Playing in SECRET (Corrigan & Co. Book 9) (12 page)

“Me too. But what’s
done is done, and now we just have to get past this ball, and put her
on a plane to wherever she’s going next.”

“There’s something
else you should know about her.”

“Not right now,
Jeanne. I honestly can’t take another thing right now.”

“Okay.”

We make the drive in
silence, each of us lost in our own thoughts about what’s been
happening for the last two weeks. There has not been one single
day—or even hour—where Misha showed an interest in Jeanne. She
loved the new clothes Stella picked out, and wanted to tell the world
that the famous stylist had outfitted our daughter, but that’s it.
Jeanne begged her not to use her like that, and I finally threatened
to expose some old secrets, so she left it alone, but I think that
was when Jeanne realized that her mother wasn’t there for her. The
first hour of her first day with us, and it hasn’t gotten any
better.

If anything, she gets
worse every day. She’s not getting her way on anything, and she’s
taking it out on us, and my staff. Wanda even took vacation because
she said it was either that or quit. I didn’t want to lose her, so
I sent her and her husband to Tahiti. I’ve had to pay the day
workers double to keep them coming, and the pool guy threatened us
with a sexual harassment lawsuit last week. I knew this was a bad
idea, I just didn’t think it would be quite so rough. That charity
ball can’t get here soon enough.

* * *

Audrey

Tonight’s the night.
The charity ball where I’ll see Blake in person for the first time
in over two weeks. I’ll admit to watching all of the news coverage,
and reading all of the interviews he’s done here in town, but I
haven’t seen or talked to him. I may have driven by the high school
a few times looking for a glimpse of him, but that didn’t happen,
either. So it’s all down to tonight.

“Stop fidgeting,
Aud,” Stella tells me, as she zips my dress up.

It’s coal grey, with
a high neck and a mermaid bottom. The fabric is shiny, and there are
some interesting pleats and seams. It accentuates my curves, and is
totally sexy while still being classy. The only jewelry I’m wearing
is a pair of earrings that have large black opals leading to a shower
of diamonds. They have their own bodyguard, as if I couldn’t take
down anyone who tried to take them off of me. I couldn’t tell him
that, so I just smiled and told him I’d do my best to stay in his
sights all night.

Tegan and Reina take a
good amount of time on my hair, finally deciding that it should go
up. It’s in braids, and swirls, all of it crossing over each other.
They thought about leaving a few strands loose, but didn’t want to
cover my earrings, so they worked those in as well. I don’t even
know how I’ll get it down later, but I don’t have to worry about
that now. It looks amazing, and I feel great, too.

“All conversation is
going to stop when you walk into that ballroom tonight,” Darcy
says.

“That’ll be for
Joel, not me.”

Zack set me up with his
friend, Joel Cruz, the bad boy of baseball. He’s going to be in
town for at least six months while he recovers from an injury, and
plays with the local minor league team. There’s no doubt he’ll be
called back up once he’s ready, but until then, he’s been keeping
the tabloids busy.

“He’s really a nice
guy, he just likes to keep up the bad boy image a little too much,”
Ainsley tells me. “You might actually like him.”

“He’s way too young
for me. I appreciate him helping me out, but I’m sending him off to
his groupies as soon as we leave the party.”

“There’s nothing
wrong with a younger man,” Stella says.

“Then why doesn’t
Kace have a trophy?” Ellie asks her with a smirk.

“Or at least a
medal?” Isa adds.

“Some of us don’t
need to buy those things for out men. Our screams are enough reward,”
Tegan says. “And you can be sure I’m screaming every night.”

“Besides, they all
want something now. The two of you ruined it for all of us and I, for
one, am not caving,” Faith tells us.

“Complain all you
want, but you all know you’ve been getting extra Os since Isa and I
gave our prizes out. You want to thank us, but your pride won’t let
you.”

“You’re welcome,”
Isa says, and I laugh out loud.

“Our little Isa has
definitely come out of her shell.”

“Tease all you want,
but when Blake hears about the awards, he’s going to want one,
too.”

“You say that like
it’s a foregone conclusion that I’ll have him again, Isa.”

“Because you will. I
was there with you for those few days, and I saw the way he was with
you. He loves you.”

“Reina said that,
too.”

“If Tegan lets me
borrow one of her hats, I’ll throw it in the ring, too,” Ainsley
says.

“Me too,” Darcy
chimes in.

“Thank you all for
saying it. The problem isn’t me worrying about whether he loves me
or not—he’s already told me he loves me. I just don’t know if
it’s enough. His daughter has to come first, and I wouldn’t have
it any other way. She needs her parents to be together.”

“No, Aud. She
wants
her parents together. She doesn’t need it,” Reina says.

“It’s the same
thing in her mind, and I won’t have her let down because of me.”

“I get it. Lord knows
I understand all about Baby Daddy’s and the angst that comes from
them,” Tegan tells me, “but Jeanne is going to realize pretty
quickly—if she hasn’t already—that her parents don’t belong
together. I wouldn’t have stayed with Caleb if he hadn’t come to
his senses and stopped acting like an idiot. And he wouldn’t have
stayed with me if he didn’t forgive me, and ask for his own
forgiveness. We were both wrong about things, and we had to own
those. From what I found out about Misha when I was researching her,
she just throws money at her daughter, and only looks out for
herself.”

“Even after what she
did, Jeanne deserves parents who care for her.”

“Like a great dad,
and an amazing step-mom,” Faith says.

“We’re nowhere near
that point. Remember, the man was once a boy who broke my heart.”

“Some teenage boys
are idiots, but when they grow up into good men, they’ll do
everything they can to make up for it. Over and over again, even when
you tell them they’re forgiven.”

“Complaining, Teeg?”

“Hell no. I told you
I scream every night.”

She also gets flowers
at least once a week, and we take turns babysitting Ethan at least
twice a week while Caleb romances her. In the grand scheme of things,
what Caleb did to Tegan was much worse than what Blake did to me.
There’s no competition, because bullying and slut shaming are bad,
whether it’s your boyfriend or the boy you wish held that title.
Hearts aren’t selective when they’re breaking, and you can grow
up to be amazing while still remembering the girl you were back then.

Not one woman in the
Society is free from insecurities. We have different ones, but
they’re all there, keeping us humble as we try to overcome them.
Sometimes those tough conversations with ourselves are the hardest
part of the day. I’ve been shot, and I know that while bullets
hurt, they also heal. Words stay with you for a long time. More than
twenty years, sometimes.

Blake

I knew I wasn’t
prepared to see Audrey again, but I didn’t realize just how much it
would hurt, especially when she doesn’t walk into the ball alone. I
recognize the guy who’s with her, and I know his reputation. My
fists are clenched as I think about her in bed with him. Throwing her
head back as she comes on his dick, taking his dick in her mouth. The
comments I’m hearing around me aren’t helping.

“I think Audrey gets
sexier every time I see her. I wouldn’t kick her out of my bed.”

“I shouldn’t be
surprised that she’s here with Joel Cruz. He may be young, but he’s
supposed to be a stud. You’d need to be. I mean, just look at her.”

“And coupled with
that brain of hers. I mean, damn, she’s the total package. The
perfect
package.”

“You have no idea,”
I think, or at least I thought I was only saying it in my head. When
Misha glares and conversation stops, I realize I said it out loud. Oh
well.

“You’ve been with
Audrey?” the guy next to me asks, with more than a little bit of
awe in his voice.

“I don’t kiss and
tell. Besides, aren’t you all married? To the women standing next
to you?”

One of the women laughs
as she explains things to me. “Audrey is at the top of all of our
free pass lists. And I doubt you’ll find a woman or man in this
room who won’t tell you the same thing. If we had a chance, we’d
all be in bed with her.”

“What is so damn
special about her? I know she’s hot now, but you should’ve seen
her in high school. She was the Nerd Queen, braces and glasses
included.”

“She’s still
brilliant, and that only makes her hotter. There’s rumors that
they’ve wanted to award her the Nobel Prize a few times, but she’s
turned them down, preferring to keep the attention off of her.”

I’m not completely
surprised by that. I understand why she can’t be out there,
accepting awards. She gets enough attention for being part of the
Corrigan & Co. Foundation, but that probably works for going
undercover. Being a Nobel Prize winning scientist would be a harder
angle to work.

“You should see her
volunteering with us,” Melinda Brown says. “She’s amazing with
everyone at Opportunity Village.”

“And she does every
charity run here in town. All of the women who work for that
foundation do. It’s quite a sight, watching ten hot women running
together. Especially at the Color Run, when they’re being splashed
with paint. I couldn’t finish the race last year.”

“I’m bored,”
Misha says. “Let’s go talk to some
other
people.”

She’s not bored,
she’s fuming. Audrey is obviously the preferred choice of everyone
here. Misha can’t handle being second, or in this case, I’d say
closer to twentieth, factoring in all The Society women, the Griffin
wives, and a couple of their friends. In this room, their brains and
compassion are just as alluring as their beauty.

Misha has the looks—and
she’s not stupid by any means—but she definitely lacks the
compassion. It comes across loud and clear and diminishes her beauty,
at least to those who care about more than putting her picture on a
billboard. This crowd cares, and I doubt she’ll find anyone here
who would choose her over Audrey.

I give an apologetic
smile to the couples we were standing with, and let myself be dragged
away. When I see where she’s going, I have to hold back a laugh.
This is not going to go well for her, and I’m happy to stand back
and let her crash. Especially after I heard her on the phone talking
about boarding school for Jeanne today. Not going to happen. Never
gonna happen. If I hadn’t already vowed to be rid of her tomorrow,
hearing her talk about sending our daughter away so we can have
“alone” time would’ve sealed her fate.

“Hi,” she says,
approaching Candi Griffin. The world-renowned photographer looks her
up and down, and then turns away. “Hello. I want to book a photo
shoot.”

“There’s a two year
waiting list,” Candi tells her with a sigh. “Go online and add
yourself to it if you’d like. I vet the list, though, so you may
not get in.”

“Don’t you know who
I am?”

“Yeah. I know
exactly
who you are,” Candi tells her with a smile, and then turns to the
side. “Hey, Aud, do you need any pictures for anything? Anything at
all? Because I can fit you in any time you want.”

“You bitch.”

Candi stands up
straighter before she answers. “Owned and accepted. Bye now.”

She turns her back, but
Misha’s not giving up. She hates being ignored. Ryan Griffin is her
next “victim.” “You’re Ryan Griffin.”

“I am,” he tells
her with an amused smile.

“I need a house.”

“I’m not building
you one.”

“My fiancé and I
need something bigger,” she insists, grabbing my arm, and pulling
me towards her.

I hear a gasp, and know
it’s Audrey. Misha tries to hold onto me, but I pull away, and
turn. I see Audrey moving through the crowd towards the door, and I
start to go after her. “Where do you think you’re going?” Misha
asks, gripping me like her life depends on it.

I pull free and look
her in the eye. “You just lied to hurt the woman I love, and now
I’m going after her to remind her what a liar you are.”

“What will Jeanne
think?”

“Jeanne and I both
want you gone tomorrow.”

“What? No. We’re
back together.”

“We’re nothing,
Misha. Abso-fucking-lutely nothing. Now let go of me.”

“I’ll ruin you.
I’ll ruin you both.”

“Go ahead and try,”
I say as Reina nods at me. She’ll take care of Misha.

I find Audrey outside,
leaning on a short wall as she takes deep breaths. “She was lying.
I’m not her fiancé. I’m not her anything.”

“You’re living with
her.”

I close the distance
between us, and turn her to face me. I cup her face with one hand,
and take her hand in my other one. “I never touched her. I swear
it. I even put locks on my bedroom door.”

“I bet that went over
well,” she says with a small laugh.

I shrug. “She tried
to break in once, but it didn’t work.”

“You didn’t have to
lock her out.”

“Yes, I did. She
would’ve burned the house down if she’d walked in and found me
getting myself off while I moaned your name.”

“Blake.”

“I miss you so much,
Dree. So fucking much.”

“I miss you, too. We
need to talk.”

“Tomorrow. Unless
you’ll be will the player, that is.”