“I know we’re still a little early, but shall we begin?” I ask.
“We’re waiting for a few more people,” Henry replies as he takes the seat at the head of the table.
“Oh,” I say, choosing not to ask who else is joining us.
We talk about the weather and a storm that passed through Jaxon’s home in Nashville for a few minutes before finally, the door is opened again.
Two large men stalk through the door, their black polos pulling across their chests to show off the Mitchell Security logos on their left pecs. I know if I look in the parking lot, I’ll find a matching black pickup with the white logo gleaming in the sun. The half brothers are opposites in every way except for the hulking frames they inherited from their asshole of a father.
My stomach churns at the arrival of the other security firm in Wild Bluffs, the twinge of unease from Jaxon’s comment earlier growing into a full-blown case of heartburn.
“What a pleasant surprise,” Trent Mitchell says as he takes in Lila and me standing to welcome them. “I wasn’t aware we were going to be joined by anyone else today.”
“Hi, Trent,” I reply. “Carter.” I nod my head toward the second man, the dark and broody to Trent’s blond, used-car-salesman vibes.
Carter’s dark eyes snap to mine, and he nods back, experience telling me that’s all I’ll get from the man. Even though we’ve known each other since preschool, I’ve always felt like I had to physically pull each and every syllable from his mouth.
We all shake hands, circling the table before finally taking our seats, Trent sitting next to Jaxon with Carter on his other side.
“Sorry for springing this joint meeting on you all,” Henry says. “But after careful consideration of the proposals submitted and interviewing both of you this summer, Jaxon and I decided we’ll use his six-week international leg of the Forever Starts Here Tour as a trial run.”
Wait. Did he just say trial run? As in, competing for the real contract?
“We’d like both of your teams to provide security for Jaxon during the entirety of the tour. Now, as we covered in the request for proposal, this tour is going to be quick, with Jaxon playing almost every night for six weeks before we return to the States and Jaxon takes a much-needed break. So it’ll be a seven-week commitment: one week in Vancouver for rehearsals and then six weeks with your teams traveling and working twenty-four seven.”
Ugh.The last thing I want is to spend seven weeks working every minute with Trent Mitchell. I don’t know if I can listen to him go on and on about how amazing he is or what expensive thing he just bought his new trophy wife without punching him in the face.
“Well—” Trent starts, but Henry cuts him off.
“I understand it’s challenging to work with another company on things like this, but since you both specialize in different portions of the job, we need to understand which team performs better when workingwith Jaxonto make the final decision.”
That…well, that sucks, but I can see why it would be challenging for them to pick between our two teams. Mitchell Security is known for its boots-on-the-ground security personnel, and KH Security excels at security logistics and using technology to pre-assess risks. When working with a large client like Jaxon, the security company manages all the protection officers and weeds out threats before they are even physically there, but comparing Mitchell and KH is like comparing apples to oranges—we’re both fruit; which one you want depends on preferences and needs, not superiority.
Henry continues, “After the stalking incident during the US portion of the tour and the issues we had with his previous security team not responding the way we would’ve preferred, we feel it’s vital to try out the firms before we commit to a three- or five-year security contract. But, because of coordination issues we’ve had in the past when we tried to contract with more than one team, we will be pickingjust oneof your firms to work with moving forward.”
Henry claps his hands together lightly, taking in everyone’s faces before continuing, “So, in summary, you’ll each get a seven-weekcontract with us. At the end of the seven weeks, Jaxon and his team will be selecting one—only one—company for his long-term security contract.”
Shit. Shit, shit, shit.
I can’t say no, even if the thought of working with Trent Mitchell for seven weeks makes me want to stick a fork in my eye. This is a huge deal for my team, and so many people have worked their tails off getting us to the point where we would even be competitive for this type of contract—though in this case, it’s clear Jaxon is playing favorites with Wild Bluffs teams…even if it makes no sense. Last I knew, Jaxon hadn’t set foot in town since he walked away from everything and everyone in Wild Bluffs the day he turned eighteen.
“Well, that sounds like quite the opportunity,” I say. “While I’m confident in KH Security’s ability to provide the highest-quality protection officers in the business, I have no doubt our team will be able to support the operations of Mitchell’s CPOs while also focusing on threat assessment and security analysis.”
Gross. I can almost taste the corporate bullshit lingering in my mouth.
Trent stares at me from across the table before looking at his brother, who is taking notes next to him. “I can’t wait to have you as part of the team, Kelsey,” he says with a malicious grin.
“I’m not part of your—” I start, but am cut off by Jaxon.
“Great,” he says as he stands. “Then it’s settled. We’ll see you all in Vancouver in January. Henry will put you in contact with Gail, who will be your point of contact moving forward with the contracts.”
Trent and I both shake Jaxon’s hand.
“I’m glad to have people I can trust on board,” he says before walking out the door.
“Gail will send the formal contracts later today so we can get the ball rolling,” Henry says, quickly following Jaxon out.
There is a stunned silence as we all stand there. I look at Lila, but from the “what the hell?” look on her face, it’s clear she’s not sure what to make of the quick meeting either.
