Page 32 of Pressure

9

Lance watched Marissa flee the bar and head in the direction of the upstairs suites. He would have to check on her later. Right now, he needed to talk to Samuel and Jodie was still waiting for him to discuss her lateness.

“What was that all about?” Samuel asked.

“Don’t worry about it. Why the hell didn’t you respond to my check-in? What’s the point of a safety call system if you’re not going to use it?”

Samuel clapped his hand on Lance’s shoulder. “Not the time, my friend. We’ll talk later. I’m safe. All is well as can be.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Let’s go in the conference room so I can catch you up on the latest developments.”

Samuel nodded. “Isabelle was at the desk when I came in and gave me the highlights. Sounds like it’s been an interesting few days.”

Lance gave an abrupt laugh. “That’s one way to look at it.”

In the conference room, he gave Samuel all the details about bringing Marissa on board and the press starting to follow Garrett and Isabelle.

“What are we doing to protect our members?”

“Not enough,” Lance said. “But I’m hoping Marissa and I will be able to put our heads together and take care of the problem.”

“It sounds like you need to identify the problem first.”

The door opened and Elijah stepped in. “Samuel. How good of you to finally show up.”

“I don’t need the riot act from you too, Eli. You know this happens sometimes. And no, I can’t talk about it.”

“Where’s Marissa?” Eli asked.

“Upstairs. Something upset her.”

“Don’t worry. I’m handling it. Samuel walked in at the same time and it felt like catching him up was the more important task,” Lance said when Eli raised an eyebrow.

He nodded and sat on the corner of the table. “Oh, I wanted to tell you, the information Marissa was able to give Holly about the media that has Garrett and Isabelle’s information was helpful. We’ve convinced everyone we’ve talked to that they should sit on the story for a few days. Not that there’s really a story. Garrett disappeared a few minutes ago on a call from the Whitehouse so I have a feeling he’s being read the riot act right now, but the president values his input and I’m sure they’ll be doing whatever they can to squash any real leaks. It can’t undo any damage already done but we’ve bought a little time. I just hope you and Marissa can work fast.”

“I think we can. I just need to get her out of her own head. She may have gotten good insight into the feel of the place, but I think being back in a BDSM environment messed with her head a little more than she thought it would.”

Eli nodded. “I’ll let you handle that.”

“I’m going to check on Jodie and have her relieve Isabelle and then I need to get out of here for a bit and check on Marissa. I’ll see you two later.”

Feeling somewhat better knowing that his friends were unlikely to wind up on the front page of gossip magazines tomorrow, he headed to find Jodie and deal with her.

A half hour later, a properly chastened Jodie was sitting at the front desk with a sore ass, so he headed upstairs. At his door, he knocked since he’d given his key to Marissa.

“Go away,” she hollered.

“Please don’t do this, Marissa. Let me in,”

“I can’t see you right now. I’m not in a good place.”

“I know that kitten, but I need to talk to you. I’ve got some good news.”

The door flew open and she pulled him inside. “Don’t fucking call me that.”

Whoa. She was in a worse place than he thought.

“I’m sorry, Marissa. What’s going on? What happened out there?”

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