Chapter 4: Sous-Chefs

The Friday night crowd was thick and mostly male. Many of the men seemed in the construction trades. The city continued to expand even despite the increasing number of articles in the news about rising tides and water levels.

Club Ecstasy was packed. A number of Circle members were associated with the nightclub a.k.a. strip club at most times. About thirty members of the Circle had pushed together several tables to park their drinks and snacks on while they watched some of their friends and lovers perform or hustle around the club waiting tables.

Christie breezed by the group and meted out a few kisses to those in her path. She was helping Jim out since he was short-handed. “Hi everybody. See you later. There’s a surprise for you all tonight. Stay tuned.” She flitted off after filling her tray with empties from adjacent tables so they could be filled up with the expensive beer again.

Jim Danforth came by and greeted his fellow Circle members. He was part owner and the working manager of the club. His co-owners were two billionaires that liked having the club as one of their toys: Owen Bennett and Mark Worthington. Mark had invested in another club north of Tampa named the Club Infinity for a while, but the clientele changed so he eventually sold out. He didn’t want a club that attracted motorcycle gangs or roughnecks.

Friday was often amateur night. Exactly at eight o’clock as the first show started, Jim came out and announced a special treat. The DJ started the music and from either side of the stage Savannah and Samantha appeared. The identical twins were in schoolgirl uniforms that would get them kicked out of any real educational institution in the country. They both came out swinging some schoolbooks and looking cute as the devil with long blonde pigtails, short skits, tight blouses, miniature neckties, white knee socks, and Mary Jane shoes.

The two did some sexy posing with each other. Several men in the audience took pictures of them with their cellphones. They each skipped around the stage in opposite directions, and even then, the money started to hit the stage. Dave noted Big Benny, the bouncer, nearby to ensure good behavior of the patrons. Catcalls and offers of unbridled treats were hurled at the two young women.

They stopped in the middle of the stage and leaned in slightly to each other so they could have a kiss that was far from inappropriate. They each looked at the audience and gave a surprised look to communicate how nice and illicit the kiss had been. That furtive kiss led to another as their bodies neared each other.

The kisses got hotter and hotter, and their bodies more and more wrapped around each other. The two gorgeous blondes were grinding their crotches onto each other’s legs, and then rubbing the other’s tits. The noise level in the club rose especially high.

When the music took on a new tempo, one of the twins carefully started to undo the buttons on the other’s white blouse. That girl removed the necktie on her twin. They then changed duties until both their blouses were hanging open revealing the lacy bras that were loaded with goodies.

More money got hurled onto the stage, especially from the Circle members who were cheering the loudest. Dave noted that the Phi Theta Rho alumni were especially enthusiastic about the twins.

With many cute dance steps and choreography, the twins gradually lost the rest of their clothing. They then demonstrated how two nude women could use the same stripper’s pole to amuse and titillate the audience. More money resulted.

The girls then kissed quite passionately as the fourth long number of the set ended. The place broke into thunderous applause as the two schoolgirls took bows and even more revealing curtseys near the horny men. They gathered up their money from each side of the stage, picked up their clothes, and scampered backstage.

A few minutes later the twins reappeared wearing thongs and the small school vests that had been part of their school uniforms. The vests weren’t buttoned. They circulated around the club avoiding the Circle soliciting lap dances. Conveniently when they got paid, the vests had small pockets to hold the cash.

Eventually, each of the twins started to circulate among the Circle members, kissing everybody profusely and promising a helluva lot more than a lap dance to anybody interested.

Dave ended with Samantha (?) in his lap, but more just for a place to sit and be comfortable than to entertain. She sighed, “That was a lot of work. Christie has been working with the two of us for a month to do just that simple little thing. I don’t know how she did this all those years. She must have a lot of stamina.”

Dave laughed, “But you did great. So did your sister. That was treat for everyone here. I hope you had fun. It looked like it.”

“Oh, we did, even in rehearsal. Of course, in rehearsal we’d end up tribbing or some other lewd act that Jim told us we couldn’t do on stage. We told him he needed a special night for special parties where wild sex was the motif.”

“And you’d be the star performer, of course?”

After the brief intermission the DJ again cranked up the volume and announced a new dancer – “And now for your viewing enjoyment, the award-winning adult film star ALICE ANGEL!”

Dave jerked around to where Alice had been sitting earlier but her chair was empty, and now filled my Elin. Back on-stage Alice strutted out in her business suit but wearing CFM shoes that he knew made her legs look like a million dollars.

Alice did the slow strip that he’d seen her do several times earlier. She feigned being hot and looking around to be sure she was alone, and then item by item the clothes came off with some theatrics about being over heated in between. She wore her auburn wig, false eyelashes, and her cheek implants, but hadn’t gone for the really heavy makeup. Nonetheless, she was Alice Angel, and not Alice Prentiss.

Alice garnered a lot of money tossed on the stage. Eventually she finished and did a few really sexy lap dances as she worked the club. Samantha watched her every move. She exclaimed, “My God, she almost really fucks the guys she does the dances for. Her hands are all over them, even reaching inside their pants. I wouldn’t dare do that except at home.”

Dave laughed, “She loves to tease to the max. I’m sure she’s giving Jim fits about her antics with the patrons. She likes to please, and when she’s horny – as I’m sure she is – it’s hard for her to turn off her libido and porn star behavior. She’d really like to participate full bore in your wild club night. She’d take on all comers.”

“Does that bother you?” she asked in a serious tone.

“Not a bit. I would have been panicked before we loosened up, but now I wish her well. I’ll be elsewhere in the fray having my own brand of fun.”

“Will you have fun with me later?” I’m kind of worked up after seeing all those guys lusting after us. I felt safe, especially with all of you here, but if this were one of those crazy nights, I envisioned I’d be involved in the most massive gangbang this place had ever seen.”

“I can only vouch for making love in the club a few times in the green room out back. That was the first night I met Christie and Alice had done a similar dance for the club. She was really hot and had to have me have her. We were still in the early stages of loosening up and the Circle wasn’t even thought of yet when that happened.”

Sam said, “I read about that in Cricket’s book. She had that story in there. A lot of what she wrote about was how people met and first connected. That was in the chapter entitled Loosening Up – Part 1. She did a great job on the book.”

Dave did a mock hitting the back of his own hand. “I’m a bad boy. All I’ve done is scan the book. Since I lived it, and pretty close to ‘ground zero’ so to speak, I feel really close to everything.”

Sam said, “You and your new wives should read it together. All the philosophy stuff is so well written, too. She really captured the essences of both the Circle and the rap sessions in the Circle 101 classes you taught and that the Phi Theta Rho guys took over.”

“I haven’t sat in on one recently. Are they okay?”

“Yes. Wonderful and intellectual, and right on the spot about Circle philosophy.” This term’s group is small. Those new people are attending: Ben Forrester and Amy Stulling. They’re really eager about everything. She’s smart, too.”

“I’ll try to be at one of the next sessions.”

Sam kissed him, “I’ll remind you.” She added, “By the way, I’m Savannah.”

Dave checked the young man’s resume again as they’d been talking. His name was Arios Fortakis. He was tall, apparently of Greek heritage, and exceptionally cordial. He explained, “Please call me Ari. That’s the preferred contraction of my name that I like.”

Dave nodded, “Your qualifications are excellent and you impressed Bobbie here with your accomplishments. Why are you leaving your current job?”

“Ah, the restaurant has been taken over by new management. They want the kitchen to churn on the same limited meals night after night. This is not the work for a real chef, but more what in the trade is called a ‘short order cook’. They get paid a lot less and do the same thing day after day. There’s no creativity in the meals planned or how they’re prepared. I want somewhere that I can exercise those traits – my skills.”

Dave and Bobbie nodded. He asked, “Do you only do Greek cooking and cuisine?”

“Oh, no. I do just about anything – very cosmopolitan. Mrs. Wyatt showed me the menus for the past two months and those are very in keeping with what I’d like to work on. I should note that I saw all sorts of complimentary dishes and things to try.”

Bobbie did the lead in, “Well, this place is a bit unusual in more ways than just our communal meals.” She gave Dave a visual nudge for him to get on with the revelations.

Dave said, “We are evaluating you as we hope you are evaluating us. In that regard it is time to turn the tables and for you to ask questions. Before that, I need to ask whether you have read anything about the Circle or its members?”

Ari shook his head. “No, it didn’t occur to me that you would be in the news.”

Dave said, “More than many other groups, and we do not seek publicity – to the contrary in fact. First, let me say that we have several well-known people in our group, among them are Owen Bennett and Scarlett Johansson.” Ari nodded and looked impressed. “Beyond that, however, is a more important model for how we live our lives inside our gates.”

Dave went on to describe the basis for the Circle and briefly how and why it was formed, and in his words about why it had grown. He finally asked whether there were any questions.

Ari said, “So, this place is very much like a Greek resort with much nudity or partial. From what you said, there used to be open lovemaking?”

Dave nodded, “Yes, but with the children around so much now that’s pretty well stopped. Various couples form and disappear for a while. The boundaries between relationships, even for married couples, are loose and fluid. We have open marriages and open relationships.”

Ari said, “That is all interesting, but what does that have to do with the chef’s job?”

Teodor Mockov was a short and balding man with deep-set eyes and a Slavic accent. He was first generation and had grown up in New York, doing odd jobs in restaurants and then becoming a short-order cook. He developed a liking for sophisticated meals and expanded his horizons by teaching himself the finer aspects of high-end meal planning and preparation. He also asked to be called ‘Ted’.

Ted was a student and a self-starter. Early in the interview he commented that he had read a number of articles in the local newspapers about the Circle including a press conference where Dave had talked about the Circle and obliquely his relationship with Scarlett Johansson. He thought he understood the environment and saw no reason for that to sway his opinion about the job one way or the other, very much the way Ari had felt.