“Okay, take your time.
It was the first time she had spoken, and her voice was like a feather dropping to my skin. The dulcet sound distracted me for a moment.
Her lips curled upward. "Come on, answer it," she urged, and I smiled. Swiping up the green button, I set the phone against my ear.
“Hello?”
"This is Fairchild. . ." The music in the background and the moans from other random couples in the hallway swallowed the rest of the man's words. I knew I had to step outside. Fairchild was one of our top three target clients this quarter.
“Hello, Mr. Fairchild, can you hear me?” I said as I felt my way toward the door. My hand brushed something soft, like a woman’s butt.
“Oww!”
“I’m sorry!”
“Mr. Rodericks, there seems to be a lot of noise where you are.”
“Please give me a minute to move somewhere quieter.”
I hurried through the door and out of the club. Looking left and right, I decided to sit in Terry’s car to have the call.
“Mr. Fairchild?”
“Oh, yes. I can hear you now. How soon will you be available for a zoom meeting about the new project?”
“Two hours? How does that sound?”
“Perfect. We’ll talk in detail about what I want from your company and how the final product will look and function. . .”
While listening to Mr. Fairchild, I kept looking at the entrance to the club as if expecting the girl to come out. As soon as our conversation ended, I jumped out of the car and headed back inside. A new set of dancers had taken the stage, and none of them looked like Raven. I hurried to the door in the back and looked down the dark hallway, but I didn’t see her anywhere. Almost immediately, the realization hit me. I had let her slip out of my hands. I might never see Raven again.