Page 350 of The Daddy P.I. Casefiles: The Second Collection

Her face relaxes despite my hold on her hair. “They were good kicks.”

“I’m sure they were. That’s not why I’m proud of you. I’m proud of you for keeping your head when confronted with three men you knew intended to hurt you. I’m proud of you for being strong and trained enough to fight them off. I’m proud of you for coming to me and letting me take care of you when it was over. And I’m extremely proud that through all of it, you kept thinking of other people. Me. Emily. Your employees and clients. Even Taco. Given everything you’ve been through, Bren, you could have come out uncaring and self-centered. I can’t tell you how impressed I am that you didn’t.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

When I let her head drop forward, she rests it on my shoulder.

After exhaustively reviewing everything we know about Mad Bob and the Fairskin Knights, Napa goes out into the hall to make a phone call while Cinder pulls one of the guest chairs in front of us and drops into it, his riding leathers creaking.

“While I like both blowing up the guy’s plumbing and sealing his shop in a concrete coffin,” Cinder says with a grin. “I think Napa’s going to want to deal with this a different way. He’s trying to get a line into the Knights to talk with their grand poo-bah or imperial wizard or whatever the fuck he calls himself. He wants them out of it. Then we’re going to confront these three clowns who thought they could fuck up our prospect directly. Sounds like you did a number on them.” He nods to Bren. “Good start, but that’s not enough. They broke Taco’s bones, so I’m going to break theirs.”

“I was trying to avoid anything that would result in jail time,” I say.

“Appreciate that but I’m sergeant at arms and this is what I do.”

I rub my chin for a minute. There’s a difference between defending yourself, as Bren did today, and beating a man in abar fight, which I’ve done a few times, and the premeditated decision to break someone’s bones, which is what Cinder’s proposing. I’m much more comfortable at the defense/bar fight end of the spectrum when it comes to civilians.

But those three men made the decision to hunt down Taco and Brenna and break their bones, even if they didn’t succeed in Bren’s case. That edges them out of the cotton cloud I tend to wrap civilians in and into the realm of combatants.

“I’m on board with that, but I’d like to keep those three out of it.” I nod to Logan, Manny, and Max who are still huddled around one of the computers on Logan’s desk. “I’m concerned about Logan’s PI license.”

Cinder nods. “This is Oidhri business now. Better kept between brothers.”

“I’d considered using the camera they planted at the shop to lure Mad Bob and his buddies into an ambush,” I tell him. “There’s no way for them to know we’re on to it.”

Cinder nods again and I can see plans forming behind his eyes.

“I think it’s time for a nightcap and then I’m going to put my little slugger to bed. Do you and Napa need a place to stay tonight?”

Cinder waves me off. “We’re good.”

Of course, before I can get my girl to bed, we have to deal with Theo, because both the law and its representative are an ass.

He shows up as we’re all sitting in the great room with whisky for me and Bren, a sippy cup of Baileys for Emily, and beers for everyone else. When the doorbell rings, Logan checks the security feed on his phone and groans.

“He could have called first.” Logan looks at Napa and Cinder. “This guy’s a NYPD detective. If you need to make yourselvesscarce, Emmy will let you into the playrooms downstairs and we’ll give you a shout when the coast is clear.”

Napa and Cinder both shake their heads. Surprisingly, it’s Max who stands up and says, “I’ll take you up on that, Lo.”

Emily scrambles off the floor cushion she’s curled up on and takes Max down into the playroom. I shoot Manny a glance. “Anything I should know about there?”

Manny shakes his head. “We’re just trying to keep Max off the NYPD’s radar. Logan may like this guy, but I think he’s an asshole. The less he knows about LMM, the better.”

Beside me, Brenna sighs.

I wait to see if she’ll defend Theo. When she doesn’t, I wrap my arm a little more tightly around her shoulders.

I swear that’s the first thing Theo’s eyes fix on when he follows Logan back into the room.

“You look good for someone who put a guy in the hospital today,” Theo says to Bren.

“If you’re going down that road,” I say, trying to keep my voice level. “You’d better Mirandize her. Otherwise, Bren’s not answering a single one of your questions.”

Theo shoots me a look that contains a disconcerting level of loathing. “I’m here as a friend.”

Despite that, he sits down on the far end of the sectional and takes out his phone and notepad.

Bren’s eyes flick to the notepad then back up to meet Theo’s. “This doesn’t feel all that friendly, Master Theo.”