Burn Out (Cape High Series Book 21) Read online

  Burn Out

  by

  R. J. Ross

  Burn Out

  Amazon Edition

  Published by Book Candy Publishing

  Copyright © 2018 by R. J. Ross

  All Rights Reserved

  Cover design by Leslie Zielinski

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ~Other works by R.J. Ross~

  The Winstead Files Series

  Courting the Beast * Snow White, Snow White

  Seasons of the Fae Series

  Raven's Return * Death of a Dryad * Water Wielder

  Cape High Series

  Super Villain Dad * America's Grandson * Hello Kitty * Don't Know Jack * Daddy's Girl * Aces Wild * Steampunk Time * Fire Hazard * Ditto Ditto * Sunny Daze * Life Light * Guitar Hero * Super Girls * Shadow Boy * Super Villain Grandpa * Mic Drop * Coyote’s Howl * Rocky Road * Rainbow Rush * Rise and Shine * Burn Out

  Cape High Side Stories

  Cape High Christmas: A Side Story

  Cape High Villainy: A Side Story

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER ONE

  I can’t believe that I actually came here by choice. Yes, that’s exactly what I’m thinking, and it’s been over an hour already, watching people in tights and masks tackle other people in tights and masks in dramatic fashions, Lucha Libre. Papa considers it an art form, which, well, I guess you can call it that. Personally, I think that we have enough running around in masks and tights at home, don’t you agree? Well, you would, if you knew who “we” are.

  My name is Jimena Isabella Cortés, but I go by Jimmi. I am the daughter of the one, and only Voltdrain, Alonso Enrique Cortés. He’s the second most famous super in the South Branch Hall, and qualifies as an S-class super, which is considered the best of the best. And yet… here we are, watching norms in masks fight in a dingy little warehouse in the middle of nowhere. Also, the popcorn is stale. I take a piece and eat it, simply because I’m bored.

  “You know, you could have stayed behind,” Vinny says from where he’s sitting next to me. I turn and stare at him, taking a moment to look pointedly at his Voltdrain hat. I tug my own Century hat down lower. “You don’t look like you’re having much fun.”

  “Yeah? Well you NEVER look like you’re having fun,” I say, trying not to pout. “You came halfway across the country for this, so I can sit through it. Besides, Papa is having a lot of fun,” I add, looking over to where he’s on his feet, cheering for the good guy. I can’t help but smile as I see that. “It’s worth it, just for those two reasons.”

  Vinny takes a long drink off of his over-sized cola, before giving me a little smile. “It is pretty awesome.”

  Is he talking about the show, or about my papa acting like a little kid? I give up, letting out a little laugh and leaning against his shoulder. He’s probably going to shove me off. I wouldn’t blame him. We aren’t really a couple. In fact, a lot of the time I think he doesn’t even like me. For a guy that can light up like a torch, he’s pretty cold by nature.

  “What’s wrong?” he asks.

  I look at him, a bit surprised. “Am I that obvious?” I ask.

  “You call me almost every day, Jimmi,” he says dryly. “If there wasn’t something wrong, you’d be talking a mile a minute. I haven’t heard a single crack about even more men in masks and tights.”

  “And here I thought you were just oblivious,” I say. I let out a sigh, a second later, shaking my head. “It’s just… I went from being completely alone and an idiot, to being the leader of our little school in… less than a year. It’s a bit overwhelming.”

  “If anyone can handle it, it’s you,” he says, lacing his fingers with mine.

  “You overestimate me,” I say.

  “Maybe, but I doubt it,” he says. He looks up, seeing the screen hanging over the ring. It’s been skimming over the audience all afternoon, but it stopped, and is now showing Papa. The crowd seems to realize it just as soon as he does, and a cheer roars through warehouse as even the fighters stop their fight. Papa stops cheering, looking over at us a bit sheepishly as the crowd starts to chant his super name. His glowing eyes must have given him away. The camera moves over, and an image of me leaning against Vinny’s shoulder shows up, and I blink as I hear the mixed reaction. They’re… booing?

  “Why is there a gringo sitting next to our Princesa?” the heel fighter demands, over the mic. “That is the daughter of THE Voltdrain! ¡No podemos permitir que ande con cualquiera!”

  Papa shakes his head and holds up his hands, trying to ward them off. I ignore that, getting to my feet.

  “I can date who I like!” I declare, placing my hands on my hips. Not that I’m dating him, but hey! I’m offended! Sure, he is a gringo, I can’t argue that, but—

  “¡Necesitas un hombre de verdad, princesa! Not some skinny gring—” he stops as Vinny stands up. “Oooh, he’s standing! Come down here, gringo, show just how much of a man you are,” he taunts, motioning Vinny to come down.

  “Vinny, don’t you dare,” I hiss at him.

  “Don’t worry,” Vinny says with a little grin. There’s a guy running towards us with a microphone, and Vinny takes it. “Yeah, I’m a gringo,” he says proudly. It startles the crowd and I hear several of them start to laugh. “And I admit, I’m a bit skinny, too. But I’m not ‘just anyone.’” He takes his hat off, having slipped his mask on, and hands the mic to Papa before lighting up.

  “Peligro de Incendio?” the fighter says, looking stunned. “Nuestra princesa is dating Peligro de Incendio!” he announces to the crowd.

  “Peli… pelican de what?” Vinny asks me. Unfortunately for him, Papa’s holding the mic close enough to pick it up. I can’t reply, though, because I’m too busy roaring with laughter.

  “Fire Hazard, mijo. It means Fire Hazard,” Papa says, sounding close to laughter, himself.

  “Oh,” he says.

  “Pel—pelican!” I gasp out, almost falling out of my chair. It was ABSOLUTELY worth coming today!

  “Everyone, give a round of applause to our newest super hero, Pelican de Incendio!” the luchador says, earning cheers and laughter from all around.

  “I’m never going to live that down, am I?” Vinny asks. Papa pats him on the back in a consolidating manner, but he looks way too close to laughter for it to work.

  ***

  “It is fine, Vinny,” Papa says as we head for the school. “It will only be a few people that call you that!”

  “Even a few,” Vinny mutters, “are a few too many. I can already imagine what Jack would say if he knew.”

  “I will NEVER tell him,” I swear. I wobble a bit, almost losing my balance. I’m still pretty new to flying. Pa
pa makes it look so easy, and Vinny isn’t even thinking about it. “I can’t believe Papa forgot to wear his glasses,” I add, looking pointedly at him. “If his eyes hadn’t been showing, we wouldn’t have been made so easily.”

  “No, I was wearing them, mija,” Papa says, “but since it was dark in there, they still showed. It is something to speak to Technico about…”

  “I could talk to him,” Vinny says. “I’ve heard that if you try to go through Mastermental, you get charged a lot of money.”

  Papa laughs. “Gracias, mi amigo! I am looking forward to the new toy!”

  “It isn’t a toy if it’s going to hide your identity, Papa,” I lecture him.

  “You need one, too,” Vinny says. “Now the same group calling me Pelican de… whatever, thinks that we’re dating.”

  “Cierto, but they did not seem to mind!” Papa says. “You might be a gringo, but you are a South Branch son, now.”

  “They kept congratulating me,” Vinny says, dropping down in front of the cornfield. “I guess it’s better than being hated,” he says, looking around.

  “You led the way here, but you don’t know the way in?” I ask.

  “Earrings,” he says, tapping on one of them.

  “You could change to an earbud, you know,” I say as I head for the rock and indicate it with a wave of my hand. Actually, I’m glad he hasn’t. He looks good in earrings. Not all guys can pull that off.

  “And give up the hacking cheats? Not going to happen,” he says. “If I take them out, my ears will heal over and I’ll have to get Jack to pierce them again. He enjoyed that just a little too much.”

  “So you are staying for a few days?” Papa asks him as I laugh. I actually like Jack. Oh, sure, he’s a jerk half of the time, but he’s easy to understand. Everything that goes through his mind comes out his mouth. Plus, I ADORE his girlfriend. Aubrey is amazing.

  “Ah, yeah,” Vinny says. “Flint got stuck with some overseas work, and said that I should come down and meet my future branch.”

  “And what did Tony say to that?” I ask him.

  “Eh, Dad didn’t seem to mind… I guess,” he says.

  “You didn’t even ask him, did you?” I accuse him.

  “Why should I? Nico said I should come, as well. Besides, it’s not that long. They won’t starve.” He hesitates as I step aside. “You coming in?”

  “I, ah…” I say, glancing at my papa. “Tonight is the show that we watch—”

  “I will record it,” Papa says, smiling at me. “Go spend some time with Vinny.”

  He takes to the air before I can reply. I let out a sigh, my shoulders drooping. It isn’t that I don’t want to spend time with Vinny, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve been trying to spend as much time with Papa as I can since I got back.

  “Seems like you have a lot to talk about,” Vinny says, placing his hand on the screen that pops up.

  “And you’re just going to go on inside?” I ask.

  “I want to check out the kitchen,” he says. “Voltdrain said that it was… ah, what were his words? Es… muy im… press… something.”

  “If you’re going to be a South Branch hero, you will need to learn Spanish, Vinny,” I point out, trying not to laugh at his pathetic attempt at speaking Spanish. “We have a class that you can enroll in.”

  “I’m only here for a short while,” he points out.

  “All of our classes can be done online, except for Coyote’s,” I argue. He sighs. “And yes, it WILL cut into the time you spend watching the cooking channel,” I add, knowing what he’s thinking. “But once you’ve learned to speak it, you can watch Spanish cooking channels, as well!” The look on his face says I’ve scored my point. Instead of saying so, he heads onto the campus, looking around for a moment before heading straight to the dorms. We go past several of the kids, who just watch us curiously. I call out to each of them, but I’m not going to let him just waltz in and take over my kitchen. Oh, sure, he’s cute, but I just got it how I like it! I never knew how much I enjoyed cooking until I spent that time working as his sous chef.

  “It’s the same layout,” he says. “That’s useful.”

  “You’re only going to be here for a weekend. Do you really need to examine my kitchen?”

  “Your kitchen, huh?” he says, a little smile pulling at his lips. “Not going to share?”

  “No! I mean, of course I share it—” I stop, glaring at him, because he’s already gone through the cafeteria and straight into the kitchen. I hear most of my classmates run into the cafeteria as the kitchen door closes behind me. “Now they’re trying to listen in,” I complain quietly.

  “Of course they are,” he says, wandering around the room and examining my setup. “So?” he prompts, stopping and looking at me.

  I stare at him, remembering all the times I’ve wanted to kick him for being oblivious. Why is he so clued-in, now? I’m just now starting to take my place as the leader of the South Branch kids, without anyone’s help! I take a deep breath, storm up to him with a glare, only to let it out in a heavy sigh, leaning my forehead on his chest. He goes still for a moment before patting me awkwardly on the arm. “That bad, huh?” he asks.

  “One of my kids almost destroyed the planet because of a hissy fit,” I mutter, staying right where I am. “I don’t have nearly as many as you do, and none of them are on the same level, but I STILL managed to screw up. And Papa, I feel so guilty for what I did last year, and I’m trying to make it up to him, but he keeps telling me that the past is the past, and waving it off! AND I’m supposed to be a part of the Nemeses, but they still can’t seem to see eye-to-eye, and it’s taking a lot of effort to try and work through that, as well!”

  “I thought you were going to deck me,” he says.

  “I thought about it,” I say, finally looking up. “You’re messing around with my kitchen! I would slap you with a wooden spoon, but I wouldn’t want you to catch it on fire.”

  “I wouldn’t do that,” he says, sounding offended. “That would be a waste of a perfectly good spoon.” He turns his head slightly, watching something. “Did you turn the walls on?” he asks.

  “Huh?” I say, looking over. There’s a little drawing of a cat on the wall that’s trying to sneak over the cabinets. “Marisoooool!” I yell. “Chica, what did I say about spying?”

  “Use a smaller drawing?” she asks from the cafeteria, her voice tiny.

  “Exactly!” I say. “And this is why we do not discuss things in the kitchen,” I say to Vinny. I was really angling for a hug, there. I might have even gotten one if she hadn’t done that.

  “Lance does the same,” he says, heading for the fridge and checking the screen on the front. “You’ve been keeping it well stocked.”

  “Of course I keep it well stocked, the black suits do the shopping,” I say, giving up. I head for the kitchen door, opening it to glare at the group of kids that are doing their homework at the tables. They look up, pretending that they haven’t been spying.

  “Is it dinner time?” Jonas asks.

  I hear the clatter of dishes behind me and the sound of chopping. “Yeah,” I say, “in a little bit.” I need to call the Hall and tell them that dinner is being taken care of.

  The group cheers.

  ***

  I didn’t get home until eight o’clock. Oh, sure, back when I was rebelling that would have been early, but I feel guilty, now. “Papa! I’m home,” I say as I head into the house. I look around, seeing the front empty. It isn’t one of his work nights, so I head into the kitchen, finding him exactly where I expected him to be.

  “¿Postre?” he asks, still licking a spoon. I laugh, heading for the gigantic concoction of fruit and ice cream at the bar. I dig out another spoon and join him. Oh, sure, I just ate, but hey, there’s a second stomach for dessert, right? Either way, I use a LOT of calories when flying.

  “Papa…” I say after a bit, “do you ever miss mi mamá?”

  He goes still for a moment, a sad littl
e smile crossing his face. “Todos los dias, mija, todos las dias. Tu mamá, she was… wonderful,” he says, looking at the ice cream.

  “But it’s been sixteen years, Papa,” I say. “I know that doesn’t seem like a very long time to you, but… but I’m going to be a working super, soon. I might even…”

  “Get married?” he teases, smiling. “He visto como miras a Vinny. He is a good man.”

  “It doesn’t have to be him!” I say. “I’ll live a very long time, and I’m sure I will find someone sooner or later. But I might move in with the Nemeses, since I’m going to be part of their group. And… I know how lonely you were while I was up in Central. I don’t want that for you, Papa,” I say, putting my spoon down and taking his hand. “I think that you need someone, Papa, a girlfriend!”

  He didn’t expect that, I can tell by the look on his face. “Ah… pero mija… princesa,” he starts out, and I can tell he’s about to argue.

  “You should at least TRY dating again, Papa,” I say, firmly. “Don’t worry, I’ll find some prospective dates for you! You won’t have to do anything but show up!”

  “But Princesa,” he says, in a pleading tone, “I still haven’t fully gotten over the loss of Isabella.”

  “I know, and you will never replace her, but if she knew that you were this lonely, do you think she would want you to stay that way?” I ask. I don’t remember my mother, but I’ve heard a million stories about her. I know exactly what she would do, and from the look on his face, so does he.

  “Ay ay ay,” he says, rubbing his nose. I poke him in the chest.

  “She would yell at you, wouldn’t she?”

  “Sí, mija, she would,” he says, sighing. “But if I do not fall in love with your dates, you will not be angry with me?”

  “Of course I won’t!” I say, wrapping my arms around his waist. “If anything, maybe you’ll become good friends that can go out to eat together once in a while.”

  “That would not be terrible,” he says, relaxing. “I would like good friends. I have been asking the Darlin’s to come for dinner.”

  “Have they come?” I ask. Even I realize it would be more like a father-daughters sort of thing, there. “You aren’t interested in any of them, are you?” I ask just to make sure.