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Sometimes he thought it was because she’d known how muchresponsibility came from sitting in their father’s chair.
“I’ll ask around,” Sandy offered. “Her mother’s been anexcellent employee over the years, but I think Alyssa causes too much drama. Ifyou want her gone, we’ll find a way. Now, you’ve got a call on two, and I’vebeen told to make Olivia’s flight plans to Bliss. When is someone going to tellher those boys can’t love her the way she needs?”
Josh groaned. “My sister is stubborn. You try telling herthe boys she’s dreamed about since she was six aren’t going to give in. I keepthinking one of them is going to find a partner and get married and dash thatdream of hers, but then I think about how few good prospects there are here.”
“She’ll go to Dallas and drown her sorrows there,” Sandysaid with a shrug. Sandy liked to keep up with the younger generation’s antics.
That was kind of what he was terrified of. “I’ll make sureshe goes to Austin. Those are the only Taggarts that don’t scare the crap outof me. Who’s on the phone?” He needed to get ready to go to the very club theywere talking about. There were scenes to prepare and romantic gestures to plot.He had a couple of weeks to convince their sub to stay with them. Grim wouldsimply tie her up and fuck her, but he kind of thought they needed a soft touchwith her, too. He’d already called his contact at Subversion about ensuringtheir suite was perfectly stocked. “Is Liv in? Can she deal with it?”
“It’s Harlow Dawson, and she asked for you. I can send herto your sister…”
Josh stopped her. “No. I’ll take it. Thank you, Sandy.”
She gave him a nod and closed the door as she left. Joshpicked up his phone. “Hey, Harlow. What’s going on?”
“Josh, I’ve got some news, but you aren’t going to like it.”
His stomach threatened to turn. He glanced over at theclock. It was only an hour or so until he was supposed to meet Grim and pick upNic at the café. “Tell me.”
What was he going to do if this was bad? How would Grimhandle it if there were real problems to face?
“The driver’s license is a fake and a pretty good one,”Harlow said in that matter-of-fact manner that let him know she was indetective mode. It was the same tone she used when she told a spouse theirpartner was cheating on them.
“All right.” He could handle this. He’d known there wassomething in her past. “So she’s running from something. Likely a badrelationship.”
“Maybe,” Harlow allowed. “Or she’s running from the law. Idon’t know yet. What I know is the only Nicole Mason in the Chicago area is aninety-year-old grandmother of ten. Also, I didn’t find a ChildswoodHigh School or any towns named that in the state of Illinois.”
Not so surprising. “All right. So we’re working from thetheory that Chicago is all bullshit and she’s from somewhere else. If someone’strying to hurt her, she would hide her past. And don’t say or if she’s runningfrom law enforcement.”
“As long as you know the she-could-be-a-mass-murderer partis implied,” Harlow quipped. “Now what I have found is there are twenty Childswoods across the States. It’s going to take me awhile to search them. I don’t suppose you want to send me a good picture of herso I can run it through facial recognition. One of the things whoever createdher license did well is use a laminator that fucks with the picture. It’sfairly new technology, so I was impressed. She had to have laid out some cashfor this sucker.”
Which explained why she needed to work to fix her car. Hisheart kind of clenched when he thought of how little she had, how vulnerableshe was. Would she even think about letting him help her? Or would she run fromhim? “I’ll see what I can do, but now that I think about it, she’s camera shy.Olivia tried to take a selfie with her the other night but she said shecouldn’t stand pictures of herself.”
“Or she understands that pictures of herself could lead toIDing her.”
It was obvious Harlow had suspicions. He wasn’t going tolisten to them. “I’d like some other explanation than she’s a criminal on therun.”
“Cool. She’s a vampire and she doesn’t want anyone to knowshe doesn’t age.”
He did not need her sarcasm. “Your parents didn’t spank youenough.”
“My parents didn’t spank me at all, and neither did yours. Iwon’t go into why because we already have to deal with that crap on a dailybasis,” she said with a chuckle before she got serious again. “I could use apicture, Josh. I know that feels like you’re betraying her, but it’s commonsense to know who’s actually in your bed.”
And she should know. “I’ll do what I can. We’ll be atSubversion this weekend.”
“You didn’t want to take her to The Hideout?” Harlow asked,and he could hear the grin in her tone. “Gabriel will be devastated.”
“No, I like my clubs luxurious.” Gabriel Lodge had teamed upwith some of the Taggart kids to form their own club, but he was also doing thewhole got-to-make-it-on-my-own thing and refusing to use his hefty trust fund.So The Hideout was…rustic. That was a good word for it. “Also, they’re betterbehaved at Subversion. I don’t want to have to kill Lucas Taggart because heflirts with my sub, and watching Chloe and Seth is painful at times.”
“I know. I wish they would fuck already,” Harlow admitted.“I’m waiting for the moment when Uncle Julian finds out his daughter issleeping with Big Tag’s son.”
“Big Tag’s fuck-boy musician son.” Josh chuckled but thenremembered he had some problems of his own. “I think my father’s worried aboutwhat kind of trouble Nic could be in. I wouldn’t put it past him to call yourdads for help. I know I said not to involve them…”
“But if I let them know I’m looking into it, they’ll trustme,” she concluded. “I’ve got my own spies. I’ll check it out. If I think Ineed to intervene, I will, but Josh, you have to know what I find will come outeventually. I can hold my dads off for a couple ofdays, but if Uncle Jack asks them for information, they’ll give it to him.”
Sometimes it was hard having the Godfather of Ranchers and Doms as a dad. “I only need a week or two.”
He would find a way to get her to open up to him. He andGrim would wrap her in love and affection and as many orgasms as her gorgeousbody could handle this weekend. They would prove how devoted they were to her,and she would open up to them. She’d already started. When she was sleepy orsatisfied, sometimes she said things he knew she wouldn’t when she was focused.
