"There is no perfection, only beautiful versions of brokenness." - Shannon L. Alder

+++

Silas's POV

"Everyone sucked," Sawyer says out loud.

"What about Lilah? She seems qualified?" Sage says to my right.

I hear a scoff coming from Sawyer. "What are you talking about? She basically wore a bikini in the interview. And did you look at her resume? Four different strip joints in a month. I mean FOUR. She'll be unreliable."

He sets piles of resumes on his worktable and lets out a frustrated huff. "And you just want to get in her pants, Sage!"

Sage shrugs.

I can't blame him. The girl was pretty hot. But my mind keeps going back to the last girl that came in. Something about her intrigues me.

I shake my head quickly. C'mon Silas, she is a criminal. And no fucking criminal is going to work in my business.

I finally speak, which silences both of them. "Our best options are Jackson and Sophia. We'll call them tomorrow and set separate interviews. We'll choose which one's the best after that."

Sage sighs, disappointed we're not allowing a stripper to work here. I roll my eyes.

I begin to pack my things and clean my desk, which is usually what our PA is for.

We decided to just hire one PA for all three of us. Saves time and money, not that we're lacking in that department.

"Hey, maybe we should go to a strip joint? Let off a little steam," Sage suggests. I look at him with unamused eyes as he looks back, pleading with me. "Oh, please. We've been working really hard and I believe we deserve some time for ourselves," he finishes.

I roll my eyes again. How did I even manage to work with this idiot?

"And I know what you're about to say. What about Sawyer? Well, I found this new one downtown that has both male and female strippers." He looks to Sawyer. "You're welcome, Sawyer."

I turn to my left and see Sawyer's eyes perk up. Is he seriously considering this? We have way too much work for this shit.

"Well..." I hear Sawyer's voice trail off as he locks his eyes on me.

Sawyer is supposed to be the reasonable one. Fucking kidding me.

"No."

"Oh come on, Silas, we've been working nonstop for months, and when was the last time you got laid?" Sage asks. I turn back to him, a scowl written on my face.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I haven't had time to get laid. Too busy running a goddamn company. Which is what you two are supposed to be doing."

I collect the resumes from Sawyer's worktable and toss them into the bin, aside from Jackson's and Sophia's. I turn around, about to say something to my two idiot brothers, when something catches my eye.

It's the resume of the last girl we interviewed. Caden Wilson. My eyes travel to her miniscule work experience. Why would she even apply? It's like she's setting herself up for failure.

Whatever. I won't have to see her ever again.

"Neither of you are going to a fucking strip joint. End of discussion."

+++

We arrive at the strip joint at midnight, so the whole place is packed. God, I don't even want to be here.

Sage and Sawyer created a fucking PowerPoint persuading me to go. It had 75 slides. 75 FUCKING SLIDES! Who the fuck spends that much time for something so useless.

I sweat to god, they spend more time on dumb shit than actually running the company.

When we walk inside, the smell of alcohol and drugs fills my senses. Where the fuck did Sage find this place?

The room is divided in half. One with male strippers, and one with female. There are also two walkways and a single pole at the end of each one where money is being thrown at the whores.

God, who would stoop so low as to become a stripper? Being here just makes me want to throw up.

Sage guides me to where the female strippers are located as Sawyer makes his way to the male section.

Soon, the runway starts and women start walking down, their clothes just barely obscuring their sensitive areas.

When they reach the end of he runway, they do a little dance on the pole before walking away.

I start to get bored as money is being flown everywhere and cheers from the crowd fill my ears. I look to tell Sage we're going to leave when I see him eating the face of a stripper.

Guess they don't have a problem with the merchandise being touched.

I get up to leave when the last girl comes onto the stage.

She walks down the runway, notice how I say WALK not strut, and that's because she nearly trips and falls off. She quickly recovers, and when she makes her way to the pole, her eyes widen.

She stands there awkwardly, not knowing what to do before wrapping her legs around the pole and sliding down it uncomfortably.

By now, the cheers have quieted down as people stare at the awkward young girl trying to act sexy on a pole. Jesus Christ.

Who the fuck lets a girl that inexperienced to a fucking strip joint.

I look back at her for a moment, and something about her looks very familiar.

But I can't really see shit through the colored lights and the dark walls. Whatever.

I go back to Sage and pry him off of the girl straddling him. "We're leaving," I say through the pumping music.

He whines but I pinch him hard and he finally relents.

I go to the male section and spot Sawyer raining money on the stage as half-naked men strut down the runway. He yells and hollers as a man from the stage winks at him and I roll my eyes.

I grab Sawyer by his arm and drag both of my brothers outside.

They both whine when I push them on the ground. "We are never going to a fucking strip joint again."

I kick them both in the shin. "Ow, man, what the fuck was that for?" Sage yells.

"For dragging me to this shithole."

"Please don't hurt me." I hear a soft squeal coming from the side of the building. I barely make it out due to the music still pouring out of the open doors as people wait in line to get inside. But I heard it.

Sage and Sawyer perk up, having also heard the voice. What the fuck?

"Oh darling," a male voice replies, "I'm going to do more than that. I'm going rearrange your guts in that pretty little body of yours."

My fist clenches and I make my way to the side of the building where an alley is located, both my brothers by my side. I'm going to beat the shit out of this motherfucker.

+++

+++

When I turn the corner, the motherfucker has his filthy mouth on one of the strippers. Her petite body is engulfed under the jackass's fucking bigass beer gut as he continues to spread his lips along her breast.

She lets out a tiny yelp as she notices me and my brothers and shakes her head.

"No, please don't hurt me. I don't have any money," she cries out to me. She thinks I'm going to fucking rape her.

My fists clench as I stand behind the asshole, Sage and Sawyer beside me and wait until he notices me.

"I don't need your money, sweetheart. Everything I want is right in front of me," he drawls on and it takes every ounce in my body not to kill this fuckface.

Instead, I wait.

He continues to suck on the girl's skin as she looks back at me with a confused look. I can barely see the shine of her tears rolling down her cheeks.

I let out a fuming breath whilst clenching my jaw. That gets the douchebag's attention.

He turns around.

Surprise motherfucker.

+++