Page 76 of What About Love

***

THE NIGHT HAD BEENa twisted, emotional Yo-Yo and T was still on edge. It wasn’t getting better as he stood in the shadow of the building across the street, observing Angie leave the club. He had a bad feeling about this.

Not one to have premonitions, he felt this in his gut. There were so many ways this night could go bad and every one of them was playing out in his head. As she walked to her car, one of the club members approached her from behind. He tensed, elbowing Eric sharply in the arm.

“Who the hell is that?” he demanded in a hushed tone.

“Mistress Daria. Evidently, Angie has caught her eye.”

Samson, who stood on T’s other side, snickered. “In that dress, I’m not surprised.”

T’s response was an irritated snarl.

“What’s your problem?” the gruff dom demanded to know. “I thought you two were in the friend zone. Although, after your performance on the carousel tonight, I call bullshit on that.”

“Shut up.”

“Man, I told you, if you don’t claim her, someone else will. Like Daria over there, or me.”

“Samson,” Eric interjected brusquely, “how about we table this little sidebar and try to stay focused? You can grill T about his love life some time when we’re not on the trail of a killer. Besides, we all three know you already have two women who would have your balls on decorative display on your mantel if you so much as suggested adding a third.”

He grew openly amused. “That’s true. Tara and Julie like to decorate in the eclectic.”

T ignored him, in the mood for neither Samson’s jokes nor his bullshit. The three men lapsed into silence as they watched and waited as Mistress Daria drew near Angie. Focused on the killer being a man, specifically Stapleton, they didn’t react until Angie suddenly crumpled in Daria’s arms.

T moved immediately. At least he tried to, but two sets of powerful hands restrained him.

“Stand down, T.”

“Fuck that, Dupree. I’m going in. We can get the Amazon to take us to Stapleton.”

But they held him back as the domme lifted Angie and shoved her into the back of the Honda, tossing her shoes and her clutch on the ground before she slammed the door.

“Get off me,” T demanded as he struggled, knocking Samson a step back.

“T, think,” Eric urged as he held on. “This is what we hoped would go down. Let this play out a bit more.”

Convinced that was the riskiest action for Angie, T broke free of his hold and ran, but Daria, having scooped up the dropped keys from the asphalt, had already climbed behind the wheel and was racing out of the lot. Eric was on him, slamming into his back as he skidded to a halt at the edge of the blacktop. Helplessly, he watched as the taillights faded with her right turn onto Beverly Boulevard.

“Fucking hell!” T’s curse boomed like a clap of thunder in the night.

“Samson, call this in,” Eric ordered as the man came up on his other side.

“Already did. Jerry and Kieran are activated; they picked up her tail out of the lot. We have her GPS signal up as well, which will lead us right to her.” Sam clamped a hand over T’s shoulder. “Patience, man. We got this.”

But the bad feeling he’d had for days didn’t quit. He took the few steps to the space where the Honda had sat and bending, swept up Angie’s red purse and shoes. Thank fuck they hadn’t planted the trackers in either of them.

Hating the color red, he chucked both items into the trash dumpster. They hit with a bang then bounced onto the asphalt because some moron had shut the lid. It summed up hisif anything could go wrong it wouldday perfectly.

Turning on his heel, he stalked across the street to Rossi headquarters. He wanted to be in the control room when word came of Stapleton’s arrest. His thoughts full of Angie, he slammed through the doors, Eric and Samson on his heels. As he took the stairs to the second floor two at a time, his frustration oozed out, as did his shouted, “Fucking hell!” which didn’t make him feel any better than the first time he’d said it.

***

“LET ME PLAY WITH HERfirst, Dick.”

Stapleton snarled. “It’s Richard, bitch, and if you don’t shut up, you won’t get a chance.”

“That’s not fair. I do the work and you have all the fun. You got greedy with the last one and killed her before I got a taste.”

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