“Call me Will.” He wasn’t dumb. He’d taken enough psych classes to know when a person was distancing. He couldn’t allow it.
She slipped by him and started going through her purse. In seconds she had the key out. “Fine. I don’t like being manipulated, Will.”
A pit opened up in his gut. He forced himself to walk back to his own door. “Answer me this. Would you have asked me? Would you have ever let me kiss you?”
“No.”
“Then at least I got my shot.” He was used to having to fight for the things he wanted. He’d been doing it since he was born.
She opened the door, but her eyes stayed on him. “I need to think about it. Can I have a couple of days?”
She wasn’t outright rejecting him? “Sure. My schedule’s open. I won’t change that. I really can help you, Bridget.”
“I’m not so sure about that. I’ll get back to you.” She disappeared behind her door.
He wasn’t out yet. He still had a shot, but it was going to be a long couple of days.
His phone rang again. His cell this time. Damn it. He wasn’t on call. He should get a little bit of peace. He shut and locked the door and crossed the floor to grab his cell. He didn’t recognize the number, but answered anyway. Sometimes Laurel forgot to charge her phone. His sisters were the real reason he always answered his damn phone. He’d spent his whole life watching out for them and now he couldn’t quite stop.
“Hello?”
“Will?”
He went still because he recognized that voice. He didn’t want to believe it was true. “This is Doctor Daley. Who is this?”
A sniffle came over the line. “Will, it’s Starr.”
He hung up immediately.
He was going to have to change his number. He quickly dialed Mitch’s phone and was happy when he picked up on the first ring. Will didn’t wait for his voice to come over the line. “Why the fuck is she out of jail?”
“Well, hello to you, Doctor Daley. You’re in a good mood.”
“I got a call from Leslie Starling.” Starr’s real name. She’d told him she preferred Starr because they twinkled so brightly and she wanted to be something pretty.
He’d met her at the first club he’d gone to. He hadn’t been able to resist his needs a second longer. That club had been a hellhole compared to Sanctum, but he’d felt at home the minute he took a class and picked up a flogger. He’d finally found a place he belonged and then she’d shown up. Lovely and deeply submissive, she’d brought him a certain peace. She’d needed him.
She’d been lying all the while.
He could still feel the needle in his neck, the pain flaring before something so much sweeter took its place. Heroin. They’d given him heroin.
He still thought about it.
“Shit. The prison allowed her to call you? Are you fucking kidding me?” Mitch’s voice grounded him. “All right. First, I’m going to call and have the warden’s ass and then I’m going to make sure every guard at that prison knows her status. I can get a restraining order even while she’s waiting trial.”
He forced himself to calm. He wasn’t truly afraid of a five foot nothing girl. He was afraid of what she’d done to him. She’d taken his control. She’d shown him how good it could be to float away. Like his mother had. He’d always known he was a time bomb waiting to go off. “She wasn’t calling from prison. Trust me. I know there’s a protocol to be followed when one calls from prison.”
His mother had called every time she got arrested. She would call and beg him to make her bail. He’d started getting those calls when he was ten years old and every time a voice came over the phone requesting that he take a call from so and so prison or jail. He still got those damn calls at least once a month. Starr’s voice hadn’t been preceded by anything. Starr was out. She was walking the streets.
“All right. First, I’ll find out what’s happening on my way to your place,” Mitch said.
“You don’t have to come here.”
“Yes, I do because this is going to get to you. You’re going to think about it and you need someone around to talk to. We’ll sit and watch the game and order a pizza. Unless you have other plans.”
Something eased in his gut. He really would rather have company. “No pizza. Lisa made dinner and no, I don’t have plans, you bastard. I almost had Bridget but guess who called right before I got to the good stuff?”
“Shit. You need to get rid of that answering machine. Join the twenty-first century.”
“I’m not completely out yet. She’s thinking about it, but you owe me.”
“Anything for my favorite client.” Mitch had been the one to smooth the way with the police after the “incident.” Even though the cop involved knew Will was innocent, there was still paperwork to be done and questions to be answered. Mitch had shown up, offered his services, and they’d become friends. Mitch was the one who convinced him to give Sanctum a chance.
“Get your ass over here so I can punch you in the face.”
“On my way.” The phone hung up and Will was alone again.
But not entirely. He’d learned to take stock of what was good. He breathed in the smell of the lasagna. His sister had made it for him. She’d turned into an amazing young woman. He looked over at Bridget’s wine glass and the salad he’d made. She hadn’t said no. And Mitch was on his way.
He was in control. He wasn’t going to end up some crazed addict, because he had things to live for and getting inside Bridget was definitely one of them.
He pulled the lasagna out and quickly made her a plate. He placed it on a tray along with a couple of cookies he’d bought at the bakery down the street. He wrote a quick note about wanting to make sure she ate a decent meal. He took it out the door and set it in front of hers. After pressing the doorbell, he stepped back into his condo and shut the door.
He couldn’t help watching her through his peephole and he didn’t miss the way she smiled.
He really had to stop the creepy-stalker stuff, but he was smiling, too.
Chapter Three
“Are you serious? He blackmailed every Dom in the club so that he could have you all to himself?” Serena asked before she downed a mini quiche. “That’s so romantic.”