Page 138 of The Daddy P.I. Casefiles: The Second Collection
“I thought we got beyond that.”
“I didn’t.”
“Get beyond it, Max. I know you too well for modesty at this late stage.”
“It’s not modesty, you asshole. You don’t get to know my every fucking trigger and failing. Now gimme the mattress.”
He grumbles as he peels the packaging off and passes it through to me.
“Now the black bag,” I say, once the mattress is down and covered with the dry pad and microfiber cover. He’s going to get a surprise when he opens this one.
“What the?—”
Fifty stuffed bees of various sizes explode all over him when he pulls the tear cord on their vacuum packaging.
He shoves the mountain of bees off him. “Very funny,” he says.
I thought it was. I mound the bees around the edges of the mattress, propping them against the cage bars, leaving the center clear for my little queen bee. Once the bees are arranged, I clip the deep rack I’ve gotten to the bars and arrange a water bottle, spare television remote, and a tablet I’ve loaded with all the streaming services in the rack. Finally, I pile several jersey-knit blankets in the middle of the hive for Cynnie to arrange as she wants, and carefully back out, being sure to “accidentally” kick De Leon as I shuffle backwards.
He grunts but his reflexes are too fast for much more than a bruise.
Once I’m out, he squats down and surveys my work. “That’s ... not something I’d ever considered. I mean, I like the idea of having my sub captive, waiting for me in my bedroom, but I’d never have thought of creating a ... what do you call that?”
“I call it a hive. My girl has a thing for bees.”
“That makes you, what? Her drone?”
“It makes me her daddy who likes to encourage her imagination and create places where she feels safe and comfortable.”
“Right.”
“Not everything’s a sex game,” I tell him. “My girl’s little age ranges. When she’s very little, sex is off the table. The cage is a safe place for her to sleep or play or whatever, but it’shersafe place.”
Although we might “christen” her hive, I anticipate she’ll mostly want to snuggle and sleep in it. It’s too confined for the sex games we like to play.
“And when she’s bigger? That’s when you’ll use it as a cage?”
“No, I don’t see us using this as anything but her hive. It’s a sacred space. I don’t plan to even go in it unless she invites me. It’sherspace.”
De Leon looks like I’ve blown his mind. He follows me around as I bundle up all the packaging and take it downstairs for recycling.
Since he’s been marginally helpful, I make him another coffee before settling into my rig. He crunches down into a beanbag and opens his own laptop. “Gimme the wifi key.”
I read it out to him.
“Gimme theotherwifi key.”
Fucker. He’s good to have found my hidden network. “No.”
“Whaddo you think I’m going to do with it, Maxie?”
“Stage political assassinations? Topple major corporations? Trigger bioweapons? You tell me, dude.”
“Don’t be an arse. I’ve never done any of those things. Eh, okay, I’ve never donemostof those things. And everything I’m doing now, I’m doing to keep you safe. I have some contacts on the dark web I want to tap up to help us and I don’t want anyone to be able to trace it.”
I grind my teeth together for a long minute before I reel off the hidden network address and passwords.
“If I ever need to know where the server is, where is it?”
