Page 99 of Born Daddy

Jace sighed and gave a small nod. “First off, I’ve been trying to locate you since he died. I didn’t dare show up at Cam’s place. And I suppose the detectives ran you out of there pretty fast?”

Tate nodded and Jace continued.

“Between freaking out and holing up for a while, terrified that I’d be…” His voice hitched. “Implicated somehow, I stopped trying to find you.” He wrinkled his brow. “I felt guilty. I saw what they did to you, how they accused you in the media without actually accusing. I knew if I went to the police, they’d do the same to me, so I didn’t say anything.” His bottom lip trembled in the slightest. “I feel bad about that part. Sorry.”

Tate’s gut clenched. “S-so, you knew?”

God, he couldn’t take it further, couldn’t allow the thought to intrude that this man had been involved. Had been there when…

Jace vigorously shook his head. “No! God, no. But that’s why I wanted to find you. I was willing to take the risk that you knew. That you might’ve been his pawn. Because dude.” He snorted. “No offense. But I could totally tell from the few times I saw you in the news that those puppy dog eyes and slumped shoulders didn’t add up to a vicious, blood-thirsty killer. If anything, I thought the prick might’ve forced you, threatened you’d get the same if you didn’t cooperate.”

Tate’s stomach turned, and he swallowed down the bile threatening to make an appearance. “No. None of that. But the detectives don’t believe me.”

Jace snorted again. “Of course they don’t. They’re pricks, too. Full-on idiots. I wasn’t about to risk my ass by talking to them.”

Tate needed to steer Jace back on track. “But you did find me.”

“Oh, right. Yeah. Once enough time had passed, and my friends assured me that no one had come around asking about me, I figured I’d start hunting you down again.” Jace glanced around the area, his eyes narrowed. “You said they asked you about me? When?”

Tate sighed. “A few months ago. But they didn’t seem to have any idea who you were. They acted almost as if I was their last resort to find you, that they’d only just found out you existed.”

Jace drew his eyebrows together. “Really?”

“Yeah. They had some kind of journal or diary or something in an evidence bag, asked me if I knew what it was.” Tate shrugged. “I didn’t have a clue. Then they asked me if I knew you or if he’d ever talked about you and…well, that was it.”

“Okay.” Jace nodded slowly. “I can see that. I don’t know anything about a diary, either. But now I’m thinking those detectives never found out about the private club where I met Cam years ago. It was in a guy’s home and you had to be personally invited. It’s no longer around, but I’ve kept in touch with a few of the subs. Once in a while, I’ll do a scene with a couple of the Doms I met there.” His shoulders relaxed and he smiled. “Fuck. I should’ve made more of an effort to find you before now. I’ve been stressing over nothing.”

Tate growled. “Good for you. How did you find me?”

He didn’t want to be mean, but this Jace person was part of the reason he’d been the sole focus of the investigation and treated as if he were a suspect. As it was, he might never be able to wash away the stain of accusation.

“Yeah, sorry. It’s just…wow.” Jace cleared his throat. “The bank.”

“What?”

Tate shook, one of his fears gripping him, that the detectives would be watching the bank, that they knew about the money and it would tie him to Cam even more. Would be yet another excuse for why he was guilty, that Cam had paid him off.

“I wracked my brain to try and think where you might be, tried to find you on Facebook, Insta, search for an email—all the typical shit.”

“I never had any social media stuff. I didn’t really know anyone except other kinksters Cam didn’t want me to associate with anymore, and he didn’t want me to make friends with strangers.”

Jace rolled his eyes. “Oh, that’s rich. Because they might be psycho killers?”

Tate’s cheeks heated. So much of his time with Cam had turned out to be opposite land. Like he’d gone down the rabbit hole and ended up in hell instead.

“But how would you think to use that bank? Was it one he used to go to when you guys were together?”

Jace dug another cigarette out of his bag. After he’d lit up, he angled his body to face Tate, draping his arm over the top of the bench.

“Here’s the deal. Cam and I were only what you might call a couple for a brief time. All of about a month. We met at the private club.” Jace raked his fingers through his hair, his gaze averting for a moment before landing back on Tate. “I’m not a whore, but I suppose some people might think so. And I’m not about to tell you how ashamed I am, or not proud of what I did, because that’s bullshit. I might not be proud, but I don’t have a problem with my decisions.”

Tate wondered if Jace should reconsider that stance given his current mental state.

“Like I said, we met at that club. I’m into pain, bondage. Don’t mind being used like a slut, gang bangs, whatever.” He made a derisive chuckle. “And it might not appear that way now, but I’m hot as fuck. Everyone wanted me.” Jace shrugged with one shoulder. “Gotta keep it real.” He took a quick drag then continued. “So, I’m not gonna go with just any guy, you know?” He poked a finger in his own chest. “Whoever I’m with needs to make it worth my while. There are lots of hot guys with hot bodies out there. But not all of them can keep me in style.”

The more Jace talked, the clearer it became to Tate why the narcissistic man had never been compelled to own up to his involvement with Cam. If it didn’t serve him somehow, Jace didn’t care. All the times Tate thought he was being selfish evaporated in an instant. At least meeting Jace had garnered one positive result.

“And Cam wanted me. He wanted me bad. We did a couple scenes together, he’d tie me up in the craziest positions, flog the shit out of me then fuck me raw. It was great and all, but he was kind of old. Still very handsome, but that wasn’t gonna last forever, am I right?” He snorted. “The dude begged me to tell him what he had to do so I’d be his one and only.”

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