Chapter 19

19

Connor

Watching Kevin do his leg lifts, Connor nodded. The man was moving much better than in the past; Connor could tell he'd been doing his exercises in between appointments. He had a good handle on things.

Which was why Connor's mind kept wandering.

Back to the late evening with Mistress Julie. Just thinking about it made his ass clench all over again.

He looked forward to their date tonight. She was going to come over for dinner after work. He was cooking. Well, he was smoking a brisket and making a salad. He'd buy bread from the store on the way home and pop it in the oven to crisp up a little. Hoping she liked it all. Wondering what might happen after.

It was her first time coming to his place, after all.

Then, this Sunday, he'd go meet her parents. Not just her parents—her family. She'd warned him she had a big one, though so far, she'd talked about them in bulk. The aunts. The uncles. The cousins.

He'd always wondered what it would be like to be surrounded by a big family. The only time he'd got even a taste of that was during the occasional family reunions, where all the far-flung second and third cousins showed up. From the sound of it, Julie had more first cousins than he had second and third cousins combined.

"What's up?" Sanda popped up at his elbow, phone in her hands, her gaze focused on the screen. Connor looked down at her with bemusement.

"You aren't still looking for my… date, are you?" he asked. He wasn't sure if he could call Julie his girlfriend yet. Even if he could, he wasn't sure if he wanted to in front of Sandra. That would likely just push her to greater heights of internet stalking. So far, she hadn't found Julie, and he was happy to keep it that way a little longer. Maybe after he'd met her family, he'd feel secure enough to let Sandra do some online sleuthing.

"Are you still dating?"

"Yes."

"Then yes. Though, that's not what I'm doing right now. I've been given a second assignment." She scowled down at her phone. "My mom wants me to find out some stuff about my cousin."

"You should do that instead. That sounds much more important." Funny that he was thinking about cousins, and here Sandra was, investigating hers.

"Oh, don't worry. I can do both." She looked up at him and winked. "I'm gonna find her. Just because you haven't connected with her on social media doesn't mean I won't. It just means it'll take me longer."

"Uh-huh." Thankfully, Sandra had no clue what he did on the weekends. He'd never talked about Stronghold or the second floor of Marquis at work. It hadn't seemed appropriate. He just said he'd gotten together with friends and let people assume it was at someone's house or a bar.

The lack of personal information he had online and that he'd given out at work was definitely working in his favor.

He probably could have told Sandra more about Julie now, but honestly, he was kind of curious about what she'd manage to come up with if he didn't. He'd give her until Monday after he met Julie's family, then he'd tell her and Aubrey all about Julie. Minus a few pertinent details.

She sighed.

"My cousin is almost as bad as you about online details. What is it with you people and not putting your life online?" She shook her head and started walking away again before he could ask any questions about her ‘assignment.' "Good thing I love a challenge."

Chuckling under his breath, Connor went over as Kevin finished his rep set.

"Good job, man. I can really see the improvement."

"Mostly thanks to you being a total task driver." Kevin grinned, rubbing his leg a little as he stretched it out post-exercise. "I can really feel it. I'm moving a lot better."

"You are. Let's go over to the table." He gestured for Kevin to lead the way. The man was walking almost completely normally, even after the exercises, which was great. That's what made it easy to tell he'd been keeping up with working his leg at home, which was why his recovery was going so smoothly.

Now, it was time for the massage to loosen things up a little, then Kevin would be on his way home. Pretty soon, he wouldn't need to come in at all. It kind of sucked that success in his field meant not seeing the person again, especially if they became friendly, but Connor knew that was also the sign of a job well done. At least with the kind of injury Kevin had. Granted, there were chronic conditions that meant he got to see the same person over and over again, but he wouldn't wish anything painful on someone just so he could keep seeing them regularly.

"You're a lifesaver," Kevin said, sighing as Connor dug his fingers into the man's leg, loosening up some of the muscles that had tightened during the exercises.

Connor grinned. He really did love his job most days.

Julie

It was days like this that Julie hated her job. At least she had her date tonight with Connor to make up for it.

Cassidy was a submissive who had been in an abusive relationship with a dominant. She'd been lucky—they'd come to Stronghold, and Don had gotten kicked out after ignoring her safeword. The problem was her ex wasn't done with her, and there was nothing she or Julie or anyone could do about it. Not legally, at least.

He'd started stalking Cassidy, at first with notes left on her car or in her mailbox, and now with calls coming from duped phone numbers. Not that he said anything. He just breathed heavily into the phone and made growling noises, which might have been comical under other circumstances, but knowing who it was made Cassidy fall to pieces every time.

Even with the restraining order, there wasn't shit they could do about it since they couldn't prove it was him. The police were no help. Basically, until he did something violent, they were useless—and from many of the instances Julie had seen, even after there was violence, the police were often far from helpful.

There was only so much she could do to help Cassidy's state of mind when her biggest problem was currently external, not internal.

"I just want to stop being afraid all the time." Cassidy huddled on the couch, arms wrapped around herself, hugging herself. Her long dark hair fell forward, covering most of her face, as though she was trying to hide behind it.

"I know. And you deserve that." Julie kept her voice soothing, even though she felt like screaming in rage at her own helplessness. It wasn't fair that Cassidy was having to spend her life in fear while that asshole Don strutted around with impunity.

The fact he'd gotten more fixated on Cassidy rather than moving on didn't bode well. Neither did the slow escalations from notes to phone calls and the decreased time between contact. That he was going to keep escalating, that he was eventually going to hurt Cassidy again, Julie had no doubt.

But there was nothing she could do.

"Patrick thinks I should relocate." Cassidy lifted her head, meeting Julie's gaze. Her face was incredibly pale. "His cousin works for a security firm in Pittsburgh."

"The one that Kincaid is working with now?" Julie asked automatically. She knew the Dom had recently moved from the police force to a private security firm that wanted to open a DC office.

Cassidy nodded.

"They have a good reputation. Do you want to move?"

"No… yes… I don't know." Cassidy dropped her head down again and shuddered. She took in a deep breath and let it out.

Julie waited patiently, proud of the progress Cassidy had made. She was working her way through her breathing exercises, through her emotions, rather than allowing them to control her.

"Part of me wants to run away. Part of me is mad that I feel that way. But I also… what's worse, running away or dying? It feels like he wins either way, but at least one way I'm still alive."

Dammit. And Julie couldn't even reassure her that staying wouldn't mean her death. There was every chance it would. She couldn't diagnose Don since he wasn't her patient, but his obsessive fixation wasn't going to just suddenly go away.

"So, you'd be staying with Patrick's cousin?" It was a bold move. Send her hours away to live with someone who had the skills to protect her if asshole figured out where she was and followed her.

Not that there weren't people here who would be willing and ready to protect her, but none of them belonged to a security firm. Well, except Kincaid, but he was helping set up the new office, so he could hardly be on call 24/7. Plus, he was distracted by whatever was going on with him and Zach. Throwing a submissive in danger into the mix was hardly going to be good for any of them, including Cassidy. She needed to be around stability, even if asshole Don wasn't a factor.

Cassidy nodded.

"Drew and his wife, Naomi. They're the ones who rescued Morgan." Hope crept into her voice, giving it a little lift. The fact that they'd already rescued another abusive submissive seemed to make her feel better.

Julie hadn't been around then, but she'd heard some of what had brought Morgan to Stronghold.

"It sounds like you want to say yes."

"I…" Cassidy blew out her breath, lifting her head and staring out the window of Julie's office. "I think I do, but I hate the idea of leaving. I hate the idea of being chased away. I hate feeling this weak. And…" Her voice trailed off.

"And?" Julie prodded gently after a moment of silence.

Cassidy gulped and closed her eyes. Wet tears dotted her lashes.

"I don't want people here to think I'm ungrateful."

"Oh, honey." It might not be professional, but Julie didn't care. Sometimes, when it came to her clients from the club, the lines blurred a little. Especially with someone like Cassidy. Julie reached out and put her hand on Cassidy's, prompting the other woman to open her eyes again. "No one is going to think you're ungrateful. They're just going to be happy you're taking care of yourself. That you're safe."

Hitch in her breath, Cassidy nodded.

"No one will think you're weak, either. They'll think you're smart, going to a place where you're more likely to be safe. That's not an option for everyone."

Nodding, Cassidy reached up to wipe away some of her tears before they could slide down her cheeks.

"I know. I'm lucky in that way. Patrick said Drew and Naomi would help me get a job, too. Something where it won't be easy to track me down. They even… well." She coughed. "Let's just say they said they could even get me a new name if I wanted."

"It sounds perfect."

"Sort of." Cassidy's face crumbled. "But my friends are here. I've made friends here. I like living here." And friends were all Cassidy had. Her parents had been killed in a car accident when she was in her early twenties. She had no siblings. While she had two aunts, an uncle, and several cousins, they were spread out across the country, and she'd never had much contact with any of them, even when her parents were alive. She hadn't had a close family, which was why she valued her friends so much.

All of which were things they'd talked about in previous sessions, so Julie knew how hard it would be for Cassidy to leave.

"You won't be far enough away to prohibit visits. And there are definitely ways to keep in touch, even without social media. You can talk with your friends every day if you want."

"That's true. It won't be the same, but…" Cassidy perked up a little. "And I know there's a club in Pittsburgh."

"The Outlands." Julie smiled at her. "It's a very nice club, especially since the renovation. Kind of a cross between Marquis and Stronghold."

"I heard Master Mitch's dad owns it."

"He does." Master Gavin. Incredibly hot and with a very slight Scottish accent that made the submissives swoon. Julie had met him. Even felt a little swoony herself, though she had no desire to do the submissive thing, and he was utterly devoted to his formerly ex-wife, now wife again. "He runs a tight ship, just like Master Patrick."

And sometimes assholes slipped through, but they all did their best. That was all they could do.

Cassidy nodded but didn't say anything. Giving her hand a little squeeze before letting go, Julie sat back.

"You don't have to decide anything right now," she reminded her. "There is still time to think about it." Probably. She hoped. But it was a big move—literally—and she didn't want Cassidy to do something she regretted later because she felt time pressured to make a choice.

There was always the chance that Don could get hit by a bus tomorrow, though they probably wouldn't be that lucky.

"Right." Cassidy nodded and took another deep breath. "If I… if I did move, could I keep seeing you?"

"Of course!" Julie was touched as she suddenly realized that part of Cassidy's hesitation was not wanting to leave Julie. Of course, it wasn't quite the same as not wanting to leave friends behind, but it still warmed her to know she was part of Cassidy's decision-making process. "We can do video appointments. I also won't feel hurt if you decide you want to meet with someone in person. I can make you a list of recommendations if you decide that's the case."

"Okay, thank you. I'd want to stick with you for now. If I moved."

Julie could hear the change in Cassidy's voice just from having talked it through with her. She didn't sound as uncertain. And the addition of "if I moved" was more of an afterthought than a caution. If Julie was a betting woman, she'd be putting all of her money on Cassidy taking the leap. She just hoped it was far enough of a leap to get the woman away from that asshole Don.

The fact she was probably going to be doing video appointments with Cassidy from now on—because she'd been forced to change her life thanks to a shitty man—made her want to scream. She hid it behind a smile for Cassidy, though. Now that Cassidy was actually looking hopeful about the future, she didn't want to ruin that for her.

She was in a seriously bad mood, though. Maybe she should cancel her date with Connor.