“I seem to literally be in the way right now of you and the paperwork you all need to discuss. Had I known you were in the kitchen, I would have put clothes on.”
“That would do everyone a disservice,” Knox chimes, pumping his eyebrows up and down.
“We need to focus,” Jax says, bringing everyone back to the topic at hand.
“I don’t want to beat around the bush because the lawyers will be here within the hour to potentially finalize this.”
“Potentially?” I ask, curiosity peaked. As of last night, it sounded like a done deal. “I thought she accepted with a small request.”
“We all think it’s small.”
“Ok, so?”
Jax blurts, “She countered, you need to be part owner. Equal owner.”
“Wait, what? Me? Why? We’ve already talked about this.”
I try to ignore the look on Knox’s face. He’s been so excited about getting Allure back and right now he looks like a kid who’s just had their ice cream stolen.
“We just got off the phone with her and she had a long explanation and honestly, we stopped listening because we were sold before it was even a condition of hers. Simply put, she stated a female’s perspective is vital to the success of the club. She said that for so long, women have been forbidden to take pleasure in sex. They were purely reproductive instruments. A place for a man to stick their cock and a place to carry his child. If the woman couldn’t do that, she was expendable. Sammie believes that while we have evolved leaps and bounds from where we were, women are still subconsciously held to those standards. A man who bangs a lot of women is a baller. A woman who bangs a lot of men is a whore.”
I couldn’t argue with that and it sounds just like something Sammie would say.
“She said it’s really important to her to have a female perspective at Allure, to ensure women feel safe at the club. Safe and confident. Confident to explore what drives them, what satisfies them. She wants to do a monthly get together or something for all the women of the club, but she was still working out the details. She wants to empower them to take their sex back. I think that was her working motto.”
“Wow. So…” I pull up a seat and let all the words seep into my brain. “So, in order for this deal to go through, I would need to agree to be an equal owner?”
Knox walks around to stand beside Emmett and starts placing kisses on my neck.
“Knox, you aren’t playing fair,” I moan as my body betrays me, giving him more access.
“What?” he whispers, his lips barely brushing along my neck.
“Do you want to be an owner with us?” Jax asks, rubbing circles on the counter.
“I do, but.”
“But. I don’t like buts,” Knox says, stepping back a foot from me. “Except for yours. I love yours, but-”
“Shut the fuck up, Knox,” Jax commands. He was still a little cross with Knox for the whole thong dong pics. Knox has been avoiding Jax as much as possible today for fear of an attack.
“What? Sorry. You know I ramble when I get nervous.”
Jax face softens and he just rolls his eyes.
“I don’t have the capital to contribute to this very large offer. It’s unfair for me to be a partial owner without giving anything.”
“Ev. We don’t care about the money.”
“I do,” I snap, then quickly correct so they don’t get the wrong idea. “I don’t want you to ever feel like I’m taking advantage of you. The fact you gave me the house.” My arm flings into the air towards the direction of my house, which admittedly, I’m hardly ever at.
“You’re paying us rent,” Callum says.
My hip pops up and my head falls to the side. “I know I’m paying you rent.” I also know he’s just funneling the money away into a bank account for me. He doesn’t think I know, but I saw it by accident when I was looking for some paper in the office a week or so ago.
I glance at the clock.
Fifteen minutes.
