She must be having hallucinations because of the drug, something about worms and clowns. That explains the irrational fear she exhibits – the girl is shit-faced-scared of clowns.
Logan brings in Kiara and softly puts her on the other end of the sofa and I realize she’s been drugged as well. Ilkay cleans Mel’s wound. He was right, it’s not deep; doesn’t even require stitches – a band-aid will do. Axel, being trained in first-aid, checks Kiara’s pulse.
Ilkay then injects them with something to counteract the drugs. I find my hand shaking as it rests on Mel’s thigh. Strange how I’m attempting to calm her while I’m anything but calm myself. With white knuckles, she tightly clings to my bicep and shirt.
“I think we guys need to go and have a talk at the bar,” Enrique gestures with his head. “You come too,” he points sternly at me, “as soon as she’s asleep.”
“I’ll be right there,” I say watching them leave. Mel seems agitated, so I hold onto her till she calms down before positioning her behind Kiara so she’s cradling her friend.
Grabbing a blanket from the cupboard, I close both girls. Without thinking I brush Mel’s hair from her face and kiss her tenderly on the cheek. As I turn around to leave, Chloe is standing in the doorway. I smile at her uneasily, feeling like a youngster caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
“So this must be the girl the song was for? What happened?” She looks pissed off. Check the worry in my eye – I don’t give a fuck about her feelings. I don’t even like the girl.
“They were drugged.” I turn Chloe around and push her out of the room, calling one of the bouncers to come and guard the door, before heading back to my friends. I don’t trust Chloe with Mel alone. There’s something cruel in that girl. At this point, I don’t trust anybody with Mel.
I direct my anger towards Axel. He was on guard duty tonight. He fucking failed.
“You were supposed to watch her!” I shout at him, grabbing his shirt. He slowly removes my hands and takes a step back, his body tense as if he’s ready for a fight.
Oh, I can do with a good fist beating right now, but hitting Axel won’t solve our problem. Holding my hands up, I take a deep breath and count to 10, kicking back the demons.
“I was watching her, she went into the bathroom. Was I supposed to hold her hand while she pees?” The fireman seems calmer than me … or maybe he’s just hiding it better. I need an outlet so I pick up the closest chair and sling it across the room. And then my fist rams into the side of the bar.
Nobody even tries to stop me. They get it. We know each other that well.
I take a deep breath and run my hand through my hair. My demons are still clawing to get free, but I do feel a little better. A little more in control.
“Sorry, guys, it just feels as if it’s my fault somehow,” I say, hoping it would explain my irrational behavior. ‘Cause I’m acting like a worried lover here … and they are already scrutinizing the facts.
“I think we all feel like that,” Ilkay says somberly.
Logan holds onto an empty glass, smelling the contents. His other hand clutches the apron of a young waiter – standing between him and Alejandro. The young dude looks pretty uncomfortable as he glares with huge eyes at the man on his right.
I must admit, Alejandro naturally looks pretty scary, and now even more so. His eyes are like clear ice, and he has a scorned look on his face. He clearly cares deeply about Mel.
I might not like him, but something about him yearns for respect. My gut gets this strange feeling whenever he’s around – good or bad I’m not sure yet. But I’m sure he’s concealing a deep dark secret. Maybe it’s his persona that’s giving me the chills – something between the rational responsibility of Ilkay mixed with the psycho craziness of Jackson.
Enough of this bullshit … I pull the waiter from Logan’s grip, turning him around, and pinning his arm behind his back.
“Who gave you the drugs to put into the drinks?” I twist his arm a little until he growls in pain.
“I don’t know anything about drugs. I promise! Logan gave me the drinks to take to his sisters, that’s all! It wasn’t me.” He looks like he’s going to shit his pants. I shove him forward knowing he’s innocent.
Logan rubs his temples as if his head hurts.
“Somebody must have slipped it in before the waiter took it. The bar was rather busy.” He hits the table with his fist.
I look back at Axel, still eyeballing me as if he’s waiting for me to crack some more. Then he relaxes his body and starts to talk.
“Alejandro found her and carried her out.” I look at Alejandro, his light shirt has some bloodstains on it. His eyes saccade between me and his shirt and he automatically wipes his hand over his chest, smearing the blood.
“What happened in there?” Logan asks.
“I was on my way to the bathroom when I heard a scream. I ran into the ladies’ room and Mel was semi-unconscious on the floor, and then that guy ran in,” Alejandro explains, pointing at Ren.
I’m pretty sure what my gut is feeling about HIM – disgust.
“He left the knife and his mask,” Enrique says and I look at the objects stuffed into clear plastic bags on the counter – a Kershaw Clash black serrated pocketknife and a clown mask.
“If we’re lucky we’ll get some fingerprints or DNA or something,” Enrique continues as Axel drags Ren towards us. I hate this guy with so much passion, it’s not even funny.
“So what’s your story?” Logan also doesn’t like his sister’s ex-boyfriend for some reason. Hell, nobody in our group does.
“I came out of the bathroom and saw a guy running into the girl’s bathroom. It seemed strange so I followed him and saw Mel on the floor. That’s it.”
“Did you see or hear anybody else around at that time?”
“There was somebody in the men’s bathroom when I went in, one of the toilets was occupied … and it was still occupied when I went out.”
“I’ll go check it out,” Axel drops Ren’s arm and walks away to the crime scene. I’m pretty sure he’s not going to find anything – whoever has done this, is either long gone or hiding between the guests.
Logan moves closer to me and he whispers in my ear.
“I don’t trust either of them. Ren is an ass and there’s something about this Alejandro guy that bothers me. He’s hiding something.” I look into his eyes and give him a nod. So I’m not the only one who feels that way.
“Why did she call you?” Logan now looks at me with scrutinizing eyes. Darn. Now is not the time for the truth.
“Maybe because I’m the prettiest one here,” I tease. “She was hallucinating, seeing clowns … I guess I don’t have a clown face.”
The police arrive and I walk with Enrique to meet them. The man holds out his hand.
“I’m Captain Maron,” he greets Enrique.
“Enrique Blackburn.” He turns to me.
“Damion Grimm.”
“Will the girls be able to make a statement?” he asks, while another skinny man writes something down in a little book. He puts the book away and gestures with his head to another officer who takes out some tape and closes off the way to the bathrooms.