“It’s going to be fine. I really want it.” I did. It just seemed…huge.
“Where are Graham and Russ?” Austin’s voice lost some of the teasing.
“They’re finishing up work. Russ wanted to make sure the club was on track and Graham had to make some changes on a design.” Making sure they could take off Monday so we had a three-day weekend meant they had to work late today.
“But they’re going to be home soon?” Austin’s voice still had that edge of something that was making it hard to think, but it might have just been my suppressants finally wearing off.
“Yes, about an hour, I think…I can’t remember. They texted me earlier.” They’d been texting and calling all day.
I’d taken time off the last few days because as the suppressants wore off it would get to be more obvious, so there’d been no going out in public for me since Wednesday. I wasn’t going stir-crazy, but I was getting anxious.
Austin snorted. “That’s cutting it close.”
“It sounded practical this morning.” Now I wasn’t so sure.
“The forty-eight-hour thing is a window, not an exact timeline like a fucking alarm.” Austin swore, saying something about morons I didn’t catch. “Okay, tell me what Russ said about the club. How is that coming along?”
Having something to focus on had the too-tight feeling of my skin fading a bit. “Um, he said it was coming along great. The second floor is up and everything is starting to come together. The crew is really excited and several said they want to join, so we need to work on an application process.”
There was something else I was supposed to tell him too. “Oh, and we need to start looking for people to work the front desk and those positions.”
“Yes, I’ve got the application finalized and my cute little buddy is going to do the checks for us. He just wants a free membership.” Austin’s cheerful way he talked about his hacker friend was weird.
“Okay, sure.” He’d proven he could keep a secret, so I wasn’t worried. “Russ and Graham said they’d introduce me to a few friends in the lifestyle soon. They think they’d be a good fit.”
“Great, I’ll get you a copy of the application, then. It’s going to be a two-part process. The first piece they get is to do their background check and it looks really boring. They get the second part after the background check comes back fine.” He made a dirty, excited sound. “It’s got the good questions on it and the rules, and it has all the info we need to make the final decision. There are some fun security things built into the site where the info is stored to help keep it safe.”
He was very proud of the application.
“Sounds great.” I was more focused on the building and my part.
My art.
I’d had the most fabulous ideas for artwork for the club and the series was starting to finally come together. It was going to look incredible when it was finished, but just thinking about the sexy images made my clothes feel too tight. I found myself frustrated by how snug the sweatpants felt, but I knew that had to be wrong. Logically, the damned things were about falling off, they were so big.
“Tell me about how getting the house together has gone.” I knew he was trying to keep me distracted, but I was just ready for Graham and Russ to get home.
“Great.”
Austin scoffed. “Not enough detail.”
Sighing, I smiled and started to pace again. “We’ve finally found homes for all the artwork I wanted to bring over and it looks great.”
“Only you could move in with someone and only bring over art and a single box of clothes.” I could almost hear Austin rolling his eyes.
“My furniture was crap and it was two boxes of clothes.” I pulled at the neck of my T-shirt. Just the mention of clothes made me feel like I was being strangled. “Some of the kitchen stuff made sense to bring, as well as my books.”
Dakota would’ve pitched a fit if I hadn’t brought those.
Everything I hadn’t needed had gone into storage. It was a compromise with Tanner. He’d stop obsessing if I let him put all my stuff in storage for six months instead of giving it away or throwing it out. Graham thought it was sweet that he wanted to take care of me, but I didn’t care what happened to it as long as I didn’t have to pay the storage fees.
“I understand. But we’re going to have to take you shopping soon. You still don’t even have appropriate clothes for the club.” That was driving him crazy.
I’d picked up a few pairs of tight pants and some T-shirts that were almost painted on, but that hadn’t satisfied the clothes whore. Now he had Russ all in a tizzy about what I’d end up wearing to the club. Graham was egging Russ on and kept emailing him pictures of skimpy outfits he thought I’d look hot in.
“We have time before it opens.” As an owner, I knew I had to look the part, but it wasn’t my focus.
Austin huffed. “There is never enough time to find the right outfit for these kinds of situations.”
