Just as FP had promised himself, the serpent showed up at the strip club that Saturday night.

The crowds were always larger on this particular day. So FP squeezed himself in between the bodies of men, hiding slightly from Cherry and her co-workers. Usually she'd be serving drinks or getting dollar bills stuffed in her panties. But once FP looked around, Cherry was no where to be seen.

FP reached the bar and shouted over the music so Delilah could hear him. "Where's Cherry?"

The girl rolled her eyes and placed a hand on her hip as she let out a loud sigh. "FP, you're going to have to just let her go sooner or later. You should know what she's like by now. All the things she's told you, don't get roped in, you're nothing special, she doesn't mean them. I bet if you asked every single man in here tonight they'd tell you about his plans to divorce his wife and runaway with Cherry, or they'd tell you the time she gave him a blow job in the back of his truck and he'll tell you that it was the best night of his life, or they might just say she's told him she loved him." Delilah poured him a drink. She reckoned he'd need one afterwards. "As much as I love the girl, she's toxic and she'll always be that way towards men like you."

"Men like me?" He grabbed the glass and downed the stong, mind numbing liquid.

Delilah raised her eyebrow at him. "Yes. Men like you. Like Todd over there. Like Hal." Fp's head jolted towards the stage, sat amongst the tables was a club regular, Todd, whom FP was used to seeing. But a few tables away, sat alone, was Hal Cooper, looking almost out of place and uncomfortable as he sipped on his beer. "Men that are lonely, vulnerable, depressed." FP turned back to Delilah, refilling his drink. "They're Cherry's favourites, her prey, they're the ones she can easily manipulate." The girl shrugged, pushing FP's drink over to him.

"And it just so happens Mr Jones, that you tick all of those boxes." She walked away at that, serving other customers.

FP picked up his drink, and tried to paint the smirk back on his face as he walked across the room to Hal's table. FP placed his drink down first, causing the man to look up and see his old classmate standing over him, his face reddened.

"What do you want, Jones?" The serpent sat down and shrugged.

"Nothing, I'm here for the same reason you are."

Hal glanced over at the man wrapped in his infamous leather southside jacket. "I'm here for a story." He sat up straight, trying to piece back his dignity.

FP chuckled. "Sure. And was it Alice that sent you?"

Hal stayed quiet which made FP laugh more. "You're here for Cherry, right?" He sighed already knowing that answer.

Hal raised an eyebrow at him, then looked down at his beer he had grasped in his hands. "I heard she's performing tonight."

"What's she told you?" FP asked, he looked around the room. The men that surrounded him were all a carbon copy of the next. Tired, emotionally and physically, of their day to day lives. Greying. And all waiting on Cherry to show her face. And FP Jones, like Hal Cooper, was just another face in the crowd.

Hal shook his head. "I shouldn't even be thinking about it." He swallowed the rest of his pint. "I have a beautiful wife at home and two darling girls." He flagged down a waitress and held up his empty glass asking for another. "But a beautiful wife, who doesn't even talk to me anymore, let alone touch me. There's no excitement anymore, no thrill, no pleasure. And sometimes I think, no love." FP looked at the man who sat beside him and realised just how much of a mess Hal Copper was. He was no longer the star quarterback with the hot cheerleader girlfriend under his arm, no longer the top student with college offers being thrown at him left, right and center. He was no longer the boy FP Jones envied for everything he had. In fact Hal Copper was just like FP Jones, he just didn't want to admit that his life had gone to shit.

"Sometimes I think I shouldn't of married her." Hal whispered. Fp sipped his drink and eyed the man sat across from him. "Maybe we weren't meant to be." His eyes flickered to the stage, which was empty at present. "We did kind of rush into the marriage thing, like I gave up everything for her, I gave up college offers, I gave up my life." Fp didn't know whether Hal wanted him to know this or if it was just his drunken state thinking out loud. "Sometimes, Jones, I think Alice would of been better off with you."

Fp choked on his drink, he wiped away the beer that had dribbled down his chin. "Trust me Copper, me and Alice were a mess. We were constantly just adding fire to the flames."

The lights in the club dimmed and a loud rock song hushed the crowd. The stage lit up, but it was lit up more by Cherry's presence. Wrapped in lace, silk and fishnet, every single man was holding his breath at every move she made. She circled round the pole that stood strong at center stage.

Hal had leaned forward once Cherry spotted him, sending a wink in his direction. FP shuffled uncomfortably in his seat and looked over at Hal who was glued to the girl dancing against the pole in front of him.

FP frowned, he couldn't watch as the girl slowly stripped, he couldn't breathe has he looked around and saw every man hungry for her to show more skin, he felt pissed when he glanced back at her, loving every second of the attention she was getting, every eye glued to her, every thought about her, and none of her thoughts about FP Jones.

He stood up off his chair once the song finished and Cherry walked off stage to dance around the men. He downed his drink as he watched her coming towards him. The back of his neck tingled with sweat and heat as she brushed past him and walked round the back of Hal Cooper's chair, pressing her palms against his chest and pushing him back in his chair.

FP walked away, not being able to look at the scene unfolding before him. His envy for Hal Cooper that the serpent had held for the man throughout his life was squeezing at his heart. Hal Copper got everything FP Jones wanted. He got Alice Smith, stealing her right from his fingertips because he could. He got two perfect daughters, two daughters that no matter what he did they would still love him. He got the job, the education, the happiness. And now for a few split seconds he had Cherry.

Delilah placed three shots of tequila in front of the serpent as he approached. He downed the first one and almost smashed the glass as he put it back on the bar.

"He's been coming in a lot recently." Delilah picked up his empty shot glass and put it away. "Hal." She motioned towards the man, who now had Cherry rubbing herself against his crotch. FP regretted looking over. And poured his second shot down his throat.

The Saturday crowd had begun to disperse. Most men admitting defeat over Cherry choosing to pay attention to them. Yet FP Jones was still there.

The third shot took a while for him to swallow.

"She has got to be one of the most mystifying women I've ever met." Todd sat on the stool next to FP. "That's why you're trying to kill yourself with that liquid fire, right?" He chuckled.

FP finally swallowed, shame poured over him. "Don't worry, some women know how perfectly to sink their claws into our skin." He winked at Delilah as she listened to him. "You just need to find a flaw, something that can force you to distance yourself from her." Todd shrugged. "That's what I always do, especially when there's a new woman every night in here trying to steal me heart."

"She has a million flaws." FP growled. He looked over at her pulling on Hal's t-shirt. They stood pushing their bodies against each others. "She's selfish." Cherry held onto the man's upper arm, weaving them through the empty chairs left abandoned and messy from her audience. "She's manipulative." She whispered into his ear and pulled him towards the exit. "She's self-centered." The door of the club swung open, moonlight streaming in. "But somehow she worms herself into my brain and reminds me of all the good things about her, and I just fall in love with her everytime."

FP stared as the door closed behind the girl he loved and the man who had everything, disappearing into the night to add one more name to Cherry's list.