Page 49 of Cocky Secrets

Dad looks at The Ciphers’ President. “What’re you thinkin’, Jett?”

Jett locks his grey eyes onto me. “Do I have it right… you’re not letting this guy go?”

“What do you think?”

A smirk tugs at his mouth. “Got your father’s fire.” To his club he announces, “Then we have two choices. We either bring him in as one of us, or Sage keeps the secret about our missions.”

My brothers nod, with Luke vouching for me, “She would keep the secret.”

Mom mumbles, aghast, “Of course she would!”

Jett asserts, “That’s why it’s an option.”

I interrupt, “Excuse me, but I don’t want him to be a Cipher.”

Oh boy. The way the room moves at that statement! Those standing, straighten. Many of those sitting, stand. Several mutter obscenities of incredulity.

I hold out my hands, focusing on my mother and father. “Being a police officer is dangerous, don’t get me wrong, but what you guys do is just as dangerous, if not more so, except you’re gone on missions for weeks at a time, sometimes longer, and we have no way to contact you. We have to wait for you to call us! And while you’re gone,we worry.” I rake my gaze across the room. “At least with a cop, I know he’ll come home after every shift, God willing. It’s hard enough being a daughter, a sister, and waiting for you to come home. Every time you do, I feel such joy… but that’s partly because I am so terrified when you were gone, that it’s an enormous relief when you return safe. How would I feel if it were my husband and we had kids? If we make it that far, I mean.”

The room is silent, and many have taken their seats again. All are watching me and my parents. Mom speaks up, “I fell in love with your father and this life chose me. I don’t regret a day of it. But I do understand and respect your feelings around this, Sage.”

I throw my arms out. “Who even knows if he’d want to be a Cipher? It’s not like we can ask him without giving the secrets away!” They exchange looks, and I explain to Jett what is already dawning on him, “You said there’re two choices, but the first one means having to let him in on what you really do, in order for him to sign up. And what if he says no? Secret’s out.”

Dad’s phone rings. He looks at it, reads aloud, “Vacherie Police.” To those who had to stay home, he grunts, “They needed a phone number.” Answering the call, his volume raises. “Yeah?” We wait as he listens and grunts, “Uh huh…Okay…Fine.” Hanging up, he’s got the whole club in suspense. “Bear’s on his way over.”

TWENTY-TWO

Sage

I’ve run to one of the upstairs bathrooms to clean my face, but nothing can wash the deep violet of this bruise away. “Ouch,” I whisper as I suds it up. A knock at the door turns my head. “Who is it?”

“Soph.”

I reach over, unlock it on my way to grab a towel. “What’s up?”

Sofia Sol saunters in with a purposeful gleam in her grey eyes, and closes the door. She leans against the wall to address me through our mirror’s reflection. “We want to train you.”

I pause the drying of my face. “What?”

“All of us kids,” she explains, still calling us of the next generation ‘kids’ even though some now have their own. “Tonight wasn’t okay.”

“I tried training once before.” Setting down the towel, I meet her gaze in the mirror again. “I’m no good at it.”

“You were too young and flighty-headed.” Soph crosses her arms. “How did it feel to be captured?”

I turn around, rest my butt on the counter, hands grabbing it lightly on either side of me for stability as I think of a subject I’d rather leave behind me. “It’s indescribable how awful it was.”

“What if you knew how to kick their asses?” She tilts her beautiful head. “Do you think they could have capturedmeas easily?”

“No, but you’re…you.”

“Celia wasn’t as badass as I am, and then she trained to become just as formidable.”

It’s my turn to tilt my head. “Almostas formidable.”

Sofia Sol grins on an eye-roll. “Fine. I’m still the winner of the kickass bitches.” Lowering her gaze she thoughtfully adds, “Except for my mom. She’s got me beat.”

“I haven’t been on the missions, but I have a feeling it’s a tie.”

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