“Let’s go,” I said, pulling her away once more. “You can hit on the next bartender.”
“Oh, good idea!”
No, it wasn’t. But it worked. Sasha finally gave in and we were able to leave.
Within five minutes, we had the car back and were headed to the club. We would’ve been on the road sooner, but Sasha insisted on putting the convertible top down, and there’s only so much arguing I’m prepared to do with a drunk girl. At least she didn’t ask again to drive.
15
The party at The Palms was in full effect when we arrived. The doorman unclasped the red rope before we even made it to the door, and didn’t say a word about a cover charge. Aria texted me on the way to say they were upstairs in the VIP lounge. I looked up and, sure enough, she and Delgado were sitting on a red-velvet couch, sipping champagne with the rest of the elite. It looked like the no-alcohol law only applied to public areas and not private lounges. Sasha would be happy. That was, if I could find her. The minute we walked in, she disappeared, and I wasn’t about to start a search party. I didn’t have time to babysit her anyway, if I was going to get to the bottom of who the real Delgado was. My plan had been to join the party upstairs, but I found myself distracted by a particular guy sitting at the bar. I tapped him on the shoulder. “You’re so busted.”
Finn froze and turned around with a smile on his face. “Yep, you caught me,” he said.
“I knew it! You’re a regular here, aren’t you?” I was joking, but tried to act serious. It was hard, seeing how I was so happy to see him, my smile was a dead giveaway.
“Oh yeah, a real regular.” Finn motioned to a group of about ten guys sitting around a cluster of tables they had pulled together. It was a classic stag party. Not as scandalous as I thought. I recognized the groom-to-be as Chris from the marina. He had a pair of handcuffs clasped on one wrist and a plastic ball and chain around his ankle. His shirt read Life sentence. I had to admit, it was pretty funny, and classier than the plastic penises and condom veils that dominated most bachelorette parties. “Why don’t you come over and say hi, meet the rest of the guys?” Finn said.
I followed Finn over to the table and offered Chris my congratulations. Finn started introducing his friends, but then I spotted Sasha, and, oh boy. Let’s just say, my attention was only on her. She was locking tongues with a beefy-looking bouncer right up against the bar. Bald head, pierced ears, black muscle shirt, and all tattooed up. The bouncer looked like the type of guy you didn’t want to mess with. Half the patrons’ eyes were locked on them, as opposed to the dancer performing on stage.
“Sorry.” I turned my attention back to Finn.
“She a friend of yours?” he asked.
“You could say that.” I looked back at Sasha one more time. She and the bouncer had come up for air and were now hitting the dance floor. Seeing she was safe, I rejoined Finn’s conversation and met the rest of his friends. They all seemed like cool guys, and didn’t care that I was crashing their party.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you if you wanted to work out together again,” Finn said, when it was just the two of us talking again.
I thought about our last attempt at running together and wasn’t sure if I wanted to go there. “We could, or we could do dinner. I make a mean tater-tot casserole,” I joked. “Besides, I still owe you for helping me fix up the apartment.”
“Nah, you don’t owe me anything, but I’ll take you up on dinner,” he said.
I knew I shouldn’t have been flirting with Finn like that, without knowing who the other woman was, but I couldn’t help it. He was so dang cute and I just wanted to forget about her, for tonight anyway.
The pulse of the music changed, and the club’s lights glowed purple. Finn and I both looked to the stage in time to see Kitti strut out, with a boa around her neck and a sexy safari outfit covering her fanny. The boa wasn’t the type with feathers, rather, a real-life albino boa constrictor. The snake glowed white under the club’s black lights.
“Sweet sugar, what is she going to do with that snake?” I asked. Finn’s eyes widened and he mumbled something about hating snakes.
As it turned out, Kitti allowed the snake to crawl all over her naked body and touch her in places I was hoping no animal had gone before. It was sexy and dangerous at the same time. The audience fed right into it. Well, everyone except Finn. His eyes never left the snake, until one of the bouncers took it backstage so Kitti could work the pole and collect her tips, which were insane, by the way. I could see how these women made a decent living just working a couple nights a week.
Kitti left the stage, and the lights turned red with giant white stars shinning down on the floor. The next girl’s act was all-American. It ended with red, white, and blue sequins covering her cha-cha and sparklers shooting out of the floor, to boot. Now, that was creative. The guys hooted and hollered to that one, and I wasn’t sure whose act they liked more.
The DJ took over the jams after that, and club goers took to the dance floor to shake it. Sasha was one of the first ones out there again, Beef Stick in tow, of course. I tried not to watch or be embarrassed by her moves. I wondered if Aria was catching all this. We’d have lots to talk about tomorrow.
A couple of the girls, who remembered me and Finn from before, stopped by to say hi. One girl in particular, Tara, dropped off a round of drinks and started talking to me about beauty business. I told her about Kitti’s plan to book a party, and she thought it was a great idea. The night had turned out to be successful in more than one way. It was surreal to think about how much my business could grow within the next couple of weeks. The desire to focus on my business made me even more determined to solve the case. I couldn’t concentrate on work if someone was threatening me all the time. Paranoia couldn’t be good for business.
“So, dinner?” Finn asked again.
Yes, dinner. I was going to suggest tomorrow night, but then remembered my plans with Eric. Too many men! I screamed at myself. At that moment, I didn’t want anything to do with Eric. Not even for my business. I just wanted to focus on getting to know Finn, and see what developed. Just from spending the last few days with him, I knew he had a good heart, which counted for a lot in my book.
Finn and I were now facing one another, our knees almost touching. I forgot all about Eric and every other man who had ever been in my life. Finn and I were dangerously close to taking our friendship to the next level. I could tell he wanted to kiss me, and I wanted him to. Instead of waiting for him to make a move, I just went for it. Our lips met and I had to remember where we were, or we would’ve put Sasha and Beef Stick’s make-out session to shame.
Out of nowhere, my hair was yanked back and a woman screamed something fierce. I whipped around with my fist in the air and clocked Justine right in the face. If there was one thing I knew how to do, it was fight. She had a wild look in her eye as she lunged at me, claws out, ready to scratch my face off. Finn grabbed her by the back of the shirt.
“Justine, what the hell are you doing here?” Finn yelled.
In the craziness of the moment, it took me two seconds to catch up. So much for forgetting about the mystery woman tonight. Here she was, standing right in front of me. The way she was acting, she had to be Finn’s girlfriend. I knew it. I almost felt bad for punching her in the face, until I remembered all the crap she had been pulling lately. I wasn’t sure who I should be angrier at, her or Finn.
“Wait, Ziva, don’t give me that look. Justine’s my ex-girlfriend. My crazy, psychotic ex-girlfriend,” he said, the last part directly to her face. While I didn’t disagree with him, I also didn’t think it was a smart thing to say, knowing how psycho she could be.
“Baby, you know we’re going to be together. I don’t understand why you fight it,” Justine said.
“You and me together? Not happening. You don’t listen. I don’t even like you.” Finn was harsh. He couldn’t have been any more direct than that. “Stop following me. Get a life. Leave my friends alone.�
�� I could feel people’s eyes on us. It was a good thing Beef Stick was busy, or we’d probably have been kicked out for starting drama.
“But, Finnie, I love you.” And then the tears started flowing, and then the snot, and then the mascara. Good grief, Justine was a hot mess. I dug around in my purse for a makeup remover towelette. I handed the wipe to her, along with a trial-sized lipstick, and pointed her toward the bathroom. She apparently had forgiven me for punching her upside the head, and readily accepted them.
Finn asked me if I was okay, and I assured him I was.
“Sorry about that. Justine’s completely unhinged,” he said.
“Oh, believe me. I know.” I said it mostly to myself.
I couldn’t help but hope that drama didn’t regularly follow him around, because I wasn’t sure I wanted to be involved in it. Finn must’ve seen the doubt on my face and hoped to erase it, because he pulled me close to him and kissed me until I was seeing stars.
“That’s how our first kiss should’ve gone,” he said.
I didn’t answer. My lips tingled better than a sugar rush. I was ready to leave the club, and take Finn home with me.
I kissed Finn back and was liking this getting-to-know-you game, when I looked up and saw Sasha doing her best to swing around a pole. It wasn’t pretty.
“Weee! Look at me. I’m a pole dancer,” she squealed. Beef stick laughed from below. For a bouncer, he was doing a piss-poor job of keeping the patrons in order.
“You like that?” Sasha yelled down to Beef Stick. Holding onto the pole, she attempted to do a backbend, but Sasha wasn’t flexible and I knew what was going to happen a second before it did. She had tipped back too far, causing her heel to slip, and she cracked the back of her head on the dance floor. I was up on the stage, holding Sasha’s head in my lap, before Beef Stick and Finn even knew what happened.
“Get some ice!” I yelled down to Beef Stick.
“Sasha, you okay, girl?” I asked. She wasn’t quite coherent. I searched the club for Aria but didn’t see her.
“What do you need?” Finn yelled up to me.
“Get her off the stage,” another bouncer hollered.
“Help me get her down,” I said to Finn.
“Are you okay to move?” I asked Sasha. And then, she turned her head and threw up all over the stage. It was disgusting. An observer might’ve thought it was from hitting her head, but they didn’t see her drink her weight in alcohol that night. I could only imagine what the ride home was going to be like. Talk about depressing. What a way to ruin the night.
Sasha sat up and turned to me with the goofiest expression on her face. I thought she had gone mental.
“That was awesome!” she said. “Baby, did you see that?” she hollered to Beef Stick, who was just coming back with the ice. I had no idea what part she thought was awesome: hitting her head, or puking all over the place. He helped her off the stage and, before I knew it, their tongues were going at it again. I had to resist my own urge to throw up.
“At least rinse out your mouth,” I yelled at her. It was pointless. The workers cleaned up the mess, and the spotlights worked to draw club goers to the opposite end of the club. Up on the corner stages, two girls performed their own coordinated strip tease, and the audience forgot all about Sasha. I had a feeling management had done this before.
Once again, I looked around for Aria, but I didn’t see her. The VIP lounge was empty. “Have you seen Aria?” I asked Finn.
“No, I didn’t even know she was here.”
“She was upstairs with—”and then I didn’t even want to say the name.
“With who?” Finn asked.
I ignored his question and went over and interrupted Sasha. “Have you seen Aria?” I asked her.
Sasha opened her eyes and started giggling. “Ziva, this is Tony,” she said.
“Hi, Tony. Can you give us a second?” I pulled Sasha away. I could care less what Beef Stick’s name was at that moment.
“Hay-ay!” she protested.
“Listen to me for a sec. Do you know where Aria is?”
“I dunno. Probably with her Latino lover. Now can I go? Tony’s waiting for me, and I’m going home with him.”
“What?! Girl, that’s not smart. Use your brain. You don’t even know that guy. You can’t just go home with him.”
“Ziva, chill out. You’re like an absolute buzz killer. Little Miss No Fun trying to tell everyone what to do,” Sasha snapped.
“You’re ridiculous, you know that?”
“You’re not my mom. Quit bossing me around.” See, like a five-year old. “Listen, I know what I want, and he’s going to give it to me. Back off.”
Fine. I wasn’t going to sit there and keep arguing with the girl. I finally let her go and told her to call me if she saw Aria, or needed anything. I also threw in a couple threats to Tony if anything bad came of my friend, just for good measure. Then I spotted Kitti across the bar, and went over to see if she knew anything.
“Hey, Kitti, question for you,” I said.
“Did you see my act?” she asked. The high of her performance still radiated off her.
“Yeah, it was great. But listen, I’m looking for my girlfriend. She was with Delgado. Have you seen them?”
“Oh sure, they left a while ago.”
“Really? Where’d they go?” My pulse instantly kicked up a few beats.
“No clue. He called for the limo about an hour ago, and they slipped out back.”
An hour ago? Sweet sugar, they could be anywhere.
“One more thing: what’s the story with Beef Stick over there?” I asked.
“You mean Tony? He’s a sweetheart. You have nothing to worry about.”
“Okay cool. Thanks.” Last thing I needed was something bad to happen to Sasha too. Not that anything bad was happening to Aria. No, I just let my best friend run off with a murderer. I’m sure she’s perfectly safe. I was such an idiot.
I checked my phone and was shocked I didn’t have any new texts or missed calls. Aria knew better than to just take off on me like that. It wasn’t like her. I texted her asking where she was, but she didn’t text me right back. I had to step outside to get a signal.
Finn followed me out while I dialed Aria. Her voicemail picked up. “Hey, girl, just wondering where you’re at. Call me.” If I could’ve slammed my phone shut, I would’ve. This was bad. Like, I-was-almost-having-a-panic-attack-figuring-out-what-to-do-next, bad. I apologized to my Nan for being so stupid, and offered up a quick prayer that she’d help me out again and keep Aria safe. I had really screwed up.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” Finn asked.
I didn’t want to fess up, but I knew I had to. It all came tumbling out. “We met up with Delgado tonight at Inez’s and then ended up here, and then one thing lead to another, and now Aria’s missing and I’m pretty sure she’s with him.”
“What? Are you crazy? What were you thinking?” Finn hollered.
I got defensive. “Hey, your opinion of the man isn’t the only one I’ve heard. I wanted to meet him for myself, form my own conclusion.”
“How’d that work out for you?” Finn asked.
“Don’t be an ass.”
I headed toward Aria’s car, thinking about where I should go next, but one look at the car told me I wasn’t going anywhere.
“Are you kidding me? Aria’s going to kill me.” All four tires were slashed and the word SLUT was keyed into the side. Finn stopped short beside me. “Like you’re the poster child of perfect judgment,” I said to him. It was a low blow, but he deserved it. So much for me trying to be nice to Justine the psycho.
“Listen, I’m sorry. I just know Delgado’s bad news, and I didn’t want you anywhere near him,” he said.
It felt good to know that Finn cared about me. Now wasn’t the time for me to get all sentimental though.
“I know, it was dumb of me, but now what?” I said.
“Now we go to Delgado’s house,”
Finn said.
“You know where he lives?”
Finn nodded.
Of course, he knew.
16
I followed Finn and climbed up into his truck. I couldn’t do anything about Aria’s car now, so I left it where it was and figured I’d call the cops and Aria’s insurance company in a couple of hours. I needed to talk to Aria before I made either of those calls.
Finn tore out of the parking lot, and I finally felt like we were making some progress. I bent forward and unbuckled my heels. The shoes’ straps peeled back, leaving red bands across my feet. I stretched my feet out and scrunched my toes. It was painfully good, like acupuncture or a deep-tissue massage. My feet no longer throbbing, I could focus on our new plan.
“Where are we going exactly?” I asked.
“Sea Port. Delgado lives on a plantation, not far on the island.”
That’s right. Inez had told me that. I wasn’t surprised. Some of the richest folks flocked there, right along with the tourists. The once-quiet community had become a vacation hotspot, thanks to the beautiful beaches and myriad of professional golf courses. On a good day, it could take an hour to cross the mainland bridge, and that was during the off season. Traffic alone was reason enough to keep my business elsewhere.
But traffic wasn’t a problem this morning. We didn’t pass a single car on Highway 17 or 278. Boulevards, landscaped with palm trees and car dealerships with pricey cars, were all I could see. Jaguar, Land Rover, BMW, Mercedes—the island had them all. The dealerships weren’t flashy though. Every building on the island, including the car dealerships, banks, and even fast food restaurants and big chain stores, were painted in the same earthy palette. The building material of choice was wood, and not a single sign flashed or scrolled. The result was an effortless beauty, an island surround by nature, accepted by nature. Sea Port was crafted, yet organic. A manicured community that wasn’t flashy or pretentious.
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