Training the SECRET (Corrigan & Co #6) (15 page)

“He said that he
wouldn’t beat him. Not that he couldn’t, but he
wouldn’t
.”

“I get that.”

“Then tell me, so I
can, too.”

He sighs, and I can
feel the weight of what he’s carrying through the phone. “I’m
going to give you a name. You can find a number for her yourself, I’m
sure. Just know that there’s no going back once you call.”

“What do I say when I
call?”

“Tell her you want to
meet about Nate Anderson. Say that you’re his manager.”

“And then, what? I go
meet her at her office?”

“She doesn’t have
an office, and you have her come to you. Do not go to her. It’s
important that you keep control of the meeting, no matter what you
hear. She’s going to be looking for weakness, because that’s what
she preys on.”

“If she can meet me
today, I’ll make Brent leave early. I don’t want him here.”

“Smart girl. Her name
is Cecile Deveraux. The rest is up to you.”

“Thanks, Heath.”

“You may not be
saying that when you learn the truth—or at least her part of it—but
I think you need to know at least that part in Nate’s history.”

“Don’t tell my
dad.”

“I’ll give you
until tomorrow, but I
do
have to tell him. He’s more than my boss.”

“I know, and again,
thanks.”

I hang up with him, and
message the name to Ainsley, asking her to find me contact
information. She gets back to me within minutes, and I take a deep
breath before dialing. The phone rings so much that I think no one
will answer, but she does.

“Hello.”

“Ms. Deveraux?”

“
Madame
Deveraux, yes.”

She has no accent, so I
don’t know why she’s pulling this French crap, but whatever. “My
name is Jade Garrett, and I am representing Nate Anderson in his
upcoming fight. I would like to meet with you if possible.”

“Nate wants back in?”

“Possibly.”

“You can come by my
home today.”

“No. You can come to
my office at three this afternoon. Garrett’s Gym. See you then.”

I hang up before she
can say anything else. I’m taking what Heath said about keeping
control to heart. I’m scared, so scared, of what I’ll learn, but
I have to know. I need the information in order to save Nate, which
is all that matters to me right now.

Nate

I feel like such a
coward, running away from Jade—and the fight. I know I need to go
back, but I also know what that means. I need to tell her about
Cecile. About how she saved me, and also destroyed me, all at once.
There’s more she needs to know, but I can hold off on that for a
little bit longer. I shouldn’t wait, but I’m taking one demon at
a time. Cecile is the baddest, but she doesn’t own the secret that
will cost me Jade. Just the one that will make her look at me with
disgust—or pity. I’m not sure which will be worse.

Because I’m such a
bastard, I call my girl, knowing this may be one of the last times
we’ll have a “normal” talk. The call goes to voicemail, but I
don’t leave one. She’ll see my missed call, and call me back.
Which she does a few minutes later.

“Hi, Angel.”

“Hey. Sorry I
couldn’t pick up. I was talking to Heath.”

“Is your dad okay?”

“Yeah. The medicine
they have him on is working, and resting is helping him, too.”

“You haven’t told
him that I left.”

“No. I need him to be
stress-free.”

“I know. I shouldn’t
have left.”

“I won’t say it’s
okay that you did, because I never want to be apart from you, but I
need for you to do whatever you have to in order to be okay with your
choice.”

“I haven’t chosen.
I’ve been working out every day. Not like I do there, but still.”

“Leaving was a
choice, Nate.”

I hear the pain in her
voice, and it slices right through me. “I swear to you that it
wasn’t. I just needed to think.”

“Without me.”

“That’s not how it
is. I didn’t take Aiden with me, or call Matt to be here. It’s
not you I’m trying to get away from.”

“Don’t lie to me. I
can take almost anything else, but please don’t lie. You didn’t
take Aiden because you wanted him here to watch over me. And you
didn’t call Matt, because like the rest of us, you want his
marriage to Reina to work out. So you won’t ask him to leave her
side. It’s me you left, and I’m trying to be okay about that and
not make you feel bad or guilty. So please don’t lie.”

“I was running from a
secret, and yes, from you. Because I can’t bear to think about how
you’re going to look at me once you know.”

“I’ll look at you
the way I always look at you—like the man I love. It doesn’t
matter what you did in your past. That’s the past, Nate. What I
can’t deal with is the shit you’re pulling now. And I should
probably hang up before I say more, because there’s no going back
once I put it out there.”

“You can say anything
to me, any time. Yell, scream, curse me, but never hold back what
you’re feeling.”

“So you can resent me
because I asked you to fight and now I want to ask you to come home
to me so my bed isn’t cold and empty every morning?”

“You didn’t ask me
to fight, but you could’ve. You could also ask me to come back, but
that’s what it would be—asking. The answer would be up to me so
how could I possibly resent you?”

“You will. Maybe not
consciously, but your subconscious will know.”

“Bullshit. I’m
coming home tonight, and that’s my choice.”

“You’re coming home
because I’m being needy.”

“No. I’m coming
home because waking up alone again tomorrow would be almost worse
than anything else I could imagine in life. I need you, Angel. I know
I’ve hurt you, and I have so much I owe it to you to tell you. The
least I can do—for both of us—is come back to you.”

That’s the truth, but
then again it’s not. I need to tell her about Cecile. I can’t
tell her why I needed to go to Cecile, but I can tell her that. I
have to. I just hope I’m strong enough to survive saying the words
she needs to hear, because she’s not the only one who’s suffered
from PTSD, and mine isn’t from a war, either.

“For how long this
time?”

Fuck if I don’t
deserve that. “Forever if you’ll have me.”

“Which means until
the rest of what you’re hiding from me is revealed.”

“It will be you that
leaves when that happens.”

“Then maybe you
should tell me now. It will hurt more if you come back, and then
things blow up again.”

“I
should
tell you, but I can’t.”

“How are we supposed
to have a relationship if you can’t trust me enough to know
everything about you?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you want this? Do
you really want me?”

“A million times,
yes. And then yes again.”

“Well then get your
ass back here, and show me.”

“If I leave now, I
should make it back around seven.”

She’s quiet for
almost a minute, but then she speaks. “I have a meeting at three,
but I should hopefully be done by then. I’ll meet you at the
house.”

“Is everything okay?”

“No, Nate. It’s
really not. Just come back to me, please. I know that makes me sound
like some weak and needy girl, and honestly I really don’t care at
the moment. I need you.”

“You’re not weak,
and I need you too. I’ll see you soon.”

“Okay.”

“Angel?”

“Yes?”

“I love you.”

“I want to believe
that.”

She hangs up without
returning those three little words, and it’s like a knife has cut
me deep. I knew she was mad, but this has gone beyond that. I need to
get back there, and try to make this right. Again. I’m hoping she’s
of the nine lives way of thinking and not the three strikes. Because
if it’s the later, I’m about to be out. And that—losing her
after I’ve finally allowed myself to have her—would be the end
for me. There would be absolutely nothing left for me to live for.

* * *

Jade

Brent doesn’t like it
when I tell him that he has to close the gym and leave early. I
remind him that I’m the boss, and so he clears out the place, and
then leaves. Ellie knows that I’m expecting someone, and is
watching the door for me, but I’m surprised when Aiden slams into
the office at 3:01.

“Don’t do this,
Jade. Do not let that woman up here.”

“I can’t live like
this, not knowing. She’s the key to what’s going on with Nate.
You’ve just proven that.”

“How did you even
find her? What do you know?”

“I asked Heath, and
he gave me her name. He wouldn’t tell me anything else. And I know
nothing. That’s the problem.”

“This could destroy
everything that you and Nate have.”

“We’ll have nothing
if I don’t know what’s going on. Why are you men so stupid?”

“Because we want to
protect you from the nastiness that we’ve had to see and be a part
of.”

“Maybe we don’t
want to be protected.”

“Maybe you should be
anyway.”

“Not today. She’s
coming up. You can stay if you want, but you damn well better not
interfere.”

“Oh, I’m staying if
that’s an option. I want to hear this bitch try and spin it.”

I nod and then call
down to Ellie to have her sent up. The door opens and I see a chic
looking woman of about sixty. She’s had some work done, but it’s
good. If I wasn’t trained to look for modifications, I probably
would have thought that she aged well, but that’s not the case.

“Ms. Deveraux, thank
you for coming.”

“I’ve already told
you it’s
Madame
Deveraux. Do not pretend that I didn’t or try and use my name as a
power play.”

“I don’t need to
pretend anything. I have the power here. I have Nate Anderson.”

“Which is the only
reason I’m here. I’m ready to negotiate.”

We both sit down, and I
start my fishing expedition. “What is it that you’d like?”

“I want what I had
with him sixteen years ago. I’ve seen pictures of him now, and I
know I could make even more money. I’ll give you thirty percent of
what I take in.”

“What percent will
Nate get?”

“Nate? He gets
nothing from me. When he needed it, he had a roof over his head and
food to eat. As well as my protection. Now he is free from needing
that which is why I hadn’t approached him.”

“Yet you came here
when I called.”

“I knew he secretly
craved what he had, but I didn’t think he’d admit it until you
called. I must admit that I was hoping to see him.” She looks over
at Aiden. “Is this another man from your stable?”

“No. ‘This’ is
fucking not,” Aiden says with venom in his voice.

“You say that now.
But once the women are touching and tasting you, you’d change your
mind.”

What the fuck? Oh hell
no. “Excuse me?”

“Oh dear. Nate didn’t
tell you what he’s having you negotiate? And I think you’re
sleeping with him. Are you? You are. You think you’re ‘with’
him, don’t you?”

I ignore the pitying
look on her face. “Nate did not discuss it with me, and the rest is
none of your business. If I’m understanding correctly, you were
selling
him.”

“That is such a
vulgar term, ‘selling.’ I was offering opportunities for women
who wanted something or other. There were several options.”

“Such as?” I ask,
trying to keep my voice calm as my blood boils.

“One of the most
popular was oiling him up before his fights. That was usually younger
woman who wanted their hands all over him.”

I think I may throw up,
and we’ve just gotten started. “How much?”

“$100 then, but we
could probably get $500 now.”

I look at Aiden, who
looks about as pissed as I feel. I need to know the rest, though. “Go
on.”

“After the oil,
another woman got the privilege of performing oral sex on him to
relax him a little more. I know there are those who think sex before
a match is a bad idea, but I’ve found that my boys and men enjoy it
and it makes then fight harder.”

“That’s not what
makes them fight harder and you fucking know it, bitch.”

“Aiden,” I warn. I
need to hear it all, even if I don’t want to. I look back at the
devil in front of me. “Please continue.”

“You didn’t ask but
that was $500 then, and let me tell you that once word got out about
how hung Nate is, I had waiting lists for that job. So many in fact
that I added an after fight option.”

I’m going to kill
this woman. I know that without a doubt. She is not going to walk out
of this room alive. What she did to my beautiful man—when he was
just a boy—deserves worse than death.

“Is that all?”

“No. He would strip
down and let the women look at him after the match while the sweat
and blood dripped off of him. It was a beautiful thing to see. There
was also the full body massage and the chance to soak in the Jacuzzi
with him. Women paid to towel him off, and then dress him. They could
caress and kiss any part of him except for his cock while they did
it. I couldn’t just give that away without a premium.”

“No of course you
couldn’t.” I don’t even try to hide the sarcasm from my voice.
She’s going to die anyway, so why pretend that I’m not pissed.

“Tell her what
happened if Nate lost a fight,” Aiden says.

“You know?”

“Yes.
Tell
her.”

She gets what can only
be described as an evil smile on her face. “That was my best money.
If Nate lost, the women got to pay $1000 to have sex with him. With
that magnificent cock of his, and his teenage stamina, I could
sometimes make $10,000 per night. More if the woman were willing to
share him.”

I’m out of my chair,
and she’s bleeding on the floor before she even knows I’m coming.
I pull her up by the front of her fancy dress. “Fight, bitch.
Fight. You’re not leaving this room alive either way, but I want
you to at least try and fight for your life.”