CHAPTER 4
Shar
Arriving at Dance Mecca, which is the name of the strip club the MC owns, I’m impressed it’s well-maintained on the exterior. The paintwork is good, the logo of the club is on the main doors, and as you open the main double door, half of the logo is on each side.
The club is halfway between towns, so it’s not in the townspeople's faces, which I think is respectful, as it’s a relatively small town.
Another thing that impresses me is the exterior doesn’t have the usual flashing lights and cheap-looking signs. It is all higher class in style and I think that is a bonus for the MC and the reputation they have.
Crack unlocks one of the double doors and we walk in. It’s so quiet it feels shocking. In my mind, I’d expected loud music, lots of talking, and some offensive remarks flying. I didn’t expect silence.
Looking at Crack, I can see him laughing at my reaction, but I shrug my shoulders and scan the room. The first thing I notice is a raised area in the center of the room with a dance pole that has seen better days. This area has a walkway from it to what I presume are the changing areas. Pointing, I look at Crack. “Does that lead to the changing areas for the dancers?”
“Sure does. Once they walk past the doorway there is a hallway and the changing rooms. We have a bouncer in that hallway at all times.”
Crack points to the left side of the room from where we’re standing at the main doors. “That’s the bar, as you can see. We have three bartenders working each shift.”
Nodding to Crack, I let my eyes scan the room, and apart from the dance area, it's all tables and chairs circling the room. “Is this it for the business, or is there more hidden away?”
“What do you mean?”
I turn and look up at him. “Well, do you have any illegal gambling, lap dances, or other things going on?”
Crack laughs. “We have no gambling here, and no lap dances either, but we’ve considered it. Brawl, our Sergeant at Arms, thinks it would make a killing, but we’re not sure how we’d set that up.”
“Okay, that’s worth thinking about. We can check any laws that may apply to lap dancing, and I know it’s supposed to be illegal, but there are so many loopholes it’s not followed through with. Also, after checking, I saw that full liquor and nakedness are not supposed to happen in the same place.”
I giggle when I think of how the hell you could have a strip club without liquor and nudity.
I walk further into the large room, and around some of the supporting pillars, which have posters advertising upcoming women, cheaper liquor nights, and dance interviews.
“How many dancers do you currently have?”
I take out my phone and bring up the notepad app. Tapping out the information I need to gather and what I need to remember.
“We have seven at the moment. As soon as one leaves, we do interviews. We also have a couple of women on standby, so if anyone leaves us in the shit, we can call them up and they’ll cover until we get replacements.”
Crack nods for me to follow and we walk behind the bar and through a door that leads to a hallway.
The hallway has access to a kitchen, an office, a utility, and a storeroom. The storeroom’s lined with boxes of liquor on shelves. Nearly everything you can think of is in here. There is another door, and it opens to a set of stairs that lead down to the cellar. “I don’t need to see the cellar, Crack. I think I’ll leave that to the liquor experts.”
“There is an apartment upstairs, but it’s in dire need of renovation, so no one has used it. We keep saying we’ll get it done and put it out for a rental, but it’s never happened.”
I give Crack a nod, then step out of the storeroom and into the kitchen.
The kitchen is modern and has good counter space, a stove, a fridge, cabinets, and an eight-seater table and chairs. Those that work long hours here can at least have something to eat and sit away from the bustle of the club itself.
Stepping out of the kitchen, along the hall, we walk into an office. Again, this is modern and has a good size desk and chair at the top of the room in front of a window with bars across. There are blinds that can be opened and closed also, so that’s good as the heat on your back would be horrendous.
There is a filing cabinet, three easy chairs, and a coffee table. I spot a printer in the corner and a wall safe, a rather large one. Everything you would need, except one thing, turning to Crack, who is watching me closely. “Don’t you have a computer system in here? Or am I missing something?”
Crack chuckles. “Everything’s linked from the clubhouse to a laptop. That way the information cannot be compromised, as only the person in charge for the day and Zip, our tech man, know the code. The code is changed every day, and we keep the laptop in the safe.”
I grin as I think that’s a great idea and keeps security tight.
Walking out of the office, we have two doors. The first I open and it’s a small utility that has a washer and dryer, shelves above with the detergents. A mop and bucket are leaning in a corner next to a sink. Last, I notice a box with cleaning materials, so the utility does double duty as a cleaning closet.
Closing the utility door, I turn to Crack. “We need to work out something for the utility. It’s messy, cleaning material-wise, so maybe a tall cabinet where they could be placed out of sight?”
Crack nods, then responds, “Yeah, I can look into that.”
The last door is a stairway to the apartment above.
We walk back through the hallway, behind the bar, and into the back of the club where the walkway for the dancers leads to a hallway with the dressing rooms.
The dressing rooms are in a terrible mess. Clothes, if you want to call them that, are thrown on the dresser tops and the mirrors are disgusting.
Turning around, I notice overflowing trash cans. Shoes that have been kicked off and forgotten and even a couple of thongs hanging on the corner of mirrors.
The room itself is fine. The dressers are in good condition and have stools that fit underneath. The mirrors are fastened to the wall and have lights around aiding the application of makeup. I slowly walk past and push closed a couple of locker doors after peaking in and seeing the mess inside.
Opening the last door, I’m happy to see a row of showers, a couple of toilet stalls, and sinks. But again, the entire area needs cleaning. The sinks are dirty and have not been cleaned in a long time. Opening a toilet stall, I see it needs attention. I’m not even going to bother looking at the shower stalls.
Turning to Crack as I’m tapping information into the notes on my phone, I comment. “Need you to make an appointment for me to speak to the cleaning crew as soon as you can arrange it. I also need all the dancers here tomorrow at 2:00 pm, no messing around, Crack. They need organizing and I’ll speak to Bank after that.
“Okay, that’s not a problem and I’m with you all day again tomorrow, so wherever you go, I’ll be right with you,”
Crack chuckles. “I’ll get them all here tomorrow and I’ll be happy to see how you deal with them.”
“I’m here to give you advice on how I see things could be improved. I don’t know if me laying down the law with these women will help or not, but the mess they are making shows how unprofessional they are.”
I turn towards the door. “How come nobody has seen the disgusting mess they have made of this place and it’s a good place, don’t get me wrong. I think you’ve a good business here, but everyone has to respect the position they hold for it to be truly successful.”
Crack tips his head to one side and is considering what I’ve said, and I’m pleased when he answers. “We’ll see tomorrow, but if they get mouthy, I’m happy for you to sort them out, or I’ll jump in and speak. Either way is good as far as I see it.”
We wander around the rest of the place and when we stand behind the bar, I can see it needs some care. I point out dirty areas to Crack and show him the wine cooler is dripping water as a small pool is seeping from underneath the front. Crack is taking it all in and has taken out his phone and is using a note app to write information to come back to later when we return to the clubhouse.
Once we’ve seen everything we head back to the clubhouse, and I’m thankful that we’ve gotten that done because it’s a good business. It just needs cleaning and keeping it sharp.
“I’m just stopping to top her up. I’ll not be a minute or two,”
Crack informs me, as he pulls into a gas station that looks like it needs a bit of tender loving care.
Looking around, I notice a young woman trying to get to her vehicle, with three men circling her. She looks like she’s ready to bolt if she has an opening. I hate to see this and usually, I’d mind my business, but since being in prison and the reason, I just can’t ignore bullies, and this feels off.
Damn, I didn’t bring my Glock, so I look around in the vehicle to see if I can find anything to use. Nothing…shit…and they are getting closer to her. She's panicking.
Jumping out of the vehicle, I don’t stop to think when I shout. “Hey babe, how are you doing? Haven’t seen you in forever. You got yourself a new vehicle. I like it.”
I’m babbling anything that comes into my mind at this point and hoping Crack will get out of the damn shop fast. Surely it will not take him long to pay for gas.
The woman turns to me and must realize what I’m doing as she smiles woodenly and shouts back to me. “Oh, hi. I’m good, I’ve had her a little while now, but she needs a bit of work soon.”
I keep getting nearer and I can see the three men are looking around because we’re drawing attention by shouting at each other. “My man’s just paying for gas. I’d like you to meet him,”
I continue, and that’s when one asshole makes a grab for the woman, which triggers another to step toward me.
I’m thankful that I’ve been having hand-to-hand with the brothers and try to remember what I’ve been taught, so when the asshole grabs my arm, I spin fast and bring my elbow up hard, smacking him in the face. He bellows and lets go of me, and thankfully I don’t have to do anything else as I hear Crack shouting.
Knowing Crack is running towards us, I rush forward and jump on the asshole's back as he’s trying to drag the woman away. But there is a third and I’m happy when I hear the asshole being tackled by Crack.
Concentrating on what I’m doing, I keep one arm wrapped around his neck and hook two fingers in his nostrils, then yank back hard. His head shoots back, but I keep the pressure on, even though it's disgusting.
He’s bellowing for me to get off, but I keep hanging on. The woman gets away from his grasp and he lifts his hands to grab me off his back, but I’m lucky, as she doesn’t run. She grabs his junk with both hands and squeezes hard. He bellows and collapses to his knees; I let go, step back while running my fingers down my jeans and I must have a curled-up nose as the woman grins at me when she sees what I’m doing.
We both stand watching this asshole when I’m grabbed from behind and I do everything I can to get free, but I realize I’m being dragged backward. I scream as loud as I can, “CRACK!”
A bellow rips through the air and I’m falling before I know what’s happening. As I hit the ground, I roll, and getting to my feet, I see Crack punching the shit out of the asshole. I’ve got to admit it's poetry in motion.
The man goes down and is out for the count. Crack reels around and bellows at the assholes to get their man and get the fuck out of here before he finishes them. The two still standing grab the unconscious one and drag him to a van, where they throw him in the back and drive away quickly.
The woman walks over to me and smiles. “Thank you so much for helping. I knew they were going to make a grab for me, but I wasn’t near enough to my vehicle or the gas station shop. I was panicking about what to do when you shouted to me.”
“Hey, we women have to stick together. I thought they were acting weird and when they started getting near you, I knew I had to do something. Crack here was in the shop paying for the gas, so I knew he wouldn’t be long, but I just hoped he’d get out quick enough to help us.”
I wrap my arm around Crack's middle and hug him, smiling my thanks up at him.
“I wasn’t sure what the fuck I was seeing when I walked out of the shop. But when the fucker grabbed you around the neck, I knew something bad was going down.”
Crack kisses the top of my head and I’ve got to admit it was pretty comforting.
“Well, I thank you both for helping me. I don’t know what would have happened, but my friend's sister went missing and we’ve not found her yet, so maybe she was snatched, too?”
She shakes her head, looking pretty sad, I have to admit, but waves and makes her way to her vehicle.
“Come on, Shar, let’s get back to the clubhouse.”
Crack throws his arm around my shoulders and guides me back to our vehicle, helping me in and closing the passenger door before walking around to the driver’s side. He takes off his cut and places it on the back seat before fastening his seat belt and heading out of the gas station.