Deep down, I knew the answer to my question. I just didn’t want to admit it. Without someone like Shank or Mason, Club X couldn’t stay open. Too much of my area would get us shut down the minute some eager cop found out we weren’t protected.
“Unfortunately, until we figure out what to do, whether we can find another Mason or not, I think we have to stay closed. The nature of our business means we need someone like that,” Cash said.
“I’m sorry for that. I never meant to do this to you two and to the club,” I said quietly. I hadn’t meant to ruin their livelihoods with my demons.
“Things were changing anyway, so maybe it’s just the way it’s meant to be,” Stefan said as he chucked me in the shoulder. “Shay’s going to be back soon, and we were going to wait to tell everyone, but she’s taken a job at a school in Texas. I was going to be leaving you guys, believe it or not.”
Cash and I sat there in stunned silence. I looked over at him, and like me, the look of amazement on his face told the whole story. Neither one of us just a year earlier would have imagined Stefan settled down with a good woman, a soon-to-be college professor no less, and moving away from Tampa.
“Will you be getting married?” Cash asked like the big brother he was.
Stefan grinned and shrugged. “We don’t know yet. We’re just having fun and loving every minute together. I keep telling you guys. I’m a changed man.”
“I guess you are,” I said, still shocked from his news.
“And your wedding is right around the corner,” Stefan said to Cash. “Just a few more weeks. I guess this vacation from the club is good.”
“Yep, and then a long honeymoon in Italy for three weeks. I haven’t had that much time off since we began this. I’d say I’d get bored not working, but something tells me that’s not going to happen.”
“While you’re gone, Stefan and I can keep the nightclub section open at least,” I suggested.
“I’m game,” Stefan chimed in. “I mean, my section was always the one that brought in the people.”
“Yeah, right,” I joked. “I think we know what section brought in the money, Stef.”
Before he could take my bait, Cash shook his head. “I don’t think so. We’ve had a good run here, but Club X means the upper floors. If we do open up again in the future, it’s got to be with Kane’s section too.”
The three of us sat there silently as the reality of the situation became clear. Club X would be no more, at least for the time being.
“So this is it?” Stefan asked with more than a hint of sadness in his voice.
Cash looked at me and then back at Stefan. “I think so. We’ve made a lot of money here, gentlemen. More than even I ever thought we could. Our father would be proud. It was a good run, but things are changing. I’m getting married. Stefan, you’re leaving. What are your plans, Kane?”
“Just bringing Abbi home. I lived so long alone that having someone in my life is a big change.”
“Olivia says she’s doing fine out there at the house, other than a touch of the flu, right?”
“Yeah. Right after we’re done here, I can finally see her again now that I’m no longer a suspect. I’m going to bring her back to the house and hope I can make up for lost time.”
“So it’s agreed Club X will stay closed?” Cash asked looking at Stefan and then me for our answers.
Quietly, we both answered and agreed. The business we’d built into the multi-million dollar a year hottest nightspot in Tampa would stay closed. The three of us sat silently as the reality of that decision began to settle in.
For six days a week for most of my twenties I’d worked with these two men. It had been awkward in the beginning. I’d never met them before our father died and dictated in his will that if any of us wanted any money from his estate we’d have to work together. At first, it felt like a punishment none of us thought we deserved, but after a while we grew to like each other. Cash, the brother nearly my age I wished I’d known all those years growing up, and Stefan, the younger pain in the ass brother I suddenly couldn’t imagine not having around to joke and bust ass with. I’d always been the outsider, but now as I sat there with them after all they’d done for me in the past two months, I didn’t feel like that outsider anymore.
I just felt like their brother. For someone who’d never really had a family in his life, it was a feeling I’d miss.
A knocking on the office door roused us all from our thoughts, and Olivia walked in with her usual sweet smile. “Am I interrupting? It sounded as quiet as a church in here.”
She walked over to Cash’s side. Wrapping his arm around her waist, he looked up and said, “We’ve decided to keep the club closed for the time being.”
“Oh,” she said with a pout.
“It’s okay, Olivia,” Stefan said. “We’ve all got things going on. You two are getting married. Kane and Abbi have to make up for all this time apart. And Shay and I are going to be moving when she comes back.”
“Moving? To where?” She looked down at Cash and poked his shoulder. “Why didn’t your brother tell me any of this?”
“He didn’t know. I just told them today. Shay got a job in Texas for next semester.”
“Listen to you talking like that,” she teased him. “Please tell her I said congratulations. You’re not planning on moving too, are you Kane?” she asked. “You can’t move now.”
“Abbi and I aren’t going anywhere,” I said with a smile, silently remembering a time when the dream of leaving with the woman I loved was all that I could think of. Now, all I wanted to do was take Abbi back to our little house with the squeaky screen door and little backyard and live there in peace.
“All right, it’s decided. Until further notice, Club X is closed and we’re moving on. I’ll take care of talking to the staff.”
Cash’s announcement brought Olivia’s frown back, but it was for the best. I would have liked to talk to my people, but Cash was better at that anyway. As Stefan and Cash talked about the legalities of our decision, I headed up to my area for one last look around the place I’d spent so many nights.
I climbed the stairs up to the fifth floor and walked around where I stood every night, by habit immediately turning to look at the monitors, but now they all sat there dark in front of me. I walked the halls of each floor, looking in on the rooms I’d watched over for years and feeling a sense of some kind of accomplishment. We hadn’t invented the wheel or saved the world, but our members had found a place to enjoy themselves.