Chapter 2
Hayes~
Just as Christy had warned me, I’d gotten a call from Lyle’s secretary about a meeting at two o’clock, and while I was used to his impossible demands, I still hadn’t expected this level of craziness.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“I want you to go after The Fantasy Factory,” he repeated, proving that I hadn’t misheard him the first time.
“The Fantasy Factory?” I echoed, still a little stunned.
Lyle nodded as he tossed a manilla envelope towards the edge of his desk, and I dutifully grabbed it like I was supposed to.
Now, while anyone else would have opened it, I didn’t need to; I already knew what was inside.
Having worked for Lyle for too many years to count, I knew how the man worked, and so I knew that the folder was full of numbers, projections, and just how much The Fantasy Factory was worth, down to the last penny.
I also couldn’t lie and say that Lyle’s ruthlessness wasn’t one of the reasons why I loved that River had chosen to study marine biology in college. He’d chosen a field where he was going to make a difference in the world, and that was a lot more noble than just chasing money.
As for The Fantasy Factory, you couldn’t live in Portal Lands without having heard of the club on Hilltop Street.
While I hadn’t ever been there, and though it had a great reputation as far as businesses went, for all intents and purposes, it was a sex club that catered to the safety and satisfaction of women.
Apparently, the first floor had a basic club setting, but the second floor had proclivity rooms in which you could observe or participate.
It was also reputed to be successful as hell.
“The owner’s name is Chamber McLaurin, and there’s a report on her in there as well,” Lyle remarked, sounding like business as usual and not at all as if he was going after someone’s livelihood.
“What makes you think that she’d be willing to sell?” I asked, still not bothering to open the envelope. “What have you heard?”
“I haven’t heard anything,” he answered arrogantly. “Now, while I’d like to acquire it outright, I’m not opposed to discussing a franchise situation with Ms. McLaurin.”
My brows rose at that. “You want to franchise multiple sex clubs throughout Portal Lands?”
“Why not?” he asked with a shrug. “Look at Las Vegas.”
“Las Vegas was designed to embrace sin for a weekend,” I pointed out. “Making it readily available on every street corner of Portal Lands is something entirely different, Lyle.”
He grinned like he knew a secret that I didn’t. “I’m not talking about franchising it like a fast-food chain. I’m talking about a club on each coast. I’m talking about a maximum of five clubs in the biggest cities in the nation.”
“Why go after it?” I asked curiously. “Why not just build your own club?”
“Because the last thing that this country needs is another damn club that’s just like the rest of them,” he answered.
“And before you ask, I’ve already looked into the market for an original niche, and The Fantasy Factory is the only club that has managed to fall back from the commonality of every other club out there.
” He straightened in his chair before adding, “And the club brings in no less than two million a year.”
I let out a low whistle. “Not bad for a small club out on Hilltop Street.”
“Imagine what it’d bring in if we added a few more like them, then amped up the marketing,” he replied eagerly. “Chamber McLaurin would be a fool not to partner up with us.”
“If she’s raking in two million a year, I’d hardly accuse her of being a fool,” I said pointedly.
Ignoring that, he said, “I want you to read the file, find out whatever else that you can on the woman and the club, and then approach her by the end of the week.”
I leaned forward in my seat a bit before asking, “Do you know if anyone else has approached her before?”
Lyle shook his head. “None that I’m aware of.”
“What’s the asking price?”
He dismissed my question with a quick wave of his hand. “We’ll get to that later. For now, I just want you to get a feel for Ms. McLaurin. I don’t want to go offering her the moon and the stars when she’s willing to take much less.”
“Usually, people prefer to know a ballpark amount before they even consider it,” I pointed out.
“True,” he conceded. “But you’re not pitching a sell right off the bat. You’re just feeling her out.”
I leaned back in my seat, not appreciating how he was hedging. Usually, he was more forthcoming with his information. “And what if she refuses? How far do you want me to go with this?”
“I’ll determine that after your first report back,” he answered.
Now, while I wasn’t exactly a choir boy, for the most part, I performed my job ethically, and I hadn’t ever had any regrets or doubts when chasing an acquisition.
Granted, that was because I’d always done my homework first, and so I hadn’t ever been a part of bullying someone out of their livelihood, but for whatever reason, I felt a tightening in my gut as Lyle continued to give me vague responses about his interest in The Fantasy Factory.
“Is this a priority?” I finally asked, especially considering everything else that I had on my plate.
“Yes,” he answered, further raising my curiosity.
I gave him a terse nod, letting him know that I understood. “Very well, I’ll get right on it.”
“I also want this handled with the utmost discretion, Hayes,” he added. “We don’t need anyone else to know that we’re interested in the club.”
Though we weren’t exactly involved in a bunch of cloak and dagger stuff, the corporate world was a brutal one, and it was possible that other companies might go after The Fantasy Factory if it got around that Carlie Incorporated was looking into buying it, thus setting off a bidding war that we could very well lose once it was all said and done.
“Of course,” I replied evenly.
“Good,” he said, and he sounded a lot more relaxed than he’d sounded at the beginning of this meeting, which really had me wondering about his motives again.
“Is there anything else?”
Lyle shook his head. “No, just the club for right now. Again, it’s a priority.”
I stood up as I gave him another nod. “Noted.”
“Thanks, Hayes,” he said, but for some reason, I didn’t find it sincere.
*****
Chamber~
Now, while most people hated paperwork, I loved it.
Granted, I only felt that way because The Fantasy Factory was my baby, and I loved doing the math and watching the club prosper, but still.
I didn’t mind being stuck behind a desk most of the time, and I was lucky enough to have a great management crew working for me.
I was also lucky enough that they were all onboard with the way that I ran my ship.
While I could afford to hire enough staff to keep the club open seven days a week, that wasn’t anything that I was interested in.
The club was closed on Sundays and Mondays, and that’s when I took care of everything that a business owner should take care of.
On Sundays, I took care of inventory, payroll, and I worked on the schedule for the following week.
While most of my team had set schedules, life happened, and so they needed random days off just like the rest of the world, and I usually did my best to accommodate them.
I also took care of all the accounting side of the business, and with no one around, it was nice and peaceful, and I really did manage to get a lot done without the distractions that normally came from running a business solo.
As for Mondays, that’s when I walked the entire building with one of the foremen from Vixen Maintenance to schedule anything that needed to be fixed.
For lots of reasons, I made it a point to get ahead of any maintenance issues, and Vixen Maintenance had such a great reputation and work ethic that I had a five-year contract with them.
Now, luckily for me, The Fantasy Factory kept late hours, so even if I had to work on my only day off, that didn’t prevent me from keeping in touch with Evan and Eric.
I spoke with both of my sons several mornings a week, and they weren’t shy about stopping by whenever they had time, which was at least once a week.
With the both of them being grown and having their own careers, life got in the way for them also.
Granted, with Eric being a history teacher at one of our local high schools, his schedule was rather predictable, unlike Evan.
Evan worked for an environmental development company, and the guy worked long hours, evident by the award that he had received just last week.
Anyway, since Mondays were reserved for all things maintenance, I also had a once-a-month standing appointment with the security service that I used, and while I paid for the best, I still made sure that all the equipment was up-to-date and that there were no glitches whatsoever.
Honestly, I couldn’t stress how important my patrons’ safety was to me.
At any rate, for the most part, I worked six days a week, taking Saturdays for myself, even though that was one of our busiest nights.
However, Cassidy Lockwood was my Friday and Saturday night manager, and he was too awesome for words.
I trusted him to hold the fort down, and I’d yet to have him let me down.
Of course, the man had like four sisters, and so that was the driving force behind him making sure that the club ran as smoothly as possible.
Honestly, everyone that worked for me was on their A-game, and I made sure to pay them well enough for it to stay that way.
Not only was paying people a livable wage the right thing to do, but money really was the true source of an employee’s happiness, and there was no getting around that.
Besides, the club raked in millions a year, and it was because of my crew; I knew this.
In addition to paying my team well, I also took their safety as seriously as I took the safety of our patrons.
No matter what was said of the club, we still served alcohol, and drunk people would always pose as a potential risk if not handled properly.
I didn’t want, need, or tolerate any of my employees being harassed, and so I felt as if I couldn’t be careful enough.
So, that reasoning was why I was sitting with Barrett Stacey from S&R Security Systems, discussing their latest security integration.
“I think it really brings an extra level of safety to the place,” he said after presenting me with all the informational pamphlets of their newest safety innovation.
He was suggesting that I put a two-way speaker system near the front and back doors of the club.
Right now, if a patron lost their keys, phone, or whatever, we’d have to open the doors to communicate with them, and that was dangerous once the doors were locked for the night.
A speaker system would allow us to help without any unnecessary risks being taken.
He even suggested adding a small window for visual clarification as well.
“Can the windows come with reflective glass to see one way?” I asked, still glancing at the pamphlets.
“Of course,” Barrett answered easily. “If you want, we can put one on each side of the doors for aesthetic purposes. Your call.”
I eyed him as he sat on the barstool next to mine. “And can you turn it off? I don’t need it abused during business hours.”
Barrett immediately nodded. “You can lock it when you don’t need it in use, and the 10-X Model can also be controlled from the inside only, if that’s what you want. It gives you complete control on how you want it to work for you.
“Sounds great,” I told him honestly. “However, I’d like to discuss it with my managers and team first. Since they’re the ones who work the bar and the rest of the club, I’d like to hear from them if they feel like this is something worth the price.”
“I completely understand,” he grinned. “It’s not a cheap mistake if you end up finding out that it’s not needed, though I do think it is in this case. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have pitched you the idea.”
I grinned back. “Well, while I have you here, I’m thinking of buying the empty lot next door to give my employees private parking. If I do, I’ll need security installed in that future building as well.”
“That’s simple enough,” he replied easily. “Just let me know what, when, and where.”
“Well, it won’t be for a while,” I informed him. “There are only whispers of the owners wanting to sell the lot to retire in France or something like that, so I need to find out if that’s true first.”
“Well, the offer still stands,” he said. “We’ll be more than happy to help you with whatever future security additions that your club may need.”
While most people might think that Barrett was just trying to sell me nonsense, he wasn’t.
Time moved rather quickly if you weren’t paying attention, and if your business didn’t move with it, then it was easy to find yourself trying to catch up from behind.
Yes, there were certain things that could stand the test of time, but there weren’t a whole lot of them, and so you had to be open to what was out there if you wanted your business’ longevity to be significant enough, and in my case, security was the most important thing at The Fantasy Factory.
“I’ll get back to you next week about the speaker system,” I told him. “That should give me plenty of time to get everyone’s opinion on it.”
“No problem,” Barrett replied easily. “And take your time, Chamber. S&R isn’t going anywhere.”
“That’s good to know,” I said, grinning. “It’d be a bitch to have to start from scratch.”
He laughed, but I hadn’t said that as a joke. It had taken a long time to get everything running as smoothly as it did, and I was not looking to disrupt that in any way.