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“Why? That doesn’t really have anything to do with The Pit, other than they are both housed in the same building.”
For the first time since they’d met earlier that night, the younger man sitting across from him looked vulnerable. For a moment, he let that cocky veneer slip and Lukus got a glimpse of a person he realized he knew nothing about.
Finally, Max leaned so he could pull his wallet out of his back pocket. Digging into the leather, he came out with a business card, holding it out to Lukus. At the last second, he pulled it back, a look of uncertainty on his face.
Lukus could have grabbed the card. It was only a few inches from his outstretched hand, but he waited. The guy clearly wanted to keep something from his past private.
Max finally flicked the card across the table. It landed writing down. When Lukus flipped the card over it took a few seconds for the irony to register.
Maxim Rojas
Special Agent~McMillian Security
“You’re in security?” Lukus asked.
The answer came slowly, as if he dreaded saying the words. “An old family friend owns this place. He hired me a few months ago. I left the Miami P.D. almost a year ago.”
“No shit.”
Tiffany brightened up next to him, jumping back into the conversation. “How perfect! Almost all of my brothers are policemen. Aiden is even in Chicago.”
Max looked like he had eaten something sour. “No offense, but that’s actually a con for me, not a pro.”
Lukus’s brain was on overdrive, processing one possible reason after another that hiring this guy would be a bad idea. He obviously had some heavy shit in his past he was running away from.
“It sounds like there’s a story here,” he hedged, hoping Maxim would provide some simple explanation for his secrecy.
Maxim sighed. “This is gonna be the easiest background check you’ll ever perform. All you need to do when you get upstairs is do a Google search on my name and Miami P.D. Read it all. Half of the coverage is total bullshit. Half isn’t. You decide if you can deal with it and then give me a call if you still want to talk. My cell is on the card.”
He was already on his feet, ready to leave when Lukus knew what he had to do.
“Wait!” When Max turned back around, Lukus stood up, stepping closer. “I don’t need to do the Google search.”
“You really should,” he said with the defeated tone of a man who’d been through hard times.
“Maybe you’re right, but my gut is telling me you’re the new Master Dom. And I trust my gut. So, give me a month—no matter what comes up in the background check. You want some extra hours, we have openings at Titan too.”
A spark of the guy’s previous confidence flickered in his eyes as the men stood face to face. He wanted to say yes.
“Come on, say yes. Give it a month to see if my gut is right.”
For the first time since they’d started talking about the job offer, Max smiled. “You know, I follow my gut too.”
“Yeah? And what’s your gut saying?” Lukus asked, holding his breath.
“That I’m a dumbass to agree to move to Chicago in January. I’m gonna have to buy an actual winter coat, aren’t I?”
Lukus laughed out loud. “And boots, a hat, and even gloves. Does this mean you’re saying yes?”
“I’m saying yes. I can’t pass up the chance to play with different subs every night and get paid for it.”
It felt like a weight lifted the second Max agreed to give it a try. He hadn’t been bullshitting the guy. Lukus really did trust his gut. He knew this was the right decision with the same certainty he’d had when he’d jumped headfirst into his relationship with Tiffany, and that had turned out to be the best decision of his life.
He held out his hand, shaking on their agreement, but adding, “I still think you’re an asshole.”
Max grinned. “You aren’t wrong. What’s next?”
Lukus took his own business card out of his wallet and handed it over, adding. “We’re leaving tomorrow for Hawaii. We won’t be back to Chicago for two weeks. You wrap up what you need to here in L.A. and plan on being in Chicago no later than that Monday. We’ll talk before then but I’ll bring Derek up to speed so he can help if I’m out of pocket.”
