Lesson In Honesty (Club Serenity #3)

Chapter One

Liam

“ G ood morning, everyone. Please, take a seat and make yourself comfortable.”

Already seated at the large octagonal conference table, Liam glanced to his left, checking on his submissive as people began taking their places around them. He wasn’t the only Dom who’d brought his significant other, thankfully, and Sierra was dutifully keeping her social anxiety under control by sewing together the flat carcass of a stuffie with intricate little stitches.

Directly across from him, Evander and Elias commandeered the ‘head’ of the eight-sided table. Sandwiched between them, their wife tapped away on her laptop, no doubt writing her next bestselling book, with wireless headphones stuffed in her ears.

Beside them, Rory McCabe—more commonly known as Grit—took his seat as the new head of security. The guy looked insanely relaxed, which was probably due to the white-blonde pixie sliding onto his lap. He’d been through the kind of hell Liam was intimate with, only the outcome for Grit turned out to be a lot happier.

As everyone finally chose their seats and settled in, Liam studied the selection of Dominants with curiosity. He counted an additional ten strangers; six men and four women, all exuding the same powerful aura.

Liam checked on Sierra again, knowing she’d feel it pressing down on her.

Steadfastly, she pushed the needle through the material, drew the thread through, and repeated the process. If the number of new faces around them bothered her, she hid it well.

Elias remained standing, looking elegantly British in a charcoal gray suit and tie. As Evander’s right-hand man, he always dressed to perfection during business hours. “This is an exciting time for us all. We’d like to thank each and every one of you for being a part of Club Serenity as we transition from dream to reality. In just forty-eight hours, we open to the public.”

A pleased rumble hummed around the table.

“Many of you were able to attend the party we held at the weekend. Membership applications have jumped considerably in the following days, and we’re optimistic for a successful opening weekend.” Sharp blue eyes swept around the table. “Before we get into the pertinent details, we’d like you all to introduce yourselves; you all know us and how Serenity has come to be. Grit, would you like to start?”

“Um, sure, I guess.” Rubbing a hand over his beard, Grit cleared his throat. He looked less haggard than he had only a few days ago, but there were still hard signs of the strain he’d suffered for months. Silver was sneaking through his dark blond hair, his beard, giving him an edgier appearance. “I’m Rory McCabe, but just about everyone calls me Grit. This is my fiancée, Tabitha.”

Although she was comfortably settled on her lover’s lap, Tabitha’s eyes scanned the group with the intense scrutiny of what she was—a killer. After a scary few seconds, she relaxed and lifted her hand in silent greeting.

“We just moved from Phoenix,” Grit continued, although it was a half-truth; he’d moved from Phoenix while Tabitha was making a proper home for the first time in her life. “My background is mainly in security; I’ve got over twenty years’ experience, the majority of which was spent at my last place of employment. If you’ve got any issues, come see me.”

Well, that was short and sweet, Liam thought. Obviously, Elias thought the same as his mouth twitched to repress a smile.

“To the point as always,” Eli said, then gestured to the silver fox on Grit’s right. “Merrick, if you please?”

Liam listened with half an ear as the introductions continued. He preferred watching facial expressions and body language to gauge a person. So far, he didn’t get any weird vibes off anyone.

They went through Merrick, a guy called Levi, two women named Felicity and Ericka. When Eli gestured to him, Liam sighed and turned on his bartender charm. “I’m Liam, this is Sierra.” He patted her thigh to get her attention; she lifted her head, eyes slightly unfocused, and gave everyone a nervous smile before lowering her gaze again. “We’re also transplants from Phoenix. I’ve been the general manager and bartender at a club there for, hell, seems like most of my adult life. Personal circumstances dictated that we take a working vacation; thanks to Evander and Elias, we landed on our feet here. I’ll be training a permanent bartender and the staff over the next few months before we head home.”

A slightly built man on the other side of the table snickered. “Catch your fingers in the cash register?”

Sierra’s spine slammed straight with the insult. Before she erupted, Liam rested his hand on top of hers, turning his gaze on the speaker. “Excuse me?”

“Isn’t working vacation usually code for being on the lam?” The guy threw his hands up in the air when tension seeped into the previously relaxed atmosphere. “Oh c’mon, take a joke. I mean, you’ve got the perfect accomplice, right? Send her in,” he said, chuckling as he pointed to Sierra, “let her rob the bank, then just rip the beard off so she blends into the crowd.”

For a moment, the room was quiet. Quiet but not restful. There were too many emotions starting to stir and boil over, many of which were Liam’s. Determined not to cause a scene, he squeezed Sierra’s cold, still hand and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, what’s your name?”

Evander rose, started to speak, but Liam just raised a finger.

“Blake.”

“Okay, Blake, let me walk you through a little scenario here. Let’s say you’ve just walked into my bar. My pride and joy, where the love of my life spends a great deal of time. You walk in and make a crack like that about a woman you don’t know, you’ve never met.” Struggling to keep his voice even, Liam saw Tabitha trying to slide off Grit’s lap. “What do you think happens next?”

Smirking now, Blake shrugged. “I get my ass handed to me by a stereotypical bouncer?”

What was this guy’s problem? There was a vein of hostility throbbing between them, which was ridiculous considering Liam had never seen the man before in his fucking life. Rather than wasting time deciphering the fuckwit’s motives, Liam just grinned.

Grinned like a sadist about to be let off his leash.

“I am the bouncer . I’m the man who makes the rules in my own fucking space, who enforces those rules to their limit.” Fists on the table, Liam stood slowly, allowing his darker side to bristle and flash in his eyes. “You’d be damn lucky to walk out of my goddamn bar with your legs and teeth intact.”

Sierra was trembling now, her hands frozen mid-stitch.

“Good thing we’re not there then, isn’t it?” was the belligerent reply.

Every pair of eyes around the table were following the vocal volley like a tennis match, watching to see who’d win and what the penalties were. Tabitha was being restrained by Grit, her anger palpable—for all she was a psychopath, her loyalties were fierce.

“Do you like to drink, Blake? Kick back and socialize with friends after you’ve finished work, done a scene?” Liam asked softly. So softly, his tone was a blade hidden beneath the words.

“Who doesn’t?”

“I agree. And in a club like this, teeming with single submissives and couples actively seeking a third to play with, the bar is usually the social hub. The place any Dom wants to be when he requires a little after-work action.” As the trap began to close in around him, Liam was pleased to see a light of apprehension flicker in the other man’s dull blue eyes. “So I’m not going to break your legs for insulting my woman, as much as I want to do just that. I’m not going to smack your head into that wall over there and punch those oversized donkey teeth down your throat.”

Tabitha made a soft, sad aww sound.

“I’m gonna do much worse, Blake.” Leaning forward, baring his teeth in a savage smile, Liam pinned the asshole in his chair with a look. “Consider yourself blacklisted from my bar until I decide otherwise. I see you anywhere in my territory, I catch you near my girl, and I won’t just cut your dick off in a social capacity. Still think it’s a joke?”

Mouth opening and closing like a guppy, Blake stared at him blankly. He recovered soon enough, swinging his gaze toward the head of the table. “Elias, this is—”

Stone-faced, Eli just shook his head. “You don’t want me to intervene, Blake.”

“But—”

“Take the punishment or pack your bags and leave. Personally, I’d like very much to escort you to the end of the drive and break a few of your bones myself.”

Liam remained standing as his adversary surveyed the room, obviously not finding any support from the others. He shifted slightly, using his body as a shield when Blake’s chair shot back on the thick carpet and the weasel-faced idiot puffed himself up to his full, inadequate height.

“If that’s the way you want it,” he snapped, spinning on his heel and marching away from the table, smacking his shoulder against the woman sitting next to him. “You’ve got my notice, Elias.”

“I’ll kindly remind you of the NDA you signed,” Eli called after him before he reached the door; it slammed sharply in response. “Well, I wasn’t anticipating that.”

Breathing deep, Liam reached out and stroked Sierra’s tense shoulders, bending down to kiss the crown of her head. “You okay, little minx?”

She nodded. “He was mean.”

“He was. He won’t bother you anymore.” Exhaling slowly, he sat down again, meeting Elias’s questioning gaze across the table before doing the same with every Dominant present. “Let me start again. My name is Liam, and I don’t take shit from anyone. My submissive is a human being; not a freak, not a crutch for a lame joke. Respect begets respect.”

One of the unintroduced women applauded slowly. “That’s a sentiment I can get behind. Mistress Violet,” she told them as the air in the room began to lighten, free of the toxicity Blake exuded. Her voice was low, husky, kissed with a southern accent. “Happily divorced, poached from a small but thriving club in Louisiana by these two handsome devils,” she added, sending Evander a friendly wink, “and ready to get some roots in the ground again.”

It didn’t escape Liam’s notice how Sierra reacted to the woman’s voice. For a long moment, he thought her muscles might start to snap with stress, but after a few words, she relaxed enough to pick up the stitch and carry on.

Watching her, he knew her attention was no longer fully on the stuffie in her hands, just as her brain wasn’t completely drowned in anxiety from the confrontation.

Interesting.

While the introductions continued as though the meeting hadn’t just imploded, Liam kept an eye on his sub. She was flushed, her color high along her throat, cheeks, and the tips of her ears. The stitches she wove into the stuffie weren’t quite as meticulous, her fingers slower, and her focus was definitely not on her current project.

In the years since Wyatt’s death, she’d become more reserved. A lot of her traits became more Little like, especially when she was around others with the same childlike inclinations.

Coming here, leaving her friends and the encompassing warmth of their family at Avalon, hadn’t been what Liam wanted, yet it was a lifeline. A chance to get away from the memories of Wyatt dying, of the bond between Liam and Sierra straining as they grieved for a man who hadn’t been the best of men, but had been theirs.

They’d been trying for a child for months with no success—Sierra was shouldering all the blame, insisting her physical conditions were the cause of their inability to conceive. No matter how hard he tried to take some of the weight, she wouldn’t let him, giving her hirsutism and psoriasis even greater power over her.

Even their sex life was… stale. The love was there, the passion sometimes kindled into something akin to what it used to be, but the creativity, impulsivity, was withering away. Each time they failed to make a baby, the more she pulled back from intimacy.

Liam lost track of the room, mired in his thoughts.

It wasn’t until Elias rose to take command again that he shook off the maudlin mood dogging at his heels and listened to what his new boss was explaining.

“Some of you have designated areas,” Eli said, flicking lightly through a thin sheaf of paper. “Levi will be running the photography studio with a focus on the unique and erotic. Obviously, Liam is in charge of the bar and clubhouse. Felicity and Ericka are alternating between the Little daycare and the medical play area; Merrick, I believe you requested the dungeon?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Fordham, you said your work schedule is pretty tight for the next couple of weeks, so you’ll be assigned wherever you’re needed until you find your niche.” Elias glanced up, cocking his head at a black-haired Dom on the left-hand side of the table. “Do you have a preference?”

“I’m flexible.” As patient and unconcerned as a panther reclining on a branch, Fordham spread his hands wide. “Ropework is a specialty of mine. Teaching is the main reason I’m here. Other than that, I’m happy to do whatever.”

“Excellent.” The papers landed on the wood with a soft thwap . “Serenity will operate as a twenty-four-seven resort. All of you have scheduled days off, and for now, we’re giving you free rein on your shifts. This is your home as well as your workplace. We’re aiming for a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere not just for our members, but for you as well.”

“What about additional staffing?” Ericka asked, flicking long brown hair over her shoulder. She ran her thumb over her lip, exchanging glances with her friend.

“We’ve compiled interview lists for each section,” Elias responded without hesitation. “All candidates have already been thoroughly screened and their availability confirmed for immediate hire if you approve. As Masters and Mistresses of Serenity, we’re relying on you to select your teams with care. If you have your own candidates in mind, please give their information to Grit. Hiring and firing falls to you; however, we will intervene if we think a team is not performing to our standards.”

Liam nodded in approval.

Serenity was nothing like Avalon in many respects, but he understood what Evander and Elias were aiming for—the same atmosphere and familial warmth, the inclusivity of a tight-knit community.

“Staff meetings will initially be held on Sunday mornings,” Elias continued. “A little strange, I know, but until we figure out when our quietest times will be, we’d like to avoid pulling you away from your areas when you’re needed most.”

“There goes my sleep in,” someone muttered.

“That’s what your day off is for,” Evander said casually, lifting his eyebrow. “Let me make one thing absolutely clear before we open the doors. We want you to have fun, we want you to bond and work as a family, a team, which means pulling your damn weight.” He lifted a hand toward the door. “If you think this is an easy gig, a job you can just coast through and ride on the coattails of everyone else, I’m sure you can hitch a ride with Blake back to the city.”

Silence blanketed the room, thick and stifling.

“Serenity’s success depends on you. Your experience, your expertise, your desire to make this club the best it can be is what will determine what it achieves. We don’t want the credit,” he told them with complete honesty. “We don’t want accolades or applause. Don’t need them. Serenity was a dream, one that is now a reality. In our eyes, this club is yours.”

“Even though Elias is in charge?” Levi asked, grinning foolishly.

“Only for a short while,” Eli corrected, shooting him a glare. “After we iron out the kinks—pun not intended—we’ll be starting the search for a manager to take over day to day operations.”

Evander picked up the ball again. “You’ve all been chosen to be part of this because of your strengths, whether through recommendations, personal preference, or simply as the strongest candidate for the position. We expect you to reflect our standards as well as your own. To present yourselves in a manner that shows the club in a positive light. You are the faces of Serenity.”

They made an effective team, Liam thought approvingly as he watched his new colleagues. Eli was perpetually dominant, taking charge at every turn, probably because he was used to handling Evander’s schedule on a daily basis.

Evander, however, was smart to appeal to his employees’ sense of pride in themselves and their work. Giving them a personal stake in the success of the club.

“Now if we’ve emphasized the importance of your input enough,” Elias said soberly, seamlessly taking control again, “let’s go over the opening day procedures.”