Uncovering His SECRET (18 page)

I’m surprised that no
one’s around when they lift me out of the truck. Usually at least a
few of the old timers are hanging around after church. I guess I
should be happy for small blessings. They carry me to the gazebo and
tie me to the top of one of the openings, leaving the rope slack
enough so that I can stand.

“Are you ready for
your close-up, bitch?” the quarterback asks as he takes a picture
of me.

“Are you ready to
hurt, you little prick?”

“Your adoring fans
should be on their way any minute now. Have fun.”

They all practically
run back to their trucks, while I test the ropes to see if I can get
loose before someone sees me. All hope of that disappears when people
start pulling up by the car and truckload. Most of them have their
cameras out before they even get near me. I close my eyes, and let
memories mix with real life again. Only this time, it’s good
memories that come to me.

“Looking good,
Tegan.”

“
You’re
my best friend, Teeg. I love you.”

“Why don’t you
spread your legs for us?”

“
You
are one of our best, Tegan. Never forget your past because those
hardships shaped you into the compassionate and strong woman you are
today.”

“Open your eyes, and
look at all your fans gathered here.”

“
You’re
a real-life superhero, Mama. I’m the proudest kid ever. I love
you.”

“Hey, guys, do you
think we can touch as well as look?”

“
I
love you, too.”

“Touch her and die. I
won’t make it quick either.”

My eyes fly open and I
know I must be seeing things, but as I watch him shoot people’s
phones out of their hands, I know he’s really here. “Aiden.”

“Hi, Boots. Sorry I’m
late to the party,” he says as he continues shooting.

“Hey man, you can’t
shoot our phones.”

“Put them away then
and learn to have some respect. Because I brought a shit ton of
bullets with me, and when they’re gone, I’ll be happy to get up
close and personal with my knives.”

“You’re crazy.”

“Yep,” he responds,
standing in front of me with his arms crossed.

“What are you doing
here?” I ask him. When he left after Reina and Matt’s wedding, I
didn’t expect to ever see him again.

“Ethan called and
said you were missing. I got the first flight I could since I don’t
have the jets at my disposal now.”

“Thank you.”

“Anytime. I’d take
you down, but we need evidence photos so we can try and figure out
who did this. I’ll block you from them, though.”

“I know who did it.
They didn’t wear masks.”

“Really? Dumbasses.”

“You think?”

“There’s the
sheriff now.”

“He won’t help.”

“Oh goody. I’m in
the mood to fuck someone up.”

“What the hell is
going on here? I’ve got reports that someone’s shooting cell
phones.”

“You’re just going
to ignore the woman strung up behind me?”

“What’s that they
say, ‘karma’s a bitch’ I think?”

“You’re the only
bitch here.”

“So tough with that
gun in your hand.”

“I’ll be happy to
fight you without my gun once someone competent comes by here to
collect evidence.”

“I’m the law here.”

“Not anymore, you’re
not,” a man in a state police uniform says as he starts reading him
his rights.

Another man in uniform
moves to the front of the crowd as well. “We’re taking over law
enforcement in this town until a suitable and ethical replacement can
be put in place. I suggest you all get on home and leave this woman
alone. I’m not sure if the jail has room for all of you, but I
won’t hesitate to take everyone in.”

“That guy shot our
phones.”

He turns to Aiden and
holds out his hand. “Good job, son.”

“I aim to please. Or
am pleased to aim. Whichever version you like better.”

* * *

Caleb

“Where is she?” I
ask.

“Tied to the gazebo
in the town square. Thank God we installed those cameras all over
town.”

“We need to get to
her,” I say.

Ainsley and Scott are
both looking at his tablet now. “Holy shit, Aiden just arrived, and
he’s shooting phones. And now he’s standing in front of her,
blocking her from everyone’s view.”

“Who’s Aiden?”

“One of my best
friends. He used to work with us, but then he had to…umm…leave,”
Nate says.

“After telling me he
loved me,” Ellie says, looking like she might cry.

“He’ll come around.
Just give him time,” Nate tells her.

“Like you’re coming
around?” Jade asks.

How did I miss this?
Now that I know what to look for, I can see that Nate and Jade want
each other. Apparently she’s the only one who wants to act on the
feelings, though.

“Hey man, take it
from me. Don’t let the woman you want get away from you. She may
not wait forever.”

He nods, and then
Ainsley curses. “I just rewound the footage and I know who did this
to Tegan. Coincidentally, they just walked in.”

I look over and see the
current football team walking in like they own the place. Like they
own the town. I’m not sure they realize that whoever’s still here
is not on their side. Those people ran as fast as they could to
humiliate Tegan.

“How are we handling
this?” Audrey asks Reina.

“Go get ‘em,
girls,” she says with another one of her scary smiles.

All eight other women
pull out their guns and jump off the stage. Within seconds, they’ve
each shot one of the players. Nowhere life threatening, but the
injuries to legs and arms will be career ending. One of them, who I
think is the quarterback, tries to hit Stella with his uninjured arm.

“You bitch. I have
scholarships,” he yells as she ducks.

“Had. The word you’re
looking for is
had.
You’d still
have
them if you hadn’t messed with my best friend.”

“You’re a slut
then, too, huh? I bet I could close your smart mouth the way I closed
Tegan’s. With my fist.”

She cocks her gun
again, and aims it downwards, towards his crotch. “Say another
word, and I’ll pull the trigger. So please say a word. Any fucking
word.”

He’s finally
developed at least half a brain, so he stays quiet. His friends are
squirming around on the ground, begging for help while everyone
ignores them. Until Jake has finally had enough.

“Man up you little
assholes. You’d never survive the military if one bullet that isn’t
even life-threatening is making you cry for your mommy.”

“You were in the
military?”

“Yes, and I’ve been
shot. More than once.”

“You didn’t cry for
your mama?”

“My mother is the
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. She would’ve kicked my ass
for crying over a little bullet wound.”

“I’ve gotta get to
Tegan,” I tell Reina.

“They’re
transporting her to the local hospital,” Scott tells me.

I nod and start to go.
Owen Griffin falls into step next to me and gives me a list of things
I should pick up at the store before going to the hospital. I hate
missing any time with Tegan, but I know he’s right about me needing
to get them first. Those extra few minutes will also give me time to
finish formulating my plan. I knew what I had to do once I saw those
pictures. It might just kill me, but it has to be done.

Tegan

Once the crowd
disperses, the police officer comes over to where Aiden and I are. “I
have to take a few pictures, Tegan. I’ll be as quick as possible,
and then we’ll get you down.”

“I understand.”

And I do, but the
thought of more pictures of me, with these words on my body, makes me
want to vomit. He rushes through as fast as he can and then helps
Aiden cut me down. I sway a little, but Aiden picks me up into his
arms.

“Can we catch a ride
with you to the hospital? There’s been some kind of mass shooting
at the high school, and my colleague forgot to give me the keys to
the sheriff’s cruiser before he took off.”

“Sure,” Aiden tells
him. “And the guys who got shot are the ones who did this to
Tegan.”

“Well, as long as you
don’t shoot me, you do whatever you have to in order to keep this
young woman safe.”

I wonder why he cares
so much, but I don’t dwell on it. I’m glad my friends got the
football players, but now that it’s over, I just feel really numb.
I just want to curl up somewhere in the dark, but I know that
although I’m safe, they’ll still be questions to answer and
pitying looks to endure. I can keep toughing it out. I have to.

Aiden takes off his
t-shirt and puts it over me before we get out of the car. It doesn’t
cover much of my arms, or legs, but I appreciate the gesture. So do
the nurses, who practically fall over when they see his chest and abs
on display. He has to ask them three times for help before they
register what he’s saying. As soon as they get it, they jump into
action. Even though this is a small town, we have state of the art
medical facilities thanks in big part to the Halls.

They get me back to a
room pretty quickly, and the guys wait outside while I change into a
hospital gown and pull the blanket up to my neck. Once I’m settled,
they both come back in, along with a doctor.

“Tegan, I’m going
to be blunt with you because I don’t think you need anyone to beat
around the bush with you right now.”

“Blunt is good.”

“Is a rape kit
necessary?”

“No.”

“Thank God,” Aiden
says.

I cut my eyes to his,
and then have to look away. Even though he knows I wasn’t raped,
there’s still too much emotion showing on his face. Not pity,
because Aiden Ford doesn’t do pity, but emotion nonetheless.

“I see the bruises on
your face. Were you hit anywhere else?”

“Not hit, but they
did use several cattle prods on me when they took me.”

“Did you black out at
all?”

“Yes. And then when I
woke up I was heavily drugged. I couldn’t even open my eyes, and I
was kind of hallucinating.”

“What kind of
hallucinations?”

“I could hear pieces
of what they were saying to each other, but they were interspersed
with things from my past.”

“Good or bad things?”

I take a deep breath.
“Very bad that time.”

“This happened more
than once?”

“Yeah. When people
started taking pictures and yelling at me today, I started
remembering good things my friends and family said to me.”

“You don’t seem
drugged at the moment.”

“No, when I woke up
this time, I was alert. I think they wanted me that way.”

“I don’t think you
were experiencing hallucinations, Tegan. I think that you were in
shock the first time you were having memories. Something bad was
happening to you, and it triggered those old things. Today, your
brain used good memories as a coping mechanism to help you get
through what was happening.”

“I’m fine now.”

“We both know that’s
not true, but for now, I just want you to rest. We can talk about
this more tomorrow.”

“I have to stay
here?”

“Yes, your room
upstairs should be ready.”

“I’m not crazy.”

“And you’re not
going to the psych ward, just a regular hospital room. You’ve had a
traumatic experience. I just want you to accept that, and let us help
you get through it.”

“No offense, but you
can’t help me. I need to help myself. That’s what I’ve always
done.”

“You’ve never taken
help from anyone?”

“Of course I have,
but this isn’t something I need help with.”

“Regardless, you’re
staying here tonight. I won’t force you to talk to me, or my
colleagues, but I want you to think about it. If you still don’t
want our help, I’ll discharge you in the morning.”

“Thank you.”

The nurse comes in and
gets an I.V. going for me. This is becoming a habit, and not one I
really want to keep repeating. I still just want to curl up in the
dark, only now it’ll be in this hospital, and I probably won’t be
alone. I see the concerned look in Aiden’s eyes. I should have
kicked him out while the doctor was here, but he makes me feel safe,
and I need that right now. I’m not even going to try and analyze
why I feel this way.

When I’m settled in
my room, the officer finally speaks. “My daughter is Lexi Jones.”

Wow. I helped her get
away from an abusive boyfriend last year. “Oh my God. How is she?”

“She’d doing great
since you saved her from that…animal.”

“It was my pleasure.”

“Which is why I took
this assignment when I heard about it, and I’ll do anything I can
to help you and your friends. Or look the other way when I need to.”

“Thank you. And
please tell Lexi hi for me.”

“I will,” he says,
walking out.

Now I just I need to
work on getting Aiden to give me alone time. When he drops into the
recliner in the room, I know he’s not going to go without a fight.

“I don’t need a
babysitter, Aiden.”

“At least a third of
this town was out there saying shit to you, and taking pictures. Just
because the little pussies that kidnapped you are neutralized,
doesn’t mean someone else wouldn’t come after you.”

“Between you and that
state officer, I think they’re too scared to come within a hundred
feet of me.”

“I’m not willing to
take any chances.”

I really need him to
leave, so I decide to play hardball. “Fine. Let’s talk about
Ellie.”

“Yeah, no.”

“You want to stay,
don’t you?”

“The nurses here
won’t throw me out,” he says with a smirk.

Damn him and his abs.
“I could call security directly.”

“Okay fine, you win.
We can talk about Ellie.”