Page 23 of Orlando
Orlando was talking as if Liam would have the opportunity to chat with all these people.Maybe he would.It sounded like Orlando was close to some of them, which made Liam nervous, but if they were Orlando’s friends, he supposed it made sense.
Or maybe nothing did.Right now, Liam was a mess, and he didn’t know how to feel better.Maybe hacking a cauliflower to pieces would help.
Or maybe nothing would.
* * * *
ORLANDO DIDN’T WANTto lie to Liam, even though hehadsigned plenty of documents that told him that he had to.He wanted Liam to want him, and he knew that would only happen if he was honest.For some reason, this felt like the hardest thing he’d ever done in his life.
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything,” Liam said as he cut into the cauliflower.
Orlando hadn’t had a plan when he’d picked up the vegetable.He’d been thinking about Liam and what he wanted to eat, and since he had no idea, he’d picked various stuff around the store.He should’ve thought better of it, but it looked like things would be okay anyway.Apparently, Liam knew how to cook.
Orlando cleared his throat.He never wanted to lie to Liam, no matter what.He didn’t think the council would do anything about it, anyway.Once they finally realized that Liam was the wrong person, they’d apologize and try to brush everything off.Surely they wouldn’t care that Liam knew about the assassins.They’d sent one after him, for fuck’s sake.
“Like how were you approached to be part of this program?”Liam asked.“That’s what it was, right?A program that taught you how to be an assassin.”
Orlando leaned back against the counter.It was clear his mate knew what to do with the knife and the cauliflower, which was incredibly sexy and distracting.Liam deserved answers, though, and Orlando wanted to give them to him.
“That’s exactly what it was,” he confirmed.“I don’t know how they select the people they think might be interested, but I was training to be an enforcer, and someone just showed up at my door to talk to me about it one day.”
Liam frowned.“That seems incredibly dangerous.”
“I’m sure they looked into me before making that move.They had to know I would probably say yes, just like everyone else in the program.”
“Still.It seems like a risk, but maybe I shouldn’t be surprised since this is coming from the people who didn’t even check if I was the right Liam Portman.”
Liam was bitter about that, and Orlando couldn’t blame him.He was angry, too.These people had put his mate at risk.Liam was as innocent as they came, and his life was in danger.
“So they contacted you and asked you if you wanted to become an assassin?”Liam asked.
“It was a bit more complicated than that, but not by a lot.They were cautious when talking to me, and when I agreed that I was interested, they had me do a bunch of tests.They wanted to know if I could actually do it.”
“And clearly you passed those tests with flying colors.”
“I did.It was mostly physical stuff, but I also talked to a psychiatrist and went through a bunch of medical tests.Anyway, I made it, and I moved into the facility.”
Liam had been about to gather the cauliflower, but he stopped.He paused for a moment, then turned to look at Orlando.“Of course.The facility in town everyone wonders about.They’re training assassins.”
“They are.”Orlando wanted to continue apologizing even though he had nothing to do with the situation at hand.Instead, he opened a cupboard and took out a pot.He offered it to Liam, who took it with a nod and started piling the cauliflower in it.
“So you moved into the facility and started training.”
Orlando nodded.“I did.I don’t want to bore you with the details, but it was very physical.It was clear when someone wouldn’t be continuing, but I reached the end of the program.”
“Had you already decided you didn’t want to be an assassin?”
“I was keeping my options open, but yeah.I knew I wouldn’t say yes before the end.”
“Why did you continue?”
“I guess I wanted to prove something to myself.We all knew how selective the program was.I was proud of the fact that they’d chosen me, and even prouder that I’d gotten that far.I still am, even though I realize it’s fucked up.”
Liam shook his head.“It’s not.”
“I’m proud of having been trained as an assassin.Itisa little fucked up.”
