Chapter 25: RUNNING

-Past-

She showed up to work the next day, like as if nothing had happened. She kept to herself, didn't say a word to anyone. Just did her work. Did her hours. As she walked into the office to pick up her paycheck, she was ambushed by Dom.

He shut the office door behind her and crossed his arms over his chest, staring her down. She sighed and sat down in the chair in front of his desk. Dom sat down behind the desk and watched her. "Where you staying?" He asked, pulling out his checkbook. "My friend's," she said, looking at the floor. He pulled a check out and handed it to her after filling it out.

"You can't stay there forever," he said, leaning back in his chair. Ami stood up and smiled at him. "Thanks for the check," she said, heading for the door. "Sit," he barked, motioning to the chair. She groaned and plopped down into the chair.

"Me and Letty go through this all the time. You can't move out every time you guys hit a rough patch in your relationship. You guys gotta understand that you're expecting too much out of each other. Set the bar low, work your way up from there," he said. Amira nodded, not really wanting to hear it. She just wanted to get her money and to go. Be as far away as possible from Vince or anything that reminded her of him.

"Dom, I won't be coming back to work anymore. I've decided that I need to do my own thing for a while."

---

A month later, Amira found herself sliding behind the wheel of her very first car. She shrieked as she turned it on and the Cutlass convertible roared to life. "Sweet," Diana said, putting her seatbelt on. Ami smiled at her new roommate and pulled out of the garage where she had just purchased the reconstructed car. "This is gonna make getting to and from work so much easier," Ami said, turning the radio on and fumbling around for a good station.

If she had been paying attention to the road, she would've seen Vince drive right past her and do a u-turn when he realized it was her. She sang along with an old song that was playing on the radio as she drove through the town towards the apartment her and Diana rented together. "Dude, there's a parking spot right in front of the building," Diana said, pointing to the spot.

Amira sped up and caught the spot before any of the other cars prowling for a parking spot could take it. The girls bounded up the stairs without a worry, as Vince double parked down the street and kept his eyes on them.

---

She heard a knock on the dressing room door and turned around to find Eric, the club's bouncer. "There's some guy here to see you," he said, waiting for her approval. Amira looked up in confusion, knowing that none of her friends knew where she worked. "That's impossible," she replied, pulling her hair out of her ponytail and letting it run down her back in waves. "He says his name is V, that you would know him," he said.

Amira froze and nodded slowly, knowing that it was inevitable. She glanced down at her current attire and cursed, looking into the mirror and trying to fix her makeup. "Nice," he said, stepping into her dressing room and eyeing the see through bikini she was currently wearing. She turned around and faced Vince, waving her arms around.

"Go on, get it out your system," she said, slipping into a pair of six inch heels. "Just came to see how you were doing. Now I know," V said, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest. She sighed and began to rub baby oil over herself. "I needed a car, rent money and tuition is sky rocketing these days. I needed money and I needed it fast," she said.

Vince grunted and held his hands up. "I'm not judging you, sister. Glad to see that being a stripper is paying so well." Amira put the bottle of baby oil down and faced him, her face a blank slate. "So what now?" She asked. He shrugged and made his way towards the door. "Just wanted to see how you were doing," he said, before walking out.

She stared after him, the strong urge to run after him ripping her apart. But she wasn't a part of his life anymore. She had built her own. She had learned to be self sufficient. She had moved out and grown up. She needed to if, she was gonna stop running.