Page 31 of Donovan's Men

I usually skirted down to East 1st Avenue, but I would pay attention, with intrigue, to see the route the detective took.

“Okay, I have to ask.” Mercifully, Tyson caught the advanced green and maneuvered the turn onto Boundary Road easily and settled us into the exit lane onto Highway 1. “Mutually agreed upon catharsis?”

“Well, if you don’t agree upon it, that’s rarely good. I mean, one can break someone accidentally. I had an arrangement with a woman—we’d played before, we had agreed limits, and I even did a check-in with her before I started.

“Then it all went sideways. We’d barely started when she broke down. Cole was with me, and he escorted his partner out, and then he and I sat with the woman. Turns out that day was the anniversary of her daughter’s overdose death. She thought she could eradicate the memories with something new—something more pleasurable.”

“Ouch.”

“People have all kinds of reasons for getting involved in BDSM. I never would’ve played with her, had I known. Unless she’d asked me to break her and we’d agreed on parameters. And Cole would’ve never brought in another person. He would’ve sat back and observed. Made certain everyone was safe. Anyway, we worked through some of her grief, and I convinced her she needed a counselor as much as she needed me. Eventually, she got help.” I scratched my nose. “And eventually, she came back, and we played once more. Things just weren’t the same, though, and she never called me again.”

“Was that sad?” Tyson maneuvered the on-ramp, but the guy in the right lane wouldn’t yield, and we nearly ran intothe barricade as the lane ended. He slammed on his brakes. “Asshole.”

Fortunately, the woman behind the asshole yielded, and Tyson was able to merge. He waved to her as he attempted to pick up speed.

“You could write a ticket.”

He waved me off. “Not worth the hassle.” He pulled into the middle lane of the highway as we headed toward the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge that would take us over to the North Shore. “So you want to break Doc…” He winced. “I shouldn’t be calling him that—you’re a bad influence.”

I snickered. “You’re onlyjustfiguring that out? A little slow on the uptake, Tyson.”

“Perhaps.” He kept his eyes on the road until we came to a dead stop on the highway.

Fucking rush hour traffic.

He cut me a look. “And you’re not answering my question. Not that you have to,” he rushed to add. “What you and Hamish said—”

“I’m willing to share. And I’m pretty sure he knows how I feel about you, and I suppose after last night’s word vomit, he knows how I feel about him as well.” I put on my sunglasses. We were driving northward, but the sun glared from the east. Before Tyson could ask how I felt about either of them, I continued, “I see Hamish as wound pretty tight. You are as well,” I added quickly, “but he’s wound in a way that’s easily undone. So I’d take him to a dungeon—”

“Cole’s?”

I whipped my head to face him, but he just drove on as traffic crawled toward the bridge. Once the Hastings Street traffic had merged, we would pick up speed.

“Yeah, Cole’s. And I don’t know if I just gave you confirmation of something you suspected or just affirmed something you already knew.”

“Yes. Continue.”

I wasn’t certain I liked his bossy tone. “Okay, so with Doc’s permission, I’d bring him to the dungeon. This likely wouldn’t be the first time we played. We would’ve warmed up to this.” I scratched my chin. “And breaking someone isn’t just a physical thing—it’s psychological as well. I’ll know what to say—what to do. What his pain tolerance is and what his limits are.”

“You sound awfully sure of yourself.”

I shrugged. “The tighter they’re wound… And I’ve done this before. I mean, I’m not a master, but I’m damn good at what I do. Fifteen years is a long time to do something.”

“So did you bring Cole in or—”

“Yeah, I was at it before I even met him in theater school. We just…hit it off. And I sensed pretty quickly that he had an untapped kinky side. I’m not going to share all the details, but he’s a damn good Dominant.”

“But not as good as you.”

I burst out laughing.

It felt good.

“Close, to be sure, but no, not quite. He can be softer than I am. We’re both good at aftercare, but he’ll cuddle forever while I’m ready to move on as soon as my bottom’s okay. I’d never shove someone out the door, but I’m not sure I’d make them hot cocoa either.”

“How does he manage with his celebrity status? Why hasn’t anyone talked? And will he keep it up now that he’s romantically involved?” Tyson was finally able to pick up a bit of speed at the base of the bridge.

“I haven’t had a real heart-to-heart with him. I mean, we talked. Well, I talked, and he listened. Being a Dom is part ofwho he is—but his love for Michael and Caressa runs deeper than that, I think. They might dabble in the future. But if they asked him to lock up the dungeon forever, I’m pretty sure he’d do it. Damn shame—we had a lot of great nights down there.” I glanced to the east as we passed over the bridge. The sun shone brightly on Burrard Inlet.