They were insane.
A collective sigh moved around the tableand everyone shrugged. “That settles it, then. We’re going to be polite andprofessional but still ourselves.”
It was a BDSM club. There was no reason topretend to be golfing buddies.
Wade didn’t seem convinced, but he nodded.“Now, one last thing. We’re meeting again with Graham later in the week to ironout more of the details. We don’t have time now, but we need to get togetherbefore Thursday and lay out the last of our ideas.”
Nods and quiet sounds of agreement camefrom everyone.
“How about we meet for dinner onWednesday?” I looked around at everyone. “My house or Wade’s?”
Wade sighed, looking a little sheepish.“I’ve been cleaning out closets. Let’s do your house because it’s going to bedays until I find the bottom of the mess.”
Normally he started getting antsy aroundthe anniversary of his husband’s death, but we still had a few weeks beforethat usually set in. I looked over at Dakota and saw him nodding subtly. Hehadn’t missed the timing either.
Making a mental note to stalk Wade moreclosely this week, I smiled at everyone. “Perfect. It’s my turn. Best ballgowns, my dears, and we’ll have a party.”
Dakota huffed. “I’ll actually shower andget dressed, but that’s as much as you’re getting.”
I sighed dramatically as they all shooktheir heads. Shane actually looked startled. He had nothing to worry about.He’d look great in a long flowy dress that would show off those muscles. “Thisgroup is where fun goes to die.”
Tanner barked out a laugh that had half thecoffee shop turning to look at us.
Waving my hand, I started to rise. “We’regoing to be late. Weren’t you the ones saying we needed to be professional?”
As we headed out, Tanner quietly came upnext to me. “Do you think Wade’s okay?”
I shrugged but gave Wade a careful look ashe crossed the parking lot to his car. “I don’t know. He was fine earlier thisweek. No sign that he even remembered the date was coming up.”
Of course, the date was one of the firstthings I put on my calendar each year. Not that I was creepy or morbid butbecause I knew Wade would need us as it got closer to the anniversary. I’dnever had to start planning around it this early before.
“Did something happen?” Tanner looked atWade and then back at me. “Last year he just painted the bathroom. I thought hewas finally moving past Matthew’s death.”
No one would ever forget Matthew, but we’dall thought that Wade was at the point where the pain wasn’t so fresh and hecould remember the good parts without getting lost in the emotions. Maybe wewere wrong.
“I don’t know. He seemed fine last week.” Ihad lunch with him often enough that I noticed even small changes in his mood.“There was nothing that said anything was coming. He was even talking abouttaking a vacation before the construction started on the club.”
“Hmm, I guess we just keep an eye on him?”He shrugged. “I don’t know if bringing it up is the right thing.”
“Do you think it might be the club? Maybeit’s bringing up a lot of memories for him.” They’d never played in front ofanyone, and Wade hadn’t seemed overly emotional when we’d started planning.
“I don’t know.” Tanner’s tight expressionsaid he hated saying that over and over.
“We’ll keep an eye on him. Maybe we cantake turns going over to help him organize.” I winced, not bothering to hidehow painful that was.
Tanner chuckled, finally starting to relax.“Bradley likes planning and bossing people around. We’ll have him do it.”
“Perfect.” He’d been driving me crazy aboutthe diamonds anyway. The man held a grudge better than anyone else I knew. “Youguilt him into it. If I call, he’s going to start fussing again. He’s like alittle old alpha with nothing better to do than complain about how good it usedto be.”
Shane started chuckling as he walked upbehind us. “As odd an image as that is, I think I’m supposed to remind you boththat Silas will be meeting us shortly?”
I sighed. “He honestly seemed open to theidea, right?”
I’d known from day one that finding peopleto work with wouldn’t be easy, but I didn’t want to waste our time when we knewit wouldn’t work.
Shane nodded, no question in hisexpression. “He’s gruff, and like I said, he’s skeptical, but if you show him you'reserious, it’s going to be fine. I also think that once he realizes who you are,that will go a long way to allaying his fears.”
I’d been surprised when Shane hadn’t beenmore open about who we were, but I’d appreciated his caution. If it’d been me,I’d have demanded more information before meeting weird strangers. Shane seemedto be able to talk anyone into doing what he wanted.
