Page 23 of Bad Enough

Waters looked at him warily. “What would that be?”

He looked up at TB with an evil twinkle in his eye. “Would you rather… be tying people up or be tied down?”

There were snickers all around the room. Even Waters was having difficulty keeping the corner of his mouth from upturning.

Nemo shrugged. “Inquiring minds want to know.”

“Shut the fuck up, Nymphomaniac.”

“It’s a serious question.” Nemo held his hands out, palms up, to his left and right. “Gentlemen?”

There was a chorus of “tying people up” in perfect harmony from around the table.

Nemo’s expression was squared up and serious, but his blue eyes sparkled just a bit too much for TB’s liking. “After all, we need to be read in on all aspects of the project.”

TB looked at Waters for saving, but no such luck.

Waters shrugged. “He’s not wrong. I’d be lying if I said watching surveillance of your sex life doesn’t fall into the TMI area, but we should at least have some idea of what the plan is so that we can discuss contingencies if this doesn’t work out as you propose. I mean, you’re going to be forced to interact with her in public. Are you up for that?”

Nemo muttered, “Oh, I’ll bet he’s ‘up’ for it.”

TB bristled. “You want to find out how good my knots are? Keep this shit up, and I’ll tie you up in unreleasable knots and string you up in the gym like a pinata to use you for punching bag workouts. Even an EMT’s scissors won’t be able to cut you loose.”

“Kinky,” Nemo sniggered. “Are you going to use that on her when you interact at the club? Cuz I want a video.”

“For fuck’s sake, what is the matter with you people? There won’t be any video. I’m not interacting with her one-on-one. That would raise eyebrows as I’ve not been participating in scenes lately.”

So, what would you call the night before last, if not “interacting” with her?

“You’ve been chatting with her online. That’s definitely an interaction,” Steel pointed out.

“Also not wrong,” Waters agreed.

TB rolled his eyes. Waters just couldn’t resist getting in a reciprocal jab, could he? Fucker. “I’m not interacting with her publicly,” he emphasized the last word.

Which, technically, is not a lie because it was cyber-sex and in private.

“I’ll give you five hundred bucks for a copy of their chat transcripts, bro,” Nemo begged his brother Midas.

“No,” Midas firmly replied. “But for a thousand, you can ask me again when I get video of inside the club.”

“Cool. This is going to be educational.”

TB exploded. “Are you two brain damaged? Did you kick each other in the head while you were in the womb together?”

Waters tried to get them back on track. “All right, ladies, let’s be professional about this.”

“The point is,” God interrupted from over the speaker, “the introduction of this woman—” A clang on the other end of the speaker preceded the crinkling noises of a new sucker being opened. “What’s her name again?”

“No clue. Her online name is Flame.”

“Okay, Midas, see what you can dig up on her just to cover our bases. In the meantime, this Flame woman facilitates TB being able to move freely and talk to members he wouldn’t normally be seen talking to. Will you be able to get her to the club frequently as part of your cover?”

“Actually,” TB reluctantly admitted, “I think my recent disappearing act has helped the situation. She’s a bit more…” He searched for a word.

“Eager?” Nemo taunted.

“For lack of a better word, yes.”

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