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The night when Kaye and I met, a spark ignited an amazing potential between us. When she later cooled off on me, I figured she was too focused on getting a leg up on her studies prior to her first semester in vet school. We all thought she spent her days at the library, getting ready.
Little did I know what was really happening. If I had, no fucking way in hell would it have gone on this long.
While Kaye gets changed, I make a few calls and test the waters of what might be possible.
“CJ, I have a problem. A Guardian problem.”
“Go on.” As lead of the Guardian teams, I want to loop him in first. If he bites, I’ll go to Brady, then Brady and I will go to the team.
“Carmen and Rosalie’s roommate, Kaye, is being intimidated, and coerced, by her former professor at UCSF. He’s using emotional and physical intimidation tactics to get her to submit to edge play.”
“You’ve got my attention.” CJ’s light Texas twang hardens.
“She came home yesterday with ligature marks on her ankles and wrists. Bruising around her neck.”
“Could be bondage play?”
No way in hell does CJ think this is bondage play, but he’s obligated to consider all angles.
“She’s a husk of her normal self. Not to mention, his intimidation tactics escalated to include the other girls. He’s using threats against them to get Kaye to submit. I need to get all of them to safety, then we need to deal with him.”
I need to kill him.
“What are you thinking?” The drumming of CJ’s fingers is unmistakable. It’s what he does when thinking.
“Who’s Scott?” Mitzy’s suddenly on the line. Her high-pitched squeak is a jarring contrast from CJ’s slow drawl.
I rattle off Scott’s full name and position at UCSF. She’ll look up his basic information, then do a deeper dive into his background.
“Get me up to speed.” Shock number two. Sam, head of Guardian HRS, who oversees all the teams: Guardians, Techies, Medical, and the new Protector division is on the line as well. He’s direct and to the point, the epitome of efficiency.
I give him the details. “I want to move the girls back onto HQ grounds.”
“That’s going to be tricky.” A new voice comes on the line; the soft, yet powerful voice of Skye Summers, co-founder of Guardian HRS and lead of our medical team. “Carmen and Rosalie made a point of moving back to the townhome and went against our advice to stay within the safety of HQ. You’re going to have difficulty convincing them to return.”
“I’m hoping Kaye will convince them moving back is the safest option.” I pull on my chin, a bit taken aback by who all is on this call. I only meant to talk to CJ, then go from there.
“And you think they’ll agree?” CJ asks the obvious question.
“They’ll do it for Kaye, if not for themselves.” I continue pacing in the hall, fingers cramping from how hard I grip the phone.
“Good point,” CJ says.
“I want to take a look at Kaye’s injuries,” Skye pipes up. “Any thoughts on whether she wants to prosecute? If so…”
“I barely got her to agree to let me help. You can ask, but she’s frightened. Too scared to act openly about what he’s done.”
“Aren’t they all?” Sam speaks and there’s silence on the line. Every threat we face is real and this is exactly the kind of assignment where we do our best work.
“Ask her when you get a moment alone with her,” Skye says. “If not, I’ll take her aside and be as gentle as I can.”
“Will do.” Honestly, Doc Summers would be far better than me approaching that aspect of things. My gut twists with what Scott did to Kaye.
“Sam, what are your thoughts?” Forest Summers’s deep voice rumbles through the phone.
My mouth gapes. Did CJ dial in the entire chain of command? All the way up to the founder of our organization? Forest Summers himself?
Our organization moves fast, but this is light speed.
