Corey hadeverything under control there. He was busy unpacking snacks and drinks that, to anyone unfamiliar with what was going on here, would seem out of place.
“Hey boss,”Corey greeted me when he noticed me leaning against the end of the bar. “Things are crazy around here, huh?”
“No crazier than usual,”I remarked. “I’m excited to see everything starting to come together. Do you think many will come out tonight?”
Corey wasthe eyes and ears of The Lodge. Nothing happened that he didn’t know about. If anyone had been making negative comments about the changes we had in the works, he’d be the first to hear it. No, they wouldn’t come directly to him to complain, but he had a knack for picking up on any conversation that directly impacted business.
“Hard to tell,”he hedged. “A lot of the people who are interested in stuff like this, aren’t the same ones to hang out here every week. I think we can definitely draw them in, but it’s going to take effort.”
While he made a valid point,it concerned me. I would’ve been much happier had he given me a resounding yes.
“Don’t get me wrong,I think it’s awesome what you’re trying to do. We need more places we can be ourselves.” He dipped is face away from me, likely just realizing what he had divulged.
We?Well, that was certainly a surprise.
Corey must have noticedmy failed attempt to school my features. “I get it, boss man. You don’t exactly look at someone like me and think I’d be into any of that.” He waved a hand toward the other side of the room. “But, maybe, that’s exactly why what you’re doing is so important. Most clubs claim to be accepting and open. You hear it everywhere you go—no kink-shaming, your kink isn’t my kink and that’s okay—all the catchphrases. But then, someone like me walks into a kink club and I don’t see anyone I can relate to. All of the more popular kinks are hot enough to look at, but they’re nothing that really speaks to me. What you’re doing does.”
“And isthat why you made a run to the store to change up what we’re carrying at the bar?”
Corey’s chin dipped again, and his shoulders curled forward as if he was in trouble. “Hey, I’m not scolding you. I’m just curious about these new additions.”
I pickedup the juice boxes, noticing they were name brand and organic. Good. If we were going to do this, I wanted us to be all-in. I’d done some research after my first conversation with Sam, and nothing like our play place existed within two hundred miles.
“Oh.”He brightened a bit, nearly bouncing on the balls of his feet as he continued stocking the chip rack with an assortment of cookies, animal crackers, and even those little fish-shaped snacks that seem to be a hit with toddlers. “Yeah. I talked to Sam about it a little bit. He said it would be okay.”
“Why didn’t you ask William?”It wasn’t like Corey to circumvent anyone, so I wasn’t worried he’d gone to Sam, instead of me, because he feared I would mock him or deny his request. But tonight’s event wasn’t part of the renovations, it was an exhibition just like we did almost every weekend.
Corey just shook his head.It seemed my observations a while back, about there being bad blood of some sort between them, hadn’t been my imagination. At some point, one of them needed to explain to me what was going on, because I couldn’t have my head bartender and the friend I’d put in charge of community education, at odds.
I heldup my hands in surrender. “Okay. Not going to push you to talk to me. But you know you can, right?”
“Yeah, boss.”His mood seemed to brighten enough, I felt comfortable leaving him to his work.
“Good.”I rapped my knuckles on the edge of the bar a couple of times, ready to go check in with Sam.
“Hey boss,”Corey called out before I made it three steps away from the bar. I turned back to him. “You know, the same goes. I don’t think you need it or anything, because you’ve been really happy lately, but if you ever need someone to talk to, I’m here.”
“That’s a very kind offer, Corey.”One I wouldn’t take him up on because I would always try to maintain a separation between my business life and what was going on in my personal life. It wasn’t right for me to unload on one of my employees. That’s what I had William for. And since he’d made it abundantly clear he never wanted to be on the payroll, I didn’t have to worry about losing my confidant.
“And,you know, if you ever wanted to bring someone down here, we’d all have his back,” Corey added when I tried to step away again before things got awkward. “I mean, if he needed that. Not saying there is anyone, but you’ve seemed happier lately, so I thought maybe…”
“Are you fishing for gossip, Corey?”I teased, and he quickly shook his head. “I’ll remember that. And maybe I will invite him to visit sometime.”
Sometime wound upbeing less than an hour later, when my phone lit up with a new text message from Slade.
Slow night.Eli’s cutting me early.
I wasn’tsure I believed in fate or anything like that, but I couldn’t deny I was curious how Slade would react if he was exposed to more kinks. Knowing him, he’d probably walk around making mental notes about various things he wanted me to try on him.
Not that therewould be a damn thing wrong with that. I wanted to share everything with him. If there was something he was curious about, I wanted to be the one to show him.
Before I could second-guess myself,I tapped out a quick reply.
We havea little event taking place tonight. Want to come down and see it?
Depends on what it is,Slade replied.
Even though Ididn’t think he’d be repulsed, I couldn’t bring myself to lay it all on the table. This was one of those things he needed to see to understand.
