Loving My SECRET (Corrigan & Co. Book 10) (27 page)

“I told you those
stories because you were depressed two years ago. I wanted you to
realize that not every female was like the bitches from your school.”

“You’re not denying
that they’re real. You trained me to be one of them. You can’t
deny that. The language lessons, the sparring. You want me to join
them.”

“If it was real, you
couldn’t join. An organization like that would require you to shoot
a gun.”

“I’ll never shoot a
gun. Never.”

“I know, and that’s
why the stories will never be real.”

* * *

Reina

“Camari from PR is
here to see you, Rei.”

I look at the clock,
and see that I have ten minutes until my next call. “Go ahead and
send her back, Alex.”

I command my door open,
and look over some more notes for the next call while I wait. She
doesn’t keep me waiting long. “Hello, Reina.”

“Hi, Camari. What can
I help you with?”

“You could wear your
engagement and wedding rings, for starters.”

“I hate those rings,
so no.”

“You hate them? Does
Matt know?”

“Yes to both,” I
tell her with a smile.

“It would make my job
easier if you would wear a ring that Matt bought you.”

I hold up my right
hand. “I
am
wearing
a ring Matt bought me. Is there anything else? I have a call in a few
minutes.”

“I don’t believe
the two of you have been happily married. Yesterday when you came
back, and again today, the two of you have been different.”

“After the kidnapping
scare, we’ve re-affirmed our love for each other. We feel the need
to show it.” It’s not a lie. There are even flowers on my desk to
prove how much Matt wants me to know he loves me.

“I can’t do my job
properly if I don’t know the truth.”

“You know what you
need to know,” I tell her, mentally applauding her for standing up
to me. Not many people in this building do that. “When is your
internship over?”

“Why? Matt said I
might be able to stay on. Are you going to have him fire me?”

“No, Camari, I won’t
have him fire you,” I tell her with a smile. “I may steal you
right out from under him, though.”

“Really? I told him I
wanted to work at the Foundation. And I talked to Audrey yesterday.
She’s great. I could learn so much from her.”

“You have no idea how
much she’d have to teach you. I really do have to take this call,”
I tell her as my phone starts ringing. “We’ll talk more soon,
okay?”

She nods, as I smile at
her again. I’m gathering the girls today to tell them my plan for
the future. I think they’ll be on board with it, and I also think
that they’ll know just who we need. The calls I’ve been taking
tell me this is the right direction for the Society to go in, and
since the mentors have not only given me control, but also their
blessing for this, I’m feeling good about what I’ve come up with.

I still feel that way
when I walk into the conference room later. Part of feeling good
might be from Matt pushing me against the wall, and kissing the fuck
out of me before we went inside, but it’s also because I believe in
what I’m about to tell them.

“Thanks for meeting
with me today, everyone,” I say, looking out at all the girls, the
mentors, and the other people in our circle who know about us. “I
also need to thank everyone for keeping things going while I was
gone. I needed that time away, and I knew you would all be okay
without me.”

“No one was okay
without you. We just managed to hang on, and in my case, get
kidnapped,” Alex tells me.

“You did more than
hang on, and getting kidnapped wasn’t something you could’ve
easily prevented.” Cara had approached her about meeting, and no
one will fault her with trusting her biological grandmother.

“Thanks for saying
that.”

“Of course. Now, for
why we’re all here. The Society cannot continue as it is. I have
spent the last two days fielding calls from donors wanting to get as
much information as they could about me, and also about you. I knew I
could never go out undercover again because of my high profile, but
neither can most of you. Ainsley, Stella, Darcy, and Audrey knew they
were in my same position. Faith, Isa, and Tegan have been in the
press a little, but we’d hoped no one would pay much attention.
Because of what happened with the kidnappings, all of the footage
will come out again. Right now, Jade and Ellie are the only ones who
haven’t been exposed, but Ellie’s always at risk when she’s out
with Aiden, and I’m not going to ask them to hide.”

“So I win. Cool,”
Jade says, throwing her fists in the air.

“Jade’s been on TV
from when Nate won,” Ellie says, sticking her tongue out at her
best friend.

“Yes,” I agree.
“But I was hoping that her exposure would be limited to his fan
base. In any case, we can all still go out and do things, but now
we’re going to have to do it as ourselves. I have no doubt we’ll
be effective. I mean, who’s going to expect a pop star’s
girlfriend, or a quiet genius of being a highly trained spy? The
problem is that we have missions that require anonymity.”

“We can’t be over,”
Ainsley says.

“We’re not over. We
just have to do what we’ve always done when we’re faced with an
obstacle. We have to adapt. I’ve already talked to the mentors
about my plan, because while I no longer need their permission, I
wanted their blessing. For the first time ever, I would like the
society to bring in an entire class of recruits.”

“Ten, all at once?”
Audrey asks.

“Yes. As you know, in
the past when someone was recruited, we would all join each other in
class so they wouldn’t be alone in training, and also to motivate
us to do better. I don’t think we can wait to train girls one at a
time, and also, as much fun as it is to spar and have Stella dress me
up, I would rather use what I know to train the new recruits instead
of taking classes next to them. I think they will push each other to
succeed.”

“What if they don’t
succeed?” Ellie asks.

“Their mentor will
find someone to replace them.”

“We’re the
mentors,” Isa says. “and the instructors.”

Those aren’t
questions, but I answer her anyway. “Yes. I’ve included everyone
here, because I don’t think we need to pick our own girls. If we
know of someone, great, but I value everyone in this room’s
opinion, and I’m happy to mentor someone else if they fit me
better. We can also have a short list of alternates, because while I
don’t want to lose anyone, we have to be realistic. So, go ahead
and hit me with your names if you have them.”

“Sierra,” Ainsley
says.

“My sister? She can’t
so this,” Zack says, looking a little freaked out.

“I think she can, and
I know she wants it.
You
know she wants it.”

“But it’s
dangerous.”

“It’s okay for me
to be in danger, but not Si?”

“Dammit, I hate it
when you outsmart me. It happens too often.”

“You can show me your
skills later.”

“You want to mentor
her?” I ask Ainsley, bringing us back on topic.

“No. I love her, but
I think someone else would do a better job because we’re so close.”

“I’d love to mentor
her,” Darcy says.

“Perfect. Who’s
next?”

“Rose,” Alex says.

“She’s done with
MIT?”

“Not in the way you
mean, but yes, she left.”

“Tell her the rest,”
Miles prods her.

“She was
participating in illegal drag racing—not driving, but souping up
the cars. They kicked her out.”

“We’ve never had a
mechanic. I think that’s awesome,” Jade says.

“I think so, too. I
like Rose. I want to mentor her,” I tell Alex. “I would like to
recommend Camari.”

“My PR person? Et tu,
Brute?” Matt asks.

“Yes, and you can get
over it. She stood up to me, and no one else who works for you would
ever do that.”

“I’ll mentor her.
She would be an asset to Foundation PR as well as the Society,”
Audrey says.

“I agree.”

“I have someone, but
she’s going to be a challenge. A big challenge. I’ve actually
been training her for the last couple of years. She already knows
languages, tech, and hand to hand,” Matt says.

“Neveah?”

“Yes.”

“She sounds perfect,”
Tegan tells him.

“She won’t touch a
gun.”

“Oh yeah, that’s a
problem. Is she scared of them?” Isa asks.

“No. I accidentally
shot and killed her father when I was in the sand. She’s not scared
of guns, but she is scared of what they can do.”

Everyone is quiet for a
moment. I know they all want to ask him about it, but they won’t.
These people in this room love Matt enough to wait for him to be
ready to come to them with his story. It makes me love them all even
more.

“I’ll mentor her,”
Faith finally says.

“You?” Matt asks,
eyes wide.

“Yes, me. I
understand justice. I think I can help her.”

“Thank you,” he
says, getting out of his seat to kiss her on her cheek.

“My friend Matisse
would love to work with Stella,” Aiden says.

“She would. I liked
her when we met. She has tattoos, though. A lot of them,” Ellie
says.

“We can cover them.
I’m in for mentoring her,” Stella tells me.

“Jenysis,” Darcy
says.

“Yes,” I tell her.
“She helped us in London.”

“I’ve got her,”
Tegan says with a fierce look in her eyes.

“I know you and Wayne
are friends, and they have some kind of relationship thing going on.
Can you be on her side, because you’ll need to be.”

“Yes. I want them
together, and I know he’s being as much of an idiot in this as she
is.”

“Okay then, Jen is
yours.”

“I’ve got someone,
I think,” she tells me.

“You think?”

“I know she’d be
perfect, but I don’t want anyone messing with her because of her
job right now.”

“What’s her job?”

“She’s a dancer.”

“Sign me up,” Ellie
tells her, pointing to herself. “Bar girl, right here.”

“What’s her name,
Teeg?”

“Harlow.”

I nod. “Cool name.”

“I know someone.
She’s one of our biggest donors,” Audrey says.

“Rhieve?” I ask
with a smile. I love that woman.

“I could rough her up
a little,” Jade says.

“Figuratively, of
course.”

“Of course.”

“You got her, J.”

“I’ve been paying
attention to girl studying at UNLV. She’s brilliant, but hiding it.
Her name is Kalila.”

“You want to mentor
her?”

“I don’t know that
we’d mesh. She’s playing at being a party girl. Or she really
likes it. I can’t get a read on her, but like I said, she’s
brilliant.”

“I got her,”
Ainsley tells Isa with a smile.

“One more for Isa.
Anyone?”

“I used to work with
a chick in private security. She’s a little cocky, and she doesn’t
always play well with others. You guys might be able to teach her
how,” Theo says.

“I like a challenge,”
Isa says.

“We’ve all got your
back. If she fucks with you, she’ll be sorry,” Jade tells her.

“Her name, Theo?”

“Greta.”

“Okay. Everyone give
Alex the contact info you have, and she can start scheduling us
meetings with them. Thank you all again. For everything.”

“You have a meeting
with Neveah this afternoon at 3.”

“That’s right. You
free, Faith?”

“I can be.”

“Perfect. See you
then.”

Matt pulls me into his
arms as everyone leaves. “This idea is brilliant, Rei.”

“I hope so. It could
all blow up in my face.”

“Nah. You’ve got
this, and besides, you’re not alone.”

“You’ve really been
prepping Neveah?”

“Yeah. She went
through a rough time a couple of years ago, and so I started telling
her stories about female spies. Then, I started providing her with
lessons.”

“She thinks it’s
all made up?”

“She did. Until she
saw everyone at the hospital, and met you. I still denied it, but she
won’t be completely surprised when you talk to her.”

“Good to know.”

“I wish I could go
back to your office and ravish you, but I have a meeting. I’ll be
by after and then we can go out.”

“Dinner?”

“Something else
first, but dinner after. I think it’s exactly what you need.”

“That’s not cryptic
at all.”

“I learned from the
best,” he says, kissing me softly. “I love you.”

“I love you too. Now
go to your meeting before
I
ravish
you
right here
and now.”

He groans, but leaves.
We both know we have to have these meeting, and calls. It’s
important to show that we’re strong and united after all of the bad
press. I think about what he might have planned for me tonight as I
walk to my own office. I honestly have no idea what he might have
come up with, but I can’t wait to find out.

Matt

Tonight isn’t really
a date, and I hope Reina’s okay with this. I hate sleeping in the
guest room, but if what I have planned for her will help her even a
little bit, I’ll gladly move in there for the night.

“How did it go with
Nev?”

“Don’t pretend that
she didn’t run to your office after she left mine.”

“She totally did.
She’s so freaking excited.”

“She told me that if
I hurt you, she’ll use whatever we teach her to torture me.”

“The fuck? I’ll
talk to her.”

“Don’t. I like that
she’s so fierce when it comes to you. I’m pretty fierce in that
regard, too.”

“She still shouldn’t
threaten you.”

“I’m fine. At least
with Neveah. I’d love to know where we’re going right now,
though.”