Tending Their SECRET (17 page)

The new video shows Aiden passed out on the
floor, a bottle of tequila empty near him. Andres is next to him,
injecting something directly into his arm. Whatever he’s given him
is so strong that he doesn’t even stir.

The last video comes on then, it’s Friday,
the day that everything happened with me. Andres is once again in
the room while Aiden is passed out. Aiden’s phone lights up, and
Andres looks over at the text, a sadistic smile crossing his face
as he laughs.

“That text was from you, wasn’t it?” he
asks, turning to me. “He saw that you were in trouble and he
laughed.”

“Yes.”

“You knew? All this time, you knew I was
drugged and that it was him?”

“Yes.” I should say more, but it’s all I can
get out.

“All of you knew?”

“It’s why I sent the Society to help you,”
Tim tells him.

“What?”

“Your mother and I didn’t
ask for help to protect her; although, everyone
was
keeping an eye on her. We asked
them to come here and stop Andres from framing you.”

“Tell me the exact plan,” Aiden says as he
lets go of my hand and stands to face everyone. His eyes and his
voice are cold as he takes us all in.

I speak up, because I have to. “Faith and I
followed you when you went out at night, and made sure Andres
didn’t kill the people you targeted. Jake and Isa made sure their
victims were safe. They figured out quickly that you already had
guys on those people, so they mostly stayed in the background, but
they were there.”

“The bruises you and Faith had the night my
mom was attacked? They weren’t from sparring, were they?”

“No. Andres was getting more reckless and
unpredictable as we kept stopping him. We started going out
together instead of alone. That night, he was particularly crazed,
and he put up a good fight.”

“You’ve been lying to me
all this time. About
everything
.”

“No. Not everything.”

“How do I know, huh? I mean, you knew I
didn’t just pass out and leave you without help, but did you tell
me? No. You let me believe that it was my own actions that caused
you to be captured. And yeah, I guess I was still partly to blame,
but not like I thought. And then you lied to me about why you were
here. You were seriously following me every time I went out? Who
does that?”

“Someone who cares about you.”

“No. Someone who wants to be the hero does
that. You’re not my hero, Ellie. I don’t need that from you. I just
needed you to love me.”

“I
do
love you. I wasn’t trying to be a
hero. I was trying to help you.”

“By lying to me? We talked about Andres, and
you never told me he was behind everything. That’s all you had to
do—tell me, and I could’ve handled him myself. But you didn’t. You
just lied to me, over and over again. What else did you lie about?
What happened to you when you were caught? Was what you told me
about that a lie too? Were you trying to make me feel bad for
you?”

Nate has his hand wrapped around Aiden’s
neck, and he’s lifting him off the ground before any of us even
know what’s happening. “Don’t you fucking dare do that to her. You
can yell about all of us keeping what happened to you a secret, but
you will not attack Ellie, or belittle what she went through as
long as I’m breathing.”

“Let him go, Nate,” I say, struggling to
breathe as my heart smashes into a million pieces.

“I’m sorry, Ellie. I-I shouldn’t have said
that,” Aiden tells me, and I can see that he means it.

“But you’re not going to forgive me for
helping you are you?”

“For lying? No. I can’t forgive that.”

I nod, because I expected this. “Can someone
call me a cab, please?”

“I’ll drive you,” Faith says.

“Don’t do this, Aiden,” Tim pleads with
him.

There’s silence, and it’s not a surprise. I
knew this was coming, and I also knew it would split me apart like
nothing else ever could. No matter how many times Aiden fought me
and our love over the years, I had hope. Now that hope is gone, and
I’m left to try and put together as many pieces of myself as I can.
I’ll never be completely whole again, and maybe I never was.

* * *

Aiden

It’s been two weeks since I
let Ellie walk out the door, and my heart still feels like it’s
bleeding from the wounds her betrayal caused me. I still can’t get
past the fact that she lied to me for so long. I know she has to
lie to people all the time for her job. But, I’m not a part of her
job—I mean, yeah my dad hired her, but I thought I was more to her.
I thought
we
were
more. She said she wanted to help me, but it feels like she was
mocking me all that time. Giving me pieces of herself while holding
back everything that was important. My pride won’t let me get past
that, even though my heart wants her back.

Working here at the bar isn’t helping
things. I had nowhere else to go, though. I can’t go back to Vegas,
where I’d no doubt see Ellie because we have the same circle of
friends, and I don’t want to just disappear again. My lone wolf
days are over—the solitary life just doesn’t hold the same appeal
that it once did.

That doesn’t mean I want to find someone
else to keep my bed warm. Once the waitresses found out that Ellie
was gone, and that Tieny was taking over as manager, they started
circling me again. I’ve assured them that I’m still not interested,
and I throw away all the numbers I’m given during my shift, because
honestly, I’m not over Ellie. I can pretend I am, but I’m not. I
seriously doubt that I ever will be.

Norma sucks in a breath, and curses, making
me look to the door. Oh hell no. Ellie just walked in with some
suit, and she’s looking like she just stepped off a Victoria’s
Secret runway. She’s got on a full lace corset that’s only got some
satin covering her tits, and a super short black skirt. I can see
the garters peeking out below it as they hold up her stockings. Her
hair is down, and the loose waves nearly reach her ass. The suit is
looking like he won the lottery, and just no. This is not going
down here.

I motion Tieny over as they’re seated in a
secluded booth. “Yes, Aiden?”

“What the fuck is she doing here? You need
to kick her out.”

“I can’t. Your mom made the reservation for
Ellie herself.”

“I’m taking off then.”

“Oh no you don’t. I’m not sure what went
down with the two of you, but you have a shift to work tonight. Man
up, and do your job.”

“This is bullshit.”

“Take it up with your mom.”

“Oh, I intend to.” I didn’t even think Ellie
was still here in D.C., and now she walks in with someone else. And
my mom knew? I don’t need this shit.

I can’t keep my eyes off that table, even
though I know I should. I watch as that guy puts his hand on
Ellie’s arm. That’s my fucking arm, motherfucker. I nearly break
the glass I’m holding, as the alpha caveman in me comes out. I’m
white knuckling the bar when Norma comes over with their drink
order.

“A beer and a water.”

“He ordered a water?” I ask, knowing the
beer’s for Ellie.

“Yep. And a salad.”

I almost laugh out loud. No way is Ellie
going home with a guy who orders a salad and a water. No fucking
way. I can’t wait to see how she gets herself out of this.

She excuses herself soon after the food
arrives and heads to the bathroom. I intercept her before she makes
it there, and push her into her old office, locking the door.

“What the fuck, Aiden?”

“I can’t believe you showed up here with a
suit, and he ordered a salad,” I tell her with a laugh.

“He likes to be healthy,” she says, crossing
her arms and tilting her head up in a challenge. Game on.

“Really? You’re defending him?”

“There’s nothing wrong with a salad and
water. It’s time I moved on from guys who drink beer and eat
burgers.”

“You
drink beer and eat burgers.”

“Yep. So, I need someone different. You know
what they say about opposites attracting.”

“Don’t pretend you’re into him. He’s not
going to throw you on a desk and make you come three times with his
tongue. Or tie you to a bed, and fuck you hard.”

“No one’s going to tie me up, Aiden,” she
tells me, and I see her shaking a little. Oh yeah, she’s into the
way I’m talking to her.

“I will,” I say, grabbing her arms, and
holding them above her head. I push her against the wall, and
increase the pressure on her hands as I push them into the
wall.

“Let me go,” she whispers, and I realize
immediately that it’s more plea than a sexy request.

I also realize now what I’ve done. She
wasn’t shaking because she was turned on. She was scared. Of me. I
was so consumed by jealousy that I forgot for a minute that she was
restrained and tortured sexually. That she’d been tied up while men
touched her, and degraded her. I immediately drop my hands.

“Oh my God, El. I’m sorry. So sorry. Are you
okay?”

She shakes her head and turns away from me.
“I knew you hated me, but this. How could you do this?”

“I swear I didn’t mean it.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Ellie, come on. You know I wouldn’t
purposely hurt you.”

“Really? Because cutting me off after all I
did was try to help you didn’t purposely hurt me?”

“You had no right to do what you did.”

“Why? Because I helped you, and the all,
powerful Aiden Ford can’t allow anyone to help him.”

“I accept help.”

“When? When have you ever let someone help
you? You’re more than happy to put your life on the line for
everyone else, but no one can do the same for you. You think you
need to save everyone, yet no one can try and save you. It’s not a
sign of weakness to need help, or to ask for it. We all need help,
all of us. You’re just too blinded by your stupid ‘code’ to see it.
Is it worth it, Aiden? Being this big, brave white knight when
you’re all alone because you refused to let anyone in?”

“I let people in.”

“As long as you can help them. Once you need
someone, you cast them aside.”

“That’s not fair.”

“No, it’s not. I’ll never have anything
close to what I had with you again in my life.”

“You shouldn’t have lied.”

“And you shouldn’t be letting your stupid
pride keep us apart. Or make you threaten me.”

“I didn’t mean to threaten you. I promise. I
was just jealous.”

“You should be jealous. That could’ve been
you out there with me. And it could be you I’m going home with
tonight. But it’s not. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a date to
get back to.”

She takes a wide berth as she walks past me,
and I let her go, even as everything inside of me is screaming to
reach out for her. She was still shaking a little, and I don’t want
to send her into a full blown panic attack. In fact, I need to make
a call on her behalf. I know I’m about to have Hell rain down on
me, but I deserve it.

Ellie

I’m trying to act
interested in this guy, even though I never should have said yes to
a date with him. It was a moment of weakness—and I wanted to make
Aiden jealous. I can admit it. Maybe not to Aiden, but I’ll be
honest with myself. This guy is
so
not my type. When he ordered the water and salad,
I wanted to run. Far, far away. There’s nothing wrong with a guy
ordering those things, he’d just never be the guy for
me.

If I’m being extra honest
with myself, I also know that Aiden wasn’t threatening me in the
office. He was just being the jealous alpha that he is. It’s not
his fault that it made me have a flashback to what was done to me.
He was never anything but loving and careful with me. And another
truth—I probably would be okay with him tying me up. Only him, but
still. Totally non-threatening. I should tell him that before I
leave. If I can figure out how to leave with this guy, but not
actually
leave
with him.

Those thoughts are thrown to the back burner
when the bar door slams open and Nate comes stalking in, followed
by Matt. “What the fuck did you do to her?” Nate asks, getting
right up in Aiden’s face.

Oh shit. He called Nate? And now Nate’s
going to kill him. I jump out of my chair and sprint over to the
bar. “It’s fine, Nate. He didn’t mean to upset me.”

“But he did.”

“Yeah, I did. That’s why I called you. To
make sure she’s okay.”

“You don’t care if I’m okay,” I tell
him.

“Of course I care.”

“Let’s all take a step back here,” Matt
says. “What exactly happened?”

“She came in, dressed like that, with that
suit over there with the salad. I got jealous and cornered her. She
said that opposites attract, and I grabbed her, and told her I bet
he wouldn’t tie her up the way I would. She freaked, I freaked, and
then I called you.”

“You’re an asshole,” Nate tells him.

“I know.”

“And you’re ridiculous,” Matt tells me.

“For freaking out?” I ask him, my eyes
wide.

“No. Of course not. You’re ridiculous for
using some salad eater to try and make Aiden jealous.”

“There’s nothing wrong with a guy eating a
salad.”

“No. There isn’t, and I’m sure he’ll find
someone nice to have a glass of wine with. We both know that’s not
you. Does he even know what a beer is?”

Nate snickers, and I glare at him. “Fuck you
all. I have a date to get back to.”

Matt picks me up and sits me on a barstool
as I let out a squeal. “Not just yet. The two of you need to
talk.”

“He said he won’t forgive me.”

“I won’t. There’s nothing to talk
about.”