Chapter 33
thirty-three
EMILY
I’ve always known my daddy is awesome but watching him mobilize support to protect the house submissives like a general commanding his troops makes him that leetle bit awesomer.
By the time I wake from my nap and give Livvy a feed, there’s a crowd in the small conference room downstairs.
Daddy, Masters Theo, Bull, Mac, and Javier, Daddies Bravo, Henry, Max, and even Laurel’s Masutā.
Faolan and Jack have stayed up in the Nursery to keep an eye on the subbies—well, mostly to keep an eye on Sammi—but they have ear-pieces in their ears and I think they can hear what’s going on.
When Faolan suggests going to the Stables to visit the fluffle and fainting mini-goat, I take Laurel’s hand and peel off from the group as we troop downstairs.
“I think it’s time for subbies to be involved, too,” I say. “Will you be okay if there’s some talk about things that have scared other subbies?”
“Yes.” Laurel nods her proud, magenta crest without hesitation.
I squeeze her hand. She’s the bravest person I know.
I lead her into the small conference room, which looks like the bridge of the Enterprise now.
Max has brought some of his equipment and it’s spread out on the conference table.
There are three big screens and lots of laptops on the go.
Daddy and Theo are huddled at one end of the table, working together on a laptop while Theo cradles a phone between his shoulder and ear.
I don’t want to disturb Daddy, so I creep over to where Laurel’s Dom sits at a laptop, typing with a frown on his face.
“Tatsu,” Laurel says to get his attention.
Jiro nods and points at the floor next to his chair. Laurel kneels and I kneel beside her, which is somewhat awkward with Livvy in her harness on my chest but I manage.
“Petto. Emily,” Jiro says after a minute. He turns in his chair to look at us.
“We’d like to help,” Laurel offers.
Jiro nods. “Do you still have the number for that professional Domme, Harlow? I’d like to access her network as well.”
“Yes, I do.” Laurel gets out her phone, scrolls through it, and hands it to her Dom.
“Thank you.” He takes her phone and makes a call. He doesn’t say much other than identifying himself, letting Harlow know that a very troublesome situation has come to light at Blunts which affects the whole community, and asks her to call back. I gather the call’s gone to voicemail.
He returns the phone to Laurel. “We’re trying to identify all the members of this odious Wolfpack and the clubs and parties where they’ve been hunting submissives. We know of nine so far—”
I gulp. Daddy only mentioned Masters Drew and Emmett and a nasty guest named Hans. But nine! That’s so much bigger than anything I’d understood.
“You type a great deal faster than I do,” Jiro says to Laurel, holding up two fingers. Laurel and I giggle. “If you’ll take my seat, I’ll walk you through the searches I’m doing. Emily, I suspect your Daddy very much needs a hug by now.”
“Yes, sir.”
At Jiro’s nod, Laurel and I rise to our feet.
Laurel gives her Dom a long, tight hug. Jiro strokes her back and whispers something to her.
I barely catch it but I think he says, “I couldn’t prevent what happened to you, petto.
I couldn’t avenge you as much as I wanted to.
But I can help stop this. I’ve given Logan my full support and my resources. I hope you agree.”
“Yes, Tatsu,” Laurel says. “I do.”
I back away when he kisses her and steal over to Daddy’s side.
“Baby doll,” he says, rising out of his chair. “Is it dinner time?”
It is dinner time. A little past dinner time, if I’m honest. But this is more important than the faint growling of my tummy. I don’t mind putting off surf and turf to another night.
“It is but that’s not why I came to find you. I thought you might need a hug by now.”
Daddy smiles and opens his arms. I unclip Livvy’s harness so I can press against my Daddy. He takes her and cradles her in his left arm while he pulls me into a snuggly hug.
Daddy kisses the top of my head. “I always appreciate hugs from my baby girl. I believe you were promised a yummy dinner that you don’t have to cook.”
“I was,” I agree, stretching up to kiss his jaw. “But I’m happy to take a rain-check if you’re busy with this. It’s more important.”
Daddy slips his hand under my chin. “Nothing is more important than my little girl and Daddy always keeps his promises.”
He kisses the tip of my nose before he releases my chin and pats the conference table. “Everyone, I think we need to take a break.”
Theo tosses his phone to the table with a grunt. “I still can’t reach Apple or Fleur.”
“I’ve added them to the group chat,” Mac says from across the table. “If they check it, they’ll be able to see what’s going on. I think a generic text that says to call you before they agree to any scenes is the best we can do without tipping our hand.”
Theo scrubs his hand down his face and picks up his phone. “Yeah, okay.”
“Dinner in the Trattoria,” Master Javier says, not making it a question. “I’m happy to feed the troops for this excellent cause.”
“I promised my girls dinner out,” Daddy says. “But we’ll be back in a few hours.”
“No.” Theo stands and pats Daddy’s shoulder. “I think we call it a night. We’ve done a lot. Some of us have scenes planned. Some of us still have a sleep debt because of your last emergency. We all need a night to regroup and recuperate. We can check in first thing in the morning.”
That quickly becomes the plan. Javier leads a group off to the Trattoria while Daddy and I retrieve our coats and Livvy’s stroller and head for the train.
“Master Theo’s such a daddy,” I say as we whoosh across Manhattan on the train to Rockefeller Center.
“Such an asshole,” Daddy responds but he’s grinning.
“You like him. You’re glad you’re friends again. I can tell.”
Daddy pecks me on the forehead. “We’ll call him Cranky Daddy. That’ll really wind him up.”
I giggle. Yes, it will. And Master Theo deserves it.
“He’s been a good friend today,” Daddy admits.
“He might not have been on the committee before but he plays club politics like a pro. I’m still not sure we have enough votes to get rid of Emmett and Drew.
According to the club bylaws, I need seventy-five percent of the committee to remove a lifetime member, which Drew is.
I can get Emmett punted with a simple majority.
But for Drew, it could all hinge on the Three Cs. ”
I hate this for Daddy. I hate that he’s losing faith in the leaders of his club.
I remember when he first mentioned Blunts to me all those months ago.
His eyes were shining darkly, in his wolfy way.
He was smiling with his whole body. The club was something he loved, something he was proud of, even if there was some weirdness going on with his former submissive.
Would he shine and smile today if he had to describe Blunts to a stranger?
“I believe in you,” I remind him. “You’ll fix this and things will get better. I believe that.”
He shapes my face with his big, warm paw encased in a leather glove. “Thank you, sweetheart. I’m holding on to that like a life ring.”
“Tell me about the restaurant,” I say to distract him.
He grins. Since he won the fight with the insurance company and sold my house in Scotland, Daddy’s delighted in giving us treats like this.
It hurt him, not just his pride but his caregiver instincts, to be so restrictive when the evil debt-collector was threatening to take the house.
I don’t need lavish treats but it makes me happy to see Daddy’s pleasure in giving them to me.
“They had the private room available,” he says.
“We have it for two hours. It looks out on the tree. I ordered the tasting menu, so we’re going to have a little of everything.
It doesn’t matter if Livvy cries because we won’t be disturbing anyone, so you can just relax and enjoy the meal and the view. ”
“And the Daddy.”
He leans in to rub noses with me. “And the Daddy. Best thing about today?”
“This part. Although the foot rubs were most excellent. And the swishies.”
Daddy squints in thought. “The swishies?”
“When you hugged me and swishied me in the pool. I don’t like being thrown the way Jack was throwing Sammi because I don’t like face-splashes but I love swishies.”
He chuckles. “I see. I love giving you swishies. We’ll make that a regular thing.” He checks on Livvy, who is sleeping in her stroller. “She seems very sleepy.”
“Probably the swimming. That was a lot of effort for her. She was kicking a ton. Could also be the rocking of the train.”
“Ah, right. I’ll incorporate lots of swimming into our schedules. Build her little baby muscles.”
And conk her out but I understand what Daddy means.
“I was reading something in one of those baby books you bought about letting babies taste flavors. She can’t have anything but milk for another few months, I know but the book said babies taste flavors when they’re in utero and it’s okay to put a mild flavor on your finger or on a paci and let her taste it. Do you think that’s right?”
I nod, remembering that Gracie did that with Connor. “It helps develop their palate. Connor had days where he’d only eat one thing but in general, he wasn’t a fussy eater. Gracie gave him tastes of everything she ate.”
The Gracie-seal-of-approval reassures Daddy. She is my guru in all things baby-related. Daddy seems to have accepted her authority, too, now that he sees how well her schedule is working.
“We’ll give her a taste of dinner tonight,” Daddy says. “Since there will be lots to choose from.”