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Peter shot her a glare and warning laced his voice as he spoke. “I may not be your dom anymore, but you’ll watch your tone when you speak to me.”
Bradley may be jealous sometimes, but he was glad Peter was a fellow dominant. It made it easier for them to join forces and make sure she did as she was told. And apparently that’s exactly what they would need to do, because instead of being a good girl and agreeing with him, the feisty little submissive poked her tongue out at Peter.
The look of irritation that crossed his face told Bradley that if he weren’t in the picture there might have been a time when he did something about it, so he decided to do it for him. Gripping her chin, he forced her to look up at him.
“You’re lucky that wasn’t directed at me, pet. Do it again and we’ll take this to the bedroom where you’ll find yourself with a red ass.” He took it a step further. “While he is here, you are to listen to Peter’s directions as if they were mine. Is that clear?” As he watched her struggle not to sass him, Peter remained silent, but he offered Bradley a brief nod of agreement. After a moment, Darci nodded. Wanting to make sure she understood how serious he was, Bradley raised an eyebrow. “Pardon me?”
She huffed, and he scowled. “I’m serious, girl. I know you’ve been through a lot, and I sound like an asshole right now, but I will not hesitate to light your ass on fire today. This is life or death. Now I asked you a question and I expect a proper answer.”
For a moment her eyes glistened as if she might cry, and he worried he had pushed too much. Finally, she took a deep breath and relented with a, “Yes, Sir.”
“Good.”
Turning to Peter he said, “You have my permission to take her across your knee if she gives you any lip.”
Peter chuckled and winked at Darci. “I don’t think that will be necessary. Darci and I understand one another.” Turning to her he said, “Do as your told, Kitten, and don’t complain about the security. When this is all over, Carrie will come back home and the two of you can bitch about the mean men in your lives.”
When she giggled, Bradley knew she was in good hands. He was late enough for work, so he kissed her goodbye and headed into the office.
29
“WHERE the hell have you been? You’re over two hours late, Givens. That’s not like you!”
Bradley had just sat down at his desk when the senator burst in.
“I apologize, sir. My girlfriend suffered a loss last night and I needed to be with her this morning.”
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. She’s the one who found the body of Elise Bricker.” Bradley lifted an eyebrow. He hadn’t expected the senator to know about that yet. Elise’s murder hadn’t made headlines the way Marlie’s had.
“Yes, sir. Darci found the body.”
“So you’re dating someone wrapped up in all of this? That can’t be a good thing. I’ll say it again. We need to do something about this. The police have done nothing about the first murder and now we have another one on our hands. We need to be talking directly to the media.”
“No, Senator, pardon me for saying this, but what we need to do is stop talking to them about this and focus on the campaign.”
“That hardly seems wise. It's happening right here in our nation’s capitol, and the police have no suspects. Why should we keep quiet?”
Bradley sighed. The senator still hadn’t connected him to Exposure, but it was only a matter of time before someone in the media got a hold of it. His only saving grace at this point was that Michael Silas was running the investigation, but he knew that would probably change if the detective’s own involvement in the BDSM community came out.
“What do you want to do then, sir? If I can't keep you from talking about this with the press, at least let Sandra and Charlie help shape your message.”
“I want to propose a bill that would prohibit the practice of S/M in public clubs like Midnight Diamond.”
Bradley felt his face heat and he loosened his tie as he spoke.
“Oh, come on Senator, that will infuriate the voters. Now they'll accuse you of getting involved in their sex lives. ‘Stay out of our bedrooms,’ they'll shout. It’s not a mess you want to get involved in.”
“Exactly, the bedroom. If people want to practice that garbage in the comfort of their own homes, that's fine, but that sort of filth shouldn't be allowed in public clubs.”
Bradley preferred his own home for his kinky adventures, but clubs offered a lot of valuable things to the community, and he would never advocate shutting them down. Exposure was an exception for Bradley. He liked it there and was glad the senator hadn’t mentioned it by name.
“The ACSL and a half a dozen other organizations will be on our asses faster than you can blink. They have a lot more influence on voters than you might imagine. You don't want to be on the wrong side of this issue, sir.” He was tiring of the senator's condescension toward people. “If you do this, voters will start questioning your stance on marriage equality and rights for transgender people, and a whole slew of other issues.”
Atleigh’s attitude wasn’t all that open minded, but Bradley had always been able to work with it. Now he was beginning to wonder if he was mistaken in supporting Sean.
“It's not the same thing. Neither of those categories promotes violence,” the senator said.
“The public won't see it that way. Sure, you'll garner some support from the evangelicals, but not enough to combat what the ACSL and women’s rights organizations are going to cost you. There’s no chance the bill even makes it to committee. It would just be grandstanding. If you want to be president, you’ll drop this.”
