Chapter Eleven
FRANKIE
“Frankie, if youhave a moment, could you come here, please?”
Sitting at his usual place at a small table at the front of the club, James beckoned me. Curious as to what he wanted, I halted my conversation with Cort.
“Hold that thought. I wanna hear what that guy said to you.”
Cort tipped back his cowboy hat and rubbed his chin. “Yeah, I could use a bit of help, not gonna lie.”
With Aaron working at the house almost every evening for the past month, I’d been dancing more, trying to earn as much money as I could so I could invest. The only upside was that Cort and I had grown closer. He’d confided in me he’d been spending almost all his free time with the homeless guy from the bookstore and wanted my advice on what to do next. My antennae went into overdrive, and I had a sneaking suspicion he was gonna do something crazy like offer him a place to stay. As a New Yorker, I didn’t believe anyone’s sob stories.
“What’s up?”
Frowning, James peered at his laptop a second, then turned it around so the screen faced me. “This is Austin’s design for the new Sparks. In a few months, depending on how things go, I’ll be part owner of that club.”
I could feel my eyes bugging out of my head. “Sparks? Really? That’s cool. Are we gonna get to dance there too?”
“I haven’t decided yet.” He leaned back, giving me one of his piercing looks. “Would you like to?”
“Uh,duh. Yeah. Not that the money hasn’t been great here, especially lately, but I think by being downtown, Sparks gets all the celebrities, and they do charity events. It’s a different scene.”
“I see. What else do you think? I’m interested to know. You’ve been with me the longest of any of my guys, and you know the business.”
“I’m not sure.” I squinted at the screen and adjusted it. “But one thing for certain is, you want to keep your promo nights. Those may seem like loss leaders, but in fact, they draw in clients, and once the promo ends, they tend to spend even more.”
“Really?” James propped his chin in the palm of his hand and stared at me, unblinking. “Take a seat, please, and tell me more.”
I took the chair he pointed to and sat, then pulled the laptop toward me. “Okay. As far as the remodel, I’d make sure there’s a separate area for the dancers. I’d also have a host at the front. Someone other than a bouncer. I think it makes the place look classier, and you can gauge whether or not the customers are there to simply drink and throw dollar bills, or are big spenders, and then you can direct them to the tables and bottle service. Plus, I think you should consider a full-time marketing or events manager, who would handle all your special events. Those are gonna make you the most money for the least expense.”
A smile teased at James’s lips, softening his normally austere expression. It made him younger and very handsome, and I wondered about his personal life. If he even had one. The man was as closed off as Fort-fucking-Knox, but everyone at some point needed to have sex, and I wondered who would be the man to set him free from whatever prison he locked himself in.
“Frankie, I must admit you surprise the hell out of me.”
“Why?” I cocked my head. “Didn’t you always say us guys were more than pretty faces and asses?”
Not you too, James. I believed in you.
“That I did.” His fingertips tapped against his face. Continuing to study me, his gaze sharpened. “I know you’re into designing clothes, but have you ever thought of studying business?”
I couldn’t hold back my grin. “Funny you should mention. I had a tip on some pharmaceutical company, so I did a little research on my own and invested.”
“What do you mean a tip? And, if you don’t mind, how much did you invest? I hope not too much.”
“No, of course not.” He didn’t need to know it was half my savings and half mynonna’s. When I did decide to sell, I couldn’t wait to show everyone all the money I made. My parents could be proud of me for something else besides my dancing, and maybe people would stop calling me Flighty Frankie.
“And it was someone I met, a broker with a big firm, who gave me this inside tip on pharmaceuticals. Some new cancer drug with great potential.”
Alarm flared in James’s eyes. “Frankie. Please don’t tell me you put in too much money. These kinds of tips can look fantastic at the start but go terribly wrong very quickly.”
“I’m not stupid. I know what I’m doing.” I pushed away from the table. “Do you need anything else? If not, I gotta go get ready for tonight.” It gave me great pleasure to turn my back on him and walk away.
“It has nothing to do with being smart or stupid.” He followed me down the hallway to the back, where the dressing rooms were. “The stock market is a perilous place. It changes moment to moment, depending on rumors, whispers, or misspoken words. What looks like a sure thing, rarely is.”
I stopped before the entrance to our dressing room. “I appreciate you telling me this, but I’ve done my research. These ain’t rumors.” I opened the door to a blast of music. “I gotta go. I’ll see you later.”
Sighing and shaking his head, James walked away, and I forgot about his negativity as soon as I entered the dressing room.
