The Master's Choice (12 page)

“What?” Claire protested. “I’ve had a boyfriend for months. I wouldn’t date Mark for a million dollars.”

“Look at us,” Debbie demanded. “Do we look like we had a good time with your fiancé? He attacked Serena more than a year ago and nearly raped her tonight, ripping off her clothes before we could get to her.”

Penny didn’t move, shaking her head at Debbie’s words. “That’s impossible. Daddy and Uncle Ken said he was a good man,” she whispered. “He was the only one they’d approve of.”

“Then your daddy likes a rapist,” Debbie told her, lowering the ice pack she’d been holding to her cheek. “Does this look made up?”

Penny stared at the two indignant, bruised women for a long moment then turned to Keith.

Debbie sighed and shook her head. “That family makes mine look normal.”

“Which family?” Quincy asked.

“The MacLaurens,” Claire answered, studying Debbie’s bruise. “It doesn’t look like you’ll have a black eye.”

“I hit the wall with the side of my head, not the front,” Debbie replied, shifting the icepack. She sat back down and put her hand on her ribs. “My right side is a bit sore. I think I’ll pass on kickboxing classes for a while.”

“Good, then we can go to yoga,” Claire smiled.

“I am not a pretzel,” Debbie rolled her eyes.

Quincy listened to the women, wondering at their conversation. They were talking about being thrown against walls and bruises as if this were an ordinary day. As she was his priority, he studied Debbie and saw the effort to stay calm in her expression. She was so close to breaking, but she focused on staying composed and telling the police what had happened. The women linked hands. Quincy sensed a strong friendship between them, a loyalty and caring he’d never seen between women.

Well, yeah, he reminded himself, because the only women you know are submissives at the Club or are part of Hancock’s family. Kind of tough to judge based on that experience.

“…you have anyone who can keep an eye on her? If she sides with me, she could be in danger.”

“Only myself.” Hancock sighed.

Quincy whipped his head around. What the fuck? The boss was going to protect someone? He saw Hancock’s hard expression and glanced at Adams who stood outside Traydon’s door. Adams was as surprised as he was…the boss ran things, he didn’t guard. Something was definitely going on. When two more men arrived, Hancock gave his agents the signal that they could maintain their positions. Claire rose and hurried to one of the men. His charge shifted in her seat, muttering under her breath. Quincy caught, “they’ll hurt her again,” before she tried to stand up. The medic caught her arm.

“I want you to take it easy,” he frowned. “I’d feel better if you stayed overnight.”

“Out of the question,” she said firmly, eyes on Claire in the embrace of one of the men. “I can’t leave Claire alone.”

“Quincy will take you home,” Ben told Debbie, then looked at Keith. “You need to get home as well. You’ve been a busy boy today.”

“And tomorrow looks like it will be just as much fun,” he sighed. “I hate Mondays. I really do.” He looked at Adams. “If she wakes up, call me.”

“You got it,” Adams replied with a nod.

Quincy watched Debbie as the group headed down the hall. When she started off after them, he caught her arm. “She’ll be all right.”

“You don’t know anything about this,” she hissed. “Let me go!”

“Not happening.” He shook his head. “I’m responsible for your safety.”

“Fine, then let’s go so I can stop Claire from making a huge mistake.”

“I don’t know what the problem is, but where she goes is her decision,” he said quietly.

“Let me go!”

She stomped on his foot. He didn’t feel it through the steel toe of his boot and smiled as she winced. Sneakers couldn’t compete with combat boots in most situations. He liked her feistiness and wondered if her fire would be as hot in bed, preferably bound and waiting for him. He shook his head. Where the hell had that come from? She was his charge, not a submissive at the Club.

“Why don’t we head to your place and…”

“Claire and I are roommates. If you’ll stop being a pain in the ass, then I can stop―”

Quincy groaned. “Oh, for Pete’s sake!” He looked at Adams. “Want to trade?”

“Nice try,” Adams shook his head. “Have fun.”

“Thanks,” he muttered. He studied her mutinous face. His palm twitched with the need to spank her. To combat that urge, he pressed it against his thigh. What was his problem? “All right, let’s go.”

“I’m Debbie. Debbie Sheldon,” she said pointedly. “And your name?”

“Quincy.”

“Is that your first or last name?”

“Quincy,” he replied, starting down the hall. As he hadn’t released her bicep, she trotted alongside him. “How many bedrooms in your place?”

“Two,” she answered, eyes narrowed. “Mine and Claire’s.”

“Well, since she’ll be elsewhere, then I’ll take hers.” He raised his voice. “Hold the elevator.”

Ben Hancock stretched his arm out as the doors started to shut. Quincy pulled Debbie in and held her firmly at his side. He nodded at his boss, aware of how Penny Davidson alternately glared at Hancock or studied Debbie. Silence reigned in the car until it came to a stop on the ground floor. The group split up.

As soon as they headed to his truck, Debbie started up again. When she tried to pull away, his fingers gripped tighter and drew her closer.

“I don’t need a bodyguard or…”

“You don’t seem to understand the situation. So let me explain things simply.” He paused, looking around the parking lot. He didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. “You’re the only one who saw Hammond’s face tonight. That makes you his next target. If he makes bail.”

“What?” She frowned, looking up at him. “Why…” He saw comprehension appear in her eyes. “No,” she shook her head. “He’s in enough shit as it is,” she whispered. “He wouldn’t want to add to it by coming after me. I mean, I could understand Duncan or one of the others coming after me, but not Hammond.”

Quincy recognized the names, but didn’t understand what she meant.

“Why would one of the men MacLauren fired today come after you?”

“Because I’m the one who told Keith what was going on in Programming…the sexual harassment, the intellectual theft. I’m the reason they got fired. They might not know, but they’re not idiots. They’ll figure it out. I mean, I wasn’t harassed the way some of the other women were, but they stole my ideas and took credit for my work…”

Quincy listened to her ramble and realized there was a helluva lot more going on with her than he’d thought. She had not only stirred up the hornet’s nest at MC but she was also the only one who could pin the attack on Hammond. Which meant a lot of pissed-off men could be gunning for her. From what he gathered from the conversation between MacLauren and his cousin, Hammond had the support of many in the MacLauren family. That meant they’d probably be bailing him out and publicly supporting him.

“Look, we might need to leave the city,” he murmured, increasing his pace. He nodded as Hancock drove past him.

“I’m not going anywhere,” she stated firmly. “Keith put me in charge of a project that’s due in six weeks. He promised that MC would meet and fulfill all our contracts. This one is the biggest we’ve got due. I’m not letting him down. This whole thing is my fault as it is.”

“How do you figure that?”

“Weren’t you paying attention? He fired those men and…”

He raised the remote and unlocked the truck. Putting her in the front seat, he closed the door and hurried around to the driver’s side. Climbing in, he started the engine.

“That doesn’t make any of this your fault. He’s the CEO. The responsibility is his.” He punched the address into the GPS before giving her a solemn look. “From his reaction, he looks like he’s accepting it. He’s doing what he needs to do. You worry about what you need to do.”

“And number one is making sure Claire doesn’t go off with those two perverts,” she muttered.

Quincy clamped his jaw shut. He’d recognized the two men as members of an exclusive sex club where he’d gone undercover three years earlier. It had been the perfect assignment for him. He was a sexual dominant, although some of the scenes he’d been involved in were more extreme than he’d ever done or would do again. The owner had been sufficiently grateful for his discretion and recognized his natural dominant tendencies and had sponsored him as a member. Already, he wondered what it would be like for Debbie to surrender. He could just imagine her on her knees, wrists bound at the small of her back, her mouth open to receive his cock.

He took a deep breath. He was to protect her, not seduce her and make her his submissive. She was feisty, stubborn, and…loyal, protective, and intelligent. And what the hell was he thinking? He was a loner. Lone wolf. A single hawk in the sky. There was no way in hell he was getting involved with a woman in any way, shape, or form.

He glanced over at her and saw her shivering despite her thick parka. Well, yeah, idiot, he told himself. Underneath she had on light track pants and a T-shirt. He reached up and turned on the heat.

“Thank you,” she whispered, stretching her hands out.

“You always dress like that?”

“We had just come back from kickboxing class. We were about to knock on Serena’s door and see if she wanted to order Chinese with us when…” She sighed as her voice drifted off. “Please? Can we hurry so I can stop Claire from going off with those…”

“Perverts?” he murmured, calling on all his control. He hated it when people criticized what they didn’t understand. Figures that a woman he was itching to dominate seemed disgusted by one part of the scene. “Only one claimed to be her boyfriend.”

“That asshole Paul seduced her so she would be with him and David. They planned this all along.”

“And you have a problem with that?”

“He tricked her… What? What do you mean, do I have a problem with that?” she demanded. “How could I not have a problem with that? Two men…”

“Some women like being with two men,” he replied. “Some men like being with two women.”

At a red light, he glanced over and caught her shocked expression. But also noted the way her tongue darted out between two rosy lips. Well, now, that was interesting. Let’s see just how much of her reaction was outrage and how much was her own submerged need, he decided. He’d discovered that many people were just scratching the surface of their sexual needs.

His conscience pushed down the brief thought that he was taking advantage of the situation. But, damn! Instinct told him that Debbie had little experience with sex and was ripe for the picking. Just how fast could he move on her though?

Reel her in soft and easy, he thought, choosing his next words carefully, as if reflecting to himself.

“Some people like giving up all control to someone they trust. Or being spanked or tied to the bed or someone using toys on them.” He paused. “Sometimes all of that. At once.”

She shifted on the seat and exhaled shakily. Her tongue wet her bottom lip before she caught it with her upper teeth. Bingo! He dropped his gaze and saw her thighs rub against each other. Debbie was turned on despite her disgust for Claire’s situation. He reviewed what he’d seen of the lawyers at the Club. Not everything added up, but he remembered enough to know that Paul had similar tastes. Oh, this was so damn perfect he could hardly believe it.

“Now, I’m assuming you don’t have a boyfriend since you didn’t mention one when Claire did?” That should force her off balance a bit.

“No, I don’t,” she frowned. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“You’ve got one now.” He tapped the brakes as an idiot decided to jaywalk. “Asshole,” he muttered. “I’ll be a freelance computer security specialist and, when you called me about tonight, I decided that I wasn’t risking you being attacked and…”

“You went all caveman on me and insisted on moving in?” she said sarcastically.

“That’s perfect,” he grinned, nodding and glancing at her. “It gives us something in common besides a wicked sense of humor. Now, how would we have met?” He stopped at the next red light. “Where do you usually hang out when not at work?”

“Clubs or the gym, so that won’t work because it’s a regular crowd,” she frowned. “And they’ll ask why they haven’t seen you around. I mean, even asshole Paul went to the clubs with us a couple times.” Her mouth made a moue. “He even got us into one of the more exclusive ones and insisted that we go there even if he wasn’t with us. He said he knew their security and we’d be safe there.”

Quincy frowned. How many exclusive clubs could Paul have taken them to? One in particular came to mind. He smiled slightly. She’d already been exposed to the scene and didn’t even realize it. That meant she probably hadn’t been there after a certain time, which was probably Paul’s influence.

“We’ll say I’ve been out of town the past couple months doing fieldwork, which is the truth.” In a manner of speaking, he thought. “We talked and emailed a lot and, when I’ve been able to be in town, we didn’t go out.” He smiled.

“That might work.” She nodded slowly, frowning in thought. “I’ll have to tell you when I wasn’t out so we can coordinate that. But we still have the problem of when we met.”

“Have you been anywhere else the past few months that would be plausible?” he frowned. Shit, this might be harder than he thought. “Maybe just with Claire or the victim tonight?”

“Serena,” she told him, voice quiet. “Her name’s Serena.”

“All right,” he nodded. “Serena and Claire. Or your hometown? Maybe I could be an old boyfriend from…”

“No!” She shook her head, surprising him with her volume.

“Okay, what’s in your hometown that you don’t want anything to do with?”

She slumped in the corner. “Everything.”

“This is getting complicated,” he muttered.

For a couple blocks, there was silence. She sat upright and turned toward him. Quincy nearly drove off the street when he felt her hand on his arm.

“Madison Square Garden.”

“For what?” he frowned. “I’m not into basketball and the season’s barely started.”

“You are now into mixed martial arts,” she grinned. “The fights were…”