Playing in SECRET (Corrigan & Co. Book 9) (24 page)

Quinn nods to my
mother, and I bend down so they can slide the dress over my head. I
stand straight and feel as it molds perfectly to my body. “I knew
we had it right,” Stella tells Quinn with a smile.

“We
are
a great team.”

“You’re both
awesome, now hand me some jewelry.”

“Impatient, Aud?”
Quinn asks with a laugh.

“Yes. I am.”

Stella takes a jewelry
box out of her bag. It’s Chopard, and when she hands it to me, I’m
a little scared to open it. She nudges me, and I flip it open, my
breath catching in my throat as I look down at the diamond covered
links. It’s gorgeous, and although I’m sure I could afford it, I
know that I didn’t.

“Where are the guards
that come with it? You borrowed it, right?”

“No. I didn’t
borrow it. Maggie bought it for you.”

I look at my mom,
worried that it will hurt her to see it, but she’s smiling as she
takes my hand and slides a stack of thin silver bracelets on my arm.
“Your father and I never gave these to you, because he was angry.
We want you to have them now.”

My relationship with my
parents has gotten much better over the last couple of months. We
talk at least once a week, and they’re planning a trip to Vegas
soon. They still won’t take money from me, but Matt arranged for my
dad to have a job with the new company that’s contracted with him.
He’s actually getting better pay and benefits, which I know are
probably coming directly from Matt himself, but he’d never admit
it, and I’ll never ask.

“I love them, Mama.
Thank you.”

“Would you like me to
do your hair? I remember how you wanted it before.”

“Yes, please.” I
loved the way she put my hair up with some down all those years ago.

My mother does my hair,
Stella does my makeup, and Quinn adds some yellow to the manicure I
had done yesterday. When they all deem me ready, I stand and follow
my mother into the living room. I stop short when I see Blake there
already, talking to my father. He’s got a sleek black tuxedo on,
and for the first time since he’s been gone, there’s a thick coat
of stubble covering the bottom of his face just the way I like it.

“Audrey, I have given
this young man permission to take you out tonight. I would warn him
to keep his hands to himself, but it’s a little too late for that.”

We all laugh. I called
my parents and told them I was pregnant once all of my friends and
Blake knew. They were happy, but I got a lecture about how I need to
get married soon. I have a feeling Blake got the same lecture
tonight.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

“You look gorgeous,
as always.”

“Thank you. You look
very handsome,
as always
.”

“I got you a
corsage,” he tells me, handing me s wrist corsage made of white
roses, which is just what I had hoped for all those years ago. I
realize that my mother must have told him, and I squeeze her hand
before holding out my bare wrist for him.

“She got you a
boutonniere,” Stella says, winking at me as she hands me a white
flower. I pin it on his lapel, and then he catches my hand, kissing
my palm as he smiles.

“How long have you
been here?”

“All day.”

“What?”

“Cooking you dinner
took a while.”

“You cooked me
dinner?”

“No. I cooked you
dinner while he failed miserably,” Matt says, smirking as he comes
out of the kitchen.

“He did not
fail
,”
Reina says, smacking Matt on the back of the head. “You’ve just
had more practice with tamales and tacos than he has.”

“It’s okay, Reina.
I know I suck. At least at the stuff we made today. I’m usually an
okay cook.”

“You tried,” I tell
him. “That’s what matters.”

“You mother told me
that she had cooked dinner for me all those years ago, and I wanted
tonight to be as close to what you wanted as I could make it.”

“Thank you, but you
didn’t have to do this.”

“Yes, I did. For both
of us.”

“Okay, well you two
have fun. We have to go get changed and head to the premiere. We’ll
see you soon,” Reina tells me.

“Thank you. All of
you. You don’t know what this means to me.”

“Yes, we do, and
you’re welcome,” Stella tells me with a hug.

They all leave, and
then Blake holds out his arm to me. I take it and walk out into our
small backyard with him, pausing to take in the twinkling lights in
the trees, and the candles on the tables. “This wasn’t in my
original plan.”

“It would’ve been
if you’d thought of it. And that’s what tonight is. Your perfect
prom, only better. You deserve so much more, and I’ll give it all
to you as we go through life together. This is just the beginning,
Dree.”

He’s right. It’s
the beginning. A new beginning for both of us. One we’re going to
explore together. I can’t even find my fear as I look into his
eyes. All I can see and feel is love.

* * *

Blake

Everything is going
according to plan so far, but I know we’re about to face our
biggest challenge. The red carpet isn’t easy for anyone, and since
Jesse already called me with a heads up, I know this one’s going to
be like the seventh circle of Hell. When the limo pulls up to our old
high school, I turn to Audrey, because she needs to know.

“Things are about to
get ugly.”

“Misha?”

“Yeah. She’s been
telling everyone how it’s the anniversary of our prom, and that’s
why I picked the date. You know I
did
pick this date for a reason, and I won’t let her make people
believe it has to do with her.”

“I’m okay with it.
I don’t need you to declare anything publicly. Everything you’ve
already done today has shown me how important I am to you.”

“You may not need it,
but I’m going to do it anyway. Tonight is all for you, and the
world should know that.”

“Okay. I can handle
her.”

“I know you can.”

Blake knocks on the
privacy window, and a minute later the door is opening, and I’m
following Blake out into the crowd. Flashbulbs are going off, and I
can barely see. I hold up my dress with one hand as Blake leads me to
the staging area at the beginning of the line, where I can at least
see clearly for a minute.

“You okay?”

“Yes.”

“Blake, there
you…are,” Misha says, her nostrils flaring when she sees me.

“Nice to see you
Mish. No, on second thought, it’s not. Now please excuse us. We
have a carpet to walk.”

“You can’t walk
with her. I told them…well, things.”

“I know exactly what
lies you told everyone. I’m about to set them all straight.”

“You can’t do
that.”

“Move out of the way,
or I’ll have security move you.”

She steps aside, but as
we walk by, Audrey starts to fall, and I realize that Misha has
tripped her. I catch Audrey before she hits the ground and help her
stand back up, making sure she’s okay before calling security over.
They take a screaming Misha away, and I turn Audrey back to the
cameras as I place my arm around her.

“Hey guys, I have a
statement to make. I’m aware that my ex-wife said some things to
you before I got here, and I need to clear those up. I
did
add this premiere in tonight because it’s the anniversary of a prom
I attended with Misha, but I didn’t do it for her. You see, all
those years ago, on a dare, I asked the nerdiest girl in school to
prom. I told her what time I’d pick her up, and asked her what
color dress she was wearing, so she’d think I was getting her a
corsage.

“I’m not proud of
the fact that I left that girl waiting for me while I went with
Misha, and honestly, that night has haunted me for most of my life. I
knew it was wrong, but I did it anyway, even though, deep down, I
liked that girl. A lot. I won’t ever regret that I had a
relationship with Misha, because we wouldn’t have had our daughter,
and I love Jeanne more than anything, but I did regret never
following my heart all of those years ago.

“Tonight, I’m
trying to undo the wrong I made all those years ago. This brilliant
and beautiful woman on my arm, Audrey Sanchez, is the girl I stood up
twenty years ago. She recently gave me the chance to prove that I’m
not that stupid boy from back then, and tonight I’m giving her the
prom I denied her. I also want to announce that we’re expecting a
child together, and once I figure out an impressive enough way to ask
her, we’ll hopefully be getting married.”

I put my hand on her
stomach and lean down to kiss her. We kiss for several minutes as the
flashes go off, and then we continue down the line. I don’t give
speeches at every stop, but we do kiss. For the cameras, and for us.
Questions are thrown at us, but I wave them all off. My agent has a
document with all of the information they’ll need to know. I lead
Audrey inside the hall and down to the theater where we’ve set up
the film, stopping to grab her popcorn and candy before we take our
seats.

Audrey tells me the
movie is really good even though I don’t show my ass, and I just
shake my head, reminding her she can see my ass whenever she wants.
We walk hand in hand to the gym where the after party, aka the prom,
is taking place. It’s a masquerade ball, just like it was back
then, and I help her put on the rhinestone butterfly mask I bought
her before slipping on my plain black one.

“Oh wow. This looks
just like the pictures I saw, but better.”

“I told you that was
the plan.”

“How did you do all
of this? The extra premiere, and everything?”

“Dance with me, and
I’ll tell you everything.”

“I’d love to dance
with you, but no one’s out there yet. Are you sure you want people
to see your two left feet. I don’t care, but you know people and
their pesky camera phones.”

“Actually, I’ve
been taking lessons while I’ve been on tour.”

“Really?”

“Yep. I hired someone
from one of the dance shows to help me. I can probably even hold my
own with Swing.”

“Then lead me to the
dance floor and show me what you’ve got.”

I’ve got more than
dancing to show her, and I can’t wait to see her face. As we take
our places in the middle of the dance floor, I nod to the band on the
stage. They’re in shadows so Audrey hasn’t seen them yet. Once
they step into the light, I hear her gasp.

“Oh my God. Is that?”

“All-4-One and
Storyside? Yes. Your mom told me you used to dance around with your
dress to
I Could Love You Like
That
. I don’t remember dancing to it at prom, but I
won’t forget it tonight. Especially not with Stella’s boyfriend
and his band joining in. I’m pretty sure this is going to be epic.”

“
You
are epic. Now spill. I get how you did the music, but I
want to know about everything else.”

“Hold on a sec,” I
tell her as Kace takes the microphone.

“Hey everyone, I’m
Kace and this is my band, Storyside. We’re totally stoked to be
playing with All-4-One tonight on this first song. It’s a song
that’s special to one of the most amazing women I’ve ever met in
my life. This one’s for you, Audrey Sanchez.”

Audrey blows him a
kiss, he winks at her, and then the music starts. “What do you want
to know exactly?” I ask, trying to stall.

“Everything.”

“Of course you do.”
Here goes nothing. “I gave up my backend percentage of the film’s
earnings, and did that extra week of promoting in exchange for being
allowed to do this tonight. As for the press, we didn’t tell any of
them this was happening until today. It was a condition of my giving
up the money. I don’t know how Misha even found out about it. One
of the rags must’ve called her.”

“That’s millions of
dollars. And your time that you gave up is worth a lot, too.”

“It is, but how many
millions do I really need?”

“Blake,” she says,
her eyes filling with tears.

“I love you, Audrey.
The money and the time are insignificant compared to that.”

“I love you, too.
This is the best thing anyone has ever done for me in my life. It’s
the best thing I’ve ever been bought, too. I can’t wait to spend
the rest of my life with you.”

“I’m happy to make
all of your fantasies come true.”

“If we’re talking
fantasies, I always wanted to make-out under the bleachers with you.”

“I think that can be
arranged.”

“Best Baby Daddy
ever.”

She kisses me before I
can complain, and after a few minutes, I forget why I even wanted to
complain in the first place. I know how lucky I am to have her back
in my life, and I’ll spend the rest of it proving that to her. All
the way to the nursing home, and beyond.

Read on for the Prologue and Chapter 1 of
Loving My SECRET,
Reina and Matt’s book.

For
this book, the prologue isn’t the beginning,
it’s a snippet of
what’s to come…

Reina

“Help,” I scream,
“someone please help us!”

I clutch the sheet to
myself as I crawl over to Matt. He’s covered in more blood than I
am, but what’s on me isn’t mine. It belongs to the men I killed
in order to stop them as they shot the man I love. The man who came
for me, even when I thought he wouldn’t.

I try to stop the
blood—the life—from seeping out of him, but it’s not stopping
for me. There are too many wounds, he was shot too many times. “Don’t
die on me, Matthew Corrigan. Don’t you dare die on me.”

“Reina? Oh fuck,”
Nate says from behind me.

“Help me. We have to
stop the bleeding.”

“Rei,” Aiden says
softly, and when I turn to him, I see he’s given up on Matt
already. Nate has the same look in his eyes.

“No. He’s not dead.
He may be dying, but he’s not dead. He would never give up on
either of you, so you fucking better not give up on him.
Help
me
!”