Lessons in SECRET (4 page)

Mason

I told Isa that I would
protect her, and I’m trying. I know she needs to get into Kurt’s
group in order to fully bring it down, but I’ve been delaying her
initiation. I can’t stop Kurt, but I’ve given him extra work,
which kept him busy enough to leave her alone for the past couple of
weeks. I know time is running out. He wants her, and for her to
succeed, he’s going to have to get her. And I’m going to have to
stand back and let it happen.

While her progress at
becoming a “teen” prostitute has been on hold, our relationship
has been moving right along. I’ve spent almost every night with her
at her apartment. I’ve been bringing clothes along so I don’t
have to leave after I make love to her. After that first disastrous
night—I still can’t believe she didn’t tell me she was a
virgin—we’ve had some pretty mind-blowing times together. I took
it slow the next few times, but now we can’t get enough of each
other. It’s a wonder that I can even teach after we woke each other
up for more all through the night, last night. I saw her practically
staggering through the hall earlier. I should’ve felt bad, but all
I felt was a surge of male pride. Yeah, I did that to her.

I shouldn’t be proud
at all. In fact, I should be staying far away from her. But I can’t.
There’s something about her that makes me believe in love. It’s
more than the sex, as amazing as that is. It’s just her. We talk
for hours, watch BBC shows on TV, and sit side by side as I grade
papers and she does her “homework.” It’s the closest to perfect
I’ve ever come, and although I know it won’t last, I wish it
would. Because walking away from her—or having her walk away from
me, which is the more likely scenario—is probably going to come
close to killing me.

I know it’s stupid,
and there’s no way it will work, but I pull my phone out and send
the text anyway.

Me: I want out.

Boss: No.

I knew that would be
the answer, and now there’s going to be hell to pay. Dammit. I
shouldn’t have tried. Isa has me all mixed up. I want things I
can’t have. I want
her.
Forever. But I know that I can’t.

I manage to pull myself
together before I have class with her. She smiles as she walks in,
and takes her seat in one of the middle rows. Grace sits up front and
just like every other day, she pulls her shirt down, trying to tempt
me with her cleavage. I’m hard, but it has nothing to do with her.
Kurt walks by the open door and gives me a little two fingered
salute. Asshole.

A few minutes into
class, a local UNLV student who the school hired to help us grade
longer research papers, walks in. He’s not smiling; instead, he
looks really nervous. “Is there a problem, Chris?”

“Um, yeah.” He
glances around the room. “Two of your students had the same exact
research paper.”

“What?”

“References and
everything.”

I take the papers from
him, my heart sinking. I already know whose papers I’m going to
find, and how this is all going to go down. Knowing doesn’t make it
any better, though.

“Chris, can you go
get Kurt? Isabelle, can I please talk to you in my office for a
moment. Everyone else, please start reading Chapter 20. Silently.”

They ignore me before
the two of us even clear the door. The gossip and murmuring has
begun. And Isa’s going to be the casualty—unless she gives in to
Kurt. This is her set-up. Her normal instinct would be to fight it,
but she’ll give in because she needs to go deeper undercover. She’s
already told me that she’ll save the girls at this school, no
matter what the cost to her is.

Once the door is closed
behind us, I stay quiet, waiting for Chris to bring Kurt before I
address them. “Would one of you like to explain to me how you
turned in the exact same research paper?”

“You know I’m not a
cheater, Mr. W. My dad would be pissed if you tried to accuse me of
being one. I don’t think the school board would like that.”

And so it begins.

“I didn’t cheat,”
Isa says. She knows I know that—I was sitting next to her while she
wrote the damn paper.

“Well, one of you
did. I’m going to give you a few minutes alone in here to decide to
tell me the truth. Thanks for your help, Chris.”

I wait until Chris
walks out the other door to walk back into the classroom. I already
know what will happen, but I need to let it play out. Once Isa gives
in, Kurt will take the blame and let his father buy him out of yet
another sticky situation. He gets a slap on the wrist while Isa gets
a new “career.”

* * *

Isa

“So, you ready to
come work for me Isabelle?”

“That would be a no.”

“I’ll make the
cheating thing go away for you.”

“We both know I
didn’t cheat, and I’m prepared to defend myself if necessary.”

I know this is the part
where I’m supposed to start crying or something, and give in. I
need
to give in. But
not this way. Kurt wants to take me down, but he chose the wrong
course of action. I don’t mess around with my grades, even if this
isn’t my first time in high school.

“You really think you
can go up against me, and win?”

“I honestly don’t
know. But I’ve got to try. I won’t let you dirty my name with
this cheating bullshit.”

“Ah, there’s a
tiger inside the little mouse, huh?”

“I’m not a mouse,
you pig.”

That just rubbed me the
wrong way. Ainsley’s “Little Mouse” to the guys at work. I’m
“Double G” for girl genius. Although, I’m pretty sure they get
a laugh out of my nickname since my bra size is a solid B. I’m just
happy to fit in.

“But you will be
working for me. Have no doubt. I’m going to make your life here at
this school such a living hell that you’ll be on your knees begging
me to take you on. And then I’m going to have you take me in your
mouth before I save you.”

“Never.”

“Don’t say I didn’t
warn you,” he says, trying to kiss my cheek.

I shove him away and
glare as he opens the door to the classroom, calling for Mase to come
back into the office. He does, and crosses his arms to stare at the
two of us.

“Are you two ready to
tell me the truth?”

“She won’t admit
she cheated, and I know
I
didn’t, so I guess we’re at an impasse.”

A look of shock crosses
Mase’s face. I know he thought I’d give in since I need to be
undercover. But my brain won’t let me do something like that when
it comes to this. I can already hear the lecture from Reina, but I
just can’t do it. I can’t act like I might have cheated, and
Kurt’s saving me.

“We don’t have to
be at an impasse,” I say.

“How do you propose
to move past it?” Mase asks.

“Take our tablets and
cell phones. Then quiz us about what was in the paper. In front of
the class, and that Chris guy.”

“Seriously?” Kurt
asks, looking nervous.

“Yes. I won’t have
anyone
thinking that
I’m cheating,” I tell him with a glare.

“That’s actually a
good idea,” Mase says, pulling out his phone. “I’ll call Chris
to come back to the classroom.”

“What? Are you
fucking insane? I’m not doing this. You can’t make me.”

“Actually, I
can
make you, Kurt.”

They engage in an
intense glaring contest, and I’m a little surprised when Mase wins.
“Fine. I cheated and copied her paper. Try doing something about
it, Wells. We both know the administration will shut you down.”

“They can’t stop me
from giving you lunch detention. You’ll have it for the next week.”

“A week? He stole my
research paper and you’re giving him a week of lunch detention?”
I ask. This is ridiculous.

“You’re not the
teacher, Isabelle. Don’t question my decisions. Ever.”

I flinch at his words,
which isn’t lost on Kurt. He turns to me with a smirk. “You may
think you’ve won, but this was just a little battle. The war will
be mine, and so will that fine ass of yours.”

“Get back to class,
Kurt.”

He gives Mase another
one of his annoying two fingered salutes before walking away. At the
last second, he turns and winks at me while licking his lips. I want
to stab him in his carotid artery with a pencil, but I settle for
flipping him off. Which, unfortunately makes him smile even wider.
Before I can say or do anything else, Mase slams the door shut.

Wheeling on me, he pins
me with a glare. “Are you really that stupid, Isa?”

I fight the urge to
retreat. I’m a strong woman, and no one’s going to make me feel
any different. Even if it is the man I’m falling in love with.
Especially
if it’s
that man.

“Do not talk down to
me,
Mr. Wells.
”

He hears the venom in
my voice, and now he’s the one flinching. “Isa,” he says,
reaching for me. I do step back then, and dodge his hand. He lifts it
to run over his close cropped hair. “You can’t win against him.
He wants you.”

“And you’re okay
with that?”

“You know I’m not.
But you said you had to see this mission through. And we both know
the big picture is more important than us.”

“If he had picked
something else, I would’ve caved. But cheating? I couldn’t go
along with that.”

“Just be prepared.
It’s going to get worse.
He’s
going to get worse. And there’s only so much I can do to protect
you from him.”

“I know.”

We walk back into the
classroom, and I take my seat. I ignore the whispers going on around
me—Mase and I weren’t alone for more than a couple of minutes,
and I’m not that talented. Yet. He says he loves everything we’ve
done together, but it’s been pretty tame. I want to drive him wild,
so it’s time to start watching some videos. I’ve been avoiding
it, hoping the books I’ve read would be enough. But I know they’re
not. If I’m still in one piece after talking to Reina, I’m going
to watch at least one before Mase comes over tonight.

I manage to ignore Kurt
and his minions for the rest of the day. All they did was glare at me
anyway. Well, except for Max, the girl who tried to warn me. She
gives me pitying and apologetic looks, which are actually a little
harder to deal with. I may despise Kurt, but I also know that he’s
smart. And those looks from Max tell me there’s already another
plan for me in place. I’ll be ready. If I’m still on the case.

I walk into the
Foundation offices, and smile at Alex. I ask her to let Reina know
I’m here, and need to talk to her. Then I walk to my space, which
is actually more like a library than an office. I check in with my
small team of analysts in the two story, book filled area, and then
head to my private office in back. Anyone walking in would think
we’re Luddites, or working in an antiquated way. We’re not. My
team and I use technology more than these books, but sometimes we
need to go old school.

I work on a couple of
requests that Ainsley sent me for Audrey’s upcoming mission while I
wait for Reina. I’ve just finished the second one when she knocks
on my doorframe, a smile on her face. “Hi Isa. You wanted to see
me?”

“Yeah. I…umm…I
did something I shouldn’t have today.”

She straightens her
spine, and takes a seat in front of me. “Go ahead and tell me.”

“Kurt tried to
blackmail me today, and I wouldn’t go for it.”

She sighs heavily. “I
told you I’d replace you with someone who’d be more comfortable
if you couldn’t go through with his. You know that sleeping with
random people isn’t part of your job. We’d do what we could to
stop it from happening while you’re ‘employed’ but we can’t
stop any type of initiation from happening. We’ve been over this
already, Isa. Why did you let it get this far, only to have me
replace you now?”

“I don’t want to be
replaced, Rei. I know I’m going to have to be with someone. I won’t
enjoy it, but I have to do it. You can’t protect me forever. I’m
not a virgin anymore if that’s what you’re worried about.”

She doesn’t even try
to hide the shock from her face. “You slept with Mason.”

“Yes.”

“Oh Isa. Why didn’t
you come talk to me? Are you okay?”

“I didn’t want to
make a big deal out of it. I’m fine now. It was…rough, but once
Mase knew, he took care of me.”

“It
is
a big deal. And what do you mean, once he knew?”

“I-I didn’t tell
him right away.”

“Isa, no.”

“You wouldn’t
understand.”

“But I do. I didn’t
tell the first man I was with either.”

“You didn’t?”

“No. And I felt like
I was being torn apart when he…well, you know.”

“Yeah, I do. Why
didn’t you tell him?”

“I wanted to make him
think I was more sophisticated and sexy than I really was. And I was
trying to forget that I’d almost once had my virginity taken from
me.”

“Someone tried to
rape you, Rei?”

“Yes. When I was very
young,” she tells me, her voice shaking a little. “The man didn’t
succeed, but I still remember how scared I was. Even after all these
years.”

“I’m sorry to make
you think about it.”

“Don’t be. I think
about it every time I help a woman who finds her way to us, or I send
one of you out on a mission. I feel stronger every day, just knowing
that we’re helping people. Jane bringing me into the Society saved
my life. I was broken, and she gave me a chance to heal. I owe her
everything.”

“And now you’re
marrying her grandson.”

“It’s a fake
marriage. You know that.”

“Don’t, Rei. With
me, and the other girls, don’t pretend that this isn’t real for
you.”

“He’ll never see it
that way.”