“Since he seems to be making the rounds at clubs, I thought I could reach out to my contacts around the country and see if they can help.”
He had my attention. I hadn’t even thought of asking him to help on the case. I should’ve known that he had ears and eyes everywhere that could help track Matías as he hopped around the country. “What kind of contacts?”
“I have memberships in or at least have visited every major BDSM club in the fifty states.” He rubbed his hands on his jeans with a tiny smirk. “I didn’t like to sit in my hotel room at night and watch television, so I filled my downtime with some of the best submissives in the country.”
“Busy man.”
“Happier than a pig in shit.” He laughed, relaxing back into the chair. “I figure I can call my contacts within the clubs and put out an APB to find out where Matías is right now. It may help save us a lot of time and legwork.”
Resting my fingertips against my lips, I thought about what he proposed. Matías seemed to be using BDSM clubs as a means to nab women who were already well-versed in the lifestyle. “Do you trust these people?”
“I trust them implicitly, and if there’s a bounty involved, they’ll be more inclined to find the man.”
I rubbed the scruff on my face, staring at Ret and pondering his idea. Money motivated everyone. Even my kids, when I thought it was time for them to get lost so Mommy and Daddy could have a little private time. Ret’s idea of offering money out of the ALFA coffers to get people in the BDSM community talking and sharing was a brilliant idea. “How much money are we talking?”
“Five thousand should be plenty to get people salivating and tracking his ass down.”
“You got it. Just make sure it’s on the DL. We don’t want Matías to get spooked and head underground.”
“The real question is…do you trust me, James?” Ret leveled me with his stare, the same one that probably had submissives’ legs quivering all over the world.
“I do. Make magic happen.”
Before Ret could walk out, Thomas strolled in. “I heard there’s a party in here.”
It fucking seemed like it over the last thirty minutes as people popped in with news and walked out. It had been a nonstop parade, and it always seemed to end up at my desk instead of Thomas’s.
“Here’s the man of the hour,” I said with a little more snarkiness than usual.
“I’m going back to my office. I’ll get right on it, James.” Ret passed Thomas on the way out.
“Why do you think everyone comes to me instead of you?” I asked Thomas before his ass hit the chair.
He shrugged it off and laughed. “You’re friendlier than I am.”
I groaned. “You know I’m a bigger asshole than you.”
“I do.” He pitched his thumb toward the doorway. “But they don’t.”
I sighed. “Ret came up with a great idea to sniff Matías out of the shadows.”
“The bounty is perfect.”
I jerked my head back. “You know?”
“Uh, yeah, fucker.”
I twisted my lips because Thomas had gotten one over on me. “You keep sending everyone in here, don’t you?”
He laughed so hard he had tears in his eyes. “I always tell them to check with you first.”
“You’re a complete dick.”
He pounded on his chest and smiled. “But you love me.”
I grumbled under my breath, but I did love the man. He was the closest thing I had to a brother. From the day we started training until today, we’d been thick as thieves. I’d say I was closer to him than any of his blood brothers. Spending time away from everyone and keeping secrets left a hole that never would be completely filled. He and I shared experiences that no one else would ever understand, and because of that, we had a different relationship than many normal friends.
The one thing I was most thankful about was that my relationship with Izzy never changed the friendship Thomas and I had. It could’ve turned into something we would’ve never recovered from, but he knew the kind of man I was and thought his sister and I were a perfect match. He turned a blind eye when it came to our sex life, thank God, and all he cared about was that I made her happy.
