Infuriating - Onley James Page 0,4
only wanted to watch. DannysDaddy666. Day hated the name as much as he hated the black screen that accompanied their playtime. The man even disguised his voice. It made Day leery, but as long as his money cleared, Day was willing to tolerate his weird stipulations.
Day signed into his CashApp and frowned. Six thousand dollars? Nobody had ever sent him an amount that high. Not even Jay and he paid Day fifteen hundred a month. He had anyway. Day felt like a dick for missing the money more than the man, but Jay’s money paid half of his rent and Jay had no interest in ever meeting face to face. He’d been the perfect client.
Day clicked on the note section, and his blood ran cold.
Soon it will just be you and me. Love, Daddy.
Day shivered. Talk about bad timing.
He tossed his phone on the bed just as there was a knock on the door. “Police, open up.”
“Thanks for agreeing to see me today. I know you were supposed to be heading back to Miami.”
Jackson Avery leaned back in his chair, giving a tight smile to the old man seated on the other side of his desk. It had been years since he’d seen Detective James Sadwell—or Jimmy as he was known to his friends. Jackson hadn’t actually agreed to meet with him. Lincoln Hudson’s secretary had booked the appointment after Jimmy had told her that he and Jackson were old friends. They were not. Jackson didn’t feel the need to point that out though since Jimmy hadn’t arrived alone.
“What do you need, Jimmy?” Jackson asked, refusing to use his title of Detective.
Jimmy rubbed the back of his neck, his tongue darting out to moisten deeply chapped lips. “So, I got a bit of a situation, and I was hoping you might be able to help me out.”
Time hadn’t been good to Jimmy. Jackson vaguely remembered the man coming to his house for barbeques, smoking stogies with his father, drinking far too much beer. He had seemed old back then, but now, he was horribly thin, his yellowing teeth pointing this way and that. His checkered pants and stained golf shirt clearly had seen better days. Unless the LAPD had gotten very lax with their dress code, Jimmy wasn’t there on official business.
Jackson glanced out the glass wall of his office to where a young man with platinum hair and skin the color of cream sat at an empty desk taking selfies from every angle as he made faces at the camera. He reminded Jackson vaguely of Wyatt, though the boy seemed rougher somehow, like maybe he’d lived a harder life than Wyatt.
Jackson forced his gaze back to Jimmy. “Does this situation have anything to do with the supermodel out there?”
Jimmy’s gaze flicked back to the boy, and he rolled his eyes when he saw the boy snapping away with his phone. “Yeah. Yeah it does. So, this kid, his name is Dayton Daniels. He witnessed a murder, and I need somebody to watch over him until we can apprehend the suspect.”
Jackson arched a brow. “Isn’t that your job?”
The old man scoffed like Jackson was being deliberately obtuse. “Come on, Jackie. You know Wit Sec doesn’t include protecting a potential witness when there’s nobody in custody.”
Jackson did know that, but he didn’t know what made this case so unique that this guy—Dayton—needed protection from someone who hadn’t even been caught. It didn’t really make much sense unless the suspect somehow knew Dayton was a witness. Still, there was something off about Jimmy’s assessment.
“How close are you to catching the guy?” Jackson asked. Jimmy’s gaze slid away, which was an answer in and of itself. “Are you asking me to have one of my guys watch your witness for an indeterminate amount of time while you guys try to run down a murderer? My guys make mid six figures a year. You think I owe you a six figure favor?”
“I don’t think I can put a price tag on what I did for your family, Jackie. Think of the heartache I spared your mother. The financial ruin.”
“Nobody asked you to do any of that, but that’s neither here nor there. You need to start telling me why this kid is such a high priority target.”
“I don’t know that he is. Normally, I’d just add extra patrols and tell the kid to be careful about what he posts on social media, but as you can see, he doesn’t listen for shit.”
The ‘kid’ in