CHAPTER 82 PHOENIX RISING

On one of those days, he had walked into his sitting room to find Samantha anxiously pacing about, not smiling as he staggers onto a couch, mutters unintelligibly, and off he slips into a deep slumber, escaping the inevitable chastisement already formed In Samantha's lip. "Oh goodness!" She would exclaim sadly and stoop to pull off his shoes made of suede. She was leaving him with his pairs of socks. She would stand to cast one last stare at Jake before making a long, breathless sigh and walking away. The following day, he would wake up, ignoring the throbbing in his head; he would quickly rush through a hot shower, get dressed, and leave just before Samantha was ready for a talk. Like his custom, he would go into a bar after working at the office. This time, he got into a different bar, with strippers hanging around a rail, any rail like snakes recoiled on a tree. He walked in with a thousand voices saying 'hello' and 'he is sexy' and all sexually provocative statements. He would