Turning the Tide (Eastern Shore Swingers, #5)

by Phoebe Alexander

  Calvin Jr. was listening in from across the table. “I wouldn’t let her go if I were you, either.”

  “See?” Luke whipped back around to face Connie. “Just stay here and relax, maybe take a nap before the party tonight.”

  “Take a nap? Quit treating me like I’m a child,” she insisted, “or worse, an old lady.”

  “Is Jim still in New York?” Calvin asked his father, who had just stuffed a giant bite of a meatball sub into his mouth.

  The detective quickly chewed and swallowed. “My sources say he got back last night, not long after you guys were at his beach house. You’re damn lucky he wasn’t there when you showed up.”

  “I’m going,” Connie announced with a stubborn stomp on the floor. “There’s nothing you can do to stop me. I’m a grown woman and can make my own decisions about my safety. I don’t need a man to protect me. You let me carry the gun, and I’ll do fine protecting all of you!”

  Luke shot the other men a glare when they began to snicker. The last thing he wanted to do was add more fuel to her fire. He excused himself from lunch and went off to find her. She was just about to head upstairs to the offices when Luke intercepted her, grabbing her arm.

  “Stop it!” she shouted indignantly. “Let me go!”

  “I thought you needed to be punished for being a naughty girl?” He watched a flash of desire flare through her eyes. Oh, yes, she just can’t help herself, he thought with amusement as he released her arm and gestured for her to continue down the hallway toward the dungeon.

  “On your knees,” he commanded as soon as they were behind the closed door. She complied. “Eyes on me.”

  She lifted her baby blues to him, and he watched her pupils dilate with anticipation. “After I restrain you, I’m going to spank you and make you suck my cock.”

  She couldn’t disguise the excitement that fired through her body with his announcement. He retrieved the ropes from storage and set about hog-tying her with her arms behind her and her legs bound at the thighs and ankles. It took him several minutes, working carefully to integrate all the knowledge he’d gleaned from watching Bry tie Tam up at the workshop earlier in the week. Every time she would wiggle or squirm, he reddened her ass cheek with a firm slap. By the time he was done, both of her cheeks were scarlet with handprints.

  He rotated her so her face was at the edge of the bed and began to carry out the second half of his promise. Lowering his zipper, he fisted his manhood, already hard from the moaning and whimpering sounds she made during the rope-tying exhibition. He teased her bottom lip with the head of his cock, and her tongue quickly darted out to gather the pre-cum that had beaded on the end.

  “Open your mouth,” he commanded, and before she could reply affirmatively, he shoved his cock into her throat where she began to suck greedily. She was so sexy with her blonde hair falling in her eyes and her cheeks hollowed out from sucking him so skillfully. He was impressed she could stretch her lips wide enough to take him in, but she seemed to love it, and the harder he fucked her face, the more aroused she became.

  “You want my cum in your throat, don’t you?” he growled as he fisted her hair and pulled her head up to meet his fiery gaze. “You want to suck me dry, don’t you?”

  She nodded, murmuring her agreement as he thrust deep into her mouth. Just the thought of coming down her throat tightened his balls with need. She doubled her efforts when he reached around her and smacked her ass again, wanting to see the redness appear all over again. It had faded to a faint pink. His hand burned from the sting of slapping it against her soft skin, and that burn only fueled his need for release.

  “That’s it, suck me nice and hard...nice and deep.” Her eyes were closed, tears streaming down her cheeks from the sheer intensity of her efforts. He grabbed her face, fingers threaded in her hair as he prepared to empty his balls down her throat. “Oh yes, that’s it, baby. I’m gonna come—” He groaned as his load shot up his shaft, and she slurped it down as if it were liquid gold.

  He waited for the spasms shooting through his body to subside before pulling his half-limp cock out of her mouth. She let it go reluctantly, then licked her lips to catch any drops she might have missed. “Do I get my turn now, Master?” she asked in an innocent voice as she stared up at him.

  He glanced down at her bindings to make sure her limbs were all still getting enough blood flow. He’d purposely not gone too tight because he knew they were going to be on for a while. He had already made a plan to text Casey and ask her to drop by and check on her sister after a little bit. He was sure Casey would understand his need to keep Connie occupied while he attempted the dangerous operation at his office.

  “Master?” she asked again.

  “You’re going to get your reward as soon as I get back,” he announced, stepping away from her.

  “What?” Her eyes darted around the room desperately before landing on him again. “You can’t do that!”

  “I’m the Dom. I can do that,” he reminded her. “If you want to be untied before I go, just say your safe word.”

  She stubbornly looked to the ground. She hated to be defeated; that much was obvious. He felt a pang of guilt for resorting to such medieval tactics, but he was afraid she’d keep pressing the issue. He wanted to keep her safe, even if that meant tying her up in the dungeon and leaving her until he returned.

  He planted a kiss on her cheek as she finally looked up at him with daggers in her eyes. She wanted to say more; he could feel it, but she managed to tame her tongue.

  He pressed his lips against hers, then he made a promise: “I’ll be back before you know it.”

  NINETEEN

  Justice is a certain rectitude of mind whereby a man does what he ought to do in the circumstances confronting him. – Thomas Aquinas

  He didn’t know why he was tiptoeing. No one was there. It was Saturday afternoon, and the parking lot was deserted. Luke thought perhaps Jim would have had the locks changed, but since he’d been in New York most of the week, apparently that little detail had slipped his mind.

  “We’re in,” he announced to Calvin Jr. as he twisted his key in the lock and the door sprang open.

  Calvin flashed him a look that said something to the effect of thank you, Mr. Obvious. Then he smiled his pearly grin and followed Luke inside.

  First Luke disarmed the security system while Calvin went to the trouble of disabling the cameras in the reception and office areas, where they would be hacking into the system and gathering evidence against Jim. Then the two men each took seats at computers in the office area. “Let’s see if he changed the passwords.” Luke turned on Beverly’s machine and waited for it to start up.

  He glanced over at Calvin, and he had not only managed to get into Janet’s computer without a password, but he was on some completely foreign black screen, typing in commands as line after line of text scrolled by. Luke rolled his eyes. He had no clue what his young computer genius comrade was doing, and he didn’t care—as long as they could collect something to prove Jim was using the business to launder money. If so, not only would he face criminal charges, but then he would be the one conceding the business to Luke, not the other way around.

  Luke lost track of what Calvin was doing once he secured entry into the billing system. He was looking for bills for services and procedures they didn’t actually provide. He went back a few months, his eyes scanning line after line of entries. Most of the patient names he recognized. Then he found something: they’d billed one patient’s insurance company three times their normal charge for an endoscopy he’d performed in the office. The insurance company had paid in full just two months prior. He hit print to send the job to the printer, then jumped a little when the machine roared to life. He laughed at himself for being so nervous.

  “Oh, check this out,” he said, leaning over to Calvin. “I’ve found a ton of charges for procedures we didn’t even do, plus triple charging for ones we did. There are at least twenty or thirty patients whose insurance com
panies were overbilled or fraudulently billed.” He glanced down at the screen. “Oh, and this guy. This guy isn’t a real patient—you can tell by some of the details. Looks like a fake address, fake social security number. He was billed for a fifteen-thousand-dollar surgery I didn’t even perform. And he paid cash? I don’t think so.”

  “Nice,” Calvin praised him, not even looking up from the computer screen where he was still in some back-end space Luke had never seen before. “Print all that shit out. We’re taking all of that to the police.”

  “So what are you finding over there?” Luke strained his neck toward Calvin’s screen.

  “I’m about to hack into Jim’s bank accounts,” the younger man answered with a proud grin. “And...voila!” He rubbed his hands together with glee. “If we’re going to prove he’s money laundering, we have to show where the money is going.”

  “How did you get into his accounts?” Luke was impressed. Calvin was one hell of a smart guy. He and his dad made a formidable team, too.

  “Oh, just a little hacker magic.” After he flashed a grin, he returned his attention to the screen, where he scrolled through transactions. “He had the business accounts set up on here, but he’s also accessed his personal accounts. There are like eight different ones, did you know that?”

  Luke shook his head. “I thought there were three for the business, but it’s been a while since I looked at them. Jim took care of all that. As long as I got my check every two weeks, I didn’t pay much attention.”

  “Well, you should have, because there are huge sums of money coming in and out of this account.” Calvin tapped a long, bronze-colored finger against the screen.

  “Can you tell where it’s coming from?”

  “I’m going to need more time. I can print from here, right?”

  “Yeah, it goes to that printer over there.” Luke printed to the corner of the room where the printer was lighting up and spitting out pages left and right.

  “Actually, I’ve got a thumb drive right here. I’m just going to put it on this. Save some trees and all that jazz.” Calvin grinned again as he plugged the drive into the USB port.

  There was a commotion in the back. Luke knew that sound. Someone had just opened the door. If that’s Connie, he thought as he shot Calvin a concerned look, she’s getting an extra firm spanking later tonight. Better yet, I’m going to make her wait three days to have her next orgasm.

  “Let me handle this,” Calvin whispered. He stood up and tapped the gun sheathed in the holster on his belt. Then he lowered his shirt over the weapon with an anxious smile.

  I forgot my gun, he realized as he watched Calvin inch his way to the door between the office area and the hallway where the exam rooms, staff lounge and his and Jim’s offices were. He couldn’t believe after Cap and Calvin went to all that trouble training him on how to shoot, he’d left the gun on the table beside the bed in the dungeon. Obviously nerves had gotten the better of him. Fuck me.

  He heard a male voice bellow out, “Who the fuck are you?”

  Jim. Fuck. He heard Calvin’s voice rumbling a low, measured tone, but he couldn’t make out what he said.

  “Jim, this is Calvin Mitchell. He’s helping me uncover some data I need from our system,” Luke tried to explain as he made his way into the hall where the other two men were facing off.

  Jim’s face was red with anger or sunburn, Luke couldn’t tell. He somehow appeared older than he had on Tuesday when he’d dismissed him. The wrinkles around his eyes were deeper, the lines on his forehead more pronounced. And there seemed to be more gray hair at his temples than before. Dealing with the Mob didn’t help maintain one’s youthful looks, apparently.

  “You’re not supposed to be here,” Jim said. “I told you to stay away.”

  Calvin backed up behind Luke, who noticed the younger man had rested his hand right on the concealed gun at his waist. What if Jim was armed too? Was he going to be caught in the crossfire? He had to keep Jim calm. Reasonable. His partner had always been a reasonable person—at least up until Tuesday. How could someone get sucked in by the dark side so fast? Or maybe Luke had just failed to realize what was going on. He’d surely missed some signs of his partner’s demise.

  “I know, and I’m sorry. I just wanted to get the rest of my files off my computer while no one else was here. I didn’t want any patients to see me.” Luke scrambled for the right words to make Jim go away. How can I get him to leave?

  “I heard you were in trouble, Jim,” Luke shared quietly but matter-of-factly. “I want to help you. What can I do to help?”

  “What do you mean? Why would you want to help me?” Jim wrinkled up his nose in a look that conveyed confusion and disgust in equal measure.

  “You were always a good partner to me.” Luke wasn’t even lying. Jim had been a good partner, at least up until Tuesday. “I don’t know exactly what is going on in your personal life, but I know it must be pretty serious if you want to throw our friendship away. We worked really hard to build this business together, didn’t we?”

  “Fuck you, Luke,” Jim fired back with an eyeroll. “Don’t give me that pathetic pussy-whipped bullshit like you always gave Barbara. You know I’m fucking her, right? Which is apparently more than you did all these years.”

  Luke was having a hard time keeping the anger from bubbling up to the surface and erupting. How dare he say that about Barbara when she was the one who had denied him for over a decade. He sucked in a deep breath and tried again. “What about your wife, Jim? What about Helen and your kids?”

  “Helen left me some time ago.” He crossed his arms over his chest defensively. “And that bastard son of mine is the one who got me into this mess!”

  “What mess?” Luke probed, hoping to gain a few more details to give Calvin and hopefully the police.

  “Look, the best thing you can do for both of us is to walk away from the business, man. I’m telling you now: it’s in your best interest. And for whatever reason, your ex wants you to be able to escape unscathed.” He narrowed his gaze on Luke and slowly lowered his arms.

  “What do you mean by unscathed?” Luke’s heart was beginning to race as he witnessed the almost imperceptible motion of Jim reaching into his waistband to withdraw a pistol.

  “I think you know exactly what I’m talking about,” Jim said, pointing the gun right at him. “Hands up, for Chrissakes! Haven’t you ever seen any movies?”

  Luke raised shaky hands as he glanced back at Calvin to see if he’d drawn his weapon too. He had not, raising his hands in the air instead. That was their reward for being calm and measured. If we’d just used force to begin with, Luke thought, annoyed with himself for always trying to go the civilized route first. How many times was he going to make that mistake?

  Jim approached Calvin, roughly shoving Luke over against the wall on his way. He patted around Calvin’s waist while the younger man’s hands remained in the air. “Oh, what do we have here? Just coming here to get some of your files, huh? That sounds like bullshit to me.” He took Calvin’s gun and then whipped around to face Luke. “What are you really doing here?”

  Luke’s heart was racing faster than it ever had in his whole life. Here was a man he had once trusted implicitly, and now he was staring at him with deranged eyes waving a gun in his face. If he was truly messed up in the activities they suspected, he wouldn’t put it past him to pull the trigger. And they’d pretty much found all the evidence they needed to convict him of heinous crimes.

  Luke hesitated. He didn’t want to lie—because he wasn’t a good liar, and Jim knew him well enough to tell. But he also didn’t want to warn his former partner that they’d just collected enough evidence to put him away for a long time. That would probably sign his death certificate right then and there.

  “Jim, why don’t you buy me out? Just buy me out of the practice, then I can go find other work—probably far away from Ocean City—and you can just go about your business. We never have to speak of this again,” Luk
e offered.

  “Why the hell would I do that when you breached our contract? If you walk away now, you won’t get but a paltry severance package, and I’ll have enough to retire. I already have buyers for the practice, you know. There are four ENT doctors in New York dying to come down to Ocean City where the cost of living is cheaper, and they’ll get a lot more bang for their buck.”

  When he said the word “bang,” he pressed the gun up against Luke’s chin. The metal was cold and hot all at the same time. Luke froze and slowly directed his gaze across the hall where Calvin was still standing with his hands up, his back pressed up against the wall. He looked calm, though, by some miracle. Luke had no idea how he could be so calm.

  Because he knows Jim will shoot me before he’ll shoot him, and he’ll probably be able to get away, Luke surmised.

  “You thought I was going to pull the trigger, didn’t you?” Jim slapped him on the shoulder. “You really are a pussy, you know that? Barbara was so right about you.”

  Acting on impulse, Luke swiftly swung his thigh up into Jim’s groin, sending him reeling back, hitting the wall and slumping down the side of it as his gun went off with an ear-shattering boom. The bullet rocketed up into the ceiling, raining drywall particles and bits of pink insulation fibers down upon them. The back door burst open, and Connie stood there in the hazy, dust-filled light, holding the handgun Luke had left on the table in the dungeon.

  “No!” Luke screamed. “Connie!”

  Right before Jim had a chance to aim his gun toward her, she stomped on his forearm, forcing him to drop it. Calvin shot over like lightning to pick it up, then, while Connie trained her weapon on him, Calvin kicked Jim in the hip. “On your knees with your hands behind your head.”

  Luke sprang into action, bounding over to Jim and reaching into his waistband to take Calvin’s gun back into possession. He flashed Connie a look, and she returned a smug smile.