“I’m home!” Jamie called as soon as the door opened. I heard him taking off his shoes and putting away his briefcase. “Guess what?”
“What?” I tilted my head just so, so that he could kiss my cheek like he did these days when he came home.
“A former colleague of mine who works with tax stuff now asked me if I knew someone called Carl Epstein, because apparently there’d been an IRS raid at his house a while back, and it was full of kink gear.”
I very carefully put down my knife and turned to face Jamie fully. “Okay?”
“Long, complicated story short and simplified, apparently there’s some discrepancies in his taxes and he’s lost basically everything he owns and is likely facing jailtime.” He shrugged easily, as if I couldn’t see the mirth dancing in his expression. “Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy, am I right?”
I stared. I knew, logically, that Carl wasn’t a good person, but I guessed I would’ve expected that I’d known something shady was going on with him? Then again, why would I have known? We never talked finances. Hell, we rarely talked about anything. I knew he was some sort of… something or other with money and he had plenty of it, but that was it.
“Huh.”
Jamie peered at me carefully. “Are you upset?”
I thought about it for a few seconds, then shook my head and smiled. “No. He probably deserves anything that’s coming for him. Do you think Allen knows yet?”
Jamie made a face. “I mean doesn’t he know all the things before anyone else?” We chuckled. “He might not. Do you want to call him?”
I made a face in return. If I called Allen, he might ask about Luke, and we were only a week into his trip, nearly two of our… not separation or a break, but whatever this was.
Sighing, I reached for my cell. “I’ll call him.”
“Okay. I’ll go shower and while you do that. Then pizza andWreck-It Ralphafter?”
“Absolutely.” I walked out the back door with my phone. Sitting down on one of the comfy padded chairs that were on the covered porch, I pulled my knees to my chest and pressed call.
“Good evening, cub. How are you?” Allen asked, his voice the usual friendly murmur that made me feel safe.
“I’m… dealing with things.”
“Ah, Luukas did contact me before he left for Europe.”
I wasn’t surprised, and I told Allen so. He chuckled. “He insisted that I wasn’t to contact you first. That you didn’t need to be harassed into talking about whatever happened between you two, and that I needed to let you come to me first.”
My eyes filled with tears. Luke knew me so well. He knew that I would’ve hated to be confronted about our situation by someone like Allen who, while he only meant well, could be pretty damn forceful without meaning to. I also realized that I wasn’t adding an honorific for Allen in my head anymore. I guess that meant I saw him as a friend first, a Master second, at least in this instance.
“That’s actually not why I’m calling you,” I said after making sure I wouldn’t sound like I was about to cry.
“Oh?”
“Have you heard about Carl lately?”
Allen hummed. “Not really, no. I heard he was having some trouble using his credit card at the club some weeks ago, but that’s about it.”
“Well, I might have news on that.” I told him what Jamie had told me, and by the end of my explanation, Allen was humming thoughtfully again.
“You know, this is why you pay your taxes, cub. Let it be known that’s my stance.” Then he chuckled. “I’m glad that he’s going behind bars if this is all true. He should. And even if he doesn’t, I can’t see him staying in the Seattle area.” Then, with his voice full of glee, he added, “I’ll make sure the community knows.”
I giggled. “Good to know.”
He got serious again. “Luukas seemed sad but not defeated when he called me.”
I sighed. “This isn’t a breakup or even a break. He needed to go do his thing and he pissed me off in the process—” I raised a hand as if Allen had been in front of me to see it. “—and I know I’ve been easily pissed off lately, but boy did he choose the wrong words and….” I trailed off, he didn’t need to hear all this.
“Yeah, he told me as much. He takes full responsibility of what he said, but you already knew that.”
“I know. I just… well, he probably told you what I said in the note I left him?”
