“What are you thanking me for?” she asks.
“For caring about Beast that much.”
Her face softens as she picks up her own drink. “It comes naturally. Not by choice, trust me. Both those men give me nightmares, but I care about them both.”
Melissa shuffles from her seat and I clear my throat. “So, I have to ask. Have you slept with either of them?”
She laughs, shaking her head. “I get that you’d want to ask that, and I admire that you’re not beating around the bush. Beast, no, not slept in that way. Hella? Yes. Everyone with a decent set of tits has been under him.”
Melissa stiffens next to me and I cringe, taking another sip of my drink. “Anything serious?” I ask, attempting for casual around the rim of my glass, but failing miserably when Jada bends over the bar to look directly at Melissa.
“No, nothing serious, first time was a huge mistake that happened when we were younger. Second time was a few years ago, one weak move on both our parts. Trust me, we both laughed afterward. He was my first, that’s all. He’s like a brother to me now.”
Melissa relaxes and smiles. “Oookaayy…” she answers, trying to sound like she doesn’t care. Jada rolls her eyes before resting back into her chair.
“Anyway, they have a bigger issue. The Army is not going to go away easily. I’m going in with them, with whatever they do.”
“Wouldn’t that be dangerous for you?”
She laughs. “Did Beast tell you what my specialty was in The Army?”
I think back over our conversation. “The power of persuasion and seduction.”
She nods. “Yep, so no, I’ll be fine. I have plenty fighting experience and I’m not too bad with a Katana.” Winking at me before downing her drink.
“That’s your weapon?” I ask, tilting my head in amazement. The Katana is a traditionally made Japanese sword, made for the Samurai of Japan. So yes, I’m a little intrigued.
She nods her head. “Yeah, it is, one of first Commander Nines trained me,” she offers, her tone softening. “Did Beast tell you about them?” she asks, taking another sip of her drink. Melissa shuffles uneasily on her seat, putting away shot glass after shot glass. I think I’ll be carrying her home.
I shake my head. “Not in so many words, he just covered the basics.”
“There were nine commanders. They were called The First Commander Nines because they have been there from the very beginning, cooking up this charade. Each commander had a weapon of choice and they would rotate us around for a trial period to see which was our strongest suit. It worked because even though we eventually all had our chosen weapon, we were all still trained in other aspects.”
“Jesus,” I whisper, looking back to Jada. “I’m sorry. Were you there as long as Beast?”
She nods her head. “Yeah, I was. I mean, I went in when I was three, so Beast was eight already. Both my parents were murdered in their bed with me lying in between them. My mother was the Princess of the Yakuza, who ran away from the family business to live a life in America with her American husband—my father. They ordered to kill all of us, but for some reason, The Army took me in instead. To this day, I still don’t know if my mom’s family know.” My brain is overloading with information that I’m trying to swallow. She’s half Japanese? She barely looks it. You can see that she has some sort of exotic look about her, but I couldn’t put my finger on it until she mentioned it.
“Fucking hell,” Melissa groans beside me. “Sorry, I mean no disrespect, but all of you are kind of messed up in your own sort of ways.”
My back snaps straight. “Melissa!” I scowl at her.
She looks between Jada and me innocently. “Oh, what? I didn’t mean it was a bad thing. It obviously made you who you are today. I just mean…” she sits forward placing her drink on the bar, and I begin to itch nervously waiting for what verbal diarrhea might come squirting out of her mouth next, “…you all have something in common. Even with Meadow.”
“Melissa…” I warn, lowering my tone.
Jada peeks up at me. “It’s okay, you don’t have to fill me in on anything. I told you about me because… well, I don’t know. I didn’t exactly mean to fill you in with my life story, but you seem like a person someone can confide in. I don’t expect to swap stories or anything.”
I smile at her politely. “Thank you.”
“So!” Jada pipes in, standing to her feet and downing the rest of her water. “I better head off. I have to pick my son up from school. But I might see you guys later?”