“You love her,” Darcy says to me, breaking me away from my thoughts as she walks outside to stand in front of me.
It’s not a question, but I answer her anyway. “Yeah.”
“You always have.”
“Am I supposed to answer your statements?”
“No. I already know the answers.”
“So you just want to see me react?”
“Maybe. Or maybe I like to say them out loud, because if you have a chance at love then I can too.”
“Maybe with the guy from this mission you’re about to go on. I mean, don’t all girls want to marry a prince?”
She snorts. “Not this girl. Just pretending to be engaged to the pompous asshole is going to be hard enough. Don’t you dare jinx me with a marriage, too.”
“He seems pretty cool. At least what I’ve seen in the media.”
“Cool? Because he’s slept with half the Western world? Yeah, I guess you’d think so.”
“I meant the charity stuff he does is cool. I don’t need to envy some guy who’s getting laid every night. I get laid every night, thank you very much, and I can almost guarantee that it’s better than what he’s been getting.”
“You are such a guy sometimes.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment. But seriously, what could be better than a prince and a reformed cat burglar falling in love?”
“Have you been watching chick flicks with Jade?”
“I plead the fifth.”
“So you have. You just worry about your love life, and I’ll deal with my pretend one.”
“I wish you didn’t have to leave tonight. The party tomorrow is going to be epic.”
“You don’t care about that party. The only celebration you wanted happened with Jade.”
“Yeah, it did. But if you need me for anything or just want to talk, I’m still here. That’s not going to change just because I’m with Jade. She wouldn’t want it to.”
“Same goes for you. I know you have Aiden, Matt, and maybe even Jake to go to, but I’ll always be there for you.”
I hug her tight, thinking about how I want her to be as happy as I am, one day. She’s like a kid sister and best friend rolled into one, and I love her. Not in the same way I love Jade, but it’s still a strong love that can’t be discounted.
She pulls away, and looks nervous. “Hi, Jade.”
“Hi. I didn’t mean to interrupt. I just wanted to let you know that dessert is ready.”
“Thanks. You can have your man back now.”
“It’s not joint custody, Darcy. We can all be together in the same room. And I know you’re heading to your mission tonight. So please keep talking, hugging, or whatever you need to do. I’ll make sure we save you some.”
“Thank you. But we’re done out here. I promise.”
Jade looks at me, and I nod, letting her know that Darcy means it. “Oh, okay. If you’re sure.”
“He’s all yours. He always has been, you know. He’s just been too dumb to act on his feelings.”
“He blames the stupidity on his dick.”
“He would.”
They both laugh, and I love it. I should hate that they’re teasing me, but since they’re the two most important women in my life, I love it. I want them to laugh—at me, or anything else—as often as possible.
“This is going to become a habit, isn’t it? The two of you ganging up on me.”
“You reap what you sow, Soldier. Surrounding yourself with strong, intelligent women isn’t for the faint of heart.”
“Good thing mine is strong then, huh?”
“Just kiss Jade or something and stop saying stupid things. Because you can only blame your dick for so long.”
“I told him that, too.”
“I’ll never win, will I?”
“Nope,” Jade says, grabbing my hand—and then putting it in Darcy’s, much to both of our surprises.
“Thank you,” I whisper in her ear as she takes my other hand.
“Nothing to thank me for. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
* * *
Jade
Tonight is Nate’s party, and I want everything to be perfect. Logically, I know that’s not possible, but it’s hard to be logical when your heart is involved. I can only control so much, but with almost all of my friends here helping, things are coming together.
Things are going great with the gym, too. Of course Brent agreed to stay on after Nate won the match. The gym is getting all sorts of attention, and since he’s pretty much a fame whore, he’s eating it all up. My dad is bringing the papers the lawyers drew up with him, and we’re all going over them tomorrow. If he agrees to the terms, and signs everything, Nate and I will be going back on the jet with my dad. If he doesn’t, we’ll stay a little longer to negotiate. Either way, we should be home soon. And then we have to decide where “home” is going to be.
“Come on, J. It’s time to get you dressed,” Stella tells me.
“They’re almost finished out here. I need to make sure it’s right.”
“I’ve got that. You go on with Stell,” Tegan says, coming up behind us.
“Fine. Glam me up, fashion queen.”
“Oh, I will.”
An hour later, my long hair is in big waves, and I have on a tight brown dress that has slim straps and a deep v in the middle. The satin material is all gathered—or as Stella calls it, ruched—and it fits me like a glove. A comfortable glove that I can walk and breathe in, but a glove nonetheless. I have cat eyes, and soft pink lipstick on, but no jewelry. That’s just not me.
When I walk out of my room, Nate is walking out of the guest room he was using to get ready. “Fuck, Angel, you look too hot to be out in public tonight.”
“It’s just my friends, and yours.”
“Some of mine may not know how to act around…this,” he says, gesturing up and down my body. He’s invited some of his fighter friends, but I can hold my own.
“Well they better learn quickly, or they’ll be on the floor, begging for their mommies to save them from the girl in the tight brown dress.”
“And you just got a million times hotter.”
“It’s a gift.”
“Stealing my lines now, are you?”
“Only the good ones. You can keep the rest.”
“Gee thanks.”
“I hate to break this up, but the guests are arriving already.”
“To be continued?” I ask.
“Oh yeah.”
He leans in for a kiss, but Stella swats him away. “After everyone has seen her you can kiss her.”
“I only care about Nate seeing me, and I want a kiss,” I whine.
“Fine. One kiss, and then I touch you up and we go downstairs. You have as long as it takes me to get the lipstick out of the bathroom, so make it good.”
We kiss until she comes back—which takes longer than it should have—and then we walk downstairs. Brent is standing in the hall talking to Aiden, and Matt and Reina are just walking in. Brent turns, and his eyes go wide. So do Reina’s. He starts to run toward the back of the house, but she tackles him, stabbing him deep in the leg to stop him from running. She pulls his head back to look him in the eye.
“How did you get in here?” she asks.
“I was invited.”
I run towards them. “He’s the new gym manager, Rei.”
“Well, he’s also one of your kidnappers.”
I stagger backwards and it all starts to make sense. Why I thought he seemed familiar, and also why I had that horrible flashback when he kissed me. He was there, and now I realize that he was the one who would whisper in my ear about how beautiful I was. He couldn’t have been more than a young teenager, though.
“You kidnapped, Jade?” Scott asks. “I thought you were my friend.”
“Yeah well, I had to look legit for a while and who better to help me do it than the son of one of Chicago’s most honorable families.”
“You
son of a bitch,” Nate says, advancing on him.
“You’re one to talk. Sullivan was my father, so I know everything. Every fucking thing, Anderson.”
Nate stops in his tracks, and the blood drains from his face as he looks at me. “I’m sorry, Angel.”
“What? Why are you sorry?”
“Because he knows I’m going to tell you the truth.”
“Why would I believe someone who was part of the family that kidnapped me?”
“Well you’re sleeping with the man who tried to kill your father, so how could I be any worse.”
“Wh-what?”
“What the hell’s going on in here,” my dad asks, coming through the door.
“Apparently Brent is a Sullivan, and he was there when I was kidnapped.”
“You filthy bastard. How dare you come into my gym and pretend to be someone else.”
“I’m the bad guy? You know Nate tried to kill you sixteen years ago, and now he’s banging your daughter, and I’m the one you’re mad at.”
“Nate and I have made our peace.”
“It’s true?” I ask, looking between the two men I love. Neither one can meet my eye. “Oh my God, it’s true.”
“It was a long time ago, Jade.”
“I remember it. You were beaten so badly that I had to call an ambulance when I found you.” I look to Nate. “And you’ve known all this time.”
“No. I didn’t know until you disappeared. You were just a little kid when…when it happened. And you had a different last name when we met.”
“But you’ve known since we’ve been together. All these weeks, you’ve known.”
“Yes.”
“That’s why you said I’d walk away. And you know what, you’re right.”
I run out the door, but I don’t make it out the gates like I want to. Nate catches me, and spins me around. I punch him in the jaw, but he still holds on.
“You can’t go. This is what he wants. For you to run out there unprotected. He put the bounty back on your head. Al told me that, but I still didn’t think he had that kind of power. If he’s really a Sullivan, then he does, and you’re not safe.”
“I hate you.”
“I know, and I’m going to go. I need you to stay here, and be protected.”
“How could you do it? How could you try to kill my dad?”
“Do you really want to know?”
“Yes. No. No. It doesn’t matter. You did it, and you can’t take it back.”
“I’m well aware of that fact, Jade.”
“Did you ever really love me?”
“Yes. I love you with every fiber of my being. That will never stop, no matter what happens.”
“The only thing happening is that I never want to see you again. If you had killed him…God, if you had killed my dad… I don’t even know how I would’ve survived that. And now I’ve been doing all these things with you. I need to clean you off my skin. Scrub away any trace of you.”
“Don’t, Jade. Don’t cheapen what we had.”
“You beat my father. Beat him. And then you fucked me like it didn’t matter.”
“My feelings for you have nothing to do with him.”
“Really? Because it’s awfully convenient that you finally wanted me once you knew who I really was.”
“That’s not how it went down. Not at all.”
“I don’t believe you. I don’t believe anything you have to say.”
“Goodbye, Jade.”
“Rot in Hell, Nate.”
“I plan to.”
He walks away, and I force myself to go back inside. Reina has Brent tied to a chair, and everyone is glaring at him. They look up when I walk in.
“Where’s Nate?” Matt asks me.
“He’s gone. It was him or me, and he insisted that it be him because he thinks I won’t be safe.”
“Shit. Aiden, go.”
“I’m on it,” he says, running out the door.
“Ainsley, activate his tracker.”
“No.”
“Excuse me?”
“Jade comes before him.”
“Rei?”
“She’s right, Matt.”
“He’s going to kill himself. Do you want that on your conscience?”
“He wouldn’t,” I say, hating that I care.
“The fact that he was trafficked by a crazy woman just got revealed, he had to face his demons and get back into a cage because the woman he loved needed him to, and now that woman just dumped him because of something he did when he was sixteen. He thinks he has nothing left to live for. So yes Jade, he will kill himself if we don’t find him.”
“Activate his tracker, Ainsley. Now,” I say. I may hate him, but I don’t want him dead.
“Trackers? Who the hell are you people?” Brent asks.
“We’re the Society,” Reina answers.
“Holy shit. You’re real. And…no…oh please, no,” he says, realizing that he’s not leaving here alive tonight.
“Oh yes,” Faith says, walking over to him. “So much yes.”
I run up to my room, ignoring my father and Ellie as they try to talk to me. I just want to be alone. At least until I know that Nate is safe. Because I don’t hate him. I can’t. No matter what he did, and how angry and hurt I am by it, I can’t hate him. I love him too much for that.
* * *
Nate
I knew this day would come. I didn’t think today was that day, but I still should’ve been better prepared for it. I mean, yeah, I have the gun and the bullets, but I should’ve planned a way for me to not need them. Ever since I escaped the life I was thrown into by being a coward and joined the military, I have tried to live my life bravely. And honorably. I slept around a little, but never with anyone who belonged to someone else, and I never led anyone on. I know what I’m going to do is considered the coward’s way out, but there is nothing left for me on this earth.
My phone starts buzzing again. I knew they’d call once my tracker was deactivated, but I didn’t turn my phone off in case she called. She hasn’t, and I’ve ignored everyone else—Matt, Aiden, Jake,even Reina. This call is one I can’t ignore, though. It’s Darcy, and I need to say goodbye to her.
“Hi Darce.”
“Put the goddamn gun down, Nate.”
“What gun?”
“This is me. I know you. So do Matt and Aiden.”
“They called you.”
“Of course they did.”
“You should be concentrating on your mission.”
“That’s a little hard to do when the man I love like a brother is about to kill himself.”
“I can’t live without her. You know she’s been all I wanted for two years. I got her, and now I’ve lost her. Knowing that she hates me is not something I can just ignore, and move on from. Even if she could one day forgive me, she’ll never look at me the same way. Or love me.”
“Then fight for her, dammit.”
“She won’t talk to me.”
“Do you blame her? I’m a little pissed, too, by the way. You didn’t tell me, either.”
“I couldn’t. What I did—it’s too much.”
“Yes, you could’ve and you could’ve told her, too, so that she’d understand. But we’re beyond that now.”
“And I’m beyond saving.”
“Bullshit. Come to Paris. I can use an extra guard, and it will give you time to think of a plan to get her back.”
“I don’t think she’ll ever want me back.”
“The girl chased you for two years. She wants you. She just can’t let herself have you after what she just learned.”
“I don’t blame her.”
“Neither do I.”
“I wouldn’t take me back.”
“Well, you’re not her. And I want you to think about something else. Think about how she would feel if you killed yourself after she broke up with you.”
“Shit.” She’s right. Jade would be destroyed even if she does hate me. I l
ook down at the gun in my hand, before placing it on the bed next to me. I’ve done enough to Jade. I can’t do this, too.
“Yeah. Shit. Now get your ass on a plane to Paris.”
“Okay. I’ll come play guard for someone who doesn’t need one. And thanks, Darcy.”
“This is what true friends are for.”
“Yeah.
“Oh, and call Matt and Aiden before they both have heart attacks.”
“I will.”
I dial Matt first, knowing they’re probably together. “Nate. Thank God.”
“I’m going to Paris to play guard for Darcy.”
“I knew she’d get through to you.”
“How…how is she?”
He knows I mean Jade. “Bad. Real bad.”
“You have to promise to take care of her, Matt. Nothing can happen to her.”
“Reina’s got her covered.”
“Thank you for calling Darcy.”
“I’ve got your back, and so does Aiden. Jake, too. We always will.”
“I can’t come back. You know that right.”
“She’s going to forgive you.”
“You don’t really believe that.”
“Yeah, I do. She loves you.”
“Not enough to get over this.”
“You can’t give up.”
“Says the man who gave up ten years ago because he made a mistake.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Aiden is our only hope.”
“God help us all.”
“I’ll call soon.”
“You better.”
I hang up and dial my other best friend. “Damn you, Nate. You can’t go dark just because some girl dumps you.”
“She’s not just some girl.”
“I know that, but fuck. You can’t just off yourself. Think about the rest of us you’d be leaving behind. I know it’s selfish of me to guilt you like that, but I couldn’t handle you not being around. Who would talk me down when shit gets too real with me?”
“Darcy already beat you to the guilt—she asked me to think about how Jade would handle it.”
Training the SECRET (Corrigan & Co #6) Page 15