by Mandy Harbin
“It’s not enough. We need physical evidence. You did good, though, Landry. If William Baxter isn’t involved, he at least knows something.” He looked at Darrell. “Find out what you can on Baxter. If he’s not directly involved but knows what’s going on, maybe he’d be willing to cut a deal to save any embarrassment with his family’s business. His testimony could put Showalter away.”
“On it.” Darrell stood. “I’ll be at my desk if anything else comes up.”
After he left, Viola looked at Rick. “I don’t like it. Showalter was promoted long after the SEC started their investigation. Did he even have the means to do it before then? Seems too convenient.”
“Agreed,” Carson said.
Viola glanced at him. “That’s twice now you’ve agreed with my assessment. You’re kinda scaring me over there.”
He chuckled. “I know greatness when I see it. Besides, I never argue with a beautiful woman.”
“Annnd there you are.” Viola rolled her eyes.
“Childers, you concentrate on all correspondence in the weeks leading up to Showalter’s promotion—emails, texts, telegraphs, everything,” Rick said as he stood.
Carson grabbed his stuff and pushed up from the table. “Do they even have those anymore?” He chuckled.
Rick looked at Shelby, who was now standing with Viola beside her. “Your assignment is still ongoing. Report back with any new findings.”
“Yes, sir,” she muttered to his retreated back.
“C’mon,” Viola said. “You look like you could use a strawberry salad.”
“If by salad you mean margarita, then yes, yes, I do.”
“I won’t tell if you won’t.”
Shelby had been lured here under false pretenses. Strawberry salad hadn’t been code for something else. It was actually a salad with strawberries. She had refrained from boozing it up on their lunch hour anyway, though the temptation to indulge had definitely been great.
“Okay, spill,” Viola said around a mouthful of lettuce and berries.
“Er, there’s so much, I wouldn’t even know where to start.” She could talk for hours and only be scratching the surface of her problems.
Viola stabbed her salad again. “Let’s start with your puffy eyes and piss poor concealer job.”
Shelby groaned. “I knew I should’ve forgone makeup today.” Viola looked horrified at the thought of doing such a thing, and Shelby laughed at her comical expression. “Yeah, I know. Sacrilege and all that.”
“No doubt.” Then her smile fell. “How’s your back?”
What back? The pain in her chest trumped everything else. “It’s okay, I guess.” She looked down and poked at her salad. Damn, she should’ve gotten a cheddar burger instead. With onion rings.
“Uh-huh. Now I know something is seriously wrong. You’re wearing the aftereffects of a good cry, and you had to think about your back.” She didn’t push more, just ate her salad, probably letting Shelby ease into the conversation on her own.
“I think we broke up this morning.”
Her head snapped up, and she chewed slower. “You think?”
Shelby groaned, dropping her fork. “I don’t know. He’s so closed off it’s hard to get a read on him. He seems to want me one minute and then pushes me away the next. Last night he asked me to spend the day with him. He was going to take off work because he wanted to be with me. Then this morning he says he cares about me, but he can’t do this. That I don’t know him. I agreed and said he didn’t know me either. He tried stopping me when I left, but only barely. It was a token effort, and I didn’t stick around to hear anymore.” Her laugh was nothing short of pathetic. “It’s not even real. How messed up is that?”
“Is it real for you?”
Shelby stared at her for several seconds, weighing her options. The question was really the heart of the matter, why she’d been upset. But could she tell her friend, her coworker the extent of her involvement? She ultimately decided on the truth. It wouldn’t change anything. “Yes.”
“Oh, boy,” Viola breathed, leaning back in her chair. “You can’t compromise the case,” she said slowly.
“I would never do that,” Shelby said heatedly. She blinked slowly, letting her eyes stay shut as she gathered her strength for this confession. “But I want it over. I honestly believe we have enough to get the warrants and wire taps. When we get those, I don’t have to do this anymore. I don’t want to do this anymore.”
“Are you trying to convince me or yourself?” she asked, arching a brow in question.
“Both.”
Viola nodded. “But Rick thinks you still need to be on the inside.”
“Doesn’t matter if Mason doesn’t want to see me anymore.”
“So he’s back to Mason now?” she asked with a smile. When Shelby narrowed her gaze at her, she raised her hands and said, “Sorry. Low blow.”
“You understand my dilemma.”
She cocked her head to the side. “And which one is that? The fact that you two have—for lack of a better phrase—broken up? Or that you’re into a guy who you think is a criminal?”
“Take your pick,” she muttered.
“C’mon, Shelby. You’re doing your job. You haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Except fall in love with a man I’m lying to, and not telling my boss the extent of my involvement.”
“You’re in love with him?” she screeched.
“Oh God, I need something more than rabbit food if we’re getting into all this.” She waved at the waitress and ordered the onion rings she’d wanted. If Viola had looked horrified at the thought of going without makeup, she now looked ready to arrest Shelby for a capital offense. “It’s a vegetable,” she said in defense.
“Deep fried in fat.”
“Vegetable oil.” Shelby shrugged. Though it didn’t matter if they were cooked in lard, she was going to savor every last one of them.
“You’re in love with him?” Viola asked, shaking her head as if she was still trying to wrap it around the news and forget the artery-hardening snack on the way.
“Please don’t lecture me,” Shelby said, exasperated. “I don’t think I can take it right now. I worked this case as assigned, and now it’s personal. I didn’t plan on that happening, but it did. I know there’s no way this can work. Mason looks guilty as hell, and I will do what’s necessary to bring him in because it is my job. If a judge and jury agree, he’s going to jail. If by some miracle, he’s innocent, I’ve used him to get information, lied to him about who I am. Believe me, I know how bad this is.”
Viola smiled, and Shelby gawked at her. “You find this amusing?”
She bit her lips in a poor attempt to hide her grin. “No. Not that. I’m just wondering… I mean, you like the BDSM stuff, don’t you?”
The tension she expected at the mention of that lifestyle didn’t come. In fact, she had to fight her own smile. “Yeah. Weird, huh?”
Viola shrugged and focused on her salad again. “I don’t know. I’m intrigued by it. Not that it matters now. Dave was disgusted with it. I guess I’ll have to think of another way to rekindle the flame.”
Shelby frowned at her. It hadn’t been the first time Viola had suggested problems in her marriage. She felt like a selfish friend, always blabbing about her own problems and not listening to Viola’s. “If you need to vent about Dave, you know you can talk to me, right?”
Viola waved a dismissive hand. “It’s just a rough patch. Marriage isn’t easy. I had the right idea to spice things up, but the club failed miserably. The whipping had been brutal, girl. If I wanted us to give it a serious go, we probably should’ve gone on a night when we weren’t forced to watch someone we know being hurt like that.”
Shelby didn’t want to push the subject of Dave, so she picked up her fork, but dropped it when she saw the waitress coming with fried heaven.
“I admit it hurt like crazy before Mason got there. But once he was there to distract me, I was able to put the pain a
side. I’m not saying I’d want to do it again, but it wasn’t as bad as it had been at first.” She thanked the waitress and nibbled on an onion ring. “Besides, there’s so much more to it than pain. When Master Jedrek bound me, it was very freeing.”
Viola rolled her eyes. “Don’t call that prick Master. I like Mr. Mean better.”
“He is that.” Shelby chuckled. “But I think there are parts I could really get into. I’ve learned BDSM is what you make of it. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like how it made me feel. How Mason makes me feel when he tops me.” A wave of sadness came over her.
“Are there parts you don’t like? Besides being beaten, I mean?” Viola asked lightly as if she noticed the sudden change in Shelby and wanted to turn it back around.
She half-smiled and tamped down the sorrow to focus on the conversation, embracing detachment. “The rules seem silly.”
“Figures. A bunch of egotistical men getting off on bossing women around,” she scoffed.
“It’s not like that. Not really. And there are Dommes, too. Submission isn’t sexist. Nor is it limited to heterosexuals. When I was researching it, I found a lot of sites dedicated to gay and lesbian participants.”
“Blah, blah, blah. Give me something good. You said silly rules. I want an example.” She pushed her empty salad bowl away and crossed her arms.
Shelby giggled. “Okay, I’ve got something. When I was at the club, but not with Mason or one of the Master Doms, I was told if another Dom approached me, I had to tell him, ‘My Master awaits.’ It’s code for I’m not available. It’s so any man interested in me would leave me alone.”
“Oh hell no. My Master awaits? How ’bout, ‘Say hello to my little friend,’ and pull your 9mm. I bet that’d make the pricks back off.”
Shelby burst out laughing, but Viola’s cold expression only made her laugh harder.
“I’m serious, girl.”
“I know.” She took a deep breath. “That’s why it’s so funny. God, I needed that.”
“Then my work here is done.” She winked.
The last onion ring was calling her, so she picked it up. “Sure you don’t want one? Last chance,” she taunted.
“Gross. I’ll need to run an extra mile this afternoon just looking at those things.”
She relished the yummy goodness as Viola dug in her purse. When Shelby’s phone rang, she glanced at it half-heartedly until she saw the name.
Mason.
“Oh crap. It’s him.”
Viola needed no other explanation. “Answer it.”
Shelby shook as she accepted the call and put the phone to her ear. “Hello.”
“Wasn’t sure if you’d answer,” he said without anger or even humor. It was almost emotionless. She wasn’t sure how to process his tone.
“Wasn’t sure I was going to,” she said, trying to inflect the same amount of indifference.
“I made you a promise, and I intend to follow through on my end. Couldn’t have you going around calling me a liar.” There was an edge to his voice now, and her nape prickled.
“I wouldn’t do that.”
“Of course you wouldn’t,” he said, back to no emotion. “I’ve cleared my schedule this afternoon. Meet me at my house in one hour, so we can finish your lessons.”
Her mind was reeling. She wasn’t ready to see him again. Her defenses weren’t up. But according to Rick, she was still on this case, and had to use every opportunity afforded her. Still, she didn’t want to give in too easily. This didn’t feel right for some reason. She glanced at Viola, who was staring intently at her.
“I thought you had to work.”
“I’m done. We’ll do it now, or not at all. Something tells me you’ll drop everything and come running, though.”
“What the hell’s wrong with you?” she snapped before she could stop herself.
“I’ve had a really shitty day, Shelby,” he said, almost tired now. It made no sense.
And yet, it made perfect sense.
She had her own struggle to deal with. She didn’t want to go, and yet, she did. She just wasn’t sure her heart could take it. If she went, she would be that much more entwined with him.
She didn’t have a choice. That fact should make this easier.
It didn’t.
“Fine. I’ll be at your place in an hour. The apartment, right?”
Viola’s eyes popped, and she whipped out her phone, probably informing Rick of the new development.
“No, my house. I guess you need the address,” he said with an edge of sarcasm she didn’t understand before rattling off the location. “Shower before you come. No hairspray, no makeup, no perfume or body sprays. Nothing that could be flammable.”
Fire. She shivered as she recalled what the scene would involve. “Fine.”
He hung up without a goodbye, and she glanced at Viola.
“We’re on it. Rick and Carson will be stationed outside his neighborhood. It’s gated, so they can’t get in without alerting him, but they’ll be close in case something happens. Let’s go. He wants you wired.” Viola stood.
“What? I can’t. I’ll be naked, and I can’t wear anything flammable. The glue on even a skin tag could ignite.”
“It’ll be in your purse. It’s not as great of an option, but one we couldn’t use in the club because of all the interference. His house wouldn’t have music blaring like the club would and hopefully nothing that’d scramble the signal.”
It was a weak attempt at best. She knew it, and so did Rick, which was why he hadn’t tried this before. But she also knew this could be the last opportunity she had to get intel from Mason. He hadn’t seemed excited about seeing her. More like resolved. Without any more scheduled visits, this could be the last time they saw each other. She was sure this was what motivated Rick to try wiring her.
“Let’s stop by my house first,” Shelby said, trying to find the mental strength she needed to get through this.
And by this, she didn’t mean the scene itself.
Chapter Eighteen
Mason spent the next hour setting out the supplies he needed for the scene, while trying to keep his temper in check. He was furious, so much so that he knew it was a bad idea to play with Shelby today. He should wait until he calmed down before doing this.
But then he’d remember she’d been playing him all along, and he’d think fuck it. Rational thought had fled when understanding of her deceit had taken up residence. Though he wasn’t doing this for her pleasure. Or for his. He was doing this to finish what they’d started with a little punishment thrown in. He wouldn’t hurt her. Much.
Still, he’d never punished a sub when he was angry with her. He was too controlled to do otherwise.
Fuck control.
Shelby had used him, played him, insulted his intelligence, and crushed his heart. He couldn’t be bothered with control right now.
Once everything was ready in his bedroom, he waited on the couch for her to arrive. If he had a dungeon, he’d have used it for practical matters, but once he’d opened the club with his partners, he no longer had a need for one in his home. He refused to do this at the club, so he should’ve at least set up in one of his guest rooms rather than his bedroom. But he had a bit of masochism in him. He knew every time he slept in his bed, he’d be reminded of her being in it, being punished, reminding himself to never get close to another woman again.
Before he’d met Shelby, he’d been in a relationship rut, not really connecting to a sub. He wanted to go back to that. What had been a rut before would be a haven now.
When the security guard altered him she’d arrived, he stood and faced the door, waiting for her. Her engine cut off and, moments later, his doorbell sounded. He crossed his arms and called out for her to come in. He wasn’t opening the door for her. He’d let her come to him.
All the way.
Then he’d show her what Hell was really like.
The door opened, and his muscles flexed, instantly reacting to the n
eed instilled in him to go to her. He fought the reaction, refusing to move. She shut the door and looked at him. She was even more beautiful than the day they’d met. He wondered if spiders thought that about black widows when they came for them, too.
“Lock it.” She turned and did as he instructed without comment. When she turned around and took a step toward him, he lifted his hand. “Stop.”
Her foot was in the air when she froze at his command, and she eased it back to the floor. Good. Though he wouldn’t praise her for following orders. She didn’t deserve it.
“Strip.”
“Mason,” she said, looking down.
“No!” Hell no. But he tamped down his anger for now. If he pissed her off too soon, she might leave without her punishment. And he had no intention of ever seeing her again after today. “It’s Master. You’ve gotten too lax on the rules, pet. That’s my fault.”
He watched her neck as she swallowed. “Something’s wrong. I can see that, and it’s not about what was said this morning. What happened at work?”
Yes, he bet she’d love to know that, and he’d tell her. Just not yet. “You’re stalling. That’s the only thing wrong with me right now. Take off your clothes, Shelby.” He forced his arms to relax at his sides.
After standing there quietly for several seconds, she nodded slowly. He waited with baited breath as she removed her clothes, stripping down to her panties and bra before removing them, too. When she stood completely naked, head cast down to the floor, he took his time soaking in her beauty. Then he silently cursed his perusal. Of course she was beautiful. If the feds were playing him, they wouldn’t send in an amateur. Then his stomach dropped as another thought occurred to him. Was Shelby already in the lifestyle? Had she played him so well that he’d been completely fooled by her feigned ignorance?
Didn’t matter. This was a lesson he’d learned regardless of how skilled she’d been, and he would never be making this mistake again.
“Follow me.” He turned to leave, but when she dipped to pick up her things, he stopped. “You won’t need those.” He glanced at the stuff in her hands and gazed at her again. “Put it all back on the floor.”
