Quinn
Cade protested the entire ride home. CDR had promised to deliver their motorbikes to Cade’s house. Cade didn’t like it. Quinn didn’t care. He wasn’t letting Cade on his bike until he’d set ground rules.
Quinn let Standish do the talking, who was returning to see his client settled, and then he was going home. He saw no point getting involved as, whether Cade liked it or not, he had a bodyguard. He sat next to the chauffeur and ignored the heated argument in the back while he read the information on Eric Strada again. Quinn had met the man briefly when he traveled to San Francisco. This must have been before Eric was involved with Cade. Quinn had received no negative vibes from the man, but he hadn’t spoken to him long enough or formed a friendship with him, to make a sound judgement. He had a phone call to make as soon as he had free time. If Eric Strada wasn’t caught and he gave up his obsession with Cade, he’d be looking for another boy. Cade couldn’t have been the only one he abused. Quinn needed to do some more digging and not through CDR. The Daddy world was small enough that he knew who to speak to.
Cade’s voice rose and Quinn caught the chauffeur rolling his eyes.
“Is he always this noisy?” Quinn asked, his voice low.
The driver didn’t answer but the silence was enough for Quinn. Cade was a brat. One hundred percent brat. But a boy who had been abused too. Quinn had his own methods for dealing with bratty boys, but he also knew how to tread lightly when the situation needed.
“What’s your name?”
“Long. Gareth Long.” Gareth had a Welsh burr to his accent.
“Okay if I call you Gareth?”
The driver shrugged. “Call me what you like. And you?”
“Quinn Ryder. Security.”
“You’ll have your hands full there, Quinn.” Gareth kept his voice down low but with Cade’s incessant ranting there wasn’t much chance of being heard.
“Yeah, I see that. I’ll put a stop to that when we get back to his place. I’m not spending two weeks listening to him shout.”
“Good luck with that one.”
He heard the doubt in Gareth’s voice. But Quinn was an experienced bodyguard and an experienced Daddy, and he was not letting Cade get away with pushing him around for two weeks.
“How long have you been working for Mr. Connolly?”
“I work for the record company now. They sponsored my employment visa. But I used to work for Cade in the UK whenever he visited. He got to like me. Then he found out I was looking for a change in scene and suggested I come to the States and he would give me somewhere to live. There’s an apartment above the garage. I drive him occasionally and take care of the maintenance, and spend the rest of my time working for the record company. He’s good, despite the noise. Better than most employers I’ve worked for. And when the time is right, I’ve got a plane ticket home.”
Quinn was impressed. He wouldn’t have thought Cade would have given a crap about his employees.
“I was the one who took him to hospital,” Gareth said quietly. “And I was the one who suggested he call Liam Quick. I’ve worked with Liam before.”
“So you knew Strada was beating him up?” Quinn’s voice was equally low, but the judgement was in his tone.
Gareth pressed his lips together. “I knew there were issues, but Cade told me to butt out. He made it clear my interference wasn’t welcome. I kept my mouth shut until the last time, and then I told him I was calling the authorities whether he liked it or not. He begged me not to call the police, and I agreed if I could call Liam.”
Quinn understood Cade not wanting the police involved, even if he didn’t agree with the decision. It would become a media shit show and Cade would be the target, not Strada. “You did the right thing.”
“Did I?” Gareth sounded bitter. “I said nothing as a nasty piece of work beat up my employer.”
“You did what I asked,” Cade said. He’d obviously overheard the conversation and he leaned forward to squeeze Gareth’s shoulder, in what seemed like a very comforting gesture.
Then he turned an angry gaze on Quinn. “I don’t appreciate you interrogating my employees.”
Quinn raised an eyebrow and Cade looked away. “I need to find out everything to keep you safe.” He raised the file. “This tells me nothing beyond the basics, which means you’re hiding things. And secrets will get you killed. If you’re not prepared to talk to me, then I will talk to everyone else. If Gareth knew Strada was being abusive, other people will too.”
“Now that’s going a bit too far,” Standish protested.
Quinn turned to look at him. “You knew and you didn’t make an effort to stop it. You could have called the police any time.”
Standish went beet red, and Quinn expected an angry outburst, but he merely looked away, saying, “I tried. I tried.”
Which meant Cade had put the muzzle on him too. Quinn was going to get to the bottom of this, but not now, not in the car while they all sat in angry silence.
When they arrived at Cade’s large house on Capitol Hill, Quinn told everyone to stay in the car while he liaised with one of CDR’s teams. He knew the three men who greeted him at the gate.
“The place is clear. We’ve been through it from top to bottom. Didn’t expect to see you back at CDR,” Doug said with a smirk.
“I didn’t expect it either,” Quinn admitted ruefully.
“The boss says we are to stay out of your way unless there’s a problem. As far as everyone is concerned, you’re the boyfriend not the bodyguard. The only people who know what’s going on are the three teams and Dominic. We’ll liaise with you and only you.”
“Good. Unless Strada manages to take me out of the picture, don’t liaise with the client. He doesn’t seem to have the best judgement.”
Doug tilted his head. “So you’re going to be the bait.”
Quinn grimaced. “It seems so. It’s not the first time. But first I need to organize my cat.”
Doug laughed. “Have you still got old Mogs? She must be what – fourteen?”
Mogs was the one thing guaranteed to make Quinn smile. He adored his cat and most of the security men he met fell in love with her too. She was scruffy and high maintenance, but he loved her.
“You’ve got a cat?”
Quinn exchanged a resigned look with Doug, and turned to see Cade standing behind him, a strangely hopeful look on his face. “You’re supposed to be in the car.”
“I got bored,” Cade said petulantly. “What are you going to do with your cat while you’re away?”
“The same thing I always do,” Quinn said as he guided Cade into the house. “I’ll ask my neighbor to look after her. Mogs is fourteen years old and spends most of the time asleep. She’s no bother to anyone. Stay here.” He made it an order, ignoring the immediate scowl on Cade’s face.
He jogged to the car where Standish still sat in the back. “Go home,” he said. “Leave Cade with me.”
The relief was obvious on the attorney’s face, but he said, “I ought to make sure he’s settled.”