Chapter 295
Chapter 16
Logan
Ella runs up towards us and wraps her arms around Megan’s leg. She looks up at me and glares at me. I take it she remembers me from last week.
“We need to go, I’ll text you a time tomorrow,” Megan says as she moves her hand in Ella’s hair and then walks away with her.
“That went well,” David states. “Did you grovel like I told you to?” he asks. I turn away from watching Megan walk away. I don’t miss her glancing back at me before she turns out of sight. “I didn’t see you on your knees. I think that constitutes grovelling,”
“I apologised to her for saying what I said. I told her she was right,”
“That’s a start. Women love hearing they’re right,” he tells me as we walk back to the car.
“She said we could meet on Monday,” I state. “I have a meeting with Elena tonight,” I say to him once in the car.
“You’re still going to buy into the club?” he asks.
“Yeah,”
“And Megan working there isn’t the reason?”
“It is the reason, I’m not going to lie, but it seems like a good investment, and I’m not exactly opposed to some of her ideas,” I explain.
“I’m not going to ask,” He says as he starts the car.
“A sex club isn’t exactly a bad idea,”
“Yet you’re opposed to Megan working there, especially when she’s one of the best dancers there,”
“How’d you know that?” I ask.
“It’s on their website, her and Courtney. Yasmin, by the look of things, is new to dancing. I looked at their Instagram, and they make a lot of money from that,”
“You stalked their Instagram. Wait, Megan doesn’t have any social media,” I state.
“No, but Aphrodite does. She posts on that nearly every day, more when she’s working,” I frown and take my phone out of my pocket as he drives me back to my offices.
Opening Instagram, I go straight to the search bar, look for Aphrodite, and millions pop up. I sigh and search for The Masked Goddess. I go through each one that comes up until I find the one I’m wanting. The first picture I see is one of Aphrodite. Megan is doing the splits in nothing but white short shorts and a gold eye mask that moulds up into horns, golden orange hair cascades in waves down her back. She holds it all up with her arms and is looking at the camera over her shoulder. At the bottom of the image is her Instagram handle and a caption.
‘See @Aphrodite_TMG tonight only in the Olympia room.
The post was only a couple of hours ago. I notice as well that her tattoos are photoshopped out of the picture.
“Have you found her yet?” David asks. I look up from my phone at him. “Lorraine is obsessed. She told me she wants to go to pole dancing lessons if it can give her a body like that,” he pauses, “I’m obviously not going to stop her,” he says with a chuckle.
“Your wife is crazy,”
“Yep,”
“Megan’s working tonight,” I say and tap on her profile.
“Lucky you, you get to see her,” he says with a small chuckle.
\---
Lucky me was the overstatement of the century. Carl and I got here when Elena told us to, but she had an emergency and asked us if we could wait. David ended up coming inside with us. He told me he wanted to make sure I don’t do anything stupid like I did the last time I was here.
“Oh, I like this song,” Carl says. I give Carl the side-eye. “There’s some whores in this house,” he sings.
“Why are you here again?” I ask.
“Because I’m your partner, and you love me, plus you didn’t want to come here on your own,” Carl states. I turn my attention away from him to the stage as five girls walk out onto the stage. I notice Aphrodite straight away.
“Enjoying the show, Gentleman?” Elena asks. I look at her as she sits down. She’s dressed in a similar dress to what she wore when I first met her.
“Yes,” Carl says as he watches the dance routine. “If Megan thee Stallion walks onto the stage right now, I’ll faint,” he adds.
“I’m sorry to be a disappointment,” Elena says with a slight chuckle and then looks at me. “I have heard you’ve been giving one of my girls a hard time,” she states. “Aphrodite is one of my best dancers. If her working here will be a problem, we can stop all discussion now,” she says to me.
“It is no problem,” I state and watch as she dances around one of the poles.
“I want to dance with them,” Carl says.
“I’ll buy you a pole if you focus,” I snap at him and Elena chuckles. “What was the emergency?” I ask her.
“One of the dancers had a personal problem. I had to call Aphrodite in. She was the only free dancer tonight, her and Persephone. I think they flipped for which one of them was coming in,”
“Is Athena working?” Carl asks.
“Yes, she’s in the green with the blonde hair,” she says and opens the file in front of her. “Shall we get started,”
\----
The meeting went quite well; the contracts got signed, which resulted in Madam Hera celebrating. She asked all the dancers to stay after work to celebrate the new chapter in the business. I’d noticed Megan wasn’t there, and neither was Yasmin, to Carl's disappointment. He hid his feelings well and decided to ask one of the girls to teach him the routine from earlier. David made a joke that he thinks Carl’s dream is to be an exotic dancer. From watching him, I think that might be true.
All weekend I’ve been looking forward to today. Megan texted me Saturday morning, telling me to meet her at 1pm at a coffee place not far from where she lives. I couldn’t help texting her back a couple of times. Mostly mundane things like asking her what she had planned for the day. She told me it was her weekend off, and she didn’t have much excitement planned. That she needed to take Ella clothes shopping, when she asked me what I had planned, I couldn’t help but smile to myself. If she asked, that must mean she’s interested in my life, right? Carl said she was probably just being polite, but the fact she asked follow-up questions made me rethink that.
I’m sitting in an overstuffed leather chair waiting for her. I’ll admit it; I got here really early. David and Lorraine decided to tag along. Mostly so I don’t say or do something stupid. Lorraine hasn’t spoken to me since David told her what I’d done, I’ve never had her look at me with such disappointment, she didn’t even look at me with such disgust when I got engaged. They’ve sat a table away.
My phone chimes letting me know I have a message from Megan. I’d personalised her contact last night so that I’d always know when it was her texting or ringing.
‘I’m running a little late. I got held up. I’ll be 5 minutes’
“Ok, I just got here,’ I reply.
Yes, I’m lying, but what’s a white lie. Megan doesn’t need to know I got here 30 minutes early or that it took me over an hour to get ready.
This has got to be the longest five minutes in history. I’ve not stopped looking at my watch or the clock on the wall. Why am I so nervous? It is just a chat, with the mother of my child, the one I left while pregnant and the woman I love. It’s not a big deal.
Who am I kidding? It is a big deal.
Megan could choose not to talk to me ever again. She could stop me from meeting Ella. In her eyes, I might not be good enough.
“Sorry, I’m late,” I hear Megan say. Damn, I’d been watching the door, and I look away for two seconds, get into my own head, and I miss seeing her before she sees me. I watch her place a couple of bags down by the chair opposite me. “I’ll just get myself a drink,” she says and walks away. I think I’ve lost the ability to speak. I just nod at her as I take in her appearance.
Megan is beautiful. Her light chocolate hair is down in waves to her waist. She’s wearing a simple coral-coloured dress that stops just above her knee, a cropped denim jacket and a pair of wedges. I think I’m staring too much, but I can’t help it. The dress clings to her body in all the right places.
My phone beeps again, only this time with the usual beep. I look to see a text from David.
‘Stop staring,’
I frown and turn to look at him to see him smirking at me. I give him the finger and look back at my phone as another text comes through.
‘Got you to stop staring,’
I sigh and go to text him back, but Megan sits down in the seat opposite.
“Sorry, ok, hi,” she says with a small smile as she puts her phone on silent.
“It’s ok, and Hi,” I say back and feel my nerves creep back in.