With my glass in hand, I moved to stood in front of the fireplace, facing the room.
Never one to beat around the bush I started with the most obvious. “As you can see, we are short two men. Corey and Jermaine are currently in the hospital.” There was a collective gasp but with a swipe of my hand they hushed.
“They’ll live. However, they aren’t going to be available at Supernal for some time.”
“What about their clients?” Sammy asked, his blond curly hair bouncing as he looked around the room at all the escorts.
“I’ll worry about that. It’s nothing any of you need to concern yourself with. Why I called you here today was to remind you that when you step off this property, everything you do reflects on the reputation of Supernal. What makes this institution, our services, sought after is the dignity, respect, and secrecy we provide. If you do something foolish like Corey and Jermaine did, it blows back on this establishment, and all of you.”
I could see as they stared at me that they understood what Corey and Jermaine had done was preventable, and they’d be right to also realize those men were in deep shit.
“If any of you feel there is something lacking in your employ with me, or it’s too suffocating, you should speak your mind to either Dane or myself.” When there was no response, I added, “I will open the floor now for questions, concerns, or anything else you would like to discuss. If you wish privacy with a matter, Dane will make sure you get that.”
Tyler raised his hand, which had me rolling my eyes simply because my open floor offer was rhetorical, but I had to tell myself to be respectful and hear my men out. “Is someone new going to be joining us here?”
“Possibly, more than likely.”
“Oh, what’s he like?” Sammy’s blue eyes gleamed.
“I haven’t committed, Sammy. You’ll know when it’s the appropriate time.”
When no one else asked anything further, I dismissed them.
“You’re meeting is in five minutes and Crew Riley’s interview will definitely be tomorrow. I scheduled it to be around lunch time to make it more casual.” Dane smiled, clearly liking his idea.
I didn’t care how these interviews went down, but he wasn’t wrong that in a stress free and carefree environment, people were more likely to show you the true side of themselves.
I guess I’d find out what kind of person Crew Riley was soon enough.
2
Crew
As I stepped out of the airport, a limousine was waiting for me with a driver and everything. It was pretty fucking cool. I was treated really well at The Crystal Menagerie, but my dream was to work for Ben Asher at Supernal. He was classy, sophisticated, and an enigma if I ever saw one…and I had seen the man to know. I doubted he remembered. But it was a year ago at the Holiday Ball in Vegas. The second I saw his slicked back black hair, piercing gray eyes, and chiseled features, I wanted to strip him naked and taste every inch of the man.
“Mr. Riley,” the driver greeted me. “My name is Raymond.”
“Hey, Raymond.” I smiled and hiked my bag up on my shoulder.
“Shall I take your luggage, sir?”
“Nah, pop the trunk, I’ll toss it in.”
Raymond cocked his head to the side, as if my dealing with my own shit was a shock or something. But he did as I asked, and I threw my duffle bag in.
I let him fuss to open the door and as soon as my butt hit the seat, I knew this was the most comfortable vehicle I’d ever sat in. Damn, Ben Asher knew his stuff.
“It should only take us half an hour to make it to the estate, Mr. Riley.” Raymond looked at me through the rearview mirror.
“Please, call me Crew, and take your time, my good man.”
He didn’t respond, simply shifted the car out of Park and drove me toward the place I hoped I’d be working at for as long as I was desirable enough to do it.
* * *
I was no stranger to glitz and glamour coming from Las Vegas, but when the gates opened to Supernal my eyes widened. This was class.
“How many acres is all this?”