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“Cam,” Nate said.
“They are going to think the worst of me,” Jen said. “I know that what I did—”
“No one is going to judge you. He’s blackmailing you and threatening the club. It has nothing to do with what you did when you were dancing,” Nate said.
“I’m so sorry I ever got involved with Carlos,” Jen said. “He has cost me so much. I really don’t want to have to leave Luna Azul, but if you think it’s best I will do it.”
“You aren’t leaving the club,” Nate said. “I’m going to make this right.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“No, nor is it yours. You made a bad choice but it led you to my door. I’m not going to let it be something you regret.”
Jen tried to relax while they waited for Cam to appear. Nate had given her a glass of pinot grigio and she sat on the yacht deck under the stars, listening to the faint sound of Nate and Justin talking. Soon they rejoined her, taking a seat next to her on the bench.
“Tell me everything from the beginning,” Justin said.
“Well, when I came out to the rooftop club Carlos was sitting with Nate,” Jen said, thinking that was the best place to start.
“No. Tell me what happened with Carlos and why he thinks he can use that to blackmail you.”
“Should we wait for Cam? I don’t want to have to tell this too many times,” she said.
“No, Cam will just want to know what our course of action is,” Justin said.
Nate slid closer to her and took her hand in his. Feeling his support made her heart swell and she knew she was falling for him.
“Carlos and I had an affair while I was dancing on the tour and he was a judge. I was careful to never talk to him about the competition,” she said. “And he never actually scored an event I competed in.”
“How did the affair start then?” Justin asked.
“Does that matter?” Nate asked.
“Why don’t you go and call Cam? See what’s keeping him,” Justin said.
“No. I’ll keep my mouth shut. Just don’t badger her,” Nate said.
“I’m not,” Justin said. “So?”
“We met at a kids’ dance class. The tour sponsors dance workshops at each city we go to in order to introduce competitive ballroom to kids. He and I were partnered in a five-city gig. After the first day, he invited me to dinner and we just had a lot in common.”
“How long did the affair last?”
“Just those three weeks,” she said. “As soon as I went into the ballroom after sleeping with him, it felt wrong. I told him it didn’t feel right and the next week he revealed to the judging board that we’d slept together and that I had seduced him to help improve my scores.”
“What did the board do?”
“Suspended both of us. Carlos was demoted to a regional judge. I thought we could work together for an appeal and approached him to ask him to recant what he said and just talk to the board on my behalf…I thought that was why he’d come to the club tonight.”
“But that wasn’t the case,” Nate said. “He wants help from her.”
“Let her tell me,” Justin said. “What does he want from you?”
“He didn’t say. Actually I’m supposed to meet him in two days’ time to tell him my decision. He really wants a job with the dance school in the marketplace you guys own. He’s hoping I can influence the decision. He implied that if I don’t help him, he’d come after us for money.”
“What did he threaten?” Justin asked.
“To hurt the club’s standing in the neighborhood. If I don’t help or pay him he’s going to stir up a lot of bad publicity.”
“Okay,” Justin said. “Let me think about this. Did anyone else know about your affair?”
“My partner Ivan.”
“Did he see the two of you together?” Justin asked.
“He had dinner with us when Carlos asked me out.”
“Why didn’t you ask him to vouch for you?” Justin asked.
“I did. He wrote a letter but they said since he was my partner, they couldn’t count on him telling the truth,” Jen said. “Ivan was pretty upset because my being suspended effectively shut him out as well. That was another reason the board didn’t accept his version of the story. They said he’d say anything to stay in the competition.”
Justin nodded. “Courts of law are different. I’ll need a sworn statement from Ivan. Would he give us one?”
“I’m sure he would,” Jen said.
“I also want to talk to anyone who was at the workshops you conducted.”
