weeks under Gabe’s thumb, it almost had me in tears.
“Josie, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Andrew?” he asked with a kind smile.
“Yes, Coach.”
He’d always been more of a father figure to me and the fighters he trained than the hard-ass coach he was known as. Not that he should be underestimated. His fathering packed as hard a punch as his coaching technique did. I wondered if I was going to get some of it now.
“Dean’s worried that Gabe has done something to hurt you,” he murmured. “Has he?”
I hesitated, panic beginning to rise. If they meddled, then I wouldn’t be able to stop Gabe from spilling to the press. He had the recording from my conversation with Ren to prove every word he’d say.
“You’ll find no judgment with me,” Coach went on. “I’ve made more than my fair share of mistakes over the years, so I’m not qualified for that, but Josie… If he’s hurt you in any way, I can help you.”
“I made a mistake,” I said, trying to hold my tears at bay. “I should never have taken a job with Gabe. Ever since I walked in the door, he’s been manipulating me to get to Dean. Coach, he’s blackmailing me.”
“What?” His eyebrows rose in surprise. I bet he wasn’t expecting me to say that.
“I knew I was dancing with the devil, but I needed the money,” I blurted. “I thought I could handle him, but he’s threatening to ruin Dean’s career if I don’t follow his orders. He’s been forcing me to give away all your secrets. Training, weaknesses, the whole lot. I’ve been faking as much as I can, but I can’t for much longer.”
“Josie…” he said, his eyes filling with sadness.
“I’m hurt, but I could never be part of something that would destroy his life, not willingly. Fighting is his entire life, Coach.”
He nodded sharply.
“Don’t tell him,” I pleaded. “Not now. Not before the fight.”
At first, Coach didn’t say anything, he just stared at me with that stern expression he gave the Twins when they were misbehaving. I almost crumbled under the pressure of what I believed to be his complete and utter disappointment. But then he decided to tell me about his daughter.
“I made a lot of mistakes with Monica,” he said. “I gave her everything she wanted and never thought anything of it. I thought if she wanted for nothing, then somehow, it would make up for my shortcomings with Ren. It was my guilt that caused Monica to be the person she was. I let her walk all over me.”
I wanted to say something to make him feel better because Coach Miller was a decent man at his core, but he was right. You couldn’t sugarcoat the kind of person his daughter had become.
“What I should’ve done was raise her with a stern hand and show her as much love as I did for Beat and the fighters I trained.”
I didn’t understand what he was trying to say, but I waited to see where it was going.
“The moment I found out she was responsible for letting that man into my gym to hurt Ren, my eyes were finally opened. I’d neglected her just as much as I’d neglected Ren. Monica’s betrayal broke everything in my life. It broke apart my marriage, it broke my heart, and it broke everything I’d believed in my entire life. It broke everything but my relationship with Ren and the Twins. I’m not a young man anymore, and now I can see…”
He sighed sharply, and I began to realize he still blamed himself for what happened the night Ren was attacked.
“I saw everything Monica did, but I didn’t do a thing to stop any of it,” he continued. “I saw the way she led Dean on. I saw the way she treated Ren when she first came to find me, and I saw the way she hadn’t changed when she came to see me the other week.” He looked at me for a long moment, perhaps waiting for his words to sink in before moving on. “What I have seen is the way that young man has grown since she left. Dean has become a man who can stand on his own two feet. He can stand on his own, separate from his twin. He was always a step behind his brother, in fighting and in life, but ever since you opened his eyes, he’s leapt right to the top.