Page 119 of Danger and Dominance

“Does he even have any experience in politics?”Jensen asked in disbelief.

“No, just business, which he’s very mediocre at...and he does a lot of shady shit with it,” Zeus replied.He was scowling.

Claudia scowled back at him.“Is he still one of Marshall’s clients?”

“How should I know?I have no idea what their client list looks like now, but I wouldn’t be surprised.The two of them are two peas in a shady pod.”

“He’s one of the clients Marshall and I argued about the most,” Lincoln chimed in.

With all the conversation in the room going on, it was impossible to hear the conversation on the television until Harris snapped out the word “Hush.”

Quiet fell again as Lesley asked him a few more questions, like why he wanted to run—‘to serve my state’—and what he was planning to run on—‘we’ll be rolling that information out over the coming weeks.’

“So, this is just an announcement without saying what he’s standing for?”Darcie murmured, wrinkling her nose.She was sitting in one of the chairs across from Zeus, arms crossed over her chest.

No one replied because of what happened next on screen.

“Let me introduce you to my team.My head of security and my right-hand man, Marshall Devlin.”

The room erupted with noise as the former third partner of Black Fox Security stepped up beside MacLeod, grinning widely and reaching up to brush his fingers against the black rose he was wearing in his lapel.The threat was finally becoming clear.Devlin was still intent on taking down Lincoln, Harris, and the rest of the firm, and if he managed to get MacLeod elected, he might just be able to do it.

42

Cassidy

“Do you want to live with David?”Mistress Julie asked, tilting her head as though she could see into Cassidy’s soul through the computer screen.

“Yes.But it’s too soon.”

“By whose timeline?”

Dammit.This was why she’d decided to bring it up in therapy.She’d wanted to talk through the possibility with a completely neutral third party.Especially since most of her friends up here were currently completely invested in the ramifications of knowing Black Fox had an enemy, and he was gunning for them with a bigger force than expected.

She hadn’t wanted to bother her friends with her ‘should I live with David’ problem, which seemed pretty miniscule by comparison.

“I don’t know,” she admitted and waved her hand.“People.I mean, the last man I lived with was Don.Shouldn’t I be more cautious?I mean, what do you think everyone at Stronghold would think if I told them I was moving in with the first guy I’ve dated since Don.”

Mistress Julie’s eyebrow rose.

“Why would their opinion about your decisions matter?”

Cassidy’s mouth opened.

Closed.

“Well… I guess I don’t want them to judge me.”

“And that’s a good enough reason to keep you from doing what you want to do?”

No.

But she didn’t want to say it out loud.She scowled at the keyboard because she was too chicken to scowl at Mistress Julie herself.

“I thought you were going to tell me it’s too soon,” she grumbled.

“That’s because you still don’t trust yourself to make good decisions for yourself.You’re hoping to find certainty in what other people think rather than in what you think and what you want for yourself.But the fact that you’re willing to admit to yourself what you want, even though you’re struggling to act on it, really shows how far you’ve come.”Mistress Julie’s tone was gentle, despite the way the words hit like blows to Cassidy’s chest.

She lifted her hand to the center, right between her breasts, and rubbed where the ache had appeared.