Page 12 of Danger and Dominance (Black Fox Security Doms #1)

Cassidy

For the first time in years, Cassidy slept in.

Not only that, but she slept hard. From the moment her head hit the pillow until Kincaid came in to gently shake her awake because he didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye, but he had to go, she was so deeply asleep, she didn’t even dream.

And, for the first time in years, she actually felt rested when she woke up.

She was no longer worrying that she was going to piss Don off, no longer waking up with a start in the mornings because she was afraid she was going to sleep past him. He’d hated it when she was ‘lazy.’

In D.C., every night, she’d lay down then get up again, just to make sure she’d locked everything and set the home alarm.

She’d close her eyes, then open them again at every tiny noise she heard, every creak of the house, every dog that barked outside, every car that came to a stop on the street.

Her head would spin with all the ways she was vulnerable. Wondering if Don might come that night and find a way in, climbing up the fire escape. Convincing someone to let him into the apartment building, then ending up at her door. Breaking the lock. Breaking in the door.

On the worst nights, her brain would offer up horrific images of him burning the whole building down just to get to her.

Who would escape. Who wouldn’t. And then, even if she got outside, he’d be waiting for her…

and he’d either drag her off screaming while everyone fought the blaze, or he’d stab her or shoot her and leave her to bleed out in the parking lot of her burning building.

It didn’t matter how unlikely she, logically, knew such a scenario was. How out there. Her brain never let her rest.

But not last night.

Last night, she’d felt wholly, truly safe in a way that had let her anxiety take a breather.

Waking up to that feeling made her tear up, though she did her best to hide it because Kincaid was already acting reluctant to leave her there, and if she cried, he might not go.

She’d interrupted his weekend, and his life, enough.

So, she sucked it up, kept the tears at bay, and got up to walk him to the front door, where she gave him a huge hug, waving as he left.

It felt so strange to be left behind.

A noise behind her made her turn, though not out of fear that Don might be behind her, and the lack of fear felt almost strange.

“We saved some breakfast for you,” Jensen said, coming down the hallway. Today, he was wearing another tank top and a pair of black sweatpants, looking slightly sweaty, as if he’d been working out. “It’s on the stove. Kincaid said you aren’t picky.”

“I’m not. Thank you so much.” She beamed at him, touched that they’d cooked for her.

For a while, she’d been living with other people, other club members, in their guest rooms, but it had been too much.

She’d been too worried about whether or not they’d be able to defend themselves if Don came calling.

Here, she felt like she didn’t even need to worry about that because he didn’t know where she was.

Freedom.

That’s what this feeling was. True freedom she hadn’t been able to feel back in D.C.

because she’d known he was always somewhere nearby, that he was in the same city.

That he knew where her club was, her favorite spots to go, her friends…

Granted, he still knew where all of those places were, but everyone was on high alert, and she didn’t think he was crazy enough to try to hurt someone else to get to her.

Not that they would know anything about how to contact her. Which was a measure of safety for them. The only people who did know could take care of themselves.

Unless Don had a gun.

Was he obsessed enough with her to threaten someone with a gun to try to find her?

She didn’t think so.

She really hoped not.

“You all right, Cassidy?” Jensen asked, sounding concerned and making her startle.

Her brain had been so busy coming up with reasons to be worried over the people she’d left behind, she hadn’t realized she was standing in the middle of the kitchen, staring into space or that Jensen had joined her. She really needed to get it together.

“Yeah, just… worried about what might happen to my friends back home when Don realizes I’m gone,” she admitted because she felt like she could.

Jensen didn’t know them, so she wasn’t going to be making him worry about them, and she could tell him because he wasn’t one of the people she was worried about.

Even better, he didn’t immediately tell her not to worry, the way her friends always had.

They were all so confident they could take care of themselves…

which was what everyone thought until something happened to them they couldn’t take care of.

She’d always thought she could take care of herself, too.

Jensen seemed to be thinking about what she’d said while she went to the stove to get her breakfast. There was a plate on the counter, and eggs, bacon, and pancakes were in a pan on the stove with a lid over it. The burner was off, so it wouldn’t burn, but the lid had kept everything fairly warm.

For a moment, she just stared, touched by the thoughtfulness.

Don would never have…

Which was why Don was a crappy boyfriend even before he’d become straight-up abusive.

He was good at being generous and sweet in big ways, especially when he was apologizing, but ‘thoughtful’ was out of his wheelhouse.

The little day-to-day tiny moments of thoughtfulness, like making extra breakfast and then keeping it covered and warm for her because she hadn’t come down to breakfast yet.

In fact, other than when he was apologizing, then bringing her breakfast in bed—which she hated because sitting in bed eating wasn’t comfortable; she’d much rather have a chair—he’d never made breakfast for her.

“I suppose he could go after your friends, but there wouldn’t be much point,” Jensen said thoughtfully as Cassidy picked up the plate and started to put food on it. “None of them know exactly where you are, right? The best they can tell him is that you left, and no one knows where you are.”

“Three of them do,” she said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they told their partners, too.”

“Okay, so six people total. Out of a lot.” Jensen shrugged. “Abusers don’t get away with what they do if they start showing their true colors to the world. They’re smart enough, savvy enough, to put on a good front to everyone.”

“Yeah, but Don already showed his true colors to the Stronghold members.” Cassidy sat down at the buffet part of the counter on one of the high barstools.

As she did so, Jensen started putting away the food she’d left in the pan in glass containers and cleaning up.

“Oh, I can take care of that when I’m done. ”

“Nah, I’ve got it. You’re supposed to be relaxing on your first day here.

We can institute a chore schedule tomorrow.

” His dark eyes sparkled as he grinned at her.

“If you’re hungry, feel free to grab whatever you want from what we have.

Mick has a couple things labeled as just his, but otherwise, everything is communal. ”

“Thank you.” She felt bad just sitting there eating while he cleaned up the food he’d made for her, but she couldn’t exactly stop him.

“No problem. Anyway, Don might have let the mask slip in front of them, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to want to get caught doing something that could send him to jail, right?

” Jensen took the pan over to the sink and started cleaning it.

“That means he’s extremely limited in anything he can do. ”

That was true. The way they’d been able to keep him away from her for the past year was by threatening jail.

The night that he’d been kicked out of Stronghold, the night that she’d been rescued, he’d rammed his car into Master Law’s on his way out of the parking lot. And then he’d fled the scene. Master Law had threatened to bring him up on charges if Don came anywhere near her.

Which had worked for a whole year until the time ran out for Master Law to be able to charge Don. A whole year where he’d left her alone, where he hadn’t bothered anyone else.

Instead of losing interest in her, he must have gone and looked up how long Master Law had to make good on his threat, then waited it out.

That’s what she’d assumed. It had made her feel relieved that he wasn’t out there hurting some other woman while simultaneously terrified he was so focused on her.

He’d also protected himself by not going after Master Law or anyone else from the club again.

Even when he’d come back, he wasn’t doing anything that actually hurt anyone.

The closest he’d come to doing something that he could be in real trouble for was slashing Mistress Olivia’s tires, but they couldn’t prove that was him.

“So, you don’t think he’ll bother them?” she asked, desperately wanting it to be true.

Jensen hesitated.

“I don’t think he’ll be dumb enough to do anything that could get him jailed.” He gave her a sidelong look. “As you know, there’s still a lot he can do that won’t put him in jail, but at the very least, I don’t think you have to worry about him deliberately hurting anyone.”

That made her feel better. As much as she didn’t want him bothering anyone at all, Jensen’s frank assessment of the threat level was a relief. He didn’t try to give her false platitudes or empty reassurances that Don would leave everyone alone… but he truly believed Don wouldn’t hurt anyone.

There was that.

If he hurt someone because of her… she’d been in therapy long enough to know that logically, he was making the decision, and it was because of him and not because of her, but that wouldn’t stop the guilt she felt.

She’d already tried to pay for Mistress Olivia’s new tires and been roundly rejected.

No one blamed her for Don’s actions… but she still felt the guilt.

If she hadn’t gotten involved with him in the first place…