And so I danced with a frenzy. The customers at the Donkey Club had never seen a girl hustle so hard, baring everything, breaking down all walls. I held nothing back, pushing all the boundaries, working every night, showing everything, holding nothing back. I can’t say I’m proud of it, but I wanted to be the best, even if it was just being the best in a seedy strip club.
And my efforts paid off. Since I first set foot in the Donkey Club four years ago, I’ve seen my star rise. Okay, maybe I’m not a world famous model, but I am a world famous erotic actress and dancer. The Club uses my face in its advertisements so you can see my visage whiz by on the tops of taxi cabs, the sides of buses, and even a small billboard in Times Square, pointing the way to the Donkey Club.
Plus, I’ve been able to build an on-line empire. Men log-on to watch me do all sorts of things, and wow, the subscription service turns a pretty penny. Guys pay fifty bucks a month to chat on the computer, to watch me dance on camera, to live out their fantasies with a girl they’ll never meet in person. There are t-shirts, dolls, branded sex toys, and even a rubber mold of my pussy, can you believe it? The business is called “CleoWorld,” and other strippers are asking to join now, to be profiled on my site. Why not? I might as well keep the smut bucks rolling in.
And so I’ve become phenomenally wealthy from my business ventures, my empire sprawling and diverse, a stable of girls under the CleoWorld umbrella. It’s surreal. At age twenty-two, I’ve become a CEO. Sure, I started out as an exotic dancer and entertainer, but the peon climbed her way up the ladder to be the lady in charge, built on the back of a lot of hard work with a dash of luck. I’ve hired an assistant and a web guy to maintain my various websites, an accountant, a lawyer, a banker, a real team of professionals.
By the way, speaking about lawyers and bankers. The other day word on the street was that the girlie mag Hustler was filing for bankruptcy. My attorney called me, pitching the deal.
“Cleo,” said Stuart, “CleoWorld might be the right entity to pick up this asset. If it’s in Chapter Eleven, why not? It’s going to go at a fire-sale value, and you’re savvy enough, smart enough, with the deep pockets to turn it around.”
I sighed.
“Stuart, you know I can’t make decisions without any data or back-up. Get me some analyses and we’ll take a look at the deal. Hustler might be too far gone for any possibility of resuscitation. If their customer base has already scattered, we’d have to win them back and that would discount the purchase price.”
I could tell Stewie was impressed by my analysis. Who says you have to go to college to have real smarts? I’d been scrappy and worked my ass off and it had made me into a millionaire many times over.
“Alright, I’ll get Ben started on the valuation,” replied my attorney, referring to my investment banker. “But get ready for the auction to go hard and fast soon. This property isn’t going to stay on the block long.”
I paused for a moment. I wished Drake was here to help me do this analysis. As the CEO of News Enterprises, he’d know exactly how to guide me, how to evaluate a potential acquisition. But those days were gone now, and I scolded myself mentally. I hadn’t seen Daddy in four years! It was no use, and I clamped down internally, willing myself to shoulder on.
So it hasn’t all been rainbows and unicorns. I miss my Daddy … but I’ve become my own woman, with my own life.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Drake
As the chairman of News Enterprises, it’s my business to be aware of all the goings-on in the publishing industry. The news of Hustler’s demise was surprising, but not altogether unexpected. A traditional glossy just can’t get the same advertising dollars as before, not when they’re competing with a range of on-line sites, advertising live feeds, and worst of all, ever more start-up publications, all hoping to get a slice of the adult content industry.
And News Enterprises is a conglomerate overseeing a number of diverse publications ranging from business newspapers like World One, World Global and World Catch to smutty pubs like Yawker and Cumming. So we know what’s happening in all facets of the industry and had some space in our adult content line-up. Oh yeah, Yawker and Cumming outsell our other pubs three-to-one, porn and sex are real attention grabbers, the mark-up huge coupled with low production costs.
And we’ve got our finger on the pulse of the trade. Take for example, my number two. Lewis was in my office last week discussing Hustler’s impending bankruptcy auction. That’s right, they were selling off the magazine like an animal at market, finding a bidder through good old fashioned cattle calling.