Page 66 of Rough

Carol nodded, but there was a flicker in her eyes that led me to believe she was unconvinced by my act. I left before she had a chance to ask any further questions. I didn’t want to raise any alarm bells with her. The poor woman had enough stress on her plate as it was.

I checked out the remaining unlocked rooms in the club and then headed back downstairs, feeling frustrated. I was getting ready to call him but decided to check outside first. I couldn’t explain the sensation, but I just had a gut feeling that I should go out there.

Sure enough, as soon as I stepped out onto the sidewalk and into the bitter, crisp night air, I found Garret standing in the middle of the street at the corner.

He had a shocked expression on his face. His eyes looked wide and stunned, and his mouth was hanging partially open.

“Garret?” I whispered, cautiously approaching him. “Is everything… all right?”

He turned to face me. His eyes were bloodshot, and his expression was appalled and raw.

Garret blinked, acknowledging that he had at least heard me talking to him, but he didn’t respond right away, which further concerned me.

“What happened?” I glanced around the area, trying to detect anything out of the ordinary on my own.

The street was empty. Garret was alone, and from what I could see, there was no one else standing by him, or fleeing the area.

“Are you in trouble?” I asked, trying a different tactic. “Are you hurt?”

He didn’t appear to be physically injured.

“You have no idea.” Garret’s eyes were red-rimmed with anger. His cheeks were flushed and hot to the touch when I reached out and caressed them.

“Tell me exactly what happened out here,” I whispered soothingly. “Walk me through it, so that I can better understand and help you.”

“Three thugs… they… came out of nowhere…”

“Three… thugs?” I frowned, questioning him. “Garret, I don’t see anybody,” I pointed out as gently as I could.

Was he delusional and delirious? Perhaps he was hallucinating. Had he taken some kind of pill and wandered out into the street while I was in the bathroom? My stomach twisted into tight, anxious knots.

“They’re gone now,” he said with a scowl.

“Where did they go?” I pressed.

“They took off on foot. I wanted to chase after them, but with everything going on right now, I was afraid to leave the club unattended…”

He trailed off as if he couldn’t believe what he had just witnessed. I wished he would elaborate on the details already, but I didn’t want to push him too hard.

“What did they say to you?” I continued my attempts at pulling the story from him.

“They got scared off by a passing car and ran away.” He pointed abstractly in the general direction.

“But what did they say to you?” I asked. “Did they physically try to harm you?”

Garret finally made eye contact with me, and I felt like he was finally seeing me, his blank stare finally gone.

“I think that they would have, or at least tried to if the car hadn’t driven down the street at that exact moment. I probably could have taken them though,” he added with a smug expression. Even under pressure, he always tried to remain tough on the exterior.

“Did they have weapons?” I asked, feeling panicked. “Guns or knives?”

“Nothing that serious, but they still spooked me,” Garret mentioned.

“What did they have?” I stared at him.

This conversation was like pulling teeth, and I was growing increasingly frustrated by his aloof vagueness.

“They had bats,” Garret said.