It was finally Saturday night. Damien and his friends found themselves in their usual strip club to catch up on their activities.
They were seated at the VIP section as usual sipping their drinks over their conversations, enjoying the low lights and ambience of their favourite place.
“Damn! Can you guys see that hottie working the pole?” Lucas called his eyes fixed straight ahead to the dance floor below them.
A brunette was at the pole. There was barely any piece of clothing covering her large breasts as she wiggled them against the pole. She turned, twisting her body, so that her big ass was now in the air.
Damien looked at the stripper showing off her body and he snatched his eyes away from her, like the sight alone irritated him. She was not his dinner for tonight. Not because she didn’t have the right assets but because he was not in the mood for women, not after the bomb Céline dropped on him.
Ever since she dropped the news on him, he couldn’t think right. In fact, he couldn’t think at all. Thank God it was a Saturday, he could take in so much alcohol, he wouldn’t be able to even think at all.
“I think she’s hot.” Brian whistled as he dropped his drink to have a good look at the stripper.
“You’ve got eyes bro!” Lucas exclaimed, gawking at the brunette stripper.
As if on cue, she jumped attaching her sexy long arms to the top of the pole and expertly skidding down, completely exposing her tick thighs to the men around her. They whistled, hailing and encouraging her to continue with the good work she was doing.
“Fuck!”
Lucas and Brian, exclaimed at the same time.
“She’s hot, bro!” Lucas said, still lost between the illusions her curvy body was creating as she moved and swayed to the beat of the trap song playing in the club.
Charles gave out a long tired sigh and the two of them turned questioning eyes to him.
“You don’t think she’s hot?” Lucas asked raising his brows.
“I think it’s high time we changed location!” He hissed. “What are we doing guys! This is not right! I am married!”
“Do not start with that talk again bro. None of us asked you to get married! How many times do we have to remind you of that?” Brian said, sporting a sly grin.
Lucas stretched his right hand to Brian, he folded it into a fist and they kissed their knockles together.
“That is smart talk Brian, smart talk!” Lucas said, smirking to his glass of drink.
Charles glared at the both of them. His friends would never change. They would always be naughty but he loved them nevertheless, so he couldn’t stop coming to the strip club with them. They were the brothers he never had. Spending time with them was always the highlight of his Saturday.
Charles eyes travelled to Damien who nursed his drink in silence. Charles expected him to have made a remark by now, but he hadn’t said a word. It was almost like he wasn’t there with them in the club at all. He hadn’t even picked a woman for the night which was unlike him.
Usually by now, he would have found his way into the dance floor and he would have grabbed that stripper, but he barely even glanced at her.
Charles made a low whistling sound, catching the attention of Lucas and Brian.
“What’s up bro, you’ve finally found a girl?” Lucas snickered.
Brian tried to maintain a straight face at Lucas’ comment and the glare Charles followed it with.
Charles face palmed himself and pointed a finger at Damien, who hadn’t even notice the happenings around him. He seemed lost within a box in his own mind.
Lucas and Brian followed his finger and they all watched Damien. Truly he was being unusually quiet. Normally, he was the one who pointed out beautiful women each time they were at the club but today, he didn’t stare at any woman for more than five seconds. In fact, he stared at nothing but empty space.
“Damien.” Charles called, but Damien didn’t move.
“Damien!” Charles snapped with urgency.
Damien slowly moved his eyes to him and raised his brow.
“Huh?”
“You’ve been way too quiet. What’s on your mind brother?” Charles asked. “Is something wrong?”
“He is probably thinking of how he is going to fuck the energy out of that damsel over there!” Brian snickered, referring to the stripper they had been looking at.
“He wasn’t even looking at her.” Charles said glaring at Brian. Brian could be so insensitive at times, it was overbearing.
“If either of you have been paying any attention, Damien hasn’t been talking.” Charles sent them a brutal glare, before returning his attention back to the subject, Damien.
“Brother, what is the matter?”
“Nothing.” Damien’s brown eyes focused briefly on his friends before he returned them to the empty space he was looking at, taking a gulp of his drink.
Charles exchanged worried looks with Lucas and Brian, wondering what was wrong with their friend.
“You had this same look when Céline happened… Did you hear from her lately?” Charles asked, placing his drink on the small table in front of them.
Lucas folded his hands across his chest and watched Damien carefully.
Brian’s brows almost met as he thought about what Charles had said. Damien went through a terrible episode when Céline happened. They couldn’t stand by and watch it happen all over again.
“No! It’s not that. I am fine- really, I am enjoying this moment.” He forced a smile to his face. He gulped down his drink and crossed his legs, turning to stare at the dance floor again.
Luca’s eyes sparkled with understanding. He finally saw the reason for Damien’s withdrawn attitude. It wasn’t the old Céline, it was the new Céline. Céline Fayet, the personal assistant.
“Did something happen with Céline?” Lucas asked and the other two men turned sharply to glare at him.
“What do you mean by that?” Charles asked Lucas.
“You got back with Céline?” Brian asked Damien directly.
Brian and Charles could not understand what was going on. Damien couldn’t possibly have gone back to Céline after everything that happened.
Lucas looked at Damien as if he was mentally seeking permission to speak. Damien took a long sigh and shook his head.
“Damien, talk to me! Did you get back with that woman? After everything she did?” Brian was gasping with anger.
They had all gone through so much mental stress trying to drag their friend back to reality after Céline left him. Finding out Céline was back into his life one way or another and they were just hearing about, it was frustrating.
“This isn’t about Céline. I am fine.” Damien said, faking another smile, to calm his friends.
“Whenever you keep repeating the same thing over and over, it always turn out false. You are not fine.” Charles told him.
“Why are we talking about this like it’s a small matter! Is Céline back into your life?” Brian’s face was flushed in anger.
“Brian, this is a different Céline, not the one you are thinking about. Relax!” Lucas said, holding Brian by his knee.
Brian was still angry but confusion was now mixed in his emotions.
“Another Céline?” Charles demanded, voicing the question in Brian’s confused mind.
“Seriously, guys, my mood has nothing to do with either of the Célines. Let’s stop talking about this situation and just enjoy our time together… Let me go get more drinks.”
Damien stood up and walked to the bar below them to order more drinks.
Charles and Brian, turned their attention to Lucas, as soon as Damien disappeared from the stair leading to the bar.
“What’s going on?” Charles stated, narrowing his eyes at him.
“Who is this new Céline?” Brian probed, glaring at him.
“Woah! Slow down guys. I am not a criminal here! I didn’t do anything!” Lucas raised his hands in defense.
“You are not a criminal…” Charles began.
“Yet, you practically own half of the media!” Brian concluded.
They both glare deadly at him their eyes glinting like lasers in the dim lighting of the club.
“Okay! I did help find someone for Damien but trust me guys, it isn’t that Céline.” He responded, laying emphasis on ‘that’.
“And…?” Brian shifted closer to him and poked his chest lightly.
“This seems like a fucked episode of Sherlock Holmes but, seriously guys. I didn’t do anything. All I did was find the girl he said he met at a club and couldn’t get over.”
“Really? He asked you to do that?” Brian taunted not believing that Damien could be that infatuated about some woman to the point of searching for her.
“Yes, he did. Somehow she captured his fancy and I seriously thought he was just being shameless old Damien and after he had her in his bed, he’ll forget about her-”
“But you were wrong. It looks like Damien hasn’t forgotten!” Charles finished for him.
“So, did you find her?” Brian asked withdrawing his hand from Lucas’ chest.
“I do own more than half of the media, so, yes. I fucking did find her.” He smiled proudly at himself.
“If you found her, how come he is still worked up about it? He has her already, doesn’t he?” Charles rubbed a finger over his mustache as he spoke.
“That’s what I don’t understand.” Lucas shrugged. “I think he likes the girl way too much and it’s scaring him.”
“You may be right. He won’t be this worked up if this was just a woman he couldn’t take to the Fuck hotel.” Charles put in.
Brian smiled. “I think this isn’t so bad,” he said twirling the liquid in his glass.
Charles thought for a few seconds and then raised his own glass and smiled too.
“Maybe this Céline could help in making him settle down, finally!”
Lucas and Brian shook their head at the comment.
“Charles do not drag marriage into this, you will scare him!” Lucas warned.
“Who are we scaring?” Damien returned with a new bottle of champagne and a smirk on his lips.