One
Blade
* * *
“You’re the only man I know who could accidentally meet a woman in the hallway of a police station and end up taking care of her.” Mace chuckles.
I shoot him a glare as I pace my office. “It was a bit more complicated than that.”
Mace’s eyes dance. “Was it, though?”
I sigh. “June was alone, bruised and battered with a broken arm, waiting to identify the man who attacked her the night before. I couldn’t just leave her there.” Why am I justifying myself to my employee? Granted, he’s also my friend, but still.
“Why were you there in the first place?”
“I drove Camden and Simone to the station. Simone was attacked by the same man the week before. She and June were both there to identify the perpetrator.”
Mace waves a dismissive hand through the air. “So at the end of the day, you took her home and then you just left her there alone?”
I set my hands on my hips and roll my eyes. He knows me better than that. He’s antagonizing me. “Of course I didn’t just leave her there alone.” I scoff.
Mace continues to laugh as he leans his chair on the back two legs. He’s all casual without a care in the world while I’m panicking. He’s enjoying himself far too much. “That explains the bags under your eyes. You sat outside her apartment all night, making sure she was safe, didn’t you?”
“Not on her doorstep or anything crazy.” I huff. “I watched her building from my car.”
There’s more laughter as Mace half covers his mouth. “Good thing you own a Camaro, considering your SUV was blown to smithereens yesterday. How’s that sitting with you, by the way?”
I shrug. “Haven’t given it much thought. I popped an email off to Cannon in the night so he could call the dealership and get me hooked up with a new one. I don’t like being without an armored car. The Camaro is fun to drive, but it doesn’t provide protection for my…” I clamp my lips together. I can’t believe the words that were about to fall out of my mouth.
Mace lifts both brows, drops the front legs of the chair on the floor, and sits taller. “Your…girl?”
I swipe a hand down my face. No sense in denying it. I may have met June yesterday, but she burrowed under my skin in seconds. I didn’t like the look of her apartment when I dropped her off last night, either. It’s a tiny studio, and she has meager belongings.
Mace rises. “I’m not judging you, man. I read the writing on the wall when I saw you with her yesterday. You’ve been on your own for far too long. It’s time you claimed a Little and lived life to the fullest. You’ve been working your ass off for years. You own this business. Black Blade Protection is thriving. Take a breath and do something for yourself. Everyone will support you. You have to know that.”
I groan. “I think we’re jumping the gun. I have no way of knowing if June is even Little. Plus, she also gets a say in things. I can’t just barge into her life and take over.” Though Lord knows I want to.
I’m not sure she liked the fact that I didn’t just drop her off outside her building and drive away. That was never an option. She’d been exhausted. She’d been awake for nearly thirty-six hours, and in that time, she’d been attacked outside her building, spent the night in the hospital, moved to the police station to identify her assaulter, and then was flattened to the ground by me protecting her when my damn SUV blew up in the parking lot.
Thank God my friend Camden and his girlfriend, Simone, were with us when the SUV exploded. Camden and Simone were kind enough to take June home with them for the afternoon while I dealt with shit at the police station.
Yes, I’d only known June for an hour at the time, and it was probably presumptuous of me to assume responsibility of her, but that’s who I am. She was hurting, both physically and emotionally, and instinct told me to step up to the plate.
I pray she wasn’t traumatized. Though that’s impossible. She had to be incredibly shaken after all that. Luckily, the explosion had nothing to do with any recent work of mine. It had been planted by associates of June’s assaulter. Idiots hoping to create a distraction so they could break their comrade out of jail.
Backfired on them. They’re all locked up now.
Mace meets my gaze. “Sometimes, barging into a Little girl’s life and taking over is exactly what’s called for.”
“Perhaps. But it usually helps if the Little in question is aware of age play. I seriously doubt June has any idea what age play entails. If I’m not careful, she’ll run from me like she’s on fire.”
“Maybe… Or… You could smother her with your Daddy vibes until she’s gasping for air and can’t remember what her life was like before you were in it.”
I roll my eyes. “You’re getting sappy. Perhaps you should go find your own Little girl and stop worrying about me.” Mace is single, too. He has no room to lecture me.
He shrugs and heads for the door. “I’m not as old as you, Graybeard.”
I don’t even bother to comment on the newest nickname the guys have assigned to me. Ever since I grew out my beard, they’ve been harassing me about it. The hair on top of my head is still mostly black, but my beard is gray. Frankly, I don’t give a fuck.
