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Friday morning came way too early in Tag’s opinion. Even after he woke McKenna by sliding into her wet, warm heat, taking her without haste, he’d still been reluctant to get out of bed.
That was three hours ago and here he was, sitting in Luke’s office with McKenna by his side. He hadn’t yet shared the new information he had learned yesterday with her, but for some reason, he needed to have her there with him.
Maybe it was because it felt as though the world as they knew it was about to come crumbling down around them and over the course of the last seven days, somewhere along the way, McKenna had become an anchor in the sea of chaos that allowed him to remain grounded. She calmed him in ways he never expected, while, at the same time, she set fire to his blood.
She hadn’t asked questions last night, although he fully expected her to because that was her nature. And maybe that was the other reason he felt the need to keep her close. She understood him in ways he didn’t even understand himself.
“Good morning,” Luke greeted when he walked into the room minutes later.
Tag looked up at him, questioning him with just his eyebrows. There was nothing good about that morning, he knew. He wondered whether Logan had actually spoken to his brother and explained their conversation from yesterday.
Still watching Luke closely, he noticed the way the man’s eyes darted back and forth between him and McKenna before he finally shut the door to his office and took a seat at his desk.
“Logan talked to you.” It wasn’t a question, and the frustration on Luke’s face said more than words ever could.
McKenna glanced back and forth between him and Luke, the fact that she didn’t know what was going on was apparent.
“McKenna doesn’t know, so I’d appreciate if you could give us your side of the story.”
Luke sighed, leaned back in his chair and propped one ankle on the opposite knee, his hands steepled in his lap. For long seconds, he didn’t say a word, but finally, with a rush of air, he began, “Stephen Crawford is blackmailing me. Or rather, he’s blackmailing Club Destiny at Samantha’s expense.”
McKenna’s sharp intake of breath was the only sound in the room after Luke’s statement.
“He’s using pictures of Sam as leverage, and he demanded admission to the club, which obviously I made the decision to do just to bide some time.”
“According to Logan, he hasn’t been given full privilege though, correct?” Tag questioned.
“Correct,” Luke confirmed. “And since Susan never did have full membership either, they are lacking some information that could truly take down the club.”
“Take it down?” McKenna’s concern rang loud in the otherwise quiet space.
Luke glanced at her before answering. “If Susan and Stephen release the information I’m sure they have, which is a list of certain members, all hell is going to break loose.”
That was an understatement in Tag’s opinion, although they still didn’t know which members might’ve come into contact with either of them. Other than those who were in attendance at the last member meeting where Travis Walker shared some insight into his new resort.
“If either of you read the article yesterday,” Luke continued, “then you know they’re gearing up and using all of this publicity to their advantage. At this point, winning the lawsuit isn’t going to prove a damn thing because even if we can keep Susan from talking, we’re going to have a hard time with Stephen.”
“Did he sign the confidentiality agreement?” McKenna asked.
“He did.”
When her attention turned to him, Tag shook his head. “We’ve got about the same leverage against him as we do Susan. But, in either case, with the blackmail, it isn’t going to make a damn bit of difference. If they decide to release the pictures of Sam, it isn’t going to be good for anyone, including XTX and CISS.”
McKenna seemed to contemplate that for a second. “What if we have something on him?”
“On who? Crawford?” Luke asked.
“Yes.”
“Like what?” It was Tag’s turn to question her. What the hell could she possibly have on Stephen Crawford?
“As I mentioned before, for the last few months, Stephen has been adamant that we do an article on him, but to this point, we’ve refused, mainly because the guy creeps me out.” McKenna shifted her gaze between both of them and Tag watched every expression. “Since we haven’t agreed, he’s resorted to threats.” McKenna held up her hand, stopping him from saying a word.
“No, I don’t have concrete proof they are coming from him; however, I do have the IP address and that should be easily traceable. And...” she paused momentarily, “I hired a friend of mine to track him for the last few weeks which has offered me a little bit of damning evidence, although I’m not sure how much it’s going to help.”
Tag noticed Luke was no longer leaning back in his chair, but rather resting his forearms on the desk and hanging on McKenna’s every word.
“What sort of evidence?”
“I don’t know for sure because there are hours of video, but I’d be happy to let you have a look at them.”
Tag heard every word they were saying, but his brain was still hung up on McKenna’s original statement – Stephen Crawford was threatening her.
“If you don’t mind,” Luke said, “I’d like to get the videos over to Alex at CISS and have him take a look at them. And if you get the emails over to Dylan or Cole, they’ll be able to track the IP address.”
McKenna glanced at Tag, but he still couldn’t say a word. What was there to say? Despite all of this, he wasn’t sure anything was going to help.
What they really needed to do was talk to Samantha McCoy and see what her take on the entire situation was.
Except there was one problem... she didn’t know about the pictures.
~*~*~
McKenna would’ve preferred to keep the upper hand and not share the information she had, but that was before she knew what Stephen and Susan were planning to do. If McKenna was going to help, she needed to know exactly what ammunition the two of them had. For now, she wasn’t going to question her own intentions because no matter what her ulterior motive might be, she felt as though this were the right thing to do.
“You mentioned pictures. What are they of?” She had a fairly good idea, but in her line of work, she did her best not to assume anything.
“The club has a monthly, how do I put it,” Luke looked as though he were searching for just the right word, “get-together. It takes place in the playroom.”
McKenna figured Luke thought that said it all.
“Who attends these ‘get-togethers’?” she asked, for his benefit.
“Anyone. Everyone. It’s a free for all in every respect and a few months ago, Sam was itching to be a part of it, so Logan relented. And Sierra was also in attendance.”
McKenna was watching Luke and noticed the sudden worry line that appeared in his forehead.
“Does Stephen have anything on Sierra?” She couldn’t help but ask the obvious question.
“If he does, he hasn’t brought it to my attention. However, he claims that he does have pictures of me and Cole.”
McKenna didn’t need to ask what that meant. If there were images of Cole and Luke while they were intimate, and she assumed that’s why everyone was worried, it was likely Sierra was included. She only wondered why Luke wasn’t as concerned about those.
“Does Cole know about this?” Tag asked, obviously just as surprised by Luke’s admission as she was.
“He does now. I told him last night. And I’m having a hard time convincing him to let this go for now.” There was a sudden smirk on Luke's handsome face, and McKenna wanted to know what he was thinking.
“Fuck,” Tag exhaled and then stood abruptly from his chair before pacing back and forth.
Luke obviously read the question on McKenna’s face because he continued, “Let’s just say my temper is child’s play in comparison to Cole. He just has a much better grip on his anger issues.”
Tag growled in response and McKenna was fixated on him as he continued to walk back and forth. She only thought there was tension before, but now she could feel it pulsing in the air. Almost like a beast trying to break free and yet Tag insisted he keep it under control.
“Ok, so let me get this straight,” McKenna tore her eyes from Tag and returned them to Luke. “Stephen Crawford is blackmailing you with pictures of Samantha McCoy, and probably pictures of Sierra, as well. His demand is to be given admission to the club, which you have already done. Although you mentioned that he hasn’t been given full access. What does that mean?”
Tag immediately stopped pacing and stared at Luke as though waiting for what he would say next. McKenna didn’t know which one of them to look at. Considering Tag didn’t look like he was ready to share anything more, she turned her attention back on Luke.
“The other club,” he responded, not looking over at Tag once. “The real club.”
“That’s the tour I’m supposed to get tonight, correct?” McKenna glanced up at Tag, and the anticipation that suddenly ignited in her belly was enough to make her heart flutter.
If she was going to get a tour of the real club as Luke referred to it, and they restricted it to only certain members, not all of them, she wanted to know just what the hell went on there.
“And you said Susan didn’t have admission to this part of the club either, correct?” McKenna felt the need to clarify all of the details. It would only help them to figure out what to do next. This was the part of her job that she loved. The investigative process because you couldn’t just rely on what people told you most of the time. It was worth the time and effort to research a claim before publishing anything. It was professional, not to mention, it ensured that she wasn’t made to look like a fool.
“No, she didn’t have access.” Luke leaned back in his chair once again, his eyes resting on the desk in front of him. “I never trusted her enough.”
Luke’s distrust of most people was obviously a good thing for them all.
“So, where do we go from here?” she asked Tag directly.
“Let’s start by getting the video and the emails over to CISS,” Tag stated as he stood just a few feet away, “then we’ll go from there. I have to agree, I don’t want to file a lawsuit against Stephen because that’s only going to put him on the defensive and he’s going to retaliate.”
McKenna waited to see if Luke would say anything and when he didn’t, she did. “I think we need to at least respond to them in some way. It’s what they want. They’re trying to get a rise out of Luke and maybe Logan too. If we sit back and pretend to ignore them, it’s only going to piss them off.”
Both men paused momentarily, hopefully considering her statement. They shared a look between them before Tag turned back to her. “What do you suggest?”
McKenna smiled.
She had just the thing.