The Dom Identity (Masters & Mercenaries Reloaded 2)

At first she’d thought it had to have been either the café owner or May herself who had tipped the press off, but now she wondered if it hadn’t been someone else. Perhaps one of the many customers who’d come in and out while she and Michael had sat talking. Honestly, even if she’d discovered May had been the one, she would forgive the woman almost anything at this point.

There was a knock on the door and then a man walked through. He looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties, but he had one of those youthful faces. Baby face. He wore a T-shirt and jeans and had a Red Vine dangling from his mouth like a cigarette.

“Hey, Hutch.” May gave the man a big smile. “I got stabbed.”

Hutch looked Vanessa’s way, and his eyes went wide. He pulled the Red Vine out of his mouth. “Uh, this is surreal. Okay. Not what I was expecting.”

“Michael Malone.” Michael stood and held a hand out.

The man named Hutch only hesitated for a second. “Greg Hutchins. My friends call me Hutch. Including this one. Who got stabbed. Who was supposed to be at the office all day.”

May frowned. “I lost track of time after my yoga class. But it’s cool because I got to save a life.”

Michael stepped back. “She really did. I don’t know why that man was coming after my…Vanessa, but it was obvious to me what would have happened if May hadn’t been there.”

Hutch nodded. “Yeah. Okay. I suppose I can understand that. I’m May’s boss. You should understand that her other coworkers now know that she’s here at the hospital. I thought it would be good if I came and offered her a ride home before the crazies show up.”

“Crazies?” Vanessa had asked May what she did and all she’d said was that she worked in tech support.

Hutch nodded. “Yeah, you know every office has at least one. He’s the dude who you can’t trust to keep a secret or anything. Just goes right off the rails thinking he knows everything. He’ll probably show up at some point. Soon. Now, I would like to hear the story of how May came to save…I have to ask…”

She hadn’t even introduced herself. “I’m Vanessa Jones. You might know me as Vanessa Hale.”

Hutch’s grin kicked up, and he looked back at May. “Dude, that is so cool.”

May nodded. “I know.”

“May was at the same coffee shop Vanessa and I were at. A couple of photographers showed up, and Vanessa got scared and tried to get away. When she did a man followed her into the alley, and that was when your coworker went all warrior princess on his ass,” Michael said. “Although she let him get away.”

Vanessa gasped a little. It was rude. “That was not her fault. She did everything she could.”

May grimaced. “I didn’t even get a good look at the dude. I got this crazy adrenaline rush, and what I mostly remember was the knife.”

“I told the police I thought he might have been in the shop with us,” Vanessa explained. “They’re going to look at the security tapes. I might recognize him.”

May seemed to think about that as a low ping rang through the room.

Michael was staring down at his phone. He looked back up. “I’ve got to make a call. Vanessa, I need you to stay here. We need to talk about what happened today. I don’t want you walking around on your own until we do.”

She’d gotten the idea that Michael was worried the attack had been specifically about her. He might be right. It made her gut churn, but she had to consider that the attack hadn’t been random. The police didn’t seem concerned. They had pointed out the fact that her handbag was a designer bag and worth a lot on its own. “As long as it’s okay with May, I’ll stay here.”

May reached out a hand. “Absolutely. I’m thrilled to have some company. And I promise I won’t even ask you three million questions about Walton Woods. Even though I have them.”

“I think you can ask me pretty much anything,” Vanessa replied.

Michael stepped in front of her. “Please don’t leave this room.”

She nodded. “Okay. I’ll wait for you.”

It was nice to have someone who cared. He’d been so good to her all throughout. He’d even chased away the photographers. At least she thought he had because they hadn’t shown up again.

Her Dom had watched out for her. Maybe there was something to this exchange he talked about. She’d thought it was odd, but wasn’t every relationship an exchange of some sort? Perhaps D/s was simply more honest about what was being exchanged.

He walked out of the room as the nurse walked in.

“You know what you’re doing?” Hutch asked the question under his breath, and she might not have caught it if she hadn’t learned to listen as well as she had.