I start to tell her that Calum's employees are loyal to him, but I stop myself. "I need to go," I say instead, grabbing my purse.
"We haven't finished lunch. You can't just leave."
I glance down at my half-eaten salad and smile. "I'll grab a burger and a beer later. Oh, and as for pictures, there may be some, and they may be released. You should be prepared for that."
"Rhieve!"
"Bye, Mother."
I have to wait until I'm in my car to call Jade, because there are too many people around. "Hey, Rhieve. How are you holding up?"
Even though it doesn't really have to do with a mission, I keep Jade updated on everything. Well, not everything, but most things. Including that fact that Calum broke up with me.
"He's the reason I'm calling. Something my mother just said at lunch actually made sense, and I wanted your opinion."
"Sure. What is it?"
"I know Calum had someone on the inside at Chet's place. Do you think he could've done the same at Calum's?"
"It's possible. Why?"
"The only reason I can think of Calum ending things with me is because he thinks he's protecting me. He tried to break up with me when he thought the scandal touching him would hurt me, but I changed his mind. But if it was something to do directly with me...something like pictures...well, it would make sense."
"Shit. I hate to ask, but what did you do there?"
I hear the nervousness in her voice, and I can't help laughing. "Nothing too wild. I went down on him in the middle of a room, he fucked me in a pool—where no one could see any part of me exposed—and then he went down on me while I faced a glass wall."
"He was protecting you even then."
"Yes, and that's why this makes sense."
"Let me get Ainsley on it, and I'll talk to Reina, too. How do you want to handle this if there are pictures?”
"I guess I want to say that the pictures make it obvious that I support my fiancé. I also want to say that there's nothing wrong with sex clubs where everything is consensual."
"Sounds good to me. I'll get back to you soon, just hang in there."
"That's about all I can do right now."
That, and prepare for the stupid high school gathering I agreed to go to this year. I know my classmates get together every year, but I've never had any interest in joining them. This year, after joining the Society, and feeling confident about myself and what I could do, I accepted their invite. I know they expect me to be meek and unable to keep up with them, but they're wrong. I'm woman enough to admit that besting them may have been one of the reasons I said yes. Or the only reason.
I saw an email from the organizing group last week, telling me what the categories would be, but with Calum breaking up with me, I wasn't in the mood to look. During lunch, I got a notification that an urgent email from them came through, so once I've grabbed that burger I wanted, and made my way home, I take a look.
There is some attachment with teams. As I read through the note they wrote, saying they need my team member information, I see that we can bring up to three people from outside the class to make up our team. I guess I have to get on that. I open the attachments to see who we're up against, and freeze. Under Julia's name, I see Calum's, and now I know something is definitely up.
I place some calls, getting my team together, and then I go to the alumni Facebook page, looking at the results for the past few years. Julia has won every year, and I' not surprised. No one's going to go up against the Queen Bee. Well, no one but me—the one no one's expecting to put up a fight.
Calum
I thought I'd be going to some lame dance or cocktail party with Julia for this get together. Apparently it’s something different, and we're playing games. Physical games, and mental ones, too. Every alumni member has a team, and we're competing tournament style. I size up the other teams, and know we've got the best one. There's Julia and me, of course, plus a local college basketball player, and a girl who looks like she'd rather be in a library than on a football field.
"Oh my God," the girl says all of a sudden, her eyes widening. "That's Isabelle Mason."
I turn, and sure enough, Isa is walking towards us. She's flanking Rhieve on one side, while Nate Anderson walks on the other side. Basketball superstar Dylan Gallagher rounds out the quartet Rhieve’s assembled. We're going down, and I can't wait to see it happen.
"Who is she?" Julia asks, clearly not familiar with geniuses—or daughter-in-laws of high ranking government officials.
"Double G? She's one of the smartest people on the planet," Nate tells her with a smirk as they stop in front of us.
"She's no double G," the high school kid says.
"Girl genius," Dylan says with a roll of his eyes.
"He talked to me! Dylan Gallagher talked to me!"
The kid is practically jumping up and down as Julia glares at him. "Shut up!"
"You ready for me, Calum?" Nate asks me.
"No."
"Good answer."
"Calum," Julia says, a warning in her tone, "you better not let him win just to help that bitch."
"He's one of the best fighters in the world. I'll be lucky to walk away with all of my limbs still attached."
"You will," he agrees.
"How did you do this?" she asks Rhieve, practically spitting the words out at her.
"People like me. That's what happens when you're a nice person."
"It's true," Isa agrees.
Julia stomps off, yelling for us to join her. I take a moment to look at Rhieve. She looks fierce, proud, confident, and sexy as hell. I want to pull her to me, and hold her close, but then I remember the pictures. I turn and walk away without a word, wishing things could be different.
Four long and insufferable hours later, it's us against them. Our team is nowhere near up to their caliber, but Julia's bullying and manipulation apparently still holds power over her former classmates, even all these years later. No one even tried to beat us. And there's no way we're beating Rhieve.
"She is not going to win," Julia says, glaring over to where Rhieve and her friends are laughing and joking.
"Yeah, she totally is," the basketball guy says.
"Shut up!" she screeches.
She's seriously losing it, and it only gets worse when the guy loses to Dylan, who doesn't even break a sweat as he shoots basket after basket, barely missing any. Dylan fist bumps the kid, and huddles over to him, giving him tips until Julia literally grabs the kid and pulls him away.
The geniuses are next, and when our girl starts to freak out a little, Isa starts missing questions to give her confidence. Not enough to lose, but enough to make it a little more even. Julia is almost gleeful.
"Ha! Even I knew that answer."
"So did Isa. She's missing them on purpose."
"Maybe she's just dumb."
"She's not. I saw Rhieve give her permission to help our girl."
She stomps over to Isa, and gets in her face. "You can pretend to be losing, but I know you're just fake smart."
Isa stands, a calm and serene look on her face. "Just because my IQ is high doesn't mean I don't know how to snap your neck like a twig. Now, please back up and get out of my personal space."
"Who do you think you are, talking to me like that?"
I'm so done with all of this, and it's only the beginning. I walk over, and pull on Julia's arm. "Can you just chill the fuck out?"
"No, Calum, I can't. You had better beat him," she says, motioning to Nate, who just laughs.
"Sure. I'll get right on that."
Nate and I thankfully don't have to fight. Instead, we have a crazy obstacle course to do. It looks like something they would do in the military, and I know he's going to breeze through this thing while I struggle. We shake hands, and take off once the buzzer sounds.
As expected, he's going through the thing like it's a walk in the park. I'm in great shape, but nowhere near his level. I manage to finish not far behind him, and laugh as h
is friends start razzing him about taking too long. I hadn't seen the others arrive, but most of the Society and their significant others are here now, along with Rhieve's recruit friends.
Jade flips off the guys, and hops into her husband's arms. "Great job, Soldier."
"Thanks, Angel."
The last event is upon us, and it's going to be a fight. Literally. Julia talked the organizers into letting her fight Rhieve. She thinks she'll beat her handily, but I have faith in my girl. She's technically not my girl anymore, but she owns my heart and soul, so to me she always will be.
Julia paces around in circles like a crazed animal, while Rhieve huddles in with Jade and Nate. I'm looking forward to this. Rhieve and I didn't get as much practice as I promised her, but she's got the skills, and I know there's probably no one she'd rather fight.
Once they get started, Julia just keeps charging her. Rhieve easily deflects her over and over again. Julia gets one lucky shot in, and starts to gloat as Rhieve shakes it off.
"You're so weak, Rhieve. I'm always going to win."
Rhieve looks at me, winks, and the next thing I know, she's throwing Julia to the mat. She kicks her in the stomach, and then reaches down to grab her by the shirt, pulling her back up enough so she can hear her.
"Release the pictures. I'm not embarrassed by them."
Wait. She knows? She can't do this, though. "Rhieve, no."
She drops Julia back to the ground, and walks over to me. "Calum, yes. I 'd prefer if the world didn't see things that were meant to be at least semi-private, but if that what needs to happen, so be it."
"I didn't want to leave you."
"I know. I love that you want to take care of me, but you can't protect me from everything bad in the world. Sometimes, I'm going to be the one protecting you, and sometimes, well, sometimes we're just going to have to face the bad things together. You told me I was strong, but I need you to believe that."
"I do."
"Then don't ever walk away from me again because you think I'll be better off without you. I won't, Cabe."
"I'm not okay without you, either."
"Sorry to break up this special moment, but crazy girl is on the run," Jade tells us.
We turn and sure enough, Julia is running like her life depends on it. I'm pretty sure she knows where Chet is, so it just might. The Society doesn't take kindly to people interfering with their missions. Especially when that person also tried to hurt one of their own.
Rhieve kisses my cheek, and takes off in pursuit. The other women are right behind her, while us guys just watch them do their thing. Julia has the passenger door of a car open, when Rhieve grabs her by her ponytail, and pulls her to the ground once again.
With the Society women surrounding the car, the driver has no choice but to get out, or be shot by Reina, who has her gun trained on the windshield. It's pretty anticlimactic when Chet shows his face, but I'm also relieved. Maybe all of this will finally be over.
Rhieve
Chet and Julia are both in jail, but somehow they still released my pictures. Or people working for them did. It blindsided me, because I wasn't expecting it once we'd dealt with them, but it is what it is. My mother is beside herself, and has told me in no uncertain terms that I had better not show up on Calum's arm tonight at the charity gala for the community center I volunteer at when I'm home.
Wanting to keep the peace, Calum told me he'd just meet me there. I tried to argue with him, but he said it was fine. It's not, and I'm going to make sure we're photographed together at the event, even if we don't walk in together.
I bypass the red carpet when I arrive, because I adamantly refuse to walk it by myself when I have a fiancé. Inside, I see Calum alone at the bar. The high and mighty are giving him a wide berth, and it's pissing me off. I get looks too, but most of them are leers, especially in the dress I'm wearing tonight. It's designer, but it's not "Mom Approved."
"Hey, handsome," I say as I approach him.
"Your mother is about to have a coronary."
"Her problem, not mine. I do have a problem, though."
"What is that, love?"
"My fiancé wasn't around to walk the red carpet with me. Since I volunteer with this charity, I would really like to go back out and do that."
"Of course. I'm sorry, Rhi. I thought I was helping. And yes, I know I'm not supposed to keep trying to save you when you can save yourself. I promise I'm trying."
"I know you are."
"What are you wearing?"
My mother whispers the question as she comes up behind me, but her tone is full of venom, and I'm beyond over all of this. "A very expensive designer dress."
"You can see your undergarments."
"That's intentional."
The dress is pale blue lace with long sleeves, strategically places butterfly appliques, and a short skirt. I have on the recommended cream colored high-waisted panties and full coverage strapless bra. I love it, and from the look in Caleb's eyes, he does too.
"It's vulgar."
"Well, Mother, I happen to be a very dirty girl, so it suits me just fine."
Calum nearly chokes on the drink he just took, and I smirk as I pat his back. "Fuck, Rhi."
"Not now. We have a red carpet to walk, and dinner and dancing. Yes, please, for after."
"That's not even a question."
"Good. Now let's walk. See you later, Mom."
She hates that word, and I love using it. She's still sputtering when I lead Calum to the door by his tie. We won't ever have a great relationship, but I can handle not having her approval. I don't need it. I have Calum, and I have the Society, but more importantly, I have me.
Epilogue
Jenysis
Waking up in Wayne’s arms is something I would love to do for the rest of my life. I’ve been afraid to let him know I want him forever, because even though he tells me he wants it all the time, he’s still a rock star. One of the most sought after ones in the world, actually.
The number of blogs dedicated to his hair alone is just insane, and despite being a princess—and a spy in training—I still worry he’ll get bored with me once I finally give in and admit I love him. I trust him when he says he doesn’t sleep with other women, even though there are pictures of them hanging off of him popping up all the time. He calls me almost every night when he’s on the road, and he makes me feel like I’m the only person in the room when we’re at events together.
It’s been over two years since we started hooking up, and I’ve been thinking a lot about “us” lately. I think I’m ready to tell him I want to be a couple, both publicly and in private, too. If I’m being honest, I’ve always wanted that, but I chose to protect myself and not take a chance on love. It’s time to be brave.
“What’s going on in that beautiful mind of yours, Jeny girl?” he asks, tightening his hold around my waist as he nuzzles my neck from behind.
“You,” I tell him, turning around to look him in the eye. “Us.”
“Us?” he asks, and the hopeful look in his eyes nearly does me in. He’s been so patient with me, and I wish I could’ve done this much sooner.
“Yeah. I mean, if you still want that. I know I’ve made you wait longer than most guys would’ve waited.”
“I’ll always want that. I’ll wait as long as you need me to, because I love you, and you’re the only woman I want.”
“I love you, too.”
It’s the first time I’ve said it to him, and his smile is the brightest I’ve ever seen before he leans in and kisses me. “This is the best day ever.”
Before I can agree, there’s a knock at the hotel door. We look at each other, and he shrugs. The knocking turns to pounding. “Who is pounding at our door this early? I thought your sound check wasn’t until 3.”
“It isn’t. Hold on, and let me see who it is.”
He throws on the jeans I practically tore off him when he opened the door for me last night, and I sigh, because he looks almost in good in his jean
s as he looks out of them. I start to climb out of bed, too, but he stops me.
“Don’t you dare get out of that bed. You finally admitted you love me, and I’m not nearly done with you yet.”
He’s smiling when he walks out to the living room area of the suite. I hear him open the door, but what I hear next sends me out the bed and scrambling for my dress.
“Wayne Preston? You’re under arrest for the rape of Sonia Cordova.”
“What? I didn’t rape anyone! I don’t even know who that is!”
I hear a thud, and when I walk into the room, Wayne is being pressed against the wall, his hands being handcuffed. The police are not being gentle, and it’s pissing me off.
“He didn’t rape anyone.”
“Who are you?” one of them asks, a sneer on his face as he looks me up and down.
“His girlfriend.”
“She may have some info. Take her with us.”
“No!” Wayne yells, and starts struggling. “Don’t you touch her.”
I watch in horror as he’s slammed to the floor. “Move again, and I’ll tase you. I’m tired of you pretty boy celebrities getting away with shit.”
I hold out my wrists. “It’s okay, Wayne. I’ll go with them. I have Diplomatic Immunity, so they can’t question me, but I’ll go.”
They read him his rights, and then we’re both led down to the waiting police cars. We’re not allowed to ride together, but I give him what I hope is a reassuring smile as I get in the back of the other one. I know he didn’t do it. He didn’t rape anyone. Even if we weren’t together, he’s just not that guy. He’s a rock god, but he’s also sweet and kind.
Once I’m released, I’ll call Reina. The Society will help him, just like he’s helped us over and over again. We’ll clear his name, and this will all go away. He’s innocent, and we’ll prove it. I’ll prove it, and then we’ll finally be together the way we always should have been.
Acknowledgments
As always, I’m shouting out to my daughters, Dominique and Gabrielle! Love you both!
Helen, you keep making my covers better and better! For those who don’t know, Rhieve was on the mock-up Helen sent me when she was showing me what she wanted to do with the covers for this series. I immediately loved the pic, and the other one she later showed me (that she took herself)!
Society Girls: Rhieve Page 16
