18. Chapter Seventeen
Mac had texted Janie to let her know he was going into work but if she needed anything, to call him. He had meant every word he said to her and he hoped she believed him. He would do anything for her.
Well, within reason. If she wanted to eat only candy for dinner, that was going to be a no. She needed something that would fuel her body, not send her into a sugar high and fall asleep. Candy wasn’t a problem, but if it started to substitute for eating meals, then it became a problem.
“Hey, can I talk to you about money?” Marco asked as he walked into the office. “If it’s a bad time, I can come later.”
Mac shook his head. “Right now is great.” He needed to stop daydreaming about Janie and Eleanor.
His heart had beated faster when Eleanor wanted to be held the other day when she came home. Eleanor was starting to get more comfortable around him and he was there for it. He didn’t want her to be scared of him or hesitant to do anything.
“If right now isn’t good, I can come back later. It isn’t super pressing,” Marco said.
“No, I’ve got nothing going on right now,” Mac said. “What did you need to talk about?”
Marco walked further into his office and sat down in front of his desk.
“I wanted to talk about security and money going towards that. I don’t know how much is in the budget,” Marco said.
“Sorry about that. I was going to send it out today, but talk to me about what you’re thinking,” Mac said.
It had been on his to do list for a week now. Figuring out how much money should go towards each little department or what they needed within the club was hard. Everyone needed something and they needed to figure out what was super important and what could wait until they had the money for it.
They had the money for the majority of what needed to be done. The club was doing well and business was booming even further. They were going to be opening up a club in Virginia soon and they couldn’t wait for that.
“I was thinking that we could reinforce the back door to the employees room. Maybe change the door or put more locks on it so it isn’t as easy to get into,” Marco said. “I would also like to upgrade and add a few more cameras in the club. We’ve got a couple blindspots and I would like to fix that.”
Mac nodded his head. Those were all super important things. Especially since Sofia had gotten hurt in the club. That had put everyone on edge, but they had gotten rid of Lucy. They were slowly reassuring everyone that nothing like that was going to happen again. Extra screening was already implemented if someone wanted to join the club or even work for them.
“Okay, I agree with you on those things,” Mac said. “Do you know how much it’s going to cost?”
Marco shook his head. “I don’t, but I was going to talk to Oliver and Leo about the security cameras and what they think would be best. While security is my specialty, they were in the military and probably know about something that is better.”
“Sounds good. Just give me an estimate when you know. I can pull some money from different places to go towards security things.”
“I don’t want to take money away from other people. If we can’t do it, then it can wait.”
Mac shook his head. “Some of the other things are unnecessary and something extra that people wanted. That can wait but security is important. We want our members to feel safe and our employees as well.”
Marco relaxed in the chair. “Thanks.”
“Anytime. And if something else pops up that is urgent, let me know. We buy some things with the extra money that doesn’t go into the emergency pile just to update things regularly. But we don’t need to do that all the time. So if something does come up, let me know,” Mac said.
The last thing he wanted was for something to come up and Marco thought they didn’t have money to cover it. They did.
“Thanks. I’ll remember that,” Marco asked. “So, how are you and Janie doing?”
“You’ve heard?”
Marco nodded his head and smiled. “Heard you told her no about a rental car.”
It seems like Leo couldn’t keep his mouth shut after all. The whole thing had honestly gone better than he had expected. He did make sure that if she felt like she was being captive that he would get her a rental car. He in no way wanted her to feel that way.
Mac was surprised when her sister showed up and told Janie to keep him. He wasnt mad about it, but didn’t expect it.
“She hasn’t asked me to go anywhere yet. Granted, it’s only been a day, so I wasnt expecting her to call me right away. I had a security camera looking out on the street in case anything out of the normal went on. She hasn’t left the house yet and I haven’t seen an Uber go up to the house either.”
“So all good?” Marco asked.
“She’s going to need to go somewhere at some point. I just hope she doesnt hold out and put pressure on herself or run out of anything. And I did tell her that if she felt like she was trapped, that I would go get a rental for her. She hasn’t called about anything.”
Marco ran his hand through his hair. “Good luck on that. She can be feisty,” Marco said.
Mac laughed. “I know. I’ve gotten several doses of that already. But I love it. Shows me that she isn’t afraid to be herself around me.”
Marco nodded his head and they fell into silence.
“Got your eye on anyone special?” Mac asked.
“Maybe,” Marco replied.
“Do tell. You have me on the edge of my seat.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Marco said as he rolled his eyes.
Mac looked at Marco. He was his same old self. Nothing looked different, not even his attitude or demeanor. Leo and Oliver had changed when they found Hedda. They were always on their phone and then when she was with them, they were always home.
Jaxson was around Sofia when she started working and still was. Finn was in and out of the club now since meeting Charlotte and getting together with her.
Things still got done around the club and Mac wasn’t worried about that. He was happy everyone was starting to find their special someone.
“So are you going to tell me or keep everyone hanging?” Mac asked. “Unless you want to tell me and I’ll keep it a secret. I’m good at that.”
Marco snorted.
“Hey, I am good at keeping a secret.”
“No one tells you any secrets,” Marco responded.
“But if someone did, I would be amazing at keeping it.”
“I’ve got my eye on someone. I haven’t made any move to get to know her yet. I’ve only seen her working behind the counter when I walk by the store.”
“Ooo are you stalking her?” Mac asked.
“No, I’m not. It’s my normal route with Dane.”
Dane was Marco’s highly trained dog that he had for the past two years. He had been working with him since he was a pup. He wasn’t certified in anything, but he could help people through panic attacks or alert someone if something wasn’t right. Smart dog.
“You normally change your route with Dane,” Mac said. “Don’t like to keep things the same for too long.”
“Yeah, well Dane really likes this route.”
“You mean you really like the route and don’t want to change things.”
Marco glared at him and got up from his seat. “I need to go talk to the twins about security cameras before they leave for the day. Ever since Hedda moved in, they’ve been here less and less.”
“Just wait until you have the special person at home. You’ll be wanting to head home just like they are.”
Marco was going to eat his words when he got his special lady.
“Sure,” Marco said sarcastically. “I’ll give you the numbers after I talk to them and figure out how much it’s going to cost.”
“No rush. I’ll let everyone know the sheet will be sent in the next day or two,” Mac replied.
Marco nodded his head and walked out of his office.
Mac relaxed in his chair and closed his eyes, sighing. It had been a day since he had told Janie she wasn’t getting a rental car. Was that a mistake? He hadn’t heard from her and he was worried he pushed it too far. Maybe he should show up and tell her that he’ll get her one.
He opened his eyes and turned on his computer. He needed to get his mind back on work. Mac had to send out the email to all the owners that they weren’t going to be getting what they could spend for another day or two.
Mac quickly typed up the email, giving a reason, before sending it to all of them. They would all understand and he wasn’t stressing about it. Nothing was a pressing manner, which made it nice.
He was about to open another document to start working on when his phone started to ring. Picking it up, he realized Janie was calling him. Was something wrong?
“Hello?” he said as he answered the phone. “Is anything wrong?”
“Nothing like an emergency,” she replied. “But I do need to go to a doctors appointment for Eleanor.”
“Is she okay? Fever? Chills? Sick?” Mac asked as worry flooded his voice.
He had already turned off his computer and was heading out his office door.
“No, nothing like that. She just needs a regular checkup and it happens to be today,” Janie replied. “It’s in an hour but I thought I could call you now so you could make your way here. Unless, you can’t anymore and I need to take an Uber.”
“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” Mac said.