Distraction (Club Destiny #8)(35)

Turning away from them, Dylan headed toward an empty table in the far corner, hidden partially in shadow. Not many people were in that area and he wasn’t disappointed by that. He needed a little time to acclimate to the place. It had been a long damn time since he’d been out like this. Meaningless hook-ups weren’t his thing, no matter how much he tried to make himself believe otherwise.

“Hey, man.”

Dylan turned at the deep voice that sounded from his right. He smiled when Luke McCoy approached, holding out his hand to shake when Luke joined him. “How’re you?”

“Damn good,” Luke said with a smirk, giving Dylan’s shoulder a squeeze. “Never thought I’d see this day. Glad you could make it.” Luke peered around briefly. “You bring a date?”

That seemed to be the question of the hour.

“Not tonight, no.” Hell, he didn’t know a single woman who would be comfortable in a place like this. For a brief second, he tried to imagine Sarah here, but he couldn’t see it. She was far too sweet and innocent for a place like this.

“Well, there’re plenty of singles here tonight.”

“I noticed.”

The place was packed. Not body to body, but as the minutes ticked by, it seemed more and more people were coming in. He had no idea how many people officially belonged to this club, but he figured probably a couple hundred. Not to mention their guests.

“You doin’ all right?” Luke asked, drawing Dylan’s attention back to him.

“Yeah. Hangin’ in there.”

“I was talkin’ to Alex. He told me y’all are considering a merger?”

Dylan nodded. “It’s a done deal. Inevitable, really,” he admitted.

It was no secret that CISS wasn’t doing so hot these days. There were quite a few security companies in the area, one in particular that seemed to be choking out the rest of them.

“Sniper 1 Security’s not a bad way to go,” Luke admitted.

“No, it’s not. And if they agree to take us on, which it looks like they are, then we’re all set.” Although Sniper 1 would consolidate the home-monitoring division, keeping a majority of CISS’s employees, they would still have to eliminate a few positions. Dylan knew Alex was fighting tooth and nail to keep every employee they had, though, so negotiations were going slow.

“Glad to hear it. I think that’ll take a lot of pressure off Alex.”

Dylan was sure it would. Unfortunately, a lot of that pressure had been Dylan’s fault. If he hadn’t been so selfish over the past few years, giving in to the depression and ignoring everything else, he wanted to believe their company could still be thriving.

But one thing he knew for certain, he couldn’t change the past. Moving forward, one step at a time, was his only option.

“If you’re looking to invest in something else,” Luke began, turning to face Dylan completely, “you might want to talk to Trent Ramsey.”

“Your silent partner?”

Luke grinned. “Wish someone would explain the silent part of that to him. He’s in the process of opening another club. Cole and I will be involved, but he’s looking for someone who can manage the thing when he’s not here. His acting career hasn’t slowed down, but he’s insistent that this is what he really wants to do.”

Dylan considered that for a moment. He’d been tossing around a few ideas of his own, trying to figure out what he was going to do with the rest of his life. “Thanks. I’m definitely open to talking to him.”

“I’ll tell him to give you a call,” Luke noted. “Well, I need to go find Cole and Sierra. If you need anything, holler.”

“Will do,” Dylan said, forcing a smile. “Thanks.”

“Anytime, man. Have fun tonight. Let loose a little.”

That was the plan, but he didn’t tell Luke as much. Instead, he downed the rest of his 7-Up, and then ordered another when a scantily clad waitress stopped by his table.

While he waited, Dylan realized the night was going to be over before it ever started. Even though his body temperature was rising thanks to the fantastic visuals going on around him, he simply couldn’t see himself getting involved with any of these women, single or otherwise. Sure, the idea of them was fantastic. Although Meghan hadn’t ever been into the adventurous stuff, she’d obliged Dylan’s kinky side a time or two before they were married. Not as much as he would’ve liked, but he’d loved her enough that he’d buried that side of himself.

Didn’t mean he wasn’t interested in letting it out from time to time. Only he’d been hoping for something a little more than one encounter in front of a bunch of strangers. He still couldn’t stop thinking about the night he’d fucked Sarah up against her living room wall. The woman had been so uninhibited it had actually shocked him. That night, no doubt about it, had probably been the most intense sexual experience of his life, and it had been vanilla compared to some of his darker desires.

Which was either sad or scary.

He didn’t mind the voyeurism or the public exhibitionism, which Devotion offered plenty of. Those drew his interest. He also didn’t mind the sharing. It was something he longed to do again, but he wasn’t sure it was in the cards for him. No matter what, he wanted to experience this with a woman he’d wake up next to in the morning, not one who would disappear from his bed—or him from hers—before the sun was up.