Training the SECRET (Corrigan & Co #6) Read online

  “This could destroy everything that you and Nate have.”

  “We’ll have nothing if I don’t know what’s going on. Why are you men so stupid?”

  “Because we want to protect you from the nastiness that we’ve had to see and be a part of.”

  “Maybe we don’t want to be protected.”

  “Maybe you should be anyway.”

  “Not today. She’s coming up. You can stay if you want, but you damn well better not interfere.”

  “Oh, I’m staying if that’s an option. I want to hear this bitch try and spin it.”

  I nod and then call down to Ellie to have her sent up. The door opens and I see a chic looking woman of about sixty. She’s had some work done, but it’s good. If I wasn’t trained to look for modifications, I probably would have thought that she aged well, but that’s not the case.

  “Ms. Deveraux, thank you for coming.”

  “I’ve already told you it’sMadame Deveraux. Do not pretend that I didn’t or try and use my name as a power play.”

  “I don’t need to pretend anything. I have the power here. I have Nate Anderson.”

  “Which is the only reason I’m here. I’m ready to negotiate.”

  We both sit down, and I start my fishing expedition. “What is it that you’d like?”

  “I want what I had with him sixteen years ago. I’ve seen pictures of him now, and I know I could make even more money. I’ll give you thirty percent of what I take in.”

  “What percent will Nate get?”

  “Nate? He gets nothing from me. When he needed it, he had a roof over his head and food to eat. As well as my protection. Now he is free from needing that which is why I hadn’t approached him.”

  “Yet you came here when I called.”

  “I knew he secretly craved what he had, but I didn’t think he’d admit it until you called. I must admit that I was hoping to see him.” She looks over at Aiden. “Is this another man from your stable?”

  “No. ‘This’ is fucking not,” Aiden says with venom in his voice.

  “You say that now. But once the women are touching and tasting you, you’d change your mind.”

  What the fuck? Oh hell no. “Excuse me?”

  “Oh dear. Nate didn’t tell you what he’s having you negotiate? And I think you’re sleeping with him. Are you? You are. You think you’re ‘with’ him, don’t you?”

  I ignore the pitying look on her face. “Nate did not discuss it with me, and the rest is none of your business. If I’m understanding correctly, you were selling him.”

  “That is such a vulgar term, ‘selling.’ I was offering opportunities for women who wanted something or other. There were several options.”

  “Such as?” I ask, trying to keep my voice calm as my blood boils.

  “One of the most popular was oiling him up before his fights. That was usually younger woman who wanted their hands all over him.”

  I think I may throw up, and we’ve just gotten started. “How much?”

  “$100 then, but we could probably get $500 now.”

  I look at Aiden, who looks about as pissed as I feel. I need to know the rest, though. “Go on.”

  “After the oil, another woman got the privilege of performing oral sex on him to relax him a little more. I know there are those who think sex before a match is a bad idea, but I’ve found that my boys and men enjoy it and it makes then fight harder.”

  “That’s not what makes them fight harder and you fucking know it, bitch.”

  “Aiden,” I warn. I need to hear it all, even if I don’t want to. I look back at the devil in front of me. “Please continue.”

  “You didn’t ask but that was $500 then, and let me tell you that once word got out about how hung Nate is, I had waiting lists for that job. So many in fact that I added an after fight option.”

  I’m going to kill this woman. I know that without a doubt. She is not going to walk out of this room alive. What she did to my beautiful man—when he was just a boy—deserves worse than death.

  “Is that all?”

  “No. He would strip down and let the women look at him after the match while the sweat and blood dripped off of him. It was a beautiful thing to see. There was also the full body massage and the chance to soak in the Jacuzzi with him. Women paid to towel him off, and then dress him. They could caress and kiss any part of him except for his cock while they did it. I couldn’t just give that away without a premium.”

  “No of course you couldn’t.” I don’t even try to hide the sarcasm from my voice. She’s going to die anyway, so why pretend that I’m not pissed.

  “Tell her what happened if Nate lost a fight,” Aiden says.

  “You know?”

  “Yes. Tell her.”

  She gets what can only be described as an evil smile on her face. “That was my best money. If Nate lost, the women got to pay $1000 to have sex with him. With that magnificent cock of his, and his teenage stamina, I could sometimes make $10,000 per night. More if the woman were willing to share him.”

  I’m out of my chair, and she’s bleeding on the floor before she even knows I’m coming. I pull her up by the front of her fancy dress. “Fight, bitch. Fight. You’re not leaving this room alive either way, but I want you to at least try and fight for your life.”

  “You won’t kill me.”

  “Oh yes I will. What you did to him—while he was just a boy. How could you do that?”

  “He enjoyed it, all the attention from the women.”

  “No, he didn’t.”

  “He would get hard while they were touching and kissing him.”

  “He was a boy. Just a boy, whose body reacted to something his brain and soul were hating. You degraded him, and made him think he was less than he really is.”

  “Tell yourself that if you need to, but I still say he wanted it all.”

  Tears are running down my face as I scream at her. I want her dead. I need her dead. I know in my heart that Nate isn’t the only one, and it kills me to think of all those boys she’s hurt. I couldn’t save the ones from before, but I can save whoever she has now. And maybe save the man I love in the process. God, I didn’t even tell him I loved him when we hung up earlier. I was so frustrated, but now I understand, and I realize something else.

  “Alberto Rujas is one of the men you exploit, isn’t he?”

  “I’ve already told you that they all enjoy it, even though they won’t admit it.”

  “Answer the fucking question,” I say as I get right down into her face.

  “Yes, Al is one of mine. He was Nate’s best friend, and they came to me at almost the same time. When Nate snuck out to the military, Al chose to stay with me.”

  There’s more to the story than she’s saying, but I’ll let it go for now. I completely understand why Nate said he couldn’t win the fight. He knew what fate he’d be sentencing his friend to if he beat him. The thought of it makes me so sick. This woman needs to die.

  “Are you going to fight or am I just going to kill you?”

  “I will not fight you, and as much as you want vengeance for what you think is a wrongdoing on my part, I can tell that you can’t kill an innocent, unarmed person.”

  “You’re not innocent.”

  “But I am utterly incapable of defending myself. You can’t do it. Just admit it, and let me go.”

  “She may not be able to do it, but I sure as hell can. And I will. Go on downstairs, Jade,” Aiden says, walking over to me, and pulling me into his arms.

  “No. I need to do it. I need to save him,” I whisper into his ear.

  “You saved him two years ago when you walked into that gym. And you’ve been putting him back together ever since, even when he was pretending that he didn’t care,” he tells me. “She’s right about you not being able to kill her. You’re just not built for that. But I am. I can do this, I want to do this.”

  I know he’s right about me not being able to do it, and what he said about me saving Nate
…I don’t know if it’s true, but I hope it is. “Thank you.”

  He nods and then smiles at the bitch on the floor. “Time to have some fun.”

  “You’re bluffing.”

  “Oh no. I’m really not. I like to kill. Maybe, I even love it. Especially when it’s to help a friend, and Nate is my very best friend.”

  “No. You can’t do this. You can’t leave me with him.” She’s begging me, and I just walk right on past her to the door.

  “Yeah, I can. Have fun, Aiden.”

  “I will.”

  The screams start before I’ve even gotten to the bottom of the stairs. Ellie starts to run towards me, but I stop her. “No, El. She deserves it.”

  “What did she do?”

  “I-I can’t talk about it with you. Or anyone. I think maybe Aiden will tell you, but I just can’t.”

  “It’s that bad?”

  “Worse. I just want to throw up, or punch someone. Did she bring guards?”

  “No. She came alone. Walked in all cocky and shit.”

  “I guess that’s good in the grand scheme of things.”

  “I think you need a hug more than you need a fight.”

  “You might be right.”

  She engulfs me in her arms and I hug her back tight. We stay like that as we hear the screams continue for a few minutes, and then it’s quiet. She pulls away from me and walks up the stairs. I let her go because I know that they need each other, just like Nate and I do. I sit at the bottom of the stairs, and try to process everything.

  I now know why Nate hated me talking about his body, or even admiring it. Why he was hurt by words that I thought were fun and sexy. They brought back memories of being forced to stand in a room while woman looked at him. While they put their hands and mouths on him. He pushed his pain and humiliation aside to let me look and touch. Understanding how hard that was for him humbles me completely. Whatever else he’s hiding can wait. I just need to hold him tight, and let him know that there’s one less demon for him to worry about now.

  Chapter 14

  Nate

  I got back here as soon as possible, but I already see that something is wrong. Aiden is in the front courtyard, and he’s working out in a way that I’ve seen before. He’s not just exercising his body, he’s exorcising his soul with every push up and sit up. What the fuck happened while I was gone?

  “Who did you kill?” I ask as I get out of the car.

  He stops in the middle of a push-up, jumping up to look everywhere but at me. “Someone who needed it.”

  “Who?”

  He looks away, and I know something’s really wrong. Something’s happened since I spoke to Jade just a few hours ago. I wait him out, because I know he’ll tell me. There are no secrets between Aiden, Matt, and me. Absolutely none.

  “Cecile Deveraux.”

  I stagger backwards like I’ve been punched, because I honestly feel like I have. “What?”

  “I killed her today.”

  “How? I mean, I don’t need to know how you killed her, but did you go find her? You didn’t have to do that for me.”

  “Jade found her, and was going to kill her. I did it instead so she wouldn’t have to live with it.”

  “Jade?” I ask, trying to hide my panic.

  “She knows everything. Well, about that bitch at least.”

  “And you couldn’t warn me?”

  “I didn’t know until she closed down the gym early, and then the female Anti-Christ showed up. I stayed in the room while they talked, and I’m not gonna lie. It was ugly. Real ugly. Jade kept her cool for most of it, but when that…thing…talked about your dick and how much you liked having sex with the women, it was all over. Jade was on her before I could even react. It was actually pretty awesome.”

  “She’s disgusted by me.”

  “What? No. She hasn’t stopped crying, even when our team came in and took care of the body, but it’s not from disgust. Ellie got out of her how bad she feels for saying things to you about your body. She’s wrecked man. And don’t go thinking it’s pity. It’s not.”

  “It is. Damn it. I didn’t want her to find out this way. She shouldn’t have been digging around in my past. Especially after telling me she would wait for me to be ready to tell her.”

  “I get where you’re coming from, but you need to check that at the door. You ran off, and she didn’t know what to do. So she did what she was trained to do, she found out the answers for herself. You love that she’s a fucking super-spy, just like I love that about Ellie.”

  “Not when it’s directed at me, I don’t.”

  “We can’t pick and choose, and you know it. Unless you’re ready to really and truly walk away for good, you need to rein the bullshit in. Because right now it doesn’t matter how she knows. It just matters that she does, and she was willing to kill the woman who exploited you. I had to convince her to let me do it because she wanted to ‘save you.’ And those are her words, not mine. You know damn well that there will never be another woman for you.”

  “What happens when she keeps digging and finds out the rest?”

  “If you tell her, and explain it, I think she’ll understand.”

  “You think, but you don’t know. I can’t take that chance.”

  “I’ll stand by you no matter what, and so will Matt. You know that. It’s up to you to decide what you want to do. I can only remind you of what you’ve got.”

  “Are you going to follow your same advice with Ellie?”

  “No. I’m not ready to walk my talk yet.”

  “Yet you think I am?”

  “I think you may not have a choice, and it’s better if you’re in control of the situation.”

  “Why do we have to be so fucked up? I mean, seriously? I just want to be a normal guy who takes his girl out to dinner and a movie before fucking her into oblivion.”

  “If you were that guy, you wouldn’t have Jade, because she’s so not that girl.”

  “I could still do without being fucked up.”

  “We all could, but it’s not who we are.”

  “When did you turn into fucking Dr. Phil?”

  “Shit. I don’t know. It’s pretty pathetic though, huh?”

  “Yeah. That’s one word for it. Not a big enough word, but we can use it for now. Aiden the Pathetic has a nice ring to it.”

  He flips me off. “Fuck off, or better yet, fuck Jade.”

  I flip him back off as I open the front door. “You should be using all that energy on your girl, and stop worrying about me and mine.”

  “Couldn’t exactly do that while mine was comforting yours.”

  I hang my head, and look back over at him. “Thanks. For everything. Thank you.”

  “You’d do it for me.”

  “Yeah. I would.”

  I walk inside and start to look for Jade. She’s not on the main floor, so I start up the stairs. By the halfway point, I can hear the crying, and I quicken my pace. I push open our bedroom door, and find her in Ellie’s arms, sobbing and shaking.

  “Angel, no. Please don’t cry for me.”

  “Nate. I’m so sorry. So, so sorry.”

  I look at Ellie, but she shakes her head. “I don’t know anything. She said she couldn’t tell me.”

  “Aiden can. Tell him I said it was okay.”

  “I don’t need to know.”

  “You’re her best friend. I want you to be there for her when I’m not. That means you need to know.”

  She nods and walks out of the room, squeezing my hand on her way out. I take her place on the bed and cuddle Jade in close to me as I lie down next to her.

  “There’s nothing for you to be sorry for. Well, there’s one thing, but we don’t need to talk about that right now.”

  She stiffens in my arms. “How mad are you that I went behind your back?”

  “Mad. But like I said, we can talk about that later.”

  “I just wanted to help you, and you wouldn’t let me.”

 
“After everything you learned today, you really just want to fight?”

  “If that’s what it takes to get this settled, then yes. Nothing is more important than our relationship.”

  Okay. She said she wants to fight it out, so we’ll fight. Because despite what Aiden said, I can’t just check my anger at the door. This was an out and out betrayal, and boundaries need to be set for the future.

  “You had no right to dig up my secrets.”

  “We’ll have to agree to disagree about that.”

  “No. This cannot happen again. Ever. There are lines that are just not okay for you to cross by using your spy resources.”

  That stops the tears almost immediately. “So I’m just supposed to sit back and watch you suffer instead of trying to help you?”

  “Yes. If I am ready to tell you something, I will. If not, I need you to respect me enough to wait.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Aiden says that you know everything, so you know why I didn’t tell you.”

  “No, I really don’t. I mean, you’ve seen me rescue girls who were the same age or younger than you were when that creature trafficked you.”

  “I wasn’t trafficked.”

  “You were, Nate. What that woman did to you was trafficking.”

  “I wasn’t some naïve girl who got tricked into sleeping with men. I sought her out, and I knew what I was getting into.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m not ready to tell you that yet.”

  “What if I find that out on my own as well?”

  “Please don’t. I love you, Jade. So much more than I ever thought I’d love another person, but I can’t be with you if I know you’re always investigating me.”

  “I wouldn’t have to if you’d just talk to me. If you’d just tell me what’s going on. If you’d told me about what had been done to you, I would’ve never said the things I did to you. Those things that reminded you of other women, and hurt you.”

  “You are nothing like those women.”

  “Really? You didn’t think I was like them when we had that fight the first night Ellie and Aiden were here?”

  I throw my head back and look to the ceiling for guidance. I don’t want to lie to her when there’s already something big out there just waiting to crush us. But how do I tell her that she’s right when I know it will hurt her?