Salt Kiss (Lyonesse #1)

nineteen

A Slovakian businessman is coming to the club this weekend, and we meet with the head of his private security on Wednesday in Mark’s office. Mark is there, along with myself, Goran, Nat, and Dinah. It’s ten in the morning, the mood is tense, and Mark is already drinking his customary gin on the rocks, which I can tell is irritating the Slovakian security lead.

The lead glances over to Mark, who’s sprawled in his office chair, swirling his glass so that the ice clinks along the sides. It’s the lazy persona he normally adopts in the club at night, and I don’t understand why he’s adopting it right now. This serves nothing except to ruffle Mr. Kulov’s feathers.

“I need more assurances that this open house will be safe for my client,” Kulov says, his eyes narrowed on Mark before he looks back to Goran and Nat. “We were not aware that the club opened itself to nonmembers.”