Page 3 of Daddy's Oath
All around him, the beach was teeming with activity. Kids ran into the waves, laughing and cheering. A large Japanese family in matching t-shirts—obviously tourists—posed for a picture with the water as their backdrop. People laid out on towels andblankets, some with umbrellas. The sounds of the carnival rides competed with the sound of the incoming waves.
Just a typical day in Santa Monica.
Except for the fact that there was a dangerous predator hoping to victimize his prey.
That wouldn’t happen.
Ace and the Daddy Guard would make sure of that.
“They’re headed to the showers,” he said.
Jack’s voice came back crystal clear in his ear. “Copy that. Stay on them.”
Ace hung back casually as the man and woman stopped at the thick, square metal poles, each one with a showerhead on each side. The pair waited in line and then washed the sand off their feet before sliding back into the shoes they’d been holding.
When they moved again, so did Ace.
“Looks like they’re headed up to the pier,” he said.
“Copy that,” Jack said again.
“I’m down at the end, near that Mexican place,” Matteo Batista chimed in.
“And I’m close to the Ferris Wheel,” Isaiah Colton added.
“Not sure how far down they’ll go,” Ace replied. “At some point, he’s going to want to get her someplace private.”
“Yeah,” Jack agreed. “But you know how it is. If he follows his usual M.O. He needs to get her a drink, spike it, and then give it a while to work. He’ll probably buy her a Coke or something from a vendor.”
Now Ace was really angry. This asshole had pulled shit like that before. That’s how he was on the Guard’s radar. They’d received numerous complaints about him from Littles. He posed as a Daddy online, met them, then took advantage of them, thinking Littles were easy victims.
He was going to be sorely disappointed when he learned the Guard was on his tail.
Somehow, he’d always managed to stay one step ahead of the police. Nothing concrete ever got pinned to him.
Maybe that would change today.
And maybe Ace would get to punch him in the face.
Time would tell.
“We’re on the pier now,” he said quietly.
He passed a woman selling churros and smiled at her, but shook his head as she pointed to the sweet treats. As good as they looked, he couldn’t get distracted. He made a mental note to get one after completing the mission, though.
Right now, the only thing that mattered was protecting the woman who walked happily along with a vicious predator. And making sure he didn’t hurt her or anyone else again.
It was what the Daddy Guard did.
And they were damn good at their job.
Chapter Three
“How did this happen?”
The question was posed by Mort Levinsen, the head of studio tours. Lana could tell he was beyond frazzled. In fact, he looked as if he was about to pull what little white hair he had right out of his head.
Standing near him, the tour guide who’d been driving the runaway tram ran a hand through his own thick salt-and-pepper locks, and answered, “I don’t know, Mort. It must be those new vehicles we ordered. Something went haywire with ‘em.”
