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I turned my back to the bar and watched as my father held his hand out and helped a redhead off the stage. She smiled at him seductively as he tucked a hundred-dollar bill in her G-string before sitting back against the booth and watching her dance. Her body rolled in waves, rubbing against him. It made me sick just watching. I sucked down the rest of my drink and ordered another.
When I turned back around, the redhead was leading my father to a room to the side of the stage. She pulled back the curtains and they disappeared behind them. I turned to the bartender.
“What’s that room?” I nodded toward it casually, even though my stomach was in knots.
“Oh, that’s for more ‘private’ lap dances,” she said with air quotations.
I didn’t have to ask any more questions to know that my father was about to cross a thousand lines. I felt my blood boil. I should have stopped him. I almost did, but it probably wasn’t the first time he had done this, and it most likely wouldn’t be the last. My poor mother.
I couldn’t stay there any longer. I ended up leaving the envelope of cash on the counter when the bartender was busy making drinks. I hoped it would help her get out of there sooner.
Outside the club, I hailed a cab and went back to the hotel to go to bed. I wanted to call Monica and vent, but I didn’t want to unload everything on her this late at night. I went to bed dreaming of her.
At the meeting the next morning, everyone was hungover with red, blotchy eyes and five o’clock shadows. I was the only one who didn’t look worse for the wear. I avoided any eye contact with my father. Knowing what he had done last night, I had to resist the urge to punch him in the face.
“Where did you disappear to last night?” he grumbled as he took a seat next to me.
“I was shot. I went back to the hotel.”
“Pussy,” whispered Jeremy.
I threw him a look that shut him up quickly. My father chuckled, clearly siding with Jeremy’s views on my partying skills.
“Did you havefun?” I asked, glaring at my father.
“I did, in fact. Great club. You missed out.”
“I doubt that,” I muttered.
“Is there a problem, Troy?” he asked.
“No. No problem.” I rolled my eyes.
“Then let’s start the meeting.” He pounded the table with the palms of his hands to garner the attention of the rest of the group.
The meeting drudged on slowly as my father talked about the future of his company and the projections to work for now that we had entered the new year. I was about as interested in it as I was in high school chemistry, which I had nearly failed, until my father donated a new gymnasium to the school. I hated him for that now. Always using his money and power to get away with things.
When the meeting broke for a fifteen-minute break, my father kept me behind.
“You’ve hardly said a word. What is up with you?” he asked, leaning back in his chair and studying me.
“Nothing.” I shrugged.
“If you have nothing to contribute, then why are you here?”
“Because it’s required of me.”
“Oh, I’m sorry you had to be dragged out here on a private jet,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“To what? Pretend these meetings mean anything when we’re just here to get drunk and prowl on women like pigs?”
“Oh, wow. Look at you. All high and mighty now.”
I stayed quiet.
“No, please tell me how you’vechanged,”my father sneered. “This is rich coming from the guy who fucks all of his assistants.”
“I don’t need this,” I said, standing up from the table. “I don’t needanyof this.”