Training the SECRET (Corrigan & Co #6) (8 page)

“That’s why I’m
whispering these things to you.”

“Such a gentleman.”

“Why yes I am.”

“You really are,”
she says as she snuggles into me.

“You two are really
adorable. I never thought I’d use that word about you, but you
really are,” Ellie informs us.

“We could be
adorable, too,” one of the young fighters says to her as he walks
up with some swagger in his step.

“No thank you.”

“What? You got a
better offer?”

“Yes. She does,”
Aiden says, appearing out of nowhere and putting his arm around her.

“Aid,” she gasps.

That’s all she gets
out as he pulls her into a kiss that’s meant to be a show. He’s
effectively claiming her in front of this room. Now, he just needs to
claim her for real. I’ve missed too much time with Jade, and
Aiden’s been doing the same with Ellie. We know each other’s
secrets, so I get it. But if I’ve learned anything, nothing is bad
enough to keep you from the woman you love. Nothing.

“You’re still
here?” Jade asks him once they come up for air.

“Did you really think
I’d put in a crazy security system for you and then just leave you
here alone?”

“Yes.”

He nods. “I guess I
deserve that. But now you know I wouldn’t.”

“Admit it, bro,” I
tell him.

He glares at me for a
second, but gives in. “I also stayed around because I knew El would
find you, and I had to make sure she’d be safe, too.”

“I thought you
couldn’t be with me.”

“I can’t, but I
told you I love you. No matter how bad my behavior is, that’s true.
I won’t sit by while you walk into a dangerous situation.”

“I always walk into
dangerous situations. It’s my job.”

He looks at me, and I
give a slight nod. He needs to tell her. “I’ve been there for
every one since we met. I’ve stayed in the background because you
didn’t need me, but if anything had gone wrong, I was there.”

“Oh my God. You did
that for me?”

“Yes. But I can’t
stay and have a nice, sweet relationship with you like these two are
doing. I just can’t.”

“But you’re here
now.”

“I am.”

“Can you just come
around every once in a while at least, if you can’t stay in Vegas
with me? I mean, I want it all. I won’t lie about that. I can wait
for you to be ready if you can just give me something.”

“I may never be
ready.”

“Well, I’d rather
have at least a part of you than none of you.”

“You have me, babe.
I’m yours and that’s not going to change. Even if I can’t be
with you.”

“I have you when
you’re with other women?”

“I haven’t been
with anyone else since that night when we were together. Swear.”

It’s Ellie who grabs
him
now, kissing him
like her life depends on it. He fists her long hair in his hands, and
I’m honestly thinking that they’re going to get down to
it
right here and now. Hunt apparently feels the same way, since he
clears his throat loudly. When that doesn’t work, he walks over and
pushes them apart.

“There are children
here, and some of them are way too young for sex ed.”

“We didn’t even
pass first base, sir,” Aiden tells him.

Hunt snorts. “You two
nearly burned my gym down from all the heat you’re generating.”

“Sorry Hunt,” Ellie
tells him. “We’ll behave.”

“So will we,” I
tell him.

“Yeah you will.”

He walks away and then
we all smile at each other. The next couple of hours are spent
meeting everyone, signing autographs, and eating some good food. A
few women try and approach me during the rare times I’m apart from
Jade, but I shut that shit down immediately. She has enough to deal
with already, without having to doubt me. Especially when there’s
no reason to.

We stay as long as we
need to in order to be polite, but Hunt comes over and tells us to go
and enjoy the rest of the night. Jade gets embarrassed again, which
is really fucking cute, but Ellie and Aiden just thank him for a
great party. We’re all laughing as we get into our cars, planning
to spend a little time together before splitting off to be alone.

Jade

The boys are in the
pool house, making sure it has everything Aiden and Ellie will need,
while us girls are hanging out in my living room. We all decided that
it would be best for us to be in separate buildings. There’s too
much sexual frustration going on, and while I love my bestie, hearing
her scream and moan is not on my bucket list.

“How big is it?”
Ellie asks, causing me to spit out the mouthful of water I’d just
taken a drink of.

“No.”

“We
always
talk about size. I told you how well Aiden’s hung.”

“I didn’t ask you
to.”

“Seriously? You’re
going to hold out on me?”

“Fine. It’s just as
big as the rest of him.”

“I knew it. You’ve
been smiling all night.”

“I was smiling
because he told everyone I’m his girlfriend.”

“And because he
fucked you good.”

“Says the girl who
told me and Isa how
sweet
Aiden was.”

“I also admitted I
got well fucked, so don’t try and make me seem soft.”

“We’re both softer
than we like to admit.”

“Yeah, we are,” she
admits. “Which brings me to my next line of questioning.”

“Could it get any
worse?”

“They said you were
kidnapped, J.”

Oh yeah, it could get
worse. “Yes. They only had me for a day before Reina came for me,
though.”

“How come I’m only
hearing about this now?”

I shrug. “It’s
embarrassing. I had to be
rescued
.”

“By the baddest of
the badasses. Seriously. Reina is the ultimate.”

“I was blindfolded
when she came for me, but from what I heard, it
was
pretty epic.”

“Did they…I
mean…you don’t have to tell me.”

“I wasn’t raped,
El. There was one guy who told me I was beautiful at least once an
hour, but I was worth a lot back then. No one wanted to mess with me
unless they knew it wouldn’t bring my bounty down. If I had been
kept longer, I don’t know what would’ve happened.”

“From what I hear,
you might still be worth a lot.”

“A couple of kids
have tried to go for me, but nothing professional.”

“Yet.”

“Maybe.”

“I’m here until
there’s no ‘maybe’ and I’m pretty sure Aid is, too.”

“How pissed is
everyone?”

“If by ‘everyone’
you mean Reina and the mentors, they’re more worried than mad. They
would like you to reactivate, though. Ainsley sent a device with me
that’s supposed to fix whatever you did. You should probably call
Rei and Helen, too. Oh, and Isa. She wanted to come, too, but Jake
convinced her she’d be more help working behind the scenes from the
office.”

“I will seriously be
surprised if he doesn’t fight every mission she’s up for.”

“But she’ll go.
She’s tougher than that—she won’t sit back and let everyone
else do it.”

“Yeah. I’m glad we
got her to open up a little.”

“Me too. Now give me
your arm so I can get you back online.”

“You make me sound
like a fucking robot. You have the same device inside your arm.”

“True. We’re all
updated bionic women.”

“Without the dog or
special hearing.”

“Yeah, but we have
guys whose bodies would go for way more than six million dollars.”

“True,” I tell her
with a laugh, just as the guys walk back in.

“What’s so funny?”
Aiden asks.

“We were talking
about how we’re bionic women,” Ellie tells him, waving the wand
like thing Ainsley gave her. “And how you two have bodies worth way
more than six million dollars.”

Instead of laughing
like she—and I—thought he would, Aiden gets a little serious.
“We’re more than our bodies, El.”

“I know that. You
don’t think I know that?”

“I do. I just wanted
to remind you that it’s not just girls who get creeped out by being
checked out like a piece of meat.”

“We don’t think of
you guys like that. Sure, we appreciate you bodies, but that’s not
why we fell in love with you,” I tell him, puzzled by his behavior.

He’s usually so
cocky. Just like Nate. When I look at Nate, though, he’s gripping
the counter so hard that his knuckles are white. Did we really offend
both of them so much?

“I’m heading up to
take a shower. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

Well that stung,
because I’m pretty sure I just got lumped into that group he’s
seeing tomorrow. And not fucking tonight. I know he has some crazy
insecurities about his body, but no one was even looking at him. I
mean, what the hell?

“Just walk away,” I
yell after him, not even bothering to keep the anger out of my voice.

“That’s our cue,”
I hear Ellie say behind me as I storm down the hall.

“Fucking coward. Big,
bad Nate Anderson is a fucking coward.”

“What’d you talk
about with your friend, huh?” he asks, wheeling on me at the bottom
of the stairs. “The size of my cock?”

I’m not going to lie.
“In general terms, yes.”

“How general, Jade?”

“I said you were big.
That’s it. What’s the problem with that? Most guys would want to
know the girl they’re sleeping with likes their equipment.”

“I’m not most
guys.”

“I hadn’t noticed,”
I say with all the sarcasm in me. Which is a lot.

“So you’d be okay
if I told Aiden all about how sweet and tight your pussy is? Or how
full your tits are?”

“Honestly, yes. I
like that you want me.”

“This isn’t about
wanting. It’s about respect.”

“I respect you.”

“Do you?”

“I can’t believe
you just asked me that.”

“I want an answer.”

“And I want you to
pick a guest room to sleep in. Now.”

“I was already
planning on doing that.”

“Well at least we
agree on something tonight.”

I push past him and run
up the stairs. After slamming the door to my room, I sink to the
floor. I’m starting to think there’s a reason why we never got
together. I can’t joke around and be flirty. And apparently when
I’m being serious, I’m also insulting him somehow.

My phone buzzes and I
pull it out of my pocket. It’s Ellie, just like I knew it would be.

“
You OK?”

“
No. He’s pissed
that we talked about his package.”

“
WTF?”

“
IKR? He even went
so far as to question whether I really respect him or not.”

“
You don’t
deserve to put up with all this shit.”

“
Just like you
don’t deserve to be Aiden’s part-time lover.”

“
Yet here we both
are.”

“
Right where we
want to be, taking whatever we can get because we love them. Is it
really enough?”

“
IDK, but I have
to try.”

“
I thought I did
too.”

“
XOXOXO.”

“
Back atcha. I’ll
see you in the morning.”

“
Yes you will!”

Since my night is
already going so well, I figure I should just keep it going. I tap on
Reina’s name and call my boss, who just also happens to be the
woman who rescued me years ago. And my friend.

“Jade, thank God.
I’ve been freaking out.”

“Ellie didn’t check
in?”

“She did, but she’s
your best friend. She’d never sell you out.”

“No she wouldn’t.
I’m sorry to have worried everyone.”

“Why did you leave
like you did? I would’ve helped you. We all would’ve.”

“You’ve helped me
so much already. I thought I had to do this alone.”

“There’s no end
date or threshold on my help—or friendship. I’m sorry if I’ve
led you to believe differently.”

“You haven’t, Rei.
Not at all. It’s just…you’ve been busy getting married…and
taking over. I didn’t want to add to it all.”

“And you thought you
could run away, and not have me stressed and worried?”

“When you put it like
that, no. At the time it seemed like a good idea.”

“We’ve all been
there. Just promise to keep your tracker activated, and don’t be
afraid to ask for anything you need. Ellie’s staying as long as you
need her, and it seems that Aiden and Nate are, too.”

“Aiden is, but
Nate…well, we’ve been fighting.”

“What else is new?”

“We had a marathon of
sex and he called me his girlfriend.”

“Whoa. Yeah, that’s
different. What are you fighting about?”

“His body.”

“Excuse me?”

“He thinks I’m
objectifying him, and that I don’t respect him.”

She’s silent for
almost a minute, and I think she might have hung up. “Give him
time, Jade. I can’t go into details, but I
can
tell you that for most of his life, his body is what everyone wanted.
You can say all the words you want, but he needs you to show him that
he’s more.”

“He
is
more to me.”

“I know. You’ll get
through. Just try and be patient.”

“You really can’t
tell me?”

“No. I wish I could,
but they’re not my secrets.”

“Are they bad?”

“Yes. And if he wants
a future with you, he’s going to have to tell you everything.
Promise me you’ll listen to everything, and not judge him until he
can explain.”

She’s
really
scaring me. “I promise.”

“Good. Now I need to
get back to my own complicated man. Call me anytime. For anything.”

“I will. Thanks,
Rei.”

“You’re welcome.
Just don’t go silent again, or there will be consequences.”

“Yes, boss.”

She hangs up, and I’m
honestly more confused than ever. I understand that Reina has to keep
all of our secrets, but I have a bad feeling about what Nate’s are.
Obviously something to do with his body, but there’s something
else. I just hope he tells me sooner rather than later.