Page 3 of Game Changer

Chapter1

Zara

5 Years Later

Istare absentmindedly at my phone as I stand behind the bar at Crush. I opened this place over a year ago and it took every bit of my sanity to get permission to open a strip club in this city. The licensing laws for clubs of this type are awkward. The City Council made me jump through hoops to get an alcohol licence. Owning a strip club was never my intention. I had wanted to own my own chain of bars and restaurants. I’ve been working in pubs since I was at university, so I have a good idea of how to run them. Knocking the stuffing out of myself working for other people wasn't cutting it for me. When the opportunity came up to buy the pub I worked in from the brewery, I jumped on it. It was a dream come true and that pub was the cornerstone to the amazing portfolio of places I now own.

An email alert in my notifications catches my eye. The headline reads:Owen Buchanan’s New Movie Set to Break Records at The Box Office. Since the day Buckie left Glasgow, I’ve had a Google alert on his name. I get regular updates about what he's up to in Hollywood. I've dated since he left, even got engaged at one point, but I never found anyone that I like being with. He was my best friend, and we had a special connection. I'm sad that it never worked out between us and to this day I regret not telling him I loved him. Every time I see a newspaper article, or an online report that he's with someone else it hurts. We said we would stay in touch, and we did for about a year after he left. He would email me almost every day and every time he would come back to Glasgow we would meet up. As friends. We never ever rekindled our friends with benefits relationship. I'm glad because it saved me from even more heartache. But seeing him every time — and how he was changing — made me realise that I no longer fitted into his life. His world is completely different to mine now. After a couple of years, the visits became less frequent. And the emails became once every couple of months. Now I'm lucky if I get a Merry Christmas and a happy birthday.

The email alert I’m looking at says the movie Premiere is being held in London at the end of the month. I know he'll be in the country, and I know he'll visit his parents while he's here. I’m about compose an email to him, when a disturbance on the other side of the club catches my attention.

I head over in the direction of the noise and find that one of the dancers has come down off the stage. She’s shouting at a group of very drunk and very rowdy young men. I had noticed that the bookings for tonight included a stag party. They’re all dressed in the exact same style with almost identical hairstyles. A bunch of young pretty boys out with their mate for a last hurrah.

“Clara, what’s up?” I ask the petite blonde who, even in heels, has to tilt her head right back to look up at me. I put a reassuring hand on her arm. She’s shaking.

“This lot need thrown out Zara. They keep trying to get up on the stage. And he tried to touch me,” she says wagging an accusing finger at the guy sat in the middle. He’s wearing a pair of deer antlers on his head. The stag I assume.

“Okay honey, I’ll deal with this. Go and get yourself a drink and calm down.”

“Ugh, bloody arseholes,” she mutters to herself as she walks away.

I catch the attention of one of my security guys and give him a nod. I have a feeling there might be some assistance needed here. I turn my attention to the group.

“Okay lads. Did you or did you not sign a disclaimer when you entered the club tonight?”

“Aye but it’s a strip club. None of these lassies have got naked yet. If I’d known it was a vanilla club, I would have taken him somewhere else.” Ah, the best man. The organiser. Little loudmouth.

“Uh huh. And did you do your research before you came here? Or did you see that there were poles and dancers, and thought it was a sleazy strip club that you and your pals could get your jollies in?”

“Aye… well… ah—”

“Fuck sake mate,” one of the others pipes up, “we should have went tae fucking Edinburgh like I told you.”

“Look I’m the best man. I wanted to stay local. If anything happened to him Lucy would string me up by the balls. She already hates me.”

I honestly can’t understand why.

“Okay enough. If you don’t behave, you’ll be out, and you will not be admitted back in again. Understood?”

“Aww come on hen, give us a lap dance. I’ll never get to do it again once I get married,” the Stag says slurring his words, his eyes rolling around in his head. He lets his head loll backwards, resting it on the back of the booth.

“I think you should take your pal home boys. He doesn’t look too good. And I don’t want to be cleaning up any accidents if he pukes. No more alcohol at the bar for you guys. Soft drinks only from now on.”

The Stag raises his head like something out of a zombie movie. “Whits up hen, is it shark week?” He slurs and his friends erupt in laughter.

This isn’t the first time I’ve had to deal with a bunch of drunken young lads. They think they can get away with whatever they like because they’ve paid to be here. But we have customers sign disclaimers for a reason. These girls are here to entertain, not to be pawed at.

“Okay, I warned you.” I give Terry a nod and he and another of the security staff head over.

“Aww for fucks sake, you don’t need to get your heavies involved man, we were only kidding.” The best man has gone as white as a sheet as he takes in the size of the two burly bouncers. They’re built like human tanks.

“You had the opportunity to behave, and you decided against it. Did your mothers never teach you there are consequences to your actions? Now take that boy home. I don’t want to read in the paper tomorrow that a young man has had his balls cut off by a disgruntled bride to be.”

They all stand — rather shakily — muttering away under their breaths calling me names. I smile at their retreating backs. I knew that opening a club like this would mean dealing with rowdy people. I've had to deal with them almost every single night since we opened. It’s an occupational hazard. In the future, I want to change the structure of this club and what we offer here. The very notion of a strip club invites the wrong impression.

The dancers do strip out of some of their clothes, but they never do any nudity. Nor do they offer lap dances or anything in the way of personal services. It was one of the ways I was able to convince the council to allow me to have the licence for the club in the first place. I’ve had to adapt to the ever-changing hospitality market over the last year too. I realised I could make a bit of extra money by utilising the place in the daytime when it’s closed to the public. I have a few of my girls teach pole exercise classes every day. It takes a lot of strength and stamina to pole dance and it’s a great workout. I even take part myself sometimes. It’s given me a greater appreciation of how tiring this work is. The feedback we’ve had from our customers has been amazing and it’s not only women who come to the classes either. We’ve had our fair share of men too. I know there was the odd one who turned up hoping to get an eyeful. But I’ve been very careful to make sure the classes aren’t mixed for that very reason. One guy turned up, saw a load of other men standing there in their shorts, and made a beeline for the exit.

The din at the entrance has died down and the club is back in full flow. I make my way back to the bar and grab a drink of iced water from one of the bartenders. My evening manager will be in soon, and I’ll take the opportunity and get myself out of here. I’m meeting up with my brother and his fiancée for dinner tonight. I can’t believe they’ve made me an auntie and I can’t wait to get auntie cuddles with my niece. I’m happy for them because Joe deserves it more than anyone I know. Being an army veteran and suffering terribly with PTSD made him hide himself away for so long. I never thought he’d find his happily ever after. Nessa has been a godsend for him, and I love her to bits. She’s like the sister I never had.

“I’m going to head home now folks. Terry has taken that lot’s details down. They won’t be back. Maria will be in shortly but if you need me at all, give me a bell.”

I finish my drink and say goodbye to everyone and head out into the cool April evening.

As I walk towards my car, I send that email to Buckie. It's only a few quick words but I want to make sure he knows I've seen the news articles. I’m hopeful he'll come and visit me this time. I haven't seen him in more than three years, and we've emailed back and forth only a handful of times since then. It would be nice to catch up with him.

I hit send on the email before I can change my mind and head off to meet Joe and Nessa.

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