, trying to read the alert on his phone upside down.

"It's Boomerang and Tornado."

I frowned. "What about them? Did they elope?"

Charlie shook his head and looked up at me. Confusion mixed with fear clouded his eyes. "They're gone."

"Gone? How?" I asked, finally pulling out my phone and reading the alert that Tights had sent out.

"Tornado, responding to a cry for help, went missing just minutes after letting HQ know she arrived at the scene. Exactly one hour later, Boomerang arrived at the scene to inspect for foul play. After sending a message that nothing looked amiss, onlookers reported that he seemed to have heard a noise come from the dark alley and went to go check it out. He never came back out. Their tracking devices have also been disengaged. This was just reported exactly ten minutes ago, and there is another super reporting that he hears cries for help coming from the same location."

I looked over at Charlie. "Looks like we've got a troublemaker on our hands."

"Suit up?" he asked, his voice full of hope and eagerness to go find out what's going on and possibly to get away from all this wedding talk.

I jumped to my feet, wincing at the pins and needles that were still persistently bugging me. I kissed Molly on her forehead and smiled down at her. "We'll be back later, love. Meanwhile, have Ellie help you write out our guest list."

Molly laughed loudly and jumped to her feet. "Yeah sure, I'll stay back and be the domesticated little wife who can't do the dishes because I just got my nails done." She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I'm coming with you, Coal, and you can't stop me."

I stared at her for a second. "I actually can't picture you getting your nails done, but you're staying here, that's final."

Molly closed the distance between us, cocking her eyebrow and touching the tip of my nose with her short fingernail. "That's what you'd like to think. Let's go get them, tiger."

*cue dramatic theme song*

Sequel out now, don't miss the book that could be lights out for the darkest hero patrolling King City.