Page 27 of Danger and Dominance (Black Fox Security Doms #1)

Cassidy

Despite everything, Cassidy was incredibly excited to have a job.

Brenda seemed wonderful. She was aware of the danger of Cassidy’s ex but reassured her that she would be perfectly safe at home.

David had her schedule, and any time they went out, someone from the team would be there with them, but at her home, it was just as secure as Jensen’s.

Maybe more.

Brenda had promised to show Cassidy the panic room first thing when she came over on Monday. She made it seem like an adventure. Her casualness about everything made Cassidy feel even better.

Back at Jensen’s, she flopped onto the couch, breathing out a sigh of relief.

“Well. That could have been better, but it could have been worse.” He grinned down at her sheepishly. “How are you feeling?”

“Relieved. Excited.” She giggled.

“Not pissed at Mick?”

“It wasn’t his fault. I shouldn’t have eaten a random brownie without asking.” She groaned. “Who eats brownies for breakfast?”

“He should have labeled them or something. If he leaves any more food around that has pot in it, I’ll make sure he puts something on it, so you know before eating.” Jensen patted the top of her head right as her phone rang.

Rolling over, Cassidy reached to the coffee table and picked it up. Kincaid’s name was on the screen, and she lit up.

“It’s Kincaid!”

“Okay, you get that, and I’ll go find Mick to yell at him.”

Cassidy grinned at him. Maybe she wouldn’t find it as funny later, but right now, she was really happy.

Heck, maybe she should thank Mick. Brenda had been delighted that she was high.

It might have even been what tipped the scales to her being hired.

Cassidy shook her head as she lifted the phone to her ear.

Brenda was probably going to run her ragged, but she was looking forward to it.

“Hey, Kincaid! How are you? I was going to call you tonight!”

“You were?”

The surprise was evident in his voice, and she was gleeful at having good news to give him. Also, she was maybe still a little high.

“Yeah, I wanted you to know that I finally got a job! I applied for a job being someone’s personal assistant, and I got it… and you’ll never guess who it is… David’s grandmother. He didn’t want her to hire me, but she did, and now I have a job!”

She did a little happy dance in place since there was no one there to see her do it. It had been so long since she’d had something really good to celebrate, it was hard to stay still.

“Is David giving you a hard time about it?”

Cassidy giggled. She was pretty sure David had wanted to, but…

“No, she won’t let him. She’s amazing. And, to be fair, he had good reason for not wanting to hire me. I kind of accidentally showed up to the interview high.” She giggled again at Kincaid’s reaction. She could actually hear him sputtering.

He and David were more alike than either of them probably thought.

“You what ? How do you accidentally get high?”

Yup, he sounded just like David. She didn’t want to get poor Mick into more trouble than he already was, though. Time to change the subject. Kincaid must have called for a reason, right? She’d tell him the full story later.

“Oh, it’s kind of a long story… What did you need?”

There was a pause on the other end of the phone, and Cassidy stilled, her heart dropping in her chest. The urge to dance had disappeared.

She’d been riding such a high, in more than one sense of the word, her brain hadn’t caught up with what was happening. The likelihood of Kincaid calling just to chat… His pause made her even more nervous.

“Cassidy,” he said gently, the way someone did when they were about to say something terrible, “I have some… well, we’re not sure it’s bad news yet, but it’s not good news.”

“Oh… oh. Damn.” At least it wasn’t bad news, but she couldn’t quite muster up joy for ‘not bad’ news. “What did he do now?”

“We’re not sure. He seems to have disappeared.

He hasn’t shown up for his job, although he didn’t quit.

The lease on his apartment ended, and he’s no longer there.

” Kincaid sighed. “We’re not sure where he is.

We’re going to do our best to find him quickly and make sure he’s nowhere near you, okay? ”

Cassidy took a deep breath and let it out slowly before she answered. “Okay. Do you think he’s coming here?”

“There’s no way of knowing. Maybe he pissed someone off and is on the run. Maybe he got a new job somewhere else and needed to move and didn’t care that he was leaving someone in the lurch.”

“Or maybe he figured out where I am and is coming after me here,” she said quietly.

She slowly sank down onto the couch and lowered herself onto her side, her elbow up in the air, holding her phone against her ear.

Laying down felt like the right way to respond to the news that her ex was in the wind.

“Maybe.”

“Do you think I should quit my job? I don’t want to put Brenda in danger.” The idea that that sweet old lady could end up hurt because of her…

“No.” Kincaid said it firmly enough that it made her feel a little better. “There are a lot of other things it could be. But I do want you to keep an eye out, just in case. I’m also going to let Lincoln and David know that Don has fallen off our radar so they can keep an eye on you.”

“I’ll tell Jensen tonight, too.” She sighed again. “This sucks.”

“It really does. I’ll keep you updated as I get new information.”

“Thanks, Kincaid, I appreciate it.” She did, but she just wanted to get off the phone now. Sit and think. Process.

Decide if she was going to quit the job she’d just gotten today. Despite Kincaid’s reassurances, she wasn’t ruling it out.

“I’ll call you when I know anything new.”

“Okay, thanks. I’ll talk to you later.”

“We’ll find him. Bye, hun.”

“Bye.”

She swiped to end the call, then dropped the phone on the floor, where it landed with a dull thud on the carpet. Turning her head into the cushion she’d laid down on, Cassidy let out a muffled scream as tears sparked in her eyes.

Why me? What did I do to deserve this?

David

Fuck.

What had he done in his life to deserve this?

Groaning, David put the phone down and heaved a sigh. Dammit. It was like the entire universe was conspiring against him.

It could be nothing. Maybe the asshole finally got the hint and left.

Or maybe he left to go looking for Cassidy.

Of course, then the question was, where would he have gone looking?

Kincaid had promised that he and the others were proactively looking for the man.

They’d put the submissives on seeing if they could figure out where he might be.

Considering most women he’d met were as good—or better—than law enforcement when it came to hunting someone down online, David hadn’t scoffed at the idea.

Though he would also be putting his own person on it…

unfortunately, Jaxon was already buried in work, so having extra eyes was a good thing.

He couldn’t help but wonder how Cassidy was feeling. What she was thinking.

If she was afraid.

Glancing at the clock, he could see it wasn’t too late. He’d pretty much finished the workout he’d planned on doing. He could swing by Jensen’s on the way home. Just to make sure Cassidy was okay.

Decision made, he hit the shower, changed, and got in his car to head to Jensen’s.

On the way, he fielded a call from Lincoln—who had also heard from Kincaid.

He let Lincoln know that he was on his way over to check on Cassidy.

He also admitted that his grandmother had hired her.

Lincoln recommended they stay out of public spaces, which was a rule David had already thought of, so it was easy to agree with.

He didn’t want to take the job away from Cassidy if he could help it, and she would be just as safe with his grandmother as she was at Jensen’s. Possibly safer, considering there would be no pot brownies lying around.

At least, there better not be.

Part of her job was going to be making sure his grandmother didn’t decide that pot brownies were a good thing to try. Something that he wouldn’t put past her now that she’d heard about them from Cassidy.

Still, before he talked to Cassidy, he should talk to his grandmother, so he called her as soon as he got off the phone with Lincoln. She responded to the news in about the manner he expected.

“Are you making this up so that she can’t work for me?”

If they were blood-related, this was where he’d say he came by his paranoia. David sighed.

“No, Grandma, she can still work for you. I just want you to be aware of the possible additional danger and the new rules. Cassidy can show you how to order groceries or anything else from the store that you need online, and you two are not to go out to community spaces.”

“But we can still go over to other people’s houses?”

“Yes.”

All of her friends lived in areas where there were a lot of nosy neighbors. They didn’t have one Mrs. Tulieman watching the street; they had a dozen or more.

“And to the community center for Bingo?”

“Yes.” The community center was in the retirement community and was not somewhere anyone could walk around unnoticed.

The seniors took note of everyone and everything.

If Douchebag showed up there, unattached to any of the residents, they would know.

Plus, it was hardly the kind of place he should think to look for her.

“I can still go to book club?”

“Yes.” David did his best to hold in his sigh. He pulled up in front of Jensen’s house, putting the car in park and leaning back in his seat while he waited for his grandmother to run through her questions.

“And mahjong?”

“As long as it’s at someone’s house or the community center.”

“And crochet club?”

“Since when did you join a crochet club?” David frowned. That was a new one to him. He’d never pictured his grandmother as the type of grandma who would crochet or knit. He was having trouble imagining it.

“I just joined. Last week we made crochet butt plugs.” The glee in her voice was obvious.