“Just follow my lead. Let’s get those muscles loose, ladies.”
After the warm up Beth takes hold of the pole up on her little podium and swings around it. It only took a few seconds but she managed to make it look sexy.
I take hold of the pole as she says, “Just let your body flow around it. Don’t force the movement.”
I get up close and personal with my pole and try to swing around it. Try being the key word. I end up losing my balance and almost become one with the piece of steel before banging my breast bone against the pole, and end up going down like a sack of potatoes.
Quickly glancing around the studio, I make sure no one saw what an epic failure my first try was.
One of the girls falls down just like me, while another is doing a weird shuffle around the pole. The third girl actually manages to do a semi twirl around her pole. The last girl almost gets it done perfectly, but then she glances at us and loses her concentration.
I let out a heavy sigh as I pick myself off the floor. Why the hell did I let Beth talk me into joining this class? Oh yeah, cause I’m going to score two months free membership.
Beth patiently spends a few minutes with each of us, giving us advice on how to hold the pole and move our bodies. By the time the hour is up, I’ve actually managed to do a pretty decent twirl around the pole. I’m surprised by how quickly I caught on.
“There’s a store next to the health bar. You’ll find some pretty nice outfits there which will be better suited for this class. The class is private so feel free to dress up. If you feel sexy it will go a long way to building your confidence while learning to pole dance.”
I pick up my towel and water bottle and as soon as Beth looks away, I make a run for the door not wanting to stick around just in case the women feel the need to get social after class.
I roll my eyes at myself. Making friends would be a good thing. I’ll try the class again tomorrow and then stay to meet the other women. Josie is in for one hell of a surprise. I’m going to try and convince her come to the classes with me so I don’t have to suffer alone.
I laugh just thinking how much fun we’re going to have once she’s here.
Glancing at my watch and seeing that it’s already past seven pm, I walk a little faster. I better hurry if I still want to shower and eat something before my shift starts. I hate working the night shift but beggars can’t be choosers.
Tomorrow I’m going to view two more apartments. I’ve saved enough for a deposit so when Josie gets here we can just move in.
It’s the start to a new life for me. I’m going to make the best of it and prove to myself that I can make it on my own.
Chapter 2
Logan
I frown as I look over the statements for the trust account. Something looks off and I just can’t place it.
I’ve been working on this damn account for the past two days. I shouldn’t have left it for so long but I’ve been swamped with work since I took over from George. Usually the accountants deal with all the accounts, but the trust account has nothing to do with Indie Ink Publishing, and seeing as I’m the attorney that set it all up, it falls on my shoulders.
I start to work through the statements from the past four years, individually totaling up our expenses. Carter has hardly put through any claims so I cancel his expenses out. Maybe that’s why there’s too much money in the account? It’s just that I expected the balance to be a lot less.
I verify that Marcus, Rhett and Jaxson have indeed put through their regular expenses. Nothing is out of place. All of my expenses are in order as well.
What’s wrong then? I can’t put my finger on what’s bothering me so I start to compare the expenses year to year. That’s when I see the difference. During the first year of the trust account being set up there’s almost eighty thousand dollars more in expenses than the second year.
I start to go through every transaction in the first year, comparing it to the second year’s transactions.
The frown on my face deepens when the first thing I notice is that there was nothing paid towards Mia’s studies for the second year. When I check year three it’s the same thing and that’s when I get a horrible feeling in my gut. Checking the last year I see that all of Mia’s expenses practically stopped at the end of the first year, all except the monthly debit for her pho
ne.
“What the hell?” I grab my phone and quickly get Rhett on the line. “Do you have a minute? I need to show you something.”
“Sure, I’ll be up in ten.”
I circle the last month Mia’s expenses show and impatiently wait for Rhett. When he walks into my office, I push the sheet over to him.
“Did you know that Mia stopped claiming her expenses from the trust account? The only thing she claims for is her phone. Other than that there’s nothing.”
Rhett frowns and shakes his head, taking hold of the sheet, and quickly looks over the numbers.