“I need to call my friend Lorie and check in. It’s been a couple of weeks and I’m afraid if I don’t check in with her that she’s going to think something is wrong.” She held up her hands defensively. “I swear, I’m not trying to pull anything. I just want to make sure her father doesn’t get involved.” I looked down at her in silence for a long time. Allowing her to communicate with the outside world didn’t sound like the best idea, but then again, neither did allowing her best friend who was the daughter of the police chief to get suspicious that something was amiss. Avion must have read my hesitation as being unsure because she threw on a cheeky grin and tacked on, “Please?”
I couldn’t stop a smile from rising to my face. “You’re a fast learner.”
She just shrugged and a jolt of arousal washed over me. She was in the cocky stage right now—my favorite place. It was the place that some subs got to where they tricked themselves into thinking because they knew what pleased me, that they were actually the dominant one.
Eventually, they all learned that not giving me total control earned them a variety of punishments, but Avion and I weren’t in the bedroom yet, and my peace with her was tenuous. Plus, if there was any real risk that Avion’s friend could end up involving the police, then it probably was a good idea to allow her to check in.
“I’ll be right back,” I said, and when she flashed me that smile of victory, it made it worth it.
Learn more about the pleasure I can bring you.
She wandered over to the table to start on her breakfast while I left her bedroom and made my way upstairs to my office. Milli was standing outside my door with his tablet in hand, and when he saw me, he furrowed his brow.
“Where have you been?” he asked. “It’s rare you’re not in your office on a Saturday morning.”
I sounded like a loser by his account. “I was checking in with Avion.”
I unlocked the door to my office and walked in with Milli right behind me. Rather than heading for my desk, I walked over to the bar I had against one wall and pressed the button under the countertop that made the entire panel of the wall slide aside, revealing the safe I kept behind it.
“What are you doing?” Milli asked.
I used the LED scanner to read my fingerprint and then the safe unlocked and allowed me to reach into it. “I’m grabbing her phone.”
“You’re not actually going to give it to her, are you?” Milli asked.
I pulled the phone out before closing the safe door and pressing the button to slide the panel back in place to hide it. “Not permanently. I’m going to allow her to check in with her best friend.” Pressing the button to turn the phone on, I noticed it was dead, so I walked over to my desk and set it on my wireless charger, slinking down into my chair while I waited for it to charge enough for her to get one phone call in. “Her best friend, Lorie, is the daughter of Chief Erickson.” Milli dropped his head and pinched his brow, so I quickly tacked on. “I didn’t know that when I took her.”
“It’s going from bad to worse, Giovanni,” Milli huffed. “I don’t think you should let them communicate.”
I looked up at him, irritated with his tone of voice. “When I first took Avion, she told her friend that she was on vacation and would be in touch soon. If I don’t let her check in, Lorie could start to get suspicious that something is wrong and get her father involved.”
“People who are really close have ways of communicating without saying the words,” he said. “If you let them speak, Avion could tip her off that she’s here.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think she’s going to do that.”
Milli lifted an eyebrow. “On what basis have you forged that theory?”
“Besides,” I said, completely ignoring that question, “I don’t have any good alternatives. Do you?” Milli stared back at me silently and I nodded. “Exactly.” On the desk next to me, Avion’s phone had charged enough that it was powering itself up, and I knew it would only need a few minutes more to have enough battery to get her one call in. “Look, this isn’t what I want to do, but we’re concerned enough that the Narzand brothers are going to strike, I don’t need to be worried about us getting raided as well. You can agree that it would be an unnecessary, added level of stress, can’t you?”
Milli shrugged. “Yes, but to be fair, I thought bringing Avion here at all would be an unnecessary, added level of stress.”
I waved my hand through the air. “Yeah, yeah, get all your ‘I told you so’s out now. This might have been a mistake, but we’re here now. She’s here. She’s being more controllable right now, and I believe if I can get just alittlebit closer, then she’ll open up about her brothers. I still firmly believe this is the coup we need.”
To my surprise, Milli nodded in agreement. “I think you’re right.”
I raised my eyebrows. “You do?”
“I do. I’ve seen how easily she’s shifted from being cold to being welcoming. It seems that whatever you’re giving her is the attention she’s been after for a while. She can be a strong ally, but we don’t have a ton of time to continue flitting around waiting for her. You need to move a step forward.”
I sat back in my chair a little, taking in what Milli said. “Yes. I think you’re right about that, but I won’t force her.”
“Then figure something else out,” Milli said. “Keep me posted. I’ll do whatever I can to help.”
“Thanks,” I said.
Milli left my office without another word on the matter, and Avion’s phone had charged up to about ten percent of the battery, so I lifted it off the charger and walked back out of my office. I shut and locked it behind me and then traveled back down to Avion’s room where she was sitting at her table and was about halfway through breakfast.
There was some baking show playing on the television and when someone did something totally identifiable to me, she gasped and whispered, “They didn’t set!”
