Total pages in book: 164
Estimated words: 152931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 765(@200wpm)___ 612(@250wpm)___ 510(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 152931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 765(@200wpm)___ 612(@250wpm)___ 510(@300wpm)
“The man who was attacked the night before this resort’s grand opening, correct?” Arik asked, turning serious.
“Yes,” Tristan answered for Thane. “Have they found the attacker?”
Thane shook his head. He remembered the night with clarity. He had flown across country to be in Coronado for not only Escape’s grand opening but also Castelli’s. Tristan and Arik appeared to enjoy their marital and monogamous statuses, but Thane had the complete opposite mindset. He exclusively enjoyed the company of escorts, and whenever he had reason to be on the West Coast, he’d give Julian a call. And that trip had been no different. Thane had pre-booked Julian’s time for the entire grand-opening weekend.
When Julian hadn’t shown, hours after their scheduled time, Thane had gone in search of Tristan. When Tristan agreed Julian wasn’t the type to be a no-show, Thane had enlisted Tristan’s help in tracking down Julian. Through measures Thane wasn’t sure were legal, Tristan had used his hacking skills to locate Julian, lying broken and beaten in a hospital bed in Los Angeles. It had taken months to get Julian strong again, and even then, the man was nowhere close to being the same as before. Thane shook his head again, this time to refocus on the question that had been asked.
“No, Julian isn’t remembering much. They’re saying he’s blocked it out.” Images of Julian’s beautiful face, swollen and bruised, his body covered in burn marks with strips of flesh torn from his skin… Thane would never forget that horror.
He had voluntarily covered every expense for Julian. Thane had also tried to be a friend to the guy—as much of a friend as he could be from his home in Maryland, which happened to be just about as far away from San Diego as a person could get and still live in the same country.
On that somber note, Thane continued his presentation. “The idea is to create a safe place for men to meet. I’m looking to open an exclusive, members only, upscale gentlemen’s dinner club slash nightclub. We’ll have two types of memberships. One will be our primary customer base. We refer to them as the Gentlemen. I see them as the majority of our clientele. There’ll be a significant annual membership fee to join. Gentlemen will agree to undergo a comprehensive application process and pass a thorough and extensive background check.”
Thane paused to make sure Tristan and Arik were following. When both stayed quiet, patiently waiting, he continued with the more complicated part of the membership process. “The second type of membership will be a much smaller group of men, and they’ll be referred to as the Companions. Escorts will fall under this category. They’ll also have a background check performed to gain entrance. Their fees will be much smaller. The goal is to have a safe environment for men to meet one another. So, if a Gentleman’s looking for an escort, or just to meet another man, they’ll have the added security of knowing these background checks have been performed, protecting all parties, keeping them as safe as we possibly can.”
“Let me make sure I’ve got this straight.” Arik’s brow furrowed as he pushed back in his reclining chair. “Outside of the requirements you’ve mentioned, the restaurant and bar will operate as any do?”
“Absolutely. Maybe once or twice a month, we could host a social event. We could encourage theme parties, sponsor cheese and wine afternoon meet-ups. Make it a place where someone feels comfortable knowing the men they’re meeting and hooking-up with have had a background check performed. That everyone involved will keep things discreet and no one expects anything other than their agreed upon arrangement, whether that includes compensation or not,” Thane explained.
“Will you handle the payment for sexual transactions?” Tristan asked.
Thane immediately shook his head. “Absolutely not. No sex on the premises. Hard rule. I’m not pedaling ass, merely facilitating an environment for men to meet as safely and discreetly as possible. In this phase of my life, I’ve chosen to live with the services escorts provide. That’s a better option for me. I don’t have the time, nor do I want to spend my energy in cultivating a relationship when it’s only going to end in a miscommunication of feelings, and I don’t believe I’m alone in my philosophies, but I also acknowledge that not everyone feels that way.”
He let that sit there a moment, knowing both Arik and Tristan had lived much of their lives in that same way until they’d settled down. “Plus, I’d like to give these escorts as secure a place as we can provide to meet potential and existing clients. Had Julian had something like this, he quite possibly wouldn’t have ended up being so badly abused. I understand his process of checking out potential new clients was nothing more than calling his buddies and asking around. That’s unacceptable and entirely too risky. We can do better.”