Total pages in book: 218
Estimated words: 209489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1047(@200wpm)___ 838(@250wpm)___ 698(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 209489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1047(@200wpm)___ 838(@250wpm)___ 698(@300wpm)
I shouldn’t have. I know I shouldn’t read what he wrote in it.
But I did.
I read it twice.
No.
I flicked my gaze to the poster and squinted at it. Then I looked down to read the title for the magazine below it. Only it wasn’t a magazine. It was a comic book. I froze before taking in the one below it, then the one below that.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alex cross his arms like he was waiting.
I crouched and slowly picked through the stack, finding another notebook wedged between some of them, shaking my head the whole time.
And that was when I got a good look at it.
The trophy in the shape of a star. I didn’t need to get closer to read the plaque below it either.
PLEITSKY AWARD
BEST WRITER
ALEX AKITA
I’d heard about the Pleitsky Award because one of my students had taken lessons from me in preparation to start to work with a recipient. They were comic book awards. They were the Oscars of comic books.
I couldn’t believe it.
This sneaky—
His chuckle caught me almost as off guard as what the hell I’d just read.
“What are you laughing at?” I barked.
He laughed even harder. “The expression on your face right now.”
This sneaky motherfucker. I pointed at the trophy, then held up the book closest to me. “I don’t even know who you are anymore.”
Alex laughed even harder. It was brilliant and beautiful and everything I could have ever imagined a genuine laugh from him sounding like. “You never asked what I did for a living.”
I blinked. “Our whole friendship seems like a fraud now.”
Alexander Shōta Akita started cracking the fuck up.
“You have at least twenty Electro-Man comics right here!” I held up the one in my hand even higher. “You have a first edition of Steelflyer sitting around like it isn’t worth a fortune.”
The smile Alex gave me right then, midlaugh was something I was never going to be able to forget. Not ever. But I was too busy being fucking flabbergasted to really process it. Not surprised. Not astounded. Flabbergasted.
Who the hell was this man?
“I told you I understood your Mistress of Mayhem comment.”
“You said you had a TV,” I muttered, not believing this shit at all.
“I do. You’ve watched movies on it.”
I set the book down and shook my head. “How could you deceive me like this?”
Oh, his smile. “I thought you would’ve noticed them when you snooped through the rest of the house.”
“The rest of the house but not your room or office,” I explained again quietly.
It was like he plugged himself into an outlet, he glowed so brightly right then as his smile widened. “It’s more fun when you figure things out on your own.”
“We watched the fucking movies because I thought you hadn’t!”
“I haven’t,” he said, smiling. “I just read through the script to make sure they stayed true to the storylines.”
I put my hand over my heart as I stared at him.
And he… he fucking smiled even more. “My grandfather will love knowing you liked them too. He’s the creator of Electro-Man.”
It took me a moment to put that family tree together. “On your mom’s side? Your world-killer grandma’s husband? She’s married?” I squawked.
Curly eyelashes fell over incredible purple eyes. “Gracie….”
What?
His face was….
Oh boy, I wasn’t going to like whatever he was about to say.
“My grandmother has unimaginable power, but she didn’t… reproduce… asexually,” he deadpanned, eyes wide, that fucking smirk on his mouth. “Do I need to explain the birds and the bees?”
“You know what, Alex?” I asked him sarcastically before shaking my head. “How can someone handle who she is? What she is? I feel like I’ve walked through Chernobyl when I’m with her, even when she says she won’t make me feel sick. I swear I had this scar on my hand and it wasn’t there the next day.”
He didn’t look surprised. “They’ve been together seventy-eight years.”
How? And how old was she? I couldn’t wrap my head around it. I was going to process that later. It was going to take some time.
He switched back to the other bomb he’d dropped on me. “It was my grandmother’s idea, but he was the artist. It’s a family secret. He was glad when I told him I wanted to do that instead of going to law school.”
“That’s what you’re always working on in that notebook? What you’re always mouthing to yourself?” I croaked.
“Yeah.”
“It’s so obvious though! How do you not get caught? I know you aren’t directing the movies and walking the red carpet, but you won a Pleitsky!”
“They mailed it to me. Plenty of manga artists keep their identities a secret. It helps that family runs the business so no one can force me to do something I don’t want to do, or be somewhere I don’t want to be.”