Page 22 of Handcuffed Hussy
10
Bailey
I was in my car taking my lunch break the next day. There was no way I could have this phone conversation with Esa in a public setting. As besties, you almost have an ironclad obligation to spill all the graphic details from your best night of sex ever.
Esa stayed quiet, letting me spill the goods, ooh'ing and ahh'ing at the appropriate places. When I finished, there was a stunned silence as she took it all in. To be fair, I'd kept her in the dark with most of this for so long, afraid to give voice to my feelings for Jack, even to my best friend. Come to think of it, I'd been so excited to tell her how things were developing, I'd neglected to apologize for not sharing with her like I should have.
"I'm happy for you, Bailey, I really am. And I want to talk more about that in a second, but..." Esa paused again. "What the hell were you thinking keeping this from me?!"
I pulled the phone away from my ear so I didn't rupture an eardrum. My girl was pissed. I winced, knowing she had a right to be.
"I know, girlie, I know. I'm sorry. I just didn't think it would go anywhere with Jack. I liked him, but thought he was a dead-end. And you were glowing and bouncing with happiness with Ivan...I didn't want to be the black cloud. I know that's still no excuse for not telling you before this, but it's the truth. And I hope you'll forgive me."
Esa sighed long and loud in the phone. "I forgive you, but don't keep shit from me again. Got it?"
"Oh thank God, because I have so much more to tell you!"
"What more could there be? There's only so many times in one night you can come, even if Jack's a rock star in bed." Esa giggled, probably remembering all the times we'd speculated about him when we first met him at the beginning of the year. "Is he even hotter without clothes on?"
I laughed. "Oh lordy, Esa. He's so fucking hot with nothing but that dimple on."
We laughed, the tension cleared now that we'd talked it out. I needed to come clean with her about a few more things though and get her advice.
"So...I'm not sure things can really go anywhere beyond hot sex with Jack."
"What? Why? You guys seem so good together!" Esa cried.
"Well, I may have done a few things that would piss him off if he found out." I took a deep breath and launched into the hacking I'd done, along with the clearance rigging that allowed me to outfit the local homeless with jackets. "It was all for good, I promise! But I don't think Jack would see it that way."
"Oh Bailey...You know I love you, and I love that heart of yours, but I'd have to agree with Jack's way of thinking on this one." She sighed again. She'd sighed a lot during this conversation. I didn't think I was that exasperating, but I could have been wrong. "You can't break laws to help people. Those laws are there to protect bad guys from taking advantage of people. What if everyone broke the laws? It would be chaos."
"Well, I've quit the hacking and I won't discount any more merchandise, so we don't need to argue about this. Even though I still think what I did was fine. I wasn't hurting anyone, only helping." I felt the need to defend my actions since I still felt like I was in the right.
"Well, I guess as long as you've stopped... Are you going to tell Jack the truth?"
"I wasn't planning on bringing it up since it's over and done. No need to stir up trouble. Maybe, after some time has passed, he and I can think about something more."
"Life is always interesting with you." Esa laughed, letting me know she wouldn't hold my actions against me.
Now if only Jack would react the same way if he ever found out...
Jack
"Yo, Jack, that info you sent me panned out. I found the guy."
Our resident tech guy poked his head in my office, excited to bring me good news.
I'd been thinking about my night with Bailey and had to shake my head to clear that x-rated vision before I could focus on what he'd said. He was talking about the online dare game that had already caused several dangerous incidences in SoCal.
"Great! Send me what you got and I'll get a warrant." He nodded and left, eager to close the case and get it off his desk.
How the hell did Hessa know what computer IP addresses and user names to look at? When I'd talked to her and Kai, they seemed to be as tech savvy as I was, which meant not at all.
I grabbed the department phone and speed dialed the tech guy. "Hey, can you trace if someone else hacked this guy's account before us? And if so, trace who it was?" As a detective for almost ten years, I'd learned that when things don't line up it's usually because there's more to the story and I needed to keep digging.
"Sure, Jack. I can check it out and let you know."
We hung up, and I went back to thinking of ways to woo Bailey. Then work intruded, and I got sidetracked with several other cases I was working on.
