Kyle sighed. “That’s probably fair. But I still say Julian Lodge is scarier than Big Tag.”
“How do you know Julian?” Michael was surprised Tessa was talking like she’d made a study of the man. Tessa had only been with McKay-Taggart for two years, and in all that time Julian had never once come to the office. She wouldn’t have worked with him. Tessa was in the bodyguard unit. Lodge had his own full-time bodyguards.
Julian Lodge ran Lodge Corp, a multibillion-dollar company that he’d inherited from his parents. More importantly to Big Tag, he ran an investment group called the Masters Fund. It was also worth several billion dollars and was the very reason Big Tag was loaded. That was where a lot of people got it wrong. They thought Tag’s money came from the company, and some of it did, but the big bucks came from shrewd investments and making the money he had work for him.
Julian Lodge had taught Tag that. He’d been the first investor in McKay-Taggart and now was treated like royalty.
But he wasn’t sure how Tessa knew that since she hadn’t come to the yearly football games Big Tag and Julian threw that sometimes included one of them putting an actual athlete on the payroll in order to win. Those “family” picnics were vicious at times, with Big Tag and Julian going at each other like two T-Rexes fighting for territory.
“Oh, I had to meet with him when I started going to The Club.” Tessa’s tone had gone soft.
“It’s so gross. She calls my brother Professor, and they run some hard-core scenes about her not turning in her homework.” Kyle made a vomiting sound. “I joined The Club to get away from my family.”
She was going to The Club with David Hawthorne. Well, of course she was. David was her Dom, her top in a way Michael had never been. Their sex life had been one of the many ways he’d failed her. There had been a spark in the beginning, but no magic need had come to life beyond a mutually pleasurable experience.
There was supposed to be more. He was almost certain of it. He saw it all around him. Never once had he called Tessa up to his office and fucked her over his desk. He wouldn’t have disturbed her workday. It seemed rude, and yet he knew damn well not to walk into Big Tag’s office without making sure it was safe. Because even after five kids and years of marriage, those two went at it hard sometimes.
He’d topped Tessa when they’d been engaged, but it had been play. And toward the end of their relationship, they’d stopped going to Sanctum altogether.
“Why The Club?” He hoped she wasn’t avoiding him. Tessa needed Sanctum. She’d needed more than he could give her.
“Kyle and David both go to The Club instead of Sanctum,” Tessa said. “It’s weird for them at Sanctum.”
“Because of my mom and stepdad,” Kyle explained. “It’s horrifying. I’m still traumatized from when I came home from college for the weekend and walked in on my mom tied to a chair. I thought it was a home invasion and maybe the attackers had forced her to put on that corset and butt floss. I’m still in therapy over it, so no, with the exception of my training class, I don’t go to Sanctum.”
“Kyle and David both have rights at The Club,” Tessa continued. “It’s a courtesy Julian’s offering to anyone attached to McKay-Taggart who doesn’t want to see their mom’s boobs. I don’t know. I’ve seen Grace and Sean scene, and they’re hot.”
Kyle gagged. “Dude, they are about to be your inlaws.”
Tessa shrugged. “They’re the coolest inlaws in the world because I get to eat at Top all I want. All I have to do is head into the kitchen and beg for food, and suddenly I have a burger in my hand. Getting to eat in the kitchen is the best part.”
Tessa had never been comfortable in his wealthy world. His family moved in the same circles as Julian Lodge. He’d actually met Lodge long before Ian Taggart had. He’d met him as a child, and the man was definitely intimidating.
“Well, they should keep their clothes on around tender young eyes. Like mine.” Kyle sighed. “I’m going to grab my tablet. I’ll be back before Lodge gets here.”
Tessa turned her dark eyes Michael’s way, an apologetic look on her face. “I’m sorry about the inlaw comment. I wasn’t saying anything about your mom and dad. You know I think they’re lovely.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t take it that way.” Not entirely. There had been a momentary hurt, but she simply hadn’t enjoyed the protocols and rules old money followed. She hadn’t liked the fact that everyone watched her in that world, waited for her to fuck up. The truth of the matter was he didn’t enjoy it either. “They still ask about you. Did you invite them?”