Page 80 of Rough

Felix and I were finally ready for the grand opening of our brand-new club. We were doing the final walkthrough to make sure everything was in place, and to tie up any loose ends. For the most part, we were both pretty confident that the opening would go off without a hitch.

We were standing on the dance floor. It was substantially larger than the previous club, and there were two bars, one on either side of the dance floor, instead of just the one in the last club. The kitchen had been upgraded with modern equipment, and the design structure of the club as a whole was sleek, posh, and tasteful.

Felix glanced at me with an excited grin. “So? What do you think? How does everything look?”

“That’s the million-dollar question isn’t it?” I joked. I couldn’t stop smiling. I looked at Felix, thankful that I had his help to persist and see this through. “I couldn’t be happier. I think that everything looks amazing.”

“Me too.” Felix nodded, glancing around the heart of the club with general satisfaction. “I think that everything turned out better than we could have ever expected.”

I nodded in agreement. “Truth be told, I’m pleased how things fell into place. I love the modern design. It looks so sophisticated, which I know our members will appreciate.”

“I think you’re absolutely right.” Felix’s smile was earnest and eager.

“This place is much nicer than my old club, now that I’m able to stand here and make the comparisons. My initial budget with the old club was far skimpier than this one, and I owe that all to you.” I gave him a grateful smile.

Felix took my hand and kissed it. “You don’t owe me anything but love.”

“Well, in that case, I have plenty to go around,” I said with a chuckle.

He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him. We both contentedly gazed at all the blood, sweat, and tears we had put into this new building.

“It was worth the effort,” I admitted.

Felix squeezed me around the waist. His eyes gleamed excitedly. “I think so too.”

Carol approached us a few moments later. She seemed to be in good spirits. I was happy to bring her with me from the old club. She was great at her job and a wonderful asset to me as a business associate.

“Harry and his friend are here,” she said with a grin.

“Fantastic, send them in,” I directed enthusiastically.

Harry was the firefighter who ultimately had helped us do the separate investigation into the fire using an outside source. Without his help, we probably wouldn’t have stopped Nelson before he found another unsuspecting victim to torture.

Harry walked in with the outside investigator. His name was Pete Wagner. He was tall and lanky and always wore a gray suit with a black tie, at least every time I had been around him. He had big teeth and an even bigger grin. His hair was slicked back and looked like he used an entire bottle of product.

“Good to see you both again,” I said and animatedly shook both men’s hands. “I can’t wait to show you around.”

“Give us the whole tour,” Harry said with curiosity flickering in his blue eyes.

Harry was gay but he had never visited my club before the fire accident. He had promised to be a regular at the new club if he could do it in a discretionary manner. Felix and I had both promised to help Harry out as much as we possibly could because we already felt indebted to him.

“I’ll do you one better,” I said and beckoned for them to follow me over to the bar.

I poured us each a shot of my finest bourbon. “To new beginnings that wouldn’t have been possible without the tireless efforts and passion from every person standing in this circle right now.”

I raised my glass and everyone else followed suit. “Salud,” Harry said and slurped down the whole thing down in one gulp.

“That burned a little, but I loved it,” Pete said with a zesty grin.

We laughed, and I offered to pour us another round, but Felix stopped me.

“Maybe later,” he said with a chuckle. “Let’s get the club opened first and then we can really start celebrating.”

“Good thinking,” I said, grinning and looking at the other two while pointing to Felix. “He keeps me grounded.”

“I do it all out of love,” Felix laughed.

He was right. I felt a tremendous amount of happiness with this new and improved club. The icing on the cake was the fact that Nelson and Mayor Beech had been slapped with a plethora of charges due to Pete’s outstanding investigative work.