When I'm with You (Hope Town #3)(8)
“Did you think that maybe that’s because I’ve been looking forward to showing it off a little? Fuck! This is getting so old; the constant assumption that I’m going to f*ck it all up because I’m not as driven as Dani.”
“That’s not what I mean, and you know it.”
I do, which sucks, but I can’t help but get pissed that we always seem to have this fight. “I’m sorry. What can I tell you so that you can stop worrying that I’m going to go off the deep end and end up homeless?”
“Don’t be a smartass.”
Throwing my hands up, I lean back in my chair and scowl at him, measuring my words so that maybe, hopefully, he will get it. “How’s this,” I start. “I’ve saved up enough money to buy the old club outright as well as the two units that were on either side. I’ve been able to get all of the renovations finished on the budget that I set, without having to get a loan, and I did that by being hands-on and doing most of the work myself. My business plan is solid. Regardless of the fact that I didn’t actually finish school to get my degree, I did remember the shit I learned. I’ve already hired a complete staff as well as worked out a plan to ensure that if I don’t start turning an immediate profit, I’ll be fine. I have entertainment booked so far in advance I could sit on my ass and drink at the bar instead of actually work once I open. All permits and licenses are in my possession and the interest for opening night was so heavy that I’ve had to sell tickets, and those sold out in four minutes and sixteen seconds. You think that’s enough to stop worrying about me? I’m already in the black on Dirty Dog and the doors aren’t even open.”
I know I’ve shocked him because, by the time I finish talking, his mouth is wide open. Yeah, guess there wasn’t too much faith in his little boy, after all.
“You’re in the black?”
Taking another calming breath, I relax in my seat. “I’ve saved every dime I’ve ever gotten or made for almost twenty-eight years. Aside from buying my truck and the house, I haven’t touched a dime. Further, when my trust was released, I didn’t touch that either. Instead, I invested all of that and it grew. It grew a lot. Everything I’ve ever had or made has been building for this, Dad. Just because I didn’t talk about my future dreams like Dani didn’t mean I didn’t have them.”
He doesn’t speak, but I can see the pride in his eyes. As good as it is to finally see, it’s annoying that I had to prove myself in order to have it.
“I’m not sure what to say, son.”
“How about start with I’m sorry and end with how you’re going to let Mom know she can stop losing sleep.”
“Smartass.” He laughs, easing some of the tension in the room. “I’m sorry, Nate. I worry about you just as your mom does, and that’s never going to change. We don’t compare you to your sister, but it’s hard for us not to have concerns when you two are traveling on completely different roads.”
“One of these days, you’re going to realize that I like being on my own road.”
He laughs again. “You always have, son, always have.”
AFTER MY TALK WITH MY dad, I finished what I needed to on the case I was working there. It’s a simple, well … not-so-simple hack and monitor of a large corporation out of Atlanta that suspects one of their chief financial operators to be laundering money. Tedious but easy, since the owner had given me full access to their secure network, camera systems, as well as the cameras in the CFO’s penthouse paid for by the company. It’s taken me spending two months deep in cyberspace, but I’ve finally uncovered almost all of the f*cker’s dirty secrets.
Maddox hadn’t come in by the time I finished up, and I needed to get over to Dirty Dog, so I saved my shit and left. I avoided stopping by my dad’s office. Instead, I pulled out my phone to call Shane—my soon-to-be club manager—in order to be too busy to talk to anyone I passed.
“Headed to Dirty, want to meet me there?” I ask when he picks up.
“Already there.” And he disconnects.
I laugh to myself and toss my phone over on the passenger seat of my truck before pulling myself in.
Shane’s been a damn good friend since we met during my short attendance at the University of Georgia. I say short because I was more interested in partying than I was going to class. How we met was unconventional, at best, but he’s been around for almost a decade and proven his loyalty to me more than once.
By the time I make the half-hour drive to what used to be Club Carnal, I’m about to come out of my skin with excitement about today. When I told my dad I had enough entertainment booked, I wasn’t kidding, but a large part of that is because about seventy-five percent of that entertainment is in-house.
Dirty Dog is, in a sense, my play on Coyote Ugly. Only, because I know where the money is from experience, we won’t have smoking hot chicks dancing on the bar. We’ve split the old club into two sections, which is the main reason I bought both surrounding units and knocked down some walls.
The entrance is on the side now, going into the first building on the side of the old club. When you walk in, there is now a large ‘holding area.’ Our hope is that we’re so popular that there will always be a line, but by creating the holding area, no one will ever have to stand in the elements. It was a bitch getting that set up with fire codes and all, but we eventually decided that unit would stay intact with just a single black door added inside to lead to Dirty Dog. Our way of saying f*ck you to building code and the fire marshal’s rules; even if we’re the most popular club in the southeast, the holding area will never f*ck with the club’s max out capacity since it’s a large area in its own right.