Page 147 of Body Check

Gavin winced. “It doesn’t look like it.”

“Fuck.”

“And I don’t know if this makes it better or worse, but this isn’t the first time he’s done this to someone. There’s a history of this, both before you and simultaneously.”

Dakota sighed. So Bryce had been cheating on him all along, probably.

“We were together foryears. He really played the long con with me, huh?”

“It seems like it.”

“What do we do now?”

Gavin smiled at him. “Nothing.”

“Nothing? There’s no way to get my money back?” Dakota asked, his tone hollow.

That stung. He’d really been hoping he could. It looked like Gavin was out whatever it had cost to hire the PI. Dakota didn’t love the thought but as he looked at Gavin’s face again, he thought he could live with that.

Gavin had done it out of love. There were no strings attached, no tally in the ‘owe’ column. He would never hold it over Dakota’s head.

But Gavin’s smile only widened.

“I have your money already,” Gavin said simply. He reached into his leather satchel and pulled out a large manila envelope. And then another one.

Disbelieving, Dakota took them, feeling the outline of what appeared to be stacks of cash. “How did …”

“Oh, my guy has his ways,” Gavin said with a smile. “He might have reminded Bryce—or whatever his name is—that while getting the guy you’re dating to loan you money isn’t illegal, setting up bank accounts and businesses under false names and not reporting that income to the IRS certainly is. And there was plenty of evidence he’d done it multiple times.”

“Ohh,” Dakota said, the pieces clicking into place. “So, your guy blackmailed him into paying me back.”

“I wouldn’t call itblackmail,” Gavin said teasingly. “He just offered Bryce a little … incentive to do the right thing.”

For the first time, Dakota laughed. “Incentives are good.”

His expression fell as he thought about the other people Bryce—God, he’d probably never be able to think of him as anyone else—had scammed in the past. And the people he’d likely do that to in the future.

“Maybe I shouldn’t take this though,” he said reluctantly, holding the envelope out to Gavin. “It feels … kind of tainted, knowing other people won’t be able to get their money back. Maybe your PI could hunt them down and we could all split it or something?”

“You’re such a good person,” Gavin said, gently pushing the envelope away. “But no, that isn’t necessary. Bryce has been warned that reparations need to be made to his previous victims and we’ll be watching him. If he tries to scam someone again or if he doesn’t follow through on sending the money to the other people in a reasonable time frame … all the evidence will go tothe government. And because he’s done this in multiple states …”

“It’s a federal crime,” Dakota finished. “Damn, you’re clever.”

Gavin smiled. “Thad helped me, actually. It turns out he learned all sorts of things in prison. For better or for worse.”

Dakota smiled. “Well, I’ll have to thank him too. He’s coming over for dinner next week, right?”

“Yeah, that’s the plan. You said Violet and Jeff and the kids are coming too?”

Dakota nodded, setting the money aside to deal with later.

It was odd. He thought he’d be over the moon about paying off his debt, and hewaslooking forward to that, along with rebuilding his credit score and having some savings in the bank again. But it didn’t feel as important as he’d once thought it would.

Maybe because he had so much else to look forward to in the future. So many other good things happening in his life.

“You know, Violet and Jeff gave me so much shit the other day when I said I was moving in with you,” he said, smiling at Gavin.

Gavin smiled back, his expression lighting up. “You decided to go for it then?”

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