I swallow thickly. Sometimes I forget why I’m here with Ethan—because Logan sold me to a man who buys women to turn into sex slaves.
“I’ll stay with him, I promise.”
I send a text to Blaire, telling her we’ll be at The Warehouse if she and Victor want to come by for a drink. She immediately responds that she can’t wait to see me and they’re on their way.
When we arrive at his club, we pull up to the front, and the valet takes the car. Before we step inside, I look around and notice The Warehouse isn’t the only place around. There are several other businesses on both sides of the club.
“Is that a strip club?” I ask, pointing to the bright neon sign that reads Assets. There’s a line to get in, but most are men.
“Yeah, a friend of mine owns it. It just opened recently. Why? You want to go?” Ethan waggles his brows.
“I almost added strip club to my list,” I admit.
“Why didn’t you?”
“I don’t know.” I shrug. “I guess I never imagined a time when I would actually be able to go.”
“So, you only added items to your list you knew you would be able to do?”
“Yeah, I didn’t want to set myself up for failure.”
“Let me see your list.” Ethan extends his hand. Usually I keep ittucked away in a drawer, but lately I’ve been checking off so many items, I’ve been bringing it with me. And since Ethan gave me my original one back, I threw away the new one I made, adding the couple new items to the bottom of the list.
I pull it out of my back pocket and hand it to him. He reaches into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulls out a pen and then scribblesGo to a strip clubon the bottom.
“There.” He hands me back the list. “Now it’s on there.”
“Nevaeh!” I turn around to find Blaire and Victor walking over to us. She’s dressed in a sexy tight black dress with tall black heels. Her hair is pin straight down her back. She looks gorgeous, especially for being invited last minute.
“I’m so glad you invited us,” Blaire says, pulling me into a hug. “I’ve seriously missed you so much. I know I saw you at the funeral today, but that’s obviously not the same thing.”
“I’ve missed you too,” I tell her, hugging her back.
When we pull apart, Blaire’s biting on her lower lip, her telltale that there’s something she needs to tell me.
“What’s wrong?”
“Well…” She glances back at Victor, who has introduced himself to Ethan. He wasn’t at the funeral today because he had to work and couldn’t get off last minute.
“Tell me,” I push.
“Victor asked me to marry him.” She holds out her hand, and on her ring finger is a beautiful diamond ring.
“Oh my God! Blaire!” I give her another hug. “Congratulations! Why didn’t you tell me earlier today?”
“We were at your brother’s funeral. It was hardly the right time.”
“True,” I agree. “Still. I’m so happy for you.”
“He also asked me to move in with him,” Blaire admits, and now her nervousness makes sense.
“Oh, well, of course he did. You can’t be married and live apart.” I laugh, but Blaire doesn’t.
“You can stay living in the condo however long you want,” she says.
“No, you should sell it. I can find somewhere else to live.” Once I’m no longer on a sex trafficker’s list to kidnap and sell and I find a new job… Which will mean I’ll no longer be living with Ethan. Will we still date?
My eyes meet his, and he smiles warmly my way. When I don’t smile back, his lips turn down into a concerned frown.
