Page 51 of Beneath the Blindfold

She turned to face me. Even confused, she was still so fucking beautiful. Her blue eyes peered up. “Then, why’d you keep it from me?”

If we had a chance at long-term, I needed to come clean with her about everything. I sucked in a deep breath and prayed I wasn’t going to fuck this all up. I wanted to do the right thing. Better late than never, right? “I don’t want secrets between us no more.”

I put one foot in front of the other and made my way to her. She didn’t move as I lifted my hand and set it on her cheek, but her pupils got big and she tensed. She sensed whatever I was about to say was gonna be serious.

I got it out quick, like it’d be less painful that way, which was stupid. It was going to hurt her no matter what. “Tariq came here.”

She jolted. “When? After the divorce?”

I opened my dumb mouth, but nothing came out, and her eyes turned hard. She stepped backward, out of my hold.

Her tone was razor-sharp. “When?”

She thought it was just one time, because that was probably all her self-preservation would let her. Spared her the worst of it. Tariq had cheated and lied to her for years, and he’d forced me to do it too, but no more. I was fucking done.

“Courtney.” I wanted to soften the blow, but couldn’t. “He was a regular.”

She gasped like I’d tackled her, and she threw her arms over her chest. It was defensive. Trying to protect herself from the terrible shit I’d hidden.

I’d never felt so miserable in my goddamn life. It hurt like a motherfucker watching her suffer. “I’m so fucking sorry. I didn’t run this place when he first came around—”

“A regular,” she spat at me. Fire was in her eyes, and they burned hotter as she put it all together. “Wait a goddamn minute. He was coming here before you took over?” Her face twisted with horror. “Tariq was fucking girls at this club for years . . .and you knew about it?”

My mouth was bone dry. My throat closed up, but I pushed the word out anyway. It was quiet and guilty as hell. “Yeah.” My arms weighed a million pounds, dragging my shoulders down. “I wanted to tell you, I fucking swear, but Tariq . . . He was on the list before I found out.”

Joseph had a strict policy about clients’ identities staying secret—and me? I followed rules. So many years of football made it impossible not to. I put order and loyalty on top of everything else. I did what the boss said, right up until I got to be the boss.

It wasn’t an excuse, and she wasn’t having it, either. Courtney’s face was still stuck on horror. “How the fuck could you not tell me?”

“He made me promise and he was supposed to be my boy.” It sounded even worse saying it out loud. “It fucking killed me, knowing. I told him every goddamn time how he was fucking everything up, but he wouldn’t listen. Jesus, I’m so sorry.”

Her face crumbled, and panic gripped me. I was supposed to be her friend and I’d betrayed her. And, shit, I was gonna lose her over this.

“Keeping my mouth shut about Tariq was the biggest mistake I ever made,” I said.

She pulled her shoulders back, trying to look strong. “You’re right. And getting on the table downstairs was mine.”

It would have stung less if she’d slapped me. I stood fucking paralyzed as she pushed past me and stormed toward the door. She was almost through it when I snapped back into action. “Wait. Please, Court.”

She didn’t.

I chased after her, my big footsteps booming on the stairs as we went down. She was moving so fast, it was almost a sprint, and then it was. She hit the door to the front lounge and barreled through it.

I pushed the button on my comm pack. “D, where you at?”

He didn’t get a chance to answer because Courtney pushed open the door to the security entrance and ran face-first into his chest. She bounced off of him and rolled right, moving toward the door to the street.

Deiondre got one look at my face and went for the door, beating her to it. He threw his black ass in front of it, stopping her, but like I’d taught him, he kept his tone friendly, no matter the situation. “Hold up a sec, girl.”

“Get the fuck outta my way.”

Deiondre was like twice her size, but even he flinched at her cold words. It sliced at me. Courtney was my best friend. I’d made her laugh, seen her cry, but I’d never heard her sound likehimbefore. Five years being married to Tariq, and this was the first time she’d done it.

“C’mon, let’s talk about this,” I pleaded.

She barely moved her head, like I wasn’t worth the trouble. She turned just enough to give me a profile. “No. I can’t even look at you right now.”

She shut down and shut me out. There was no getting through to her right now. Time was what she needed. I looked at my security guard and nodded for him to step back. “It’s cool, D.”

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