Just One Dance

9. Birthday Plans

It had been a couple of days since Scarlett had s*x with Jacob. She cursed herself for forgetting the one rule that kept her mind sane and her reputation intact; do not f*ck the customers.

Everyone at the club knew that something was off with Scarlett, because of her attitude toward everybody. She would eat their heads off if anyone said anything she didn't like. Normally she would have ignored them and proved whatever they said wrong. Or right. Depending on what was said.

When Tony saw this, he wanted to shoot himself for arranging for Scarlett to dance for Jacob in the first place. Even if it was his best friend's wish. Scarlett's performance at work wasn't affected at all, not that he would have said anything if it had. It was all his fault, because he should have told Jacob no. Scarlett was working harder than before, as if she was trying to keep her mind off something.

He knew that it might have something to do with Jacob because she only became this way after their night together. And, if his friend did anything to her, he was going to beat his a*s with a baseball bat, and then his own.

Tony was going to ask Scarlett what happened because it was obvious something had transpired. But he decided to leave her alone. He decided not to force her to talk, even though it happened while she was working. She would find him if and when she needed to talk. Scarlett was not only his employee but his friend also.

Suddenly, Tony heard a commotion. Someone was trying to get inside the club. It wasn't even opening hours, so who could it be? He went to the entrance of the club to see what the fuss was about.

"Of course." Tony muttered under his breath. Trouble. He waved the security aside to let her pass.

"See. I told you I know the owner. I should convince him to fire you." She said, trying to scare the poor security.

"Ma'am, I was just doing my job." The security said, worried.

"No one is getting fired. You did the right thing." He assured the security, who breathed a sigh of relief and resumed his duty.

"You're only lucky this time."

"What do you want, Katrina?" Tony hoped she wasn't planning to bring trouble to his place of business. Though he couldn't put anything past her.

"I need a place to throw a party. For Jacob. His birthday is coming up." It had almost slipped Tony's memory. He silently thanked Katrina for visiting when she did.

"Only because it will be Jacob's birthday." Tony never liked Katrina and he made it known to her many times before. He didn't believe that she loved Jacob. She loved the idea of being with him. That's the only thing she loved. And herself.

"Yay. Thank God you agreed." Tony rolled his eyes at her cheery attitude. He stopped when he thought of something.

"Wait. Isn't Jacob's birthday tomorrow? How will you be able to pull that off?" Tony asked.

"Leave that up to me. I'll come by with a team to set the place up in the morning. My only request is that you keep Jacob away from the club long enough for us to set up." Katrina said. It seemed as if she already had everything planned. Did she know he was going to agree?

'How could she not? You're Jacob's best friend and will do anything for him.'

"OK. But we still resume regular business. You can have the VIP section." Tony said, making Katrina know that he wasn't about to stop business entirely because she so desperately wanted to please Jacob.

"No problem." Katrina said, raising her hand to gesture that it was OK.

The ring on her finger glistened in the light. He gave the idea to Jacob, but he didn't think he would go through with it. This would only be more hurtful for Scarlett.

'Sh*t! I should have thoroughly thought this through when I set it up.' Tony thought.

"What time are you thinking of starting? I can tell him to come by then." It wouldn't be hard to keep Jacob away from the club because whatever happened in the private room caused him not to go back since then. He hadn't heard from Jacob since and Tony knew it had to do with Scarlett.

"How about 9? That should give Jacob enough time to reach home, shower, and come here." She said, nodding her head as if assuring herself that the time she gave Tony was OK.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow then." Tony said words he never thought would come from his lips when it came to Katrina. But this wasn't for her. This was for Jacob.

____

The night passed in a blur; before Tony knew it, it was the next day. He was dreading the day as much as he wanted to celebrate it. It was his best friend's birthday and he had agreed to let his club be the venue for his birthday party. But at the same time, Scarlett didn't know and he didn't know what her reaction would be.

He knew she would be there, but he couldn't find the courage to tell her that Jacob would be present at the same time as she would, which was not normal.

If he valued his friendship with Scarlett, the least he could do was give her a heads-up. He watched as Katrina and her 'team', as she had called them, were setting up the VIP section of the club. It would be off-limits for the rest of the customers, but the private rooms would still be at their disposal if needed.

With that thought, Tony retrieved his cell from his pocket and dialed Scarlett's number. Great! Straight to voicemail. Tony held his head upward, looking toward the sky and praying that Scarlett didn't blame him for anything that might potentially happen.

Since he couldn't get through to Scarlett, Tony dialed Jacob's number instead. He almost thought that he wouldn't answer when the phone rang more than three times. But Jacob picked up after all.

"Tony." Jacob said in greeting.

"Happy birthday." Tony said in a cheery tone.

"Thank you, man." Tony noticed that Jacob sounded down.

"You don't sound good. Are you OK man?" Tony asked.

"I'm fine." If you say so.

"Anyways man, I want you to come by later for drinks and I'm not taking no for an answer." Tony said matter of factly.

"Fine." Jacob grunted out his answer.

"Now that that's settled, I will see you later." Tony remembered something. "Hey... What happened between you..."

Jacob hung up his phone abruptly when Tony attempted to ask him about Scarlett. It was obvious Scarlett was a sore topic for him. Tony shook his head. He hoped they could sort out whatever they had going on because he didn't want it to come to a point where he had to choose between his best friend and his best dancer, who was also a very good friend.

He sighed when he tried to call Scarlett again and the call went nowhere. She would be surprised when she saw Jacob later, but the one thing she couldn't say was that he didn't try to inform her. Hopefully, everything goes smoothly.