“Not sure you want to refer to anything around a BDSM club as soft.”
I can’t believe Amy let that drop.
Eliot chokes on his beer. I cover my plate. “That’s alcohol abuse.”
Stone ignores our cut-ups. “Before we invite anyone we’ve got to finalize the rules. We’ve been dancing around this issue for weeks. We’re settling it tonight.”
This explains why we’re having a “family” dinner on a Monday night. I should have known there was an ulterior motive. Suddenly, I’m no longer hungry.
“Background checks. Even for guests,” Eliot starts as expected.
I passed the cursory investigation in St. Louis, but there’s no guarantee I’ll pass another. The Colorado Springs club, Pandora, took our St. Louis credentials after Stone spoke with the owner. I have no idea what might be found on my record now. All I know is my mom says the sheriff still hates me and threatens her almost every week after church, demanding she tell him where I am. It’s been almost exactly ten years, statute of limitations is just about up. I’m pretty sure I’ll be okay after that. But it’s a risk. Politicians changes laws all the time to get what they want. No one back home has more power than the sheriff. And now that my dad is running against Sheriff Littlejohn in the fall, who knows what the fucker will try to pull. I’d rather not come up on his radar due to a sex club search. I take a sip of my beer and shove my paranoia back into the shadows.
“We need to check the registered sex offender databases as part of that investigation.” Tyler’s tone invites no argument. “Not sure we could secure liability insurance without that precaution.”
“No felons. No sex offenders. I’d even look at arrest records. I don’t want some sketchy, skirt-the-law mother fucker being used to take down what we’re building here.” Eliot crosses his arms.
“I agree. We need to use our heads. Look at each applicant as an individual.” I’m surprised Stone isn’t arguing for iron clad, no-exceptions rules. “I’ve seen evil fuckers with squeaky clean records and I’ve met salt of the earth guys who got caught up in bad situations. I’m fine with outsourcing the basic search, especially for temporary guest passes. But for full-fledged club members who can have access to the private rooms, we need to do better than a simple records search.” Stone takes a pull off his beer and as he lowers the bottle he locks his steely gaze on me.
I freeze so I won’t squirm.
“What do you think, Alex?” Stone asks. The guys all turn to me. Even Amy is curious about my answer.
“Anyone can be arrested.” I pause trying to give myself some emotional distance from this discussion. “Doesn’t make what they’re accused of true.” I lift one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug as if I’m not talking about my own situation.
“Let’s put together the guest list for friends and family.” Amy, always the diplomat, refocuses the conversation. “Keep the list to those people we know well. If we need to expand the list to people we know less well, we can let them know we’re running a basic background check before they’ll be invited to attend. And in the meantime, you can get a lawyer to help you draw up the membership contracts and put the detailed background check requirements in there.”
“Agreed. Friends and family, soft opening, exclusive to who we know well.” Stone might as well have slapped down the gavel.
“We have to invite Reed,” Eliot says it like a challenge. The man has been edgy for months.
Stone nods in approval.
“And Blake.”
I jump in and try to ease Eliot’s concerns. “Elevator will be ready. The inspector is coming this week.”
Amy stands up. “I made pie.”
Tyler pops up, grabs a couple empty plates. “I’ll help you.”
That man can’t be ten feet from her if they’re in the same house. He may whip her ass on the regular, but she’s got him by the balls. I push aside my envy and finish my beer.
“Now that we’re getting close—scheduling the soft opening—we should think about how we’ll put up the website.” Eliot leans back in his chair and stares up at the still brilliant blue sky. “Thanks to Blake, we have the domain but he’s not interested in designing a website. Not his thing. We’ll need a public section and password-protected, members-only part.”
“Katherine could probably do it.” The words hit my lips before my brain has a chance to tell me to shut up.
“Gabe’s wife?” Eliot asks.
“WhataboutKatherine?” Amy is at the door with a key lime pie decorated with whipped cream. My mouth waters.
“Thinking about hiring her to design our website,” Stone takes the pie and places it on the table. Tyler sets the plates down next to it.
“Oh. That’s a great idea. She hasn’t had a lot of design work lately.” Amy cuts the slices and doles them out. “Not that she needs a job, but she loves that kind of thing.”
Good. Amy can take point on asking Katherine. Gabe hates it when she has web-design work. Less time with his wife. They’re disgustingly in love. Or maybe it’s just me that’s disgusted because I’ll never have that. I glance up at the house. Did the curtain on Sonja’s window twitch? Is she listening to us?
Fire ants of unease scurry up my back. Why wouldn’t she just join us if she’s so curious?
