Pressure: A Diamond Doms Novel Page 8

  She didn’t respond. Just kept pacing back and forth.

  “Marissa.”

  No answer.

  “Marissa. Sit your ass down.”

  It was a dick move, using that tone on her. But it worked. She paused mid-stride and glared at him but dropped onto the edge of the bed.

  “Sorry. I just. Being down there in that space did a number on me. I’m realizing I’ve missed it a lot more than I thought I did.”

  “Chicago still has a thriving scene.”

  “Yeah but you’re there.”

  He laughed. “I’m usually here so not really.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know. What you and I had was the kind of thing you don’t find twice.”

  He agreed. What he didn’t agree with was that you couldn’t get a second chance.

  His knee bounced up and down as he watched her.

  “How late do the parties go?”

  “Two or so. If it’s a lively crowd, we might stretch it to three.”

  She nodded. “I’m going to take a nap then. I heard someone say house subs are supposed to work shifts. I’ll come help with shut down, so it doesn’t look like I’m getting some kind of special treatment.”

  Lance smiled. “That works for me. I’ll come get you at two.”

  He stood and put the chair back under the desk.

  Crossing the room, he stood in front of her and ducked a hand beneath her chin.

  She tried to avert her gaze, but he didn’t let her.

  “I’m sorry I kissed you.” He paused. “Actually, let me rephrase that. I’m sorry if my kiss upset you. I’m not sorry I did it though.”

  A tear trailed down her cheek. “It’s OK. I’m not sorry either. I’m just sorry things are the way they are.”

  “Me too, Riss,” he whispered, his voice thick with emotion. “If you need to talk about it just let me know. And I’m not kidding about exploring with you again.”

  She shook her head. “Please just go.”

  Using his thumb, he wiped the tear away and stepped back. “I’ll see you in a couple hours.”

  At the bottom of the stairs, he leaned against the wall and took a deep breath.

  In the dungeon, he sat in a corner and watched. Was someone in this room working against them? The thought that someone he’d personally helped vet might be here for nefarious purposes made him ill. Safety and security of the membership was his primary task. Providing a safe place for people to express themselves without fear of judgment was the reason he’d signed on to the project with David in the first place.

  When the party was over and the last of the guests had filed out, he headed for the stairs to get Marissa. They nearly collided when he opened the stairwell door.

  “I was just coming to wake you.”

  She shook her head. “I didn’t sleep much. Thanks though.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “You can go back to bed then.”

  “I’m good. Just tell me what I need to do to help out down here.”

  He growled and pulled her out of the doorway. “You need to do as you’re told and go back to bed.”

  She scowled and folded her arms. “I want to help. I’ll sleep later. I’m too amped. And I don’t see anyone around so stop trying to dom me.”

  “Fine. Go help Mitch shut the bar down.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  Hearing Sir on her lips was the last straw. He hauled her to him and pressed his mouth to hers.

  “What the fuck,” she hissed when he pulled away.

  “Don’t call me Sir unless you fucking mean it,” he said as he turned her in the bar’s direction and gave her a gentle shove.

  “Well that was hot,” Dakota said from behind him.

  He turned to find the sassy southern sub grinning at him.

  “Stuff a sock in it, Dakota or I’ll stuff it for you.”

  “Ooh. Somebody’s feeling surly tonight. What’s got your panties in a twist?”

  Lance just glared. “Not right now, Dakota. Who’s in charge of shutdown tonight?”

  “That would be yours truly.” She pointed to herself with a wink.

  “Give Marissa something to do when she finishes at the bar. I need some fresh air.”

  Dakota nodded and Lance stalked toward the entrance. When he passed Jodie cleaning up the front desk he sighed and stopped to check on her. She was still his responsibility and he’d basically busted her ass and ditched her.

  “Marissa seems nice,” she said as she stacked loose papers and put away office supplies.

  He nodded but didn’t say much. “Is it going to be a problem for you to interact with her since you’re both my trainees?”

  She shook her head. “No, Sir. I don’t think so.”

  He reached out and squeezed the girl’s shoulder. “Good girl. When you’re done with the desk, go check in with Dakota. If I don’t see you before you leave, sleep well and be on time tomorrow night.”

  She nodded and flashed him a smile. “Yes, Master Lance.”

  He turned and headed outside. On the porch, he leaned on the railing and looked down at the cars parked below. There were only a few cars left, but the lot would be full again tomorrow.

  As he mulled over the events of the night, he heard the door open.

  “Hey friend. It looked like you might be having a rough night.”

  He turned his head to see Austin closing the door behind her. “Hey there sweetie. How’s it going?”

  She smiled. “That’s what I came to ask you.”

  He dragged a hand through his hair and patted an empty spot on the railing. She stood next to him and leaned on the wooden rail. “Want to talk about it?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t realize how much I missed her until I walked into that conference room on Thursday and saw her for the first time in almost five years.”

  “That had to be a shocking surprise. I’m going to assume it wasn’t an amicable breakup.”

  He laughed. “That’s putting it mildly. I called the cops on her. I thought she was stealing code from me and feeding it to my competitors.”

  “Oh shit.”

  “Yeah.”

  “I take it you were wrong?”

  “Oh, was I ever. But by then it was too late to save the relationship and some of the damage I had done to her reputation in the tech community couldn’t be reversed. I very quietly worked to undo as much damage as possible, but there’s really only so much I could do. Actions and consequences, you know?”

  Austin smiled. “I do know. I see it every day at the firm. Does she know about the things you’ve done to help repair her reputation?”

  He shrugged. “She asked me not to contact her. I respected that. I don’t know how she got on Russell’s radar.”

  “Oh, I know that. She put in a bunch of volunteer hours teaching teen and young adult girls how to code through an online program. Russell has a baby sister.”

  He lifted an eyebrow. “Really? How did I not know that?”

  Austin laughed. “I only know because Patrick and I had him stay at our house for a week when he was in New York on business recently.”

  Lance shook his head. “I apparently need to get out more.”

  Austin gave his shoulder a squeeze. “I’m always here if you need to talk. You knocked sense into me when I was on the verge of fucking things up with Patrick, so you’ll always be special to me.”

  He draped an arm around her and kissed her temple. “Thanks. I should get back inside.”

  “Me too.”

  That night, Lance tossed and turned in his bed in one of the cabins behind Solitaire as he thought about Marissa sleeping in his bed inside the club.

  The next morning, a banging noise woke him.

  As the fog of sleep cleared, he realized someone was knocking on the door.

  He rolled out of bed and pulled on a pair of sweats.

  “I’m coming,” he yelled when the banging started again.

  Pulling the door open, he found Maris
sa standing, or rather, running in place, on the cabin porch.

  “Jesus, Marissa, what time is it?”

  She glanced at her watch. “Just after eight. I was finishing my run. I thought I would see if we had a breakfast plan before we got to work.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Weren’t you up until three just like the rest of us?”

  “Four actually,” she said, holding up four fingers.

  “Gimme twenty minutes. I’ll meet you outside the main building. We’ll go get breakfast in town.”

  She nodded and backed off his porch with a slight wave. He watched her ponytail swing as she jogged along the path toward Solitaire.

  He’d forgotten her penchant for early morning runs.

  Back in the cabin bedroom, he dragged on jeans and a t-shirt and splashed water on his face. He looked at his contacts case and grabbed his glasses instead. On his way out the door, he grabbed a brown leather jacket.

  He stood on the porch for ten minutes waiting for her to emerge.

  When she did, she wore a dark red sweater and jeans with knee-high boots.

  “Who’s driving?” he asked as he pulled out his key to lock the front door.

  “I’ll let you.”

  He dug his keys out and jogged down the steps to his car.

  “In the mood for anything specific?” he asked as he drove down the hill.

  “Anything’s good.”

  As they pulled up to the gate at the bottom, he pressed the button on his visor to open it. Something in the bushes caught his eye.

  “God damn it.”

  “What?” Marissa asked, looking out her window.

  “On the left. Guy with a camera. I’m betting it’s a reporter.”

  Marissa glanced that direction. “Spotted. Do we keep going or do you need to go back?”

  “We’ll eat. Let me just call Eli.”

  He tapped a button on his steering wheel and used voice commands to dial Eli.

  “You up?” he asked.

  “Yeah. Holly had a six AM conference call. We’re at breakfast now.”

  “Marissa and I are headed to breakfast too. I spotted a guy in the bushes just outside the gate taking pictures. I didn’t confront him, but we should park security at the gate tonight and check membership before we let anyone up. Might just need to become our standard operating procedure for a while.”

  Eli agreed.

  “Where are you for breakfast?”

  “The little diner not far from the club.”

  “We’ll meet you there.”

  He ended the call and looked at Marissa. “Sorry, I should have asked. You OK with that?”

  She nodded. “Yeah. Totally fine. Might be better for us to have a buffer anyway.”

  He hated that she was right.

  10

  Marissa sat at the reception desk that night and worked through the guest list of people who had checked in. After breakfast, she’d asked Lance to show her how to work check-in so she could do it during tonight’s party. On the one hand, she wanted to talk to every person who came through the door. On the other hand, she wanted an excuse not to be in the dungeon with Lance. Last night had done a number on her emotions.

  It also gave her more time at the computer digging through code and other information. Right now, she was checking names on the guest list and looking up when they joined the club and more specifically when they filled out their application. Since things seemed to start around the time Isabelle submitted her application, she figured it might be good to look at everyone who joined during that time just to make sure they weren’t working against the club. She’d quietly started with Isabelle but quickly marked her off the list. The girl clearly loved this place and Garrett and would do nothing to undermine it.

  The desk phone rang, and she picked it up. According to Lance only a few people actually had the number, so it was important to answer when it rang.

  “Hello.” She winced, unable to remember what she was supposed to say.

  “Miss Sullivan, my name is Dale. Can you find Elijah for me please?”

  “I think he’s…” she trailed off, unsure how much to tell him since Eli and Holly had gone to the dungeon not ten minutes earlier. She knew Dale was Eli’s driver and security expert but didn’t know how much he knew about their lifestyle.

  Dale chuckled. “It’s OK, Miss Sullivan. I get your drift. Lance or Russell would also be acceptable.”

  “Is everything OK?”

  “Just a suspicious character at the gate.”

  “I can send security.”

  “No. One of the board members would be preferable.”

  “OK. I’m on my way.”

  It was a cordless phone, so she took it with her to go in search of Lance. She found him in the dungeon sitting on a stool just inside the door.

  “What is it?” he asked when he saw the phone in her hand. His hand came to rest on her elbow and he steered her back into the relative quietness of the bar.

  “I have Dale on the phone. Says there is a suspicious person lurking near the gate. I offered to send security, but he wants a board member.”

  He reached for the phone.

  “This is Lance, Dale. What’s going on?”

  Marissa watched as he listened to the phone.

  Absently, Lance lifted a hand and ran it through her hair.

  She bit her lip and took a step back.

  “Sorry,” he mouthed.

  “OK. Thanks, Dale. We have another three hours before we shut down. I’m going to ask security to check the back way out of here and see if that’s a safer route to send our people.”

  He handed her the phone and bent to kiss her cheek.

  “What was that for?” she asked as she touched the spot his lips had been.

  “Thanks for being here.”

  She swallowed and gave a nod. “Of course.”

  Back at the desk, she continued digging through the membership database.

  Everything seemed to be in order, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she would find her hacker in the application process.

  She pulled out her laptop and pulled up a command line to route into the back end of the club website.

  She started at the beginning and looked for any signs of recent updates and patterns that didn’t match the overall flow of the coding.

  As she sorted through it, her eyes were drawn to a section of code that looked messy. Lance was not a messy coder.

  She wanted to go get him but knew he was preoccupied so she made a note and kept scrolling.

  A hundred or so lines down, she spotted another line that didn’t seem to match Lance’s style. It was almost like he’d left text in the code as a note to himself. A lot of programmers would do that when they were working on developing a project, but they always cleaned it up before final implementation.

  Unless… Her mind wandered to a hacker she’d run into before she met Lance. He was the epitome of a messy coder. He rarely followed a pattern and his tags were all over the place. If you were to pull up the raw code on anything he programmed, it would be littered with curse word filled notes that had no effect on the code itself. His thought was that most of the people who paid for his work would never actually look at the raw code so there was no need to clean it up.

  Things like that made Lance cringe. The people who worked for him knew their code had to be impeccable before they brought it to him. They’d fought over her own coding style a number of times. She blushed as she remembered the time, he’d turned a coding fuck-up into a reason to punish her. Which of course led to sex.

  “God damn it,” she muttered. Irritated with the path her thoughts had taken.

  “What was that?”

  She whirled to find Lance standing behind her.

  “Nothing. Come look at this.”

  “You sure are bossy for a house sub,” he teased as he sat on the desk next to her. “What am I looking at?”

  She stuck her tongue out at him because the lobby was
empty and flipped her laptop around.

  “You’re not a messy coder. What is this?”

  Lance leaned forward, his hand resting on her shoulder as he studied the lines of code she’d isolated.

  His fingers dug into her shoulder and she knew it wasn’t his code.

  “How the fuck did I miss this?”

  She gently pried his hand from her shoulder.

  “Sorry,” he murmured.

  “You’re too close to it. You’ve probably spent hours going over this code. You wrote it. Your eyes saw what you thought you’d written. I haven’t isolated exactly what this code is doing but it’s definitely some kind of tracking. And they left some notes to themselves that remind me of a hacker I ran into before I met you.”

  “FUCK,” he shouted.

  “Now isn’t the time to come undone. Let’s go in the conference room and run this down. Is there someone else who can work the desk?”

  He rapped his knuckles against the smooth marble surface. “Yeah. Stay here.”

  He turned and walked back into the bar.

  Five minutes later, he reappeared with Jodie. She didn’t look incredibly happy.

  “Thank you, Jodie. I’m sorry but this is urgent,” Lance said. Marissa could hear the tension in his voice as she scooped up her laptop and other tech and followed him into the conference room.

  “Did you have plans with her?” she asked as she set up on the table.

  “Something like that. Nothing sexual. Just a sensory thing.”

  “Forget I asked. Let’s get to work.”

  He pulled his own tech bag from underneath the table and plopped it down

  “I’m going to give you the sections I’ve already isolated. Figure out what they’re doing. I’ll keep looking for other instances. I’ll also run down some signatures I’m familiar with and see if I can trace them to an identity.”

  He eyed her for a minute, and she worried he would object to her taking charge of the situation. After a beat, he nodded and opened his computer.

  And just like that, they were chasing down a hacker. They’d done it countless times. They’d also been on the other side—being the hackers being chased.

  “Can you get me access to a TOR network on your server?”

  His nod was subtle as his fingers continued moving across his keyboard. A chat window popped up on her screen with access to the network she needed. She couldn’t help but grin as the energy in the room shifted. This is what they were best at.