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“I do,” Jack told him.
“I thought this was supposed to be ‘realistic’,” Ewan said, making obnoxious finger quotes. “I don’t have your bribe money.”
Jack smiled, a little. “Did you think I wasn’t going to help you get revenge in this fantasy?”
This made Ewan sit up straight. “Why would you do that?”
Because Nate told me to take care of you, Jack thought. Because I want Channon to be happy. “Because revenge is fun,” he said out loud, “and I like planning it. Even if I’m fairly sure you’re not going to let me actually do it.”
Ewan stared at him. Then he smiled. It was a wicked smile, full of teeth. Jack found it remarkably unsettling. “Oh, aye. Then I want him banned from every fucking kink club in Santa Rita.”
“Why stop there?” Jack asked. He tipped his palm up, spreading his fingers. “Get the word out on the scene and he’ll be blacklisted anywhere you like. All you’d have to do is tell Diana. She’d gleefully destroy his reputation for you.”
“Mistress Diana wouldn’t do that for me,” Ewan protested.
Jack raised an eyebrow. “I think you underestimate her affection for Nate. And, by extension, for you. But if you’d prefer not to ask her, you could tell your story to Mr White. He would be quite receptive.” As much as Mr White disdained a brat, he cared a great deal about the correct treatment of submissives, and a story like this would appall him deeply.
But Ewan made a face. “Pass.”
“Or just ask Nate,” Jack said calmly. “Nate would do it for you in a heartbeat. I’m surprised he hasn’t already, for that matter.”
Ewan looked uncomfortable. “Nate gets riled when I talk about Gary,” he said quietly. “He pretends he’s calm but…he gets his serial killer look on.”
“Serial killer look?”
“Aye. You know,” Ewan said, pulling an angry face, “like he’s gonna straight up murder a bloke. And then I’m like, ‘fuck, I don’t want Nate going to jail’ so I just…don’t talk to him about Gary.”
Jack wasn’t sure he’d actually seen Nate’s ‘serial killer’ look. He’d seen Nate angry, and he’d seen Nate gleefully sadistic, but he’d never seen Nate on the verge of an actual homicide. Either Ewan was exaggerating, or perhaps this was a Nate that Jack had never actually met.
The idea made something twinge in his chest, like a string being pulled so tight it snapped. Of course Ewan had access to parts of Nate that Jack didn’t. It made sense. It was only fair. But Jack didn’t have to like it.
He took a deep breath. “Then you’ll have to ask me. Don’t worry, I won’t make you beg.”
Ewan gave him a narrow look. “You’re not gonna do anything to Gary for real, right? This is just…weird revenge roleplay.”
Jack smiled. “That’s right. Let’s make a plan for revenge.”
Ewan blew out a breath. “Okay. Okay, then…then could you, like, I don’t know. He’s a tech lead.” Ewan looked Jack in the eye. “What if I didn’t want him working in tech ever again?”
“Easy,” Jack told him. It was ridiculously easy to ruin someone professionally. All you had to do was find some old tweets or emails and put pressure on the right people to be outraged about it. Jack had never done it, but he knew it was possible. People offered it as a service, of all things. “We’ll just…destroy his reputation. Make sure every search for his name comes up with the worst things he’s ever done. Nate can tear his code apart on stack overflow, for extra points. Done.”
Ewan snorted. “Just like that.” He cocked his head at Jack. “Ey, while you’re blowing shit up, can we get someone to put shrimp in his curtain rails?”
“Sure. Anything else?”
“Dunno. Still thinking.” Ewan held his mug up to his chest, cradling it in both hands. “How hard is it to impound a car?” he asked, his eyes bright.
Jack smiled. It wasn’t even forced. So, this is the playful side that comes with the brat. Plotting revenge. It was, after all, a hobby he very much enjoyed.
Perhaps he shouldn’t. Perhaps this was abnormal. But the glee on Ewan’s face was gratifying after all the gloom, and Jack couldn’t find a shred of remorse in himself, though he didn’t look very hard.
Chapter Six
After dinner, Channon said good night to Nate and went to his suite. It felt echoingly empty with just him in it. He wondered how Ewan was doing and sent him a text, but he didn’t get a reply right away.
Jack had told him to call once he was in bed. It was still early, really, but Channon felt that an early bedtime wasn’t unreasonable.
He showered, dried off, and slipped into the bed, still a little damp. When he called, Jack answered on the second ring.
