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As Isabella stepped out of her car for her first shift at The Crimson Hide. She could now confirm that the building looked far more mysterious, almost alluming in the night of New Orleans. The lights that now surrounded the building were a mix of dark red colors and hints of golden lights. The sun had just now set and because of that the sky above the night also took on a few hints of dark red and gold, some reflecting deep into the clouds. She could see two strong looking men in dark clothes beginning to set up velvet ropes that were gonna separate the line of customers from others just trying to walk on the sidewalk. Another opening was set up alongside a dark red carpet that led to the entrance. A VIP area that would let those elites just go right inside without standing in line. As she approached the large doorway once more, one of those men called out to her, stopping her in her tracks.
Isabella took a deep breath as she faced this strong heavy set man. “Um, I work here,” she said a bit more sheepishly than she had originally wanted too. It was hard not when standing in front of him. He was wearing black pants, a simple black shirt and the club's logo on it. A mysterious looking circle that was red and black, the words Crimson Hide written in dark red print.
He had a short beard and pretty deep blue eyes, tanned skin and long brown hair. If she had to guess he was maybe 6 '3 to 6' 5. A bit of a gut on him but other than that he would have made a really good defensive linemen. He looked onto the tablet that was in his right hand. “Name please?”
“Isabella Shields.”
A few seconds passed before that mean look of his relaxed into a calm friendly smile. “Okay, Ms. Shields.”
“You can just call me Isabella.”
He gave a brief nod. “Alright, Isabella.” He motioned for her to come follow him through the doors. “SInce you are new we will let you in the front, but for future reference you need to head through the employee door in the back.”
She followed after the tall man, having to increase her pace to keep up with his much longer strides. The formally plain looking entryway beyond this door was now lit up with a darker golden hue that made her own shadow truly dance against the wall. “I’m sorry, I didn’t really know where to go.”
“It’s fine, it happens all the time, and let one of our guys know when you are gonna leave. He will walk you back to your car and show you where employee parking is.” He explained kindly. “And if you do get a ticket for parking wrong, let the boss know and he will pay it but that is a one time deal.”
“O-Okay.”
Now reflecting on the large double doors that lead from this hallway to the bar. A similar logo was now there that was not there a few days ago when she first came. A large circle with multiple other circles in a ring around the words Crimson Hide. He pushed open one of the doors taking the left side of the circle with it. “My name is Randy by the way, welcome to the family.”
Isabella let the door close behind her and her eyes traveled to every surface of this club. Now fully brought to life, the bar shone under a golden light making all the bottles and the wood look even brighter than before. The bar shone and a few girls were behind it looking like they were weighing bottles or adding new ones to the collection. The tables had moved around a bit, far in the back on the stage she could see a young DJ giving a thumbs up to a few more workers. She turned to the left to follow the beautiful piano music, that same young girl not wearing the standard clothes that she had to wear. Instead was wearing white pants, and a white vest, her hair done up with ribbons. She could only see her from the back but she was swaying side to side. Isabella could only imagine how skillfully she played that piano.
The two staircases that lead to the upper floor looked almost perfect looking. A woman maybe in her late twenties was coming down the steps with a clipboard. She had flawless white skin, her hair flipped over the left side of her head. Her solid black pants hugged her waist and legs in ways that Isabella’s own jeans did not. She worked perfectly in her tall heels, another hand coming up onto an earpiece connected to right ear. Isabella could not hear the woman speaking at first, it wasn’t until the woman walked closer that the woman said. “Give me a second Leena.” She took her hand off the ear piercing before smiling warmly at her. “Are you Isabella Shields by chance?”
“Yes ma’am.”
The woman offered her a hand. “My name is Elizebeth Matthews. The main floor girl for the first floor, welcome to The Crimson Hide.” Isabella shook the woman’s hand for a moment, careful of her long nails.
“Is something wrong?” Isabella asked as Elizebeth looked her up and down for a moment. Isabella was wearing a tight pair of blue jeans, a simple tank top as she was told she would get uniform shirts tonight, and a pair of white shoes she had gotten at walmart. As much as she wouldn't mind messing up tonight, her parents' word of always working hard made her not risk wearing anything that might cause her to slip. She was the new girl so she had to at least give it her all for the first few days.
Elizabeth finally stopped looking her up and down. “Good choice, nothing too flashy yet, you came here ready to work.”
“Is that good?”
“Yeah it’s great, oftentimes we have new girls that come ready to show off and that never ends well. Mrs. Simmons is kind but if you are doing too much, than regardless of the first week rules for our servers and bottle girls.” She clicked her tongues a few times. “You would not like it.” She waved a hand towards her before moving toward the bar. “Come on, I will show you the locker rooms and then I will show you where the actual entrances for employees are.”
Isabella could only nod her head obediently as she followed after this rather tall girl. Honestly if she took those heels off she would still be pretty tall in size. She had a sway to her step that Isabella found both memorizing and looked at with a hint of jealousy. Elizabeth had a rather large and full backside, those pants of her’s showing it off much better now that Isabella was behind her. They moved behind the bar and into a small hallway that was heading back into a rather large kitchen. The smell was absolutely amazing, she was already starting to fall in love with the food in this city and this smell only helped seal that in her mind. It was spotless with white floors, the silver that made up the prep tables and railings looking polished. It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the brighter lights of this room. A few girls were moving around the space cutting up vegetables, getting small red basket’s packed with a white liner. One girl was adding ingredients to a dark looking sauce. Most of them were wearing jeans, and dark shirts with white aprons protecting them from drips or spills. Their hair is either tied back or held behind hair nets.
The woman in charge of all this was a short and plump looking woman. Short curly brown hair, her face showed a bit of signs of an older age, her waist was small but moved out into a large set of hips and that connected to a rather large backside. Her skin tone was a bit darker than Mrs. Simmons, and her voice was powerful and commanding. “Let’s get this done sooner rather than later ladies, we open in less than 45 minutes. I want the baskets lined and ready to go, we should have finished this prep 20 minutes ago. Let’s pick up the pace!”
“Yes ma’am!” The other’s called out.
“Mrs. Carter.” Elizabeth spoke out, drawing the older woman’s attention. “I wanted to introduce you to Isabella Shields, she is gonna be starting today.”
That firm line on her widened into a motherly smile. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Isabella.” Mrs. Carter held her hand out in a friendly greeting, a small hand with rather plump fingers. A bit of the skin on her hand was a pale white color probably from a bad burn she suffered. “My name is Mrs. Carter, some of the girls call me Auntie or Even Big Mama Carter either or work with me.”
“It is nice to meet you, Mrs. Carter.” Isabella shook the woman’s hand. “I look forward to working with you, I probably won’t be much help in the kitchen but I am good at cleaning.”
“Child don’t worry about it,” she said softly. “Me and my team back here will handle all of that nonsense, as long as you aint the one causing the mess in my kitchen then I will make you clean it.” Her smile faded a bit as she seemed to be looking past Isabella now. “I will let Lizzy here get you settled while I go and take care of something.” Mrs. Carter stepped past the duo and her firm motherly voice seemed to echo a bit. “Zofia, I can tell you aren’t following the recipe I just showed y'all before service!”
“Come on,” Elizabeth said, leading her through another door that led to a blank looking hallway. “I would rather you not see Mrs. Carter when she is pissed off yet.” They walked into another room that was at the end of this hallway that only had two other doors in it. “Those belong to Mrs. Carter and Mrs. Simmons, I will tell you if they bring you to one of those officers you are either gonna have one of two talks with them.”
“W-What are those two talks?”
Elizabeth looked over her shoulder and smirked at her. “Well you should know one of them, as it was listed in the email you got.” Isabella fae grew a bit hotter as she could barely manage a small nod.
They walked through a door into a large locker room. It was circular in nature with the same dark browns that made up the bar. It had room for about 40 open cubbies, a door was open to the left and from her brief look as she passed. Isabella could see that it was a bathroom that also had about three, maybe four showers in the back. Inside were about ten other girl’s all in various states of dress. Some pulling up jeans or pants to cover their otherwise underwear-covered rumps. Other’s pull on either dark red or black polos with either the club's logo or just the words written in dark orange red text on them. “We don’t have actually lockers?” Isabella asked as she looked at the open cubbies.
Elizabeth shook her head. “Trust me no one wants to risk what could happen if you get caught stealing, and if you feel something has gone missing then go to one of the managers or even the owner.”
“When do I get to meet him?”
“Probably tonight, he is here just finishing up a few things, his office is upstairs.” Elizabeth clapped her hands twice, getting everyone’s attention. “Listen up, I am gonna make this quick.” Isabella jumped a bit as the taller girl slapped a hand on her shoulder. “This is our new co-worker and sister Isabella Shields, she is gonna be starting this evening so make sure you all help her out.” Isabella found herself blushing again as a chorus of greetings and kind waves were sent towards her. The loudest belonged to Ameko who was sitting cross legged on the floor playing some gaming device.
“Can I train her?” Ameko questioned with the same joyful tone and expression on her face.
“Absolutely not.” A bit of laughter sounded off as Ameko seemed to deflate like a balloon. The older girl looked down at her clipboard for a moment. “Alice, you are gonna be training Isabella today behind the bar so show her all of your little tricks and trades, but nothing too fancy.”
A girl with long blond hair sent Isabella a wave. She was currently only wearing a pair of black pants and was halfway into a matching shirt, her lacy deep purple bra showing just for a moment as she pulled her shirt on.
“Lastly a few announcements, remember just because Mrs. Simmons is not here, let's not get reckless in our pours, no showing off. Make sure you are taking care of the side work assigned to you. Myself and Aisu will be watching tonight and I promise you if your actions end up getting myself or Aisu in trouble with Mrs. Simmons, we will make you suffer. We might be getting a few VIPs tonight so we will make sure to let you know that. You already know where you are supposed to be so let’s make sure this train is rolling perfectly. Right now surprisingly Little Ameko is still leading as far as reviews and tips are going, so keep up the good work. Other than that I want everyone on the floor in the next 15 to 20 minutes for one last minute meeting.”
Elizabeth took Isabella over to an empty cubby near the door to the bathroom. Sitting neatly inside were three shirts, one that was a t-shirt, one was sleeveless and the other was a polo. “If you want more shirts of any of our three designs let me know and I can get you more of them. The first four after these three are free, if you lose them and have to get a new one you will have to buy it. Other than take, get ready, talk with a few of your co-workers and I will see you in a bit.”
“Thank you,” Isabella sent the girl a shy smile.
Isabella pulled on the sleeveless uniform shirt and adjusted the collar just a bit. The chubbies were pretty large, maybe three feet by six feet. Each one had a silver name plate on it, and a few of them even had small nicknames under someone's name. The one beside her read Abigail Johnson underneath her names were the words. The Kind Leopard. “Are you wondering what the second name means?” Isabella nearly leapt out of her skin and spun around. The smiling face of the woman in charge of training her greeted her. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Isabella placed a hand to her breast and took a quick breath to calm her nerves. “No it’s okay, I was just too lost in thought.” She gave the girl her best smile. “I would love to know what the other name means, my name is Isabella Shields by the way.”
“Alice Quick.” Her long blond hair looked like perfectly made silk, her bright blue eyes were like staring into the clearest water in the world. They were around the same height, but Alice had a bit more fullness to her chest than Isabella. “The second name is just a few little nicknames we give each other. It was Mrs. Carter’s idea when they first opened, the owner used to be called The Bronze Tiger so she thought it would be nice if we all had nicknames like it. Mine is the Cunning Fox.”
“How come?”
“I got it after using a few more underhanded tactics to win the monthly sale off. Nothing that is against the rules,” she added with a much louder voice as if she was speaking to everyone and not just Isabella. “You will get one soon enough, probably within two weeks to a month.”
“How long have you been here?”
“About three years now, it really helps pay the bills.”
“Are you in college?” Isabella hated how that word always left a bad taste in her mouth now.
“Never had a chance to go,” Alice explained. “Parents couldn’t afford to send me, I wasn’t that smart in school so even with financial aid I could not afford it. A bit of a downer and after two years of fast food jobs. I meet Mrs. Simmons by accident, and she offered me a job here.”
Isabella looked over towards Ameko who had jumped up to her feet and slapped herself lightly on the cheeks as if to hype herself up. “What is Ameko’s nickname by chance? I gave her a ride back to her house the other day.”
“The Naughty Kitten.” Alice answered, turning her own gaze towards the girl. “She is a quick learner, fast at making drinks and can dart through the crowd with ease. However, she gets in more trouble for her speed and recklessness than anyone else here. I am sure she has told you about the record that she holds here.”
“She did inform me of that.” Isabella held her hands together to hopefully hide the shaking that came from just thinking about that word. “Have you ever gotten it?”
Alice’s cheeks lit up a bit as she nodded her head. “More than once mostly by Mrs. Simmons, she kinda took me under her wing and treats me like I am her daughter sometimes. I kinda had a bad attitude problem when I first came here.”
“You still do.” Another girl with Raven black hair said as she passed by with a towel wrapped around her body.
“I used to have one.” Alice said, trying to block out that other girl's voice.
Isabella couldn’t hide the tiny laughter that escaped her mouth. “I am sorry.” She quickly apologized.
Alice looked a bit flustered but did regain her composure. “It’s okay.” Her smile returned as she turned around and motioned for her to come and follow her. “Come on, I will show you what section of the bar we are gonna be working at and show you how to make a quick drink. Always good to have an idea of how to at least make one. We are gonna be a bit busy tonight but not too much that we are gonna be overwhelmed.”
As they walked back into the hallway that led back to the kitchen. Isabella was about to ask what she meant by she jumped a bit as a loud cracking sound filled the air followed by a catlike howl of pain. One of the doors that had been closed was now cracked open, and Isabella could not help herself but peek inside for a second. Her eyes widened as that same young chef that already seemed to be in trouble by Mrs. Carter was now leaning over an oak desk. Her hands planted firmly on the wood and she was just starting to lower one of her legs. Her jeans were taken down just enough to show a pair of white panties that probably provided no protection to that small two tongued strap that was in Mrs. Carter’s hand.
“Oh my…” Isabella started as Mrs. Carter brought that piece of leather down against the girl’s backside once more, making her jump up and rub her backside a bit. Before she could hear what Mrs. Carter was about to say someone grabbed her hand and pulled her out of view. “What are-”
Alice held a finger to her lips before stepping forward and closing the door with a small wave. “Word of advice,” she began once the door was closed shut. “Do not try and peek in on anyone getting a punishment. It is okay to close the door if you find it open cause Mrs. Carter tends to forget to do that. However, if she catches you, you might get a warning as the new girl but let’s not risk that shall we.”
“O-Okay.” As Isabella followed after the woman she asked. “How often does she do that? I know she said when I came into the kitchen earlier that she was using the wrong recipe, but is it really that serious?”
“Mrs. Carter is not gonna whoop you because you make a mistake or use the wrong recipe.” Alice explained. “Unfortunately for Zofia, she has a bit of a smart mouth and has been trying to change the recipes so they are easier for her to make. She tries to find shortcuts in a lot of her work and Mrs. Carter is not a fan of that.”
“I can see.”
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About 30 minutes had passed before all of the girl’s for the evening came downstairs and either sat on the stools of the bar or even on top of it. Well not everyone, the kitchen staff stayed inside of the kitchen. Isabella had spent that 30 minutes learning from Alice some of the basics, where they kept the fruit for the garnist of the drinks, how and what section was there. She gave her a bit tips on how to address some of the customers, and walked her through the hand signal Mrs. Simmons had shown her at her interview, and how to spot it as quickly as they could. As Elizabeth was just finishing their announcements for the night and assigning people to certain sections of the floor both upstairs and downstairs. Probably the deepest and silky smooth voice she had ever heard came from up above them.
“Yall seem to be very comfortable with starting these quick staff meetings without me.” Isabella followed the sound of the voice as the owner was starting to make his way down the stairs. He was taller than he looked in the videos she had seen. He was wearing a deep brown suit with a white shirt underneath, his skin a bit darker than that. He had high cheekbones but an otherwise soft looking face, his large dark eyes held a kind of warmth to them that she could not explain. His hair was a low cut fade, he wore a large golden watch, and had a cane in his hand that had the head of a tiger on it made out of silver. He moved slowly but confidently, waving his hand a bit as Ameko stood up, probably to help him get down the stairs quicker. “I am not an old man now, I don’t need help getting up and down the stairs.”
That got a few of the girl’s to laugh a bit and one glance at the room from Isabella she could see a mixture of looks in their eyes. Some gazed at him kindly like you would a friend or family member, a few younger girls like Ameko looked at him like a child would their father. However in most of these girls eyes, was a hunger and desire for something far more than friendship. A gaze that Isabella could feel starting to build in her own eyes as the man grew closer. Now that he is off the stairs he moved with a bit more confidence and power than he had before.
“We were not trying to start without you, Mr. Bradley.” The floor manager for the upper floor, Hazel Todd spoke out. A bit of a joking look appeared in her eyes as she shrugged her shoulders. “We just didn’t want to wait for the old man to get down the stairs.”
His laughter was as loud as thunder but as bright as the sun. “Well this old man is responsible for signing off your checks so maybe yours will come up missing this week, Hazel.” He stepped in front of them, looking like a mountain in front of hills. That suit did nothing to hide how strong he looked, his large hands looking flawless in fact he himself looked like God himself had taken a chisel and carved him from stone. “Just one announcement from me before I turn the floor back to our amazing floor managers. As you all know, the end of month sales end at the end of this week. As we move from May to June. Unless someone does something quick, Ameko is gonna be the winner this time around. So can we please just give our youngest and fastest learner a quick round of applause for her improvement.”
Isabella noticed that Ameko’s cheeks took on a bright shade of pink as a thunderous round of applause went off for her. “And all it took was a record setting first few weeks to get that to happen.” One girl with a raspy voice sounded off, only adding a bit of red to Ameko’s pink cheeks.
Once this new wave of laughter calmed down. Mr. Bradley went on a bit more. “One more thing before I head outside to start greeting our guests for the evening and get my boys on the same page. We also have a new addition being added to our family.” His dark eyes locked onto Isabella making her feel light in her chest. “Isabella Shields, can you come up here really quick?”
“Y-Yes sir.” She found herself light on her feet as she did her best to put back on a mask that protected her from her nerves and fears for the last few years. Standing before this man was like being a toddler back in front of her daddy. He seemed to let off an aura of pure warmth that spread through everywhere he went. Part of her hoped that maybe there was some new tradition where the new girl got a bit of an example of what a punishment could be. Cause right now she wanted those large dark hands of his on a certain part of her body. He smelled like dark lavender.
He seemed to lower down a bit more so he didn’t stand over her and began to speak. “Welcome to The Crimson Hide, I trust that you will work hard and find joy in this building. We have ways to fix both of those things if you are able to do either.” He gave a small wink that made entire face go red up to her ears. “Those girl’s behind you should be friends and sisters, the guys outside will protect you from anything or anyone, and I will be right here to do the same. My door is always open as our my ears, and eyes, we try not to fight this battle of life by ourselves and I will do what I can to help you fight that battle. The Lord has blessed me with many things, It would be misusing his gifts if I didn’t try and help you out as well.”
“T-Thank you, sir.”
“Please, you can call me Mr. Bradley, Mr. Jakobe, or even just Jakobe if you want. I am no one special to dictate what you call me.” His eyes looked away from her and she followed them onto Ameko who was trying her best to look away. “As long as you don’t call me a teddy bear in front of the customers we will be fine.”
“It happened once!” Another wave of laughter spilled out as Ameko shyly smiled.
Isabella turned around to go and join the others, adding a bit more of a sway to her hips as she left, hoping that maybe he would take notice of her. In a nightclub with an owner like him, maybe he would give an occasional slap on the rear every now and then.
And she doubted anyone of these girls would care if he did.
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