Page 69 of Danger and Dominance
I should probably call someone, right?Or should I?And tell them what—I’m being tailgated, as if that’s not something that happens to everyone who gets on the road, every single day.
Her heart felt like it was slowly working its way up from her chest and into her throat, making it hard for her to swallow.If she hadn’t been gripping the steering wheel so tightly, her hands would have been shaking.It felt like sweat was starting to pop out around her hairline as her pulse raced.She could feel a single drop trickle down the side of her temple.
Who do I call?
What if I’m wrong?
Mick.She should call Mick.Out of everyone she could call, he was the most likely to be home and not doing something important.
She was just reaching for her phone when the car suddenly moved into the left lane and out from behind her.It sped past as all her muscles turned watery with relief, racing ahead to make the left turn at the yellow light before it could turn red.
Coming to a halt, Cassidy felt tears spark in her eyes as she sucked in deep breaths to calm her nervous system.Since she was at a red light, she put her head against the steering wheel.
Maybe she should see if someone could start driving her again.
But no.They were busy.That was the whole point of driving herself.And it wasn’t like she had to go far.She just needed to get herself together and stop being such a drama queen about someone riding her bumper, especially since it had been two different cars.
Of course, two white guys wearing baseball caps and sunglasses would look similar.But she’d been making up a whole scenario in her head because she couldn’t just be normal.
That or both times it’s been Don, and he’s trying to lull me into a sense of complacency about being tailgated, so I don’t get suspicious when he follows me all the way somewhere.
Or it’s Don, and he’s trying to scare me.To panic me.Just for fun or because he’s hoping I’ll make a mistake.
Yes, thank you, brain, for both of those scenarios.
As if Don was some kind of mastermind who had figured out where she was and was so obsessed with her, he had followed her just to mess with her.
The far more logical explanation was that it had been two totally different cars driven by impatient jerks who didn’t care about tailgating people.It happened every day, all the time, to lots of drivers.There was no reason to get worked up about it.
She didn’t need to bother David or Jensen with her drama, but she was definitely going to be bringing it up during her next session with her therapist.Mistress Julie had already helped a lot with Cassidy’s anxiety.She could reassure Cassidy that she was overreacting, then help her with regulating herself when her brain wouldn’t leave things alone.
David
Walking into Black Fox’s office, David nodded hello to Jennifer.She was on the phone with someone, her register higher than normal in the chirpy tone she used for customer service.
Jensen was just coming out from the hall on their side of the office, and he grinned when he saw David.
“Hey, Ginger.”
“Baby.How’s Cassidy doing?”He hadn’t seen her or talked to her since the night he’d given her a foot massage, then put her in her bed and manfully walked away.Just to prove that he could.Which he had.So, he was doing a good job of not doing anything he wasn’t supposed to do.
“Good.”Jensen hesitated, and David’s senses went on high alert.
“What?”
“It’s probably nothing, but Mick said she was acting a little weird when she got home the other day.”
“Which day?”He knew his tone had changed to a little aggressive, but he’d caught Jensen’s smirk on Monday when he’d asked about her, after giving her a foot massage on Saturday, and he’d forced himself to back off asking every day.Now, he was wondering if that had been a mistake.
“Wednesday night.”
“I was going to say it couldn’t have been yesterday,” Jennifer said.She’d gotten off the phone.“She was totally normal at game night.”
“Which is why I didn’t report anything.”Jensen shrugged, leaning against the large wooden frame wrapped around Jennifer's desk and propping his elbow on it to make himself look more casual.“She was fine.I didn’t notice anything.Mick said it was just when she first got home, she was kind of snappish and seemed a little shaken.When I checked in with her after he told me that, she just said she was fine.”
‘Fine’ was such a loaded word that could mean so many things.Or it could mean that she was fine.
“She really did seem fine yesterday,” Jennifer said, looking back and forth between David and Jensen with a slightly worried expression on her face.Like she thought Jensen might be in trouble or something.“She was laughing and enjoying herself.She didn’t say anything had happened.”
