I shrugged.Probably, but I’m not sure I haven’t already ruined any chance I might have.
He smiled and gave me a quick nod.You’ll be just fine.
I shrugged again before backing away. It seemed I wasn’t the only one interested in seeing what
was happening inside the new space. I mirrored Jack’s position, leaning against the opposite side of
the doorway.
“Seems to be a hit so far,” I commented. It was interesting to see how Slade and Jordan were
sticking to the section that could just as easily be for college guys as for those who regressed to their
early teens, while Corey was happy as could be at the other end of the room. He had a line of cars
along the edge of the low table, and his tongue peeked out of the corner of his mouth as he colored.
“You know you’re going to have to shut this down soon, right?”
“Why’s that?” Jack couldn’t take his eyes off his boy. Love definitely looked good on him.
“Man, get him down here and you go blind to what’s happening in the club.” I hadn’t meant for the
words to come out sounding like as much of an accusation as they had. Seeing him out here, yet
distracted, was an improvement. Jack was typically either hyper-focused on every little thing or he
was hiding back in his office. Eventually, he’d find his middle ground. “There are already at least a
dozen guys who keep looking over this way. They know the room isn’t open yet, but once they see the
three of them in there playing, it’s going to be hard to keep them away.”
“They can see it this weekend when we officially open.” Secretly, I think Jack liked the idea of a
select few getting to play before anyone else. Maybe we could issue a few invitations to those who
were here tonight so they could still feel like VIPs with early access. “And maybe it’s good to make
them wait. Build up the buzz a little bit.”
“Buzz is good.” When you ran a business that had to be careful with more popular means of
promotion, word-of-mouth was key.
The two of us sat and watched Slade, Jordan, and Corey play for a few minutes. I wasn’t
surprised when Jack asked the question I knew had been coming.
“Something going on between you and Corey?”
I wasn’t going to disrespect him by trying to skirt around the truth. Jack deserved to know where
things stood.
“Not for lack of trying,” I admitted.
“Didn’t see him as your type.”
