La Revanche des Trois (Revenge of Three)

La Revanche des Trois (The Revenge of Three) Chapter 5.2

All three of them looked at the drop dead gorgeous man black man sitting at the bar in a suit that cost more than Stefanie's entire wardrobe in her closet. The lighting in the club was low and Stefanie thought maybe the stranger she had just been with had followed her there.

No, that'd be crazy. Plus that would mean he had followed her and Treasure's clients wouldn't do something like that.

Stefanie had set up Treasure's system herself and knew only administration could get personal information from any client. Each client was guaranteed high security on all their information and only Treasure could access their personal information.

Lauren and Jezica cackled together. "You must be mistaken," Laruen said sitting down with the drink.

"I'll take one too," Jezica ordered the waitress. "And hurry up. I'm so thirsty."

The waitress didn't remark about Stefanie not paying anymore before leaving to get the drink.

"Who the hell is that?" Jezica demanded to know as if Stefanie should know.

"I have no idea," Stefanie said honestly. The club lights were low and even she thought the guy must have meant Lauren.

"He'll be over soon enough," Lauren said confidently tossing her long synthetic hair back showing off her neck and batted her fake eyelashes. "Scoot away, Stefanie so he can see me better."

Stefanie just thought she needed to get out of there before the waitress returned. Scooting over to get out of the booth, she bumped into a large figure and was knocked back down in the booth. Looking up, she was shocked to see the gorgeous guy standing right there by the booth looking directly down at her with a "How you doing" smile on his gorgeous face.

Six feet four. Stefanie was positive that was his height. Clearly coincidence.

"Hi, I'm Dexter," he said outstretching her hand, but before she even thought about taking it, Lauren jumped in front of her and took his hand with a smile.

"I'm Lauren. Lauren Powell."

A new Brian McKnight song came on and couples started streaming to the floor.

He looked a little baffled, but then turned that smile on Lauren. "Nice to meet you Lauren."

Lauren was clearly taken by this man. "I really love this song." She stroked her well manicured fingers along the thick arm of his jacket. "I'd really love to dance to this song."

Politely he took her out to the dance floor and to Stefanie's disappointment, he looked like a good dancer.

Just like the stranger! Her inner voice screamed.

No! It's not him,

"So I got a call from your new accountant," Jezica said.

Her mind cleared up from her inner voice and looked at Jezica. "When did my accountant call you?"

Kenneth Bianchi didn't seem like he would actually call Jezica if Stefanie didn't give him permission or order him to.

"Let me rephrase that," Jezica said. "I called him."

"Why did you do that?"

"Because I thought he should know what Lauren's been doing to you - Using you."

"And you haven't?" Stefanie questioned, remembering everything Kenneth had said to her about Jezica's debt.

Shrugging and looking longingly at the Lauren and the handsome man dance, she said, "Yeah, sure, but not as bad as she has. She told me what she was going to do and I couldn't believe you'd agree to something like that."

"Like what?"

"Like the loan she's trying to get from you for her business."

"She already borrowed the money from me."

Jezica spewed out the drink. “You gave her the money?!”

That ill feeling returned tenfold and from darting for details with Lauren’s dance partner, while she tried to figure out what Jezica knew. “First tell me why I shouldn’t have given that money to her.”

 In an obvious tone, Jezica sneered, "Because she's a big liar, a home wrecker and a theft."

There was a lot to ask after that statement, but with the song ending and the waitress about to come over with the check, Stefanie decided she needed to make an early night. Even though she was dying in curiosity about the stranger, she was never going to be brave enough to face Lauren’s temper.

"You better go," Jezica said fearfully. "She's going to come over here gloating and get an attitude if you don't celebrate with her."

She tightened up the grip she had on her glass and shot daggers over at what looked like a very happy dancing couple, but the light was so low on the dance floor, she couldn't see details of the guy’s face.

Who are you fooling? No guy has ever walked up to her at a bar as gorgeous as this one and just wanted to ask her to dance to the perfect slow song. Her life was no fairy tale and she had faced that a long time ago.

Getting up from the booth, Stefanie gathered her coat, but Jezica held her arm for a second.

"When you get a chance, just come by the house and we'll talk more, okay?"

Too upset to speak, Stefanie only nodded.

"Come during the day when Nick isn't there. We can talk about a lot more when he's not around."

Stefanie really wanted a cigarette and ducked out of the club never wanting to step foot in there again. Getting to her car, she grabbed her pack of cigarettes out of the glove compartment and lit up. Taking a long drag, she let the nicotine fill her lungs and then blew it out slowly.

Her first inclination was stay in the parking lot until the stranger came out and then get a better look at him, but then she decided to appease her curiosity and just ask Treasure.

"Is his name Dexter?" she asked when Treasure answered the phone.

"Who? The client? He told you his name?" Treasure asked.

She didn't want to really get into why she was asking this crazy question to Treasure, she just wanted answers. "No. When we were together it was anonymous - just like you said it would be. I met this guy at the bar. Or he met my friend and I thought maybe..."

Treasure sighed loudly. "My customers don't pick up women at bars, Stefanie. You know that. That’s why they come to me."

Deep down in her gut, she knew all of that, but things were just too coincidental and she just had to hope. "Yeah, but is his name Dexter?"

"No, Stefanie. His name isn't Dexter," Treasure assured her.

Her shoulders hung low in disappoint. "I had to ask."

"I know. You sound exhausted. Get some rest and I'll call you late tomorrow, okay?"

“No, I’ll call you,” Stefanie promised feeling mentally exhausted.

Putting her car in drive, she hurriedly went home and didn't stop until she was inside her loft. By that time, she had two cigarettes.

Closing the door, she leaned against the door and let the day hang over her head one more time. Getting made love to by a delicious stranger and then learning your own friends were ripping you off big time was like standing barefoot on the best carpet in the world and then suddenly having it yanked from under her.

Pushing away her anxiety, she went straight to the fax and pulled off the papers from Kenneth Biachi's office.

After putting them in the correct order, she took out a highlighter and started to access the damage Kenneth was so concerned with. After an hour and a cup of coffee, she decided not to look at the misery of numbers any more and go to bed.

Her long day was over with and tomorrow she would immerse herself in business and try not to think about how miserable her life was. 

Please don't forget to vote, comment and share this story. I'm loving the read views and I hope I get more. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask! xoxo