“Who has fantasies about being a tampon?” Jess asked, looking over a long white fleece tube.

“People are weird,” I answered.

“Wasn’t there a member of the royal family years ago?” Cam asked.

“Don’t talk about it. The poor man will never live that down,” I replied.

“What in the hell is that?” I asked.

“I believe that’s a dildo, in size,” Cam checked a label, “men’s extra-large.”

“I think I see a pattern here,” Jess offered.

“Newsflash, men fantasize about being inside women’s vaginas,” I said dryly.

“Oh look! A naughty nurse costume. I think I like that one,” Cam said with a smile.

“I don’t think it would fit you.” Jess laughed.

“A nun?” I asked.

“To a priest that might be pretty enticing,” Cam explained.

“Hmm. Here’s your pirate suit, Cam,” I teased.

“And here’s a wench costume. Which one of you wants to put it on for me?”

“I found one! Sexy school teacher,” Jess announced.

“Do they have two of them?”

“No, just one, and one naughty school boy.”

“I guess that I’ll have to go for another dominatrix look,” I said, disappointed.

“The S&M stuff is in the next room,” Cam shared.

“You’ve been here before, haven’t you?” I joked.

“There’s a sign over the door,” he said defensively.

Finally I found a pair of shiny rubber hot pants, (Who knew that hot pants came in rubber?) a patent leather bustier and some boots that I think that Gene Simmons from KISS once wore. It had a matching leather mask. I imagined that this was a very stylish ensemble in the BDSM world. Cam picked out some leather pants, a leather vest, leather hat and a collar. I really hoped that he didn’t run into any more of his clients, dressed like that. We also grabbed a black wig for Jess and masks for them and for Mark. Ah, if Bubbe could see me now! When we got back to our place, after picking up Bruno of course, we ordered Chinese and went over the plan.

We would sit Mark down, tell him about the notes, describe the cast of characters and explain why we needed to be careful about suggesting anything without some kind of proof. Then we would outline our plan, which was fairly simple. Mark and Jess would go in as a couple. Jess would approach Cole, tell him he was a bad boy and that she wanted him to write down all of the nasty things he had done. If necessary, she would spank him with a ruler. Then they were out of there. How bad could that be, right? Yeah, I know. Those famous last words again.

Since it was Friday night Cam and Jess decided to go out for a drink. I stayed in and tried to relax. Bruno happily kept me company but he seemed a little perplexed about the fact that Daddy wasn’t around. He kept going to the door and sniffing around the covers on Braden’s side of the bed.

Wow, suddenly that sunk in. Braden had a side of the bed. We had been together for a month and we were a real couple. We had survived our first argument – even if it wasn’t a very big one. We had talked about the future; we had met each other’s parents and we shared a dog. Although we still argued in court, still did plenty of naughty sexy things and still engaged in plenty of snarky banter, we had also developed a very natural affection with each other and we had both acknowledged that this relationship was special and that we wanted to be together for a very long time. I knew what it meant, and I wanted to tell him, but I was still kind of scared to go there. That night I watched a documentary as Bruno snuggled into his doggy bed and I waited for Braden to call.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

“Hey, sexy.”

“Hey. Partying down with all the law enforcement types?”

“Yeah. They can be a wild bunch.”

“Are the women hitting on you?”

“I’ve made it very clear that I have a girlfriend.” So they were. It figured. “Why? Are you jealous?” He sounded amused.

“Of course,” I admitted.

“Well now you know how I feel.”

“What because a bunch of drunk MBA types tried to pick me up at O’Malley’s?”

“No, because Cameron was the first guy you were ever with.” Oh, that. Suddenly, I realized that Braden hadn’t only become more possessive lately because he was worried about me. He was jealous, and amazingly enough, he felt a little insecure. I wanted to reassure him. I was going to work up the nerve to say “those words” soon.

“That was years ago and it was only one time. I didn’t even have a happy ending — in any way.”

“You didn’t?”

“No, I had no idea what I was doing and it was slightly uncomfortable. Besides, Cameron and I were both beer buzzed. It was very much a college hook-up, nothing at all like what you and I have together. I’ve told you before, you’re the best partner I’ve ever had. You’re the first guy who can get me there just by being inside me.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, and not only that, but I’ve never had more than one happy ending in a night and I’ve had up to six with you.”

“Seven,” he corrected.

“You counted?”

“I just happened to notice.”

“It’s not just your technical skills. You and I always seem to be in sync.”

“Well, while I will admit that does kind of make me feel better, I wasn’t just talking about sex, Gabrielle. Obviously you must have cared about him or you wouldn’t have slept with him, whether you were beer buzzed or not, not the first time.”

“He was my friend and I was infatuated with him. I was eighteen years old.”

“Now you’re both grown up and he’s your friend and he works with you every day. What if you start to feel something for him again?”

“Braden, eight years ago I had a crush on a cute boy. Now I have much deeper feelings for an incredibly sexy man – and just for the record, I mean you, not Cam.”

“Well, that’s good to hear because I don’t want to lose you.”

“You’re not going to. I’ll be with you as long as you can put up with me.”

“I’m never going to stop wanting you, Gabrielle.” This conversation was getting very intense. As if on cue, I heard a voice in the background.

“Hey Braden! Are you done with your phone sex yet?”

“You can come in!” Braden called out. I thought I heard a door close. “I didn’t expect to see you back here tonight.”

“I gotta sleep, man. Besides, I couldn’t remember her name and it felt kind of awkward after she gave me such a great…”

“Still on the phone here, dude,” Braden interrupted.

“You’re still on the f**king phone? You just saw her this morning. You might as well just hand her your balls right now.” Then in a louder voice he called out, “Hi Gabrielle!”

“Please tell Adam that I said hello and that I can hear him even when he’s not shouting.”

“She said hello and she can hear everything you’re saying.”

“Terrific. So your girlfriend knows that I’m a dick.”

“She knew that that already,” Braden replied.

“Did you tell her you missed her?”

“I think I got this, Adam.”

“Did you tell you love her?”

“I really don’t need your help here.”

“Ah, Braden’s in love,” Adam teased. “All the women at the G Lounge are probably crying into their vodka.”

“Will you please go occupy yourself somehow? Take a shower, brush your teeth, study the Crimes Code. Just leave me alone for a minute so I can say goodnight to my girlfriend.”

“Goodnight Gabrielle!” Adam called out.

“I’m sorry about that,” Braden apologized.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m not dating him. Listen, I’m going out with Jess, Cam and Mark tomorrow night. I’m not sure what time I’ll be home.”

“Call me no matter what time. And text me or call whenever you want during the day. I might even be able to wrap up early tomorrow. If I can maybe I’ll switch to an earlier flight.”

“Okay, I will.”

“I should say goodnight while he’s still in the bathroom, because I do really want to tell you that I miss you.” He hesitated for a second. “And that I love you.” Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. He said it! Calm, Gabrielle. My heart started hammering. I wanted so much to be with him at that moment.

“I miss you and I love you too.” My voice shook a little because the emotions I was experiencing were so powerful that they almost overwhelmed me. “So much.”

“Goodnight, baby.”

“Goodnight. Sweet dreams

* * *

The next day at noon Mark sat in our living room listening while I laid out the whole story. I told him about the notes, the suspects, and our efforts thus far to collect evidence. Then I laid out the plan. Finally, I paused and Mark spoke up.

“So, let me get this straight. You met three obnoxious people at Braden’s fundraiser, and when you got a couple of anonymous notes saying that you should break up with him, or something bad might happen, you assumed that one of those three wrote them.”

“Because while each one of them had an interest in seeing us break up, nobody else did, and it wasn’t common knowledge that we were dating then.”

“So, instead of just telling the cops, and letting them handle it, you decided instead to try to get handwriting samples yourself, because you were worried that there would be a backlash if you said you suspected one of these people.”

“Right.”

“And in pursuit of that evidence you convinced Fred and Ethel here to follow private citizens and dig through garbage with you.” He glanced at Jess and Cam like he wondered just what in the hell was wrong with them.

“Well, yeah. You know I’m mostly doing this because I don’t want Braden or my parents to worry anymore, right?”

“Uh huh. And now you want me to wear a costume and go to an underground sex party with you so that Jess can dominate some kinky politician into giving her a sample of his handwriting.”

“It’s for a good cause.”

“And you think that one of my closest friends, who also happens to be your boyfriend, is going to think that there’s nothing wrong with this plan?”

“I’m not going there to have sex with anybody! I’m not even going in. I think this guy will actually do this if Jess even just orders him to. As soon as she gets the writing we’re gone. I send it to my expert, he either eliminates Cole or gives me ammunition to tell him to leave me the hell alone. This is a way to possibly get someone to stop harassing me without dragging Braden or his family into it.”

“Don’t even try to make this sound reasonable, Gabrielle. I can’t believe that you didn’t tell Braden about the first note.”

“Mark, I don’t want him to get himself into a difficult position. If I just had a little something to back up my suspicions it would be a whole different story. Don’t you understand? I’m doing this because I care about him. I don’t want him worrying about me all the time and I want people to leave us alone without getting him sued.”

“What if we get this sample and it’s not this guy. What then?”

“I don’t know. I’m not sure I’m up to digging through trash again. I think I’ll just give it this one try. He’s the one who it would be most controversial to wrongly accuse anyway. If it isn’t him I’ll just probably turn everything over to the cops and let them deal with it.”

“And you’re going to tell Braden about all of this?”

“Yes – I will.”

“I still don’t think that he’s going to be okay with you doing this.”

“I can’t just make Jess do this herself.”

“Okay look, I’ll go along with this under one condition. Even though you may be dressed up to blend in you stay back unless absolutely necessary. I don’t want you anywhere near this place unless we have no other choice. We can stay in communication with each other by cell.”

“Okay, it’s a deal. We’ll park a few blocks away and we’ll stay in the car unless you need us.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

That night at eight forty-five, we were all dressed in our best fantasy wear from Tony’s. Jess and Mark made quite a pair. She was wearing a skin-tight skirt that came down to her ankles but was slit up the back almost to her bottom. She had on a high-necked old-fashioned-looking ruffled blouse like a Victorian school teacher might wear, fishnets, boots with high heels, a black wig and a Mardi Gras-type mask. She was carrying a ruler and she had some folded paper and a pen stuck into a garter. Mark also wore a mask but his was plainer – sort of Lone Ranger-esque. He was dressed like an English school boy in a striped tie, knee socks, matching shorts, blazer and cap. He looked like that guy Angus Young from the band ACDC. Cam and I just looked kinky.

We arrived near the location of the party, an abandoned warehouse down by the docks. It was a rough neighborhood, so I was armed with pepper spray. We took my car and parked it several blocks away as we went over everything one last time.

“Okay, you guys have the code and we watched the video of Cole online a thousand times, so hopefully you’ll be able to recognize him,” I said.

“I’m going to walk up to him and tell him he’s a bad boy and needs to be punished,” Jess said.