Page 5 of Danger and Dominance
Maybe the fact that it was security guys would help her relax.
“Good,” Kincaid said.“If Don figures out where she is and follows her up here, you’ll need to warn Jensen that he may become a target, too.Several members of our club had strange things happening to them, along with the escalation directed at Cassidy.”
She could feel her shoulders bowing inward before Kincaid put his hand on the small of her back, and she deliberately straightened up.She didn’t need another lecture about how this wasn’t her fault.Of course, it was her fault.But everyone wanted to absolve her of the guilt she carried and for the burden she was placing on everyone, and she didn’t like making them feel like they hadn’t succeeded.Even though they hadn’t.
Lincoln stepped forward.
“Okay, Cassidy, why don’t I take you around to meet the rest of the team?”He offered his arm to her with a charming smile.She managed a small one back.“We’ll let Kincaid and David talk through any further details, then Jensen will take you to the house to get settled in.”
Taking his arm, Cassidy nodded.If she was disappointed that it wasn’t going to be David showing her around, she definitely wasn’t going to show it.
She felt oddly safe here.If Don somehow followed her in here, there was a wall of highly trained muscle between him and her.People who could take care of themselves.
She wondered if any of them were armed.
Part of her, the part that she was the most ashamed of, really hoped they were.
David
Cassidy Simone didn’t look anything like the smiling young woman in the picture.She looked like that woman’s frightened, exhausted, anxious sister.Her smile was barely there, and it disappeared quickly.Even when it did make an appearance, there were bags under her eyes and shadows within them, and even her hair seemed duller.The light that had burned inside her hadn’t just been dimmed; it had been snuffed out.
That made him want to simultaneously pull her into his arms and reassure her she was safe and that everything would be all right and also go hunt down her douchebag of an ex and make sure he never bothered her again.By whatever means necessary.
Keep him from hurting anyone else, too.From snuffing out another woman’s light.Or even her life.
It didn’t help that the moment their eyes met, he’d felt a spark of something other than anger.He was attracted to her.Immediately.Unexpectedly.Which was entirely unwelcome, given the circumstances.A complication on top of an already complicated situation was the very last fucking thing he needed.
Watching Lincoln escort Cassidy down the hall, he frowned.He was supposed to be giving her the tour.What further details was he supposed to go over with Kincaid?
“What the hell is your problem?”Kincaid asked as soon as Lincoln and Cassidy had turned down the hall, jerking David out of his reverie.
“Excuse me?”For a moment, he thought Kincaid might have caught him staring at Cassidy’s ass, which was the least professional thing he could be fucking doing right now.He glared at Kincaid, trying to hide his inner flailing.
Fuck, he really hoped the other man hadn’t noticed him staring at Cassidy’s ass.
We do not get emotionally or physically involved with the clients.
“What.Is.Your.Problem.”Kincaid repeated, enunciating each word and biting it off at the end.“Don’t act like there isn’t one.Even Lincoln noticed your shitty attitude.I bet you were supposed to give Cassidy the tour and take her to the house.Otherwise, there was no point in you being here to meet her.”
Relief at realizing Kincaid hadnotnoticed him staring at Cassidy’s ass warred with his indignation.He was doing his damn job; that’s why he was here, and if Kincaid was that concerned, then maybe he should be doing more about it himself instead of passing the buck to David.
“There was no point in me being here, anyway.First of all, what’s the likelihood of her ex following her up here?”he asked.Especially with all the precautions they were taking to keep her hidden.“And secondly, if it was that high, why the hell didn’t she report him to the police?”
“You know why.I put all of that in the report unless, of course, you didn’t read the report.”
“Of course, I read the report,” David snapped, losing his temper.Tasha’s face floated through his mind.She deserved to be safe, and so did Cassidy, yet a kink club thought they could handle abusers themselves instead of doing what they weresupposed to do.“I read all about how your little club tried to handle everything themselves instead of filing a report, just so she could save some face and not have to admit that she was at a BDSM club when the incident happened.Did any of you think about what happens after that?What if he had left her alone and gone to do exactly the same thing to someone else, all because she didn’t file an actual report, and he faced no real consequences?”
Kincaid’s face was getting redder and redder, but David didn’t care.It felt good to finally be able to vent to someone about this.He couldn’t exactly do it to his own team or his boss.Kincaid was part of the firm now, but he wasn’t on David’s team, and he wasn’t going to be working here in Pittsburgh.He was going to be in his own office, down in D.C., with his own team.
“And you think he would have faced real consequences if she’d filed a report?”Kincaid snapped back, which surprised David.“There’s a fifty percent chance—hell, probably even more—that if she tried to file a report, the officer would hear BDSM club and immediately write her off.Or tell her that there’s no point because, obviously, she invited that kind of treatment.If she got lucky and got someone who takes her seriously and takes the report, all those things will come up in court and worse.Any attorney would go through her entire sexual history to make her out to be some sort of slut, on record, then he’d walk away scot-free.”
Well… fuck… if a former police detective was saying that… While he’d realized Kincaid was personally involved since Cassidy was a friend and part of his club, he’d expected Kincaid to agree with him a little more.Still, now that he’d taken up the point, David felt compelled to defend his position.
“But at least there would be a record for future women.That way, if they look him up, they’ll know.”
It could save another woman like Tasha.
“He’s blackballed from every BDSM club in a four-state radius.Any submissive who tries to go to a club with him will immediately find out, and most of the people who choose to throw house parties rather than go to the clubs have some kind of connection to those in the know, so they’ve been warned, too.Not to mention, several of our submissives had taken it upon themselves to watch the dating apps and FetLife in case he pops up there.”
