The Reed Security Relationship Manual: A Reed Security Romance Read online

  I stopped moving, even fucking breathing, as I stared at him. I swallowed hard as I croaked out, “She should have had her period last week?”

  “You’re not sure?” Sinner asked.

  “I…I just try not to pay attention.”

  “You’re a medic,” Cap said incredulously.

  “That doesn’t mean I want to know my woman’s periods like the back of my hand. I stay away from that shit. The last time I had to deal with her periods, I ended up playing rock, paper, scissors for the last box of tampons.”

  “So, how has she been getting her womanly supplies?” Sinner asked.

  “Well, she gets them on her own now that she’s off house arrest. But before, I had Cara get them for me.”

  “Ah,” Sinner nodded. “That explains all the boxes. See, I knew there was something else going on. No woman stocks up on tampons like the flood is coming.”

  “And you didn’t think to ask her about it?” I asked. “You didn’t think it was strange and think…hmmm, maybe I should find out if everything is okay with her?”

  Sinner narrowed his eyes at me. “And why the hell would I do that? You don’t open that door. Once you start talking to your woman about periods, that opens the floodgates for a whole other range of topics that I’m not ready to talk about, and never will be ready for.”

  “What kind of topics?” Cap asked.

  “Yeah, what topics?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

  Sinner rolled his eyes. “Let me preface this by saying that I’m very scared for both of you that I even have to explain this. It starts with just their period, but it branches off to how heavy it is, clotting patterns, length, and all the other shit that a man just doesn’t even need to know about. And then, after all that, she’ll start discussing what happens when she ovulates.”

  “What happens when she ovulates?” Cap asked.

  Even I knew the answer to this, and knew it wasn’t something I wanted to discuss.

  “Check her underwear around that time of the month,” Sinner said with a grin. “You’ll wish you never knew.”

  “Wait,” I shook my head. “So, if Brooke just had her period, then what could possibly be causing all this hostility?”

  “You said you didn’t know for sure that she had it,” Cap pointed out. “Can you say without a doubt that she did have her period?”

  “Well—”

  “Were there wrappers in the bathroom garbage?”

  I swallowed hard. I didn’t remember seeing any. I swayed on my feet slightly and had to grab the table for balance. “Oh, God.”

  “Congrats, man,” Sinner grinned, slapping me on the back. I stumbled forward, barely catching myself. “This is awesome. Another Rocco baby to join the training center.”

  “This…this is not good.”

  “Why?” Cap asked. “I thought she was coming around to the whole idea of having Evie there all the time.”

  “Yeah, Evie. A new baby? That’s like…I don’t know that she’s ready for that.”

  Sinner nodded. “And once a new baby is in the picture, the way a house is run is completely different. Suddenly, every complaint is Why can’t you do this for me? I’m growing a baby inside me. And after the baby is born—” He shook his head and scoffed. “You can forget about ever owning your balls again. From there on out, you’re in charge of doing everything because they have a baby to take care of.”

  “If you’re smart, you’ll get that rule book written before this baby is born,” Cap said. “And make damn sure she signs it.”

  “And have it laminated,” Sinner added. “There can be no wiggle room in that contract.”

  “Yeah, but how the hell am I going to get her to agree to my rulebook when she’s hormonal?”

  We all sat there thinking about it for a moment. Sinner grinned and then snapped his fingers at me. “You have a fake one for her to sign. Then, after she’s signed it, you fake her signature on the real one and replace it. Problem solved.”

  “Yeah, but that’s not enough. If it’s just that rulebook, it’ll be too easy for her to thoroughly read it. You need to drown her in paperwork.”

  “How the hell am I supposed to do that? Should I have her sign a prenup or something?”

  “Only if you want her to cut off your balls,” Cap huffed. “A prenup is like saying that you don’t trust her.”

  “Either that or you think the relationship won’t last,” Sinner added. “No, what you need is to finish the Reed Security Relationship Manual. You can slip the marriage rulebook in also. Hell, we can all do it with our wives. Slip in the fake and then after they’ve all agreed to it, we’ll take out the fake and slip in the real one.”

  “Yeah, but who’s good at forging signatures?”

  “I know a guy,” Cap grinned.

  “Okay, still, we have one huge problem. If Brooke is pregnant, I need her to sign this ASAP. I don’t have the relationship manual where it needs to be. Not even close. And the further along she gets in her pregnancy, the worse those hormones are going to get. She’ll rip it to shreds, and I’ll be doomed.”

  “I’ll take care of it,” Cap said, pounding the table once before walking out of the room.

  Sinner walked up to me and clapped me on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, Cap’s on it.”

  “And if this doesn’t work?”

  “Then you’re fucked like the rest of us.”

  Chapter Two

  Cap

  “Hey, everyone quiet down!” I shouted to the room full of people. Everyone that worked here was sitting in on this meeting. We had a lot of shit to discuss and not much time to do it. “Alright, now, I know you’re all wondering why I called this meeting.” I leaned forward on the table, staring them all down. “We have probably the most important job of our lives ahead of us, and it’s imperative that we act now before it’s too late.”

  “What is it?” Ice asked, eyes wide. “Is it protecting the president?”

  “Saving a foreign diplomat,” Burg chimed in.

  “Taking out a terrorist cell?” Chance asked excitedly.

  “Nothing like that,” I shook my head. “But I will tell you this, the safety of all our lives is on the line.”

  They all stared at me with huge eyes, except for Rocco and Sinner. Rocco nodded along, looking around the room, because he knew what was going down. Sinner just rolled his eyes at me.

  I cleared my throat and looked at all of them. “We have reason to believe that Brooke is…pregnant.”

  “Wait, does this have to do with the ex?” Gabe asked in confusion.

  “It does not. At approximately fourteen hundred hours,” I said, flicking the TV on with the remote, showing the video footage from Rocco’s house. “Rocco was working on his rulebook for after his marriage to Brooke, at which time she got very angry with him for what was written.”

  “Are you serious, Cap?” Cazzo asked. “You called us here because of the damn rulebook?”

  I paused the video and stared him down. “It’s not just the rulebook. We need to have the relationship manual written and compiled, hiding the real rulebook that he’ll hide within the documents for Brooke to sign.” I pressed play and we all watched as Brooke unleashed her anger on Rocco. When the video was finished, I stopped the feed and hung my head. “This isn’t just about Rocco anymore. We’ve all been there. We’ve all been put in the position that no man should ever be in. We have to fight this as a whole. We’re a team, and we have to work together right now to ensure that we never end up in the position Rocco’s in right now.”

  “Um, I hate to point this out, since I am a woman,” Florrie said, with her arms crossed over her chest . “But you’re asking Alec to write a manual that I’m aware of, and you think that’ll go well for him?”

  I nodded. “You’re right. Deception is key. We’ll need the women to write some as well.”

  Knight pushed off the wall. “Let me just point out the flaw in your plan. First, you do realize that just because you w
rite a damn rulebook, that doesn’t mean that any of them will actually follow it. It’s not legally binding.”

  “It’ll be laminated,” Sinner said.

  “Again, not legally binding. What you have is a damn rulebook disguised as a relationship manual. And you expect us to waste our time on this?”

  I took a deep breath and sighed. “I know you weren’t here for it, because you were off taking your revenge, but I woke up with a pressure trigger engaged under my mattress, all because I didn’t handle you properly, according to Maggie. How many of you can say you want to wake up the same way one day?” I glanced around the room, but none of them said anything. “Let me tell you, that was the most terrifying experience of my life. And I’ve been to war.”

  “So, what is it you want from us?” Jackson asked.

  “What we need—” Rocco cut me off by clearing his throat. I glared at him, but he motioned me on. I rolled my eyes and started over. “Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to break off into groups and get the relationship manual written by the end of the week. We have no time to waste. Rocco, you work on getting that rulebook written.” I glanced around the room and took a deep breath. “We have fewer jobs for the next few days. Use your time wisely, ladies and gentlemen. Our sanity depends on it. Dismissed.”

  Everyone got up and left the room. Everyone except for Knight. “You don’t really expect me to participate in this shit, do you?”

  “Knight, out of everyone here, you probably have the most valuable advice. Not only have you fake died on Kate, but you also know how to handle your woman better than any of us. Your information is crucial to us all.”

  He slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath, as if trying to rein in his temper. I could see his fists clenching every few seconds as he got himself under control. “I really fucking hate working here sometimes,” he muttered before pulling out a chair and sitting. “So, what part are we working on?”

  “I hope you’re including me in this,” Lola said from the doorway.

  “You want in on this?” I asked.

  “What? Because I’m a woman? There are rules, and there should be rules laid out in every relationship, and not just for the women. And technically, my husband is not like all of you neanderthals, but he still needs boundaries. I have plenty to offer in the way of advice.”

  “Alright, let’s get started then.” I pulled out my computer. “Okay, what do we start with?”

  “Stalking, of course.”

  I looked at him for a moment. “Stalking,” I repeated.

  “Married or not, you still need to know how to stalk your woman, or man,” he added, “appropriately. If you do it wrong, you’ll just end up in jail or with a knife in your chest.”

  I cleared my head and typed in How To Successfully Stalk Your Woman. “I can’t believe I’m typing this.”

  “Hey, you wanted this manual, and like it or not, it’ll be passed down to our kids. If you think this is just for us, then you’re dead wrong. We can’t have our kids making the same mistakes we did. Well, the mistakes you’ve made. I’m pretty flawless.”

  “Fine, I’ll type as you dictate.”

  “Stalking is an art form. Not all men are capable of doing it correctly, and if you’re a woman, you’ll only be seen as psychotic.”

  “Hey,” Lola snapped.

  “It’s true,” I nodded. “Look at Molly. We all thought she was insane.”

  Knight nodded and continued. “When done properly, a man can stalk a woman, and she will still fall in love with said man, completely convinced that they were meant to be together. However, a man will run in the other direction if a woman tries to stalk him. We’ll cover both genders of stalking. The first thing to realize about stalking is that you have to be good at it.”

  “How did you stalk Kate?” Lola asked.

  Knight got a gleam in his eyes, like he was remembering the first time. “Well, you have to have the skills to slip into her house undetected, remembering to bypass the sensors on the security system. The first step is to find out her schedule, write down when she eats, sleeps, goes to the bathroom…everything. You’ll need plans to her house, making sure that you know every corner and the best places to hide in case she wakes up. Now, it’s a little too much like an invasion of privacy to break in during the day when she’s not there, but it’s a necessity. You’ll need to know which boards creak on the stairs and which doors squeak. If you’re smart, you’ll oil the hinges so that’s not a problem. Also, check your footwear. Make sure that what you’re wearing doesn’t make any noise on her floors.”

  I stopped typing for a minute and looked up at him. “Did you really do all this?” He quirked an eyebrow at me and I sighed. “Right, never mind.”

  “If the woman can spot you stalking her, she’s going to get scared. You need to hide in plain sight, always around where she can sense you, but never see you. It heightens the experience for all involved. The woman feels like prey, but if you’re really good, her being able to sense your presence gives her a sense of belonging. The longer you stalk her, the more she wants to know who you are, needs to know why there is such a strong connection. Once you’ve reached this point, you’ve got her just where you want her.”

  “You know, I have to say, hearing this side of things makes me feel a little creepy,” Lola stated. “I actually feel bad for Kate, knowing you did all this to her.”

  “Did you not hear the part about heightening the experience? If you stalk a woman that’s worthy of being stalked, she won’t feel threatened in any way. You have to make sure this is a woman that needs you on a primal level. Deep down, she understands that while this is not normal, there’s a draw that can’t be ignored. Once you have that connection with her, there’s no leaving her alone, and she definitely won’t be able to walk away from you.”

  “I miss the days when you just walked up to a woman and said hello,” I muttered.

  “Or a random fuck in the back alley of a bar,” Lola sighed.

  “Is that the way it started with you and Ryan?”

  “A lady never tells her secrets.”

  “Can we get back to this? I have other shit to do.”

  “Frankly, I’m surprised you would tell your trade secrets.”

  “I’m not giving all of them away. You still have to have the follow through, which frankly, not many of you have the potential for.”

  I rolled my eyes at his arrogance. How had I gotten involved in this? When Rocco came to me, it sounded like something urgent that needed to be taken care of, but as I sat here typing out notes on stalking, I seriously questioned my own sanity.

  “Now, during the day, it’s best to stay at a distance. You don’t want her to spot you in any of her regular spots, but you also need eyes on her at all times. Run security checks on any location that she frequents. If it’s her place of business, make sure that all men that work there are properly checked out. If they’re a danger to her, or you just don’t like them, get rid of them.”

  I stopped typing and stared at him. “Get rid of them? I can’t put that shit in here.”

  “Why not? It’s the truth. Either you care about your woman enough to do what needs to be done, or you walk away.”

  “Knight, if this fell in the wrong hands-“

  “Then make sure it doesn’t,” he said scathingly. “You wanted to know my opinion, and I’m giving it. Write it down.”

  I shook my head, but I typed out If someone poses a danger, get rid of them. “I can’t believe I’m taking part in this.”

  “Just wait until we get to your section. I’m sure what you have to offer is just as twisted.”

  I thought about what I could offer, and what came to mind had me smiling. Yes, I was a little twisted.

  “Now, as I said before, during the night, you should always stay at a distance until you’re positive that the subject of your stalking is asleep. After you’ve figured out her security, you know the layout of her house, and what to watch for, you�
�re all set to make your way inside. It’s best to stick to the walls—”

  “If she’s asleep, what exactly are you doing while she’s sleeping?” Lola asked.

  Knight quirked his head to the side. “I don’t understand the question.”

  “If she’s asleep,” Lola said slowly, “what are you doing in her house?”

  “Watching her sleep,” Knight said as if that was the stupidest question in the world. “Just be sure to be out of her house by the morning. I would also not recommend lying down in bed with her. This leads to you wanting to touch her. When she wakes up, you’re no longer stalking her, but the creep that snuck into her bed.”

  “Yeah, because breaking into her house to watch her sleep isn’t creepy,” Lola muttered.

  Chapter Three

  Lola

  I walked in the house from the garage and hung my bag up on the hook. Ryan turned and grinned at me as he stirred something that smelled absolutely delicious.

  “How was your day, dear?” he asked, holding out his cheek for a kiss. I planted one on his cheek, then took a seat across from him at the island.

  “Today was interesting,” I sighed, leaning on my hand. “Rocco thinks he got Brooke pregnant, so he’s rushing to get his rulebook ready for when they get married.”

  “Why?” he asked, pulling out a bottle of wine and pouring me a glass.

  “Because he thinks she’s going to get all hormonal, and he needs her to sign it before she gets too crazy.”

  He snorted and went back to stirring supper. “He realizes that it would never hold up in a court of law, right?”

  “Logically, I think he knows that, but he can’t let go of the damn book.”

  “I can understand why.”

  I stared at him in confusion. Did Ryan think a rulebook was a good idea? “What do you mean?” I asked carefully, not wanting to give him any ideas.

  He shrugged. “It’s just…when you’re married, each party has their own expectations. When you lay it out in a rulebook, legal or not, it makes things pretty clear.”