Bastard’s Baby(140)
In Thailand, though, I had gotten much stronger. Muay Thai fighting was all about throwing punches and kicks. Trent knew the sort of stuff I’d learned over there, but he had never actually watched me practice it. As far as he knew, I was still that same Judo guy he remembered.
That fact changed my game plan. That plus a hundred other factors went into my planning and made my head spin.
Which was why I didn’t even notice when Alexa walked down into the basement. I was too deep in my own head, envisioning the fight, going over my moves, as I finished my sit-up reps.
“Hey,” she said, yanking me out of my daze.
I looked up at her. She was sitting on the bench press machine, her legs crossed. She was leaning back on her hands, making her breasts jut out from her chest. I couldn’t help but look up and down at her body.
I hadn’t seen her much in the last two days. As far as I knew, it was Tuesday, but I wasn’t keeping good track.
“Are you busy?” she asked.
“Nah. Just finished.” I stood up and walked over to my bag, grabbing my towel.
“How’s it going?”
I shrugged. “About as good as it can.”
“What do you mean?”
“Fight’s on short notice, but I’ll be ready.”
“How long do you usually get?”
“Months, at least.”
“Wow.” She paused and sat forward, looking away. “Maybe this isn’t a good time.”
I could tell she had something she wanted to say, but clearly it was a little uncomfortable for her. I realized I’d probably been neglecting her and our little blackmail issue.
“Now is a good time.” I wiped the towel across my brow and leaned up against the wall across from her.
“It’s about Madison.”
“The assistant.”
She nodded. “I went and saw her.”
I raised an eyebrow, surprised. I had planned on dealing with that, but my workouts and preparation had gotten intense, and it had slipped my mind.
Still, I hadn’t expected her to go and talk to the girl herself. “What happened?”
“Well, your mom wanted to have lunch with me, so I used that as an excuse.”
“Cindy did?”
“Yeah. Something about wanting to be a family?”
I laughed, grinning at her. “We’re a pretty close family already.”
She blushed. “Yeah, well, she doesn’t need to know that.”
“So how did it go?”
“Lunch was fine, I guess.”
I smirked at her. “I mean with the assistant.”
“Oh.” She paused, her discomfort growing. I wanted her to spit it out, but I decided to let her take her time. I didn’t want to spook her or something.
“Well,” she said, speaking slowly, “I found out some pretty interesting stuff.”
“Do tell.”
“First of all, she’s not really our problem.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, she paid for the pictures and everything, but she’s not really the one blackmailing us.”
I let out an annoyed breath. This whole thing had been a long lesson in failure. We’d been so sure at least two other times that we’d had the culprit, and now I was finding out that we had hit another dead end?
“But I know who it is,” she said quickly, probably sensing my anger.
“You sure? Or is this just going to lead to ten more people?”
“No, really. It’s her boyfriend. Well, ex-boyfriend now, I guess.”
“Who is he, some dickhead that hates the tech industry or something?”
“I think you should sit down,” she said softly.
“Why? I don’t care about some liberal arts pussy. Just tell me his name and I’ll take care of him.”
“His name,” she said slowly, “is Trent.”
I blinked at her. “Okay. That’s a weird coincidence.”
“It’s not a coincidence, Cole. Well, it is, but not how you’re thinking.”
I stared at her for a second, a strange feeling wheeling around in my gut. “Spit it out, Alex.”
“Madison used to work PR for UFC, which I guess is the company that runs MMA fights.”
I nodded, confirming what she said. I thought the room might begin spinning.
“Well,” she said, “Madison met Trent while she was doing that job. Your Trent. Then she got the job as Cindy’s assistant, basically by accident, and lucked into those pictures.”
“You mean she didn’t pay for them?”
“No, she did, but she wasn’t coming after us. She was just looking for some pictures to sell to some tech blogs in the area.”
“Trent . . .” I said, trailing off.
“Trent was her boyfriend. He saw the pictures and knew what he had. Trent is the one blackmailing us, Cole.”