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“This guy is all types of bad news,” Chloe said, confirming what Porter had already discovered. “I just got off the phone with Sawyer and he gave me details on Adrik’s criminal record, which has everything from assault to gun offenses to drug offenses, and the list goes on and on. The w
orst part, he has never served a single day in jail.”
“That’s odd.”
“Right? I’m thinking that he must have deep ties in some crime family that allows him to get off with all but a smack on the hand.”
“Bad news for us,” Porter said, keeping his head down so that Kenzie wouldn’t hear that. The last thing he needed was for her to worry more than she already was. Last night when she’d slept in his bed he had checked on her a couple times and noticed her tossing and turning in her sleep. She was restless, and that bothered him much more than he thought it should. “There has to be something that we can use against him.” Everyone had secrets, but criminals had secrets that could ruin them. Porter just needed to find Adrik’s. “Keep looking at anything that we could possibly use as leverage, so that he will leave this corner of the block untouched.”
Porter believed Adrik was simply a power-hungry fucker. Perhaps when Kenzie said no to him she had created a game. It was easy enough to leave the one small building on the corner and build the casino next to it. Christ, all Porter wanted to do was keep her safe and away from that trash.
“I’ll give Sawyer a call and see what else he can do,” he said to Chloe, lifting his head as a customer entered the store. Porter’s gaze went directly to Kenzie and he noticed her tense up before she exhaled a slow breath. Frustration rippled through him; he didn’t like her being this scared. As each customer came into the store, she’d tense up until she recognized the customer. He rubbed his eyes, sensing a headache looming. “Keep digging on your end.”
“On it” was all Chloe said before she hung up.
Porter ended the call and immediately dialed Sawyer’s personal cell phone. He answered on the third ring, and Porter said, “It’s Porter. I need you to do me a favor, if it’s not stepping over too many boundaries.”
“Name it,” Sawyer responded.
Porter ran a hand over the back of his neck, feeling both the strain of all this and also the eagerness of the job. He loved hunting for clues, but he wished it didn’t involve Kenzie. “Chloe called and told me about Adrik’s criminal record. Can you look into those case files and see if there were any witnesses? I’m thinking that’s our best lead. We need to develop a case that is solid enough that if we took it to the police it would stick. He needs to feel as if we’ve backed him into a corner.”
“I agree that a witness may be able to help here,” Sawyer said, his voice tight. “Even after all the documents I’ve looked through, this guy has some important friends. It seems that any of the witnesses clam up before trial. But I can certainly dig a little deeper and see if there is anything else or something I missed.”
“People will always talk if they think the situation is safe enough, too.” Porter had seen it time and time again. Sometimes police were held by thick red tape, but Porter wasn’t, and more often than not, that freedom helped him get what he needed so he could close a case.
“I’ll do what I can,” Sawyer replied. “We can’t use anything in these reports to arrest him, since this isn’t an official case. If it ever gets to that point, I’ll have to send it to the special investigations department and they’ll have to open an active case.”
Porter understood well enough. Sawyer was part of the SWAT team. He had no reason to be investigating this case. They couldn’t do this the traditional legal way, mainly because Adrik had seemed to often fall through the cracks. Apparently, he had paid off too many people, and Porter suspected he had judges and possibly others on his payroll.
His focus wasn’t on those dirty judges, or maybe even dirty police, or on the witnesses who had refused to own up to their statements to put a criminal behind bars. He only concentrated on the pretty woman sitting at the register, looking so beautiful with the sun beaming across her face. “Understood. Just do what you can.”
“Of course.” Then the phone line went dead.
Porter placed his phone back on the end table and Kenzie lowered her book to her lap, obviously sensing his perusal. She studied him before she left her seat, and a few minutes later returned with a coffee in her hand. “You look like you need this.”
He accepted the mug with a smile. Reading him well, was she? “Thanks, I do.” No matter the frustration rolling through him, he rather enjoyed that she thought of his comfort. She hadn’t asked what he’d said on the phone or if they’d found out new developments, she only focused on him.
We’re getting somewhere…
Without another word, she returned to her stool behind the register and picked up her book. It might be a small step forward, but it was certainly a step in the right direction. That, as it seemed, was a bright light in this dark day.
He took a sip of his coffee, and the sweet taste of sugar made him smile. “Kitten?”
She lowered her book from her face. “Yeah?”
“It’s perfect.”
She gave him her spirited grin. “Of course it is, I made it.”
Chapter Twelve
Kenzie cursed Tuesday, craving her bed and wishing it were the weekend for more reasons than one. Sleeping in sounded really good. Porter’s wicked touches were an even better idea. She sighed, loathing the fact that the weekend was so far away, and she eyed Porter next to her as they sat in his parked car on the Vegas strip.
Unable to stop herself, she shivered, held captivated by his presence, making her feel like a foreigner in her own skin. Being near him always caused all types of odd reactions that just weren’t normal for her. Perhaps it was that she hadn’t spent as much time with a Dom outside of the dungeon as she had with Porter. She wondered how other submissives lived with Doms day in and day out. She was on constant fire around Porter and badly wanted him—with an odd desperation—to extinguish the flames.
She fought against the desire to jump his bones right then and there, and instead, she stared out of the windshield into the dark night, finding herself bored of watching another man. After Porter received a lead from Chloe on Adrik’s whereabouts, and once Kenzie’s evening employee arrived, they had left to gather evidence on Adrik.
Now the dipshit stood in a circle of men on the corner of one of Las Vegas’s top casinos, and he’d been there for a good half-hour. Shortly after Porter parked his car, they sat while he clicked his camera, taking pictures of the thugs across the street. Whenever a new person joined Adrik, his camera clicked again.
