Page 16 of Shar: A Woman Alone

Once the women were starting to work, I turn to Ryder. “Didanyone get the utility room cabinet fitted?”

Cord responds before Ryder has a chance, “Yeah, it’s done,and it has a new sink. Crack ordered we keep an eye on the place so it doesn’tget in a fucking mess again.”

“That’s good. One of the things ticked off my ‘Let’s get itdone’ list.”

Ryder grabs my arm gently and leads me to the entry of theapartment. “Come on, Shar. Take a look at this mess.”

Oh, he’s not wrong. The apartment above the club is in direneed of ripping apart and renovating. It has what looks like 1960s wallpaperand cabinets. I give Cord and Ryder a look that has them both bust outlaughing. I walk from room-to-room, and it could be beautiful and bring ineither a lot of rent, or be a good place for the manager to live.

“I reckon we should have Sharp rip this place apart. I mean,it’s a huge apartment, and it could be damn awesome if it had someone put timeand effort into the place.” Cord leans on the wall with a shoulder and looksdown at me.

“I agree. I’ll speak with Sharp about the place,” I respond.

Back downstairs in the bar area, some of the serving staffhave arrived. I turn to Ryder and quietly ask, “Can you get me some of thet-shirts with the strip club logo on, please?”

“Sure thing,” he replies, before walking away quicklytowards the office.

I have looked over the payroll information carefully, anddid so before I had studied the contract for the cleaning company. But the barstaff is a different issue, and it seems I don’t have to worry about any ofthem. I have spoken to them previously, and they have organized themselveswell.

Ryder returns with the t-shirts and I hand them to thestaff, instructing them to wear black pants so they all look alike but withoutcosting them too much for work wear. Black pants, after all, can be purchasedcheaply enough, and the t-shirts are free from the club.

“Okay, everyone, listen up. I don’t want any complaintsabout your attitudes towards customers. If anyone is being a handful, you speakto one of them behind the bar, a bouncer or the manager on duty. Even one ofthe club’s brothers will deal with customers that get out of hand. You do notmouth off or be rude. Now, another thing is tardiness. It will not be put upwith. If you are on shift, you be here on time, or don’t bother working here,it’s fairly simple. We will be running a tight ship.”

I look at one of the younger servers. She can’t be more thantwenty-one, and that’s at a push. “How old are you?” I ask bluntly.

She blushes to her hair roots, but gives me a quick answer.“I’m twenty-one and started working here three days after my birthday. I know Ilook younger, but I can show you ID to prove my age.”

“Why are you working here?”

“I have an elderly grandmother, who I live with. I’m payingfor the utilities and everything else. It was a case of getting a job, anyjob.”

“Can you cook?” I have an idea bubbling to get her out ofhere, because I really don’t think she is the sort of person that should beworking in a strip club. She is obviously a real sweetheart.

“I can cook. I actually wanted to be a chef, but it wasn’tgoing to happen so I learned to cook using cookbooks and the internet.” Now sheshows some sparkle in her attitude.

“Okay, I want you to come to the clubhouse Sunday morningand cook lunch for everyone. If you can do that and it’s good then I may beable to offer you a job being chief cook at the clubhouse.” Colt grins, Rydernods his head, and I give a satisfied smirk when she nods her headenthusiastically.

Sunday morning, and back from a short solo run within theclubhouse compound, Lira, who is the young woman from the strip club, hasarrived. She is wearing black pants and a white t-shirt. She has her hair tiedin a messy bun with a chopstick holding it in place. I have to admit that mademe smile.

“You can use whatever you want in the fridge or freezer,Lira. If anyone tries to mess with you, then call out to Colt who is going tobe hanging around in case you need anything, or to any of the brothers. Colt isjust outside the kitchen in the bar area.”

“Thank you, Shar. I think I’ll be okay. Do you know how manyI’ll be cooking for?”

“Hm, let’s think…if you consider thirty, but remember, thesemen can eat a huge pile each.”

“Oh, okay, I’ll remember that.”

I grin because I can see the wheels turning in her mind, andthe small frown between her eyebrows has her looking cute, I have to admit.She’s a lovely young woman and I hope this works out, as it’s a better job thanworking at the strip club and having strange men slap your ass or try to touchyou inappropriately.

After finishing my conversation with Lira, I look around forCrack or Brawl in the bar, but neither is around. Trip, however, is sitting atthe bar with a large mug in front of him.

“Trip, can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

I notice he’s drinking black coffee, and he’s looking a bitworse for wear. Probably had too much to drink last night! Not my business, soI don’t comment on the fact and get down to what I want. “Can you make sure theclub women don’t mess with Lira in the kitchen? She’s doing us a solid bycooking a meal for everyone. If she does a good job, I’m hoping she will becomethe cook for you all. But if the women mess with her, she’s liable to say shedoesn’t want to work here.”

“Okay, I can do that. We could do with a good cook becausewe’ve not had a decent meal in a long time. The shit they put on plates givesyou the shits, so I don’t eat whatever they put out.”

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