Page 71 of A Dark Duet

“You have been training for the past six hours. I know you’re the champ and want to keep your title, but you can’t burn yourself out. How’s the shoulder?”

The tinge of pain is like an annoying sting that won’t go away. I just pull through it during a fight and training. “Still bothering me like an annoying bitch,” I say, rolling my left shoulder to ease the sting. “I thought the massage sessions would help but so far it only relaxes me. The pain is still there.”

He quirks a brow. “Relaxing, huh? For you or for her.”

“Come on, Nate. You know I haven’t slept with Janine since she started. The only slipup was when she came on to me, kissing me, and I shut her down real quick. I have no interest in her whatsoever. Whatever we had in the past was what I consider a short fling and I ended it.”

With a stern voice, Nate says, “Letting her move into the apartment after Brie left didn’t help the situation either. I also think she got the wrong message when you ended things with Brie, and she took off.”

Wiping the sweat off my face and undoing the Velcro from my gloves, the sound echoing in the gym, I slide them off, clearly annoyed by him mentioning something I regretted doing. Not the apartment. Well, maybe letting her move into the apartment after I had Brie’s things removed, hoping her vanilla smell lingered, was a huge mistake, but I couldn’t kick her out when I needed a masseuse.

I regret the hateful words that spilled from my lips in front of everyone to the one woman that didn’t deserve an inch of my abhorrent attitude. My goals and my pride got in the way and then it was too late. She left. Everything I gave her was there in the apartment. She only took the things she came here with when she moved here from South Dakota. Which was basically the clothes on her back.

“I told you I don’t want to talk about Briana. I know I fucked up and I’ll own it.”

“Have you? Because Giselle doesn’t want to be around you unless she has to since it happened and it’s been three years, Jaden. Three years she hasn’t physically seen Brie. They only talk by phone and the conversations last ten minutes, if she is lucky.”

My brows rise, surprise etched on my face. “I didn’t know, Nate. I’m sorry. Is she okay?”

He follows me to the locker room as the lights turn on, sensing us walking through. “That’s the thing. We really don’t know. She tells Giselle she has been fine. Working and keeping to herself. When Giselle invites her over, she quickly declines. Blames it on work.”

“Where is she working?” I ask, entering the closed shower.

He lets out a breath that I hear through the door before turning on the shower, so the water is scalding hot.

“Don’t have a fucking clue, brother. She won’t say. She doesn’t talk about herself. Giselle thinks she is avoiding her, but she doesn’t want us to interfere. Giselle also told me to tell you she wants you to leave her alone.”

“No offense to Giselle.” Grabbing the towel to dry myself off before opening the door. “I have left her alone. As much as I hate to admit it, I’m no good for her. I never was. And I don’t deserve her.”

“Then I guess you don’t have to worry about her. Keep your attention on your next fight card and keep fucking your ring bunnies. That’s all you need and that is what makes you happy.” He moves to walk out while I’m getting dressed.

Following him to the entrance of the gym, I ask, “What is that supposed to mean?”

He walks outside after setting the alarm and locking up. “It means that you are happy how things are and that you shouldn’t worry about it. I promise not to bring her up anymore.”

Is he shutting me out from talking about Brie? Does he think I’m happy getting my dick sucked or fucking some random ring bunny? That I don’t miss her. I won’t admit it to anyone, but I do miss her. She was perfect. She never asked questions and never judged me. She respected my boundaries of not bringing her to my house. When she questioned me that day, I wasn’t used to it. Everything I did was on my rules, my time, and how I wanted them. She had every right though. If I saw some guy she’d had a fling with from the past rubbing on her, he wouldn’t be breathing. She was never wrong. I was wrong and it kills me that I hurt her. I failed us. The only thing I could do was make sure she was safe. Guilt claws my insides. I don’t know if she is safe because I don’t know where she is.

Opening the door to my Zenvo, I call out, “Hey Nate?” He stops in front of his car and turns around. “Is she safe?” I ask him.

His index finger scratches his brow. “I guess so. She must be.” I nod and slide into the car and head home.

Briana

Taking deep breaths, I wake up, bolting up from the corner of the floor in my blacked-out bedroom, drenched in sweat from another nightmare. It was the first time they came inside my room to brutally rape me. It was after I fell for Jace, and he spread rumors about me that I was a whore like my mother.

News like that in a small town travels fast. My mother’s drug dealers and drug-addicted friends got wind of it. Guess they figured it was true and they should try their luck when my mother was passed out from her last hit. No matter how hard I pleaded. No matter how hard I fought them, pushing the small dresser to block the door. It was no use. When an addict is on his high, it’s like they have superhuman strength.

When it was over, the next morning I went to a discreet clinic that addicts frequent and told them I was hooked on drugs and don’t remember what happened. The nurse didn’t believe me, but I insisted it was true, denying the help for drug withdrawal and instead got treated for other stuff like my swollen eyes, busted lip, and vaginal tearing.

They made sure I didn’t fall pregnant and treated me as a rape victim. I lied about my age since I was seventeen and changed my birth year to reflect that I was an adult. The type of people that were going in and out of the clinic were so strung out and being from a small town, no one questioned much since it was a free clinic for addicts.

No one back home knew I was being raped except the ones who did it and my mother and that fateful night when I mistakenly brought Giselle with me to help my mother. Giselle and the guys only thought it was Jack but there were two more.

It happened more than one time, but those memories are inside my head, and no one needs to know. Giselle is the only one that would care and she can’t do anything about it and it would kill me for her to get involved.

Making my way to my black-decorated bathroom to shower and clean the drenching sweat from my body, I let the tears from what I had to endure last night fall. Everything in my apartment is black. My bed with black sheets, black painted walls and furniture.

Everything is dark, just like my soul. When I blink under the spray of the shower, my eyes stinging from crying last night, shame and regret filter inside me. It was my first time in the VIP room and what did I do, I dry humped the guy. I’m officially a whore.

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