‘Good God, no Angus. That is certainly not my plan. A few of your lazy troublemakers might get a hard time, but rest assured, definitely not you.’ With that, Tony and Jake left.

Back at the club, Sharon had organised bacon sandwiches all around. It was much appreciated by the bouncers that they were treated like human beings, not just gorillas in suits.

‘I’ll have one of those,’ shouted Jake to the delivery driver, who had a cardboard box piled high with individually wrapped bacon sandwiches.

‘Sharon,’ said Tony, while drinking his coffee and eating his sandwich, ‘when is this male strip night Ashley has organised?’ He was intrigued; a plan had formed in his head. Now was the time to strike, while the iron was hot.

Sharon burst out laughing. ‘Why? Have you had enough of the girls, already? Are you thinking of going and seeing how the other half live?’

‘I am, actually, and so is Jake.’

Jake nearly choked on his sandwich and spilt his coffee in the process.

‘You’re not bloody serious, Tony, I don’t want to go and see a bunch of male strippers with their dicks hanging out.’ Jake was still trying to control his cough, after nearly choking on his sandwich. He couldn’t believe his ears; Tony had some crazy plans at times, but this was the worst. ‘Don’t you think it might ruin your reputation as a ladies’ man?’

‘Why would it? Who knows about it, but the members? And, from what you tell me, they don’t exactly shout about their inner fantasies. No, we have to go to put our stamp of approval on it, and to let them know they haven’t pulled the wool over our eyes. Our approval of them is their mild acceptance of us. They may not like us, but they’re not going to cross us. By the way, I want a small camera installed above the bed in each of those rooms, upstairs.’ Tony looked at Sharon and wagged his finger. ‘And even your precious Ashley is not to know about that, do you hear me?’ Tony was serious; what he had in mind was only for the people that needed to know.

‘Oh, God, Tony.’ Sharon was horrified. ‘What have you got in mind, now?’ She looked at Jake; he, too, was open-mouthed.

Tony had a smug expression on his face. He crossed his legs, put his hands behind his head, and sat back in his chair. ‘If we should ever need important help, those recordings would give us something to barter with. Why waste a good opportunity? If everything goes wrong tomorrow, those posh members would pretend they didn’t even know us. They would wash their hands of us, even though we know their little secrets. This way, they can’t forget us. You never know Jake, we could always fall on our arses one day and need the help of these not-so-respectable men. All’s fair in love and war, eh?’