Page 126 of The Masks She Wore

?I hoped it wouldn’t be like this all day, I had shit I needed to do, and while the nerves were already bad, they would be worse if this was how all of my bathroom experiences would go all day.

?An hour later, I was showered, changed, and standing outside the house, staring at my car. A car he had bought just for me upon moving here.

?I could do this. All I needed was to ask a few questions, that was all. Ask them what I needed to know and leave. I could do that. Easy.

?It would be easy. If they didn’t give me answers, at least I would know that I had tried.

?I tightened my ponytail, straightened my shoulders, and headed for the car. This would be fine. Get in, hopefully get answers, get out.

26

Jack

January 16th, 2020

Ihad been doing plenty of things over the last two months, despite what Rae believed. I knew she was irritated that I didn’t share everything with her, but there was a point to that. Too many questions, too many ideas. She was getting better in her training, in her thought process, soon I’d be able to let her in on the little things, but for now, there was no point in telling her that yes, we were looking into Blanchard and her father, but no we hadn’t found anything yet.

?Up until the last few days.

?Blanchard was an alias. For whom, we didn’t yet know, Everett was still looking into that while I came here to meet with our current assignment.

?After the night of the party, I had fucked Rae to sleep before joining Max and Nora in the cathedral. I said his name and they both reacted. They knew him too. I had my doubts that he was the boss, but I did hope he might be the soldier. Once I had him, he could lead me to the one in charge. To the man who originally wanted Marla and Rae both gone. I suppose I should be grateful that the soldier wanted to play his little game with Rae, because if he hadn’t, she would be gone right alongside her mom. I never would have heard her name.

?Still, he’d regret every decision he had ever made in his life for what he had done to her. Torturing her old life out of her and instilling a new one just so he could put people into her life to make it miserable. He didn’t even do a very good job at it up until his boss hired us.

?Her life had been great. Mediocre, sure, but she hadn’t suffered. I think that’s what I was looking forward to the most. Just understanding what the point of all of it was.

?For now, we were in Texas.

?Malachi met Zo and I at the house he had rented out just for this meeting. I didn’t think it would take more than a day, so I could get back to Rae by tomorrow night and pick up where I left off.

?She had done so good for me last night, and now that I had a tasteof her perfect little ass, I wanted more. I was going to train it to swallow me up to my goddamn balls and she would take it like the good little princess she was, I knew she would.

?“Where is he?” I asked, walking into the kitchen, my cock already throbbing at the mere thought of feeling her wrapped so tightly around it.

?Malachi was making Earl Grey tea, Azrael’s favorite. “He’ll be here soon. How is everything going?”

?“She’s antsy,” I answered, setting my jacket on the counter. I was antsy. “We’ve been putting it into her training, but I want this done and over with. It’s been two months.”

?“Yes, two months,” Malachi agreed, “and you moved into the woods, away from where they knew she lived. It’s going to take time for them to find you again. Progress reports on your prisoners?”

?“I didn’t get a long enough chance with them before we left,” Zo explained, sitting at the island. “We just brought them to the cathedral. Max and Nora are played out but having them around will help us break the others, I think. If they know all four of them are goners, someone is bound to squeal. At least one of them should have more information on Blanchard.”

?Rae was smart, I knew she wouldn’t jeopardize the assignment for her own gain, no matter the desperation. She’d go and ask her questions before returning to the house to train and watch her movies. She might actually get somewhere. Seeing their target in frontof them might set them off. Who knows.

?So long as she didn’t finish that new horror series without me, everything would be fine.

?“How is she doing with her training? Any promise?”

?“Fine,” I answered, glancing towards the door. She was doing absolutely amazing. She had excelled in ways even some of the most promising Initiates had failed to do. There was instinct there you couldn’t train into people, and once again, it made me question her past. It seemed more and more like Rae had been truly a part of whatever life Marla had lived. The amount of torture she had endured to erase that?

?Fuck, I could barely control the rage I felt even thinking about it.

?“What’s his name?”

?“Charles,” Malachi answered just as the doorbell rang.

?“Ah, there he is. Zo, please,” he asked, gesturing to the tray of teacups and kettle he had set up.