Chapter 5 Casey #2
“Great day for making out,” I say as we walk away.
“Where should we go for security supplies?” Dallas asks as I push the exit door open and squint into the sun.
“I know a guy.” And I feel kinda bad we didn’t do a sweep to make sure whoever broke in didn’t leave something behind to monitor Dallas. That’s such a rookie mistake.
He drops back into the passenger seat while I settle into the driver seat and shoot Kendra a message about what’s been going down.
Kendra: I’ll check the surrounding buildings for surveillance videos.
Casey: Thx ::kisses::
Kendra: And yes, he can stay, but for my sanity, you can not fuck 24/7
Casey: whatever do you mean?
Kendra: brat.
Casey: but Im ur brat.
I turn to Dallas. “Bestie says you can stay for a few days, but I still wanna set up something at your place. Plus, you’ll wanna grab some clothes because you won’t fit in anything at my place.”
“Thanks. I really appreciate it.”
“No problem, but I do expect to ride your dick at least a few times. If you’re cool with it.”
Dallas laughs. Full belly laugh and holds his stomach.
“I’m really not joking.” I put my car into gear and head out of the apartment complex.
“I know, and that’s what’s so funny. But I’m so good with it. Fucking your tight little ass will probably help take my mind off of things.”
“My thoughts exactly. I’m always looking out for my fellow man.” I bat my lashes for good measure, then focus on the road again. “You chat with Hayden anymore?”
Dallas shakes his head. “Haven’t checked my messages. Probably should.”
“You trust him?”
“With my life. He’s like the little brother I never had.”
“Oh?” I tap my fingers on the steering wheel at the red light. I fucking hate how many damn stoplights are in this city.
“Yeah. Met in a support group when we were younger.”
“You don’t have to tell me for what.” But obviously I’m curious as fuck.
Dallas runs a hand through his hair and turns to look out the window, probably not wanting to look at me for what he says next. “Support group for family that’s experienced suicide.”
My hands squeeze the steering wheel, and I have to take a slow breath to calm myself. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
He nods and continues to stare out the window.
“My sister. Someone took her, used her, and she wasn’t herself by the time they found her.
I was twelve. I don’t think she meant for me to find her, but my friend and I skipped school to play video games and when we got to my place, she’d overdosed on something. ”
“Fuck. I’m sorry.”
“Twenty years later and it’s still hard. Shit. Sorry. You don’t want to hear all this, do you?”
“Don’t be sorry.” My thoughts scramble. I could tell him. Tell him about Dorian. About Charles. About the cult. But I don’t want to run him off because of my past. No, if I run off Dallas Runer, it’s because he can’t take my personality.
He runs a hand over his face. “Sorry. I really need to learn not to dump on unsuspecting listeners. I do what I do because of her. I wanted to keep her legacy going. Addison was ten years older than me and already settling into her career. She was a personal trainer. She was always so encouraging to everyone starting out on their fitness journey.”
“That’s beautiful. And don’t apologize. I asked a question, and you answered it. I have a similar story of heartache, but I don’t want to think about it.”
He rubs his hand across my arm. “I’m here if you need someone to talk to.”
I nod and loosen my grip. “Thanks. Ken and I do alright if I do say so myself. We both need therapy, but we’re both too stubborn for it.” I grin and turn into the parking lot of Big Mac’s Stuff.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Dallas groans as I hop from the car.
“What? Big Mac knows his shit and gives me the best deals. He’ll even let us into the back room.” I wiggle my brows and skip up to the door.
Reluctantly, Dallas joins me. He gasps when I open the door to a wonderland of tech. You see, anyone in the biz knows Big Mac has whatever goods you need for any kind of job. Someone like Dallas just sees the cool, fun techy toys out front. Like the drones and huge home theaters and freaky robots.
“Kay!” Big Mac shouts from across the store.
He’s paler than I’ve ever seen him and I have to wonder if he’s on some new fad diet.
He’s in a tacky purple velvet suit and suede shoes.
The gold chain with a money pendant might or might not be real gold.
You never knew with Big Mac. The entire look just makes the act more authentic.
“BM!” I open my arms and leap into his when we’re close enough.
“I told you I don’t like that one.” There’s a grin on his face, though.
“Mackie!” I amend, and he gives me a squeeze.
“How ya doing, kid? Who’s this? What do you need? How’s Ken?”
Dallas’s eyes bounce from me to Big Mac and back with each question. Poor guy.
I pout and pull Dallas close. “My poor, poor fuck buddy. His apartment got broken into. I said I’d help hook him up with the best home surveillance on the planet.”
Dallas’s mouth drops open. “Do not say it like…” He waves his hand around. “That!”
Big Mac grins and throws his arm around Dallas. “You came to the right place.”
Dallas looks at me as if he needs help. I mean, he does, but Mackie’s such a softie compared to me. “Ah, don’t worry. Mackie knows his shit.” I look to my friend. “You still got that stash.” I wink.
“You know it.” Big Mac tips his head to the backroom. “But seriously, what do you have in mind? How big is the apartment? Video and sound? Just interiors? Exteriors?”
Dallas answers what he can and I sprinkle in my ideas.
Big Mac nods. “I know exactly what you need.” He turns on his heel and we follow.
“Wait,” Dallas says and stops before taking another step. “How much is all this going to cost?”
Big Mac looks to me and I shrug. “Nothing. I got plenty of credit to take care of all of it. Right?”
Big Mac nods again. “You have plenty for whatever your heart desires.” He blows me a kiss and I catch it.
“You can’t put this on credit for me.” Dallas throws up his hand.
“No, you misunderstand,” Big Mac says. His eyes darken. “Kay does work for me and I pay him in store credit.”
Dallas’s brows shoot up to his ball cap.
I take both of his hands and meet his eyes. “Will you accept this gift?”
He just stares at me, then nods after a few breaths.
I tug him closer to whisper in his ear. “I can’t wait until you fuck me again.” I sigh and let him go. Spinning on my heel, I follow Big Mac again.
Dallas follows Big Mac and my advice when choosing what he needs. We got a few cameras, mics, motion detectors, and a few other things Big Mac suggested, but I rolled my eyes at.
“Kay knows how to set everything up, but if you need someone else to do it, let me know.” Big Mac rings us up.
“Oh, I’ll be doing it,” I say and press my thumb to a pad to pay with my credits. This hasn’t even made a dent. I turn to Dallas. “Stay right here, or look around. Anything else you want is on your own dime, but I need to check out the back room before we leave.”
Dallas is already walking away from me to look at the freaky robots. I’m not even sure if they’re for sell, but they’re interesting to play with.
“What are ya looking for, Casey?” Big Mac wraps his arm around my shoulder and I sink into his touch.
“Darla found Charles.”
Big Mac sucks in a breath. “Really?”
I nod and look up into his eyes. “Really. Kendra and I found out this morning. I was hoping you have a few supplies I need for discretion. I’m taking him out at Influencer Con.”
Big Mac stiffens and pulls away. “So publicly? That’s going to be hard to cover up.”
“I know. I need some discreet travel cams and mics. I can’t decide if I’m going to livestream the entire thing like usual or just kill him where he sleeps and make it look like an accident.”
“Who is it?”
I shake my head again. “Love ya, but I don’t trust ya not to take my kill. Too many people want him, and I promise I’m going to be the one to do it.”
“No, I get it.” He squeezes my arm and lets me go to explore the backroom on my own.
It doesn’t take long to find everything I’m looking for. I bag everything up and press my thumbprint to the wall scanner before rejoining Dallas, who’s apparently in a dance off with one of the creepy robots. Dallas has some moves on him and I watch until he goes red in the face when he sees me.
“Don’t stop on my account. I like the way you move.” I fan my face, making him go redder.
The robot moves stiffly and stops the moment Dallas isn’t in its line of sight.
“That thing is so cool,” Dallas says as he adjusts his ball cap. I want to swipe it from his head again and tug on his hair.
“They’re creepy as fuck, if you ask me. It’s the dead, emotionless eyes.” I wave to Big Mac on our way out, glad Dallas has his goodies. “Time to set you all up.” Then we can have some fun. Or I’ll head to the pool and get a swim in. Oh, or better yet. All of the above. Yes. That’s what I’ll do.
“What are you smiling to yourself about?” Dallas asks as we approach my car.
“Just thinking about my plans for tonight.” I toss my supplies in back with my tail and we put Dallas’s stuff in the back on the floor. “I think we should listen to hype tunes on the way back to your place. I need it to get into the right head space.”
“Whatever it takes,” he mumbles and climbs in beside me. He gives me the directions back to his place because I get a few turns wrong. I remember perfectly where he lives and his address, but I can’t let him know that.
When the Phantom Of The Opera overturn starts, Dallas throws his head back and cackles. I crack a smile, knowing the song would tickle him.
“Are you gonna start singing opera?” he asks.
“Hell no, I just like this song.” I turn it up and hum along until it changes to the next song. Christina Aguilera obvs. We both bop along until I park at his apartment building again.
He sighs after I turn the car off and turn to him. “My plan is to set everything up, then we can go to the pool or my place. Your choice. Then we’ll watch from a safe distance if someone shows up again. Good?”
“Yeah. I hope it was just my imagination.”
“It wasn’t.” I tip my head to the backseat. “Let’s go act like spies. Ken is gonna be so sad she missed this.”
Dallas snorts and puts on a brave face, but this freaks him out. I can tell by the way his breathing changed.
“Ever have a stalker before?” I ask on our way to the door.
He buzzes us in and shakes his head.
“It’s kinda scary. You never know when they’ll show up. They might bring their best friend to your job and—”
“Sorry ‘bout that.” His cheeks go red again. “I wasn’t really stalking you.”
“I know.” I skip behind him.
We pass Mr. Arie’s door, but it cracks open.
“Dallas,” Mr. Arie whispers loudly and waves to us.
“Yes?” Dallas swallows.
“You had another visitor, but I don’t think it was the same person.”
“Curiouser and curiouser,” I say.
Mr. Arie nods. “Just wanted to let you know. I didn’t talk to this one, though. They also wore a hoodie with the hood down. Can’t make out the face, but printed them out just in case.” He hands Dallas a blurry picture.
“Can you send that video to my email, too?” I ask sweetly.
“Already done.” Mr. Arie pushes up his glasses and nods. “That’s all.”
“Thanks,” I say as he closes his door.
“Well, fuck.” Dallas glares at his apartment door. “What do we do now?”
“Keep the plan?” But now I have a proper weapon and my phone in case someone’s in there.
Dallas huffs out a sigh. “Okay, I don’t see why not.”
He unlocks the door, and the scent of roses hits us in the face. It’s as if someone spritz the fuck out of the living room with some floral perfume and I stumble back just to breathe fresh air.
“What the fuck?” Dallas chokes out as he waves his hand in front of his face. His eyes go wide and we both narrow in on the slim vase with the single blue rose.
“There’s a note,” I say and snatch it off the vase, making it tumble to its side. “To the only man that’s ever made me believe in myself.”
“Oh.” He pulls off the ball cap and hangs it on the hook by the door.
“Oh? What does oh mean now?” I ask and stomp toward him, waving the note.
“Ow!” I stick my finger in my mouth to suck where the paper cut me. “Ew!” I pull it out and hold it away from me. “Band-aids?”
Dallas takes my hand gently, but stops leading me wherever the band-aids are.
“Shouldn’t we look for more clues first?”
“Probably? But my finger hurts,” I pout and cradle my hand.
“Wow. You can be all bad ass, but a paper cut takes you down?”
“My skin is delicate.” But he doesn’t know I’ve already clocked the camera in the corner. It’s tiny, but I know it’s there.
Dallas rolls his eyes, but leads me to the bathroom and turns on the water. He’s distracted, and thank fuck, I don’t notice any cameras here. I open the medicine cabinet and the cupboard below the sink, much to his annoyance.
“Stand still.”
I grab him by the hair and yank him down to me. “Shush. There’s a cam in your living room and probably a mic.”
His eyes go wide and I love when they do that, but it’s almost comical.
“What do we do?” He starts to turn off the water, and I stop him. We might need it to drown out what we say.
“What do you know about who left the rose?”
He swallows. “I’ve been emailing with a fan for the last couple of months. She usually signs off with what the note says. Or something like it. I always thought it was a little quirky. Now—”
“Now it’s creepy as fuck. Do you have any self preservation skills at all?” I release him from my hold and back up a little.
“Yes.”
“Answer me this.” I sigh. “What address do you use for your newsletter?”
He looks to the sky and holds his breath. After a few moments, he lets it out. “The gym.”
“Oh, thank fuck. For a second there, I thought you used your apartment address. Tomorrow you’re getting a PO Box. Never, ever use an address someone can actually find you at.”
“I’ve never had a problem before.”
I cock a brow.
“Well, not until now, I guess.”
“We’re setting you up so secure no one that doesn’t know where you are will ever find you.”
“What do we do now?”
“Just stay right here while I hook everything up.”
“In the bathroom?”
“Yes, I know it’s secure. I’ll go check the other rooms and set you up. You’re gonna be a good boy and do what I say.” I run a hand along his jaw. “Correct?”
“I guess.” He crosses his arms and sits on the toilet seat. “But I don’t like it. I’d rather know what’s going on.”
“And I wish my car was a magical unicorn.”
That makes him snort. “That sounds perfect for you.”
“I know.” Before he can say anything else, I exit the bathroom and close him in.