The Deal

by Sarah J. Brooks

  “Morning Isabella, how are things with you?”

  “Things … they are good. I really like your friend, Jack. He’s a cool dude.”

  “From what I hear, he likes you too and thinks you’re a groovy chic.”

  “Psychedelic.”

  “Now, why exactly are we talking like we are in the seventies?” I asked, grabbing a cup of coffee.

  “No reason, I just like to add color to my vocabulary every now and then.”

  “Okay then. Where’s Jack at?”

  “I think he went for a run.”

  “What? Are you sure?”

  “Yeah, he said he wanted to start working out and getting into shape,” Isabella said as we sat at the table.

  I had known Jack for a long time and working out wasn’t really his thing. He liked to party, drink and pick up women. But I figured there was a first time for everything, and I was living proof of that.

  “So what’s up with the two of you? Are you a thing?”

  “I guess a thing is the best way to describe us,” she joked. “How about you and Abby, did you two make up?”

  “I think we did. Sort of, at least. I’m pretty sure she’s going to stay here and not at my house, but that’s better than hating me; right?”

  “It’s surprising that she actually forgave you. She does tend to hold some pretty intense grudges. But Abby’s a good girl, Theo; she’s not meant for this kind of business. Please don’t drag her into it.”

  “That’s what my hope is in all of this. I don’t want her in the business, and I’m not going to stay in it much longer either. I think it’s time to move on with real life.”

  “Now that sounds like the kind of man I can support dating my friend.”

  “Speaking of real life, I need to head to my gym and straighten some things out. Tell Abby I’ll call her later, and when you see Jack, tell him to stop by my gym if he’s getting into the working out thing. I’ll set him up with a trainer so he can do it right.”

  “Sounds good. Have fun in the real world.”

  “Have fun here, I guess,” I said as I grabbed my things and left Jack’s house.

  Jack was a ladies’ man that was for certain, but I liked Isabella, and she seemed to be someone who would fit well with Jack in the long run. She was street smart, laid back and funny; perfect for Jack. I wondered if Isabella was going to start doing escort work or not but decided not to ask her. I wanted out of the business, and that meant I was going to let Jack deal with as much of the day to day work as possible for the time being.

  The top floor of Merck Towers was the perfect place for my gym, but it also cost millions of dollars per month to keep that spot. To make a profit, we were going to have to start taking in much bigger names, and I was probably going to have to hire some more trainers. Luckily, I already had an amazing manager for the gym, so I didn’t have to worry about that aspect of the business.

  When the elevator opened, I took in the view of the city, like I did every time I visited my gym. It was simply awe-inspiring to see the entire skyline from that floor. We even had a deck you could go out on and workout equipment out there as well. My gym was my dream long before the restaurant, and I paid much more attention to the numbers behind the gym. Unfortunately, I was losing about a million dollars each month in that business and hadn’t put in the time or effort to figure out how to make it profitable. Certainly, there had to be something I could change to quickly make a profit and turn my money pit into a way of actually surviving.

  With a name like Sunrise Sanders you would have expected to see my gym manager on a stripper pole somewhere instead of behind a desk. Sunrise was a vibrant woman who had hippy parents and no real structure growing up; so she compensated by keeping her entire life as structured as possible.

  “Ms. Sanders, how’s the gym doing?” I asked as I knocked on her office door.

  “Things are great. We have a steady increase in clients and some interest from a few celebrity trainers.”

  “Tell me more.”

  “About the trainers?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, one of them has a reality show and wants to bring camera crews here. I wasn’t sure about the legalities of that since we have other clients and other trainers so I said we would talk about it and get back to them. The other trainer works primarily with celebrities, but he wanted to know about the safety of our balcony.”

  “Why? That seems like a weird thing to worry about,” I asked as Sunrise handed me the accounting books from the last month.

  “Apparently, one of his celebrity clients has bipolar disorder, and he didn’t like how easy it would be for her to jump over the ledge.”

  “Oh, Jesus. No, I can’t have a client like that around here. That would ruin us for sure if someone committed suicide from our club.”

  “That’s what I thought at first too, but he is willing to pay a premium fee, and with him here we will get some other high name trainers from the city. I agreed to look into the cost of some sort of fencing or safety mesh or something.”

  That was exactly why I loved working with Sunrise, she knew we needed the money, but she also knew we couldn’t afford to have anyone committing suicide from our building. I trusted her implicitly with the gym.

  “Good idea, but I don’t want something that’s going to ruin the view for everyone. Maybe we could do a Plexiglas extension of two feet up? That should be a good deterrent, and it won’t impede on the view at all.”

  “I’ll see what I can find. Is there anything else you wanted updating on?”

  I had come in prepared to ask a ton of questions, but most of them had been answered before I could even ask them. I looked through the books from the last month and tried to pretend I knew what I was looking at. Certainly I knew the basics but could never really tell if things were going well or not. It was like looking at a foreign language; even if I understood a little bit of what I saw, I couldn’t understand everything.

  “I really want to start building things here. I think we have the groundwork set pretty well, so it’s time to grow. Is there anything you need to make that happen?”

  I saw the instant surprise on Sunrise’s face at the notion that I wanted to grow things. Normally, I just looked at the books and didn’t have much else to offer. But I needed this company to do well, and that meant I was going to be more involved. Because the alternative was letting Aldo continue to control my life, and I couldn’t do that. I already felt horrible that Abby was going to have to go out with him again. I needed to do my part to get out of the escort business.

  “Oh, my God, I have so many ideas,” Sunrise said, pulling out a notebook that she had tons of scribbles in. “I’ve been taking notes and preparing for this day. Oh, gosh, there are so many things,” she said as she flipped through the notebook.

  “How about you decide what you think are the number one and number two items on your list, and we can talk about those things first?”

  Sunrise continued to flip through her notebook in a never-ending effort to find the notes she was looking for. It was actually quite exciting to see that she was so eager to help the company grow. I hoped she would remain that eager.

  “Okay, okay, first of all we need to advertise. But not in regular newspapers or anything like that. We need a full page add in the Robb Report, do you know that magazine?”

  “Yes, but are you sure that would be best? Isn’t that more for people who don’t live in the city?”

  “Yes and no. But here is the second thing, and it will all tie in together. I think we should offer a monthly membership that includes personal training. That way people who are not already connected with a trainer could come in and workout with whoever is here. Of course, we will have to talk it over with the trainers and give them a cut, but it would be a more manageable amount each month because the trainers would just cover certain times but might be working with more than one client during those times. It will also he
lp the trainers to gain new clients too. Because if someone likes one particular trainer, they could sign up for time with them at a discounted price. Does that make sense?”

  It actually did make sense to me and sounded like a great idea. I even thought our trainers would enjoy the idea. Anything that would help bring in more money for them as well as increase their brand would be helpful.

  “Go ahead and put together a proposal for me and I’ll talk with the trainers next week. Set up an all staff meeting for me.”

  “Oh, man this is epic. This gym is going to be insane!” Sunrise said as she stood up and started pacing the room.

  Her energy couldn’t be contained, and I didn’t feel like watching her pace the room so I said my goodbyes and went out to the balcony. It was going to be weird to have a safety wall out there, but it was probably a good idea, even if we didn’t have that new mentally ill client. The wall we had now was regulation, but I still found people trying to lean over and look at the ground sometimes. I had been scared plenty of times that something bad would happen.

  When my phone rang, I grabbed a chair and pulled up to the edge of the balcony so I could enjoy the view. It was Aldo again, and I expected he was still angry and I was going to have to do some sweet talking to calm him down.

  “So what’s the story?” Aldo asked.

  “Aldo, what? I told you already.”

  “I just called her, and she is going to help me look at apartments and go to dinner with Briggs. Everything is good on your part?”

  My stomach instantly felt like releasing all the contents from my breakfast. Briggs was one of Aldo’s friends that wasn’t very nice to the girls at all. He liked to get rough with them, and sometimes things got out of control. Briggs tried not to leave marks and never meant to hurt the girls, he just liked it when they fought back. He was certainly not going out with Abby, and I was going to make sure of that.

  “Aldo, she’s not interested in being an escort. There really is no need for you to take her out. She’s just a sweet girl from Kansas that I picked up in a club.”

  “Since when did you go so soft? She’s the perfect escort and will make us tons of money. I’m moving forward with grooming her. She might take a little longer than others, but she’s got the chops for it.”

  “Aldo, I like this girl. I like her so much I’ve been thinking of getting out of the business for real and trying things with her.”

  Aldo was silent, and that was a bad sign. It was a risk telling Aldo that I actually liked Abby. He could decide to help me out or he could decide he was going to take her out anyways despite my feelings.

  “This is the problem with you young guys, you live in a fairytale world where women can love you for more than just your money. I’m doing you a favor by taking her off your hands. She would have just caused you heartache.”

  “Aldo, come on man. You know me, I don’t get all sappy with the girls, but this one is different.”

  Abby was different, and so was I. The time had come to get out of the business, and it was going to be a bit messy if Aldo didn’t decide to just cut me loose. I wasn’t exactly sure how messy things were going to get, but I was ready to get out now. My mind was made up, and when I made my mind up, that was all there was to it.

  “I don’t give a fuck if you like her or not. This girl is money, and I’m not about to give up money so you can play house. I’m also not about to let a good business go up in smoke. You can step back a little if you want to, but you’re not closing up shop. Let’s remember that I made you. It was my money that gave you your start. If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have a goddamn thing!”

  I knew at that moment that things were going to get ugly if I really wanted to get out. For as much as Aldo talked about going straight, he wanted to make it look like he went straight while everyone else around him was doing all the dirty work.

  “Aldo, I’m sorry, but my life is mine now. I’ll be happy to pay you a million dollars to offset your losses from me for the next year or so. Would that work?”

  “Who the fuck do you think you are? You think you can just decide when you’re going to cut me off? It doesn’t work that way kid.”

  I could tell by the tone of his voice that Aldo didn’t want to talk about it anymore, and I certainly wasn’t going to keep pissing him off. If I was going to get out of the business, it wasn’t going to happen by just asking him. That was clearly obvious.

  “I’m sorry, Aldo. It was just something I was thinking about. You’re right; it is probably best to just stay put for awhile. Maybe somewhere done the road, we can talk about it.”

  “Just remember who made you, Theo. This isn’t some game. I’ll take you out as quickly as I brought you into this.”

  “Yes, I understand.”

  I wanted to ask more about Abby, but I figured it wasn’t the best time to push him on that. It was going to be best for me just to tell Abby not to go out with him. He would get much less angry at her if she decided she didn’t want to see him. Certainly, he would be pissed off still, but at least, no one would be getting murdered.

  “Let’s not have this conversation again anytime soon.”

  “Okay,” I said just as Aldo hung up the phone.

  I quickly dialed Abby’s number, but it just rang and rang without an answer. I hung up and dialed Jack.

  “Jack, is Abby still there?”

  “No man, she and Isabella went out. What’s up?”

  “I need to get hold of her, do you know where they went?”

  “Not sure, they were too busy with all their girl talk to tell me. Do you want me to call Isabella?”

  “Yeah, if you get hold of her, please have Abby call me. I have to talk to her before Aldo gets to her.”

  “It sounds serious.”

  “Jack, if I left the business, would you want to take over?”

  “You’re leaving?”

  “No, I mean it’s just an idea. I’m just throwing it around,” I said, trying to downplay the idea.

  “No man, I wouldn’t want to do it without you.”

  “Alright man, I’ll let you know. For now, please try to call Isabella,” I said as I hung up the phone.

  I had to find Abby and talk to her before she agreed to see Aldo again.

  Chapter 21

  ABBY

  “Hi, Aldo, how are you?” I asked when he called me.

  I knew I needed to be nice to him for Theo’s sake, but I didn’t really mind. Aldo had been really nice to me, and I thought the evening had gone really well up until I kissed him and ruined it.

  It was exciting to me out with Aldo; I suspected it would feel even more dangerous now that I knew more about him. A smart girl would have been afraid to go out with Aldo, but I guess I wasn’t so smart after all because I was excited to see him again. The dark mystery was appealing to me. It was also appealing to feel the way I did around him. Aldo had a command about him that was unlike any man I had ever been with. It was much clearer to me now after talking with Theo; Aldo was like that with everyone.

  “I’m going to send a car for you at five o’clock,” Aldo said without answering my question.

  “Okay, where should I wait?”

  “You can stay where you are. He can come get you there, just give me the address.”

  Isabella and I were standing outside the women’s shelter talking with some of our friends. It certainly wasn’t the best spot to have Aldo come and pick me up. But I couldn’t think of another place quickly, so I had to wing it.

  “He can pick me up at the women’s shelter; I’m volunteering there today,” I said, shrugging my shoulders at the women around me.

  Everyone that was around me knew that I wasn’t volunteering at the shelter. On the nights that I slept there, it was certainly a good enough place for me, but it wasn’t someplace I wanted to hang out and volunteer at if I didn’t have to. I did fantasize about being rich enough to bring a huge stack of new blankets
to the shelter someday. The blankets that were there were disgusting.

  “The shelter?” Aldo asked, and I hoped he wouldn’t keep asking me questions. It was incredibly hard to lie to Aldo.

  “Yes, the women’s shelter on fifty-second.”

  “I know where it is,” Aldo said slightly annoyed. “He will be there at five. You’ll need to dress nice. We are going to look at an apartment my friend is selling, and then we will likely go to dinner.”

  “I can change, no worries. I’m excited to see you again,” I said in as upbeat sounding voice as I could muster up.

  Something seemed different with Aldo, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was. He was still nice to me, and I was excited to see him again, but things felt different between us.

  It probably didn’t help that I had Theo on my mind and wished I was spending the night with him, instead.

  “See you at five, dear.”

  And just like that he was off the phone. I wondered how his wife dealt with him always being so serious. Perhaps he had a different side that only she knew. Maybe when they were alone, he was super funny. I could only imagine what their life was like together in their open relationship. It certainly was an odd thing for me to understand. But then again, if I was married to someone as serious as Aldo, I might be interested in finding a little fun on the side.

  I did wonder if the whole story was true, though. I couldn’t imagine a woman that was married to Aldo would be willing to sleep around on him. Unless, maybe she only slept with other women? Aldo had said she liked me. That made much more sense to me than the idea of her sleeping with other men. Perhaps if the topic came up during our evening, I would ask him. I snickered to myself; there was no way I was going to ask him anything that personal.

  “I’m going out with Aldo at five o’clock,” I said to Isabella and our friends.

  “Shit, we need to fix you up. Let’s go grab one of those dresses Theo gave you out of the storage unit,” Isabella said as she started walking and didn’t even wait for me.

  “Wait, I told him to pick me up here at five o’clock.”