Chapter 7

The elevator doors opened and we went through to the lobby and back to the management office, where a reinvigorated Milo went at the developer's rep again. After a couple of minutes, he stepped back and waved me toward a corner. "What can you afford?"

"Not close to three hundred," I grunted. "Cash, maybe one-eighty."

Milo's eyes popped. "You can do that, cash?"

"Got the checkbook from my IRA in my pocket," I agreed. "I'd have to play some games -- lend money to the business through an intermediary..."

Milo pursed his lips. "IRS won't like that."

"I'm not the majority partner," I replied, "and if I loan money to you and you loan money to the business, the IRS won't bother to unravel it."

"How much of the business do you own?" Milo asked.

"Twenty-five percent, on paper," I replied.

"Okay, it's legal either way," Milo grunted. "I'll get a lawyer to write up two promissory notes. They're members? We'll have one of them sign for the business. It's an LLC, right?"

"Right."

"Cash is king. We won't do it all. Watch." Milo headed back over to where Darla was keeping the developer's rep busy answering questions. "We'll take both end units," he announced. We'll pay ninety five for one -- cash -- and you'll carry the note for the other -- ten years. If you fold, it's a wash and we end up with both."

"Ninety-five?" The rep looked pained.

"We'll do one-ten for the one being financed -- twenty percent down."

"I don't know..."

"How much are you leasing storefronts for? There's a stairwell to the far one, right?" Darla asked.

The rep looked cagey. "Three thousand a month."

"But owners get a break, right?" Milo pressed. "One year lease, fifteen hundred a month. First, last, and security."

"One hundred," the rep pressed.

"One-oh-five for the second, then," Milo replied. "You're getting six and a half percent."

The rep looked desperate. "Give me a minute." He headed for the back. Apparently the developer WAS in; there were sounds of a spirited argument.

"They need the occupancy," Milo assured me. "Wave your checkbook if he comes back acting stupid."

The rep came back. "What about...?" I flourished my checkbook, stopped, and started to tuck it back in my pocket. He licked his lips. "Never mind." He gathered himself. "About the lease..."

Milo turned to me, "Do you think you need the whole storefront? I might move here and sublet half..."

I pursed my lips. "We really need to look at what we're getting..." I had NO IDEA what we were going to use a storefront for!

"Two thousand a month apiece gets you both a full storefront." The guy standing in the door was undoubtedly the developer. "Condos are a hundred apiece and I'll hold your note. Put it together, Howard -- we need occupants for those storefronts! You weren't kidding, were you?" he asked Milo. Milo just looked at him. "I need a realtor -- I'll give you a break."

"We can talk about it," Milo declared.

"How soon can you close?" The developer shifted his eyes back and forth between Milo and I.

"As soon as we can get documents. I've got a lawyer who should be able to turn this around fairly quickly," Milo told him. "Have your lawyer do the note for the second place and the sale documents for the first. We'll want the door in the hallway we talked about and maybe some other minor stuff."

The developer just waved it off. "Handle it, Howard. I want them in the stores and visible by the first, okay?" He swept us with his eyes. I nodded, wondering what he would think if he knew he'd just built himself a brothel. Ah, well...

Darla pulled me aside. "What's this gonna cost?"

"A month?" I asked. "I don't know."

Milo rescued me. "It's cash for the one condo, so no monthly payments, twenty percent down on the second is eighty thousand over ten years... Nine hundred or so -- probably less. The lease is another two thousand, so a little under three grand."

Darla turned it over in her head. "We're doing better than that, right?"

"Yeah," I agreed. "Maybe not yet this month above the table, but..."

"It's a lot of money, Donnie."

"Well, it's an investment," I replied. "The company will own the place and will have to pay me back over time. But I'll be living here, too..."

"Your accountant is gonna love you," Milo grinned. "unless the business folds."

I shrugged. "It's a service business. The products are always in demand." Milo nodded.

"What is it exactly?" he asked.

"Cleaning, catering, hospitality work," Darla supplied.

Milo nodded, eyeing Luz -- and probably making the connection. "We're probably profitable already, despite some startup expenses -- I need to look at the books. Or we were..." I muttered.

"Well, you get a couple of tax write-offs and a new place to live..." Milo shrugged.

"Yeah," I sighed. "The second part was the purpose of the exercise."

"It's a good deal," Milo insisted, a little loudly. The developer and his rep both looked up, sensing buyer's remorse. Neither said anything, but when they stuck the purchase and sales agreements in front of me a couple of minutes later, the price on the second place was ninety-five thousand and the lease was seventeen-fifty.

I looked them over; Milo did, too, and nodded. "And the condo association?" I asked.

"As far as I'm concerned, you're it," the developer replied. "Here is a list of basic services that are contracted for in the purchase. There are no rules, as yet; the older couple on the other end don't have much in the way of demands."

Darla eyed the list. "I bet we could work out something over pool cleaning and janitorial."

The developer nodded. "I'll look at your rates. If they're better than the people I'm looking at..." Darla nodded back. "I'll send a kid over to talk to you about changes," he promised me. "Any idea what you'll want besides the door?"

"Not yet," I replied, "We'll need to look some more." I fished out my other checkbook -- the one associated with our new business -- and wrote a check for a thousand bucks, hoping the account could handle it. The cash drawer could, certainly... The developer tossed me the keys to Units A and B and we headed back upstairs to take a serious look at things, Milo bringing up the rear.

The third floor had no hallway between the apartments -- there were closets in part of the space, and the other rooms just abutted one another. We could cut a doorway between them along a communicating hallway or even make one room double-size by taking out a wall. I wondered about the second kitchen, but Darla asked, "Do you think we'll ever do in-call? We may need to provide party refreshment facilities." I was reluctant to go there, but we decided that putting in a bar might be a good idea.

Luz sidled up to me. "Milo did good?"

I nodded. "He probably saved us fifty grand -- maybe more."

"Good." She went over to Milo, knelt rather ponderously before him, and started on his belt buckle.

Milo gave me a look. "What's this?"

"Part of the unlisted product line," I replied. "Luz has apparently decided to give you a free sample."

"She gets excited sometimes," Darla interjected.

By then, Luz had Milo's cock in her hands; Milo's head rocked back as she rolled her lips over it. "Aaaahhhh..."

"Do you want some, Donnie?" Darla asked. "You've certainly earned it..."

"You helped, actually," Milo croaked. "Asking about the storefronts opened up new vistas for them. Aw shit! She's AMAZING!" He started playing with Luz's hair.

I pursed my lips. "She can take anything you can dish out," I told him, "She was trained in a very harsh school."

"So, how...?" Then Milo held up a hand. "Don't tell me now -- I won't hear anything..."

Darla and I watched Luz work; I reflected that guys made the most amazing faces when they were enjoying themselves.

The cell phone we'd picked up for Darla rang in her purse. "Maid's Plus. Oh, hi. How did you find us?" She paused, listening. "Really? What about...?" She paused again, obviously getting answers, followed by, "I can imagine... So why...?" Another pause, ending with, "That's probably an explosive subject." After another short pause, she turned to me, "Can we take on another employee?"

"Huh?" I thought about it. "I dunno."

"She's been through the interview and the performance test," Darla insisted, adding, "It's Evelyn."

"Her and Ted break up?" I asked.

"No," Darla replied, "I guess they went back and forth a bit, but Ted doesn't make a lot of money, and if he wants her to be loose, anyway..."

"She can earn her own allowance?" I guessed.

"Something like that." Darla grinned crookedly.

"Have her come up to the old place. We can talk to her there," I said, adding, "When?"

"We're busy right now," Darla told Evelyn. "Want to get together later? Or can we talk tomorrow?" Darla listened, nodded, and ended the call. "Tomorrow," she told me.

"Fine," I agreed. About that time, Milo, hunched over Luz's head, emitted a unmistakable grunt, clutching her head to his crotch. After a few seconds, he let go and Luz raised her head and grinned at him.

"I have a feeling I'm gonna love my new location," Milo muttered.

"Let's go out to dinner and discuss all this," I suggested.

I spilled my guts to Milo over some great barbeque at a restaurant he recommended; needless to say, he was amazed. "So, let me get this straight -- you OWN them?" Milo asked.

"Until they figure out otherwise," I agreed. Since they were sitting right there, it wasn't exactly a secret.

"Boss is good man -- work for him is good deal!" Luz insisted. "Why go somewhere else?"

"So you're a pimp," Milo mused, shaking his head.

"I run a cleaning business," I argued. "If the girls decide to offer additional services on a case-by-case basis, I don't get in their faces about it."

"Uh huh," Milo retorted, amused.

"Besides, it's all we're good for," Darla added.

"I doubt that," Milo disagreed.

"It's what we're trained for, and the only profession I've ever been any good at," Darla insisted.

"From what I can see, you're already prepared to take on a management position, Honey," Milo replied, smiling.

Darla shrugged. "I can probably be a madam."

"I'm sure of it," Milo agreed. Turning to me, he asked, "So how do you handle things?"

"We have a list of services," I replied. "That's the official list. I never work off anything else. I keep the books based on that list, and make sure the girls have all the proper employment stuff and benefits. They have the unofficial list and they work it by themselves. Right now, our network is people we know and friends and acquaintances of people we know, so we've been pretty safe. For Darla and Luz, I hold their under-the-table money for the expenses of their upcoming births -- but they spend it however they want. The other girls can do as they please with their 'extras' money -- I don't even expect to see it. The client pays to have their place cleaned, or maybe some catering or wait-staff time -- and that's what goes on the books."

"So I ask for Luz, here, to come in to clean my apartment..." Milo began.

"Right. Or your office, or whatever. You pay for that. If that's all you want, fine. If you want more, you negotiate it with Luz. Technically, she's independent at that point. That leaves me out of the loop for pimping -- I'm her employer or her business partner, but that's in the cleaning business, not the sex business. She can call me and ask me to pick her up from jail -- God forbid -- without being labeled a pimp."

"Sounds like a plan."

"I'm hoping it will work -- at least until things change a bit," I sighed.

"Okay, I've got a lawyer for this thing," Milo explained. "Darla is a member of the LLC? Can she sign for stuff?"

"Yeah," I agreed.

"And you don't own fifty percent, right?"

"Right."

"I'll have the lawyer hook up the loan to the LLC with Darla as signatory. We'll put some terms out there so you get your money back over, say ten years. The girls are gonna have to contribute to the business to match your twenty percent down on the second condo -- which will help pay for it and backfill on the loan for the first. Everything is covered; the girls make contributions to the LLC to cover their membership positions over time -- like, I dunno -- five years? It helps cover everything."

"So, what does this mean?" Darla asked.

"There are, what, three of you girls?" Milo asked.

"Right now."

"Okay. Don is putting twenty thousand into the business. To match that, you girls need to do the same. If you do it over five years, that's four thousand of your extras money a year. That should help launder the money, too. New members need to sign on for the same thing -- this keeps you equal partners, and it puts money in the kitty to replace the hundred thousand Don is kicking out for the first condo."

"What if I don't want to be equal?" Darla asked.

"To keep things legal, Don can't own more than forty-nine percent of the company," Milo explained. "You can duck under that, but you still need to see to it that Don gets his money back. You could do twenty percent apiece, which would still give the three of you sixty percent -- and the annual contribution would be less. That's ten thousand, which is only a couple of thousand a year -- but it makes the company only worth fifty thousand, and Don would have a hundred thousand loaned out."

"Well, there is gonna be another girl..." Darla pointed out. "I don't really want to be 'equal' -- and it isn't about the money. I want Donnie to be in charge."

"Well, he owns you, right? So he has your proxy?" Milo mused. "Another girl -- so, four of you. I'd keep it at twenty percent apiece, which at a hundred thousand is still twenty apiece over five years. Is four thousand gonna hurt you girls, you figure?"

"That's a really hot week, probably," Darla mused. "Right now we can't keep up that pace, but after the kids are born..."

"Okay, so no problem, then?" Milo asked.

"No, no problem," Darla replied. "Luz?"

"Whatever Boss wants," Luz replied.

"Okay, then," Milo insisted. "I'll have the lawyer draw up a membership agreement for the LLC for you to have on file for the Feds or whatever." He sat back, eyeing Luz, "I don't suppose..."

Luz looked at me, wrinkled her nose, and grinned. I asked Milo, "So you need a little cleaning done?"

"Yeah, a little..."

"Well, you've been very helpful," I noted. "We could take it out in trade..."

"No, no, I'll pay a couple of hours at the going rate," Milo insisted.

"It's twenty-five an hour -- unless Luz gets a look and says it's worse." I'd never been to Milo's house. "Don't you have a girlfriend?"

"Not lately," Milo related, sadly. "We split up."

"Too bad." Milo could be a player, I knew; he'd probably gotten caught with his hand on the wrong ass one time too many. I turned to my Filipino girl, "Luz?"

"You have cleaning stuff?"

"Yah, sure." Milo's tone said there wouldn't be much cleaning.

"Boss bills for two hours. We talk about it if you need more."

"Works for me!" Milo agreed. He fished out a fifty. "I'll bring her home when she's done."

"You do that," I grinned.

Darla and I spent a second night alone; Milo didn't bring Luz home until I was getting ready for work. I gathered from Luz that she gave him one freebie and charged him for one -- and didn't clean at all. "House was mess, Boss -- gonna have to go back and clean."

"He'll be back," I chuckled, and headed off to work.

He was, too, that evening -- which was just as well. Cheryl got in and I read her the new deal -- and it wasn't all hearts and flowers. "I don't want to be a partner!" Cheryl howled, "I NEED that money! I've got two little girls!"

"Hey, hey, easy, easy!" Milo jumped in. "Look, Don has to pay you something or the business doesn't look legit. On the other hand, there is overhead and your benefits and so on and so forth -- so you're billing for twenty-five to thirty-seven fifty and getting ten to fifteen. You need to be able to show money earned above the table, too, because you can't stick the money you earn UNDER it in a bank account. That means you're gonna have cash around, and that could make you a target. Contributing to the business gives you a reason to have money from profit-sharing and such -- and Don can kick it out in irregular chunks instead of a steady salary, which makes it harder to track where it's all coming from. As an employee, you'd have to claim part of your tips, too, for taxes -- and if that amount got ridiculous..." Milo shrugged. "There's some back and forth, here -- and some of it is for your protection."

"Yeah, yeah... Who is this guy?" Cheryl wasn't happy.

"I hired him to make sure the business got off on the right foot," I lied.

Cheryl grimaced. Then she cocked her head, "If I'm a partner, I can't get laid off, right?"

"Right," Milo nodded. "Bought out, maybe, but not laid off."

"All right." She still wasn't happy, but she got it. "When does this start?"

"Tonight." Milo had the partnership agreements with him, along with the draft promissory note. I'd contacted my IRA custodian and faxed everything they needed to go forward; we were going to close on Thursday afternoon at the lawyer's office. He put one in front of Cheryl and she signed it; as it turned out, Milo was also a notary -- something I hadn't been aware of. Cheryl headed off to Mike's for a solo visit; the idea of another card party was being batted about, but hadn't gelled yet. "Now you're gonna have to hire me," Milo muttered.

"What's it gonna cost me?" I asked.

"I'll let you know, but regular pussy is gonna keep the costs down. How is Darla?"

"I like her," I replied blandly.

Evelyn came by about eight; Darla picked her up at the security desk and brought her up. "Don?" She was more than a little surprised to see me as we settled into seats in the living room.

"Donnie is the boss man," Darla explained. "We don't tell people that and we're careful to keep him legit, but he takes care of Luz and me, in particular. He's... not really a pimp -- he's more of a business partner, from where you sit."

"I don't understand," Evelyn muttered.

"Okay, from the top..." Darla explained the whole setup -- the business, the benefits, the exposures -- everything. She proved in the process that she had Milo's complicated description of the partnership thing down pat.

"Sounds pretty neat," Evelyn mused, when the presentation was over. "So I can be an employee or a partner?"

"That's the gist of it," I interjected. "Let's talk about your end. What brings you here?"

Evelyn pursed her lips. "Teddy went a little far the other night -- but I'd been acting kind of stupid. I thought he wanted me to clean up my act -- but I went too far and got all prudish -- and the fact was, he really didn't care if I let it all hang out every once in a while. We had a couple of pretty good fights over the weekend, but we were both fucked up and things have settled out."

I shrugged. "Okay, but letting it all hang out and hooking are two different things..."

Evelyn gazed at the floor. "Teddy doesn't have a good job -- we're barely making it. He's good at cards, so he goes to Mike's parties -- but it's hit and miss and sometimes he loses. The party really helped..."

"Yeah, okay, but he's got to put up with it, you know?" I pointed out. "That can't be easy."

"He doesn't think it's going to be a problem," Evelyn related. "He won't go to Mike's parties, or anywhere else that I'll be working, so he won't see it and he won't have guys, you know, making comments, so he figures it will be all right."

I pursed my lips. "What do YOU figure?"

"I don't know. If we make some money and are more comfortable and he's happy..."

"What about you?"

"It's exciting. I enjoyed it the other night," Evelyn looked up. "I've always been a party girl."

"It can get old, but this kind of thing is better than street corners," Darla interjected. "I had fun the other night myself -- but part of it was you..." she told Evelyn.

"What if Ted freaks?" I asked.

Evelyn shrugged. "I'll have to stop, I guess. If he's getting his and we're doing kinky stuff occasionally, he'll probably be fine." She hesitated, then added, "Still, it might be smarter if I was an employee. That way I can back out if I have to. I can buy in later, right?"

"Yeah, I guess," I agreed. I looked at Milo and the girls; Darla shrugged and nodded. "Okay, we'll hook you up as an employee."

So we did, Milo officiating. When Evelyn went off, happy, I told Milo, "You need to buy in and be head of HR."

"Don't tempt me," Milo replied, "I LOVE the benefit package!" He ogled Darla and she played up, bending over so he could see her cleavage. "I'd want to take it all out in trade!"

"I bet THAT can be arranged!" I chuckled.

"No shit?" Milo thought about it. "Okay, look -- I'm gonna hold up our landlord for about six grand on this transaction -- that's more or less standard. I'll pitch it into the treasury and you put me on for five percent. I'll handle the paperwork crap during my off hours and you guys shoot me a piece every few days and I'll cover it with ledger entries saying you paid me and I bought services. What do you say?"

"Girls?" I shifted my attention to Darla and Luz.

"He fucks pretty good," Luz shrugged.

"Okay," Darla agreed.

"Done." I shook Milo's hand. "Welcome to the family."

"Great! Can I fuck your other daughter?" Milo asked, grinning.

"Sure, Honey," Darla agreed. "I think we're done for the evening, aren't we, Donnie? Why don't you show me your apartment, Milo?" They were out the door in no time.

"You get me, Boss," Luz announced, cocking her head. "That okay?"

"That's always okay."

Luz grinned her toothy grin. "Good. Come on, Boss -- let Mama Luz take care of you."