Page 37 of A Dark Duet

“What are you going to do with the sweater? Isn’t that one a little too small for you?”

“It’s not for me. It’s for her.”

He raises his eyebrows. “You want her wearing a sweater with your name on it?”

“Yeah, in here at the gym, so she doesn’t distract me when she comes inside or anyone else. You saw Nick sniffing like a bitch in heat.”

“Whatever. Remember, no distractions. Stop leading her on if your intentions are to not be with her. You’re undefeated, Nate.”

“I know. Catch you later, brother.”

I get in my car and know the shitstorm that must wait for me at home. She leaves tomorrow and comes back Tuesday for the lessons to begin. It’s not too bad and I at least have her company at the house. I get in my car and drive home. I notice it’s silent once I open the front door. I walk through the kitchen to the hallway that leads to the guest bedroom and stop when I see a paper on the counter.

Nate,

I’m sorry I had to leave, Brie needs me to help her out with her mom. I will be back in time to begin the lessons with the girls as promised.

Your friend,

Giselle

Great! I acted like a total dick to her the whole day and can’t even make it up to her. I woke up with awful nightmares and didn’t want her to see me all fucked up. It was best to just let it pass, and I could take out my anger at the gym. It’s the same nightmare lately with my dad waking me up with cigarette burns and then slapping me to get me up and ready for school, wearing one of the few pairs of pants I had. I had to learn to wash them with a bar of soap and hang dry them. No one would wash my clothes for me and I didn’t want to go to school smelling like a corpse. I had to figure it out when my clothes smelled, and the older kids would make fun of me. I had to survive.

I crumble the letter and throw it across the island. Fuck! She left without calling me and didn’t even wait until I came back. I could have taken her or even gone with her, but I know my training comes first. I will just wait until she comes back. I can at least text her to see if she made it okay.

Me: Hey, I got your note. I would have taken you. Please let me know you got home safe.

N

I wait until three hours pass and I know she would have landed already if she took a flight, but I keep checking my phone like a love-struck fool.

Nothing.

She never texts me back.

Giselle

When I called Brie to tell her what happened, she asked me to come down and help her with her mom, and I didn’t want her visiting her mom alone at night.

Her mom called her, telling her Jack was there demanding money for some drugs she bought, and he needed to collect payment or he would hurt her. Brie told him she would pay him, but to please not hurt her mother, Victoria.

Victoria is an addict and is too far gone for help. We have tried everything to get her to quit smoking crack and having to prostitute herself. When I arrive from taking the next commercial flight to Sioux Falls, Brie is already waiting for me to head to her mom’s trailer.

“I can’t believe you agreed to come, Giselle.”

“Of course, you’re my best friend and the only person in this world I have left. I can’t let you meet up with some drug dealers to pay them all by yourself. How did your mom sound when she called?”

“Strung out, like always, and incoherent. Rambling that if I didn’t come and pay Jack, he threatened to kill her.”

“How much this time?”

“Fifteen hundred.” Shit, that will take two to three weeks to make up, now that I agreed to help Nate with the girls. Fuck it, I still have money from dancing.

“I will pay you back, Giselle. I know we were almost there to open the dance studio like we planned. Now you are going to learn how to operate one doing this for Nate.”

“Yeah, he doesn’t really know what I want to do in the future. We never talked about it and I think he is just concentrating on his upcoming fight and doesn’t have room for anything else right now.”

“Did you tell him why you needed to leave?”

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