Tending Their SECRET (2 page)

“Aiden, this is Reina. Since you haven’t
shown any of us the decency of coming in, I’m going to have to do
this over the phone. You are no longer welcome at the Foundation or
as a friend of the Society. Matt won’t allow you to be banned from
the building, and he refuses to fire you, but I will not have you
around anyone who works for me, especially Ellie. While you are not
100% to blame for what happened to her, your continued casual
disregard for her is inexcusable. She is being disciplined for not
following procedure, but if I see you, well, let’s just say I have
a bullet with your name on it. And there are eight other women who
feel the exact same way. This is your only warning.”

Matt

“Shit man, I think Reina may have called you
already. I tried to talk her down, but it’s not happening. I mean,
I get it. Ellie’s pretty much destroyed right now, but you’re still
my best friend. Call me if you can. Please.”

Nate

“I’m sure you know you can’t come back here
now. And Jade would probably kill me in my sleep if she knew I was
even calling you, but I need to know you’re okay. I know you, and I
know you love Ellie. You wouldn’t have just left her there with no
backup if everything was okay with you. Talk to me, man.”

I see that the next voicemail is from Ellie,
and my heart is in my throat as I push play.

“Ai-Aiden, it’s um, me. Oh, maybe you don’t
know who “me” is. It’s um, Ellie. I-I’m just calling to say that
I’m sorry. For Reina banning you, I mean. I never meant to cause
you any trouble. It’s my fault for going in alone, and for…for what
happened after. Please don’t hate me. I’m not going to chase after
you, or try and make you want me. But please, please don’t hate
me.”

Hate her? How the fuck
could I
ever
hate
her? And how could she ever think that I wouldn’t know who she
is—know her voice? Tears are running down my cheeks as I imagine
what might have happened to her. What happened because I fucked up
my own situation, and then left her alone when she needed me. I
have to fix this…fix her. There’s one person who can help me, and
it’s time I finally asked for that help.

I pull back onto the road and start the
drive. It takes me a couple of hours to reach the house, and
several minutes to be cleared through, but then I’m there. At his
door, about to ask for help. It’s not something I thought I’d ever
do, but for Ellie, I’ll do anything, even ask—beg—for help.

“The Vice-President will be with you
momentarily, Mr. Ford,” his secretary says as she ushers me into
his office.

“Thank you.”

I’m only alone for a few minutes when the
door opens again. He quickly closes it, and nods to let me know
that the room is secure and no one’s listening. “Aiden, it’s always
good to see you, but twice in less than a month is more than
unusual for you. Is this about the news reports? I told you to
ignore those men.”

“I couldn’t ignore them or the bullshit they
were saying about you. I didn’t kill them, though.”

“Someone wants to make it look like you
did.”

“I know. I’ll deal with that later. I need
your help with something else. Something more important.”

“Anything. You know that.”

“I know we talked about you using the
Society, and I think it’s time you called them in.”

“A few homophobic idiots who don’t want a
gay Vice-President aren’t going to scare me into calling the most
elite group in the world for help.”

“How about your son asking you to do it for
him?”

“You need me to hire them?”

“Not them. Her. I need you to ask for
Elletra Gallagher to be assigned to you. Or mom. I don’t care who
she helps. She just needs to help someone. Something happened to
her on her last mission, and I know she needs to get her confidence
back.”

“Elletra? Is this your Ellie?”

“She’s not mine, but yes, she’s the girl
I’ve talked to you about.”

“Are you going to tell me what’s going
on?”

“No. I just need you to get
her here where I can keep her safe.” Even if she will never be mine
again, she
will
be
safe.

“I don’t know what I could do with her here,
but can she run a bar?”

“Oh yeah, she can do that. Her family own a
bunch of pubs and bars.”

“Wait, she’s one of those Gallaghers?”

“Yep.”

“Then your mother could use her. She’s
decided that since the divorce is final, she wants to open up a
bar. Because, you know, we have such a shortage around here. It’s
almost ready to open. But, you probably know that already.”

He smiles when he says it,
and so do I. My parents love each other, but it’s been a long time
since they were
in love
with each other. My dad met someone and fell in
love, but refused to break his vow to my mom. When she found out,
she immediately told him he was an idiot if he didn’t follow his
heart, and so she set about divorcing him. The President supported
him, and now he’s out and happy with his boyfriend. The entire
country may not be ready for it, but I’ve never been more proud of
my parents, even though I do use my mom’s maiden name to try to
stay out of the spotlight.

“That’s perfect. I hadn’t even thought of
the bar. Will you call Mom?”

“Don’t want to be grilled, huh?”

“Not yet. I’ll work there, too, if she
wants. Ellie taught me how to bartend.”

“Because my bad-ass genius of a son needed
yet another skill, huh? Or did you just need the girl?”

“Her. It’s been her since the day we met.
You know that.”

“I do. You’ve never talked about another
woman, or anyone for that matter, the way you’ve talked to me about
her. I’ll call your mother.”

“And you’ll call the Society to arrange
everything else, right?”

“Yes. Your mother’s been getting harassed
because of me, so she really should have extra protection
anyways.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

“Anytime, and I really can’t wait to me this
Ellie who’s finally gotten my son to admit that he’s human.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,
but she
is
pretty
amazing.”

“I have no doubt.”

This is good. It’s not great, because I
still don’t know how I can get Ellie to trust me again. And I need
her trust more than anything. Well, anything except for her. I need
her more than every breath I take. She doesn’t know it, but her
love for me is what’s stopped me from succumbing to the darkness
inside of me once and for all. It’s the reason I didn’t kill those
guys, only hurt them. She makes me feel like I’m a better man. Or
at least she did.

Nate and Matt said that she’s broken. It’s
time for me to finally step up and be the man she needs. I have to
put her back together—after all, she’s been rebuilding me since the
day we met.

* * *

Ellie

Two months later

I’m finally off suspension. I know I
deserved it, but it was still the hardest eight weeks of my life.
I’ve been helping out everyone else while I was restricted to my
office. And I was seeing the Society mandated shrink. She’s Nate’s
doctor, too, and he’s been a big help. It’s hard to be around him
sometimes, because he reminds me so much of Aiden, and all that I
lost on my mission gone wrong. But he also understands what I went
through.

No one’s heard from Aiden, and that scares
me. I know Nate and Matt are worried, too, but they don’t say
anything to me. Everyone is walking on egg shells. It was three
hours before the Calvary came for me, and those were some of the
most horrific hours of my life. They could’ve been worse. Much,
much, worse. I know that, and I’m thankful that I was rescued
before anything more happened to me. I’m messed up, though, and we
all know it.

I need to hear from Aiden.
Just a text, email…anything. I got him in trouble with Reina, and
I’m pretty sure he never wants to see me again. Nate and my
therapist have told me that they don’t think he blames me, that
he’s probably dealing with his own guilt for not being there, and
very likely, not dealing with it well. He texted the guys that he’s
okay, but I got nothing. Which is exactly how I feel when it comes
to him, like nothing. My friends want to kill him, but I know
there’s got to be more to what happened. I
know
that even if he didn’t want to
be with me anymore, he’d still be there for me. He promised me he
would, and he doesn’t take his promises lightly.

I stop in the hallway outside of Reina’s
office, and lean my head against the wall for a moment. I have to
clear my head, because she said that the mission I’m being assigned
to is really big. I was personally requested, and they’ve waited
for me to be off of suspension so that I could take it. She wasn’t
going to budge on my suspension for anyone, and apparently they
said they’d wait. I’m a little confused by that. If it’s so
important, why would they wait? And who knows enough about me to
request me? I guess I’ll find out.

I open the door to see the Vice President of
the United States, and his ex-wife sitting in chairs in front of
Reina. I’ve met them a couple of times, but I don’t really know
them. Matt and Nate are here, too. They all smile at me as I walk
in.

“I’m sorry to keep you all waiting.”

“It’s no problem, Ellie. It’s nice to
finally meet you,” the Vice President tells me. He stands to shake
my hand, giving me a genuinely pleased smile.

“Oh. I’ve met you before. Both of you. It
was at a party, so you probably don’t remember.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t. Official parties
can be a little overwhelming. I won’t forget you again. I can
promise you that.”

His ex-wife doesn’t rise to greet me, or
even look at me, really. I just stand there awkwardly for a moment,
until Tim Jones finally speaks up. “Really, Heather?”

“She hurt my baby.”

“Your
baby
is a grown man. And we’re here
because of him.”

“I thought you were here to have Mrs. Jones
protected from your protesters,” Reina says, narrowing her eyes
slightly.

“My last name is Ford now, not Jones.”

I freeze. Reina freezes. Tegan freezes. And
Matt curses under his breath. “Fuck.”

“Ford?” I ask, in a small voice.

“Yes. Our son is Aiden Ford and you have
ruined him.”

“I have no clue how you
kept my secret,” Mr. Jones tells her with a sigh. “I had a
plan.
Aiden
had a
plan. You were supposed to let me do the talking.”

“I couldn’t just sit here, and look at her,
knowing she broke my boy.”

“This is why Aiden didn’t want you to be
here today. Do you want to lose your son?”

“I would never lose Aiden. He loves me.”

“He loves Ellie more.”

“How can you say that?”

“When was the last time he asked either of
us for anything?”

“I-I don’t know. Never?”

“Exactly. Yet he came to me, and asked me to
hire Ellie.”

It’s Mrs. Jones—or Ford—who sighs now.
“You’re right. Of course you’re right. I’m sorry, Ellie. I’m very
protective of my son, but it seems that he’s even more protective
of you. Please accept my apology for being rude. I’m actually happy
to meet you. Aiden has never once mentioned any other woman, let
alone asked to include one in our world. You’re obviously very
special to him.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, ma’am. I accept
your apology.”

“Call me Heather.”

“Now that all the niceties are done with, I
need someone to tell me what the hell is going on. And I want the
truth. From all of you,” Reina says, giving Matt a look that would
drop most men to their knees.

“I didn’t know they were coming here,” he
says, holding his hands up.

“But you knew who they were when you walked
in. Both of you did,” she says, looking at Nate now.

“We knew, but we wanted to hear them out,”
Nate tells her.

“And continue covering for Aiden,” Reina
says.

I can feel the tension between her and Matt.
I understand that she wants to protect me, and he wants to protect
Aiden. At one time, those two things wouldn’t have been mutually
exclusive, but now they are. That’s one of the hardest things for
me to handle. Matt and Nate are still 1000% behind me, but all of
my female friends want to murder Aiden. Even Darcy. I don’t want
that—I want him to have support, too. I just don’t know how to
convince my friends that I mean it.

“Please sit down, and we’ll explain
everything. Or at least as much as we know,” Mr. Jones says. We all
sit. After all, he is the Vice President.

Ellie

I’m still trying to process everything the
Vice President told us—and showed us—as I land in D.C. I know now
that there was a good reason Aiden didn’t come and back me up. It’s
all like a crazy spy movie. I mean, my friends and I live a pretty
crazy life, but what’s going on with Aiden is just…well, it’s hard
to believe that it’s real. If I hadn’t seen that video with my own
eyes, I would think the whole story was made up. But it’s not, and
that’s why I’m not alone on this plane.

Reina turned pale when she
saw that video, and heard the parts of the story that Aiden’s
parents had figured out. She’s feeling guilty about cutting him
off, but there was no way for her to know.
Aiden
doesn’t even know what’s going
on, and for now, we’re keeping it that way. He knows that someone
is trying to frame him for murders around D.C., but he has no idea
how bad it really is. I’m going to have to be the one to tell him,
but not yet.

Faith and I are going to
play along with his game. Well, at least we’re going to make him
think we’re playing along. We’ll pretend to be working at Heather
Ford’s bar in order to protect her. We
will
watch out for her, but we’re
really going to be there to stop—and catch—the man who’s after
Aiden. Tegan wanted to be here because apparently he told her all
about his overwhelming need for justice and killing those who set
out to hurt others. After she apologized for not telling me what he
told her, I asked that Faith accompany me instead. I’m not upset
with Teeg, but Faith is the female version of Aiden. She never went
full vigilante, but she very well could’ve if she hadn’t joined
us.