no dominants.”
Monaghan nodded. “No gays, no Doms, no deviants.” He shrugged at the three glares. “His terms, not mine. I don’t care who or what you are, as long as you pay.”
Louis believed that too.
“But why go after me?” he said. “It doesn’t make sense. I’m a boy, not a Daddy.” He flushed at admitting that in front of Monaghan, and Craig laid a hand on his thigh to comfort him. Louis took a deep breath and continued. “I’d have no interest in Cade. Why didn’t he go after Craig or Quinn?”
“I don’t know,” Monaghan admitted. “But he talked about you and he talked about Booker. I thought you ought to know.”
“Do you think he bought out your men as payback for not taking his assignment?”
“Maybe. He’s screwed with my business. It’s going to take me a long time to regain the trust of my clients. I know they’ve been coming to you.” Monaghan looked at Dominic.
“Yes,” Dominic said, without any trace of smugness.
Monaghan sighed. “I could have called, but I wanted to make it right between us, Mr. Romero.”
“We arranged a meeting at CDR,” Dominic growled.
“You don’t get everything your own way, Cook.”
Craig barked out a laugh at Dominic’s scowl. “He’s got you there, Dominic.”
Louis sat back, slipped his hand into Craig’s, and tried to process everything he’d just heard.
“Do you think I’m safe now?” he asked.
“I don’t know that either,” Monaghan admitted, “but I wouldn’t be in a hurry to give up your security.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Craig growled.
“Good. I’m going back to what’s left of my business.” Monaghan got to his feet.
Dominic stood, saying, “I’ll walk you out. We need to talk.”
They left Louis and Craig in the kitchen.
Louis rested his head on Craig’s shoulder. “You know none of that made sense, don’t you?”
Craig pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “Strada trying to lock down Cade made sense. His interest in you and me, not so much.”
“He was on your list of suspects.”
“Yes. But so is everyone who knows you,” Craig admitted. “You and I are the only people off the list.”
“And me,” Dominic said as he strode into the room. “I’d have done a better job at taking you out.”
Louis shivered, relieved when Craig wrapped his arms around him.
“Nice. Thanks, Dominic. Great fucking answer,” Craig snapped.
“Sorry, Louis.”
Dominic didn’t sound sorry. He brought out a tablet and tapped away at it while Craig kissed Louis on the cheek and got up to refresh their coffee. Louis resisted the urge to hang onto Craig. He hated that he was still so weak and needy, but Monaghan’s visit had seriously unnerved him, even though he still thought it didn’t make sense.
“Do you think he’s telling the truth?” Louis asked.
“As far as it’s suits him,” Dominic said. “He’s not going to give away any information that he doesn’t need to. I mean, I wouldn’t.”
Craig brought the pot to the table, filled their cups, and sat down next to Louis, immediately lacing their fingers together. “Okay, let’s start at the beginning. I’ve never met Strada or Cade Connolly.”
Louis shook his head. “You’ve met Cade. I had Daysance while we were together. They were very young then. But Eric’s only been around for two years.”
“How well did you know him?”
“Not…not well.” He tripped over the words but neither man seemed to notice.
“But why would Strada want you back here?” Dominic asked. “He could arrange a hit on you in Paris.”
They talked about killing so calmly. It made Louis feel sick to think someone could have killed Craig thousands of miles away and he wouldn’t have known.
“Hey.”
Louis blinked and realized Craig was staring at him, his expression concerned. “I—”
“It’s okay, my boy. This is just speculation. This is what we do.”
Dominic grunted. “We’re just working through all the explanations.”
“Joseph Holden is more likely a suspect than Erik Strada,” Louis said.
“I don’t think he’s got the balls,” Craig said as he picked up his cup, and Louis had to agree.
“Who else would you say is a power player?” Dominic asked.
Louis furrowed his brow. Liam had asked him all these questions before, but he’d been doped up on medication and struggling to think at the time. “There are always new clubs in town trying to make their mark. The current hotspot is Bernie’s. All the influencers try to be seen there. I like it.”
Craig raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been there?”
“I go to all the clubs when they open. It’s good to see what’s fresh and new. The owner, Trey Linden, used to