Open Doors (Suncoast Society #27)(16)

Derrick lay there, still awake even after he felt her body relax and heard her breathing slow and deepen.

He couldn’t help it. He felt guilty she’d had to work as hard as she had and didn’t even get to play and enjoy it.

Yes, the energy tonight had been amazing. It was wonderful seeing so many of their friends playing and happy and having a great time, and knowing their hard work was the reason.

The start of something big.

Closing his eyes, he knew he wouldn’t get to sleep anytime soon. So many ideas raced through his mind, things to do for the club, things to check on, stuff to prep before the next party, ways to improve what they’d done. Equipment to build, things he’d like to do…

So much.

Talk about a to-do list from hell.

He did worry a little about liability. That was a large number of people to have gathered together. It was only a matter of time before something happened, accidentally or as a result of play, that opened them to liability.

Getting insurance, which he still hadn’t done yet, had now moved to the top of his priority list. Yes, Kel had insurance on the unit, but they needed their own liability insurance.

But whose name to put it in? He didn’t want to put it in his business name, that would be silly as well as an unnecessary risk. Not to mention he didn’t want the club tied to his accounting business. He didn’t really want the LLC having his personal name on it, either.

I guess there is a talk with Kaden in my near future.

He’d hoped to avoid a massive outlay in legal expenses, because that would only piss Marcia off on top of the work they had to put into the space, but if he didn’t want to have that worry hanging over his head he knew he’d have to figure out a way to swing it.

I’m a lucky guy. I hope my luck holds and she doesn’t kill me when we have to spend that money to incorporate.





Chapter Eight


Early Monday morning, Derrick met Ed Payne for breakfast a little after six o’clock. He wasn’t exactly sure why his friend had called him late yesterday evening and asked for the meeting—although he had his suspicions.

From the tone of his friend’s voice, he knew it had to be pretty serious. Marcia drove separately that morning, not wanting to leave so early for work.

Once the waitress took their order, Ed wasted no time. He leaned in and dropped his voice.

“You can’t do this every month,” Ed told him. “The parties. You can’t. Not like that.”

“Sure we can. Twice a month.”

“Seriously. There were people having sex.”

“Blowjobs aren’t sex.”

Ed arched an eyebrow at him. “Really? Don’t even.”

“Hey, it was a great party. Like a giant house party without the house.” Although he already knew exactly where Ed was going with this.

Ed slowly shook his head at Derrick. “I was thinking you were going to have twenty-five, thirty people. Maybe fortyish. Max. You cannot run this like a garage party. You had over sixty people there. This needs to get set up as a business, immediately. And you can’t let people have any kind of sex. Vibrator play, yes. Otherwise, that’s just asking to get you shut down. When I called Kaden yesterday, he told me he went through all the zoning stuff with you a while back.”

“There were seventy-two people, not counting us and everyone who helped out as a DM or volunteer. But we’re not even a business. We’re just renting the space.”

“Exactly. That’s even worse, because it puts not only you and Marcia at risk, but Kel, too. Look, I’m your friend. More importantly, I’m your attorney’s business partner. And I’m telling you, you cannot run this place like that. It needs to be legal, or you’re asking to get shut down and risking you and your friends getting outed. You need to set it up as a private membership club, with an offshore parent company owning the LLC to keep people’s names off it. Don’t give me any excuses, because Kaden said he went over this with you already.”

“Yeah,” he grumbled. “And are you going to handle my divorce for free when Marcia kills me for spending that much money on what’s supposed to be a hobby?”

Ed grinned. “If you’re dead, she’ll be a widow. Kaden and I will handle her probate and murder trial for gratis. It’ll be great free promo for the firm. And for the club.”

“Gee, thanks.” Derrick sipped his coffee.

“Seriously. FYI, Kaden agreed with me that you need to do this the right way.”

“Spoken like my attorneys.”

“Spoken like your friends. The last thing I want to see you do is lose your business or your house or your marriage—or even your freedom, depending on what happens—over all of this. It’s not worth it. The peace of mind alone should make it worth your while.”

Derrick sat back, mulling it over. In the back of his mind, he’d suspected he’d get an ass-chewing from Kaden over it once his friend got home, but thought he might at least have a few days until that happened. “So how long will this take to do? And what do we tell people for the next party?”

“The truth. You e-mail the new rules in the next invite and tell them your attorney came down on you for it. They all know Kaden, if not me. Anyone who’s not okay with the new rules? Well, they don’t get to come to the party. Eventually, they’ll have to decide if they really want to miss out on the fun when they keep hearing about what everyone’s doing. They want sex, they can do it at home. Of everyone there, only about five of them had ‘sex’ that would have triggered an arrest. And most of the people who came to the party don’t have a St. Andrew’s cross in their living room.”