All good. You were right. About everything.
He sends me back a thumbs up emoji that I leave up on my screen as I turn on my rig. Every time I look at it, I’m reminded that I’ve done something right today. I may not understand this daddy thing. I may be a complete wimp when it comes topunishments. But I’ve done something right; I’ve made my little happy.
I spend an hour reading through the information my various searches have turned up before calling Logan.
“Did you get what I sent you?” I ask without saying hello.
“Yeah, just reading it now. This is good stuff, Maxie.”
“Uh-huh. What’d your lawyer say about the death certificate?”
“She put in her own public records request for it. She says she shouldn’t have any trouble getting it. It’s the link that’ll be tough to prove.”
“We need that witness testimony, buddy.”
“Max.” He blows out a breath into the phone. “I can’t ask you to go to England.”
“I didn’t hear you asking. I’ve got my first big exam coming up. Once I’m finished with it, I’ll go to England. Send me the name of the witness and anything else you’ve got on them and I’ll set up the interview for as soon as I’m free.”
“Max—”
“You need this. I’m doing it, Lo. Besides, I’ve never been to England. I gotta find out if the fish and chips are all they’re cracked up to be.”
Logan snorts. “Fish and chips in London? Bloody Cockneys don’t know how to make proper fish and chips.”
I chuckle. “We lifting today? Cynnie’s coming back at three. I need to be back before then.”
“You mind if we do it tomorrow? Emmy and I are having some hard-core little time today. She’s building a blanket fort right now and I’m not sure we could find the basement door even if we tried.”
It’s my turn to chuckle. “No problem. You sound like you’re in a better place today.”
“Yeah, I am, and I know I have you to thank for that. Thanks, Maxie.”
“You’re welcome. I’ll grab Mac and come over tomorrow around eleven if that works for you. I’ve got class in the afternoon.”
“That’s great. I mean it, Max. You’ve pulled my ass out of a really bad place. I can’t thank you enough, mate.”
“You can pay me back by sending me a list of rules for littles. I’m trying to come up with rules for Cynnie. Communication’s going to be the big one, but I’m struggling with ideas for others.”
“I’ll send you the contract Emmy and I have and a couple of others I’ve used with my submissives. Pick and choose whatever you think will work with Cynnie. Remember, whatever you come up with is not set in stone. Emmy and I renegotiate our contract regularly. Think of it as a living document that’s there to shape your relationship instead of the Ten Commandments, yeah? It’s a wooden fence instead of the Berlin Wall.”
“Okay, that sounds good. Thanks, man.”
“See you tomorrow, Maxie.”
He hangs up without waiting for me to say goodbye. I smile into the phone before I go back to work.
When I look up again, because my stomach’s rumbling, it’s noon. The smoothie was just what I wanted after the stress of Cynnie’s punishment, but now my body needs something more substantial.
Walking through into my kitchen to make a sandwich, I see something black flash past the window. Sure, things move past my windows from time to time. Birds. The occasional escaped balloon. This was neither. I tear out onto my fire escape in time to see a tiny, black drone disappear between the buildings. I get a clip of it in on my phone, but I already know it won’t have any features I can trace.
Fuck. Ness found me.
I barricade myself back in my apartment and call Manny.
“There was a drone outside my window,” I tell him.
“What the fuck?”
