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I don’t have to do this for too long. I guess I could just take a bus back to Ohio depending how this goes, but I don’t have a job to go back to even if I do go home. I’ve been fighting an ever-present force of shit. One thing after another led me to this point. God, I wish I could get a do-over. I wouldn’t have taken the train; I would’ve gotten into Devin’s car and let him take me wherever he wanted to. And after the stuff Adam pulled when I first arrived, I never want to see him again. He managed to make my life worse than it already was.
    Shaking off the nerves when I hear my name from backstage, I get to my walk-on spot when the DJ calls out, “Let’s give a special welcome to the lovely Blossom, who’s ready to bloom!”
    The crowd goes wild with catcalls and whistles. I close my eyes and dance for Devin— The only man to have ever made my body burn with desire. It’s not a minute into the song before chaos erupts around me and I’m being carried out of the club.
    ~~~~
    “Hey, Devin, it’s Michael. I’ve got good and bad news. Bad news first, I’ve looked into several areas and there’s no record of her leaving Chicago, so I’ve got no way to track her movements unless I search credit cards and that’s out of my scope. The good news is that I’ve got a full name for her. When I cross checked your flight manifest with the times of other flights, there was one from Cincinnati, Ohio with a nineteen-year-old female named Blossom B. Bennett.”
    “Thanks, man. I owe you, but I need to find out where she went then. I’ve got to go.”
    I call my asshole step-brother, but the fucker refuses to answer for me. I close up the office because I have a late-night meeting with the guy who could drop the assault charges on Adam. He’s a shady attorney.
    I hate having to meet clients outside my office, but this place is a first for me. I ask my driver to bring me because I want a quick getaway. I step out of my SUV and look at the dilapidated sign. The Pole. Wow, what a classy joint! I shake my head and tuck it down so no one sees me enter. It wouldn’t ruin my career, but I don’t want to be associated with this place. Who the fuck holds a real meeting in a strip club? There’s so much tits and ass everywhere; no one’s going to be paying attention. Well, except me. Strippers do nothing for my cock. I find it disgusting and shameful, but fuck it— to each to his own. I hope no one recognizes me here. As I feel my fear of crowded places, I think about how I really hate Adam more and more as time goes on.
    I walk into the strip club and it’s packed as fuck, which only adds to my trepidation. My eyes scan the tables to find the guy I’m meeting. Not that I know what he looks like, but he should be alone and on the lookout for me.
    “Hey, Williams, over here!” The fatass at the table five feet from the stage calls me over. Rolling my eyes, I make my way to the dumbass. When I get to his table, I don’t sit; I just want this over and done with. Sitting will make him think it’s time to relax. It’s not playtime for me.
    “Take a seat, Williams,” he demands.
    I peer around the room and see shit that legally shouldn’t be going on here. There’s one guy at a table openly sniffing coke and one of the cocktail waitresses is crawling under the table. I bring my eyes back to him and explain, “Hell no, I’m liable to catch syphilis or herpes sitting here. I’m here for business only.”
    “Adam said you were a stuffed shirt. He was right on the money,” Andrade mocks.
    “Get to the point Andrade. You’ve got two minutes.”
    “Relax Devin, there’s new merchandise coming on stage next. I hear she’s the sexiest thing this place has ever had, but I’ll be the judge of that. Hopefully, I’ll be the one to christen her in the backroom with some Andrade juice.”
    “Aren’t you married?” Every word out of his mouth only serves to make me more and more disgusted.
    “You’re a lawyer