Behind the Mask Ch. 03 by JadeOceanWrites,JadeOceanWrites

All characters are at least 18 years old.

——

I wasn’t used to being out alone, without Alain. After a lot of protesting, he’d left me at school for the afternoon. I’d told him not to tell anybody, and his only stipulation was if there was an emergency. Now all I had to do was wait.

I wasn’t very good at making friends. Mom said it was because they were jealous of our money. It didn’t make sense to me. The first thing I would’ve done was make friends with the rich girl so she could buy us a bunch of stuff, I thought, and I grinned to myself. And of course, dad had to ruin that idea with one of his stupid nuggets of wisdom.

“Real friends can’t be bought.”

He was right, of course. Didn’t make it any less annoying. There were some days where I felt like just buying some friends, at least for the day. Even if they were fake. But then Jordan had given me some insight of his own. For some reason, his advice always felt more welcome than dad’s. More down-to-earth.

“Sure, you can have all these fake friends around you, and you know they’re fake. But after a while you forget they’re fake. You forget that they don’t care about you, and when they betray you then you still get hurt. That kind of pain doesn’t seem worth it, don’t you think?”

Most days I felt like Jordan knew more about things than dad. And he understood me.

And speak of the devil, Jordan slipped into the bench across the table from me, grinning widely. “Been waiting long?” he asked.

“I just got here,” I said with a smile, and he looked out the diner window.

“You really managed to ditch Alain?”

I weaved my fingers together and rested my chin on them, batting my eyes sweetly. “Who could resist doing me a favor?”

Jordan laughed and waved me off. “Alright, stop that. We’re in public, don’t want anybody else to see.”

I took him in, a true sight for sore eyes. He was three years older than me, and I swear everything he wore made him look cool. Today he was in a leather jacket and ripped jeans, perfect autumn attire. He kept his hair on the shorter side, and his mom made him comb it up every day.

“It’s great that you could come,” I commented. “Wish we lived in the same city.”

“No kidding,” he chuckled. “But then again, maybe it’s a good thing. Otherwise… we’d be all over each other 24/7.” His voice had dropped to a raspy rumble, and it sent shivers down my spine.

“I don’t see a problem with that,” I whispered.

He chuckled again but dropped the joke. “Nah, c’mon. It’s your last year at this school. You gotta do well or your dad is gonna be pissed.”

I rolled my eyes. “When is he not?”

“Fair point. But eh, cut him some slack.” He looked outside, gazing into the distance. “There’s just some stuff you can’t know unless you’re older. Things you have to learn for yourself.”

“You sure you can’t teach me?” I crooned, and he groaned in exasperation.

“Alexandria!”

“Don’t call me that,” I pouted. “I hate it.”

“You never told me why.” He leaned forward, waiting for what he expected to be a juicy explanation.

With a sigh, I dropped my hands into my lap. “Dad expects so much from me. He seriously wants me to know everything. So he named me after a freaking library.”

Jordan tilted his head toward me in friendly chastisement. “Lex, Alexandria is a city.”

“Yeah, but dad named me after the library. What the hell.”

He laughed, throwing his hands up. “Well you are smart. But yeah, it sucks that he has all these expectations for you. So glad my folks aren’t as hardcore as yours.”

“Ugh, you got off lucky,” I grumbled.

He grinned. “Anyway, we should get out of here. We’re sitting here and haven’t ordered anything, and the waitress is starting to give me the evil eye.” He stood and held his hand out to me. “C’mon. I wanna show you something.”

We took a taxi to downtown and stopped at a skyscraper. He flashed a fancy badge at the front desk, and we took an elevator that only serviced five floors. The whole time I held his hand, wondering where the heck he was taking me. We switched to a different elevator that led to a bare, tiny floor that seemed to only act as a stairwell for roof access. He opened the door and led me outside, and it took my breath away.

The wind wasn’t that strong, and we were coming off the last days of summer so it wasn’t too cold yet. In the late afternoon, the sky was changing into a whole array of colors. We could see over all the other buildings, and for once I could actually see the horizon. Jordan led me to the edge, and we sat down and let our legs dangle off the side of the building. He was watching me the whole time.

“You ever been this high?” he asked.

“Not like this.” I stared at the sunset, watching the colors change as the daylight faded. “I keep asking my dad to let me visit him at work. Considering how much he makes, he should have a pretty good office, right? But no…”

I finally turned to look at him, and he was smiling. “Then I’m glad I got to see your first time,” he said. He caught himself and looked away, embarrassed. I smiled and touched his hand.

“Is this the only first time you’re talking about?”

He gulped and broke eye contact, not replying. I grinned, enjoying seeing him so flustered. But he wasn’t answering. “Good joke,” he finally said after a while.

“I… wasn’t joking.”

He glanced back at me before sighing. “Lexi, we can’t. You know that. If people find out, we’re screwed.”

“Then let’s not let them find out.”

“It’s not so simple. Somebody always finds out. I mean, you see the news, right? People get exposed all the time. They start out saying ‘We’ll be careful.’ Then enough time passes, and they start getting careless.”

“You don’t trust me?” I said, a slight quiver in my voice. We couldn’t just… not be. I didn’t think I could live like that.

“It’s not about trust,” he groaned. “Of course I trust you. I just don’t trust them.” He waved his arm out toward the city. “Because they’re not us. They wouldn’t understand.”

“Screw them. It doesn’t matter if they understand or not. We’ll find a way to make it work.”

He looked sidelong at me and smirked. “With the power of love?” he chuckled.

“Exactly,” I laughed, and so did he. He reached up to brush his fingers against my hair before letting the locks run between them. I tilted my head until it was resting in his palm.

“Your first time isn’t to be taken lightly,” he warned. “We’re fine as we are, aren’t we? We don’t need to involve sex in this. You should find somebody special-”

“I already have.” I pushed him backward off the ledge we were sitting on, and he landed on the roof with a grunt. Climbing astride him, I nestled my groin on his, and he hissed in anticipation. “Don’t tell me you haven’t been dying to do this. I know you’re a perv, Jordan. I’ve seen what you watch.”

He stammered something unintelligible before I leaned down and kissed him. His hands came up to cup my face, and I moaned into his mouth. Beneath me, I could feel him throb against his jeans, and I nibbled on his lip as I wriggled excitedly. When we broke apart, I bit my lip, trying to look as sexy as possible, but he took a deep breath to stabilize himself.

“Let’s… wait a few years,” he said carefully. “You’re still too young.” Before I started throwing a tantrum, he grabbed my wrists and pulled me close. “Until then, I’ll be very satisfied with just kissing. How ’bout you?”

I grinned at him and pushed my lips to his once more.

—

“Your guest ‘as arrived, mademoiselle,” Alain announced over the intercom, snapping me to attention. With a deep sigh, I pushed the button on the machine to talk.

“Send him in.”

I stood and walked away from my office desk to the sitting area I had on the other side of the room from the animal enclosure. It was slightly out of sight from the door, and since I liked to keep my office at Taboo dark, it would be the last place people looked when they walked in when compared to the enclosure and my desk. A few moments later, the door opened and a man walked in. He was fairly tall, though not as tall as Drew. Lean, but one could still tell he was muscular under his button-down and black slacks.

He looked around the seemingly empty room before letting his attention turn to the enclosure. Good timing too. A large silver anaconda coiled its way toward him, staring intently at him through the glass. It was huge, thicker around than my thigh, and measured fifteen feet long. He watched its movements calmly, even when it sprang at him, stopped just short by the glass.

“Her name is Artemis,” I called, and he turned to me. He nodded in appreciation and looked back at the snake.

“Goddess of the hunt,” he replied. Hm, that was surprising. I didn’t expect him to know that.

“And of the moon,” I said.

He nodded at Artemis before striding over and seating himself on the adjacent couch. “And of maidenhood,” he finished. “Kind of ironic, given the venue.”

We stared at each other in silence. It seemed neither of us were pleased with this union. It made me wonder who he knew had put him up to this. He was a soldier, so what did Charles have to gain from me marrying him? I needed answers.

“I suppose we should at least exchange pleasantries,” I sighed. “I’m Lexi.”

“I’m August. I’m guessing you did your homework?”

“Yeah, the Internet is very helpful,” I quipped, and he chuckled.

“You know what I mean. You don’t run an operation of this scale and then use a search engine for background checks. Nice front, by the way. Butcher is a good excuse in case things get messy at the door.”

“What do you know about my operation?” I questioned, leaning forward. His eyes darted toward my low neckline. Very few men could resist boobs that begged to be looked at, and he was no exception. Handsome or dignified men losing control like that for a split second always amused me. And speaking of handsome… this guy looked even better than the pictures my team had dug up. Alright, maybe only slightly better.

Fucking get a grip, Lex.

“You’re not gonna ask me if I’m a cop first?” he wondered, amused.

“Should I?” I retorted, putting on a coquettish smile. “Are you?”

He chuckled. “Worse. I’m a fed. But you knew that already, didn’t you?”

“Perhaps.” I grinned. “Am I getting swatted right now? FBI is kicking down my door for watching depraved shit on the Internet?” I gave a mock gasp. “Are you my FBI agent?”

He laughed heartily. His voice was nice. Deep, but not too deep. And it was soothing. Round, if that made any sense. Oh God, what was happening to me? If I were a simpler girl, the word ‘dreamy’ would’ve already made an appearance. I had to stay focused. He’d completely evaded my question of how much he knew about Taboo.

“I’m sure your computer is full of all kinds of interesting files,” he chuckled, and I shrugged. He wasn’t wrong. “But I’m here on private business. Did you set this up?”

My heart sank. He didn’t know much more than I did. I hated this. My friends thought I always knew what to do. But first I had to know everything. Not just the facts, but also how each specific person would act in given situations. And right now there were too many unknowns. I couldn’t even anticipate what Charles was going to do anymore; this entire thing had come out of left field.

I’d need to do a more thorough check on this guy. Go back further, from before his time in the military. Family, friends, partners, pets. Charles had set me up to marry this guy. I needed to know everything.

“I didn’t,” I admitted. “My father just dropped by yesterday and told me the good news. You?”

He looked toward Artemis, lost in thought. It had been a simple question of who had told him he was engaged to a girl he didn’t know. Either he was trying to piece together the same puzzle I was, or it was about to be story time.

“A few years ago, my mom told me we had gotten a benefactor. She’d raised me alone until then, so to her it was a huge relief,” he began. Story time it was. This ought to be good. Immediately I thought of Drew and his mother Coco. Did August ever think of his mother that way? “At first I thought the worst, that she was, in one way or another, selling herself off to some rich guy to provide for us. At the very least a sugar daddy, y’know? But she said there were no strings attached. Whatever we needed, it would be taken care of.”

“You ever meet this benefactor?” I asked with a frown.

He shook his head, running his fingers through his short gelled hair. “But whoever he is, he’s got major pull. Probably greased a few palms to make things happen.” He sat back with a sigh. “I didn’t feel too good about it, but… it made my mom’s life easier. And then… she told me our benefactor wanted me to settle down with some girl, and I realized that was the catch.” He spread his arms. “And here we are.”

This reeked of Charles. The only question that remained was why he was doing this. Had it not been for the arranged marriage, I’d have thought August was his bastard son or something. But as it stood… I needed the reason for all this. I could just tell Charles to fuck off, but I doubted it would end well.

“So you’re just doing this for your mom?” I teased. “Not because you’re mesmerized by my beauty?”

He snorted, shaking his head in friendly admonishment. “Definitely not your ego. But if I have to get married to somebody I don’t know, at least you’re easy on the eyes. Though if it’s all the same to you, no offense, I want to find out what the heck is going on.”

“Agreed.”

“And based on your expression, you have an idea of where to start.”

“I do. I’ll keep you posted.”

He stood and straightened his clothes. “Then I’ll leave you to it. You probably have my number, don’t you?”

I grinned. “Probably. But give it to me anyway.”

“Should I do it in Sharpie on your arm too?” he laughed, then pulled out his phone and tapped something out. My phone pinged and I smirked. Seemed like I wasn’t the only one doing background checks. “Let me know when you have something.” He paused on his way out, pondering on my snake again. “Y’know…”

“If you make an anaconda joke, the wedding’s off,” I chuckled.

“Ha. No, not that. It’s just that, as far as Greek goddesses go, I wouldn’t have guessed Artemis. Based on the club, I’d have guessed Aphrodite. Based on meeting you, I’d have guessed Athena. And just from the talk we had just now, I doubt your choice is just for the coloration.” He peered over his shoulder at me, his eyes inquisitive. “Just a thought. I’ll see you.”

After he left, I remained on my couch, analyzing. He had somehow skipped his probation and was already FBI, probably courtesy of his benefactor. And he was pretty sharp to boot. I felt so out of my element, having to juggle August and Charles without enough information. My heart sank. One possible scenario was they were in on this together. Charles was somehow going to take away everything I’d worked toward. Again.

I was going to be broken. Again.

Fuck.