by Blair Grey
“I’ll have to get with Sarah about that, but I don’t see why not.” Pulling open the door, I found Sarah and Carl leaning on the bar closest to the entrance, both sets of eyes came our way. Sarah’s jaw dropped, but only momentarily before she snapped it shut tight. “Morning. I’ve brought in a consultant for the dancers’ dressing rooms.”
“I didn’t know you’d be doing that today,” Sarah said quietly as she looked away. “I would’ve made sure we had a designer here for this if you had told me about it.”
Carl saw no problem with me bringing Candy along at all. “Sweetie, the designer is here already, remember? Stacy is in the kitchen. I can set her free to help you guys with this.”
“I forgot.” Sarah looked like she’d swallowed a toad as she held out her hand to Candy. “Sarah Davis. And you are?”
“Candy Cane.” She giggled as she shook Sarah’s hand. “At least that’s my stage name. My real name is Elizabeth Parks.”
Only briefly did Sarah’s eyes meet mine before she looked back at Candy. “So, I am assuming that you’re a stripper.”
“Exotic dancers are what we like to be called, Sarah. Stripper sounds so nasty, don’t you agree?” Candy ran her arm around me, snuggling into my chest. “I was talking to Axel on the way over here about being considered as the manager of the dancers. I’ve got loads of experience.”
“Dancing or managing dancers?” Sarah’s left eye began to twitch, and I knew she was trying very hard not to burst out with some vulgar language and possibly punch both Candy and me. Luckily, her father was right there, so I knew she wouldn’t do a thing to give him any idea what we’d done.
Candy looked up at me with a frown. “Only dancing. Does that not make me qualified for that position, Axel?” She thought I got the final say on that since I’d touted about being the owner.
But I had no idea if I got that or not, so I looked at Sarah for the answer. “I’d like to let the one who holds a business degree decide that. Sarah, what do you think?”
Walking toward the area in the back where we’d planned on putting the dressing areas, Sarah huffed. “I think that anyone who you’re messing with, Axel, isn’t viable for any position in this club.”
So, only you then?
Candy laughed. “Then you won’t hire anyone who’s worked in the exotic dancing business from Baltimore. This guy has run through pretty much all of us.”
I felt the butterflies begin to swarm and even sting a little. Who knew butterflies had stingers? “Respect, Candy,” I whispered in her ear. “She’s exaggerating,” I let Sarah know.
I had no idea that Carl had been following us. I found that out when he chuckled. “No, she’s not.” He walked around us to catch up with Sarah. “Hey, you can’t count out anyone Axel’s messed with, sweetie. You’ve got to staff the place you know.”
Without saying a word, Sarah crossed her arms over her chest, then stopped and turned to face me, her eyes blazing with jealousy. And I knew then and there I had to talk some sense into her before her father saw that look. “Candy, go with Carl, he’ll take you to the designer and you two can go check out the areas. I’ve got to talk to my partner for a minute in private. I just remembered something I need to tell her.” Gently pushing her away from me, I nodded at Sarah. “Come with me, please.”
Taking quick steps to get in front of me, Sarah rushed by me. “In our office.”
I didn’t rush the way she did, following along behind her at a distance as I tried to come up with how to say things without pissing her off any more than I already had.
When we got up to the office, she nearly slammed the door in my face, but I caught it before that happened. “Hey, chill.” I closed the door behind us then found Sarah going to the desk, getting out the bottle of Scotch I had in the bottom drawer.
“How could you?” She slammed it on the desk then looked around for a glass. “Find me a fucking glass, will you?”
“Middle drawer.” I leaned up against the file cabinet. “You do need a drink.”
After taking out the glass, she slammed the drawer then poured herself a whole glass of the strong alcohol. “I know what you are, Axel. But fuck! Do you have to humiliate me?”
“I wasn’t trying to humiliate you, Sarah.” I waited for her to get a little of the alcohol into her system before I tried to say anything else.
Her eyes bugged out as she’d taken too big of a drink. Swallowing hard, she began coughing and I went to the watercooler to get her a drink. Handing it to her, I waited for her to calm down a bit.
Her hand shook as she put the cup of water down on the desk. “What is the real reason you brought that slut here?”
“To throw your father off our trail.” Reaching out, I took her hands in mine, pulling her to me, then wrapping my arms around her. “I’m not trying to make you jealous or hurt you, but I see that I’ve done both. I sent you that text this morning to try to prepare you for what I would come up with.”
“It didn’t work.” She looked up at me with shining eyes that said she was about to cry.
I hated that I’d done that to her. Kissing her softly, I knew I’d been wrong to bring Candy to work with me. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know what else to do.”
“You didn’t have to try to put my father off our trail, Axel. He’s not aware of anything. I think what you’re really doing is trying to show me that you and I aren’t a thing. Which I know we aren’t – we can’t be. But you don’t have to parade women around in front of me. You two had your hands all over each other. How in the hell did you think I would feel about that? I gave myself to you last night. And now I feel like a fucking idiot for doing it.”
That was the last thing I wanted. “Sarah – baby, don’t feel that way. If anyone is an idiot here, it’s me. I don’t know why I was thinking I had to show your father that I was still interested in women other than you. But, the thing is, he should think I’m still being the same guy I was before you came along.”
“Well, don’t bring that shit to work, okay?” She buried her face in my chest. “Why do you have to smell so fucking good all the time?” One little fist pounded against my chest in protest.
Taking in a big sniff of her hair, I could only ask, “Why do you have to smell so fucking good all the time?” Running my hand through her silky hair, I sighed.
I could feel her heartbeat growing slower and knew I’d managed to calm her down. Kissing the top of her head, I whispered, “We have to get back to work, baby or your father will get suspicious. Neither of us needs that. Can you reign in that jealousy?”
“Can you keep your hands off that girl?” She looked at me with worried eyes. “Please.”
What is this woman doing to me?
Chapter Eight
Sarah
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I could barely tolerate Candy as she spoke, “So, I think a whole wall made of one giant mirror would be great right here. That way, the girls can check themselves out almost the same way the customers will. You never know when something unsightly might be showing. You know what I mean, right, Sarah?”
I had no clue what the hell she was talking about at all. But I had to try not to talk down to women like her. I had to form some type of respect for them or I wouldn’t ever make a good boss. “Sure.” I looked at the designer, Stacy. “So, do you have what you’ll need to get these rooms done now?”
She nodded. “Yeah. We can have them done in a week.”
Candy clapped, hopping up and down, making her giant fake tits bounce like crazy. My father looked away, but Axel didn’t. So, I jabbed him in the ribs with my elbow. It worked, he averted his eyes, looking at me. “Sorry.”
Candy wasn’t about to give up. “Can I help?”
“Do you know how to do construction work?” I wondered if the girl was all there, mentally speaking. She kept thinking she should be hired for things she had no experience in.
The jumping up and down with joy stopped abruptly. But her tits had a couple more jiggles
before they decided to stop. “No. But I can learn.”
Maybe she just needs money. “You know I’m going to cut you a check for your time today, right? You do get a consulting fee.”
Candy walked up to Axel, who smartly retreated from her grasp as she reached out for him. “I get paid for this?”
He nodded. “Sure you do. Did I forget to tell you about that?”
“You did.” She looked back at me. “How much am I gonna make today?”
It suddenly occurred to me that we could use her help. “The going rate for consultants is fifty and hour. And if you’d like to help us find dancers, I’ll give you fifty for each one you send to us that we end up hiring.”
Clapping happily, she beamed at Axel. “Oh! Can I work here as a dancer too?”
He looked at me with raised brows as if asking for my permission. “She is good at what she does, Sarah.”
It had become quite obvious that most of the women who would be working for us would be people he’d screwed. So, why leave Candy out? “If you think she’s good enough for your club, then you make that call.”
The frown on his face told me I’d said the wrong thing. “Our club. And I value your opinion.”
Shrugging, I turned my attention to Candy who watched us as she held her breath. “I think we should schedule auditions, Candy. In my opinion, we should have a panel who picks out the dancers we end up hiring. Leaving it up to one man, might not be the smartest thing to do.”
Thankfully, she agreed, “Yes! Oh, that’s great. This really will be a great place to work. All the clubs I’ve worked at have their favorites. It seems you won’t run things that way here.”
“There will be no favorites here. Everyone will get equal treatment. That means from the waitstaff to the talent, you all will be treated the exact same. I expect all of the employees to respect one another. This should be a place where everyone feels comfortable working at.” I’d taken lots of human resource classes and knew what needed to be done if you wanted to keep the people you hired. “And we won’t be doing business the way it seems all the rest of clubs like these do either.”
Axel’s hand on my shoulder sent shock waves through me, reminding me of the night before. I closed my eyes, drifting back to the night before briefly as he said, “That’s right. Sarah and I have come up with the idea of paying the dancers hourly wages and they get to keep all of their tips too. Plus, we’re meeting with an insurance rep tomorrow to see what we can do about getting everyone health and life coverage. We want you all to stay healthy.”
“Wow.” Candy seemed to be speechless – finally. “That’s awesome.” Her blue eyes came to mine. “You’re like a really great person, Sarah. I know Axel wouldn’t have come up with this on his own.”
I couldn’t help but laugh as Axel’s jaw dropped. “She’s not wrong. You shouldn’t look like that, Axel.”
“I hadn’t realized I had somewhat of a heartless rep.” He shook his head as if in disbelief. “What do people really think of me, Candy?”
“Since I hope you’ll be my boss one day soon, I’d rather take the fifth on that.” She looked away as if embarrassed.
But I knew the man had a very bad rep. “Come on, Axel. You made that reputation; you know what people really think of you.” I walked by Candy, gesturing for her to come with me. “Come with me to our office, Candy. I’ll get that check for you, then you’re free to go.”
She followed along, looking over her shoulder at Axel. “I’ll be ready to go once I’ve got the check, Axel.”
I wasn’t about to let him take her home. “I know he gave you a ride here, but I’m sending you home in our limo. It’s what we do for all of our consultants.” So what if it’s a little white lie? “Let the driver know, will you, Axel?”
“Sure thing.” I was glad to hear him accepting the idea I’d come up with to rid him of her company.
As we walked into the office, I thought about how I wanted to talk to some of the girls who worked at Horney’s Babes and how Candy might be able to help me with that. “Do you know anyone who works at Horney’s?”
She shook her head. “That place is a shithole.”
“Yeah, I know.” I pulled the checkbook out of the safe then took it to the desk to get a pen. “I’d like to offer the women that work there, the ones who aren’t hooked on drugs, a chance to audition for us. But I know the people who run that place won’t take that well. I’d like to invite them covertly. Do you think you could help me out with that?” I knew Axel wouldn’t want me doing that, so I had to find help from somewhere else.
“Sure, I can help you, Sarah.” She jotted her number down on a sticky note then handed it to me as I handed her the check. “Call me whenever you want to do that.”
“How about tonight?” I wanted to get it all taken care of before I chickened out. “We were there last night, and I saw some bad things. I want to get all the girls out of there that I can. And I don’t want the people who own the place to know what we’re doing?”
Blinking, she seemed confused. “Why do you care so much?”
It had never occurred to me that people in the industry she was in were so heartless. “I just do is all. Look, I know being in this type of business, you’re pretty used to getting used. At least here, in this club, I don’t want anyone to feel that way. The way I see it is like this, as a dancer, you are an entertainer. And entertainers make great money, plus they’re well-respected for their art. So, why shouldn’t those who do what you do, be respected for their talents as well?”
“I agree completely.” Wagging her finger at me, she smiled. “I wasn’t sure about you at first, Sarah. But now, I know I like you. We’re gonna get along great.”
As long as you learn to keep your hands off of Axel, we will.
And that had me thinking that I needed to come up with some rules of conduct. “Candy, I know how things go in the other clubs, but we want this place to be above them all. So, we’re going to have some pretty strict rules about touching and otherwise sexually harassing co-workers. I don’t care what kind of industry we’re in here, we still need to show each other the same type of respect for personal space as is required in other workplaces. You do understand what I mean, right?”
“No touching inappropriately?” She seemed proud of herself for coming up with the right answer.
“Exactly. So, let me point out that you have hung onto Axel a lot today. That just won’t be acceptable if you’re to work for us. You understand that, right?” I hoped I was getting through to her.
“Sure, I get it. When we’re here, no touching. When we’re not here, we can do anything we want to.” Again, she beamed with pride, thinking she’d answered right again. “I’m not sure if you know this or not, but Axel is a real animal in bed. And he’s not going to stop being who he is. At least not when he leaves this place, he’s not. He’s a man with needs – lots of them.”
It hit me that I might not be able to stop Axel from sleeping with the women who worked for us. The idea swept the rug out from under me. For a moment, I thought I might fall to my knees and start crying. But then I remembered where I was and gathered myself. “Well, at least not here, okay?”
“Yes, I get it. We want a whole different atmosphere here. I can behave when I need to.” Waving the check in front of her face, she sighed. “So, I’ll go get into the limo now if that’s okay with you.”
Leading her out of the office, I wasn’t sure how to feel. “Sure, you can go now. I’ll call you later to see about going to see if we can talk to some of those girls. It’s a secret mission, Candy. I don’t want anyone to know where we’re coming from.”
“Yeah, I get it. Give me a call, Sarah.” We got to the bottom of the stairs and both of us spotted Axel with a couple of construction workers in the stage. “Shake it, Axel!”
Rolling my eyes, I knew I was in a world of hurt if I kept letting things like this get to me. But I didn’t want this type of thing going on, so I let her know that. “One of
the things you need to work on in the workplace, Candy - no cat-calls.”
“Oh, I didn’t know that was out too. So many things to learn.” She waved at Axel. “See ya later.”
He nodded and I began to feel as if my blood had begun to boil. Jealousy was new to me. I had no idea that it felt so fucking bad. I had to reel it in. Axel was who he was, and I had known that before I went and asked him to go with me to a private room.
After watching Candy leave, I turned to go back up to the office. I needed to have another sip or two of the Scotch I’d poured earlier. My head was a mess, my body ached in the most amazing way, and all I really wanted to do was drag Axel somewhere we could be alone again.
Standing at the window that overlooked the parking lot, I watched the limo drive away with Candy in it. Sipping the drink that burned as it slid down my throat, I leaned my head against the glass windowpane. “What have I done?”
“What did you do, sweetie?”
I jumped, dropping the glass as I saw my father had come into the office without me hearing a thing. “Um – well, you know.”
“No, I don’t know.” He looked at the drink I’d dropped. “A bit early for spirits, isn’t it?”
“It is.” I picked up the now empty glass. “Maybe I wasn’t supposed to be drinking this early, huh?” I went to grab some paper towels from the closet to clean up the mess I’d made.
“You seem kind of off today.” He took the paper towels out of my hand then went to wipe the Scotch off the newly varnished wood floor. “Maybe going to those clubs and seeing things you’ve never seen before was a bad idea. Maybe you working in a place like this isn’t something that’s good for you. You can tell me if you’re finding things upsetting, you know. I will understand. There are lots of things that you can do that don’t involve things that upset you.”
I didn’t know what to tell him. I didn’t want him to think I’d gotten upset by the things I’d seen. It was what I’d done to myself that had me so upset. But I couldn’t tell him that. So, I went with what had actually bothered me. “Dad, would it be wrong of us to try to get some of the girls who work at Horney’s Babes to come work for us instead? I mean, they’re not being treated right there. I overheard one of the girls getting smacked around and they take their tips, keeping half, then making them split what’s left. It’s so wrong and I hate that.”
