The Dancer

Last I heard the guy who lost to me was still trying to get back on his feet. Not that he’d lost everything, but losing businesses that brought in millions a year would be a hard blow for anyone.

To fuck his shit up even more, once word got out that an ex Super bowl winner was the new owner, business had tripled in the first year and had only climbed every year since then.

It wasn’t just my name that was a big draw, but what I had done to the clubs to put my mark on them. I’d built them into much more than they once were if I do say so myself.

I couldn’t get rid of all the dancers because they needed to eat too, no matter how I was against it and my mother turned up her nose in the beginning.

For her and my own peace of mind I’ve done all I can to make my clubs as clean cut as they can get for what they are. Now I can sleep at night without worrying that I’m a flesh peddling bastard.

All my places have a reputation for being upscale classy joints. There are no private rooms in the back where anything more than dancing goes on, and any of the women caught crossing the line with a customer gets axed on the spot.

Everyone knew when you walked into one of my places it was hands off, stay your ass in your seat or you’d get booted, no questions asked no matter who you are.

Like I said, I’d gone to those extremes because of my mother. She too worried about the young women who came to me looking for help in the form of a job, when they were more likely than not to get shunned by the rest of the world.

I do my best to give these women a sense of purpose. To remind them that they’re more than their profession whether they’d chosen it, or it had been their last resort.

To make myself more comfortable with my new business, once things had taken off and I became more comfortable as a business owner, I’d expanded.

These days my clubs aren’t just about the dancers on stage. I’d used the prime real estate to turn them into one stop shops.

Now the dancing ladies were just a part of the whole and in fact had been taken over by the rest of the club as far as business went.

I’d hired top notch chefs to take over the kitchens, well known DJs to spin on the revamped dance floors, and enough security to make everyone feel safe and comfortable when they walked through the doors.

Because of my past fame the clientele had gone up a couple notches as well. Now there were usually ball players with starlets on their arms, or other celebrity types who wanted to see and be seen coming through the doors.

One well placed write up in the second year had really made things take off and now the clubs were known far and wide, which was always good for business. It helped that they were no longer seen as just high end strip joints.

Along with the fame came women, too many to count. Maybe that’s why I’d lost my taste for the chase. They were all alike these days. At least the ones who threw themselves at me.

This one was no different even though she was married with kids. If I’d known what she was when I hired her I wouldn’t have made the mistake.

But she was well qualified for her position and since that was my only interest in her I hadn’t looked any deeper. Why the hell would I?

How am I supposed to know who’s crazy and who’s not? I’ve had my fair share of stalker fans gone nuts, but I never had to deal with them this close so I’m not really sure how they’re packaged.

That day I smiled at her my mind hadn’t even been on her. I was thinking of something mom had done or said at lunch earlier.

Because I wasn’t known to smile at anyone, I can see how she misconstrued something as simple as that. At first I didn’t think too much of it, but lately she’s been taking that shit too far.

When she wasn’t throwing herself in my way needlessly, she was finding excuses to be alone with me. I was starting to feel cornered whenever we were in the same room together.

It was a good thing that I never let anyone into my inner office for any reason or who knows how far she would’ve gone.

Still, things hadn’t gotten to the point where I felt like I needed to do something, not yet. But somehow lately I get the feeling I should keep an eye on her just the same.