Chapter 2
PATRICK
Kylie Stands had popped up on our algorithm the minute she booked her room.
A former FBI agent booking a two-week stay at a Quadrangle hotel normally would be just a coincidence, but the way she moved around the casino did not scream tourist. She spent long stints in various restaurants and bars.
She varied her time on the casino floor, and she was always looking, watching, observing.
She popped up enough that facial recognition sent me alerts daily when she stepped into a new camera’s view.
Randall set it up for me. Cyberstalking was Randall’s area of expertise and his favorite pastime.
When I asked him to send her alerts to me directly, he raised an eyebrow but didn’t ask any questions.
I’d known the Grant brothers and Josh for over twenty years.
Most of our adult lives. When each of us went a little off script, no one questioned it.
When Kyler bought a building to be close to his little Rayna, and when Josh smuggled Tinley out of Paris somewhat legally after she spent two years in her own personal hell, they both vowed to make the rest of their littles’ world a playground. We all worked together to make it happen.
Lately, I’d been feeling like I failed.
Rayna had almost gotten kidnapped again on my watch.
Situations happen, and no one can predict the lengths a madman would go to get revenge on people who did them wrong.
I watched as Rayna took an elevator ride from hell, fighting her heart out, while I waited for the elevator to reach its destination where I could put the guy down for good.
It was the longest minute of my life. Yeah, guarding and keeping people in Kyler’s family safe was my job, but I liked Rayna.
She’d brought joy and purpose to my friend’s life that he had been missing since his parents died.
Furthermore, she was my friend. She always had a kind word and wouldn’t dare let me blame myself for what happened to her.
When she and Tinley ran into that sick fuck from Tinley’s time in captivity, I wasn’t around, but my team, who I hired, trained and trusted allowed it to happen on their watch.
While the odds of one of Tinley’s assaulters showing up at a men’s shop on Fifth Avenue in New York were slim, it happened. We still should have been prepared.
I wasn’t about to let another circumstance arise under my watch.
That’s what made Kylie showing up a month after we were just at FBI HQ New York impossible to ignore. And her making small talk with the girls made me even more curious.
Her background was interesting.
Graduated from Georgetown with a double major in Mathematics and Spanish, but she spoke French and Italian, too.
The FBI recruited her, but she had accepted a job with a think tank in DC.
Before starting the job, she disappeared off the grid for six months, which coincided with her sister’s disappearance from a luxury resort in Colombia.
When she returned to the world, she took the FBI up on their offer and became an analyst. The sex-trafficking task force was her latest assignment.
Agent Stanley gave her a ringing endorsement but with a word of caution: she was smart, capable, but a little too dialed in when she needed to let go, and she had no social life from what he knew.
Confirmed by my own research, she lived alone and went to and from her apartment in New Jersey daily by train.
She had no friends, no boyfriends, not even a cat.
Yet, once a month, on a Friday, instead of going home, she took a cab from New York across the bridge to Brooklyn to a brownstone in the middle of a block on a nondescript street near Park Slope.
It took me no time at all to figure out it was a play party for daddies/mommies and littles.
The invitation list was highly secure and exclusive.
The caregivers paid a membership, but the littles applied and were selected to attend for free.
Though the place was open every weekend, and even had rooms to rent for overnight guests, Kylie only allowed herself to visit once a month.
While I got little vibes from her the first time I saw her, she wasn’t open about that side of herself.
And she didn’t allow herself to indulge too much.
It made her even more intriguing. I wanted to find out why.
It didn’t hurt that she was beautiful. She was on the short side but had an athletic build.
Thankfully, her FBI physical training didn’t take away her curves.
Her outfits were more resort and stylish than the other times I’d seen her. She was on vacation after all.
But even in the FBI uniform, a typical dark suit, didn’t dampen her looks. She was stunning and adorable all at the same time.
A staff member approached me with a pizza box in hand.
“Oh, goodie.” Rayna clapped her hands. I nodded, and he sat the pizza slice box between the girls.
“Wow, that was fast,” Kylie said.
“It’s the Quadrangle magic; ask and you shall receive.” Rayna wiggled her eyebrows. I tried to keep mine from rolling.
“Come join us.” Tinley waved at Kylie. She peeked in my direction but didn’t wait for me to acknowledge her before standing, grabbing her drink and hopping on the bar stool next to Tinley.
“Does the magic work for everything?” Kylie leaned over the counter, ogling the slice of pepperoni with light cheese. Tinley had a problem with some foods since living on very little for two years.
“It seems to only work with food and clothing items, an occasional toy, but not for good things like ninja stars or samurai swords.” Rayna answered.
Kylie’s eyes grew wide, but she recovered quickly. “No weapons, got it.”
A small to-go container of hot honey was in the box. Elizabeth brought a bowl of ranch from the back.
“Do you want a taste?” Rayna asked while taking a knife and cutting off the bottom half of the slice of pizza and putting it on a plate for Tinley. “Do you like crust? Tinley usually gives me her crust, but you can have some too.”
“Yes, please.” Kylie’s smile lit up her entire face.
Her blond hair was tied half-up with a brown clip.
The rest hung halfway down her back and shone bright even in the muted light of the restaurant.
The t-shirt dress she wore skimmed across her hips and flared at the bottom.
She wasn’t dressed little, but with what I knew about her, that’s all I saw.
“My name is Kylie.” She held out her hand toward Tinley, who was relearning social cues. She looked at it before Rayna reached across and shook her hand.
“I’m Rayna.” She nudged Tinley. “This is Tinley.”
“Hi,” Tinley waved and lowered her gaze to the greasy goodness in front of her, flicking her thumb and forefinger.
“How do we do this?” Tinley asked. Both girls turned to Kylie with wide eyes and waited.
“I drizzle the hot honey.” Kylie picked up a fork and dipped it in the sticky amber sauce and waved it back and forth, creating a zig-zag pattern of honey across the slice. Delighted, the girls also followed suit. “Then dip it in the ranch.”
“Same time.” Rayna gathered her slice. Tinley did the same with two hands.
Without the crust, her slice wasn’t as rigid.
They all three dipped and brought the slice up to their mouths.
Tinley and Rayna stopped and watched. Kylie blew on the slice and took a bite.
Her cheeks flushed red and her eyes fluttered shut as she slowly chewed while letting out an uninhibited moan.
Fuck, the sounds a woman could make. It had been a while.
The tone set off something in my brain, and the air seemed unreasonably warm.
Her soft pink lips, with a small bit of ranch on the corner, conjured up thoughts that had no place in a public restaurant, and I had to look away and adjust myself.
I thought I had grown out of the boner when the wind blew stage, but she had my body reacting younger than my actual thirty-five years.
Rayna and Tinley giggled and followed suit, falling into their own moment of bliss. “Oh, my goodness,” they said in unison.
Kylie gave a knowing nod and finished her third of the slice.
“Hot honey.” Rayna picked up the small plastic container and kissed it. “Where have you been all my life? Patrick?”
“Yes, Rayna.”
She turned the bar stool around to face me. “Remind me to put this on our weekly grocery list.”
Tinley nodded with her entire head, taking another bite that had left her speechless.
I didn’t bother reminding Rayna I was not her assistant and besides, she didn’t have a weekly grocery list.
I waited for Kylie to acknowledge she knew who we were, but she continued chatting with the girls like they were new friends, extolling the greatness of other food combinations like peanut butter and honey and Tinley’s favorite, eggs and maple syrup.
The sliders the chef made often for the girls arrived, along with Kylie’s chicken sandwich.
“Where are you from?” Tinley asked. An innocent enough question, but I was curious if she would lie. She had introduced herself with her real name, but they were entering territory that would reveal a lot.
“I’m from California, but I live in New Jersey now,” said Kylie.
She watched Rayna dip her burger in the ranch dressing and take a small bite.
How the chef got the buns so small was the true marvel of Rayna’s favorite meal.
Kylie followed the demonstration and joined them in enjoying the food and continuing the conversation. “Where are you all from?”
“Upstairs,” Tinley answered without hesitation.
“Upstairs?” The smattering of freckles across Kylie’s nose bunched up, making her look so cute and innocent.
Tinley, realizing what she had said, turned to me. It drew Kylie’s attention, as she glared in my direction before straightening her face. Rayna jumped in. “We live in an apartment upstairs.”
Tinley nodded in agreement.
“Oh, wow. It must be interesting living in a casino.” Kylie’s line of questioning was intentional. She was probing the girls for information. “Do you live alone or together?”
“Down the hall from each other,” Rayna answered without looking at Kylie. “It’s fun.”
“Yeah, what do you do?” Kylie continued. “Do you work in the casino? Or do you have a rich, handsome sugar daddy who—”
“Rayna, Tinley.” I stepped between the girls. That was enough with the interrogation. “We need to get going if you want to make the movie on time.” I glanced at my watch.
“Oh, yeah.” Tinley wiped her mouth with the napkin. Rayna did the same, but her eyes cut over to Kylie. She was more observant. It was those ninja skills at work. “We’re going to see Zootopia 2.”
“Oh, cool. I loved the first one.” Kylie took a bite of her sandwich, followed by a sip of her drink. “My favorite is all the bunny rabbits.”
“I love the sloths.” Rayna reached out for her cup but in slow motion, like the movie character. “He isssss sooooooo cccccccuuuuuuttttteeee.” She burst into giggles. Rayna and Kylie joined her.
When they gained some control, Tinley sat straight up in her chair. “Oh, would you like to go with us?”
Rayna and I straightened as well. We looked at each other. Tinley picked up on the mood change. Thankfully, Kylie did too.
“Oh, thank you so much. That would be fun, but I’m meeting some friends soon.” She picked up her phone.
Rayna nodded and hopped off the bar stool. She grabbed her and Tinley’s cups, newly refilled by Elizabeth.
“It was nice meeting you, Kylie,” Rayna’s voice clipped as she helped Tinley off the bar stool.
“Bye, Kylie,” Tinley waved. “Enjoy your time in Vegas.”
“I will.” Kylie’s eyes narrowed, and she pinched her nose.
She watched as the girls filed out of the restaurant.
The sadness took over her whole body. I see lonely people in Vegas every day, trying to experience something meaningful in their lives amongst the bright lights, beeps and buzzes.
Being next to excitement made their lives more exciting.
Either she was sad about missing an opportunity, or she was missing some little fun; either way, Kylie wanted something.
I had a feeling I might need to protect her from herself.
I escorted the girls to the movie theater and got them situated in a special reserved section. Members of my crew filed in around them, but gave them their space. It was Kyler’s compromise for letting the girls have a normal afternoon at the movies like normal people.
After they settled in with enough snacks to feed the whole theater, I doubled back and found Kylie still sitting at the bar.
She had ordered another drink and turned herself slightly away from me while watching the door.
Watching for the girls, maybe, or watching for a way out. I took the stool to her right.
She turned. The color drained from her face.
“Kylie Stands. We need to talk.”