10 - Olive
F or a moment , I can’t think straight. Ean is wearing faded denim jeans, a black t-shirt, and a leather jacket, same stuff he was wearing the other day, but he looks… different. Maybe it’s the daylight without the shadows of the tree canopy, or maybe it’s just his mood, which comes across as light and possibly happy. The point is, he’s even more handsome than I remember.
Which isn’t going to help me. And when I catch Brose’s eye—he’s in a two-seater booth reading a paper about ten feet away—I force myself not to think of this guy as a man, but as a target.
Because that’s what he is. Our window into the inner workings of Edge Security.
Still, it’s hard not to notice how attractive he is. Especially when every woman in the place is gawking at him. I thrust my hand out. “Hi.” I try on a smile. “I’m Olive.”
Brose and I discussed using a fake name, but decided against it. The point of the honeypot was to get Collin’s attention. We came very early and walked around the town to see what kind of surveillance they have. It’s good. Of course it’s good. After all the shit that’s gone down in Trinity County since Collin came back, everything, in all three towns, has been wired up so Edge can keep an eye on things.
What better way to get that attention than for me to date one of his men? Of course, even if Collin personally looks through the town footage, we haven’t seen each other in so long, I doubt he’d even recognize me. But eventually, it’s all gonna come out and I hope I’m there when this realization hits my big brother, because I really want to see his reaction.
But even if I’m not, it’s easy enough to imagine it.
He’s going to be pissed.
It’s a joker. That’s what Brose and I call it when we have a card to play, but don’t. And this one is definitely wild.
Ean shakes my hand. “You already know my name.”
“Ean.”
“Shep. I go by Shep.”
“Shep.” I smile, because I like it. I like Ean too, especially the alternative spelling. But Shep is even better.
“So?” he says. “What did you want to tell me that was so important you couldn’t say it at the stairs?”
Brose is listening, and of course I told him this was my lure, but we didn’t talk about it after the exceptional spanking he delivered that day. I was so caught up in the sex—Brose is such an addiction, I’d do almost anything for the depraved attention he gives me when I’m bad—that I kind of forgot about it until this morning on our way here. I think he did too because I catch him, from the corner of my eye, lowering his newspaper so he can watch us from across the room.
I asked Brose what I should talk about with Ean, but he just said, “Use your discretion, Olive.” Which makes this whole thing feel like a test. It shouldn’t be a test, I was released into full duty months ago, but it still feels like one.
There are many techniques that agents use to garner trust in targets, but none work better than what I call Misery Loves Company. So that’s the scheme I’ve decided to execute. “Tell me something… Shep.” I give him a shy smile here. “Were you born into it? Or was it a recruitment type thing?”
I already know the answer to this question—it’s the same answer for all of us. Still, I don’t know the details, and I’m curious. So I’ve decided that this is how I will approach the ‘date.’
Shep sneers at me. “We’re not here to talk about me. You said you had something to say. If that’s true, say it. If it was just a lure to get me here, I’ll be on my way.”
I anticipated this reaction to my question. I mean, even if we weren’t allowed to talk about it, who the hell wants to talk about it? “Fine. I wanted to tell you why the Mule Pit is out there in the woods.”
He actually rolls his eyes. “Do I look like an idiot? Clearly, you guys are there to lure us.”
“Us?”
“Edge,” he clarifies.
“So you consider yourself one of them? Even though you’re the new guy?”
“What do you want, Olive?”
“ You .” My answer surprises him because it comes out very honest. And since I already know that he was a Deep Recon Specialist for CORE, it surprises me as well. Because there’s no way that what he and I are doing here is real. But even if it was, it’s just… impossible. Brose is my partner. For life. And while I might have to sleep with former DRS agent Ean Shephard, and I won’t mind doin’ it, it can’t mean anything.
He thinks for me, I act for him .
Still, my response to Shep comes out with a whole lot of feeling backing it up. Which makes Shep even more suspicious than he already was.
I glance over at Brose, just to see if he’s got a reaction, but he’s not there. There’s a couple sitting in that two-seater booth now. My eyes flicker across the room and I just barely catch a glimpse of him walking out the door.
Did he hear it too?
Did he hear the feelings of desire behind my answer?
Does he think I’m serious?
“That’s crazy.”
I look at Shep. “What?”
“Your answer.” He leans in, almost to the middle of the table, like he’s about to tell me a secret. “Look, I don’t know you. I don’t know what you’re involved in, but I know what kind of training you guys get and I’m not gonna sit here and let you insult my intelligence while you lie to me.”
I push Brose all the way out of my mind. I need this guy. He’s the only one from Edge who came in to the Pit. After all that money, all that time, he’s all we’ve got. So I give him one hundred percent of my time and play the joker.
“I’m Collin’s little sister.”
Shep laughs. It’s loud too, even over all the talking of the packed diner, and a few people turn their heads to look at us. “Bullshit.”
I scoff. “Believe whatever you want, it’s true. Go back to Edge and ask him if he has a sister.”
“Who cares if he has a sister? Doesn’t mean you’re her.”
“You have no idea who he is, do you?”
“Sure I do.” Then he stands up and throws a ten down on the table. “He’s my boss.” And then he walks out.
I sit there, kinda stunned for a moment, doubting everything that just happened. He did not react the way I anticipated. But I should’ve seen it coming. This was a major mistake. And not the kind that gets me a good choke and a spanking at the end of the day.
It’s the kind that gets me sent back to training.
I’m up, crossing the restaurant so fast, I catch him just outside the doors of the diner. I don’t look around for Brose, I focus only on Ean Shephard.
“He killed my father,” I say. It’s not a whisper, either. Which is super risky, but the people around us are involved in their own conversations.
Shep turns. “What?”
“You heard me. He killed my father. Right in front of me, when I was eight years old. Blood spattered all over my face. I was traumatized for life.” I let out a long breath, suddenly tired. Because all of this is true. “That moment? It was two seconds long. And these two seconds ruined me.”
Shep grabs my arm and pulls me into a nearby alley. We stand there, looking at each other, as he looms over me like a threat. When he finally speaks, his words are deep, and low, and angry. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
He’s still got a hold of my arm, so I shrug it out of his grip and harden myself for what comes next. I’m angry because this guy, he’s no one. He’s a fucking job. And now I have to tell him something real. I have to tell him something personal so I don’t get demoted for fucking this job up, or worse, be labeled a Remedial and get sent to the Faders.
I look him straight in the eyes. “I was eight. It was New Year’s Eve and I was sleeping while Collin and his girlfriend were babysitting. Some man broke into our house, came into my room, put his hand over my mouth, and dragged me into the hallway. Collin was there. He must’ve heard a noise or something, and he came into the hallway as the man was trying to pull me out the back door holding the rifle my father kept in the front closet. His girlfriend, Lowyn, she was behind him. The kidnapper let go of me, put his hands up to surrender, and Collin shot him anyway. Killed him. Right in front of me. I was covered in blood and bits of bone and skin from head to toe.”
“That man. The kidnapper? He was your father?”
I nod, letting out a long breath. “Yeah. I didn’t find this out until much, much later, but my mother was a very pregnant Blackberry Hill runaway. She had me in the Creed basement. I guess they took her in. And then… they just… kept me.”
“And raised you as their own?”
I nod. “A few months later, Collin was gone. He joined the Marines to get out of Trinity County. But I guess you never really leave, do you?”
Shep’s eyes narrow down. “Why are you telling me this?”
I narrow my eyes right back. “Because you don’t know him.”
“Who cares? He’s my boss. I don’t give a fuck who he is . I give a fuck about what he can do. And this little story of yours—even if it’s true—was the wrong move, darlin’. Because all it did was make me like him more.”
Then he turns towards the street, like he’s just gonna walk away.
My heart thumps inside my chest, adrenaline rushing through my body as a precursor to the panic that’s coming. “We’re going to kill him,” I yell. “And you’re gonna be caught in the middle. So good fucking luck.”
Shep turns around and even though I don’t know him, I can tell that I’ve pissed him off. “Shut your fucking mouth.” These words come out low and soft, but filled with threats all the same as he stalks back in my direction. He leans in to my face. “Shut your fucking mouth right now or I swear to God, I’ll shut it for you.”
“Why?” I ask, my voice softer now. He’s worried about people hearing us, so I take that worry away. “Why should I shut up? Nothing I just told you was a lie.”
“You’re the lie, not your words. Do you think I can’t tell what you are?”
“What I am?” I scoff.
“You’re bent.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“Do I look like a literal idiot? I know what you are, Olive. I know who you work for.”
I shrug, like this doesn’t matter. Even though it does. “Well, I know who you are too. And trust me when I say this, they don’t pick men like you for their capacity for deep thinking.”
Shep actually guffaws. But when that’s over, the change in him is visceral and I feel it in my core. A sick, sinking feeling fills my gut and the adrenaline is back, coursing through my body like the high-speed train I take to work every day. “What do you want from me, Olive? Because it’s very, very clear that this whole thing between you and me is a setup. You’re CORE. And you’re stupid if you think I can’t spot you people at this point. I was born into it.”
I get defensive now. “So was I.”
“No.” He shakes his head. “No. You were a loose end, Olive. Collin isn’t CORE. I know that for a fact.”
“I’m not his real sister. And I’m not Disciple, either. I’m Blackberry Hill.”
He relaxes a little, folding his arms over his chest. “You have no clue what’s happening here, do you?” He scoffs. “Well, I can’t say I’m surprised. But if I were you, Olive, I’d start asking a lot of questions about everything you think is true right about now.” He reaches out and thumps his finger against my head. “Because this is their battlefield and you are nothing but a puppet. And whatever you think you know about me, it’s bullshit. Because if you knew my truth… well, let’s just say they’re not gonna allow you to know my truth. They’ll never allow it. Maybe they’ll kill me, maybe they’ll kill you, but whichever way it goes, the truth will be buried and one of us will go down with it. Now,” he says, catching his breath a little. “Think real hard about what I’m saying here. What does that look like, Olive? The end of me ?” His eyes lock with mine. He blinks. “Or you ?”
Then he turns around and walks away.
This time, I don’t bother trying to follow.
I just steel myself for Brose.
Because this failure will have consequences.