“I’m sorry.” I speak softly now, because I mean what I’m saying. “I can come back now if you want me to.” The words I love you are on my lips, but it’s not the right time or place to say that.
“I think it might be the right thing to do, but seriously, you need to talk to Finn about this sudden U-turn. His bloke isn’t going to change, if he’s got away with being violent once, it’s a green light for him to carry on, knowing he’ll be forgiven. I’m sorry, babe.” He makes sense. I won’t have done what I set out to do and that’s to make sure my best friend isn’t at risk from some bullying nutjob.
“Yeah, okay. You’re right. It’s nearly the weekend anyway. Hopefully, he will have got bored with me.” The disappointment in my voice is apparent when Royal huffs out a breath.
“I hate this. I miss you so much, and I feel stuck down here. It’s the busiest time of the school year. But if you thinksomething’s going down, just get out of there. Finn will have to sort his own problems out. Can you send me the texts, please. I think having them on my phone as a backup is a good idea. We can get you a restraining order.”
“Yeah, I will, I promise.” I end the call before I tell him I love him.
“Trouble in paradise?” A voice comes from behind me and twirling around, I find Matt leaning against the door frame.
I spin back around. I didn’t know he was here. When did he get here? How much did he hear? Isn’t that a bit of a weird thing to say? He doesn’t know me or Royal.
“How did you get in?” I scowl. I can’t believe Finn has given him his key back, and while I can see he’s a good-looking man, I know he’s not a nice man, and Finn should remember that too. The sneer on his face as he looks me up and down proves he’s got an enormous grudge against me. I’m the one keeping Finn from having him return with open arms.
His sneer turns smarmy as a cocky grin lifts up one side of his mouth. “My boyfriend let me back in. I think it’s time for you to run back to your boyfriend, or is he your brother, maybe your stepbrother? It’s all a bit distasteful, whatever you call it.” He turns around and saunters away.
Noah didn’t have any other information on Simon. I didn’t expect him to. Memphis is becoming good friends with him, but I doubt they’ve got to telling each other their full life stories. As much as he wanted to help, there isn’t anything he can do. I want to pay this arsehole a visit ASAP. It's no surprise that Saint is ready to get on the road and beat seven shades of shit out of the ex. “I think we can hold off on maiming him for a while. I’ve got Drake looking into him, and I want to see what he comes back with. He may simply frighten the man off. I’m not going all guns blazing when I don’t even know if he’s going to contact Memphis again.”
When Memphis calls me, I’m still annoyed that Noah knew something I didn’t. Unfortunately, he notices my not so enthusiastic greeting. But hearing him say that Mansbridge is now constantly pestering him with messages and voicemails switches my irritation to anger at the asshat threatening my boy. “Send me all the messages and voicemails, Memphis.” I’ll pass them on to Drake, he’ll want to know as much as he can.
When he tells me Finn is getting back together with the psycho, I’m livid. His whole time there, away from us when we were just getting it all together has been a total waste of fucking time. Then when he says he’s going to come home, I have to put him off.
I wait for the texts to come so I can send them to Drake, then with all of that out of the way, I start my marking. It’s going to be a late night, but it’s something I’m used to, and it will be the summer break soon.
It’s Thursday night, and I’m bored, so I’m going to hit the gym. I’ve got energy bubbling up inside from another frantic week at work and no fucking sex. Working out is a safer option than the club. Not that I’d cheat on Memphis, but the sights and sounds will be enough for my aching blue balls to bust. As I pick up my gym bag, my phone rings, and Drake’s name is on the screen. Excitement that he’ll have some news has me answering eagerly. “Hey, bro, how’s it going? Please tell me you found something on Simon. I’m need to pay this tosser a visit.”
“He’s a bastard for sure. There are police reports against him for domestic violence going back years. I don’t know how he ever got accepted into any clubs. He must have someone covering for him. He wasn’t faithful to Memphis and would pick up young boys in gay clubs and molest and assault them. He’s a dangerous man, and we need to get him away from Memphis, and with any luck, be able to press charges for his acts. I’m coming with you,” Drake says, and the anger in his words isn’t lost on me.
“Thank you. I think I need to get up there and sort this arsehole out. The messages and voicemails have slowed down. I’ve sent you all the ones I have. What I’m worried about after Memphis is where we can find Simon. Can you monitor his whereabouts?”
“I know he’s at his house, and with the messages he’s been sending Memphis, I can send him a text from Memphis agreeing to go to the house. That way we’ll know he’s going to be in.”
“Do I want to know how you can do that without having Memphis’ phone?”
He lets out a chuckle. “I’ll keep that to myself. I also think we should organise a crash with his finances. I can have all his cards and his bank accounts frozen. It can run simultaneously to us visiting him. If we need to do that, of course.”
“Bloody hell, Drake, you scare me. As much as I want to know how you can do all this, I think I’ll let you keep it to yourself.” I’m not kidding either; he’s so quiet and unassuming, the only sub out of the four. And now I know he’s the most dangerous. “Thank you for doing this. It’s going to be hard to be near Memphis without going to him.”
“We can go on Saturday.” He sounds excited at the thought of scaring the crap out of a narcissistic, bullying wanker. Calling him a wanker is too kind; this guy is nothing but a cunt.
“I know Saint will be pissed if we don’t include him, which means Knox will want to come too. I’ll check in with them, but regardless, I’m with you tomorrow.”
Drake hesitates for a moment. “Are you going to tell Memphis?”
This is the million-dollar question. He’s gonna be pissed off with me either way. Mainly because he doesn’t want to have me deal with his problem. If he goes with us, then he could be in the way. “I’m going with asking for forgiveness rather than permission.”
“On your head be it. He’ll have your bollocks on a plate whichever way you choose.” Drake laughs; he knows that the subs are the ones with the power. That’s if they’re in a decent consensual Dom/sub relationship.
“Let me talk to the brothers, and I’ll get back to you. Hold off on financially ruining him. He’s so unhinged that it could tip him over the edge.”
I try Saint first, mainly because he and Noah usually spend Saturday nights at Bound, so the earlier the better. As it happens, he can’t do tomorrow; he’s got a scene planned withJackson that they’ve all been looking forward to. Hell, I’d like to watch that too. Knox is up for it and is more than happy to go and look menacing.
The journey shouldn’t be as light-hearted as it is. Knox seems to think he’s going to have us stomping in like we’re inReservoir Dogs. When really, we have no clue where to start talking to him. I’m driving while Drake fills Knox in on all he has found out about Mansbridge. The more I hear about him, the more I worry about Memphis. I wish I could tell my boy what’s going down but keeping him out of this is the safest option. I’m not planning anything violent; I love my job too much. This is simply a little chat to get him to back off. Any posturing needed to persuade him to believe us will be from Knox and Drake, neither of them have anyone to answer to. We’re not thugs who settle our battles with our fists, especially as two of my brothers all came from families where beatings were the norm for them.
After an easy but long drive, we drive up to the very nice neighbourhood, affluent with plenty of expensive cars on driveways. The Porsche belonging to Mansbridge is bright yellow and garish with its gold-coloured alloy wheels. We all let out a snigger at the sight of it. “Someone’s making up for having a tiny dick,” Knox snorts.
“At least we know he’s here; he’s expecting Memphis.” Drake nods his head to the front door that has now swung open. Mansbridge is probably a little under six feet and has a well-toned body. His dark blond hair is casually styled, but with enough product to know it’s taken plenty of time to get it to look this way. His arms are folded defensively across his chest as he holds his head up to look down his nose as he assesses us. He’s attractive in a generic way.
