Runner (Riders of Apollo #3)

Chapter Twenty-Two: Mika Sage

I relax into my chair as I gather more information on the businesses we're taking over. Right now I'm looking at the three strip clubs they had on the north side. I had pictures taken of the place and my God it looks awful; it's not safe at all for the girls. They could catch something if they fell over and the seats are too close to the stage, they could be grabbed and groped with no way to protect themselves.

I suppose the Fire Demons would allow that if it made them more money.

I start to type up the plan for renovations but I need a woman's eye for the colour and style, I'm just thinking on the side of practicality. Move the seating away from the stage, use industrial cleaners to get rid of any trace of anything that could be of harm to the girls, make the poles sturdier and make sure the changing rooms are big enough for them to be comfortable. We have enough money to make these places high-end gentleman's clubs and if the women choose to be escorts then they can do that safely too.

We need better security too, cameras and everything with security guards at the doors to make sure no weapons can come in. I wouldn't be surprised if we needed to open a daycare for their children and make sure there is a clinic for them to go to for whatever they need, a therapist too.

I roll over to my door and open it, shouting for all of the girls. They turn up a few minutes later with food and drink, taking their seats on the couch while Sav sits next to me on her chair. "What's up?"

"Gears has assigned me the strip clubs and I need help designing them, colour wise and shit. I'm already thinking more security, a daycare and a clinic, will they need anything else?"

"That depends, is it just a strip club or is it gonna run an escort on the side?" Mari asks, playing with her long hair. I still don't understand how she can make a wig look like her hair but I find it impressive anyway.

"Escort on the side but only with willing girls, we ain't running no women."

"They'll need access to contraception which includes birth control," I start taking notes as Sav talks, "I'd also suggest some sort of weapons training, maybe pepper spray and some standard fighting skills. Panic buttons fitted into rooms so that if something does go wrong someone can be there."

"They'll need food/drink too and clothes, it's not fair for them to buy their 'uniform'." Lex suggests with a small smile on her face. "Maybe a monthly stipend for nails, hair, tan and wax. Either that or hire some beauticians, hairdressers and nail techs."

"That's not a bad idea, maybe we could hijack one of their empty spaces and make it into some sort of spa. Our girls get money off and we can take in other customers. Bad idea?" I ask as I look at the shock on their faces.

"You care a lot about this, don't you?" Mari looks at me with a slight tilt to her head, basically asking me to explain why I'm taking this so seriously.

"I was in the foster system and some of the girls I came across were working the corners to make enough money for food. They were scared and they often came back bruised and even though they had opted into doing it, they felt violated and hurt especially because the men they were with never respected that they were human. A few of them worked in the strip club around the corner, they lied or something on their forms and since they were pretty, the owner let them work there. One of them, her name was Daisy, was dancing on the pole and some guy got handsy with her and pulled her off the stage. She cracked her head open and died before the ambulance got there. Lucy, she was pregnant when she was fifteen. The baby obviously couldn't go to work with her because it wasn't safe so she had to give the baby up even though she really didn't want to. I don't want the women that choose to work with us to worry about any of that, it's not fair. If this is the only way they can earn money or if it's the only way they want to earn money, it doesn't matter. They need to be treated like they're humans."

Just as I finish my sentence, I'm squished into a group hug with all three of them surrounding me. I just laugh as push them away before we dive into conversations about the colours and what flooring to have and boring shit like that, I listen to every second, making sure to write everything down. I got a budget of 1 million per property and that doesn't include wage costs and I've got four properties, three strip clubs with escort services upstairs and the spa down the road.

The Angels are having a lot of fun with the credit card that I handed them after I arranged for the renovators and movers and the more substantial costing things before allowing them to go mental on decor. "So you were given the strip clubs, what's dad working on?" Lex asks after three hours of working, knocking me out of my light doze. They chased me out of my chair so I led down on the couch about half an hour ago and decided to get some sleep since Ollie kept us awake last night.

"He's got two cafes and the gym. Then Bear is working with Tatts to expand his business." Tatts is an honorary member, which means he doesn't have to take part in runs or any of the violence but he gets a cut of our cash because he runs the tattoo parlour that has done all of our tattoos. 

He's a witty little bastard, whip-smart and can charm his way out of everything. Doesn't help that he's a gorgeous Latino with curly black hair, olive skin and deep black eyes, sharp jawline and tattoos everywhere. He has a few piercings too and his body resembles that of Reign's but he doesn't really know how to fight, he just goes to the gym a lot.

"Isn't Gears thinking of buying out a few businesses around here?" Sav asks, her focus remaining on the computer screen right in front of her.

"Yeah, think he wants to buy the real estate place down the road and then start buying more properties through them. Easy to launder cash and we can rent those out for cheap, bring in some more people that might be up for prospecting or security at any of our places."

"The year of expansion!" Lexie declares as she finally hits purchase on everything, it adds up to over 100K but she explained that that's decor for all four of my businesses. "We're under budget which means we can put more into the daycare, where should we set that up? Buy somewhere or maybe it could go above the spa?"

"If we buy a building or use a building big enough, we can put the clinic and the daycare in the same place with a place above for the therapist! Maybe our therapist might be up for a promotion, I think she's bored of freelancing and one of her specialties is sex and abuse." Sav suggests and I agree immediately, telling her to bring up the list of places we can use. 

Thankfully, we find one we already own but they start all over again with the decor... I don't think we're gonna be under budget anymore but it doesn't matter, after everything that's happened, we definitely have enough money for it.