The Trainer (military romantic suspense) (The Dregs Book 5) Read online

  THE TRAINER

  The Dregs Book 5

  Leslie Georgeson

  Copyright © 2018 Leslie Georgeson

  This is a work of fiction. The events and characters described herein are imaginary and are not intended to refer to specific places or living persons. The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author.

  * * *

  This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite e-book retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Other Titles by Leslie Georgeson

  About Leslie Georgeson

  Connect with Leslie Georgeson

  PROLOGUE

  Logan

  On the first day of my recruitment, The General told me, “From this day forward, you are no longer a boy, Logan. You are now a soldier. I own you, and you will do whatever I say, whenever I say. Understand?”

  My head fuzzy with whatever drug they’d given me, I could do nothing but nod. “Yes, sir.”

  My training began instantly. Each lesson was meant to teach me how to be a soldier. Each lesson was meant to teach me not to feel. Not to care about anyone or anything but “the mission”. They tried to beat the emotions out of me, tried to torture me into a cold, unfeeling monster. But I constructed a thick wall around my heart, and I clung to my humanity, refusing to let it go, not letting the beatings or the torture or the intense training change who I was inside. They might force me to turn into a beast from time to time. They might make me torture and kill others.

  But nothing and no one could stop me from loving sweet Himari.

  I was eighteen when I first met her. Already a fierce warrior. Already a killer. A machine.

  Himari was my first lover, a Japanese beauty with shiny black hair and gorgeous dark eyes. Prior to her, I had stayed away from the other whores at the facility, not interested in the “fake love” they offered. But one glance into Himari’s stunning eyes and I was sucked in. After being in her loving arms, I couldn’t stay away. We fell in love over the next several months, and I visited her as often as The General would allow. Himari’s love wasn’t fake. It was real.

  With Himari’s help, I was able to keep my sanity in a world filled with violence and pain. When I was with her, I found peace. She kept me from turning into a soulless beast. I was able to cope with all the horrible things that were forced upon me. And all the despicable things I was forced to do.

  With Himari, I found hope.

  We always talked about escaping and running away together.

  It was pure fantasy. Foolish dreams.

  One night not long after I first met her, I asked her, “Will you teach me Japanese?”

  She curled into my side, cocking a brow. “Are you sure? Japanese is not an easy language to learn.”

  “Positive.” I threaded my fingers through her silky black hair as I looked into her eyes. “I want to be able to speak to you in your native language. Then we can have private conversations that no one else will understand.”

  Her lips curved into a smile. “I like that idea.” Then she spoke to me in Japanese.

  Something pinged in my brain, like an electrical circuit, a brain wave, flowing, connecting, the current bouncing around in my head. I love you, my sexy Logan.

  “Holy shit, say that again.”

  She eyed me quizzically. “Don’t you want to know what I said?”

  “I already know, Himari. I already know. Holy shit. But please, say it again, anyway.”

  She hesitated. “O-kay.” Then she spoke in Japanese again. And again that ping went off in my head. I closed my eyes while my brain processed the words.

  I love you, my sexy Logan.

  I jerked my eyes open. “And I love you, my sweet, beautiful Himari.”

  She bolted upright. “What? How? No way! How did you–”

  “I don’t know,” I interrupted. “But I understood you. Let’s try some more. Say something else.”

  So she did. And within a few minutes, I was somehow able to pick up the entire Japanese language with only a few sentences to guide me.

  Himari hugged me tightly. “That’s so amazing, Logan. I have never heard of someone learning an entire language in just minutes.”

  I grinned. “Me neither. But I just did.”

  The General soon discovered my unusual ability and tested me with other languages.

  And my dreg talent revealed itself. I became one of the chosen. A rare breed. One of the few soldiers with special “powers”.

  I had the uncanny ability to learn—to actually speak and understand—any language after only hearing a few sentences spoken in that language. My brain was like a built-in translator. My mind would process a few words and interpret their meaning back to me. Somehow, no matter what language I was exposed to, I was able to quickly learn that language, usually in under a minute or two. Linguistics soon became my specialty. There wasn’t a language in the world I couldn’t learn. Or speak. If I didn’t know it, I quickly learned it. I could communicate with anyone in any language.

  I had Himari to thank. She was the one who helped me discover my ability.

  As a soldier, I was expected to try to impregnate any whore I visited at the facility. It was all part of The General’s plan. But I refused to get Himari with child. No kid of mine would be subjected to the torture, the abuse, the experiments I went through on a constant basis. Himari and I were very careful to make sure she never got pregnant.

  Two years passed in which I visited Himari on a regular basis. Without her, I don’t know how I would have survived at the facility. She helped
keep me sane. She helped me transition back from beast to human after I returned from a mission.

  Then one night it all came crashing to a halt. Our dreams were shattered in the blink of an eye.

  I visited her on Friday night, and after we made love, I cuddled her close, pressing a kiss to her brow. “I promise that I will get us out of here soon. Just hang in there a bit longer, all right? We will run away together, just the two of us.”

  Himari tightened her arms around me. “I trust you, Logan. I know you will get us out of here.”

  My chest squeezed. Was I making a promise I could never keep? How could I ever save her? I was as much a prisoner as she was. I couldn’t even save myself.

  The door to the room banged open. The General marched in with four soldiers flanking him. Himari gasped, cringing back. I wrapped an arm protectively around her, glaring at The General.

  “My time isn’t up yet.”

  The General eyed me coldly. “You have been deceiving me, Logan. Two years!” He lifted two fingers and shook them at us. “You’ve been fucking this whore for two years and she’s still not pregnant!”

  He motioned to the soldiers. Two of them stepped forward, dragging Himari out of the bed against my loud protests. The other two soldiers grabbed my arms, roughly holding me back. I fought hard to get to her. To free her. But I was just a twenty-year-old kid. I couldn’t save her.

  The General removed a knife from a sheath at his belt. “You were ordered to get her pregnant, Logan, not pull your wick out every time. You’ve disobeyed orders. So now, she must die.”

  “No!” My heart stopped. “No! Please, don’t do this! Please!”

  The General stepped forward. With an evil glint in his eye, he lifted the knife and sliced Himari’s throat.

  Just like that.

  So cold. So cruel. So heartless.

  She made a soft gasping sound as blood pooled out, dripping down her bare torso, her legs, and onto the floor.

  The soldiers let go of her, and she collapsed in a heap.

  Never to move—never to breathe—again.

  Nooo! No, no, no!

  “You fucking bastard!” My heart twisted, squeezed, splitting in two. I went berserk then, launching myself at The General, going into a shocked, grief-stricken rage. The soldiers yanked me back, forcing me into submission, shoving me roughly down onto the floor. I fought and squirmed violently, to no avail. “You bastard! I will kill you for this! I will kill you!”

  “He needs to learn a lesson,” The General announced to the soldiers. “I expect you all to teach him that lesson.” He raised his voice, glancing down at me where I squirmed and fought against their hold. “And afterwards, Logan, you will be banned from visiting the whores for a period of six months.”

  I choked. “Like I care about visiting the other whores!” Himari was the only one I wanted. The only one I loved. A sob burst out of me.

  Oh, Himari. I glanced over at her body lying across the room in a pool of blood. So still. So lifeless. Gone.

  The soldiers attacked me then. Blow after painful blow. They taught me a lesson I would never forget.

  Don’t fall in love. Never have a weakness.

  The pain from the beating was intense. Overwhelming. Debilitating.

  But none of that hurt me as much as the pain in my heart. I hadn’t listened when The General had first tried to teach me not to care, not to feel, but now, I understood. I shouldn’t have fallen for Himari. I shouldn’t have let myself care.

  Eventually, I passed out from the beating, a hard crack to my skull dragging me under.

  The General destroyed my fledgling hope for freedom, the tiny piece of humanity Himari had helped me retain.

  This was one lesson I would never, ever forget. Watching the girl I loved being murdered right in front of my eyes, and not being able to do anything to stop it was so horrific that the memory played over and over again in my mind for years afterward. I dreamt about it constantly.

  I lived it again and again in my head…

  Himari.

  I woke sometime later back in my cell. I blinked, my body aching from the severe beating. I sensed movement and turned my head as someone stepped toward me.

  “Hey.” A face appeared in my line of vision. “I’m Noah. You don’t look so well. Looks like they beat the shit out of you.”

  “Yeah.” My heart pinched. Himari. My sweet Himari. My love. Dead.

  “I’m your new roommate,” Noah announced quietly.

  I didn’t really care about a new roommate right now. My last two roommates had both died, unable to withstand the experiments. Noah probably would, too. I didn’t care about him or anyone else. For the first time since I’d been recruited, I wanted to die. Life without Himari wasn’t a life at all.

  “I don’t care,” I muttered, turning away from him, wanting to wallow in misery alone. “Go away.”

  He left, moving across the small cell, giving me space. But Noah never went far. How could he when he was stuck in this tiny cell with me?

  And my wish for death never came true.

  Noah ended up being my permanent partner. He stuck beside me. Supported me. He was a good guy. The best, in fact. He was also one of the chosen, and ended up with a special talent of his own. He, like me, was a rare breed. A dreg. Together, Noah and I persevered. We overcame all the obstacles that were thrown at us. He gave me the strength to move on. He supported me, backed me in every situation, good or bad. Noah and I grew close over the years that we were partners. He understood me better than anyone else. He was the only one I told about Himari.

  He was the only one who knew that she was the first and the last woman I was with.

  I vowed to never care about a woman again. To care meant The General had something against me. To care meant I had a weakness. I didn’t want what happened to Himari to happen to anyone else. When my six-month ban from the whores was released, I still stayed away from them. I didn’t touch any of them.

  They say a leopard can’t change the pattern of its spots. A leopard can’t change its instinctive desire to attack and kill anything that moves. It’s a little thing called “survival” that keeps the leopard going.

  I’m not a leopard. I foolishly believed The General couldn’t change who I was. I stupidly believed he couldn’t take my gentle soul and twist it, hammer it, abuse it mercilessly, and turn me into a monster.

  I was so wrong. After Himari’s murder, I gave up. I could no longer fight what they were doing to me. Fighting would be fruitless.

  The General awakened the monster within me. Honed it, trained it, strengthened it, turning me into the perfect soldier. The perfect machine. He ripped out my gentle soul, leaving me cold and empty inside. Heartless.

  It is the nature of the beast to survive. To persevere. Against all odds.

  In order to survive, I had to let go of my heart. I had to rid myself of my soul.

  I had to become the beast.

  And through it all, I made a vow of celibacy. I would care for no other female. Touch no one else. I would keep my distance from them all.

  No other woman was going to die because of me.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Nishi

  “Come closer, you big stud.” I crooked my finger and motioned for Jiro to follow me into my room, sending him what I hoped was a sexy, “come hither” look. I had just returned from fight practice—the only time I was allowed out of my room unless my father summoned me for something else—and Jiro had escorted me back upstairs to my room. My prison.

  “You want some of this?” I motioned down my body and back up, my gaze resting on his. “Then come get me.” I tried not to cringe from the fakeness spouting from my lips. Was I a convincing slut? Did Jiro think I truly wanted him?

  His eyes filling with lust, Jiro licked his lips. He glanced cautiously behind him, making sure no one saw him slipping into my room high up on the top floor. Assuring himself the coast was clear, Jiro rushed forward, eagerly wrapping a thick hand around
my waist and hauling me against his large body.

  I had been planning my escape for eight years now. Eight years.

  Every prior attempt had never gotten beyond the thinking stage. Because there really was no way to escape my father.

  But tonight during fight practice, I had overheard a terrifying secret. And the painful, bitter truth had struck home.

  If I didn’t find some way to escape soon, then I would never be free.

  Jiro was my only chance at freedom. A recent member of the Black Dragons, Jiro was still learning the ways of this place. And he lusted after me. I noticed the way he looked at me when he thought no one else was looking. I was observant. I noticed everything at all times, and being observant was going to help me escape. I was going to use Jiro’s lust against him.

  I barely managed to hold back a gag as Jiro’s foul mouth came savagely down on mine.

  Endure, Nishi. Endure. This is your chance to escape. Do what you must.

  Jiro thought he was going to train me into the art of lovemaking. That he was going to initiate the boss’s daughter into the ways of sex.

  But I planned to incapacitate him before things went too far.

  He’d been extremely cautious and hesitant about entering my room at first—with good reason. If my father found out Jiro had come in here, he would surely kill him.

  I let poor, horny Jiro kiss me and push me back on the bed. I let him touch me in ways that repulsed me. I even made fake sounds of enjoyment—gasps and moans—which spurred him on. And while he was still in a lust-filled haze, I snagged one of the marble, black dragon bookends from my desk and smashed it against his head.

  The first hit stunned him, but it didn’t knock him out. So I had to strike again. Harder.

  Crack!

  His eyes rolled back into his head and he toppled forward, his huge bulk squishing me beneath him. I sucked in air, trying to breathe, as I squirmed beneath his weight. It was like being squashed beneath an elephant.

  Wiggling back and forth beneath him, inch by painful inch, I finally managed to disentangle myself from underneath his monstrous bulk. Then I slid off the side of the bed, hitting the floor with a thud, and gasped in a lungful of air.

  Get up, Nishi! You don’t have much time! Hurry!