Page 291 of The Daddy P.I. Casefiles: The Second Collection

“Then come and meet us. Stay the weekend. We’ll have a barbeque for you on Sunday?—”

He breaks off when I start shaking my head.

“Not this weekend. I will take you up on that offer, but not this weekend. My daughter’s in rehab and she’ll be allowed visitors this weekend. I need to go see her.”

Napa nods. “Family first. You want company going to see her?”

The genuinenicenessof his offer makes me pause. Normally, I’d say no. She’s my daughter, my business. I haven’t asked Logan or Manny or Max to come with me and I wouldn’t. Naomi’s my problem.

But being part of a brotherhood means sharing your problems. Accepting help. Trusting your brothers to have your back.

“I would,” I say slowly, feeling my way into it. “I was planning to ride up to Poughkeepsie on Saturday afternoon and stay overnight somewhere. Visit with my daughter on Sunday.”

“Sounds good. Riverside Drive’s a little outta the way but a nice route. I know a place to stop for dinner if you’re up for that. Seafood. It’s not fancy, but it’s good.”

“My kind of place,” I agree. “Harry said you’re upstate, but he didn’t say where.”

“You’ll be right in our backyard. Clubhouse is in Newburgh. Barely outta your way if you want to stop on the way back.”

I like his approach. He’s direct without pushing.

“Let me make sure Bren doesn’t need to rush back.” I glance at my sammie, but she’s still out for the count. “If she doesn’t we’ll take you up on that. I’d like to meet your brothers.”

“Good.” Napa slaps his knee and pulls out his phone. “Let me have your number and we’ll keep in touch in case your plans change.”

I give him my number and my phone pings with a text. I save his contact details and create another contact when he reels off Wreck’s number as well.

“If you think Brenna might want to talk with Tiana, you know, before or after, just call. Tiana can put her in touch with some of the other old ladies, too. They’re all in the lifestyle. Everyone in the club is. We tried mixing, but—” He shakes his head woefully. “It didn’t work out. Secrets corrupt a club from the inside out. Having some in the lifestyle and some not, itcreated too many secrets. So now everyone’s in. Not everyone’s as active as we are, but they all understand it. You won’t find any of the kind of attitude you might have gotten from the blue boys who aren’t in.”

I didn’t actually feel any condemnation of the lifestyle from the Rolling Blue brothers, but I also wasn’t sure who was and wasn’t in it. There’s something comfortable about knowing that everyone in the Heirs is in.

“Makes things simple,” I say.

Napa nods. “And you know that all club events are lifestyle events. There’s no guessing. Makes for a more open environment. If I hadn’t seen your scene today, I’d have warned you that you might see some things at the clubhouse that might surprise you, but in comparison to this place?”

He grins. I echo it back to him. Blunts is outside my realm of experience, too, and I’ve been in the lifestyle for over thirty years.

“I’m still getting used to this.” I glance at Bren again, checking on her, but also appreciating the glorious debauchery of having a naked woman I just fucked in every hole comatose on a couch beside me in a room full of just-fucked, naked people. “But it ain’t half bad.”

Napa laughs. “No, it ain’t. Not to crash your party, but you got plans for tonight?”

“Nothing big. Bren’s going out for drinks with some of her friends at a bar near here, so I was going to stay near the club and meet up with her afterward. No scenes tonight if she’s drinking, though.”

“Yeah, absolutely.” Napa holds up a broad, calloused hand in agreement. “Harry said there’s some fancy pool hall near here. We were going to go after dinner. Shoot a few frames.”

“It’s snooker,” Logan grumbles from a nearby chaise, where he’s collapsed with Emily cuddled to his chest and is, evidently,eavesdropping. “Why do Yanks always have so much trouble with this?”

“’Cause we’re not pretentious fuckers,” I grumble back. To Napa, I say, “That sounds great. Dinner and fancy pool it is.”

thirteen

BRENNA

The Sub Crawlstarts badly but gets better.

When I walk into Chicklets, the bar where the Sub Crawl starts every week, the first person I spot is Briar Rose. She’s watching the door with her big blue eyes. When she sees me walk in, she flips her strawberry blonde hair over her shoulder and swivels on her stool, turning her back on me. I’ve never been able to cope with Briar’s particular brand of bitch and that she went after both Ten and Rob after I gave up on anything real with them ensured I’d never think of her as anything but an enemy. That she’s best buds with Rachel, Logan’s former subbie and Queen of the Demonbitch Pits, only makes her more unlikeable.

There are two more house subs in their little clique: Pence and Tamsin. I don’t actually mind Pence. I’ve done a lot of group scenes with him, like the one this afternoon. He’s insecure and annoyingly attention-seeking, but he’s toned his ass down a shit-ton since Logan punished him over the summer in a fairly epic scene that the house subs are still whispering about. I’ve also noticed he’s started wearing a second collar recently. Afterseeing them interact several times, including today, I’m guessing the second collar is Master Harold’s, although they’re clearly not exclusive.