Page 53 of Danger and Dominance

“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.

“Youwhat?How do youaccidentallyget 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.”