CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
pulled up in front of the club to find a fire truck and several ambulances parked in front of the door and a large crowd of neighborhood residents and club goers standing behind a barricade on the opposite side of the street. I flashed my ID at the officer doing security and he waved me through.
"What the hell is going on?" I yelled as I slammed open the door to the club and found Kesha and two of the dancers standing in the middle of the dance floor as paramedics worked to revive a young woman with long, dark hair. The remnants of her silver club dress lay under her like a blanket, but her silver platform pumps were still on her feet.
The cops had evacuated the club while the paramedics worked on the girl, but no one had thought to turn off the music and lights. I told Diamond to go flip the switch on both, and she quickly moved away to take care of it. I looked back down at the girl and wondered what had happened. It wasn't the first time someone had OD'd in the club, in fact, we were prepared for that with vials of antidotes for various drugs. We understood the risks of drugs and knew that most ODs were accidents, but we didn't want to attract too much attention, so I kept a trained paramedic on staff. As a result, we'd normally avoid scrutiny.
"Kesha, what the hell happened?" I said under my breath as we watched the paramedics work.
"No idea, boss," she whispered. "This one was dancing like crazy and then she just dropped like a rock."
"Where's Javi?" I asked wondering why our resident paramedic was absent.
"That's the problem, boss," she said quietly. "He's treating four more in back. These guys don't know it, though. I tried to avoid attracting attention."
"Oh fuck," I felt my heart drop to my stomach. One we could explain as a reckless club kid who over did it, but five was way too many to explain away. "What the fuck happened?"
"Not a clue," she replied.
"Did the shipment arrive?" I asked.
"Yep, they brought it in just like clockwork," Kesha said.
"Did she buy the new stuff?" I could feel a wave of dread building as I started considering all the terrible possibilities.
"Not sure yet," she said as the paramedics loaded the girl onto a gurney and wheeled her out to the ambulance. I held the door for them and nodded when the investigating officer told me not to go anywhere.
"Fuck! Go check on the others," I said. I didn't want to draw unnecessary attention to the other club goers, but I also didn't want four dead kids in my back area when the cops came to search it. Kesha took off for the back. I crossed my fingers that Javi had been able to get to them in time.
When Kesha came back out and gave me the thumbs up, I asked where Riza was. Kesha pointed up at the office and I hightailed it up the stairs to talk with her.
"Ri, what the hell is going on here?" I demanded to know as I stormed into the office.
"Hey, get off my tits. This club is not my domain," she said as she stared at me.
"What the hell is wrong with you these days?" I was genuinely confused as to why my best friend and second in command had turned into a mean girl since Lydia's death.
"You really don't have a fucking clue, do you?" she said shaking her head. "You're such a self-centered asshole."
"Riza, what is going on?" I walked over and took her by her shoulders and shook her gently. "Talk to me. Seriously."
"Dax, you are so wrapped up in your business and pursuing this new lawyer," she spat. "Yeah, I see how you look at her and rush off to go fuck her all over town. Don't act like you’re shocked or offended."
"Wait, you're pissed because I'm after a chick?" I said, shocked to realize that Riza might be jealous.
"Oh God, don't go getting your panties in a wad," she said rolling her eyes. "I'm not jealous of her, I'm pissed because in this whole fucking mess you seem to have lost sight of family, dipshit."
"How have I lost sight of family?" I was bewildered by her accusation.
"You locked Beck up in a fucking mental hospital!" she screamed. "You don't do that to family!"
"I didn't lock Beck up in a mental ward, Ri," I said. "I told you that I put him in a rehab facility so he could dry out and stop using. That's not forgetting family, that's taking care of them!"
"He didn't want to go!" she yelled. I could see that she was extremely upset, but I couldn't understand why she couldn't see that what I'd done for Beck was to save him not hurt him.
"Yeah, well, kids don't want to eat their vegetables, but you make them eat them for their own good, right?"
"That's not the same thing, Dax!" she yelled. "You've always done this! You always think of what you want and what you need and you never fucking ask anyone else what they might want!"
"Riza, what the hell is going on?" I shouted. "Why are you so over the top about Beck? He's my brother! I know what's right for him!"
Riza stopped pacing, stood staring at me with her hands on her hips like she used to do when she was a kid. Stubborn and opinionated, she had never failed to stand up for me or Beck with Papi, and now she was yelling at me like I was him.
"Forget it," she said shaking her head as she dropped her fists and turned toward the door. "You're always right, we're always wrong. You win, Dax. You always win."
With that, she walked out the door and slammed it so hard the room shook. I had no idea what was going on, but I knew that I had to find out because things were quickly slipping out of my grasp. If I wasn't careful, I'd lose control of everything and send us all crashing to the ground.