A Withered Branch

Antoine sighed, pulling out of the restaurant. He was tired of it all. Tired of losing money. Tired of the shame of having lost Elizabeth to the pole. They lived together still, but he hadn't seen her in two weeks. They hadn't had sex in ages. She was owned by that club, all of her. And it was all his fault.

It was an empty storefront on the wrong side of town, but it had a lot of street traffic. He could open up a bar here maybe. Stop losing money would be a start. And if it continued going downhill ... well, owning a bar might help that too.