Page 20

“The good news is that your Rhett was released from prison. He’s free.”

“Free?” I shoot forward to the edge of the chair. “Like out of prison? For good?”

“Yes,” he calmly states. “He was released a little over two years ago after someone reviewed his case.”

“Ohmygod! That’s great, right?”

“It is,” Greg assures.

“But wait, where is he? If that was over two years ago then where is he?” I ask as my brain starts to function again.

“I’ve got a private investigator looking into it. He’s going to track down all the leads and make sure that we have the right Rhett before we give you all the details.”

After another ten minutes of going over everything again, and the fact that Mr. Gibson is going to be returning every penny owed to me, I check my phone and see that if I don’t leave soon, I’ll be late for work. With all this information overload, I need something that will take my mind off the last hour. Dancing usually does the trick. When I’m on stage I check out for a few hours and let all the worries stay in the parking lot.

As I make it to my Bronco and toss my purse in the passenger seat, I can’t help but play the same question over and over in my head.

If Rhett was released over two years ago, why didn’t he come find me and Ryder?

Entering the back entrance of The Fox Hole, I’m met with one of our bouncers, Titus, who is always on duty. He makes sure all of the dancers are safe and have everything we need. Titus is like a big brother and we banter back and forth like siblings too.

“Evening,” I greet as I close the door behind me.

“Saw you pulling up,” he responds then stops me. “Everything okay?”

I usually come here bare faced. After the meeting I just had I probably look like I’ve been hit by a big mac truck.

“Yeah, just got some heavy news that I haven’t processed yet,” I reassure him.

“Let me know if you need anything, okay?” he offers.

“Thanks,” I reply as we start to make our way to the dressing rooms for the dancers.

He opens the door for me and I walk in heading straight for my station. Several of the girls are already getting ready for their shift or are just getting done. I place my bag in my locker and start pulling out the outfit of the night. I’ve got the main stage three times tonight with three different outfits and routines for the evening. I work four days a week and rotate my routines often to give the audience the illusion of something new and refreshing. It’s not my ideal job, but I make excellent money here. I’m so thankful Cole and I met eight months ago. I really do owe him a lot because this place has made it easy to breathe without working me to the bone.

After putting rollers in my hair, I start working on the finishing touches of my makeup when Cole comes into the room. All the girls fawn all over him and I can’t help but smile. Every time he tries to make a move around one of the girls another one stops him. Cole talks to each of them, telling them that he’s got some of his brothers here and reminding them to make sure to give them a lot of attention.

It hits me hard when I think that I won’t be seeing him for much longer after learning about everything today.

“Hey, Darlin’,” he says when he finally gets to me. “What’s wrong, what’s got you frowning?”

I’m not sure how to communicate how I feel right now. What if Rhett knows where we are and doesn’t care? What if he doesn’t want anything to do with his son? What then? Am I leaving and making a mistake uprooting my son when I’m not sure what the future holds with his father? Can I force a father to spend time with his own kid? Would that even be healthy? Shit, the last thing I want is for Ryder to feel rejection from a man that I’ve put on a pedestal his entire life.

“Remi,” I hear my name and feel warm hands cup my face. “What’s going on? What happened?”

“I-I don’t know what… to do,” I admit out loud.

“What do you mean?” Cole asks and I turn my eyes down to the black vest he has on when he rides his motorcycle with his friends.

He grabs a chair and pulls it up next to mine facing me.

“I just found out that Ryder’s dad was transferred to another prison in Arizona almost four years ago.” He starts to say something but I continue. “That’s not even the craziest part. He was actually released over two years ago,” I tell him, still in disbelief.

“What the fuck? How is that possible when you’ve been paying that attorney to help get him out?”

I snort and tell him what Greg revealed to me. Cole’s eyes blaze with fire and his face turns hard as stone.

“I’ll make sure you get your money back,” he promises.