“Bullshit. You don’t get growly and possessive. Ever. So, tell me about this boy you claim you don’t have.” William never knew when to leave well enough alone. He was like a damned hound dog, nosing around until he wore the other person down to the point that they shared far more than they were comfortable with. “You might be able to evade most people, but I’m not most people. I was starting to think you’d never get your ass back in the game after Colin.”
“You and me both,” I admitted. “And I’m not sure you can say I am back in the game, just because I had one really good encounter with a boy. Hell, all I meant to do was give him a ride home from my brother’s. Then I started to see him and I don’t think he’s used to that, so I couldn’t leave him. I wanted—”
“You tried to fix him, didn’t you?” William massaged his temples and let out a loud sigh. “You can’t do that, Jack. It never ends well for you. Haven’t you learned anything?” He shook his head and took a drink of his water. “Well, the damage is done now. Did you, riding in on your white horse work?”
God, he sounded so much like Slade when the boy accused me of trying to be his knight in shining armor.
“For a day or two, yeah. But how do I know he’s not going to get sick of me and block my number?” It might feel as if he’d always been part of my life, waiting in the wings for me to notice him, but I needed to remember this was all new. At some point, we’d both slow down, and I wasn’t confident he’d still accept my guidance when he realized what he’d done.
“Seriously, Jack, insecurity is not a good look for you,” William pointed out. “What’s the real problem here?”
“I like him,” I replied. William chuckled at the confusion in my tone as I admitted that I genuinely liked Slade. Not as a fun little toy to blow off some steam with, but as something more. He’d offered me tiny glimpses of what lay under the mask he wore to keep everyone at a distance, and I was determined to strip him until he was vulnerable and couldn’t hide from me.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“It is. He needs someone, there’s no doubt about that.” God, if ever there was someone who needed a Daddy to keep him in check, it was Slade. I had The Lodge to worry about, and even if I had been considering turning more of the responsibilities over to Sam, I still needed to be here. At the end of the day, this was my business, and its success or failure rested on my shoulders. I had no place taking on a needy boy right now. “But I don’t know that I’m the right man for the job.”
“It’s only as bad as you make it in your mind, Jack. If I know you, you’ve already written out a bullet point list of all the reasons you are the wrong Daddy for him.”
I shrugged.
“That’s a horrible way to live, Jack.” William squeezed my shoulder until I looked up from the scuffed bar to meet his eyes. “For once, I dare you to do what feels good, instead of what you convince yourself is right. Rip up all the lists and spreadsheets. Stop thinking of your life as a set of goals to be met. Because, I’ve gotta tell you, if you get to the very end and look back, you are going to have a hell of a lot more regrets if you’re sitting there alone than if you weren’t here seven nights a week.”
“You make it sound like I live here,” I argued.
William’s face twisted up in disbelief. “You said yourself that you’re here every night. When was the last time you didn’t at least stop by just to check on things?”
He had me there. The Lodge was centrally located to everything else in my life. I’d done that on purpose, because this club had always been the one project I took on for myself. It wasn’t someone else’s business to throw money and reap a percentage of the profits. The Lodge was my own brainchild, and I wouldn’t step aside and let anyone else mismanage it.
But you have a strong staff now, the voice that sounded like Slade pointed out.You don’t have to micromanage everything anymore.
William opened his mouth to say something, but cut himself off, grinding his teeth for a moment before his lip turned up in disgust. He jerked his head toward the lounge area. “Let’s take this someplace else.”
I checked over my shoulder and saw Cory, the lead bartender, making his way in from the break room. He was sporting a sheepish look, as if he was nervous about facing William.
What the hell was going on there? How did I not know why both of them looked upset about seeing the other?
“Easy. As much as you tell yourself you’re here to keep an eye on things, you’re really just hiding out,” William responded.
Shit. Had I said that out loud?
As if sensing my embarrassment, William squeezed my shoulder. “This is exactly what I’m talking about, Jack. You can lie to yourself and say it’s critical for you to be here every day of the week, but, the way I see it, you’re not doing anybody any good if you are sitting behind that slab of mahogany, shuffling papers from one stack to another, trying to feel important.”
As I lowered myself onto one of the plush, tufted leather couches in the corner of the room, I blinked a few times, seeing the club through fresh eyes. At one point, the room felt cold and somewhat uninviting. That was by design, because it was what the market research I had done before opening the first King club in Annandale told me people wanted.
But, somewhere along the way, things had subtly changed. Nothing major, but enough to make a huge difference. A pile of oversized throw pillows and a few velvety blankets, carefully draped over the back of some of the couches, transformed the space into something inviting. It felt like a contemporary living room on steroids. I liked it, and owed Sam kudos for the initiative he’d obviously shown. The fact he’d done all this without me knowing was like a bucket of cold water, waking me to the realization that William’s criticism was both warranted and probably a long time coming.
“Fine, maybe you’re right,” I conceded. Somewhere along the way, I’d stopped spending every minute working and I’d buried myself in a facade. I bent at the waist, resting my elbows on my knees as I tangled my fingers through my hair. “But how am I supposed to relax if I have no clue what’s going on? Sam is damn good at what he does, but he’s about as anti-confrontational as they come.”
“You’re not wrong about that.” William chuckled, scrubbing a hand over his stubbled cheek. “What if I offered to help you? I know this place as well as just about anyone, and you trust me. Give me the keys and let the troops know there’s a new general in town when you’re not here.”
“Why would you do that? Every time I’ve tried putting you on the payroll, you act like I’ve offered you a poisoned apple.”
“That’s because the thought of working for you is about as appealing as a root canal,” William quipped. “I’m not trying to needle my way into a job here, Jack. I am trying to help out a friend who took care of me when I was in a rough spot. The way I see it, this boy who’s got you running scared isn’t the only one who needs a set of rules. The problem is you need someone big and bad enough to put you in your place.”
William flashed me a feral grin and cracked his knuckles. A lesser man might have been intimidated. Me? I was more annoyed than anything.
“If you think I am going to let you dictate how I should run my life, you’ve got another think coming. Not sure you’ve noticed, but I’m not so good at being the one taking the orders,” I admitted. William laughed, and I felt my cheeks flush. There’d been one time when I had stepped in to help him with a class. To say things didn’t go well was an understatement, and William still liked to give me a hard time about it every now and then.
