Chapter 12 #2
“Hang onto those. Call the cleaners tomorrow morning to schedule services. You’ll need to be here to unlock the door for them and lock up when they’re done. Remember?”
“Yes, got it,” I confirmed that I understood the task.
I got in the backseat of the SUV and marveled at the interior.
This had been the first time I’d ever been in a Porsche.
Everything felt heavy and elevated. Nothing was over the top glitzy.
Simple, but I could tell the way everything felt and looked so far that the materials used were really nice.
I clicked the seat belt in place as Joel brought the Porsche to life with the press of a button.
As we crept along the dirt road to my new place, I felt nothing in the way the SUV rode that made me feel like I was roughing it on a dirt road.
I felt like I was in a cocoon of an extremely capable car.
This SUV could easily go out for a night in the city and then romp around in the wilderness.
But who the fuck would take this off-roading?
As we parked in front of my new cabin, I undid the seatbelt and opened the door. I followed Tristen to the back of the Porsche and Joel opened the hatch from the driver’s seat before joining us.
Tristen handed me my duffel bag, and I slung the long strap over my shoulder before I followed Joel to the porch.
“I’ll bring in the boxes with the guest bag contents,” Tristen said from the back of the Porsche.
“Okay,” Joel called over his shoulder.
“Oh, I forgot to mention,” Joel began as he unlocked the door. He pointed to the porch lights and said, “When you’re looking over the cabins, make sure the exterior lights are all working.”
“Got it,” I confirmed and nodded.
Joel stepped inside, flipped the lights on, and then went back outside to help Tristen.
I set my duffel bag on the first step of the stairs and put my sketchbook on the kitchen counter.
As I headed toward the entryway, Tristen walked inside with some boxes in his arms and bags wrapped around his wrists.
I took the boxes from him and set them on the kitchen table while Tristen untangled the bags from his wrists.
“Is there anything else that needs to come inside?” I asked.
“No, Joel has the rest,” Tristen said.
I looked in the direction of the door when I heard Joel walking up the steps to the porch. He stepped inside carrying some sort of basket and a few grocery bags. With his foot, he gently shut the door and headed to the kitchen.
“Here you go,” Joel set the cellophane wrapped basket on the counter. “Bea, from the rental office, put together a basket of snacks and stuff until you get some groceries.”
“Wow, this is great, thank you!” I said as I turned the basket around to check out the contents. It was full of cookies, chips, granola bars, fruit, and some microwave soups and pastas.
“Speaking of, are we ordering some food, or what?” Tristen asked.
“Yes. Cash, do you like pizza?”
“Absolutely.”
“Order the food, Tris,” Joel said as he took some drinks out of some bags. “We picked up some sodas, juices, and bottled water for you.”
“Thank you, it’s perfect. I really appreciate it.”
“Starving man over here,” Tristen announced. “Cash, what kind of pizza do you like?”
“Anything. Just nothing with onions.”
“Got it, pizza with extra onions.” Tristen looked up at me and winked.
Why the fuck did his winking at me drive me wild? It made my cheeks feel hot and my dick twitch.
“While we’re waiting for the food to arrive, we can show you the gift bags for you to assemble,” Joel said as he rummaged around in the bags.
He pulled out a canvas bag that had the Equinox logo on it and unzipped it.
“This bag will have some supplies you may need, like scissors, tape, pens, and some box cutters.”
I looked inside the bag when Joel held it open for me to see.
When I nodded, he pulled out the box cutter, zipped the bag closed and set it on the breakfast bar.
He set a thin box on the counter, slid the box cutter down the center of it, and pulled out a black reusable bag with the Equinox logo on both sides of it.
It looked to be about nine by twelve inches in size with handles.
“These are the welcome bags we fill and give to each guest of our private parties upon check-in at the resort,” Joel explained.
“There’s really no rhyme or reason to how you put the items in each bag, but just so you put care into assembling them.
We don’t want it to look like items were just tossed in. ”
“Of course, I’ll put the items in so they’re all visible and not upside down or covering up other items.”
“Sometimes there are party themes, like during holidays, so there will be some items that go along with that. But there are a bunch of items that always go in each bag,” Tristen added.
“Our next party is in a few weeks, and it doesn’t have a theme; however, there will be a small vendor fair on one of the afternoons.
So some of the vendors have given us items for the bags from their companies. ”
“Okay, easy enough,” I said.
“Let’s build a bag so you have one as a sample,” Tristen suggested.
This would be good to do so I could see exactly how they did everything. I picked up the black Equinox bag, opened it up, and set it on the counter.
“This box has all of the items in it that go into each bag,” Joel said as he set a different box on the counter and opened the cardboard flaps.
“Condoms, lubes, personal wipes, mints, towels, and a basic silicone cock ring go in each bag,” Joel explained as Tristen pulled out each container of items and set them on the counter.
“Go with the rule of five each for the condoms, wipes, and mints. Then one each for the cock ring, lube, and towel,” Tristen instructed as I collected the items. I set them in front of the Equinox bag and waited for the next instructions.
I figured it would be best to get all the items set aside first and then put them in the bag.
“The rest of the items will be random and some will come from vendors, if we have a fair portion of the weekend, or any theme,” Tristen said as Joel put another box on the counter and opened it.
“These items are from some of the small businesses,” Joel said as he pulled out a thread-like bracelet that was wrapped around a card and in cellophane.
“This company makes bracelets, necklaces, and other body jewelry out of various materials. Whenever we have a party that’s open for vendors, they always come,” Joel continued and handed the bracelet card to Tristen, who handed one to me.
“They usually give away a simple bracelet like this in a different color each time,” Tristen explained. I set the package with the black threaded bracelet in the stack by the Equinox bag.