Chapter 4

Colin

The kid had barely taken ten steps into the club before he was sticking his tongue out at me as he hid behind his handsome daddy.

Rude littles annoyed me. That pretty much counted for all of them. Yet I was still drawn to that dynamic. It was fucked up, but I'd had some of my best sex with spoiled, whiny littles.

I sent this little my hardest glare, then watched him cower.

It was immensely satisfying.

My phone dinged. I swept my thumb up the screen.

Unknown:You know you're a fucking asshole, right?

I sighed loudly.More texts for my file.

I took a moment to put in for a call to Mr. Winterbourne so I could ask him if he had any updates on this problem. I got a message back immediately from one of his assistants who said he'd scheduled a call for us for Monday at ten a.m.

This was the longest anyone had ever harassed me.

I glanced about the club, looking for anyone suspicious or familiar. I often thought whoever was doing this might be someone who had been banned but returned to the club under a disguise, or who I might've had a run-in with in one of the playrooms. I was determined to figure this out.

As I scanned the crowd, I realized the impossibility of my task. Half the guys at the bar were on their phones. On the dance floor, more men than I could count had their phones out and were texting as their sweating, hard bodies swayed to the industrial beat. Everyone looked suspicious in my line of work. I'd seen it all, broken up more fights than there were days in the year. I'd learned not to trust humans when they drank too much, were high on hormones, and fell into their favorite kink roles.

Just then, the mountain that was Stewart walked up. "I'm only ten minutes late for work. There was lots of traffic. Sorry."

I wouldn't have known if he hadn't said anything. But he was young and na?ve. And not very bright.

"So you'll work ten minutes past end of shift and it's solved."

"But my shift ends when the club closes. Do I just stand around?"

"I don't know. Wipe down a counter or something."

"But that's a cleaning staff job."

"I'm sure they won't mind the help."

He actually had the audacity to pout. I didn't want to look at his face, so I sent him on rounds. That meant he had to check out every corner of the club, including every playroom. If he was thorough, he'd be gone for at least forty-five minutes. If he was lazy, and stopped to chat, he'd be gone double that time. Either way was a win for me.

I did a rove myself over to the bar and stage area. The flogging stage was the busiest, with a long line of volunteers waiting to be strapped to the pole. The rude, flirty little with the Adonis daddy was nowhere to be seen. Flogging didn't seem like his thing. He had the eyes of a greenie, what we staff members called newcomers.

He and his daddy had no doubt gone off to the littles playroom. I'd probably never see him again.

As I had that thought, I spotted him. Greenie nursed what looked like a Coke as he hugged his plushie unicorn to his chest. He and his daddy were less than fifteen feet away.

While still clinging to his daddy's leather vest, the boy brazenly looked me up and down. I kept up my stare.

He actually jumped back as if struck. Then squeaked.

What a little gremlin. I squinted hard at him. His pretty pink mouth fell open with a look of shock.

Such a baby.

His daddy was oblivious, pulling him back through the crowd until I lost sight of them both.

Fuck. If he were mine, he wouldn't be flirting with other men. And he wouldn't be sticking his tongue out, that's for sure, not unless he wanted to use it. I'd keep that one on a leash.

As I predicted, Stewart came back from his rounds an hour and a half later. I didn't ask him why it had taken so long. I didn't really care. As long as he was on his feet scoping things out, he was doing his job. Somewhat.

"Anything to report?" I asked.

"Not much. There's a lot of activity in one of the orgy rooms. Not just participants, but a huge crowd. Over the room's capacity. Security's on the door right now not letting anyone else in until people disperse a bit."

"Okay. There must be a party. Or…" I tried to think if I saw anyone famous come in during the evening. My mind was a blank. "If someone well-known is involved, then that's a concern to be watched."

We had celebrity members. Most kept low profiles on purpose if kink wasn't part of their brand, and they often rented private rooms and private partners to get what they wanted. But it depended on the type of person. If the celeb was a porn star, they might be more narcissistic and love the added attention. That sort of thing did attract the crowds, especially the voyeurs. I understood that, but those situations needed to be monitored closely.

"I think it might be someone famous involved."

I nodded.

"It's really busy out there," Stewart continued. "A lot of the rooms are packed."

"Do another round then."

"Sure. See ya."

My radio chirped. "Go for Colin."

"Heads up." It was Mel from the security office. "Cameras spotted one Franklin Deal out front. He's on the banned list. Cuddles is on duty at the door and he might not notice and let him pass."

"I'm on it."

Cuddles had worked at the club for several years, but was new on door duty. He was still learning the banned list. He had a portfolio of photos on hand, but who had time to check them for every person coming in? Usually, security computers upstairs caught them.

I moved to the foyer and saw Cuddles busy checking newcomers in, scanning phones for their passes. Cuddles was a young, energetic twink, a teddy bear of a guy adorable as could be with an always upbeat mood. He loved to hug anyone who would let him as he greeted them, friends and strangers alike. He hugged hard and long and very sweet. It wasn't a shallow gesture. He meant it and he loved everyone. Thus, his nickname.

I stood behind him.

He looked up at me from the tall chair where he sat. "Something up?"

"Yeah. A BF outside." BF was our short term for anyone who was banned forever.

Cuddles got up and opened the door. We both peered out into the empty street. The lampposts shed a white light that gave the road a shine it didn't really have. The air was cool, smelling slightly of smoke and exhaust.

No one was around at the moment. People came and went from the club in groups, but ordinary foot traffic was rare. We were on a side street for privacy. And customers who wanted smoke breaks were not allowed to loiter at the front. We had a private screened in patio area for them out the side doors of the bar.

Cuddles looked at me. "The last group that came through was a foursome of leather dudes. They were all very polite."

"I'm not sure what security saw, then."

"Who is it?"

I went to Cuddles' podium and brought out the official notebook. We had all that information on digital, too, but the book was right there with eight by ten photos. I thumbed through to Franklin's snapshot. "This guy."

"Oh. Okay. I'll keep an eye out."

"Thanks."

It was all I could do about the situation. Now Cuddles knew who to look for.

I went back to my post at the other end of the foyer where I could see everything going on at the bar, on the stages and on the dance floor. I saw Jimmy stationed at the far security exit and waved to him. He waved back.

For the amount of people here tonight, it was relatively quiet on the drama front.

I checked in with the security office about Franklin.

They replied right away. "Yeah, he met a group leaving the club and went with them into the parking garage, so maybe he won't be back."

"Let's hope so."

My job required a lot of standing and observation and checking in with others. It might have seemed boring to some, but it never was. Time went by fast. I loved the work. The whole atmosphere of the club felt like home to me. And I got to ogle as many charismatic, good-looking guys as I wanted.

Still, I couldn't get that tongue-waggling baby boy out of my mind. He had been hugging that stuffed unicorn like it was magical protection. Protection from what? Such a brat. The way he had looked at me like I was scary or something—that got my loins slightly warm. Cute littles with wide eyes could be quite the draw here. Like puppies. Who didn't like a puppy, especially when it was shy or scared?

My phone dinged.

Unknown:Ass for brains. I see what you do all the time and you don't even know I'm around. How does that make you fucking feel?

Yet one more sent off tothe file. I took a deep breath. It could be a regular. It could be a stranger. Hell, it could be someone on staff for all I knew.

I glanced about the club, but it was no use. I had to keep paranoia at bay. Paranoia was the enemy; it made me weak. It was no use worrying. Just be vigilant, I told myself.

I always was.