Reed's Sex Academy 2: Hush Hush

Book 2: Hush Hush

REYNA

At one in the morning, I was still waiting on Arthur’s veranda, trying my hardest to block out the chatter coming from the dining room.

Not just because their guttural voices made it hard to concentrate on what I was reading. But because they were also drunk. And annoying as fuck.

I couldn’t just leave, of course.

When Arthur called for me, I showed up. No matter the hour. No matter if I was half dead or on a different continent.

Over the past few months, the jobs I was given were rather quick and easy—delivering a document, seducing some guy, planting a microphone in somebody’s office, and so on.

But something changed this week when Arthur called for me and his entire face was swollen. Bruised. As if a truck had run over it at full speed. I didn’t dare ask what had happened. But I’d lie if I said I wasn’t secretly pleased.

Arthur Blackmore was a snake. And whatever he did to deserve a beating like that, I was glad someone finally put him in his place.

Still, I had a feeling that the reason he called me in tonight had to do with that. And whatever he had in mind to carry out his revenge, I knew it wouldn’t be easy.

Another hour passed, and the men finally stood up and shook hands with Arthur, signaling the end of whatever stupid meeting they had.

I heaved a sigh and braced myself for the talk with the devil.

“There you are.” He grinned, his left eye still swollen like a disgusting prune. “My apologies for making you wait. You didn’t mind, though, did you?”

Molten fury pumped through my veins at the sight of him. The man had put my brother into a wheelchair and terrorized my family ever since Dad fled with his money and betrayed him.

We couldn’t afford to pay him back—hell, we hadn’t even known Dad was in business with him until he’d showed up at our doorstep ten months ago, demanding payment.

“Not at all,” I lied, closing my book and standing up before him. I wasn’t going to let him see how much he affected me. The less he knew about me, the better.

“Good. I need you to do something for me.”

“Another thing, you mean,” I challenged him, a rush of anxiety taking over me. “How many more times do I have to risk my life for you to consider my father’s debt paid?”

His smirk dropped, and he looked out into the distance, as if I wasn’t there anymore.

“You take care of this one, Reyna, and you can consider it paid.”

My name sounded abhorrent coming from his lips. It always rubbed me the wrong way, and I think he knew just how much it bothered me. Just another way to exert his dominance over me. To make sure I was meek and remained under his thumb.

“I’m not murdering anyone,” I blatantly stated, getting the hint that this particular job wasn’t going to be like any other.

“No,” he chuckled, “you’re not. What we’re going to do to them is much worse than death.”

I didn’t have time to consider who he was talking about before he turned his phone toward me to show me.

The picture of two attractive men stared back at me—tall, broody, and green-eyed in their expensive black suits. The camera captured them right in the middle of a conversation out in the New York streets.

The one on the right looked annoyed. His jaw was clenched, and he gave me the impression he was about to lose his shit.

The other one, though, had a playful look in his eyes. As if he couldn’t care less about anything other than having a good time.

“These are the Reed brothers,” Arthur said, then pointed to the left of the screen. “And this one is the youngest, Calvin Reed. I need you to make your way into his life, into his business. And get me something I can use to take both of them down.”

“They got you good, didn’t they?” I joked, looking at his bruised face. His eyebrows rose, and my smirk faded.

I looked back at the screen, cocking my head to better observe my next target.

There was something eerily alluring about Calvin Reed’s presence. The way he held his hands in his pockets and stared down at his brother clearly signaled he had no interest in being told what to do.

No—Calvin was the kind of man who did what he wanted, when he wanted it, regardless of the consequences. Although it scared me a little, I liked that about him.

I liked it a lot.

“Seducing won’t work on him,” Arthur informed me. “Calvin is known to sleep around, so you’d never get close enough to truly spy on him.”

“So, what then?”

“You go to NYU, don’t you?”

I nodded.

“Lucky for you, his sister also goes there now. Sign up for the same business class she’s taking. Make friends with her. Then ask her to help you shadow Calvin in his business. The course requires you to do that for the final exam. I took the liberty of looking it up for you.”

“But…,” I protested, “I’ve already picked my classes for the semester. I can’t just change them now. It’s too late.”

He waved a nonchalant hand in the air, taking a sip of his drink.

“That’s not my problem. Deal with it as you see fit.”

I shook my head lightly in response, flaring my nostrils, but didn’t protest any further. It wouldn’t work with him, anyway.

“Shadow him for a few weeks. And be smart about it. At first, you’re not going to hear much. But the more time you spend with and around him, the more you’re going to find out. Make sure you listen, Reyna. I don’t have to remind you that your family is on the line, do I?”

No, he didn’t.

“And if I do it,” I said, looking him straight in the eye, “this is it? We’re done? You’ll never make me do anything else, ever?”

I was never trained to be a spy. Or carry any of the dirty work Arthur had me do for him over the past few months. I was just a simple college girl who somehow got caught up in a spider’s web. And fuck, I wanted out.

“That’s right,” he smirked, the shadows dancing in his icy blue eyes making it hard for me to believe anything that came out of his mouth. “You have my word.”

Your word means nothing to me, I wanted to tell him. But this was indeed the first time he’d offered me freedom.

This seemed real. My first real shot at taking back my life. At protecting my family.

And if all I needed to do was simply walk around Calvin Reed for a few months, it sounded easy enough.

“I’ll get it done,” I said, breaking eye contact and making my way out toward the foyer.