Chapter Thirty-One
Camille
O ne full week of this bodyguard-slash-private investigator tailing me from afar, and I’m already annoyed. It’s reminiscent of the life I lived back in Lorsica, where I was constantly flanked and guarded. I understand why it’s needed, yet I hate it all the same.
I don’t see or hear from him, but knowing he’s there makes me feel uneasy, even though the point is to make me feel at ease. At the same time, I prefer this than a life back at home without any freedom at all.
The gym is the one place I’m left alone after I told my brother that his guy is not to follow me in here. He grumbled about it but agreed, giving me what I wanted.
I take all my frustration out on the bag, throwing punch after punch until I’m dripping in sweat. Throwing a left hook, I huff in exasperation as anxious thoughts creep in and nestle themselves in my head.
What if my parents come here?
Another hook.
What will I do post-grad ?
Another hook, followed by another as my frustrations boil.
I want Ryker to keep me forever despite knowing it’s not what he wants.
My fists fly rapidly as I let it all out, my arms burning as I continue to hit the bag, tears spilling down my cheeks. I don’t stop and keep going as all the emotions that have been like an undercurrent, threatening to pull me under, take over. I get rid of them, one hit at a time.
I’m not sure how long I’m doing it for until a hand rests on the small of my back. I jolt around and nearly punch Travis in the process. I stop mid-throw, my gloved hand mere inches from his jaw.
“Travis, what are you doing?” I breathe heavily, stepping back as I attempt to catch my breath. I didn’t think there would be anyone here, seeing as it’s ten o’clock at night.
“I came in for an extra cardio session even though running on the treadmill isn’t my favorite kind of exercise, if you know what I mean.” He chuckles as if I’m his friend who would dab him up after that joke.
I’m kind when we interact because of my position within the team, but we are not friends. Not even close. After the way he cornered me at Theo’s party, I tend to steer clear of him when I can.
“Yeah,” is all I say, unwrapping my gloves and dropping them to the floor.
“You okay?” Travis asks, taking a step toward me. “You seemed to be giving that bag a beating.”
“Just getting a good workout in.” I muster the best smile I can while I crouch down to collect my things and get out of here.
“I can tell you do it a lot. You look amazing,” he drawls.
He’s giving me an eerie feeling, the same one I felt that night in my hometown.
I glance up at the mirror and see his eyes glued to my ass as I throw my water bottle in my bag. It raises alarm bells in my head, my heartbeat ratcheting up as I quickly stand and walk away from him.
“Where are you going?” he calls after me, jogging to keep up as he walks with me out into the hallway toward the change rooms.
I ignore him, hoping he’ll get the hint.
He doesn’t.
Travis grips my bicep, holding me still. “Not so fast. We need to talk.”
“About what?” I attempt to pull my arm free and fail. “Let go of me, now .” I seethe, my voice firm and strong, much to my surprise since I’m scared as hell right now.
Travis clucks his tongue, a menacing laugh leaving his lips as he removes his hand. “I mean no harm. That is, unless you fail to give me what I want.” He steps into my space, trailing a finger down my cheek.
I move my face out of his reach as adrenaline courses through me. Does he know my secret? “What do you want?” I hold my composure steady, despite wanting to crumble apart.
“What I want is simple. It’s you, Camille.” He smirks, holding up a finger. “Now, before you protest, I want you to watch this.”
Travis pulls out his phone, tapping a few times before turning it toward me.
My stomach hollows once I see it, knowing exactly what this is. It’s a video of Ryker and me in the locker room showers, a video of us having sex.
“Where did you get this?” My voice is tight with unshed tears.
I want to throw up, but I push it down as he shoves his phone back in his pocket.
“I happened to forget my necklace in my locker after the game, so I went back to get it, when I heard odd sounds coming from the shower. And you know how the rest goes.
“To top it off,” he continues. “I have a secret about your boyfriend, and I’ll expose that along with this video if you don’t cooperate.”
“What are you talking about?”
A secret? I briefly wonder if he’s bluffing, but then again how would I know? If it truly is a secret Ryker hasn’t shared with me, then I have no idea whether he’s telling the truth or not.
“Ryker was arrested for assault. He broke my friend’s arm and ruined his baseball career. If you don’t believe me, ask him. Or maybe he won’t tell you, considering it doesn’t look good on him if his little secret gets exposed just in time for the draft.” He smirks, loving every minute of this power he currently holds.
Too bad he doesn’t realize the power I have, and the connections I possess. While knowing he watched us makes me sick to my stomach and pissed the hell off, I can salvage this situation.
I’ll have my brother’s guy wipe Travis’s entire phone and computer clean, eliminating any evidence he has of that video. As for Ryker’s secret, that’s something I don’t know if I can protect.
I roll my eyes, attempting to walk away from him. “I don’t do blackmail.”
He grips my arm again, harder this time as he pulls me back, right to his chest.
“A sex tape won’t bode well for his career, nor yours, sweetheart. I’d think twice about this.” He swallows. “All you have to do is leave with me right now, or hell, we can do this right in the change room. I don’t care. I’ll fuck you better than he can, believe me.”
That’s it. I’ve had enough.
Using the adrenaline to my advantage, along with my training in self-defense, I shove my knee up hard, right into his groin. Travis keels over like I knew he would, so I use the angle to jab him right in the throat while giving him another swift kick in the groin.
He falls to the ground, crying out in pain, and I run away. I hear him call me names, but I don’t stop until I’m outside, where I crouch over with my hands on my knees as I try to catch my breath.
It only takes a few seconds for the PI to be by my side. Despite not having seen him at all, I know it’s him. “Camille, what happened? Are you okay?” the man asks, his voice deep and familiar.
I take him in before I respond, noticing the scar running through his eyebrow. I know exactly who he is.
Idris .
I should’ve known my brother would assign him to me. Idris was the top of our security at the palace. In his late fifties now, he looked out for us more times than I can count growing up. He’d been more of a father to us than our own, often taking us to our trainings, helping with homework, and even playing games with us when he could.
He left the palace when Quentin did, claiming he wanted to spend more time with family. The knowledge now that he meant Quentin makes me want to sob.
“We need to go,” I tell him, worried Travis will come after me and cause a scene. “I’ll tell you in the car.”
Idris follows me to my car, his eyes alert as we do. I wait for him to check the car out, ensuring nothing’s been tampered with before we get in. Once we’re settled with Idris in the driver’s seat as we drive back to my place, I tell him everything that occurred.
He pinches the bridge of his nose once I finish. “Camille.”
“What? I defended myself, and I’m fine, okay? I didn’t need someone to save me for once and that felt good. Really freaking good.” I smile to myself as tears pool in my eyes. For so long, I’ve feared not being able to handle myself, and proving that I can protect myself makes me feel lighter than before.
It’s healing a part of me that hadn’t felt settled ever since the night of my graduation party. I’m not magically healed or anything, but it’s reassuring to know that not only do I have people to look out for me, I have myself too.
Something I feared I’d never get back.
“That’s good. I’m glad you were able to defend yourself, but I’m talking about the bigger issue here.”
Oh right. The sex tape. Realizing I told this to a man I look up to as a father figure makes me want to crawl in a hole and hide.
“Can’t we have your team hack into his electronics to delete it?”
“We can, but we don’t know if he has a copy stored on a hard drive.”
Fuck, I didn’t think of that.
Nerves creep back in, eating at my fleeting proud moment. “So what do we do?” I ask.
“I’m going to call the team, get them started on hacking him immediately. Then we’re going to have to go to his house, search the whole place to ensure there are no copies.”
I nod along, hoping Travis isn’t smart enough to have stored multiple copies. Although unlikely, it’s not impossible. He’s proving to be worse than I thought.
Then there’s Ryker.
My chest aches when I think about telling him what happened tonight. He’s going to be livid about the fact that Travis touched me, let alone the blackmail he’s threatening us with. I want to call him, but Idris prevents me from doing so as he wants the video gone before Ryker does anything to set Travis off even more.
And knowing Ryker like I do, he’ll want to destroy Travis.
Hours later, Idris and I sigh in unison on my couch once his team confirms that all traces of the video are gone. They were even able to see from the original video how many times it was copied, which told us we were in the clear once they deleted the evidence on his phone and the two copies he had on his laptop. After that, they did a sweep of his dorm for any other traces, coming up empty, which was a relief.
“Thank you so much,” I tell Idris, grateful he’s here. Had I known it was him this whole time, I’d have been a lot less negative about it.
“No problem. It’s my job.” He stands from the couch and heads to my fridge, where he grabs a beer. “Don’t ever do something like that again. It’s too risky. You’re smarter than that. I know it to be true, because I raised you.”
I sigh as embarrassment floods my body, knowing he knows I had sex in a locker room. “I know.”
Wanting to change the topic, I ask, “What should we do about Ryker’s secret, though?”
Idris shrugs, unsure for once. “Hard to say. I looked into it, and it is true. He was never charged, and it’s not on public records since he was so young, but for a guy going into the major leagues, it could affect him.”
My heart sinks because baseball is everything to Ryker. He’d be devastated if he didn’t make it over something so trivial that shouldn’t matter.
“Can’t the PI team get rid of anything Travis says that makes it online?” I throw out an idea, trying to find anything that would help Ryker.
“We can, but if he goes directly to the agency and speaks with the manager, there’s nothing we can do there. I don’t think he has any contacts to do that, but you can never be sure.” He sighs, running a hand through his graying hair. I’m sure I’m more than responsible for a majority of those growing up.
I blow out a frustrated breath.
“What I would suggest is that Ryker comes clean to whoever he signs with. Tell them it was a misunderstanding, an accident, as the report itself states. If he tries to hide it, it’ll make it seem worse than it is.”
I dabble with the idea in my head, realizing he’s right. I’m not sure if Ryker will see it that way, but there’s only one way to find out. I need to talk to him, tell him everything that happened tonight.
He has no idea that Travis knows his secret, and I have a feeling it’s going to change things as we both know it.