Page 41 of Our Last Chance at Forever

She led me into a small room with black walls and black tiled floor. A red velvet chair sat against the wall with a pole directly in the center of the room. I took a few steps toward the chair to gain a little distance. When I turned to face her, she was right behind me and she pushed against my chest, causing me to fall back into the chair.

She stepped up on the platform and walked around the pole, keeping her eyes on me. I felt completely awkward. I had never been in that situation. I mean, I had been in strip clubs, but never went back for a private dance.

I moved my eyes to the titled floor. Not only was I embarrassed, but I felt like I was doing Lennox wrong.

“Is something wrong?” she asked.

“What?” My eyes jumped up to her.

Her shoulders slumped. “You really aren’t wanting this, are you?”

I sat up in a rush. “I’m really not,” I said shaking my head.

Her face fell just a bit.

“Look, it has nothing to do with you. You’re very nice looking.” I cleared my throat. “I just mean, this is my bachelor party and my dumbass brother has it in his head that this is what I am supposed to do.”

“But you don’t want to?” She pushed her long red hair away from her face.

“No, I mean, I’m getting married to the girl of my dreams and no offense, but I don’t really care to see anyone but her dance for me.”

She took a step down off the platform. “You know, I’ve worked here for awhile now and I’ve seen many bachelors. Most of them aren’t like you.”

I sat back. “I guess most men aren’t as lucky as I am.”

“Okay, here’s the deal.” She sat down on the platform she just stepped off of and looked at me. “We will stay in here for a few minutes and we can talk. When we walk out, just grin and look embarrassed. They will never know.”

A laugh escaped me. “That would be perfect. Thank you.”

I walkedout of the room a little while later. I did as I was told and grinned while I made my way back to Dane and Trent. Trent still didn’t look amused but Dane couldn’t contain his smile.

“I can’t believe you actually did it. I was sure that she would’ve chased your ass out of there before she even lost her top.”

“Yeah, yeah. Can we move on to the next activity?”

Dane swallowed down the rest of his beer. “Let’s go.”

We walked down the street and found a casino. “Let’s win some money.”

“If we were going to gamble, why didn’t we just go back to the hotel were staying at?”

He looked at me like I was stupid. “Because then Trent would have went up to bed. That bed is mine.” He pointed at his chest.

While Dane went to grab us a few beers, I pulled my phone from my pocket to check the time. It was only going on ten P.M. I wanted to text Lennox, but I didn’t want to ruin her good time.

“Okay, give me the fucking phone.” Dane sat our beers down and held out his hand.

“What? No.”

He sat down in the chair across from me. “This is your party. Stop stressing about what Lennox is doing and give me your phone.”

“What if she needs me?” I looked at the phone in my hand.

“I will answer it. Don’t worry.” He motioned for the phone.

I slapped it into his hand, thinking that maybe he was right. It was our time to celebrate with our friends. To have one last blowout before we got married. We each needed our own time.

I killedit at Blackjack and doubled my money. I should have stopped there, instead I played the slots and lost every bit of my winnings. Dane stuck with Blackjack even though he didn’t win anything. Trent, on the other hand, wouldn’t gamble at all. He sat in a chair at a slot machine dozing off.

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