Page 24 of Third Wheel

“She’ll probably be out soon.” Kincaid refocused on the chicken, picking it up to start it through the dishes he’d prepared with egg and breadcrumbs. Yum. Chicken parmesan. “How was your day?”

“Pretty good. I talked to Krista, and she says hi.” At the very least, he could remind Kincaid about the family member who did know about their relationship. Kincaid’s quick flash of a smile made him feel even better than he had. “Want a beer?”

“No, I’m good, thanks.”

Nodding, Zach headed over to the fridge to get his own. He didn’t think Kincaid would take him up on it—he could have gotten his own if he’d wanted—but he liked to offer.

“How was your day?” he asked as he popped the top off the bottle.

“Good, though it affects this weekend.” This time, the smile that Kincaid shot him was apologetic. “I’ve gotta go out of town tomorrow. I’m going to escort Cassidy up to her new place.”

They’d been planning to spend tomorrow night with their friends, but obviously, this changed things. Cassidy was a submissive who’d left her abusive relationship, and recently, her ex had started stalking and harassing her. Proving it was him had been difficult.

“Cassidy is moving?” Amy, freshly washed and scrubbed pink from the shower, came into the room from the hall, her long hair damp and darker than usual. Her doe eyes were wide. “I hadn’t heard. Hey, Zach.”

She’d been kind of busy and preoccupied with her wedding plans, but there was no way in hell Zach was going to point that out.

“Hey, how are you doing?” he asked, walking over to envelop her in a hug. She hugged him back, then stepped away, moving around the outside of the counter to take a seat on the other side, opposite him and Kincaid.

“I’m good.” She sat down and smiled, though her smile was a little odd. Forced, but not in the way it had been, as if she was trying to hide some negative emotions. No, this was forced in a different way, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on how. She directed it at Kincaid. “That looks good.”

“Thanks.” Now, Kincaid was also awkwardly smiling.

Ah. Zach wondered if maybe who was cooking dinner had been a bit of a power struggle between the two. When a service top and a service bottom face off… who ends up serving who?

Kincaid

Sitting down to dinner with Amy and Zach while he served them felt like relief. He liked feeding people. It had been nice to be the one being fed for a few days, but he’d also been concerned about how Amy had buried herself in housework. She wasn’t pausing to take any time to feel her feelings or do something nice for herself because she was so focused on ‘paying’ him and Zach back for letting her move in.

She was already literally paying for her spot in the house, so he didn’t want her going overboard trying to fulfill a debt that wasn’t owed.

“So, you have to go to Pennsylvania tomorrow?” Zach asked. He’d been kept apprised of the Cassidy situation the wholetime. She’d actually decided she should probably move several months ago but then had procrastinated on taking the final step. Kincaid couldn’t blame her. She was leaving literally everyone and everything she knew, and it wasn’t really by her own choice. She was being forced to do so because of her ex’s stalking behavior.

“Yeah, Cassidy is ready to take the final step. She’s all packed up and everything.” Kincaid grimaced. “I think the final straw was earlier this week when she was grocery shopping and saw her ex there. He just stood there, staring at her, then followed her out to the parking lot and stared at her until she was in the car and driving away. She said she nearly had an accident because she was shaking so hard.”

“Why can’t the police do anything?” Amy asked indignantly. “It’s not right that he gets to harass her like this.”

“Well, for one, there’s no proof that he’s done a lot of the things that we know he did. The law is reactive, not proactive, and there’s only so much the cops can do.” He grimaced.

What he didn’t say was that some of them might even be on her ex’s side or find his actions ‘harmless’ because he wasn’t doing anything physical to Cassidy. The emotional damage or her fear wouldn’t move them. Too many of them were willing to overlook certain behaviors from men because they identified too closely with those behaviors—something that he’d learned about his ex-partner a little too late.

Besides, he’d made sure that the cops taking Cassidy’s reports were among those who were the most sympathetic, the most proactive, but there was only so much they could do. Her ex wasn’t doing anything to break the law.

“There’s no law against being in the same store as someone unless she has a restraining order, and he hasn’t done enough for her to be able to get one of those.” Zach scowled, though thefierceness of his expression melted a little when he took a bite of his chicken parmesan, which lightened Kincaid’s heart.

Sometimes, good comfort food really did help, and after hearing that Cassidy was taking the final step and that he was going to have to cancel his plans, he’d wanted comfort food. There was no way he was going to let someone else handle taking her up, though.

“Why are you the one taking her up?” Amy asked curiously, twirling spaghetti around the fork.

“She’s being protected by Black Fox Security once she gets up there. Patrick’s cousin works for them, and he helped arrange it,” he explained. “And I’m helping with the D.C. office, which isn’t open yet, but I’m here, and she needs an escort. Someone could come down, but they’re in the middle of something else right now, so I volunteered to take her up.”

Zach’s eyelashes flickered, but he didn’t protest. He knew that Kincaid would always volunteer to do the right thing, and he’d been just as worried about Cassidy as Kincaid was. Kincaid would make up for the canceled plans with him.

“Is there anything I can help with?” Amy asked, obviously concerned. “Does she need anything?”

He smiled warmly at her.

“She’s covered, but if something comes up, I’ll let you know.” Truthfully, Cassidy was completely covered, and there had already been offers of help that had been rejected. Everyone in the clubs felt protective of the sweet submissive and wanted to help her.

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