Chapter 14 #2
We demolish the pancakes, eggs, and links.
Logan makes a second pot of coffee, real coffee for Brenna this time, although I notice she did drink the tea, despite her complaints, which attests to her fondness for Emily.
When he returns with the coffee, he sends Emily and Cynnie off to watch cartoons.
“Thought we might brainstorm about Bren’s skinhead problem while we’re all together. ”
I nod since we need to digest our pancakes before we box, naked or otherwise.
“I’ve narrowed down where the skinhead lives based on his IP provider,” Max says. “Three block radius, if you want to put up posters again. It’s quite a way from Bren’s shop, which makes it surprising he’d try to get a tattoo there.”
Logan rubs his hand over his unshaven jaw. “Set-up.”
“Here’s the more interesting thing. There are repeated hits to Bren’s Google page from two other IP addresses.
One’s definitely Mad Bob, but this one—” Max pulls a folded piece of paper out of the back pocket of his black jeans, pushes his dishes to one side, and smooths the paper out on the table.
I lean over to see it and Bren presses into my side to get a view.
It’s a printout of a Brooklyn street map with several blocks circled in red.
“This one serves Brownsville. The headquarters of the Fairskin Knights are right here.” He taps within the red circle.
“I’ve never had anything to do with the Fairskin Knights,” Bren says. “And I’ve been out of Brooklyn for nearly ten years.”
Max rubs his fingertips over the map. “Bren, I don’t want to scare you, but I don’t like the sound of these guys.
They’re not Aryan Brotherhood, but they’re not far off.
They’re white supremacists. They’re violent.
If you’ve insulted a brother, or Mad Bob’s one of them and he’s trying to run off the competition, they’re going to escalate. ”
I snug Bren tighter into my side.
Logan clears his throat. “Bren, would you be willing to wear a panic button?”
She turns wide eyes up to me. I nod reassuringly.
“I guess. Where, uh, do I wear it?”
“I’ll get one ordered for you. Should be here in a few days. I can have it made into a bracelet or an earring, whatever you prefer.”
“Earring, sir. I’d need to take it off while I’m working if it’s a bracelet.”
“Okay, I’ll get that ordered. In the meanwhile, I’d feel better if you and Mac would move in here.”
“Let’s play that by ear,” I interject before Bren responds, looking to balance her desire for independence with our need to keep her safe. The glance she shoots me is grateful.
“I’m not stupid,” Bren says quietly. “I know the security here is much better than mine. I just don’t like these guys pushing me into a corner. Maybe we could change it up? A night or two at my place, with Sir, of course, then a night here and then a night at Blunts? That might keep them guessing.”
Logan nods. “As long as you’ll let me put some cameras in your flat.”
Bren sighs. “Can they not be in the bathroom at least?”
Max chuckles. “Even if he put those in, I’d turn off the feed. Things I don’t need to see.”
“You’ll be monitoring, too?” she asks warily.
“Sorry, girlie. The more eyes on you, the safer you are.”
Bren nods but I can feel her shoulders slump where she’s leaning against me. Since she’s wholly uninhibited in scenes, this isn’t about modesty, it’s about the invasion of her privacy.
I press my lips to her temple and whisper, “I’m sorry, bold girl. I promise this won’t last forever and you can take all your frustration out on me downstairs in an hour.”
Bren nods. “Thank you, Sir.”
After our pow-wow, Bren joins the girls to watch their movie while she digests, and Logan takes me upstairs to see the renovation that’s underway.
I know from the plans that the third floor’s being converted not just into my suite but also a guest room so that the current guest room can become the baby’s nursery.
I wouldn’t object to having the nursery on my floor, but I’ll admit I’m happier sharing my bathroom with the occasional guest than with the baby.
Naomi’s potty-training days are not my fondest memories.
The builders have made big strides in just a few days and have framed out all the rooms, put up plasterboard and insulated. The bathroom’s the least finished, with wires sticking out of holes in the plasterboard and exposed plumbing, but even it has a sense of how the final room will look.
“I had a thought for the screens,” I say, waving to where two shoji screens will close off the bath once it’s installed. “I thought I might get Bren to paint them. Sort of like graffiti. Might add a modern edge.”
Logan lifts an eyebrow. “I like that idea, but if things don’t last between you, will you want the reminder?”
“Lo, I’m not going into this with that mind-set. Did you feel that way about Emily?”
He gives me a sheepish grin. “Not even for a second.”
“Then stop projecting that shit on me and Bren.”
“Roger that, sir.”
“And don’t push too hard on Bren moving in here, during or after this. She’s independent because she’s had to be. I’m being careful not to crowd her and let her come to me in her own time. She’s doing great settling into my control.”
“I honestly wouldn’t have believed Bren could do it full-time.”
“She’s not just doing it, she’s thriving. I haven’t seen any sadness in her eyes in days. She laughs so much more than when we first met. Some of that is we’re in the honeymoon stage, sure, but a lot of it is she’s finally getting what she needs instead of what she thought she wanted.”
Logan scratches the back of his neck uncomfortably. “I’m not sure what it says that she’s been at Blunts for over five years and hasn’t gotten what she needs.”
“You know exactly what it means, son. You never paid attention to her.” I hold up my hand to forestall him when he frowns defensively.
“You know it’s true. I saw it so clearly when we caught up to the subs at the bar last night.
Bren’s never going to be part of the popular crowd.
She’s too much of an outsider. You let her be an outsider and I’m not condemning you for that, but you know you weren’t keeping tabs on her and she’s never going to be one to complain.
Without someone to advocate for her, the Doms gave her what she asked for, what she said she wanted, but no one was paying attention to her deeper needs.
If you want me to help you manage the house subs, that’s something we’re going to have to address. ”
Logan’s mouth works for a moment. “You’re right.”
I admire many things about Logan, but nothing more than his ability to admit when he’s wrong.
“I know I am.” I squeeze his shoulder. “Don’t shoulder all the blame, Lo. There are what, thirty house subs?”
“Closer to forty.”
“That’s too many for any one person to manage. It never should have been a one-man job.”
He nods. “I agree with you there, sir.”
“You done anything about it yet? My membership or taking the reins back from your friend?”
“No. Sorry, Mac, I’ve been pre-occupied.”
“Don’t be sorry. Bren’s reward today is going to be a swimming lesson. I can take her to the gym near my apartment, but if you don’t have any plans this afternoon—”
“Nothing this doesn’t trump. I need to make an appearance at the club every day during the festival anyway and Emily will jump at a chance to go swimming.
I’ll catch one or two of the committee members while we’re there and start the sponsorship.
” His mouth twists. “They never fail to pressure me about something, so I’m sure they’ll mention the training role. ”
“Feel free to use me as a buffer against their pressure, Lo.”
He grips my wrist, where I’m still resting my hand on his shoulder, and squeezes. “I’ll hold you to that, sir.”
We finish the tour of the renovations with a peek into the large closet that’s all that’s left of the formerly huge attic.
It’s already stuffed with what looks like boxes of books, carefully labeled in Emily’s handwriting.
Good thing I don’t need much storage. “What happened to everything that was up here?” I ask, remembering that Logan refused to part with anything belonging to his parents after their deaths.
“Ebay,” he says. “Emily helped me sell it all. Some surprising things in there. They fetched enough for that new eighty-four-inch telly.”
“You told Emily about that yet?”
Logan shakes his head with a huge grin. “When I do, I’m blaming it on you.”
I laugh as I follow him downstairs.
I give Bren another half-hour to digest and finish the movie with Emily and Cynnie before I drag her into the basement.
We’ve brought our own gloves and Bren’s pads.
Logan has a speed bag and a heavy bag in his home gym.
After several minutes of skipping, we each take a bag to warm up, swap, and then pick up the pads to spar.
Bren’s bound her dreads back with a thick black band that holds them away from her face and she’s holding the pads. Otherwise, she’s naked. The warm-up’s given her colorful skin a gorgeous sheen and I’m already addicted to naked boxing.
“Are we kicking, Sir?” she asks as we circle each other in the small, open space, bare feet squeaking on the mats.
I consider my free-swinging junk and decide against it. “No, but knees are okay. I’d actually like to work on the knee combinations Kru showed us in the lesson.”
I was surprised the combinations didn’t hurt me more than they did, given the state of my knee, and am wondering if it was the calisthenics Bren’s kickboxing instructor put us through at the beginning of class or just my knee fucking finally beginning to ease.
Bren nods. “Combination eleven, then, Sir?” She adjusts the pads against the first two strikes, and I hammer them into the pads.
My knee’s aching after a half-hour of sparring and I decide it’s a combination of Kru’s warm-up and the much better padding at his gym that kept my knee from bitching. I’m definitely joining my bold girl’s gym.