Open Doors

by Tymber Dalton

  “What about the lease? Whose name is it going under?”

  “Ed and Kaden will look into drawing up an LLC for me to put it in. And Kel’s the landlord. So it’s not like it’s going to be a problem with him. We’re going to call it something innocuous.”

  “Thank god we own our own business,” she said. She wasn’t an accountant, but she managed the office for Derrick and the three CPAs and four accountants working under him. “I’d hate to think how the shit would hit the fan if you were still working for Dad and this got out.” She stared at him. “What if news of this does get out?”

  He shrugged. “So?”

  “You don’t think that could cause problems?”

  “With who?”

  “Anyone? Everyone? Our families?”

  “There’s nothing to get out,” he said. “We aren’t going to allow alcohol, so there’s no risk of problems there. Kaden and Ed have a standard liability waiver for everyone to sign. And everyone will be over eighteen, obviously.”

  “What if someone gets hurt?”

  He laughed. “Isn’t that kind of the point?”

  “The nonconsensual, unintended kind of hurt, doofus. The kind of hurt that could get the pants sued off of us and make the newspapers.”

  “Liability insurance for space. It’s a rented space. It’s not like there are assets. Something happens, we simply close everything down. The only money we’ll keep in the bank account will be just enough for the insurance, rent, and utilities every month.”

  “And we are not paying those out of our own pocket.”

  “At first, we are, actually. We’ll ask people to donate. If someone doesn’t donate, they won’t get invited back. Easy-peasy.”

  “Will Kaden and Ed pay our legal costs, or work for us pro bono, if we get sued?” she drawled.

  “We’ll be fine. It’s just a playspace.”

  “Uh-huh. Famous last words. You never do anything half-assed.”

  He smiled. “No, I just like doing you bare-assed.” He waggled his eyebrows at her, earning him an eye roll and a groan.

  “You’re damn lucky I’m not switchy. I should beat you for that comment.”

  “Look, how long has everyone been saying we needed a space for the group to play in? Well, this is perfect. Tony can’t put his name on it, or he would have done it. Kaden and Ed need to watch their reps because they’re attorneys, so their names can’t be on it.”

  “Why can’t Kel put his name on this?”

  “He’s got enough on his plate as it is. He offered to be the front man for it, but that’s not fair to him to make him shoulder the entire burden like that. Hell, he owns the building. He’s got enough skin in the game. That’s too much additional liability for him. If they can show he knows what happens there, it opens him up. As the landlord, he’s limited.”

  “Lucky him. What about Scrye, then?”

  “June teaches kids’ gymnastics,” he said. “He can personally absorb a PR hit, but she can’t. And they’ve got two kids still in school. We don’t have any kids.”

  “Wrong,” she said. “It looks like we do. Its name is…what the hell is its name, anyway?”

  He shrugged. “We haven’t got that far yet. Doesn’t matter what we call the club itself, really.”

  “Well, I suggest Venture.”

  “Why?”

  She poked him in the stomach. “Because it is a venture, dummy. Not exactly one I’d thought we’d be taking, but that’s exactly what it is. And it sounds innocuous. You call it ‘Club Spanking Asses’ or ‘Cock Torture Is Us,’ and it might draw unwanted attention.”

  “Good point.” He pulled her close again. “Venture. I like that. The more I think about it, the more I like it.”

  “Yeah? Then don’t ever accuse me of not helping or being supportive.”

  He kissed her. “I wouldn’t do that, sweetheart.” He stared down at her. “Thank you. I know this is big.”

  “Big is a massive understatement, Derrick. Are you sure we’re not biting off more than we can chew?”

  “With everyone’s help and support, I believe it’s totally doable.”

  “Don’t forget the 80/20 rule.”

  “The what?”

  “Eighty percent of the work is done by twenty percent of the people. We’re in that twenty percent. Our friends have lives of their own, you know.”

  “We have a core group of friends who are all behind this. This means more of them will be able to attend and play. That means more people chipping in. I’m not looking to get rich with this, because honestly? We won’t. We’ll be lucky to make expenses after six months. But it’s worth it to take the burden off the shoulders of our friends. And we can have classes there. We can set up a permanent, safe, secure rope suspension rig. Think about it, about everything we can do that we’ve been wanting to do right here in our area.”

  She stared up at him, doing exactly that for a moment. “That would be nice,” she finally said.

  “I know, right? And we can have full nudity. No worrying about if a neighbor will call the cops because they heard someone moaning out an orgasm and thought they were being killed or something. It actually removes a lot of liability. And several people have already told me they’d be willing to chip in buying sodas and supplies and stuff like that, in addition to a donation for coming to the play parties.”

  “Sounds like you have it all figured out.”

  “Not all of it. But a good start.”

  “So when are you going to fess up how long you’ve actually been working on this without telling me first?”

  “Kel just bought that industrial park about a month or so ago. There weren’t any plans before that.”

  She stared at him.

  “There weren’t any serious plans before that,” he amended, seeing he was busted. “I’ll admit, Kaden and I—”

  “That explains it,” she said. “I love that man, but he’s an instigator.”

  “Kaden and I kind of looked into stuff several months ago, but nothing serious came of it. I didn’t really find any affordable properties that would have been worth investigating, that would suit our needs, and dropped it. Then Kel bought that industrial complex, and he has a vacant unit. It’s like it was meant to be.”

  “I didn’t agree to be poly when we got married.”

  That confused him. “Huh?”

  She rolled her eyes. “When do I get to look at this new time and money suck we’re now freaking married to? And don’t tell me we’re not married to it, because we are.”

  He grinned. “We’re meeting Kel over there tonight and then going out to dinner with him and the Fosters.”

  “They’ve got money. Why aren’t they doing this?”

  “She’s pregnant. With little kids underfoot, they can’t.”

  “You just have an answer for everything, don’t you?”

  “I try, sweetheart. I try.”

  * * * *

  Derrick and Marcia arrived at the industrial complex a little after six that evening. Kel wasn’t there yet, but Derrick already had a key to the space. She realized that when he pulled it out of his pocket to unlock the door.

  So this wasn’t a maybe deal, like she’d hoped. One that she still thought she might be able to talk him out of.

  This was, for all intents and purposes, a done deal. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have keys.

  Dammit.

  When Derrick opened the door and led the way through, Marcia stopped inside the doorway and stared. Dim evening light still filtered through the four opaque roof panels acting as skylights, revealing the cavernous space.

  “Holy crap,” she muttered. “I didn’t realize it was this big.”

  “I know, right? The other reason this is perfect is it’s actually a double unit. He doesn’t have many of those.”

  Their voices echoed through the space.

  “What was this used for?”

  “A guy who runs an Internet store was using it for his merchandise. That’s wh
y he’d installed the AC units, to keep the temp down.”

  She turned and looked at the front wall. “Those roll-up doors need to be insulated. Not just because of heat, but for sound.”

  “Kel said the guy had two temporary walls in front of them that the tenant took down when he left because he never used the roll-up doors after he moved in. Kel took pictures before the guy moved. It’ll be easy to recreate them.”

  She turned again, her mind racing despite herself. “We’ll need an office, eventually. The front door needs to open into an entry area so we can screen people and contain them before they pass through. Also, for privacy. That way, random people standing outside can’t see what’s going on inside. And so we can make sure people coming in are actually on the guest list before we let them through.”

  “That’s a good idea. I hadn’t thought about that.”

  “And if we’re building an office, you can build a loft area on top. Storage.” She pointed at the bathrooms. “Loft over the bathrooms, too, and add a sink for a medical and edge play area. Gets it up off the floor, and keeps people from accidentally bumping into someone.”

  His smile widened. “Good ideas.”

  They turned as Kel walked in. “Oh, hey,” he said. “You been here long?”

  “No, just got here,” Derrick told him. “But listen to what Marcia just thought of…”

  She tuned them out as she walked across the space to the bathrooms. Inside, they had two stalls each and were wheelchair accessible, which solved another potential problem. Bathrooms were always a premium at the private parties.

  When she turned, the men stopped talking and looked at her.

  “Well?” Kel asked. “What do you think?”

  She crossed her arms over her chest and stared up at the tall ceilings, at least twenty feet up. “I think,” she said, “that someone’s going to have to rent a scissor lift to rig permanent lighting if we’re going to really turn this into a play space. We can get by temporarily, but we don’t need people tripping over extension cords.” She pointed at the four sets of fluorescent lights on the ceiling. “Those lights won’t cut it for ambiance.”

  The men high-fived each other. “She’s in,” Derrick said.

  Marcia turned her focus back onto her husband. “She’s also still highly pissed off that this decision was made without her prior consent,” she said, walking toward them. “Someone better be prepared to do a lot of sucking up to me over the next few months.”

  She poked Derrick in the chest. “Master or not, I’m your wife. From this point on, when it comes to business matters I’d better be treated like a business partner, not a slave, or you’ll find yourself running this place without my help.”

  She noticed Kel was trying to hold back his smile.

  “And you,” she said, pointing at him. “You’d better come up with some folding tables, Mr. Enabler.”

  “Why me?”

  “Because you’re the landlord and I said so, that’s why. We always have food at the parties. People will need places to sit and eat so they’re not juggling plates.”

  She turned to the right, facing the southern half of the space. “That’ll be the social area in that side because of the mop sink over there on the far wall. We need to add a regular kitchen sink and counter space, too. And a hot water heater for washing dishes and hands, seriously. And shelves for supplies.” Then she turned to the left half of the space. “That’ll be the play area, where we put the equipment.”

  “Okay,” Derrick said, “not that I’m going to argue or overrule you, but out of curiosity, why?”

  “Because people naturally turn toward the right. They’ll head to the social area first. You don’t want people heading right into the play area from out of the office, or having to walk through it to get in or out, or while on their way to the social area. Duh. That’ll disturb scenes.”

  She turned and walked to the front wall, then took several measured steps away from it. “Office should probably be this wide or so. And we can use the alcove between the office wall and southern wall for a social area, with couches and stuff, after you insulate the roll-up door.”

  She pointed at Derrick. “Put out the word that we’re in the market for good used leather and vinyl couches. Absolutely no cloth couches. They can be ugly colors, as long as they’re not white or another really light color.”

  “Um, oookaaay. Why?”

  “Duh. You can wipe them down.” She looked up at the ceiling again. “And we’ll need an electrician, or someone who won’t electrocute themselves, to run the lights up there.”

  The men exchanged a glance.

  “Hey, my step-dad is a contractor. You think I don’t know my way around a construction project, think again.”

  She rested her hands on her hips as she once again looked around the space. “This’ll take a while to build out and do it right,” she said. “We are not going into debt to fund this. But it’s a doable plan. We need to pick up some cheap decorative accordion room divider screens, though, to put in front of the door for the first few parties. To control traffic flow and block people from seeing inside until we get the office built.”

  She walked over to the door and paced it off. “Like this,” she said, indicating with her hands. “Several people can take turns manning the door. We’ll use a cash box and a card table or something. And I need to know what the baseline monthly expenses will run so we can put aside at least three months’ worth ahead of time from the door proceeds before we start buying and building crap.”

  Kel slowly shook his head. “Wow. For someone who doesn’t seem keen on doing this, you sure seem keen on doing this.”

  “It’s a blessing and a curse,” she said, tapping her forehead. “Office manager, remember?” She walked over and poked Derrick in the chest again. “I mean it. We will not go into debt over this. I don’t mind doing a couple of cash loans to the business to get it started, but we are the primary creditor and get paid back first.”

  He nodded. “Absolutely.”

  “Give me the expense report by Thursday,” she said.

  “It’s only Tuesday.”

  “And you guys want to have a party a week from this coming Saturday, right?”

  The men nodded.

  “Then I need to know ASAP what our expenses will run so I can plan accordingly. I’ll go to the warehouse club tomorrow and price out sodas and cups and plates, stuff like that.”

  The men shared a clueless glance.

  She arched an eyebrow at them. “Because we need to plan the guest list,” she said. “I need to know how many people we’ll have attending, approximately, so I know what to list as the ‘suggested donation’ for a door fee in the e-mail when I send it out.” She used air quotes around the term. “And if we’re having two parties a month, it means I can adjust the amount accordingly to split the expenses in half per party for a more accurate number.”

  “We’re not out to make a profit,” Derrick reminded her.

  “No, but we’re going to have some massive expenses up front,” she said. “We’re going to need to make improvements and additions in the first few months. Once we do that and have a steady operating budget every month, we can drop the ‘suggested donation’ amount accordingly. Anyone who can’t understand that, well, they’re an asshole and we don’t want them here, anyway.”

  The men shared another glance. “Derrick,” Kel said, “I hate to be the one to break it to you, but your slave has a very distinct Toppy side, and I plan on encouraging it, in this case.”

  Derrick snorted. “I work with her every day. Tell me something I don’t already know.”

  Chapter Three

  Mike and Julie Foster arrived a few minutes later. Derrick was pleased to see their enthusiasm as they looked around the space and listened to Marcia’s ideas.

  “She’s right,” Julie said as she stroked her baby bump. “We’ll definitely need food tables.”

  “I think you should put together a wish list of stu
ff,” Mike said. “Things where you’re either looking for a donation of the item from people, or a good price on it to buy it. That way, if people run across them, they’ll know to let you know.”

  “Even better,” Julie said. “I’ll help you with that, if you’d like. I have the huge list of names and e-mails from the munch group for the parties. Oh, my brother is a cabinet maker. They do demolition all the time. I bet he can snag us some free cabinets to use for storage. We could just paint them black…”

  The women walked over to the corner where the mop sink was located and started waving their arms as they mapped out a potential layout for the kitchen area.

  Mike snickered. “You realize this is going to be a full-time job at the start, right?” he quietly asked Derrick.

  “I know. I told her it wouldn’t be one. But she knows it will be.”

  “Then why did you tell her it wouldn’t?” Kel asked.

  “Because I honestly didn’t think she’d throw herself into it like she is. I figured we’d come over here, she’d stick her head inside the door, look at it, go, ‘Uh-huh,’ and then I’d be on my own. Then all I’d have to do would be to disguise the expenses until I paid myself back. I didn’t anticipate her taking over. I was going to consider myself lucky if she didn’t threaten to divorce me over agreeing to do this. I told her when I broke the news to her that it’d be ‘us,’ but I wasn’t really going to force her to help.”

  “Consider yourself lucky, then,” Kel said.

  “Believe me, I do.”

  * * * *

  At dinner, the women were too busy making their plans to even pay attention to what the men were saying. The three men sat there, watching and listening in amusement, as Marcia took notes on her phone and Julie helped her brainstorm.

  Eventually, after their food arrived, the women looked at the three men.

  “What?” Marcia asked.

  Derrick laughed. “Nothing, sweetheart. I’m glad to see you’re throwing yourself into this.”