Devotion (Club Destiny #5)(49)
Author: Nicole Edwards

Since Dylan had totally separated himself from CISS and Ashleigh was experiencing difficulty with her pregnancy, Cole hadn’t had it in him to tell Alex that he was considering backing out of his role and moving on to other things. He couldn’t even commit to Luke, although to his surprise, Luke had asked him to come onboard permanently to help him manage the new club. Specifically handle the in house security team.

Cole knew he was sometimes too loyal, too soft when it came to those he cared about. He tended to let people take advantage of him, and he was beginning to feel the repercussions of having the proverbial bus run over him one too many times.

Although Alex was short one person in the office, he was still working diligently to grow CISS beyond its current operating capacity. Cole was pretty sure it was Alex’s way of managing his stress.

“Think about it,” Alex explained, a much harder edge to his tone than what Cole was used to as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his bulky chest.

Cole stared at his boss, honestly trying to see how this was going to benefit them. Any of them. Their business was mainly based in Dallas, Texas, yet for some reason, Alex continued to pursue jobs outside of their city, some of them even hundreds of miles away. Last week, he sent Cole to Houston, but the most recent was in the Austin area and more specifically, the new resort that Travis Walker was building.

“I’ve tried. Tell me who is going to willingly move down to Austin and manage this for us? Certainly not me, I can tell you that much.”

“I didn’t expect you to,” Alex retorted, sitting up instantly and placing his forearms on the desk in front of him. “I was thinking about sending Jake down there.”

“I didn’t think Jake was ready for this yet? You’re the one who told me that.” Cole knew Jake fairly well; the kid had been working for CISS for a while now. He was growing into his own with the company thanks to Dylan bringing him on and giving him a shitload of responsibility. Since Dylan’s departure, Cole knew Jake was being pushed to the limit just like he was, but he was surprised to hear Alex was suddenly wanting to give him this much responsibility.

“He’s growing into his own,” Alex confirmed. “I’m looking to send him and Nate.”

Cole took a moment to study Alex. Normally, he would sit back and take whatever decision Alex made with a grain of salt. However, in this case, if Alex did send Jake and Nate to Austin that left no one besides him to fill in, and he was already disgruntled by the fact that he was going on sales calls when Alex was the one who should be making them.

“Why both of them?” Cole had two reasons for his question. One, because he wanted to know why Alex would choose to leave the Dallas office practically empty handed, and two, Cole wasn’t sure that sending Dylan’s only son some three hundred miles away was going to benefit his current situation any. “Why send both of them to Austin? Do you actually think they can handle it?”

“Only one way to find out.” Alex leaned back once again, sounding incredibly nonchalant.

Cole wasn’t sure what he thought about that. For as long as he had known Alex, the man put his company first, always taking his time to make sound decisions. This sounded rash, like Alex was almost giving up. As for Nate and Jake being able to handle it, Cole knew Travis Walker, and he knew the way the man reacted to damn near everyone. He wasn’t friendly, and Cole wasn’t sure Nate or Jake were ready to go head to head with him on a daily basis. Travis wasn’t going to settle for second best, no matter what.

“Why those two?”

“They work well together.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” He couldn’t help but ask the obvious question. “They’re greener than the fucking grass outside your damn window, and you want to send them with a one way ticket to disaster? What the hell is going on, Alex?”

Cole was now standing, having shot up out of his chair completely bewildered by Alex’s attitude.

“I don’t have time to do it, and I can’t just send one of them down there, so I’m sending both of them. You said so yourself, you can’t go, so that’s my only other choice.”

“And where does that leave us? I’m not signing on to handle your sales calls permanently.” Cole thrust his hands through his hair, then dry scrubbed his face before turning back to Alex. “This isn’t what I want to do.”

Alex didn’t say a word. He just stared, and Cole felt the man’s confusion and above that, he felt the tension. Alex was close to falling apart.

“Are you quitting on me?” Alex asked, pushing to his feet.