Chapter 40 #2
Theo leans forward and knots his hands together on the edge of my desk.
“They’re my friends, too. Fleur, Cappa, Shannie.
I’ve known them for years. I’ve scened with them.
I’ve been inside all of them.” Behind him, standing with his back to the door into the kitchen, Myles shifts.
Theo continues without noticing, “None of them felt they could come to me. Do you know how awful that feels, Logan? I had a duty to protect them. A duty twice over and I failed them.”
“I understand,” I say. “I had a duty to protect them, too—”
“You went to bat for them. You took Cappa in immediately. You started escalating things at the club. I’m not deaf and you know what the club grapevine is like.
I know you’ve been working on this for months.
Against a lot of opposition. Maybe no one truly understood how bad it was but I’ve dealt with grooming and sexual assault cases for years and I should have seen what the hell was going on. Don’t ask me to walk away now.”
I look around the room and see the light of resolve in all the eyes looking back at me.
“You are my brothers and sisters and I will always be grateful for you,” I say. “But this is where your involvement ends. All of you. It can’t go any further.”
“It damn well can,” Theo growls.
“No, it can’t. I need you to pick up your badge now and go back out there and defend the rest of the people who need your help, Theo. You’re a good man and a good Dom. But you are not a killer. And neither I nor anyone else in this room has the right to ask you to become one.”
Theo slants a hard glance at Myles. “I’m not leaving this to him.”
“Because you don’t think I’ll get the job done,” Myles says quietly, not lifting his gaze from the tips of his boots.
“It’s not your responsibility,” Theo snaps. “You’re brand new to all of this. You barely know what being a Dom means. You’re not a member of the club. You don’t even know half of the house submissives.”
“I’m not doing it out of responsibility,” Myles responds, raising neither his eyes nor his voice. “I’m doing it out of love.”
That silences everyone in the room.
Javier finally breaks the silence. He stands, walks over to Myles, and hands him a business card. “I won’t ask you to incriminate yourself or do anything like that, mon frere. But I’d appreciate it if you text me when it’s done. Just a thumbs up will do. I love Fleur and Cappa, too.”
Myles nods and pockets the card.
As always, Javier gets the last word. Javier drags Theo out with him, after Theo slaps a small phone on the edge of my desk. Everyone shakes my hand as they leave. Max is last and instead of leaving once he’s shaken my hand, he shuts the door behind Mac.
“Neither Logan nor I are leaving, Myles,” Max says.
Myles lifts his head and pins us with that disconcerting, gray gaze. “No?”
“No,” I say firmly.
Myles nods to himself. He walks over to the two of us and draws us into a tight circle, his arms curving over our shoulders.
“Who are we?” he asks.
Before I try to answer, Max says, “We’re the sin-eaters. We’re the ones who don’t turn away. We’re the ones who do the things that need doing.”
What the fuck is this?
“We’re the ones who stand and take the beating,” Myles murmurs.
“We’re the ones who get up afterwards and take it again,” Max rejoins.
I have no idea what this exchange stems from but each word resonates in my bones.
“I don’t want any misunderstandings later,” Myles says, still looking at the two of us steadily. “This is murder. Premeditated murder.”
Max and I nod without hesitation.
“We get caught, we go to jail for a very long time,” Myles presses the point home again. “I have some contacts upstream but they won’t be able to help us with this.”
“I don’t want to pull them in,” I tell him. “No one else. This is between the three of us and Ten. We don’t involve anyone else. We’re not rescuing a mini-goat here. We’re ending the threat to every submissive that Drew comes into contact with.”
Myles nods. “I have a contact I’ll need to involve on the back end. Max has met him. He’s completely solid. I wouldn’t involve him otherwise.”
In this moment, under these surreal circumstances, I trust Myles without question. “That’s fine,” I agree.
“Pack for three days. I have weapons but if you prefer your own gun, bring it. We’re taking my plane. Say goodbye to your girls. I’m going to call my driver. Twenty minutes until wheels up.”
Max and I nod. That ends the discussion. Myles releases us. I go to find Emily and explain the unexplainable.
I take her up to our bedroom and sit on the edge of the bed with her in my lap. I rest my forehead against hers.
“I don’t want you to know where I’m going.
That way if you’re asked, you can honestly say you don’t know.
I don’t want to tell you what I’m doing.
It would make you an accessory. Myles thinks we’ll be gone for three days.
I swear I’ll come back to you, baby girl.
There’s nothing more important to me than coming home to you. ”
Her big eyes search my face. Is she looking for reassurance? Certainty? Whatever it is, she finds what she’s looking for. The tension around her eyes eases. She cups my face in her hands.
“I won’t ask you where you’re going; I won’t ask what you’re doing. I know you’re doing what needs to be done. I know you’ll come back to me and you’ll bring Max and Myles home safe. And Master Ten, too. Because that’s who you are.”
I hold her for half of my allotted twenty minutes, rocking her in my lap. “Mac will stay with you. He’s going to be pissed off when he realizes where we’ve gone. Tell him I didn’t trust anyone else to protect my girls.”
Emily nods and holds me tightly. She’s not clinging to me. She’s not trembling. She’s as resolute as I am. My baby doll.
When the time starts to worry me, she helps me pack in her quiet, efficient way.
I make it downstairs with two minutes to spare.
Opening my gun safe, I pull out my Glock and ammunition and take out two stacks of twenties.
As I shove them in my bag, my fingertips brush something that doesn’t feel like my clothes. I peer into the bag.
One of Emily’s tiny stuffed dinosaurs is nestled between two pairs of jeans.
With a smile, I zip up my bag.
Mac’s waiting in the hallway with Emmy and Bren. Livvy’s on Mac’s shoulder. He pats her back and she rips out one of her froggy burps.
I glance at Emily and smile. She smiles back, although her eyes gleam with unshed tears. My brave little girl.
Mac eyes my bag narrowly. “Where the fuck d’you think you’re going, son?”
I pat Livvy’s back. “Emily will explain. I’ll call every night no later than ten to say goodnight. I love you, Mac. You’ve been more of a father to me than my own dad. Keep our girls safe.” I nod at Bren and Emily. “Keep our family safe.”
Mac’s jaw knots. “We’re gonna have words about this when you get back.”
I nod and grip his shoulder. Then I sweep up Emily in a final hug. As I’m releasing her, there’s a knock on the door. When I check my phone, Myles stares back at me. I hadn’t realized he’d left the house.
As I open the door, a firm hand lands on my shoulder and tugs me back. I turn. Brenna throws herself at me, hugging me fiercely. I smile over her shoulder at Mac and Emily as I hug her with my free arm.
“Come home safe, Daddy Lo,” Brenna says, her voice rough.
I pat her back. “See you in a few days. I’d say be good but we both know that’s not going to happen.”
She cuffs me on the shoulder as she steps back, wiping her eyes. “Don’t be an ass. I’m trying to emote here.”
Chuckling, I leave with Myles. He leads me to a huge, black SUV that’s idling at the curb. I put my bag in the boot and join Max in the back seat.
Max holds out a silvery bag. “Everything in here. Phone. Smart watch. Credit cards. Anything with a chip in it.”
“Burner phone?”
Max shakes his head. “We’ll coordinate burners in a minute.”
I drop my electronics into the bag. I didn’t bring my wallet, only the cash. Max tucks the bag away. He takes the burner for Ten, lines up four phones on his lap, and fiddles for a few moments. Then he hands me one of the phones.
“Five contacts in each phone. Ten is A. Myles is B. I’m C. You’re D. Theo’s burner is E—"
“How come Ten gets to be A?” I ask.
Max rolls his eyes at me. “Don’t make other calls from that phone.
We’ll call home from another phone that I’ll proxy through a cell tower in Milford, New Jersey.
Three men matching our descriptions are going deer hunting in Stokes State Forest. They’re each going to bag a white tail.
Hope you like venison because Myles’ deal with them is we take one carcass. ”
Max’s grimace shows what he thinks about dealing with a deer carcass.
Myles chuckles from the front seat, where he’s sitting next to the silent driver. “Venison for Thanksgiving. You’ll eat it and you’ll like it.”
Fairly sure my baby doll already has a massive turkey in the downstairs freezer ready for Thanksgiving. Or maybe it’s a goose. Whatever it is, it’s ridiculously huge. Maybe she can do venison steaks as a side dish or something.
Max squeezes one eye shut and sticks out his tongue to illustrate what he thinks of that suggestion. “Anyway. The phone’s not connected to the internet. You need to access an app or something, tell me and I’ll figure out a way.”
I nod. “I want to check on Emmy, Cappa, and Lucy while we’re gone. Through your app.”
“No problem,” Max says. “You can do that from my phone which is pinging through Milford. On our way back, I’m going to get an injury which I’m going to have treated at the Lehigh Valley ER.”
“What kind of injury?” I ask.
“Max is going to have a close encounter with a tree branch. Nasty slice and a big bruise. He might need a stitch or two. Happens when you’re chasing after deer in the woods all the time,” Myles answers.
I’ll take his word for it.
“There’s a private airfield ten minutes away from the hospital. Shouldn’t take more than a few hours,” Max says. “Happy so far?”
I nod. Max is fucking thorough.
“As for our activities during the next three days.” Max pauses and shoots a meaningful glance at the driver, from which I take it that he thinks we need to watch what we say.
I can’t imagine Myles using a driver he didn’t absolutely trust but I nod so Max knows I’ll be careful.
“We’re flying to meet A. I’m going to text him now so he knows we’re on our way.
Probably be there by midnight. From now on we only use cash. We don’t use names.”
“Got it.”
“Get some rest,” Myles says. “Ninety-minute drive to my plane. It’s going to be a long night.”
I take his advice. I tuck the burner phone in my pocket, tip my head back on the head rest, and close my eyes.
Holding an image of Emily smiling up at me, her eyes soft and trusting, I let myself drift.