Page 3 of Nick's Secret Baby
“And if that changes, you’ll tell me?”
“Of course.”
Chapter Two
Nick
Six Months Later
Wealwayshadashit ton of work to do before closing down for the holiday week and, as usual, my brothers were nowhere to be found. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. Kane was chasing tail in some nightclub and Jack was lamenting over his life’s decisions back home in Whitewood. I get it. The pressure from our parents around the holidays is way worse than anything you could imagine. My mother has her traditional Christmas wish list of everyone she wants her children to settle down with and there’s a lot of us, so it’s a long list. Ironically enough, she never had a person picked out for me. I guess as the oldest out of the bunch, she figured I’d be the first to marry, but that was so far from my mind it was scary. With six kids, and over twenty foster kids that had been in and out of my parents’ lives, I was always the oldest and the most responsible of the crew. Therapists used to say it was my need for acceptance that drove me to always be the helping hand. Now, as an adult, I wished some of that drive would go away.
I had been staying at our apartment in New York City for a few weeks now. We often traveled back and forth between here and Whitewood whenever we had large contracts we were working on, and this year had been a blessing. We had a ton of commercial construction jobs in both places, which meant more staff and more responsibility. Tonight was for me, though. I was headed to The Pendulum on my hunt for Ansley. I knew someone knew where she was and I was getting pretty sick of being avoided. We had an agreement. She was my submissive for the better part of a year and because of that, we were exclusively with each other. Then, about six months ago, she just disappeared.
Beckett Haynes, the owner, was a friend, and he assured me she was fine. She worked for the club and when she put her notice in, she had told him she was busy with personal issues and couldn’t keep up with the hours. I know she had been by a few times after that since she was still a member, but then suddenly, she was gone. It was like she gave up on the lifestyle and me. It stung more than I had expected, but I did what I could to move on. I didn’t want another full-time sub. Ansley was perfect, and no one else really compared. But, if someone needed a top for a scene or a third to play with, I’d volunteer my time, but my heart was never into it. I never thought I’d fall for a submissive, but once she was gone, I had wondered if that was what really had happened.
It was the third night in a row that I’d come to the club. The third night of watching and waiting, looking to see if maybe she’d show, asking questions to find out if someone knew something, but I had already been here over an hour and the most I’d accomplished was going through work emails on my phone. I knew the members and the staff well. My brothers and I had been coming here for years, so it wasn’t like I was going to stumble upon some new clue. It pissed me off and needing Ansley was turning into an obsession. The problem was, I knew practically nothing about her. I had her cell number, and her name... Ansley Grant, but that was about it. We talked a lot about my work, my family, my hometown but not nearly enough about her. I knew where she went to college and she started at the club shortly after graduating. We talked about her future, not her past, and that left me with a whole lot of nothing. She was over ten years younger than me and we lived very different lives. At thirty-five, I was running a multi-million dollar construction company with my brothers. At twenty-three, Ansley was still trying to find her way through the world.
“Hey man, need another?” I looked up at the bartender, who had been plying me with more alcohol than I usually drank. It didn’t matter. I had no desire to play tonight.
“Yeah, sure.”
I watched as he reached behind him and pulled a bottle of the sweet amber liquor I loved. Bourbon was the answer to too many things in my world, which is why I rarely drank this much. My parents had adopted me after my mother overdosed. I was thirteen and remembered it like it was yesterday. As a kid, I drank and abused anything I could get my hands on to numb the pain. As an adult, I learned there were other ways. The only vice I had left was the occasional bourbon and a shit ton of sex.
“Master Beckett was asking about you earlier today.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, one of the waitresses told him you had been hanging around all week looking for Ansley.”
“A lot of good that’s done me.”
“I might be out of line, but have you considered just asking him for her address? I mean, you guys are friends, right? He knows you’re not some psycho.”
I let out a dry laugh. “No, not a psycho. However, losing someone you care about sure can make you feel that way.”
“He’s here if you want to talk to him. He hasn’t been out to the floor yet and probably won’t stay long. Rumor has it he’s engaged or something, but no one’s met the girl.”
I took a minute to contemplate my next move. Talking to Beckett about Ansley made it all real. Right now I was still living in this world of limbo, trying to pretend it didn’t bother me when really I wanted to tear the entire city apart to find her. The only thing going for me was I was the only one who knew how badly I needed her, but I had to know where she was. I wanted to know if she’d left me for someone else. Leaving the club was another red flag. Ansley didn’t have any family that she spoke about, so what personal issues could go on that she wouldn’t have told me about?
I pushed back from the bar and left a hundred for the bartender. Drinks were fucking expensive, and he deserved a good tip. I walked through the club and nodded to a few people I knew. I was stopped once by a sub who wasn’t collared looking for a partner for the night, but I declined. By the time I made it to Beckett’s office, word had made it to him that I was headed that way. The guy who worked as his personal security reached for the handle and opened the door.
“He’s waiting for you.”
“Word travels fast around here.”
“Cody gave us a heads-up you may stop by.”
I nodded my head and walked into Beckett’s office to find him on the phone.
“Okay, no, I’ll be home soon. I promise you she’s not here. I just have one more meeting and I’ll be back.”
I took a seat and smirked in his direction as he held his finger to his lips, making sure I didn’t blow his cover. When he hung up, he took a deep breath and looked at me.
“Hiding from the missus?”
“So you heard?”
“Cody has a big mouth.”
