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“Yes.” Austin straightened. “Eddie did afairly thorough one, but the goal was to make sure they were in the lifestyleand there were no red flags, nothing deeper than that.”

“There wasn’t time to do a crazy check onthat many people.” Sitting up, I focused on the business and not my wanderingthoughts of Tristan. “No one is blaming Eddie or anyone. We need to get theirnames to Eddie and also see who put their names up for the party.”

“Good idea.” Bradley kept making notes, hisfingers going a thousand miles an hour on his phone as he gave Wade a quickglance. “Did you catch their names?”

Wade nodded and gave the information heremembered. One of the guys he just remembered the first name, but Bradleywrote down the details Wade gave him. “I think Eddie should be able to use thatto figure out who they were.”

Relaxing back into his seat, Wade lookedmore in control. “Was there anyone else?”

I thought back to everyone I’d met and thento my impressions of everyone as they’d talked. I’d admit that I hadn’t beenpaying the strictest attention to the details, but characters were easy toremember. “There were a group of guys…small betas or omegas over in thatcorner. They looked like they came together. They were nervous, overly so, andone of them gave offI’ve been abused but I’m trying to overcomeitvibes. Do we have a therapist on the list of potential applicants?”

Austin perked up again. “I think so, but Idon’t remember what kind of therapist she was. Let me check with Eddie. I’llhave him do a deeper background check on her as well.”

“Great.” I looked over at Bradley. “Hey,make a note to have Eddie tell us if he finds any red flags on his end that weneed to help with. Like they can’t afford the fees but he thinks they’d be a goodfit or if it looks like we need to step in on other things. Finding a therapistor legal help for something to do with the lifestyle is almost impossible.”

I would know, I’d spent several late nightslast week trying to figure out how a character could get help with a stalkerwithout letting the police know they’d met through a BDSM site. It’d beenalmost impossible to figure out. In the end, I’d taken some creative license tofix the problem, but real people didn’t have that option.

“How about we add a space on theapplication for people to indicate if they’re willing to be a professionalcontact for members in the lifestyle?” Jonah looked back and forth between hisguys as they cuddled together on the couch. “We’ll make sure it explains thatit’s entirely voluntary, but even finding a contractor we could trust washard.”

Tanner groaned. “That was ridiculous.”

Shane laughed. “I made most of the phonecalls.”

As Tanner curled into Shane’s lap, doinghis best to show his alpha just how grateful he was, I focused back on Bradley.“I heard two young alphas mention in passing that they hoped someone would bearound to teach them to use…what was it…maybe a flogger or something like that.So maybe include a line on the application about specialized skills that theycan showcase?”

That sounded a bit like we were asking ifthey could juggle.

No one else seemed to think the way I’dworded it was odd because the conversation continued with other bits andpieces.

Smiling, Jonah spoke up again. “I thoughtit was so cute how many younger people showed up. There was definitely more ofa mix than I expected.”

Nods of agreement went around the room likethe wave at a stadium event. I thought it was funny, but no one else seemed tonotice it so I kept it to myself. “There were more women than I expected.”

We’d always known there would be a few, butthe women who’d shown up seemed to know what they were doing and were excitedabout joining.

Bradley glanced around the room. “I thinkthat shows we’re on the right track and that this will be a sound investment inthe long run. There were a mix of primary and secondary genders and a varietyof socio-economic backgrounds. This isn’t just a hobby for bored rich omegas.”

Austin laughed, but Tanner huffed, glaringat Bradley. “We never thought it was a hobby for bored rich omegas.”

Bradley waved his hand dismissively. “Youknow that’s what someone might think from the outside looking in. The diversitywe saw today said this isn’t just something we’re interested in.”

Was he including himself in the bored richomega category now?

Clearly Simon was good for Bradley’sconfidence.

Wade must have thought we needed adistraction because he cleared his throat. “What else do we need to discuss?Wasn’t there a list?”

“In my notebook. The one I couldn’t bring.”That would show them.

Wade was trying not to laugh, but he wasn’tdoing a convincing job of it. “I’m sure we can piece it together from memory.”

But we wouldn’t need to if I’d been allowedto bring my notebook.

“How is the building going?” Shane’s changein topic seemed very convenient. “We haven’t been down there in the last fewdays.”

Jonah grinned and straightened excitedly.“Fabulous. It gets better by the hour.”

Russ chuckled and hugged his enthusiasticboy. “It’s coming along great. We’re on schedule and finally getting in thebits and pieces that will really make it come together. Bathrooms and thosetypes of areas are the focus this week.”