I sit still in the leather seat as Leah walks around the chair. Her heels rapping against the floor until she stops behind me and grabs my shoulders with her small hands. Everything about her was small, but she had an impressive grip.

Closing my eyes, I let the smell of her perfume roll into my body, the fruity flavour was mixed with Vanilla, sandalwood, cedar and musk. I used to crave it... I used to spend my days shopping trying to find it. I used to bed women in a hope that they might smell like even the hint of it. But nothing smelt as good as what it did in her skin. The confident, bold and sexy perfume matched the woman with me. It clouded my thoughts quickly and made my heart skip a beat.

"I thought you weren't coming back?" She said softly before rubbing my shoulders causing a groan to leave my lips.

"I didn't plan too," I responded honestly.

"I see, so I guess I need to make the most of the time whilst you're here." She purred into my ear.  "My next question is what do you want?"

I had been asking myself that for some time, I still didn't have the answer, but I had got this far. "You were going home, weren't you?" I question finally noticing the difference about her.

Leah hums and lets her hands slip off my shoulders to wrap around my body giving me a hug. "Rather be here though."

I smile slightly "I should let you go home."

"Maybe. But like I said, I would rather be here. With you. So long as you decide if it's going to be business or pleasure?"

"I.." I stop and shake my head. Finding that even here with her, I still had to make decisions

Seeing the evident struggle, Leah stands up and walks around the seat, standing in front of me, a soft expression on her face, she leans over and rests her hands on my knees. "Business can wait." She decides for me and I nod.

Wanting to feel her body and touch her skin, I reach up and pull her down on my lap, straddling my knees with her hands braced on my shoulder. The sense of familiarity comes back and my head falls into her chest where I inhale deeply at that floral and woody scent.

The cap over my head is removed as her fingers bury into my hair, tugging at the shirt strands gently making something stir within me.

"Please talk to me. Tell me what's been happening?" She asks softly.

I nuzzle in her chest refusing to answer. "Now, Zak." She demands, using a harder tone, one that makes me sit back with a gentle sigh.

"Everything is caving in again."

She nods in understanding. There had been nights in the club when she has felt just the same. When the walls feel like they are coming down, when she can't stand a man watching her, let alone touching her. We had spoke about it all before but when I asked why she never left, she just smiled gently and turned the conversation back on to me.

"I don't know what to do first. I just need this," I gestures to my head "I need peace."

Leah nods again and undoes one of my shirt buttons before pressing a kiss against my skin making me sigh gently. I run my hands down her body feeling the heat of her skin on and under her clothes. But before I could say or do anything, Leah pulls back and smiles.

"Tell me." I speaks making her brows knit slightly. "Tell me if this all for business."

I don't need an answer to see the walls being put up behind her eyes. How she was so open and now she was becoming detached. I hated asking but sometimes, I just had to...

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have even asked, I know the answer." I whisper trying pull back the conversation and try taking her hand when she pulls it out of my reach and slips off my lap, leaving me cold. Walking away, Leah leans against the small stage. Her face conveys one message whilst her sweet body conveys another. I was a sucker for those curves, how smooth the contours of her body were.

"You do this every time. Why I expect you to change or expect that question to hurt less? I don't know."

I sigh and sit forward pushing his head into his hands "I just can't distinguish shit anymore. You know what my life is like."

"And you know me.. When have I ever played you like some stranger, like any other client that walks in here?" She asks back making my jaw clench in anger, at myself.

It twists in my gut, letting me know that yet again I've screwed something else up. That I am on his my way to burning bridges with one woman who made all the other shit stop. Even if she was working...

But I had to ask myself the question sometimes, if she was working her magic and treating me like a client as she put it. Or if she really cared about me? Sometimes the line got faded and I let myself be sucked in to believing there was something there. Like a overweight 40 year old virgin, feeling lucky to have a woman smile in his direction.

"So who do you want? Her or me?" Leah asks waiting for my reply. Her tone is hard and her eyes were even harder.

"It's so screwed up that you refer to her as another person, it's you." I answer.

"And it's so screwed up that you come to a stripper for reassurance." She bites back making me look up in slight shock.

For a few seconds, I wanted to be angry, a part of me wanted to throw some money down on the small table beside me for her time and storm out the place. But I couldn't because of how she said it. Of what she said...

"You've never called yourself that." I say quietly, almost un-hearable over the music playing through the room.

Leah folds her arms and looks away "Well it's what I am, isn't it?"

"No. You're an exotic dancer."

She scoffs "That's just a fancy way to dress things for saying I'm low class and take clothes off for money because I have no skill set."

I frown, not liking the way this conversation was steering. "I would never think that of you."

"Yeah well, we all perceive ourselves as different."

I look at her carefully, seeing the way her brows knit and release time and time again, how her fingers dig into her arms. How her lashes flutter open and close, widely. Then I saw the small and struggled breath.

"It's today... Isn't it?" I ask making her brows knit together. "Today is the day he died.."

She nods silently.

"Leah I'm so sorry—"

"So instead of going home, I want to stay here and be with you. This isn't about business now, this is my pleasure. Being with you, listening to you. Helping you. Because that's all I can do right now. So decide if you want my help or want a cheap fuck?"

"Now that's prostitution." I point out.

"Like that line hasn't faded before.." She murmurs.

I get up and cross the space between us, trying to get her close when she pushes me away. Her technique was to shut me down, hurt me before she gets hurt herself, sometimes it worked.

I counter her move and pull her into my chest, giving her no option but to be within my embrace, even if it's only for a short while. The slight struggle stops and eventually she leans against me.

"Don't cry. Please." I beg. I didn't want to be the reason for her tears.

It takes her a couple seconds but Leah scoffs and pushes me back "I'm not, now are you going to buy a lady a drink or not?"

A small balloon of pride swells in my chest seeing her fall back into step. Extending my arm out, Leah loops hers through "Follow me ma'am and I'll do just that."