Page 49 of Rogue

“Know what?”

Before he can tell me, Hayden motions with his hand for Declan to step forward.

Show time.

Declan seems surprised—it’s impossible to truly tell. But he obeys him without hesitation.

A shiver runs up my spine. If this is a lesson in pushing limits, I wonder what my challenge will be? Though I have to admit, when I hear what Hayden asks Declan to do, my jaw hits the floor.

“Tell the group a joke. If half of us laugh, you’ll remain as my right-hand man.”

I already want to laugh. A joke? Has our boss lost his marbles?

Yet Declan is furious. It’s troubling, really, that the task before him seems so hard for him to do. Which of course is why this has been demanded of him to do. I wonder about Declan’s life. A sad story, no doubt.

“Of all the fucking things to ask of me . . .”

Hayden is unwavering. Unamused and daunting. A master manipulator, tried and true. I know it’s ridiculous, given Declan’s task at hand, but for the first time since I met the man, I’m afraid.

“Knock, knock,” Declan begins.

“Who’s there?” Jaxson answers with a shout. A man with a sense of humor the size of a watermelon encouraging another man with one the size of a pea. We’d already be rolling on the floor—even before Jaxson began his joke. Not so with Declan.

“Ima.”

“Ima who?” we collectively ask.

“Ima gonna rip your throat out for forcing me to tell this goddamn joke.”

The room stills. So quietly intense you can hear a pin drop then shatter. Until Jaxson bursts into laughter, slapping his hand on his thigh and repeating the punch line like it’s the most clever things he’s ever heard. If you know anything about laughter, it’s contagious so pretty soon the entire assembly is laughing, everyone except me . . . and Hayden.

Who’s next?I think.

Then his body turns in my direction.

Shit.

“If you accept employment, you’ll be asked to do things that go against standard social norms. Believe me when I warn you your integrity will be challenged. The choice is yours to make. But once you make it, you’re mine. This test is about exposing your weaknesses. Testing to see how well you deal with an uncomfortable situation. Most of you won’t be as successful as Declan here.” Hayden must have a sixth sense because he’s looking straight at me. Like he’s expecting me to run.

“This is going to be ugly. Brace yourself,chiquita. You’re his next mark. Be careful and smart. He’ll use you to punish him.”

Diego nods his chin in Jaxson’s direction but neither of us follow it with a look. “Besides the occasional jab I get in, he’s the only man alive who’s figured out how to press Hayden’s buttons. Each and every time, there’s been severe repercussions. Have you ever heard of waterboarding? Last time at Hell Camp, your lover over there was the guinea pig. He pushed Hayden one step too far and the consequences were brutal.”

My body feels cold, like the temperature in the room’s dropped. “Waterboarding?”

“Yeah, he wrestled Jaxson to the ground, pulled a shirt up over his face, then demanded we pour buckets of water over the material. It has the same effect as drowning. It lasted all of three minutes but took Jaxson the entire day to recover.”

“Why would he do something so brutal? To his own man?”

“Working for Hayden is no joke. So far, he’s been toying with us. What you’ll be expected to do once Hell Camp is over will change you. Sometimes for the worst.”

“Is that what happened to you?”

Diego stares at his feet, a frown marring his perfect features. A few seconds pass until he responds, “No. I’ve done what I needed to do to survive. What Hayden expects of me is no different.” He turns and faces me. “You’re young—”

“I’m twenty-three.”

“Three years older than my sister, Luciana. But much greener and far too naive. Far too sweet for this life. Do yourself and your lover over there a favor. Don’t take anything Hayden does or says lightly. And for God’s sake, whatever he asks you to do today, fail at it. Force him to send you home.”