Maddening (Cursed Superheroes #2)

“Aw, you don’t want to upset me,” I say, feeling oddly touched. “That’s kind of sweet.”


He rakes his fingers through his hair and shakes his head with a look of disbelief. “I’m not doing it to be sweet. I’m doing it because I’m afraid you’ll cry and I don’t want to deal with that right now. No, scratch that. I don’t want to deal with that ever.” The disbelief in his eyes fades as his features harden. “I hate people who cry—they’re weak.”

I feel a sting of hurt, but then again… “But technically I’m not a person, so I guess I don’t really count, right?”

He blinks then shakes his head and mutters, “Good God, you’re going to drive me nuts. I never should’ve agreed to train you.”

“Train me for what?”

He dismisses me with a wave. “You’ll learn about that later. Right now, we need to get going before he shows up.” He starts for the door, taking long, even strides.

I clumsily trip after him, my legs struggling against the foreign movement. It’s been so long since I’ve walked someplace else besides my cage.

“Before who shows up?” I ask, bracing my hand on the doorframe as I reach it.

He glances over his shoulder at me. “When I told you I’d let you out, you promised you wouldn’t ask a lot of questions, yet that’s all you’ve been doing.”

“Sorry.” I chew on my bottom lip, trying to fight the urge to ask the question burning on the tip of my tongue. But ultimately, I lose. “Can you at least tell me what a Maddening is? Then I promise I’ll keep my lips shut.”

“You seriously are a pain in the ass.” He turns suddenly and closes the distance between us.

I nearly fall over from the suddenness, but he catches me by the waist and steers me backwards until my back is pressed against the wall. Then his hands come down against the wall, so my head is trapped between his arms. My heart thunders inside my chest, not out of fear but from startling excitement.

“Are you sure you want to know?” he asks in a low tone, his face inching toward mine. “Because once you find out, there’s no turning back.”

I wet my dry lips with my tongue and his eyes flick in the direction of my mouth. It makes me wonder how gross my lips look—how gross I look. “I-I want to know.” The uncertainty in my voice causes me to cringe. I hastily clear my throat and give it another go. “I want to—no, need to know; otherwise I’ll go crazy.”

“I’d really be careful how easily you throw the word crazy around.” He bites on his bottom lip, mulling over something. “All right, I’ll tell you. But just for the record, I tried to warn you.” He drags out a pause as if waiting for me to chicken out and then blows out a breath. “When a Maddening touches someone, it drives that person to the brink of insanity within a matter of seconds.”

I gulp. “And how long do they stay like that?”

His intense gaze carries mine. “Forever.”





Chapter 7





“Forever?” Shock lashes through me, powerful and potent. “But then…” Tears sting in my eyes as my future opens up in front of me. “No one will ever want to be with me—won’t be able to be with me. I’ll die alone….” My teary eyes drift to my cage, my home for nearly a decade and a half, and then my gaze returns to Caspian. “Wait? How come you can touch me and I don’t go crazy? I mean, I haven’t transitioned yet, so shouldn’t I be insane by now?”

“No, you’re cursed, so my powers don’t work on you,” he says, warily eyeballing the tears streaming down my cheeks. “You’re crying again.”

“I’m sorry.” I sniffle, but tears continue to pour out of my eyes. “But what do you mean by cursed? Cursed how exactly?”

“That will be revealed in time.” His tone is tight. “For the love of God, Heartley, would you please knock off the crying. It’s not the end of the world.”

“Yes, it is.” I gripe through a sob. “I’ll never be able to touch anyone.”

“That’s not entirely true,” he reminds me. “You’ll be able to touch anyone with Maddening blood inside their veins, like me.”

A few tears leak from my eyes, but I manage to get my sobbing under control. “Just how many of you… us are there?”

He shrugs. “Not that many.”

I frown, my eyes bubbling with tears. “So I’ll just be stuck with whoever I can find?”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” His lips threaten to turn into a smirk. “But how can it be when I’m in that category? After all, you already established that you think I’m rock solid.”

“Actually I said solid like a rock, which technically isn’t the same thing.”

“So you’re saying you don’t think I’m rock solid?” He sounds annoyingly doubtful.

I give a nonchalant shrug. “How do I know? I only touched you once.” My fingers twitch at my sides. “But maybe if I give it another try, I’ll have a better answer.”

His brow cocks. “You want to touch me again?”