Page 13 of Renegade
I go over it again. McKenzie’s already tackled waterfall jumping in Costa Rica, an all-nighter in Vegas, sailing the islands of the Philippines, tweeting from the equator, and diving in Malaysia. A few other things, like swimming with sharks and seeing the Northern Lights, she and Noah will do over the next few weeks. Which leaves riding the Pacific Coast Highway, some places to visit, some odds and ends like getting a tattoo and a dog, and a handful of sexual things.
Leave it to Liam, I think with a grin. His sexual escapades were legendary, and more often than not, I was right there with him—his wingman and partner in crime. But clearly, there were some things left he wanted to explore. I look at the list again. I’m kind of surprised he never joined the mile-high club, but to be fair, our airplane travel usually involved a bunch of dudes and a parachute exit. I’ll leave that one to Noah and McKenzie. When I was around them, the chemistry between those two was off the charts.
As for the rest…I’m up for the challenge. If I have to have sex with beautiful women for the sake of a friend and a fellow SEAL, I’ll take one for the team. Besides, I need to get Gemma out of my head. “Thanks, bro,” I say to the sky. I’m sure Liam’s up there charming the robes off the angels and sending their halos rolling.
I look at the list again.Visit the Dominion.I looked it up yesterday and found out it’s a BDSM club in San Francisco. It was one of the things Liam added right before he died, so it must have been a relatively new interest of his. Other than the basics, I don’t know a lot about BDSM, much less what goes on at a club. But I figure since I’m going to be in California anyway meeting with Dr. Morris’s family, I might as well knock this out while I’m there. Alone. There’s no way I’m taking Gemma there.
I spend the next few hours trying to find out what I can about the Dominion. There’s not a lot of information on the internet about the club itself, which makes sense for privacy reasons, but there’s enough for me to realize I’ve got to get vetted to attend. And that means I’ve got to act like I know what I’m doing and make some contacts in the lifestyle in the area. That leads to another few hours of research, which involves reading a lot and looking at a shitload of porn. Hey, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.
I find myself getting hard at the images of women bound and blindfolded, and the clear mutual pleasure enjoyed by both parties to the exchange of power. Who knew this shit was so fucking hot? I’m almost grateful when Charlotte calls to tell me her car broke down and asks if I can come pick her up. Any more “research” and my cock is going to explode.
“Sorry to bother you,” she says apologetically. “I can call Gemma if you’re busy, but she’s at a meeting, and you know a lot more about cars than she does.”
“Stop it. You’re not bothering me. And of course you should have called me. I’ll be right there. Tell me the cross streets.”
I grab the keys to the rental car and rush out the door, not wanting to leave her standing by the side of the road any longer than necessary. Charleston might be relatively safe, but a stranded woman is always a target. An hour and a half later, I’ve rescued her and determined the problem—a bad battery—and we’ve jump-started her car, gone to the auto parts store to get her a new one, and then driven back to her place, where I put it in for her.
“Have you found the necklace?” I ask her as I wash my hands at her kitchen sink.
She’s at the stove, stirring something delicious smelling. “No. It’s the weirdest thing. I’m sure it’s here somewhere. I promise I will turn the place upside down tonight and find it. You want to stay for dinner?”
“Nah. Gemma and I are headed to San Francisco tomorrow, and I have a lot to do tonight before we go. Thank you, though. It smells amazing. Can I have a rain check?”
“Sure,” she says with a smile. “Thanks for being my knight in shining armor. I owe you one.”
She follows me to the door. “I have no idea how Gemma talked you into taking her with you to California…” She stops, rolling her eyes. “Actually, I know exactly how Gemma talked you into taking her. She could talk a blind man out of a pair of glasses. But please, take care of her, and yourself. I can’t lose you guys.”
There are tears shimmering in her eyes. Gemma told me Charlotte’s taken Liam’s death especially hard. I give her a hug. “I’ll keep everyone safe, I promise.”
Thirty minutes later, I open the door to Gemma’s apartment and find her sitting at the kitchen table in front of my open laptop, her eyes glued to the screen, a pretty flush making her pale cheeks rosy. Oh, fuck! I left in such a rush to get Charlotte that I didn’t take the time to close my multiple screens of “research.”
“Curiosity killed the cat,” I say casually.
Most girls would blush or stammer excuses or pretend they were on Pinterest and hadn’t stumbled upon kinky porn, but Gemma’s not most girls. She returns my gaze boldly and says softly, “Damn. I had no idea.”
I weigh my words carefully. It’s on the tip of my tongue to come clean with her and tell her she’s wrong, that it’s not what she thinks, that I’m not into that stuff and I was only doing research to get into the Dominion, when she adds, “Once again, Walker to the rescue.” She gets up from the table and flings her arms around my neck. “How did I get lucky enough to have you in my life?”
Trying to follow any woman’s train of thought is challenging enough for the average guy, but trying to follow Gemma’s is like attempting to keep up with a squirrel at a nut convention.
“Clean living?” I tease as I return her hug with an arm around her waist. “Although I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I rack my brain, trying to remember what I was doing before I went down the BDSM rabbit hole. Maybe I left another more innocent screen open, and that’s what she saw.
“This is perfect.”
I casually shift us around so I can peek over her shoulder at my open laptop. A blindfolded woman wearing a collar fills the screen.
“O…kay,” I say slowly, turning my gaze back to her. “What’s this about?”
“I need someone to teach me about…that.” She waves her hand at the computer. “About domination and submission and bondage and power play and everything. I’ve been trying to figure out what I was going to do, and how I was going to ever feel comfortable enough to even try it and see if I liked it. I think I need someone I trust to tie me up and blindfold me the first time, ya know?
“And then I started thinking about dinner. I was going to see how late the pizza place around the corner delivers, and your laptop was right there and I thought you wouldn’t mind if I used it, and I saw your, um, pictures.” Her gaze darts back to the screen, and this time, she blushes. “And I realized the answer to all my problems is, as usual, you.”
I’m still a little confused, or maybe my brain just stopped functioning when Gemma started talking about being tied up. “What is your problem, exactly?”
She tilts her head back to look up at me. “Remember Declan, that guy I went out with last night?”
I nod. That asshole again?
“He’s a dominant, and he’s looking for a submissive, and he thinks, maybe, it could be me. But I don’t know. I’m kind of headstrong.”
