Somehow, we both managed to get ourselves back together in time to leave for the club; I wiped the makeup off my face and put my clothes back on, while Mary somehow managed to fix the smears and sweat that had messed up her makeup in a matter of minutes, and wriggled back into the tight skirt and revealing blouse she’d decided on for the night.
“You know, when this is over, I want to see you completely naked again,” I told her, looking her up and down as we walked from the car towards the entrance of the club.
“If we get through this, then the minute we’re back at the house, I’m taking all this off. It’s less than comfy, you know.” I stared at Mary’s ass, perfectly curved in the skirt she wore.
“Less than comfy, but more than hot,” I told her with a little grin. Mary rolled her eyes, but in the yellow-orange light outside of the club, I could see her smiling.
The man at the door recognized me. “I heard you were in rehab,” Drake said, raising an eyebrow as he checked Mary’s ID.
“I got out,” I said, shrugging. “She’s here to keep me in line.” Drake looked at Mary for what seemed like a long time before a respectful grin broke out on his face.
“If you can do that, then Alex here needs you in his life,” Drake said. “Go on in.”
“I’m surprised he didn’t ask for cover,” Mary commented as we went into the cool, dark club.
“You’re with me, and Drake decided he likes you. Cover’s for visitors—you’re practically family now.” I started towards the bar; but then I remembered that I wasn’t even supposed to be drinking. What the hell do sober people even do in clubs? I’d never had the opportunity to find out. I felt antsy, irritable.
“Want something to drink?” Mary asked me.
I stared at her. “I thought I’m not supposed to be drinking.”
Mary sighed. “Water, or ginger ale or something,” she said. “We’ll look weird if we don’t have something in our hands.” I had to agree with that assessment. I told her to get me water, and looked around while Mary went to the bar.
I spotted a few of Big J’s dealers that I could recognize; it wasn’t like I knew all of them, of course—a guy as big as Big J had more people working for him than I would probably ever meet. But skinny Alberto, Donald T., and Reggie were guys I knew, and they knew me. I saw each of them take out their phones, but it was impossible to know whether they were texting Big J to let him know I’d come out of the woodwork, or if it was that they were communicating with a client, or what was happening.
Mary came back with two full plastic cups; one with water for me, and another with ginger ale for herself.
“You could have a drink, you know,” I pointed out.
“One, I want to stay alert. Two, I didn’t want to basically taunt you with something you can’t have. It’s fine.” She looked around, her gaze sweeping the room, and I put my arm around her waist; I told myself it was because I wanted to look natural, but it was mostly because I wanted to have my arm around her.
“We’ve been spotted,” I said into her ear. “Don’t be obvious, but three guys in here have seen me.”
“Five,” Mary countered, glancing at me. I frowned. “Guy over at two o’clock,” she said, and I glanced in that direction as casually as possible; sure enough, I saw someone watching us—but how did Mary know it was one of Big J’s guys? “Another one at ten o’clock,” she added. I looked in that direction; sure enough, there was someone else, watching us both.
“What do we do?” I asked Mary. “Just hang out and hope one of them approaches us?” This was the part of the plan that no one was entirely certain about. There were, supposedly, police waiting to spring the trap; but neither Mary nor I had any idea of what the trigger was supposed to be.
“For right now, we hang out, and enjoy the music,” Mary suggested. “Wait and see if more of Big J’s people come.” She gave my hand a squeeze. “Do not get separated from me, Alex. Seriously.”
We wandered around the dark depths of Vagabond, hand in hand. I felt like such a tool, sipping my water, smoking a few cigarettes, while I could feel eyes on me from all around the room. Come on, you assholes, someone make a move. Offer me a hit at least. Something. Like a good little boy, I followed Mary to the restrooms. “Stay right here,” Mary said, looking at me with serious eyes. “I’ll be out in two minutes.”
I should have been safe, in the midst of a public space, right next to the bathrooms, waiting for my supposed girlfriend to come out. It should have been the last place that any of Big J’s guys would have tried to grab me from. I could even see into the ladies’ room—though not into the stalls, unfortunately.
But as I counted down the seconds before Mary could believably come out of the bathroom and join me again, I felt a heavy hand fall on my right shoulder, and then another hand fell on my left shoulder. “Welcome back to the scene, North,” I heard Reggie say in my ear. “The boss has been looking for you. Wants to have a few words.”
“I’m here with a date,” I said, trying to shrug their hands off of my shoulders. “Besides, I’m not really into coke anymore.”
“Come on, Alex,” I turned and saw one of the guys that Mary had pointed out. “Your little girlie can come with us too, but you’ve put off talking to Big J for too long.”
Mary stepped out of the bathroom and I saw—to my horror—that two tough-looking, wild-eyed women, who were unobtrusively gripping her arms at her sides, flanked her. Fuck. Hook, line, and sinker. Come on, cops—bust these assholes. My and Mary’s escorts started to lead us out through the back door of Vagabond, and I could only hope that the cops who were supposed to be waiting for us were really there, that they would spring into action in a matter of moments, before we got loaded into the van I saw parked at the end of the alley. “This was a fucking terrible idea,” I said to Mary; of course, the others heard me, but right then, I didn’t care.