Open Doors (Suncoast Society #27)(2)

Ed Payne laughed. “Sorry. I’m an attorney. When we had almost seventy people show up for that first party, I realized you were putting yourself under some serious liability.”

“Kaden didn’t bug me about it.”

“Yeah, and Kaden was up in Atlanta and missed that first party, remember? Had he been there, he would have been pulling you aside, just like I did.”

“Marcia nearly killed me when I told her we were turning it into a business.” Derrick snickered. “Then I couldn’t hide my plans from her any longer. Or the money I spent on it. Man, those were some fun times.”

“I don’t think you know what that word means,” Gilo teased. “I remember her looking perpetually pissed off for a few weeks after you told her you were incorporating and everything.”

“She got over it. Pretty quickly, actually. Someone had to do it. At the time, we were the only ones who could do it, if it was actually going to happen.”

Derrick looked around. “It’s so different now. It feels like home, but I can remember that first day when Kel and I were walking through here and figuring out how we could set it up to be a great party space. It was a blank canvas.”

“Well, I knew I had to rent the place out,” Kel said. “If we didn’t grab it then, I didn’t know when another unit might come up available for rental again. I didn’t want to lose it. I’m the landlord, but I can’t leave a unit just sitting vacant forever without anyone in it. Besides, the zoning was perfect, no churches or schools around, and the other businesses aren’t here on the weekend nights to see anything. It was like it was meant to be.”

Rusty McElroy nodded. “That’s because it was.” He looked from the new doorway to Derrick, who sat across the table from him. “Do you have any idea how many lives you’ve touched in a positive way because of this club? How many people have made changes for the better because of this place?”

He pointed at Tony and Kel. “Cases in point, right there.” Then to Gilo. “Him, too. Met the loves of their lives through being members here.” He indicated Seth. “We’re an adopted family and took him in when Kaden asked us to make sure to keep an eye on them after he…”

Rusty’s voice choked up and it took him a moment to speak again. “Those are only the people actually sitting here,” he eventually continued. “This place isn’t just about fun, it’s about finding yourself and where you belong. Your tribe. And I’m damn glad to say I’m proud to be a part of it.”

“Here, here,” the others echoed.

“I’m glad you all are here, too,” Derrick said. “We never could have done it without all of you.”





Chapter Two


Then…



Marcia stared at her husband.

She’d been silently staring at him for well over a minute.

To be honest, it sort of had him a little concerned.

Um, okay, a lot concerned.

“Well, say something,” Derrick finally said to break the uncomfortable silence and tension more than anything.

“All right.” She cocked her head at him, her gaze narrowing. “Are you out of your goddamned mind?”

Finally. “No, it makes sense. You said yourself it’d be nice to have a play space here in the area, instead of having to hoof it all the way up to Tampa or Orlando to one of the clubs up there.”

She blinked, staring. Finally, “I didn’t mean you should open one.”

“We.”

She not only arched an eyebrow at him, but she cocked her head in the other direction and planted her hands on her hips.

Oh, boy.

“We?” she asked after another long, tense, uncomfortable silence.

“Yes. We.” He pulled her into his arms. “We, because someone said they wanted to be my slave, and agreed to it when we got married.” He reached up and gently fisted her hair, tipping her head back so he could nibble along the base of her throat.

Playing dirty to get her close to subspace, yes, he’d admit it.

But if it got her to agree to this, he didn’t care.

“Otherwise,” he said, “we’ll just have to keep having house parties. And we won’t be able to hold classes like we’ve talked about. Or have the kinky community center that we’ve always dreamed about.”

She sighed. “Okay, fine.” She managed to look up at him. “That’s sooo not fair you playing the Master card and dropping me into subspace to get your way.”

He grinned. “Who said anything about me being fair?”

“Not me.” She rested her head against his chest. “So when is our first party?”

“A week from this coming Saturday.”

She stared up at him. “You’re shitting me, right?”

“No. We’ve got people who’ve already volunteered to bring play furniture. Everyone will bring their own folding chairs. The unit has working AC, and we’ve got someone bringing sound equipment we can borrow. It already has bathrooms. And a couple of people are going to bring some work lights so we don’t have to keep the house lights up. Kaden’s going to loan us some of his Christmas lights. We can tack them up on the walls for mood lighting.”

“This sounds like a permanent situation.”