Devotion (Club Destiny #5)(19)
Author: Nicole Edwards

“Broadening how?”

“The resort concept is a brilliant idea.”

Luke knew Trent was hinting at something, but he was being evasive as usual. Was he interested in expanding on what they had?

Luke tended to subscribe to the “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” concept. Since their doors were closed, it was obvious something had gone awry, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to start with a different concept. Interesting thought though. He’d have to talk to Cole and get his input. He valued Cole’s opinion as well as Sierra’s over anyone else because he was confident they had his best interest in mind.

“I’m not sure I’m interested in going that route right now,” Luke admitted honestly.

“What if we disconnect the two and let Kane take over running the show here?” Trent asked.

Luke thought about that for a moment. He liked the idea.

He openly would admit that Trent was the most creative of the three of them when it came to the direction they wanted to take the club. In fact, it had been Trent’s proposal to implement the general public bar in order to take some of the interest off of the adult portion of the club. Luke had been left to implement the idea, which he did, and until recently, they hadn’t had any significant road bumps along the way.

“What’s your biggest concern?” Trent asked when Luke didn’t answer his earlier question.

Luke narrowed his eyes at Trent, trying to gauge where he was taking this conversation. “With what?”

Luke wanted Trent to get to the point and he wasn’t interested in putting himself totally out there just yet. Not until he had a chance to talk to Cole.

“Let’s start with the members. I know you eliminated most of them, and it’s obvious the more we try to keep the club hidden, the more we’re going to risk as far as memberships being leaked. What if we go the route that the Walkers are going?”

“You mean not keep the membership secret?”

“Yes, in a sense. It’s not like we’d have to broadcast who belongs to the club, but if we make sure applicants understand we aren’t risking our own necks up front, maybe we’ll get a different type of clientele.”

The idea had merit. Luke had specifically closed the doors to his club because the members were more interested in protecting their own asses than helping to ensure Luke’s family weren’t thrown to the wolves. As far as he was concerned, Cole and Sierra came first and foremost before anyone else. He’d protect them and his brother with his life if he had to. And they knew it, which was why his family had supported him in his decision.

“Let me think on it,” Luke said. “I like the idea, and I think it’ll be easier to manage that way, but it will also expose us publicly. What does that mean for you? If we go public, where do you stand in all this?”

Trent had always been silent, and his association with the club was buried deep. So deep, Luke was almost certain no one would be able to link the two.

“Well, if you go public, I go public,” Trent replied.

Luke expected to hear concern in Trent’s tone, not the shit eating grin beaming back at him tenfold. From the looks of it, Trent was actually fond of the idea and Luke couldn’t help but wonder just what he was going to get out of this.

Chapter Six

To think that this was what his life had come down to. Only fifteen minutes in and Cole didn’t question whether this was about to take the same turn as the majority of other meetings he’d gone on for Alex in the last few months. Just like the others, it appeared that his boss was setting him up for failure. Thankfully, Cole only had to drive less than twenty miles for this head on collision.

Cole stared back at the uptight man sitting across from him, pelting questions at him left and right, practically begging Cole to prove to him that CISS was the best security firm in the state. It was the same song and dance, just different office and different asshole. What the hell was Alex thinking?

Mr. Carson Throckmorton was not the nicest person that Cole had come in contact with lately. In fact, he was getting damn tired of the man’s condescending attitude, and he was about ready to walk out the door. This was well out of his job scope, and as far as he was concerned, Alex could deal with this shit.

Instead of getting up and leaving, Cole smiled and continued with his spiel, informing Mr. Throckmorton of their proven success rate as a corporate security firm. He’d gotten rather adept at the whole pitch, but he was growing more and more irritated as the days passed. This wasn’t his job, it was Alex’s job. Except, for some reason, Alex continued to delegate these shitty assignments week after week.