Page 30 of Ordinary Secrets (Secrets Trilogy #1)

30

TREY

I can see why Arella and Javina are best friends. They complement each other well. When Javina talks, Arella listens. When Javina says something negative about herself, Arella corrects her by turning it into something positive. They laugh at the same things and know how to speak to each other without saying anything at all. It’s fascinating to watch.

We’re having lunch together at a restaurant near the park my band just finished our photo shoot at. Arella and Javina are deep in a conversation about work. Neither Javina’s girlfriend nor I have said a word in almost ten minutes.

I turn to Rachel, who’s across the high-top table from me. In a low voice, I say, “Do you think they’ll notice if we just leave?”

Rachel giggles. “Doubt it. These two can go on forever. Speaking from experience.”

After another minute, Arella hops off her seat. “I have to use the potty. I’ll be quick.”

Rachel follows her. “Me too.”

As Arella saunters away, I only have one thought: That ass is mine. Mine to touch, to slap, to squeeze, and?—

A hand smacks my arm. “Hello?”

“Huh?” My attention snaps up to Javina.

“I said, don’t hurt her.” She flashes me an icy glare. “That girl’s been through a lot, and she deserves the best. So, I’m warning you, don’t hurt her. If you do, I’ll hunt you down and rip your balls off with my bare hands. Ari and I watch enough true crime shows for me to know how to hide the evidence and make it look like the fucking Easter Bunny did it.”

The idea of hurting Arella scares me more than Javina’s threat. Actually, it scares the fuck outta me. My original plan was to get Arella to break up with me. Now I’m not so sure she will. I also don’t want her to. Besides, Javina is right. Arella does deserve the best. Unfortunately, this achy feeling in my chest tells me that I’m not it.

For the rest of the weekend, I push all thoughts of my unpredictable future with Arella aside. In the little free time we have between my band activities, I perform many satisfying, mind-boggling experiments with her in my bed.

By Sunday evening, I conclude that as long as I’m touching Arella as she orgasms, my mind power works on her. By touch, I mean any skin on skin works. My hands, my tongue, my dick, anything. When I wear a condom and I’m not touching her anywhere else, she’s blank. If she comes while I’m licking her, the second I pull away and that physical contact is lost, so are her emotions. One hundred percent of the time, though, as long as we’re touching, my mind power works. How?

I try to figure out if she’s aware of what she’s doing. After I ask some awkward questions like “What do you think about when you’re coming?” it’s obvious that she has no clue she’s doing anything at all. It only further confirms that her immunity to Zordi powers is outside of her knowledge.

We’re about to head to bed when my phone vibrates in my pocket. It’s Victor. Since Arella’s been staying with me, I’ve been ignoring his calls during the day and only answering them at night. Since this is the second time he’s called today, I should probably answer it.

I head toward the backyard. “Why don’t you climb into bed first, babe? I’ll be right there.”

Arella nods, then she shuffles down the hall. After I close the sliding glass door behind me, I answer the phone.

“Bring her to me,” Victor says.

I stiffen in mid-step. “What?”

“This project is taking too long. It’s been almost three months since I assigned you this mission, and you have nothing to show for it.”

Actually, I have lots to show. I’ve found out that even though Arella’s immune to Zordi powers, Healing Water works on her. I’ve discovered that her parents died on the same night mine did and that she wasn’t born with the name she has now. I’ve found out that her grandparents have background checks that come up mostly blank. And then there’s this whole thing where I can sense her emotions under certain circumstances. I haven’t told Victor about any of this, and I don’t think I want to.

My parents’ secret message in my old teddy bear stated that the only person I should trust was Aunt Debbie. Why isn’t Victor on that short list? He and my dad were very close before Aunt Jodi left. They did everything together, from things like playing in bowling leagues to drinking beers on the deck over the weekends. Lots of people even got them mixed up because they looked and talked so much alike.

Lately, I’ve been getting the feeling that Victor knows more than he’s letting on. How is it that he knows so little about my parents’ mission? Yes, there’s that secrecy rule between agents, but he’s the head of ZIRDA California now. Doesn’t he have access to those files? Doesn’t he have the power to order someone to tell him what happened the night his little brother died?

I’ve considered questioning him about this, but I already know the outcome of that. Victor will turn it around on me, like “How about you stop being concerned about past missions you weren’t a part of and start focusing on the one you’ve got?”

Besides, if Victor is up to something and I start snooping around, he’ll get suspicious. He might take me off this assignment and give it to someone else. I won’t be forced to sit on the sidelines while Arella falls for the next guy Victor sends to her. For now, I need to act as if everything is okay.

I drag a hand through my hair as I pace my backyard. “What makes you think this is something we can crack within the span of a few months? What if we’re close and we just need to give it more time?”

“We don’t have time, kid. Who knows what the Royals are doing while we aren’t?”

That’s true. While I’m over here fucking around with Arella, the Royals are probably out there murdering innocent children. All I’ve ever wanted is to make the Royals pay for what they did to my parents and to stop them from ever doing something like that again. Now, I’m acting as if it doesn’t matter.

“I’m making some progress. I just need more time to see it through.”

“Did something happen to her at birth?” Victor snaps.

“Not that I know of.”

“Did she fall into some chemicals? Get attacked by a mutant animal? Was she dropped off here by aliens? Goddammit, kid. Find out.”

“I will. Just give me more time.” I’m almost begging.

“No. I want her here within the week.”

“What am I supposed to tell her?” My palms shake. Somehow, my voice remains steady.

“Tell her you wanna go on a road trip, get her in the car, and drive over. I’ll take care of the rest.”

I don’t like the sound of that. “What are you gonna do once she’s there?”

“We’ll run tests on her like we did with the other two Immunes.”

I still don’t like the sound of that. “Did the tests on the other Immunes come up with anything?”

“No, and we couldn’t find any matches in their DNA either. That’s why we need her here to perform more tests.”

“What kinds of tests?”

“Nothin’ too fancy. Physical, mental, intellectual.”

I really don’t like the sound of that. “You can’t just send those tests to me, and I can do them with her myself?”

Victor clears his throat impatiently. “We have an entire team of people here to perform the tests and to monitor her health during the process because we need to be extremely careful with this one. We can’t lose her too.”

I stop pacing. “What?”

“The other two couldn’t handle the pressure of the physical tests. Sadly, we lost them.”

What? I was already having trouble breathing during this conversation. Now I’m suffocating. The other two Immunes are dead ? And it’s ZIRDA’s fault? Since when do we ever put Ordinaries in danger? ZIRDA has a history of taking measures to the extreme for a greater cause, but killing innocent Ordinaries?

“It didn’t happen on purpose,” Victor says defensively. “How are we supposed to know how much they can handle until they can’t handle any more? Besides, losing two Ordinaries to save the other billions of people will be worth it. Once we’ve got the upper hand over the Royals...”

The man keeps going, but I stop listening. I don’t care what he’s got to say, because nothing—I repeat, nothing —justifies killing innocent people. The anti-Royals department was created to help save Ordinaries, not hurt them. I thought that’s why Victor came up with this grand plan for our agents to date the Immunes to learn about them without causing any harm. Now he’s performing deadly tests on them? Is he fucking serious?

Victor refuses to let me off the phone until I agree to have Arella at Shadow Ridge within a week. I agree without any intention of ever doing so. If there’s a chance that Victor’s brutal tests will harm my sweet girl, fuck that. I don’t care if the results from those tests are the key to taking down the Royals. I cannot and will not allow anyone to hurt my girl.

That’s when it hits me.

It’s over.

My mission is over.

If finding out what makes Arella immune puts her life at risk, I’d rather never know at all. Keeping Arella safe is more important to me than defeating the Royals. Yes, I still want to see them gone, but that’s somebody else’s job now. As for me, I’m shifting my focus from understanding Arella’s immunity to protecting it.