Forever Lucky (Lucky In Love)

Once we cut the money off, I expect the Popov’s to come out of the woodwork, and when they do, we’ll be ready.

Chapter Three

Ocean

I pull into the nearly empty parking lot of the Black Widows. I’ve just come from the doctor, and I am bursting with news to tell Cillian, but work comes first, especially since I don’t know where he is at the moment. Noon on a Monday at a strip club is not usually busy, and for good reason. The early shift consists of our two pregnant strippers and the one nearing retirement age. There are two customers drinking coffee and watching Delia strut her stuff. She’s dancing to Hot for Teacher, and that song will be stuck in my head all damn day now. I take the stairs two at a time until I reach the landing above. I look down at the club and think about how it was when we first took over. It was filthy, and there were drugs everywhere. Now, this place is almost classy. We’re getting there.

“Lorielle?” I ask, walking into the office at the end of the hallway. I didn’t expect to see her today. She usually works on Saturday and Sunday mornings to take care of any issues that happen on our busiest nights, Friday and Saturday. It’s a system that’s been working for us for about a year.

“What’s up, Cea?” she asks, looking up from the paperwork on the desk in front of her.

“How’s everything going?” I ask. It doesn’t look like it's going that great.

“Something’s been bothering me with the numbers for a while now, and I think I’ve got it all figured out now. I couldn’t understand how the last manager did the books. All I can see is the money intake from the receipts was always ten percent more than what was deposited on a daily basis.”

“Embezzlement?” I ask, taking the piece of paper she hands me. I look over it and see exactly what she’s talking about.

“I believe so.”

“Where is she?” I ask when she looks at me expectantly. I can’t say I’m surprised. The way this place was run before Lorielle and I got here was terrible. The girls didn’t even have health insurance. Everything was ass-backward, and I don’t think last, now almost completely gone generation of O’Brien’s knew anything about because once they got married, the men refused to come here out of respect for their wives.

“When I took over, she disappeared. She wasn’t happy, but surely someone knows where to find her.”

“I’m sure. I can check the payroll records for Stella’s address,” I tell her.

“Great, thanks. I’m feeling the need to kick some ass.” I burst out laughing. She’s pregnant. She’s won’t be kicking anyone’s ass anytime soon. I look at her belly, about to say something, but she beats me to it. “Fine. You’ll kick her ass, and I’ll watch.”

“That sounds better, but I can’t do it either.”

“What, really?” she says, jumping up. She moves around her desk and pulls me into her arms.

“Yes, I just found out, but I haven’t told Cillian yet.”

“Your secret is safe with me,” she promises.

“Maybe we could get Lacey or Sandy to kick Stella’s ass,” I say, shrugging my shoulders.

“Ooh. That would work,” she says, letting me go.

“Ten percent every day,” I say as I sit down at my desk. “She was manager for like ten years. It could be hundreds of thousands of dollars, maybe more.”

“I don’t know how we’ll ever know the total extent. They only got the receipt system and started taking cards four years ago.”

“That’s fucking crazy, crazy, crazy,” I say nervously while booting up the ancient desktop computer. I work for a few hours, long after Lorielle leaves. Thankfully, Lorielle is used to my nervous tick and doesn’t say anything. I handle payments to vendors. Besides alcohol, our largest expense is something called “strip clench,” It’s this stuff that helps the girls keep their grip on the pole. I am in awe of them. I don’t know how they do it. I can barely walk without tripping, not to mention that I don’t think Cillian would ever let me do it, not that I want anyone but him to see me naked. It’s just pretty cool to me that they get up night after night and give their customers a show. I never realized how artful stripping was or just how much work it entailed. The girls take their jobs seriously, even during the day shift. The Black Widows don’t mess around. They all take extra dance classes and hit the gym the O’Briens own as much as possible. It’s so much more than taking their clothes off for money.

After paying the rest of the invoices, I get back in my car and drive back home. The way the O’Brien’s have things set up is interesting. They bought every house on an entire street in Newark and made them their own. Cillian and Everett took over the one their parents lived in a few years ago. Everett and River live upstairs; we live in the basement, sharing the main living area, which is a shrine to their parents. It’s still decorated the same way his mom had it, but River and I won’t touch it. River mentioned changing it in passing, and both Cillian and Everett got this look on their faces like she stabbed them, so we never mentioned it again.