Page 21 of Gideon

Ricky frowned. “Fired you? Why?”

“Because I’m not a go-getter,” I repeated miserably.

He got out and came over. “Look, I have time. Let me give you a ride home.”

I nodded because I needed my things, and I didn’t want to go on my own. I’d collected my cell phone, but it was dead after being in my locker all weekend, and I wanted my clock. The idea that that horrid man would get my Daddy list made me feel ill.

So, I got in the car and gave Ricky the address. I’d been fired. Someone else that didn’t want me. Why wasn’t I ever good enough?

“Are you okay?” Ricky asked after a nearly silent journey. “Sorry, that was a ridiculous question. Of course you’re not okay.” He pulled up outside my apartment block andI hadn’t moved. I just stared at the entrance. What if that horrid pig was in there? What if he saw me? But I needed my clock. I needed my list.

“Want me to walk up with you?” Ricky said. “You look a little shaky.”

I grabbed onto that thought. “Yes, please.”

We both went inside and even though I was practically hyperventilating, I kept on my feet all the way up to my apartment. But my hands were shaking so much I nearly dropped the key. Ricky sighed again, like I was really annoying, and took it from me to open the door. Managing a small smile, I walked in.

And stared at the completely empty space. Everything was gone. All my life. My clock, my list.

Maybe I should just disappear too?

Chapter eleven

Gideon

I leaned forward and gazed at Dion, not quite sure I’d heard what he said. “Say that again.”

“You know my cousin Duke.” I knew he ran a security company with his partner Chris because that’s who Saul, who had helped us rescue the Little, worked for.

“And he finds people?” I asked, intrigued.

Dion shrugged. “Officially, they’re bodyguards and Chris runs that side of the business. Duke handles the unofficial stuff. Duke started because his ex-sergeant’s sister went missing. She’s a Little.”

Walker leaned forward. “And why should that make a difference?”

“Because he’s gotten a database of clubs that welcome age-play. Information, contacts. Sascha’s okay now andactually Duke is her Daddy, but without that knowledge, he wouldn’t have been able to find her. It was a psycho posing as a Daddy Dom.”

“And they what…turn over that info over to the cops?” Walker asked skeptically.

Dion snorted. “Hardly. They use the lessons we all learned in combat. They get them back themselves and either deal with the fucker or turn it over if they have the easy evidence lawyers like. Very similar to what we’ve done, but they do everything, including long-term safe houses, not just the extraction for the client, and this is their full-time gig.”

“And you’re proposing…what?” I asked, intrigued.

Dion smiled. “We’re bored as fuck. We all know it. Salvation and the rest were exciting when they were new, but we all have competent managers now. Last month was a favor because it was on our home turf, but what if we did more?” He looked right at me. “You know people like that fucker with the Little and Dave Kirkman can’t be fought with lawyers.”

I grunted. Dion was right.

“So we specialize like the Denver team?” Walker asked. “Subs? Littles? We’ve taken back hostages when officially the government couldn’t, but that Little was our first here.” He shot a look at Max, who was firmly looking at the floor and had stayed silent. We all knew that job had affected him like none of the horrors we’d seen before, but the one time I’d asked he’d clammed up.

“Even just Littles if we want to,” Dion said. “You know they’re incredibly vulnerable because the whole scene is really private, and because age-play has such huge trust issues. Grown men and women admitting they like any sortof age regression isn’t generally shared with the class. Duke got Sascha back only because she confided a tiny bit of information to her bestie, who’s also a Little. Even then, it was definitely not something the cops could have either found out or realized the significance of if they did.”

“I’m in.” Walker leaned back and crossed his arms. “And we have a huge advantage the Denver guys don’t have. We have the clubs and pretty much know all the other owners.”

Dion nodded in agreement. “It’ll be good to fight bad guys again.”

“What info did Duke need that he thinks we can help with?” I asked, intrigued. Duke had contacted Dion this morning, which had led to this whole conversation.

“He just wants info on a so-called Daddy because he’s a member but never visited. I put Eric on it.”

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