Page 21 of Entertaining Distraction
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“All right.” From the head of the long conference room table, Ian’s gaze scanned the faces of his operatives. The Monday morning meeting had been to go over the current, recently completed, and new cases everyone was assigned to, even though a few people were missing. Lindsey Abbot, Val Mancini, and Darius Knight were still down in South America, working on a white-slavery case for the FBI. Doug Henderson, the head of Trident’s Personal Protection Division, was over at Black Diamond Records coordinating things for country singer Summer Hayes’s move from the California rehab hospital she was in, recovering from a car accident, to her home in nearby Indian Shores. The rest of Alpha and Omega teams were in attendance. “Anyone else have anything to report or discuss?”
When no one spoke up, Jake stood. “Um, yeah. But it’s off-the-job. Someone wants to talk to everyone. Hang on a sec.”
Charlotte had called him last night and had asked if she could speak to everyone following their meeting this morning. After finding out why, he’d agreed it was the best way to approach the situation. As if he didn’t have enough shit on his mind. His mother’s refusal to move into the assisted living, even after saying it was a nice place, was driving him nuts. They were going to have to figure out a way to keep a better eye on her. Thank God Linda and Mike had managed to get Emma’s car keys away from her. She still thought she’d misplaced them—both sets—and they’d turn up sooner or later.
Striding to the closed door, he opened it, and called for Charlotte who was waiting in his office across the hallway. She’d sent him a text during the meeting, letting him know she was there. After Charlotte entered the conference room, Jake closed the door again and returned to his seat. The parole officer was dressed in her usual work attire of comfortable dress pants, a button-down shirt, and low-heeled shoes. She’d already shed the lightweight jacket she’d been wearing to conceal her weapon, which was holstered on her hip. Attached to her belt, in front of the holster, was a round, leather strap her shield was pinned to.
“Good morning, gentlemen,” she said with a smile. “I hope you don’t mind my intrusion for a moment, but it’s easier to have you all in the same room so I don’t have to repeat what I have to say.”
Ian raised an eyebrow in curiosity as did a few others around the table. “No worries, Charlotte. What’s wrong?”
Taking a seat next to Brody, she crossed her legs and sat back. “Who said anything was wrong?”
“Okay, then what’snotwrong?”
Channeling her Domme persona, her gaze went around the table, landing on each man present before moving onto the next. “As Mistress China, I have an announcement to make and a request. Nick, since you already know what I’m going to say you may remain in the room.”
“Thank you, Ma’am,” the youngest Sawyer responded with a grin. He was the only non-Dom in the room and had no problem with it. Several new members of Trident’s Omega team had either already been Doms before coming to work for the company or were in the process of training to be one.
“I’ll call Mitch later and speak to him about this, too.” Even though Mitch Sawyer was the manager of the club, in addition to being co-owner, Ian held the title of Head Dom. In respect to that title, she turned to face him before tossing the little bomb on all of them. “I’ll be bringing a new submissive to the club soon. Brody will have an easy time with his background check ... considering it’s Michael Donovan.”
As Jake and Charlotte had both expected, jaws dropped around the table, and most gazes shot to Mike’s brother. Jake held up his hand to ward off any questions. “I was surprised too, but after making sure this was what he really wanted to try, I promised to stay out of it. He’s done the research and talked to Nick, so the decision is all his.”
Brody chuckled. “The family that plays together, stays together.”
“The reason I wanted to tell you all in this setting ...” Charlotte continued, ignoring the big geek’s sarcasm, “... is I didn’t want those looks on your faces when I bring him to the club next week. I’d appreciate if you’d let your subbies know as well. Michael is nervous enough as it is. I know no one would intentionally make him uncomfortable but I wanted to cut down on the surprised expressions.”
Ian nodded. “Okay, completely understood. Thanks for the heads-up. I’ll pass the word around to a few others who’ll recognize him.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it. That’s all I wanted to say. Short, simple, and to the point.” Instead of getting up and leaving as Jake expected her to, she glanced at him. “Now, can I get a moment to talk to you about something else, alone?”
“Sure.”
As the meeting broke up, Charlotte and Jake stayed behind until everyone was gone. Standing, he moved and took the seat next to her that Brody had been sitting in. “What’s up?”
Taking a deep breath, she let it out. She’d been debating what to do since the pop-by she’d done for Jose, and now hoped she was doing the right thing. “This is off the record.”
“Okay.”
“You know the new sous chef at the pub is one of my parolees.” When he nodded, she continued. “I’m worried about him. I didn’t think he’d be a repeat offender, and I’m not sure if that’s what’s going on, but something’s up with him.”
Jake frowned. “What did he do time for? Mike didn’t tell me.”
“Grand larceny of a vehicle. He was a chop shop supplier, but unlike most of those greedy little bastards, he thought it was the only way he could provide for his pregnant fiancée. You know the type—high school dropout and poor upbringing.”
“Oh, yeah. You think he’s fallen back on old habits?”
Crossing her arms, Charlotte shook her head. “That’s just it—I don’t honestly know. All Idoknow is, when I did a pop-by at the pub yesterday, he wasn’t the same guy who’s been coming to my office over the past two months. Something was off—he wasn’t thrilled to see me, even though he was aware I’d be showing up there at some point. His drug test came up clean, didn’t have any weapons on him ...” She shrugged. “Nothing to give me a hint of what’s going on. Usually, I let these things play out—I’m their parole officer, not their moral conscience—but this kid was really trying to put his past behind him. At least, I thought he was. He seemed to be trying to do right by his fiancée and kid. He’d even got his GED in prison.”
“So, you want me to nose around a bit, on the q.t., to see if your instincts are dead on, as usual?”
“If you don’t mind. I can’t put my suspicions into his file—not without any evidence—and, truthfully, I want to help him before it’s too late—ifI can.”
A smirk spread across Jake’s face as his eyes lit up in amusement. “There’s the other side of the Domme I know so well. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone you’re an old softie under that Mistress China veneer.”
Charlotte snorted softly. “That cat’s already out of the bag. I know the subs call me ‘Mother Hen’ behind my back.”
