“Mistress Pauline is theguyyou know?” he asked, stifling a laugh.
“Yep. She wanted to build her own Devil’s Pointe. Maybe she can settle for The Underground.”
“Why are you throwing her a bone?”
“She wasn’t all bad. Dev would have let her sniff around if she’d been honest. Pauline only assumed he wouldn’t. But I did her security check. She was clean, and all her references said that as a dominant, she knew what she was doing.”
“Doesn’t mean she knows about security.”
“Pete can buy that. It’s the other expertise he needs. If Pauline makes the Miami public circuit safer, all the better.” Alec grinned again.
“What?”
“I’m imagining Mistress Pauline whipping old, sweaty Pete into shape.”
Leland shook his head. “Sure you’re not a sadist? You enjoyed all of this a little too much.”
He smirked. “What about you offering to poll the audience?”
“That worked, but threatening the fire marshal was inspired.”
They looked at each other over the console of the SUV and burst into laughter. Turning the screws was a perk of the job.
Leland made a left out of the lot and merged into traffic, heading toward HQ. They rode in silence for a few miles.
“So, Edward Mercer…”
Leland’s amusement faded. “What about him?”
“You like him for this?”
He braked for a red light before he answered. “No.”
Alec paused. “You sound sure.”
“He enjoys terrorizing the masses from the mezzanine a bit too much.”
“And the real guy?”
Leland’s grip on the wheel tightened. “He feels quieter. Likes to operate under the radar. But we’ll find him.”
“Yeah. Hopefully, before he goes hunting again.”
Chapter 11
Julia had run out of ways to pretend she was perfectly fine. The apartment was clean. She’d done laundry, reorganized a hall closet that hadn’t needed reorganizing, and watched half a nature documentary about the mating habits of birds of paradise before realizing the birds were getting a lot more action than she was.
How depressing.
Sighing, she tapped open the calendar app on her phone.
Tomorrow, she had a wedding reception at noon. Hours of smiling for people celebrating their big day. After that—nothing. Saturday offered no plans, and Sunday stretched out just as empty. Work on Monday morning was the next blip on the horizon.
Not so long ago, a Friday night wouldn’t have felt so empty. She might have met some of the girls for dinner. Maybe drinks afterward. A movie. Something.
Now, Emily had Alec. Cari had Dev. Gaby had Rhys.
There were a few others, all from the club, but they would ask questions she didn’t want to answer.
