“Right.” They were quiet a little too long.
“Sara, this is about the guy who hurt Bear and has hurt other subs in the community. He won’t stop.”
“If it’s for Bear, I’ll send your number to her.”
“Thank you.”
“We never had this call.”
I smiled, because I could hear that they were smiling, too. “Yup. See you at work!”
I went back to the living room and settled on the couch with Bear by my feet again. Since he’d started the movie already, I decided the lists weren’t that important right then.
“What are we watching?”
“IsBeauty and the Beastokay?” he asked, and I tugged at his hair gently.
“Of course it is. Your choice.” I whispered, “Besides, Belle was always my favorite Disney princess.”
Giggling, he found the movie on Disney+ and pressed play.
Belle wasn’t even in the castle before my cell rang.
“Do you want me to pause it?” Bear asked, glancing up.
“No, just keep watching. I’ll be right back.” I got up and petted his hair on my way back to my room. “This is Luukas.”
“Hey, a mutual friend said you needed me?”
“Ah, hi.” I now felt awkward, because I’d never talked with Iris before. Sara had only mentioned their childhood friend turned vigilante hacker a few times.
“What can I do for you?”
“There’s a guy who is taking advantage of younger people who are new to the BDSM scene. It’s the kind of stuff that wouldn’t stick if someone went to the cops, but he’s clearly abusive and I don’t know what to do,” I blurted out. “Blacklisting him in the community is one thing, but it doesn’t seem enough.”
Iris hummed. “Our mutual friend vouched for you, and I remember them mentioning you in the past.” She sighed. “Look, I don’t know what you want me to—”
“Can you make someone’s life miserable enough that he leaves the area and/or will have hard time flaunting his money to reel in impressionable young subs?”
Iris chuckled, the sound a bit dark but also annoyed. “You have no idea who you’re talking to, do you?”
“No, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
“Fair enough. Give me a name.”
“Carl Epstein, lives in Denny-Blaine here in Seattle.”
“Cool. We never talked.” The line disconnected.
I sent her a message that just said “Thanks” but it went unread. I had a feeling she wouldn’t read it anyway, so I erased the call log and the text. I wasn’t sure if that would do anything or if I could be found if someone got a whiff of what I’d asked her to do, but I wanted to be sure.
Then again, if she was anywhere as good as Sara said, she wouldn’t leave any trace while she traipsed along Carl’s life and made it a living hell. At least I hoped so.
It took a week or so for Bear and me to really get into a proper groove in our new arrangement. He was so attentive to needs I didn’t even know I had, that I felt positively pampered on a daily basis.
On the other hand, I had a bit of a plan, but I wasn’t sure if I should put it into action.
So of course I called Allen and Mal to see if we could have lunch together. They agreed, probably knowing that I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t need their input for something important.
