Friday and Saturday came and went without any monumental happenings. Clink reopened as if it had never closed. The kink shows were sexy. The women were sexier. A few extra phone numbers had been shoved in his shirt pocket, but Kellan couldn’t think of anyon
e specific who had stood out.
Club women were all the same, at least those who frequented Clink. Every now and then, a new gal would wander inside the club but the older Doms knew how to sweep them off their feet. Since Kellan had several positions rolled into one, he really didn’t pay too much attention to the club patrons.
Kellan had always placed the customers in three groups anyway: Those who were attached and happy, those who were attached and looking, and those who were single. Since reopening its doors, the club had started issuing these silly little bracelets for identifying patrons looking for play partners. They color-coded the difference in singles—those looking for partners for the night and those interested in a partner for life. In Kellan’s mind, single was single.
In today’s world, regardless of what someone said, everyone seemed to poke around the clubs looking for that life partner. On the heels of a few popular BDSM movies, it was much worse than before. Clink’s submissive customers often went there to hook up but seemingly returned shortly thereafter sporting a training collar.
Resting his wrist on the steering wheel, Kellan searched the parking lot, only vaguely aware of the afterschool bell ringing. Ever since one of Patience McKay’s boyfriends had worked out a deal with the mob, there had been a temporary freeze on retaliating against the Cartwells and McKays—which was comical now that Kellan stopped to think about it. Anyway, things had been pretty quiet and he wouldn’t complain about that.
“Yeah, buddy,” Kellan muttered. “It’s the damn calm before the tsunami.”
On that note, he scanned the surrounding area once more. Hank Sarsarone wasn’t about to call a real truce and from what the feds had discovered, Sarsarone wanted to bury anyone and everyone with the last name Cartwell, McKay, or Baldini. The only exception was Nory. He didn’t want to kill her. He wanted to ruin every hour of her life by forcing her into marriage.
About that time, Kellan’s phone rang. Glancing at the caller ID, he answered, “What’s going on, Madden?”
“You tell me, man. Did you threaten the Taylor brothers?”
“Hell, no.” He gritted his teeth and recalled a recent conversation. “Take that back. Yep. I sure did.”
“Thanks for telling me about it.”
“They seem to think they can fuck Nory and keep her out of harm’s way.”
“Yeah, I heard. Like you, I set them straight.” Madden was a good guy. Kellan liked him all the more now that he’d sided with him.
“I would’ve loved to have heard that conversation.”
“It’s handled.” Madden probably believed he was speaking the truth there.
“Why do I have a feeling no one sets the Taylor brothers straight?” Kellan had seen two very different sides to the Taylor twins.
“All right, here’s the thing. Stellan and Sterling have been on Norina for a while now.”
“What?”
“Not ‘on her’ in that way, man.” Madden laughed. “You’ve been working the club too long.”
“I know what you mean. What I don’t understand is why I’m just hearing about this.”
“It wasn’t necessary to tell you everything right away. Besides, we’ve had too many guys in and out of there. We didn’t want to put the twins in unless we were sure they planned to stay for the long haul.”
Kellan understood exactly what Madden meant and he didn’t like it a bit. Wincing at the thought of the Taylor brothers seducing Nory, he said, “Regardless of their jobs or positions, I know these guys. I definitely know Sterling and his type.”
“Regardless of how you stereotype him, man, here’s the thing—he cares about her. He’s too damned stubborn to admit it but everyone on the case knows it.”
“Knows what, exactly?”
“He’s way in over his head.”
“Tell me you don’t believe that nonsense.”
“The agent in you would see that ‘nonsense’ is real but the big-brother role you’ve assumed prevents you from detecting what’s under your nose. He’s in love, man. At first I had a problem keeping him on this operation. Now? I can’t think of anyone who would do a better job. He’ll protect Nory. He’ll fight for her. He’ll kill for her.”
“Yeah, but will he die for her?”
“Without blinking an eye.”