2. Tysen
2
TYSEN
“T ell me the good, the bad, and the ugly,” I say, sitting in a chair with two fingers of scotch with a splash of water in the cut crystal Johnny likes to keep on hand. All of us are here at the club tonight, a rarity since we’re all coming and going. A few have families now or like Asher, who has one on the way with Lennie. Kennedy and Trent are trying, wanting to give Briar a sibling without there being even more of an age gap. Then there’s Johnny and Winnie; they’ve got Sebastian, her nephew, except he’s been formally adopted, and the way there are with one another, none of us were surprised when they made the announcement about her pregnancy.
“All is good on this home front. Both clubs are doing well, memberships are up, problems are down for the time being,” Johnny says. He’s got a drink sitting to his left and is scrolling back and forth on the security feeds. There’s a reason why everyone flocks to Undercover Lovers and Night Moves—the place is pristine, you don’t have to worry about someone slipping something in your drink, and the atmosphere is a fucking vibe.
“Jagged Edge has a couple of jobs that we’re behind on. Got more work than we have manpower. I’m going to open up the website for applications, might see about bringing on another general contractor. I’d like to be able to look at the bids coming in and pick up more but can’t do that as it stands right now.” Jagger is the majority owner of the construction business. He runs the day-to-day operations, and whenever we can help out, we do. The others have done more than I’ve been able to with starting my new business venture.
“Put it in the works,” Asher grunts, tacking on, “We’re all only getting busier. Not fair to put the bulk of the load on you when shit gets busy.” I nod in agreement and take a sip of my drink. The burn from the alcohol hits the back of my throat, causing me to clench my teeth.
“Good idea. The way this group is going, I’ll stay busy at the clinic with all the babies you’re in the process of making.” Luke, the doctor in our group, announces. He’s standing near the window, hands in pockets, and says this over his shoulder. Luke must have gotten off work and hit the club before going home if his scrubs are anything to go on.
“Only trying to keep you in business,” Trent says from his seat in a club chair across from Johnny’s desk.
“Well, if we’re done talking about Luke looking at women’s vaginas, I’ve got an idea to run past everyone,” Jude chimes in.
“Jesus, man. Warn someone, will you,” Crew says, trying not to choke on his drink.
“Good one, man,” Jagger says to Jude; they pump knuckles. Sometimes, they’re so alike it’s scary; other times, they’re polar opposites.
“Alright, get back to your idea. It’s late. I’ve got cases to look over and a hot meal in my future that doesn’t consist of diner food.” Matthew moves the conversation back to Jude. Except the fuck just dropped a bomb of his own.
“Care to elaborate?” I ask.
“Yeah, who’s the woman cooking for you, and does she want a real man to slide in your place?” Jagger states.
“Fuck, you did it now, man,” Trent replies.
“Jesus Cristo, finish your conversation, then we’ll get back to whatever Jude wanted to discuss, and maybe we can all go home some time tonight,” Johnny says through laughter of his own. He drops his head, shoulders shaking, and the added effect is when Trent and Asher join in.
“Nope, get one of your own.” Matthew seems to be hot under the collar. Our friend must be hiding shit, and son of a bitch if my own conscience doesn’t have me battling with asking Jude for a favor or biting my tongue. Luckily, Trent inserts himself into the conversation and keeps me from talking.
“Jude, please, for the love of everything in the world, get to the point of your conversation, or we’ll be here all night.” Trent looks up from his phone.
“Alright, fine. Fun suckers,” Jude starts, shuffles a few papers, and then gets into the thick of it. “I picked up a contract with the government. They want me to develop an app for them, and in doing so, I negotiated that we as a group would test it first before submitting it to them. Tysen and Johnny, this is where you come in, and maybe Jagger. The hospital Luke works alongside with probably wouldn’t take very kindly to me using this new facial recognition software. Still, up to you. I can always pitch the idea to them.” Jude grabs a candy out of the bag he has in his hand and chews on it while the rest of us think on the news he delivered.
“What do they want with the software you’re producing?” Asher asks, taking the guess work out of what I’m thinking.
“Get this, I figured it’d be some top-notch secret security. I’d need to be fingerprinted, laser scanned, and anal probed with how the government works. Apparently, it’s not that deep.” Jude pops another candy in his mouth. He doesn’t like to talk about it and won’t bring it up, but he doesn’t drink. His parents were a piece of work. His mom took off with a man half her age when he was eleven, leaving him with a drunk of a father, and while he never admitted or told any of us, we all knew dear old dad used his fists on him when he went on a bender. We’d bring him around one of our houses to doctor him up or hide him while his dad cooled off, but because he wouldn’t make a report or tell an adult about it, things stayed like that for a few years. Jude eventually got bigger, the bruises became a thing of the past, and when his dad took off, leaving him to fend for himself, we all rallied around him, especially our parents. My parents were ready to tear his father down. I think my mother said something along the lines of stringing him up by his balls and pulling out his nails with a pair of pliers. Loretta Vaughn is not a woman to be fucked around with.
Dad had to hold her back a few times, telling her she couldn’t go charging into a home like a bull in a china shop, especially without going through the right channels. It didn’t matter to her; she still went over, gave Jude’s dad a piece of her mind and threatened him with going to the cops. Jude seemed okay for a bit, then we realized his dad got better at hitting him where clothes would cover the damage, and when one of us mentioned something, he told us to stop, pleaded with us to stay silent. And when you’re only coming into your teen years, you tend to listen to your friend. It doesn’t make it right, and it didn’t make any of us feel better over the next couple of years. Jude, though, man, he persevered and came out on the other side.
“They want to use my facial recognition software to expedite travelers going through customs.” He tosses another piece of candy in his mouth. How he doesn’t have cavities is beyond me. The man always has some form of a sweet at the ready.
“Set it up. I probably should have already had cameras installed in the main cabin areas all along,” I tell him, finishing my Macallan. When I came to the group after the night with Maci, it was with a clear head. I mean, sure, she fucked my head up, leaving me with a taste in my mouth that’s all woman. Her magnificent rack that bounced every time I fucked my cock into her, the tight clench of her pussy, and goddamn, the woman could use her mouth. Still, with no way to get ahold of her, it’s been a lost cause. Unless I admit to the group what happened and ask Jude and Trent to work their superpowers to track her down. There’s only one problem with that: I’d have to admit a woman up and left me, and the hazing they’d give me would last a lifetime.
“I’ll set it up. You good for me to start working on it tomorrow morning? I know your flight log doesn’t have any clients until tomorrow afternoon. It’ll give me plenty of time to get in and out. Then I’ll download the app to your tablet, you can see what it does, provide feedback, and even when the software is turned over to the government, you’ll still have the cameras up, and I’ll switch over to the server we use for Johnny’s club and our homes.” Leave it to Jude to know everyone’s schedule. He’s probably got all of ours memorized with the way his brain works.
“That’ll work. By the way, I’m sure Jude is already aware, but I’m booked for the next three months solid. I’ll be looking for attendants on a more permanent schedule, much like Jagger is.” When we sat down, I laid it all out on the table with a business plan of sorts. I told them what I had available in cash for the startup, what I’d need to make it work, and asked if they wanted to go in as partners before I outsourced to other options. Every last one of my friends took an interest without looking at the paperwork I provided. They’d been waiting on me to shit or get off the pot. The meeting today isn’t to see what I’m making or how things are going; that’s not how we work. This is about all of us being able to sit around, get shit off our chest, and talk about anything. If there is work to discuss, we tend to take care of that first, then fuck around for a bit, and head home.
“Do it. One less thing to worry about instead of using an agency. Probably need to think about bringing on another pilot in case you or Liam need a day off. Now that you’ve got work coming in, you can look at adding more employee benefits, too,” Matthew suggests.
“Yeah, going to do that. I’ve got back-to-backs the next three days, then a day off. I’ll work on it then.” Maybe by then, I’ll grow a pair of balls and ask what needs to be asked.
“Jude, you’re good to use it at the club. You already run the security here, have at it. I only ask you keep it away from Night Moves. There are too many well-known people who could potentially be run through your system, and the last thing they need is to be outed in a way we could lose business.” Johnny makes a good point, one I didn’t think of, and if the way things are going with taking private clients to and from, I’ll be in the same boat before too long.
“Anyone have anything else?” Trent asks.
“I think that’s all from me,” I say.
“Good on my end,” Matthew replies.
“Nothing new to report here. Same shit different day.” Crew’s quieter than normal, and I make a mental note to track him down later to make sure everything is alright.
“I’m back to normal hours at the firehouse. I’ll work with Jagger when I can,” Asher states.
We finish our conversation, and everyone heads out except for Johnny; he’s here until his manager takes over. I decide to hang back. The way my head is, I’ve gotta talk to someone about Maci in order to lock my shit down.