Uncovering His SECRET (2 page)

It’s been good for E
to have a family member other than me around. He knows who his dad
is, and that we broke up when we were sixteen because of a
misunderstanding. Only Cyndi and Brad know everything that happened
that night, though. I wanted to keep it that way because I was
embarrassed by my past. I know I shouldn’t be since everyone in the
Society has endured pain of one kind or another. We wouldn’t be so
good at our jobs if we hadn’t. But I still feel like a scared teen
when I think about what happened to me.

I just wanted to keep
my pain for myself. I’ve already been analyzed by the shrink Cyndi
sent me to when she saved me. I don’t want my friends to look at me
differently or think I’m not as strong as I work hard to come
across as being. I also don’t want them to ever realize that all
the men…they were all because the one man I can’t have called me
some names. Names I felt I had to live up to because I was hurting so
badly, even though I wasn’t even close to what he and everyone else
said I was. And because I was pregnant with a baby I wanted even more
than him, but was almost forced to give up. So yeah, I was hoping to
never tell my friends the whole truth, but in order to protect my
son’s father, I’m going to have to tell them at least a little
more of it.

We’re between
missions, so all nine of us, plus Reina, walk into the conference
room. She’s still technically one of the agents, even though she’s
now in charge, but we expect Jane Corrigan to start looking for a new
recruit soon. I look to all of them and return their curious
expressions with a small smile. Stella is the hardest to look at—I’ve
lied to my best friend for too many years for her not to be hurt when
she finds out. Our friendship has survived a lot, and I hope my
secrets aren’t going to be enough to break it for good.

“Hi,” I say, taking
a deep breath. “I appreciate all of you coming in today. I-I have
some things to tell you. Things that no one in this room knows. I can
honestly say that I don’t know if I’d have told you—any of
you—if the current situation didn’t call for it. I love you guys,
but my past is…well, it’s not pretty.”

“Teeg, you know you
can tell us anything,” Stella tells me. “But if you don’t want
to, it’s okay.”

“I don’t, but
someone came in for help earlier and, well, I have no choice. Ethan’s
father is in danger, and whoever goes undercover will need to know
everything in order to help protect him.”

“Well, fuck,” Jade
says.

“I think
Teeg—and—Nate would prefer it if you didn’t,” Reina tells her
with a chuckle.

“Huh? What? Me? I’m
doing the mission?”

“Yes. Mrs. Hall is
very concerned about her son, and after seeing the communications
that have been sent to Caleb, I have to agree that someone wants to
harm him if he goes through with the deal he’s brokering. She
thinks someone posing as her new assistant will be the best way in
without drawing any extra attention.”

“What kind of deal is
it?”

“Caleb’s discovered
an alternate fuel that can work in regular gas tanks. It can be added
to gasoline or used on its own. He’s been working on it for
years—it was his dream as a teenager. He developed it individually
and is now selling it to his family’s oil company,” I answer.

“Wait. I just got
what you’re saying. Caleb Hall is Ethan’s dad? He’s a
scientific genius. Like puts me to shame in level of genius. Hell, he
might even put Isa to shame,” Audrey says.

“He’s also a damn
fine baseball
and
football player. He’s the whole package,” Ainsley says with
admiration in her voice.

“I once thought so
too,” I say with more venom in my voice than I was planning to show
today.

“Tell us, Teeg. We
love you. Whatever you have to say is okay. I promise,” Stella
tells me.

I nod. “Well, first
of all, we’re not from Chicago. That’s where Cyndi took me when
she rescued me—and Ethan. He wasn’t actually born yet, so I guess
he really is from there, but I’m not. It was before the Society was
officially formed. In fact, I was her last unofficial ‘mission.’”

“That’s why your
records are sealed,” Isa says. “Even I can’t access them.”

“Yes. The mentors
wanted to protect me. They
did
protect me. Anyway, I grew up in a small town in Texas. My parents
were—are—small ranch owners. A ranch that’s next to the Hall’s
place. Theirs is not small, and I was always told as a little girl to
stay off their property and away from the family. I listened because
I was a good girl. Until the day that the boy next door noticed me.

“I know it’s like a
bad cliché, but it really happened that way. I was ten when Caleb
first asked me to play. We became best friends immediately. We went
on adventures, swimming and catching fish in his creek, riding our
horses for hours—just being kids. Until we weren’t.

“One day we looked at
each other and both realized that something had changed. I noticed
the muscles he’d gotten from all the work on the ranch, and he
noticed that I’d gotten some curves. Being the genius he is, he
wanted us to approach this new found attraction logically. So we held
hands for a week—only when we were alone, because we didn’t want
anyone to know that things might have changed. The next week, we
kissed each other’s cheek as well as still holding hands. By the
time the third week came to an end, we both knew our friendship was
only enhancing the kissing we were doing, but we waited one more week
to go public.

“In our town, that
meant that we went to the Fourth of July festival together, which
wasn’t a surprise to anyone since we always went together as
friends. When Cal kissed me in the middle of the town square, well
that got us some shocked looks. Everyone was so used to seeing us
together that they thought we’d just be friends forever. Especially
because a Hall dating a Kelly was comparable to Prince Charming
falling for Cinderella. I wasn’t what the town expected for their
royal son; although, his family always accepted me as his friend, and
then his girlfriend.

“My parents tried to
stop us, saying I was playing too far up the food chain, and he would
hurt me. I knew he wouldn’t, though. No matter how many of the
girls in town paraded themselves in front of him, Cal never gave me
any reason to believe he’d leave me. My family may not have had a
lot of money, but I never felt that when I was with him. I never felt
less, until…until the day he told me that I was.”

“You’re not, Teeg,”
Stella tells me.

I smile at my best
friend. “Even after all these years of lying to you? Of telling you
I only liked country music and clothes, but didn’t know the life?”

“Hell, yeah. I don’t
care where you were born. You’re my best friend, and I love you.”

“Will you tell us
what happened, Tegan? Can you?” Reina asks me, and I see the
compassion in her eyes, so I tell her the truth. She’s known me the
longest and may deserve it more than Stella, even.

“I-I can’t tell you
everything. I want to, but it’s too hard.”

“Then just tell us
what you can.”

“Cal and I dated for
three years. When we were sixteen, some of his friends decided he
should be taking advantage of all the pageant queens throwing
themselves at him instead of dating the poor cowgirl. They…,” I
take a deep breath and continued. “They did something to make it
seem like I cheated on him with one of them, and he believed it. Just
like that. He didn’t even ask me. He just called me a slut, among
other names. He said he never wanted to see or speak to me again.
That I was dead to him, and he wished…he wished I really was dead.
I had just found out I was pregnant with Ethan and was planning on
telling him the night it all went down.”

“Why the fuck are we
protecting this asshole?” Ellie asks.

“He’s Ethan’s
father. E knows who he is and that we haven’t spoken for almost
eleven years. He doesn’t think he needs Caleb because of all the
great guys he’s surrounded with, but one day he may change his
mind. I can’t let his father die.”

“I don’t have to be
nice to him, though,” Jade says.

“No,” Reina agrees.
“You just have to protect him. Knee him in the balls daily if you
want, just make sure he doesn’t get killed.”

* * *

Caleb

My mom’s new
“assistant” is starting today. I still don’t think I need some
bodyguard, but whatever. It’s not worth the trouble of arguing with
her. I have too much work to still do for the sale and launch of my
new fuel system. I’ve been dreaming of making this a reality for
over ten year now, and I almost can’t believe that it’s finally
going to happen. I should be celebrating, and although I technically
will be, it’s going to be bittersweet.

All those years ago,
when I was beginning this dream, I had Tegan by my side. She was my
one person cheer squad, and better than any of the girls who danced
on the sidelines for me at games. We had plans, plans for me to get
this formula right and her to be next to me with a business and
communications degree. As smart as I am with science, she’s smarter
with writing and research. She’s also the savviest business person
I’ve ever met—and she was sixteen the last time I saw her. So
yeah, I’m excited, but while conquering the formula is a dream come
true, doing it without her is somewhat of a nightmare.

It’s a variation of
the nightmare that began when half the high school saw her coming out
of the bedroom Greg Dean was using at his cousin’s house in
Houston. She only had a bra and panties on, along with her boots. The
calls and texts started immediately—I was on a beer run with some
of the other guys at the time so I missed the live show. I didn’t
want to believe it, but everyone saw her. And I saw the guilt in her
eyes when I went to confront her the next day. She didn’t even need
to open her mouth—I could see that what was being said about her
was true. That’s when I lost it, and lost her. Nothing’s been the
same for me since.

“There you are,
Caleb,” my mom says, coming into the old barn I’d converted into
a lab years ago.

“Where else would I
be, Mom?” I ask her over my shoulder, not trying to hide the
affection in my voice. I’m a mama’s boy, and I own it.

She smacks me on my ass
before answering. “Enough sass from you. I brought my new assistant
for you to meet.”

I turn and take in the
woman before me. She has long, reddish-brown hair, and curves any
lingerie model would die for. She’s about medium height and glaring
at me like I’ve wronged her somehow. Since I’ve never seen her
before, I’m not sure why she’s so angry.

“Don’t you mean my
bodyguard? The one I don’t need, or want. She doesn’t look like a
bodyguard.”

“We need to keep up
appearances, Cal. I need you to be safe. Jade will keep you safe.”

“Delia’s going to
have a fit if she sees her near me.”

“Stop talking about
me like I’m not here, please, and who’s Delia?” Jade asks.

“My fiancée. She has
a jealous streak.”

I swear I see her
nostrils flare. “I don’t see why. You’re nothing special. You
don’t even dress like a cowboy.”

No, I don’t. That’s
something else Tegan took from me. Hats and boots were so much a part
of our daily life that I couldn’t look at mine any more. Once she
was gone, I transformed myself into somewhat of a hipster, complete
with some scruff on my face and a peak in my hair.

“Jade! Reina said
this wouldn’t be a problem.”

“I will protect your
son because one of my best friends has asked me to keep him safe. But
I will not, at any time, be friendly towards him. He can go to Hell
and never come back for all I care.”

Whoa. “Who’s this
friend of yours?”

“That’s not really
important,” my mom says, wringing her hands nervously.

Jade just smirks at me
before hopping on top of one of the counters in front of me. “Tegan
Kelly. She’s my friend. And you’re the piece of shit that she
wants to keep alive regardless of how badly you’ve hurt her. Your
mommy didn’t think you could handle her being your bodyguard, so
you got me instead. Lucky you.”

I stumble backwards.
Tegan’s friends with my bodyguard? And she’s part of this secret
organization my mom had to beg her friend to find? Just who has she
grown up to be? And why do I want to know so badly? Because I still
love her, that’s why. And I’m supremely fucked.

Tegan

“I want to go with
you,” Ethan tells me, coming into my bedroom as I pack.

“What? No, E. It’s
too dangerous.”

“You said if I ever
wanted to see him, you’d take me to him.”

“Is-is that what you
want? To meet him?” I ask as my hands shake a little.

I expected this day to
come. Sometimes, I’ve even longed for it. Those are the days I’ve
felt guilty for keeping them apart. Not too guilty to contact him and
risk losing my son, but guilty nonetheless.

“Hell no.”

“Language.”

He gives me his smile.
The one that makes him look even more like Caleb. He’s basically a
mini him, but with my red hair instead of Cal’s dark brown locks.
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a little ache every time I
look at him. It hurts to see the man I love staring back at me every
day in our son, especially now that he’s already as tall as my
shoulders. But it also fills me with happiness.

“
Heck
no, Mama. I just want to see him. I know the house you bought there
is on a hill near the ranch. I bet you’ve got a telescope, too.”

He’s definitely my
kid. “Yes, and yes, E. But if anyone saw you, they’d know you’re
his. You look just like your daddy.”

“My
father
.
He hasn’t earned the right to be called my ‘daddy.’ I’ll stay
in the house, I promise. Please.”