Chapter 17 #2
I’ve made my bumble happy.
She’s still smiling when I help her pack her overnight bag, put her black sack back on, and walk her to the Metro.
She swings our joined hands as we walk and hums a little song I can’t quite make out the words to.
When we part at the Metro, she throws her arms around my neck and peppers my face with kisses before she runs off with a wave.
I’m smiling myself as I return to my apartment.
I take the time to tap out a text to Jack before I sit down to work.
All good. You were right. About everything.
He sends me back a thumbs up emoji that I leave up on my screen as I turn on my rig.
Every time I look at it, I’m reminded that I’ve done something right today.
I may not understand this daddy thing. I may be a complete wimp when it comes to punishments.
But I’ve done something right; I’ve made my little happy.
I spend an hour reading through the information my various searches have turned up before calling Logan.
“Did you get what I sent you?” I ask without saying hello.
“Yeah, just reading it now. This is good stuff, Maxie.”
“Uh-huh. What’d your lawyer say about the death certificate?”
“She put in her own public records request for it. She says she shouldn’t have any trouble getting it. It’s the link that’ll be tough to prove.”
“We need that witness testimony, buddy.”
“Max.” He blows out a breath into the phone. “I can’t ask you to go to England.”
“I didn’t hear you asking. I’ve got my first big exam coming up. Once I’m finished with it, I’ll go to England. Send me the name of the witness and anything else you’ve got on them and I’ll set up the interview for as soon as I’m free.”
“Max—”
“You need this. I’m doing it, Lo. Besides, I’ve never been to England. I gotta find out if the fish and chips are all they’re cracked up to be.”
Logan snorts. “Fish and chips in London? Bloody Cockneys don’t know how to make proper fish and chips.”
I chuckle. “We lifting today? Cynnie’s coming back at three. I need to be back before then.”
“You mind if we do it tomorrow? Emmy and I are having some hard-core little time today. She’s building a blanket fort right now and I’m not sure we could find the basement door even if we tried.”
It’s my turn to chuckle. “No problem. You sound like you’re in a better place today.”
“Yeah, I am, and I know I have you to thank for that. Thanks, Maxie.”
“You’re welcome. I’ll grab Mac and come over tomorrow around eleven if that works for you. I’ve got class in the afternoon.”
“That’s great. I mean it, Max. You’ve pulled my ass out of a really bad place. I can’t thank you enough, mate.”
“You can pay me back by sending me a list of rules for littles. I’m trying to come up with rules for Cynnie. Communication’s going to be the big one, but I’m struggling with ideas for others.”
“I’ll send you the contract Emmy and I have and a couple of others I’ve used with my submissives.
Pick and choose whatever you think will work with Cynnie.
Remember, whatever you come up with is not set in stone.
Emmy and I renegotiate our contract regularly.
Think of it as a living document that’s there to shape your relationship instead of the Ten Commandments, yeah?
It’s a wooden fence instead of the Berlin Wall. ”
“Okay, that sounds good. Thanks, man.”
“See you tomorrow, Maxie.”
He hangs up without waiting for me to say goodbye. I smile into the phone before I go back to work.
When I look up again, because my stomach’s rumbling, it’s noon. The smoothie was just what I wanted after the stress of Cynnie’s punishment, but now my body needs something more substantial.
Walking through into my kitchen to make a sandwich, I see something black flash past the window.
Sure, things move past my windows from time to time.
Birds. The occasional escaped balloon. This was neither.
I tear out onto my fire escape in time to see a tiny, black drone disappear between the buildings.
I get a clip of it in on my phone, but I already know it won’t have any features I can trace.
Fuck. Ness found me.
I barricade myself back in my apartment and call Manny.
“There was a drone outside my window,” I tell him.
“What the fuck?”
I take a couple of deep breaths. “They’re watching me. I’ve made my cyber security as solid as I can. I need you to keep an eye on me. You’re still getting alerts on my vitals, right?”
“Yeah. One went off last night and another this morning, you dog.”
Both damn good orgasms. “Fuck off. You didn’t check in with me either time.”
“I did. Your creeper in Singapore or wherever the fuck he is told me you were busy with your girl. What’s the deal with the closet?”
I’m going to have to limit Squid’s access to my camera feeds. “None of your business. I’m going to take a trip to England for a few days. Otherwise, I’m going to hunker down. My place. NYU. Logan’s place. Oh, and I’m going to the movies with Cynnie tonight.”
“Send me your schedule every day and text me if anything changes. You want me to set up surveillance on your building to see if we can catch the drone?”
“No, I’ll get some cameras in my windows. I might need a body man to come with me to England, though. You got anyone?”
“Yeah, but you’re not going to like it.”
“Not Pig-Pen again. I swear, Manny, anyone but that guy. His body odor could kill a goat.”
Manny chuckles. “No. De Leon.”
“What? Fuck no. Logan mentioned him the other day, too. What the fuck? That guy’s a complete grocery store short of a fruit basket. Someday I’m going to turn on the news and see his name on the FBI’s Most Wanted.”
“Yeah, look, I know he’s a little psycho—”
“A little psycho?”
“Okay, a lot psycho, but I’d trust him to take down anyone who tried to snatch you, Maxie.
He wouldn’t hesitate. My other guys? They’re good guys, but they’re not special forces.
De Leon is. And he has a plane. He can get you to England and back without you having to take commercial flights.
You know they could track you that way. And, uh, he wants in. ”
“What do you mean, he wants in?” I ask, my stomach sinking.
“He’s . . . bored.”
“Good. Mass murderers should be bored. It means they’re not mass murdering.”
“C’mon, Maxie. He’s not a mass murderer. A lot of those Special Forces guys do things they can’t forgive themselves for. He’s trying to atone, I think. He went to Mass with Jen a couple of times.”
“You’re fucking with me. Wait, he’s here in New York? Lo said he was living off the grid somewhere.”
Manny clears his throat. “He is. But like I said, he’s bored and, uh, a little lonely. He’s got a place in the City. He pops in and out.”
I rub my forehead to ease the tension headache that’s returned. “Just what we want. The ex-spook popping in and out. It’s not even Halloween.”
Manny chuckles at my lame joke. “Just think about it, okay? I’d feel a lot better about you traveling internationally if De Leon was with you.”
I grumble but drop it. It’s a problem for another day and if there’s no better solution, at least I won’t have to put up with Manny’s buddy’s body odor. It really is that bad.
“You’re going to England for this thing with Logan’s ex, right?” Manny asks.
“Yeah. He tell you about it?”
“Enough, yeah. I can’t imagine being where he is. On top of everything else, Jen would fucking kill me. How’s Emily holding up?”
“She seems okay, but it’s got to be stressful for them both. We need to do everything we can to help. I’ve never seen Logan fall apart like that, not even after Ernie was killed. On top of his injury and everything else, it’s too much, Man.”
Manny grunts. “Then you’re not going to like this. Rick-the-Fucktard got out of the hospital and went straight to a building on Lexington Avenue. There are a couple of different offices in that building, but one of them is a law office.”
“How d’you know that?”
“Rick’s an idiot. For all his bitching about the panic button Logan had made for him, he hasn’t taken it off. I’m still tracking him.”
My jaw sets. If Rick even thinks about suing Logan, I’ll bury him so deep, DSVs won’t be able to find him. “Get me the name of that law firm. I’m going to do some digging.”
“Okay, Maxie. Don’t get caught, yeah?”
“You know me. Stealth is my middle name.”
Manny chuckles before he hangs up. A moment later, my phone pings with the law firm’s name and the Lexington Avenue address. I ignore the now-faint rumblings of my stomach and return to my rig for a deep hack.