Caged (Mastered, #4)(108)
She smiled. “I’m off at eleven.”
“I’ll be here.”
Beck’s eyes were glued to her ass as she sashayed to the other end of the bar.
“Doesn’t seem like you’ve got chick problems, Shihan.”
“That was for your benefit.” Beck smirked. “Shoshanna has had firsthand demonstration of my flexibility several times in the past few months.”
“You dog.”
“A hot chick offers me a bone, I’m gonna take it.”
Deacon held his glass up to toast Beck’s words of wisdom. “So what else is going on?”
“Between us?” Beck glanced over his shoulder. “As dojo GM, it’s my job to check the security logs. In the past three months, Maddox has logged in at various times on Sundays—never at the same time. The camera feed is off on that day, so I can’t see what he’s been doing.”
“Maybe it’s personal time for cardio and weight training?” Deacon offered, remembering the times he’d run into Maddox on Sundays.
Beck shook his head. “I monitor the machines. No activity those days.”
“Have you asked Maddox about it?”
“Not yet. I only received the quarterly security logs last week, which is what tipped me off.”
Deacon studied him. “What’s your gut feeling?”
“Maddox is training someone privately. Maybe a couple of someones. So he’s not hiding it, but he hasn’t mentioned it to me or Ronin.”
“You sure Ronin doesn’t know? Because the man is as closemouthed as they come.”
“Not more closemouthed than you, Yondan—that’s for damn sure,” Beck said dryly. “Anyway, if Ronin knew, he’d tell me, even if Maddox asked him to keep it to himself.”
“True.” He paused. “Who do you think is getting free training? Courey?”
“Maddox never was sold on bringing him on board. He used him to taunt you. Then you beat the f*ck outta him and Courey lost his usefulness.”
Deacon hated the stupid games Maddox played in the name of kicking performance up a notch. “Then who is he training?”
“Fee.”
“Fee? Seriously? But why hide it?”
“Because Ronin doesn’t want to invest Maddox’s time starting a women’s MMA division. But Maddox has been scouting female fighters for years—before it became the cool thing to do. He can’t ignore that Fee has all the right components to make a big splash in women’s MMA.”
“Did you know about this exhibition before Maddox sprang it on us?”
Beck shook his head. “Maddox and I are respective of each other’s roles at Black Arts. We’re two division heads answering to the CEO. So after his announcement just now? I looked up the event on my phone. Guess who else is slated to attend the event besides his former employer?” He paused. “The scout for the UFC’s women’s division.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. So there’s some kind of weird politicking at play with Maddox and TGL. I don’t like it. Especially if Ronin doesn’t know about it. The last f*cking thing Sensei needs is to look like an idiot who doesn’t keep tabs on his trainer.”
“No kidding.” Deacon realized Beck had the same intuitive nature as Knox, and that was exactly what Ronin needed. Sensei wasn’t an easy man to work for—and he was glad Beck had Ronin’s back. “Think Blue knows?”
“It pains me to say this, because I don’t wanna come across as a goddamn busybody, but it is my job to know everything that goes on in the building. Fee moved in with Katie so Blue couldn’t keep tabs on her outside of the dojo.”
“Then Blue wouldn’t know she’d been spending her Sundays training.” Deacon groaned. “Jesus. As the Dojo Fucking Turns, eh?”
“Apparently. As long as I’m on a gossip-girl roll, what if Maddox and Fee are hooking up in addition to meeting for secret training sessions?”
Deacon stepped away from the bar. “And with that . . . I’m done.” He patted his crotch. “Whew. For a second there, I worried my dick had turned into a vagina during this conversation.”
“You are a f*ckwad.”
“No. I’m a man who’s damn proud of my Y chromosome.”
Beck laughed.
Thankfully they were wrapping up the PR/party/event plans when Deacon and Beck returned. As soon as Molly acknowledged him, he tapped on his watch. He mouthed, Been forty minutes, babe.
She mouthed back, You’ll live.
Not the answer he wanted. He stood and reached for her. “Enough business talk.”
“But, Deacon, we need her input,” Katie said.
“Nothin’ will be decided tonight anyway, so it can wait. I can’t.” Without another word, he towed Molly away from the table and around the corner. He pressed his hands by her head above the wall.
“What’s this? I thought you were taking me to the dance floor.”
“I can’t dance to this shit.”
“You’re in a mood.”
“One that’s rapidly turning into a bad mood,” he said brusquely. He curled his hand around the back of her neck. “I wish we’d stayed in bed. None of this crap that’s goin’ on has anything to do with us.”