“Is the board still giving you trouble?”
“The board, the random assholes sending me death threats, my assistant. I could go on, but you get the picture.”
“Fuck, man. Death threats?”
“Yep. My mom’s bringing in some extra security or some shit like that for the big meeting and ball. I don’t think anyone will actually try to kill me, but I guess it’s better to be safe and alive than ignore it all and be dead.”
“Definitely. I don’t know how I can help, but if there’s anything you need, just let me know.”
“Do you have a hot girlfriend I can take as a date?”
I know he’s joking, because I haven’t had a girlfriend since junior high. At least until now. “Actually, I do have a girlfriend, and she’s very hot, but you can’t borrow her.”
“No shit? Good for you, my friend. It’s about time you settled down.”
“I’ve been settled for the last year.”
“About that, how’s the shoulder?”
“Great, actually. I got in a batting cage last night, and hit for hours. I was a little sore, but I did it. I can do it again.”
“I’m seriously happy for you. Looks like we’re both living our dreams.”
“Yes, we are. You just need to take that protection coming your way, and keep yourself alive.”
“Will do. I plan to be at your first game back on the field.”
“I wish I could be there for you at your meeting, but I don’t play with the big boys.”
“Your investment is greatly appreciated. Kiss your girl for me, and tell her I’m here waiting for when you screw up.”
“Vai se foder.”
“Nah, I’ll just find a girl to fuck. Talk to you soon.”
“Bye.”
We hang up just in time for me to pull into valet at the SLS hotel. I’m meeting my agent here for breakfast so we can go over my progress and have a plan in place for when I report to camp. We were both a little worried, so I can’t wait to tell him how my batting practice went last night.
“Hey, Dean,” I tell him, giving him a “bro” hug when he stands from the table.
“You’re in good spirits. Did you hit?”
“I did. Last night.”
“For how long?” he asks, trying to stay cautiously optimistic. I get it. He doesn’t want to get excited, only to find out I hit for fifteen minutes.
“Hours, man. I don’t even know how long I was going.”
“And today?”
“I iced it before going to bed,” I tell him, smiling as I remember how the ice pack slid down and made that beautiful little tit of Sierra’s cold, giving me the chance to warm it up. “I’m a little stiff today, but it’s not bad.”
“You’re going to PT today?”
“Yeah. I have an appointment at one. He should be able to loosen me back up, and then I’ll hit the cage again tonight.”
“The one at the field here?”
“No. Miles Corrigan got me access to one they have in an employee apartment building here. It’s state of the art.”
“I would imagine so. Everything that has the Corrigan name attached to it is the best. Especially those women they hire for their Foundation. Have you seen any of them?”
“Yes,” I say, thankful for the waitress coming by to take my order so I don’t have to look at him.
“And?” he asks once she’s walked away again.
“I’m seeing one of the interns.”
“Seeing? You don’t date.”
“Maybe I do now.”
“She knows your leaving, right?”
“Yeah. She knows.”
“She gonna follow you?”
“She’s not a bunny,” I say, pinning him with a glare.
“I didn’t say she was. Plenty of guys have fallen for girls who were willing to give up their jobs and move. You said she’s just an intern, right?”
“She said it’s her dream to work for the Foundation. She’s not moving.”
“You’re not thinking of quitting?” he asks suddenly, looking alarmed.
“No, and she’s already told me she wouldn’t ask me to. No matter what happens.”
“Are you in love with her?”
“I’m on my way there, yes.”
“Then good luck. It sounds like leaving her is going to be a real bitch.”
I nod. “I can’t imagine anything worse.”
Chapter 7
Sierra
“I’m sure you all know at least one of the reasons why I’ve gathered you all together today,” Reina says.
“Greta,” Camari offers.
“Yes. Greta. I want you to know that this is not the first time that someone who looked perfect on paper didn’t pass training here. As I tried to tell her, and all of you, your friendships with each other, and with all of us mentors, is more important that anything we can train you to do. Shooting a gun won’t help you when you’re outnumbered, and knowing how to hack into a communications tower isn’t beneficial unless there’s someone on the other side to hear you. None of us would have survived the things we have without each other. You don’t have to be BFFL like Stella and Tegan, but liking and respecting each other makes what we do that much easier. The girl next to you is the one who will pull you up on the obstacle course when you think you’ve had enough, or hold your hand the first time you get shot or stabbed. She’ll bring you ice cream when the man you love acts like an ass, and help him pick out your bouquet when he comes to his senses, and realizes you’re his everything.
“Between us, your mentors have been through almost every heartache and happiness you can imagine. We’re here for you now, and we want you to be here for each other. I’m going to give any of you the option to leave right now if you don’t think you can be that kind of a friend to the women in this room. I should have done it on the first day, although I doubt Greta would’ve left. She felt she deserved a place here, and not only physically injured Sierra over a man, but also showed no respect for Isa. I can tell you right now that I won’t stand for that. At all. Your mentors are all different, and that’s what makes us strong. We are strong, stronger than most people could ever hope to be.
“Isa may be quiet, Jade may get up in your face and cuss you out, and Tegan may blast that God awful country music out into the hallway, but deep down they’re all equally strong. Any one of them could take down the worst of the worst. We want you to be ‘you.’ No one here is a carbon copy of anyone else. There’s no mold to fit into. Yes, you need to pass your classes, because we’re giving you the skills to save yourself as well as the people we’ll be sending you out to protect. But I need to stress again that we can teach you so many things, but you have to want to be here, and want to support each other. Does anyone want to leave now?”
I look around at everyone. They’re all shaking their heads, and telling her that no, they don’t want to go. Jen knocks my shoulder, and I knock hers back. We both look at Neveah in front of us, and pull her back for a hug and kiss on the cheek. She’s like our little sister, and we love the hell out of her, even though we’ve only known her for a few weeks.
“I’m glad to see that none of you want to leave. Isa’s going to be assisting those of you who need extra help until we find a replacement for Greta. Which brings me to the other thing I want to address.”
“Can I say something first?” Tegan asks her.
“This is about the music, isn’t it?”
“Damn right it is. You always gotta complain about my country.”
“Only because I know it riles you up,” Reina tells her with a smile.
“I like country music,” Harlow yells out.
“Of course you do. You’re good people, Harlow.” Reina rolls her eyes, while Tegan sticks out her tongue at her. It’s cool to see this fun side of them together. “You can carry on now, Mrs. C.”
Reina lifts up her right hand, and flicks out her middle finger at Tegan, waving it back and forth a few times, before turning ba
ck to us. She smooths down her dress, and tries to hide her smile. The other mentors are cracking up behind her, but we’re doing our best to hold our laughter in. “Oh, go ahead,” she tells us, busting out with her own laugh. Tegan and her hug as they laugh into each other’s shoulders. It takes a few minutes, but we all calm down enough for her to continue.
“The second thing I want to discuss is the training. Although you’re all training together, you’re also all training differently. I wanted to address this, because while we told all of you that you’d be learning at your own pace, I’m hoping you talk to each other because some things may be confusing. Some of you are working intensely on the area that’s hardest for you, some of you are fully mastering the areas you’re strongest in, and the rest of you are working more on the things you’re just okay at. We didn’t decide this randomly. Isa and Ainsley analyzed your test scores and determined separately which areas each of you should focus on. Both of them came up with almost the exact same results, so that’s how we decided what you’d be doing. We’re expecting your training to last over a year. You’ll be helping out with some missions during that time, and in fact, mission work will be your final exam in some areas. Again, those areas will not be the same for all of you.
“We could’ve just put you all in the exact same classes, and had you work together on everything, but I meant what I said about you all being different and unique from each other, and even from us. You need to work in the way that is best for you, and yes, we used your tests, as well as other things we know about you, to decide how you we could help you learn in the best way possible. I can’t tell you it’ll always be the easiest, but I promise you, your leaning plan is the best suited for you, and what you need to learn.
“You all have some classes together, because you can’t build friendships if you’re a lone island out there on your own. You’re still on your own path in those classes, even when you’re working together. I don’t want any of you worrying about what your fellow recruits are doing, or if they’re learning something faster than you are. Because I can guarantee you that each of you is picking up something quicker than everyone else in one subject or another. How fast or slow you pass your training doesn’t matter to us. What we want to see is the woman who keeps trying, not matter how hard something is for her, until she overcomes the obstacles she’s facing. Every one of us believes that every one of you is that woman, and I want you to believe it, too. No. That’s wrong. I need you to believe you’re that woman. It’s the only way you’ll make it through training.”
“Damn, that was hot,” Matt Corrigan says from the back of the room.
“What are you doing here, Matteo?” Reina asks, trying to look stern, but failing.
“Watching my wife rally the troops better than Mel Gibson did in Braveheart. Or anyone else has probably ever done, ever. And like I said, it was hot.”
“Reina’s getting lucky tonight,” Stella sings out.
“Reina always gets lucky,” Matt replies with a smirk.
“I love it when you all talk about me like I’m not here. No really, I don’t. Can I finish my meeting now?”
“I think we got it. You can go have wild sex with your husband if you want, Reina,” Matisse tells her.
Her mouth opens and then closes again. We all smile at her and nod. “You’re all going to fit in perfectly here. My office now, Matt.”
“You know I love it when you’re bossy,” he says, swooping her up into his arms as she tries to walk past him.
She yelps, but then buries her face in his chest as we all clap and yell. I want that, what she has with Matt. I want a man who will respect me, but also tease me, and carry me to my office for afternoon sex.
I don’t want it with just anyone, though. I want it with the man I’ve fallen in love with. That sexy Brazilian baseball player who cooks for me and helps me learn Portuguese while blowing my mind in bed. The one who’s going to be leaving town, and me, in a little over a month. I should’ve never agreed to that deal, even though we didn’t stick to the terms. I thought he was trouble, but now I know he’s so much more: everything I can’t have.
* * *
Joel
“Thanks for letting me come by,” I tell Miles when he meets me in the lobby of Corrigan & Co.
“I can’t believe your therapist dropped you just because you did some hitting last night.”
“I can. I knew he was an ass, but I let it go since I was making progress.”
“Still. You said you didn’t hurt anything and you were able to hit for hours. He should be happy.”
“If he’d been the one to get me off the ass and into the cage, he would’ve. That was you, though, and I need to thank you for that, too. I owe you lots of thanks.”
“Save it until we see if Reina will help you out,” he advises, ushering me into an elevator
I seriously hope she will. When I called Miles to vent about my physical therapist dropping me, I had no idea that he might have a solution to my problem. Apparently, the Foundation has a full medical team, including a physical therapist, on staff. Miles said it’s because the people they help sometimes need to be hidden while receiving medical attention. I’m pretty sure that’s where Sierra was, too. I still hate that I couldn’t visit her while she was recovering, but I think I made up for it last night—and this morning.
“Hi, Xandy,” he greets his wife as we walk into the Foundation lobby. I still think it’s crazy that she’s a billionaire, yet works as a receptionist here. Miles insists that she loves it.
“Hi, King. Hi, Joel.”
“Hey, Alex. Is Reina available?”
“Umm…not really.”
“Is she in a meeting?”
“No.”
“Then what…oh, shit! Matt’s in there, isn’t he,” he says, moving towards the double doors down the hall. He’s already yelling for them to open up before he starts banging on the door.
I look at Alex, and she shrugs. “He can’t get in unless she lets him in, but he’s going to make a scene. It’s a brother thing.”
“I don’t have brothers. Or sisters.”
“Me neither, but I do have uncles. They’d be doing the same thing. In fact, I’m sure they do it to each other frequently.”
“I’ve met your uncles, so I’d say you’re probably right.” The Griffin brothers are super loyal to each other, but they give each other shit every time I see them.
I walk down the hall just in time to see Matt swing open the door and punch Miles. “Shut it, Kilo.”
Miles recovers and lunges for his brother. I stand at the door as they wrestle on the floor. Reina twists her hair up into a bun, and smiles at me. “I’m guessing you came here with Miles.”
“Uh, yeah. Should we stop them?”
“No,” she says, waving her hand at them. “They’ll get tired eventually. What can I do for you, Joel?”
“My physical therapist dropped me today, and Miles said you might have someone who could take over.”
“Why did you get dropped?”
“His ego was bigger than his muscles.”
“Some would say the same about you.”
“I used the batting cage at your apartments last night. It was the first time I practiced hitting since I got hurt, even though I’ve been doing rotator exercises for months. I did it for hours, and was only a little sore after. He was mad that I did it on my own.”
“You’re healing. That’s good.”
“Yeah. Spring Training starts in about a month. I just need someone to keep me progressing until then.”
“What if she tells you to ease up on the hitting?”
“She? Of course you have a female physical therapist.”
“I’d tell you about our male doctor to make you feel better, but if you have a problem with a woman telling you what to do, you’re in the wrong place.”
“She’s right about that,” Matt says as he comes up next to her and kisses her cheek.
His hair is a mess and h
e’s got cuts and bruises on his face. Neither one of them seems to think it’s anything unusual, and when I look over to Miles, he seems unfazed as well. I shake my head and tell them the truth.
“I’m fine with taking orders from a woman.”
“Okay, then. We still owe you for helping us out last year. I’ll give you access to our medical floor, but you need to understand that we keep it private for a reason. You will be met by one of the medical staff as soon as you get off the elevator, and your clearance will only allow you into the PT room with Waverly. Private patient rooms are off limits to you.”
“I understand. Thank you.”
“Don’t make me regret this, Joel.”
“I won’t.”
She picks up her phone and makes a call. From her side of the conversation, I know she’s talking to the therapist. When she hangs up, she writes something on a slip of paper and hands it to me.
“Have your records send to Waverly. She’ll review what she can, and meet you here tomorrow at ten sharp. When you get here, someone from security will put you in an elevator and send you down. Don’t be late.”
“I’ll be early. Thank you again. I mean it.”
Miles and I walk back out to the lobby and I stop short. My girl is there with her girls, looking hot as hell. She has a dark blue sports bra on with a loose black tank over it. Her long legs are in cropped leggings, she’s got tennis shoes on her feet, and her hair in a ponytail. I can tell they just came from working out, and damn, I want to lick the sweat from her neck.
“Joel!” she exclaims when she sees me.
“Olá, Gatinha.Como vai?”
“Oh hell, my ovaries just exploded,” the polished looking blonde next to her says, fanning herself. I can’t remember her name even though we met at the club that night I danced with Sierra. There was a time when I would’ve totally taken advantage of my accent, as well as my native language, but now it just makes me think of one girl.
Society Girls: Sierra Page 6
