“Let that go,” he said. “You can’t go back. Holding on to the past is keeping you from moving on.”
That wasn’t true. She’d moved on. But she still wanted to clear her name. “I’ll see what I can do, but I don’t know if I will be able to help you out.”
“I can make things rough for you, Jen. Tell Nate why you had to leave dancing before.”
She shook her head. “He doesn’t care about what happened in the world of dance.”
“Just do this for me, Jen. And I’ll be out of your hair.”
She doubted it. Seeing Carlos again reminded her that she’d been stupid once when it came to men, and she didn’t want to make the same mistake twice.
“I’ll see.”
“Make sure you do it. You know that Luna Azul is having trouble with the local business leaders and I’m not afraid to use my friends in this neighborhood to make their business dealings even more complex.”
She did know that. But she thought it was ridiculous that Carlos was threatening her. She could quit if it really would hurt Luna Azul.
“I’ll do what I can.”
“You’ll do what I ask or I will make life really uncomfortable for you. If I don’t get this job…”
“What? I can’t guarantee you a position, Carlos.”
“You better hope you can. If not, it’s going to take a lot of money to keep me quiet.”
He got up and left the table. She sat there watching him, wondering how she’d ever let herself get involved with someone like that. He had no morals at all and was a complete jerk.
But that didn’t mean she was going to be able to ignore him. She knew she had to let not only Nate but also Cam, who was her immediate boss, know what Carlos had threatened.
Her phone vibrated in her pocket and she glanced down at the ID screen to see a text from Nate. He wanted to know if she was okay.
She swallowed hard and knew that the mistakes of her past were going to be a very real threat in a few minutes. She didn’t relish the idea of telling Nate about Carlos but she really had no choice.
She sent him a text saying that Carlos had left and she’d come and find him in the club.
“No need,” he said, coming up behind her. “I’m here. Are you really okay? You look pale.”
“I…can we go someplace and talk?”
“Sure. Why?”
“Because a club isn’t the place to discuss this.”
“What happened? Annie told me that it looked like you were fighting with Carlos.”
One of the club waitresses spied for Nate?
“How did Annie get in touch with you?” Jen asked.
“I asked her to keep an eye on you and let me know if you got in trouble.”
“Nice. Don’t you trust me?” she asked, feeling bruised by her encounter with Carlos. She needed Nate to just accept her the way she was and back her up.
“You, I trust. That Carlos guy, not so much. What did he want?”
“I can’t talk about it here,” she said.
“Then let’s go,” he said.
She’d expected him to lead her to the backstage area where they’d talked the first night but instead he hustled her downstairs and out to his car. “Let’s drive to the beach and you can tell me what’s going on.”
“Sounds good,” she said. She needed time to figure out what she was going to say and how she was going to tell him that her past was threatening his future.
“Do you want to tell me while we are driving?” he asked.
“No. I need to think about this.”
“Is it bad?”
“I don’t know yet, but then Carlos has always been bad news.”
“Carlos is a little jerk, Jen. And I don’t mind showing that little dancer boy that you are with a real man now.”
She shook her head. This was going to be a lot more complicated than she’d hoped.
As Nate walked down the beach with Jen, he reached out and took her hand in his. He hoped she knew that he was on her side. He wanted her to understand that he wasn’t going to stand by and let anyone threaten her. Nate hadn’t liked Carlos from the moment he’d met him and that was saying something.
“What did Carlos want?”
“A job and money, I think. Though he didn’t tell me an amount,” she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
That was the last thing he’d expected. He thought he might have to worry about Carlos talking her back into the world of competitive dance. He saw how good she was at dancing and he wasn’t clear why she’d left.
“Okay, let’s break this down. What job?”
“One at a dance school in the marketplace that you guys bought.”