by T. R. Graves
Chapter 23
My Special Little Girl
Carlie
"Where is Carlie? I want to see her. Selma told me she's better, but I had to come here and see for myself that my special little girl is okay." Barone's always majestic and commanding voice echoed through the camp and into the tent where Rorie was curled into me like she was as afraid of our president as I was.
My special little girl! I hate it so much when he calls me that. I wish with my whole heart that Jayden would throat punch him.
Suddenly, I forgot my fear and focused on Rorie.
"Rorie, do you know President Barone?"
She nodded. "Yeah. He likes to meet with Thorne and talk about you, Carles."
"Does he talk to you?"
Rorie shook her head. "No. Thorne makes me hide from him. He locks me in the closet. I think he's worried President Barone'll separate us. Send me away. When he comes, I stay especially quiet."
I hugged her tighter into me. "That's what you and I have to do right now. He's coming in here to see me. I want you to hide behind the screen, and I want you to be extra quiet. No matter what he says to me or what he does to me, I want you to stay hidden. He won't hurt me. Can you do that for me?"
"Carles, Thorne told me to stay with you. Plus, you might need me to protect you," Rorie said.
She was determined to follow her brother's orders and at the same time protect me if that's what I needed. She was braver than I could've ever imagined. For the hundredth time since I met the girl before me, I wondered how the world had underestimated what she and others like her offered. If anything, I wished there were more people like her and less like Barone.
I smiled and very carefully explained our situation. "He didn't know Barone was out there or he would've told you to hide. Now that we know, I'm going to ask you to do what you know Thorne would want. Then I'm going to remind you to stay hidden no matter what. I'll protect myself if I need to, but I know for a fact he won't hurt me."
As if she understood my urgency, Rorie got up and ran behind the screen and tucked herself into a ball. When I remembered Jayden seeing my silhouette, I rushed behind the screen and turned off the examination light. Then I grabbed a sheet and covered Rorie right before I put a finger to my lips. "Shh!" was the last order I gave her.
I was just about to sit back down on my cot when the flap to the tent flew open. There stood Barone. He had a grin that was wider than any he'd ever given me when he rushed toward me and pulled me into his chest.
"Carlie! Oh my God! Carlie! I'm so glad to see you up and about."
From the corner of my eye, I saw Jayden and Thorne standing on either side of the tent's entryway. Guarding it. Thorne was most anxious as he looked around for Rorie.
While Barone had me pulled into his chest and before he could see me silently communicate with Thorne, I darted my eyes several times over to the screen. I hoped he understood that Rorie was there. When he infinitesimally nodded his head, I knew he'd gotten the message. Rorie was safe, and for him, that was all that mattered.
When Barone pulled me back, he began inspecting me. The examination light may have been off, but there was still plenty of light within the infirmary so he could see my wounds in all their glory.
He turned my head to the side and blew out an exasperated breath before yelling, "St. Romaine! I sent you here to protect her, and this is what I get? I told you how important it was for her to remain unharmed. The fact that she almost died… the fact that she'll bear these scars the rest of her life makes me wonder if Sam's opinion of you is overinflated."
Jayden looked as if he'd been slapped. Rather than defend himself, he said, "You're right, sir. It was my responsibility to protect her at all cost. I failed. I failed miserably."
What the hell?
"No one failed. The entire thing was my fault. Jayden couldn't have prevented this," I objected.
When Barone turned a curious glance back toward me, I realized I didn't know the official story. I went out of my way to avoid mentioning Tawney or Gran.
"How so, Carlie?" Barone asked, tilting his head to the side.
My shoulders bobbed. "I-I don't remember a lot. Jayden and I were hiking… and I was tired. I told him I needed to rest. There was a log that looked like it would be good to lean against. I dropped down next to it only to find there was a bed of snakes curled up near its base. When they began attacking, I-I couldn't move. Jayden saw what was happening, jumped in the middle of them with me, and began kicking them away from me. Picking them up and throwing them as far away from me as possible. Trust me, he did everything he could to protect me from the snakes and get me the help I needed."
Barone's eyes landed back on Jayden. His earlier contempt was replaced with admiration, the admiration Jayden deserved.
"You're right, Carlie. Any man willing to jump into a bed of snakes for you needs both recognition and a reward," Barone proclaimed in much the way a medieval king would if he had a soldier who'd successfully protected his property.
Jayden shook his head. "I'm your Surrogate, sir. It is my pleasure to serve you. I only wish I could have done more for you. For her." Jayden nodded to me.
Everything about the subservience Jayden showed toward Barone sickened me and reinforced the fact that Barone was untouchable. My parents adored the ground Barone walked on, and Jayden idolized the man and the position. There was no one I could talk to about what he'd done to me and what he had planned for me.
Suddenly, I began questioning the mandate that Thorne and I be married.
Why would he have insisted upon that when he had other plans for me?
If I said the first word about what I knew to be true, everyone would assume I'd lost my mind. There was no way anyone would believe the president of our nation would risk his position and our nation's safety because of his infatuation with a seventeen-year-old girl.
If I'd not lived through the last seventeen years of his concentrated attention and if I'd not been party to the kiss myself, I'd think the same thing. The thing was I knew what his plans were and I had no intention of becoming the first teenaged First Lady or a teenaged First Mistress or whatever it was he'd been planning for me to be.
I eyed the brainwashed Surrogate that I'd been stealing kisses with for the last week, and instantly, it occurred to me something was off. Jayden had never treated me kindly. We'd always swapped insults like they were tennis balls and we were professional players. I should've guessed his sudden infatuation was concocted to control me.
Just like he'd controlled Tawney. Goddamn him to hell! He's been messing with me.
He saw the minute realization sank in, and he had the good sense to look embarrassed. No one was more embarrassed than me. I'd been duped. I thought he'd missed me so much that he finally admitted feelings he'd always had for me. He'd known all along I cared. Without a second thought or a backward glance, he served me up on a platter to the pedophile controlling his every action.
Controlling all of our actions.
Thorne's stare bounced between Jayden and me. He realized something was going on but was confused about what it really was.
"What shall we give you for a reward?" Barone asked.
I gulped. This would be the moment of truth. Jayden's request would give me a very clear picture of who he was.
"I'd like to be promoted to a Lead Surrogate position, sir. It's all I've ever wanted," Jayden said with the detachment of a loyal soldier determined to put his president and country ahead of his own needs. My needs.
I blinked back tears. I'd been a means to an end. He'd been told that if he brought me back alive, he'd get the one thing he wanted his whole life. To be a Lead Surrogate Soldier, the highest ranking position for his kind.
He never cared for me, and the only reason he cared if I lived or died is because of his orders. Jesus! How could I have been so stupid?
"There's never been two Lead Surrogate Soldiers, St. Romaine. Are you suggesting there be two now?"
"No, sir. I'm suggesting
Surrogate Manniless be demoted back into the ranks," Jayden shouted with the choppiness of a soldier answering his commander in chief.
"The fact is, St. Romaine, he was given the same orders you were: bring Carles Enoche back to me. You were the only one who could get close to her family. You were the only one who convinced her parents to return to their duties. You were the one to rescue her from near death. If either of you should be Lead Surrogate, I believe it's you who's proven to be worthy. As soon as I get back to the office, I'll draw up the proclamation and sign it." Barone conceded.
Jayden reached into his back pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. At the top, I saw the official Aspect Society seal. "I have the papers right here, sir. The sooner you sign it, the sooner I can take on the official duty of notifying Surrogate Manniless of his demotion."
Barone was as pleased with Jayden as I suspect he'd ever been with anyone. He admired the way Jayden saw what he wanted and lied, cheated, and manipulated everyone until he got it. Rather than risk anything happening between now and when the president made it back to his office, Jayden was prepared with the necessary papers.
He really is the perfect soldier, isn't he?
If anyone deserved the lead position, it was the man who'd pulverized my heart into particles of dust so fine they could never be molded back together or left in any condition to ever care for anyone again.
Barone took the papers from Jayden's hand, pulled a pen from his pocket, and, as promised, signed them before pushing a button on the pen, pricking his thumb, and embedding his genetic code within the document. As quick as that, he'd made Jayden the Lead Surrogate Soldier. There were only two people more powerful within Aspect Society, the president himself and my father when he'd been Secretary of Defense.
Jayden's promotion was as tainted as Barone's presidency. I couldn't celebrate it because it came with a cost, one that involved lying, cheating, and betraying, and there was nothing I could say or do to him or Dad to make either of them realize that what he'd done had been wrong. Dad loved Jayden like he was a son. I couldn't very well tell him I had a crush on Jayden and that Jayden had hurt me, all the while saving me and my entire family's lives.
Dammit! There really is no way for me to win, is there?
Jayden's grin spread from ear to ear the instant he had the papers back in his hands. His new position was one of great honor and prestige. I wanted to be proud of him and for him, I just couldn't. Not when it felt like my heart had been ripped from my chest.
It took everything in me to pretend as if I wasn't hurting, to pretend as if I thought he deserved a promotion, to pretend as if I wasn't repulsed by the touch of Barone's hands on my bare skin.
It was Thorne who realized my collapse was near. He stepped toward me and said, "Sir, Carles is still recovering. Sh-she needs her rest. General St. Romaine and the others will show you where your tent is located. I think you'll find the amenities to your standards."
Barone glanced around. "Where has Carlie been staying? Why hasn't she been staying in my tent?"
Thorne nodded. "She's been a patient here. I've been monitoring her vital signs and giving her medication. Your tent is not set up with the equipment necessary for me to take care of her appropriately," Thorne explained.
Barone seemed satisfied. "Very well, then. I'm going to my tent to get some rest. After I awake, I'm going to tour the camp, thank the team for their support, and Carlie and I are heading back to the city. My special little girl only has a few more days before her seventeenth birthday. I have celebration plans for her."
Barone turned back toward me and smiled like he and I were already lovers.
"You didn't think I'd forget, did you? You're my special little girl. I'd remember your birthday before I'd remember my own," he said.
If you say my special little girl one more time, I'm going to kick you in the face myself and run.
"Thank you," I said lamely.
Really, I wasn't sure what the hell I was supposed to say to that.
"I have a celebration you'll never forget planned for us," he promised, and the mere thought of plans with him made a little vomit bubble to the back of my throat.
I swallowed it down and smiled. I knew well the mask I was supposed to be wearing. It was one I'd become familiar with over the years, and because of that, it slipped on easier than it should have.
Jayden… I mean… General St. Romaine looked like he wanted to talk to me. I avoided his stares and pretended as though I had no idea we even needed to speak, pretended as though those late-night make-out sessions were an everyday occurrence for me.
Like the good lap dog he was, Jayden followed President Barone from the tent. A few seconds later, he popped his head back in and said, "I'll be back after the president is settled."
I whirled around and whisper-shouted, "Don't you think about coming back here. If you do, I swear to God I'll throttle you until my hands are covered in blood. Then I'll gouge out your eyes just because I can."
Jayden's mouth dropped open like he couldn't believe what I'd just said, and Thorne was back to glancing back and forth between us like he was trying to figure out what the hell just happened.
I stared over to Thorne. "Get Rorie out of hiding, put her back in bed, and let's get some sleep."
Without another word, I walked over to my cot, picked up Jayden's sleeping bag, and threw it at him. I would have given my pinky finger for it to have been a baseball I could have aimed at Jayden's nose. If it had been, I would have used every ounce of hurt, hate, and anger surging through me to hit my mark.
I swear to God…
