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Nearly an hour passed before Gabriella untangled herself from the sea of arms and legs and retreated back to the bar. The bartender gave her a look of acknowledgement as he walked over to her, “What can I get for the lady?”

Gabriella shrugged, scanning the bar for Amy, “Well…have you seen a blonde girl…about oh, 5’6... slim… busty?”

The bartender chuckled and made a sweep of the room with his hand, “Sweetie, you just described half the girls in this place. But if you’re talking about the lady you came in with, no…I haven’t seen her.”

Groaning, Gabriella rolled her eyes slightly and nodded at the man, “Okay, then another Bud Light please…”

Nodding, the man disappeared and again returned within moments with a frosty bottle. Gabriella reached into her bag to get another five, but the man leaned over the counter and stayed her hand, “No no miss… this one’s on the house.”

Gabriella gave him a look of bewilderment and he shrugged, motioning to the VIP room, “Mr. Carter insisted… it’s on the house miss.”

Looking at the beer, she considered leaving it on the bar to make a statement, but her thirst got the better of her and she wrapped her hand around it, muttering to herself. Taking a sip of it, she again scanned the room for any sign of Amy, but still did not see her friend.

“Oh…miss?”

Gabriella turned around at the sound of the bartender’s voice and offered him a small smile, “Yeah?”

“I hate to be a bother, but there’s a note here for you. I think your friend left it… the other bartender told me a blonde left it here about 20 minutes ago and said to give it to you.”

She took the folded paper from the bartender and thanked him. Curiously opening it, she recognized Amy’s handwriting immediately:

Gabby,

I’m soooo sorry girl, but I had to head back to the hotel. I’m not feeling too good. I tried to find you, but I had no idea where you were, and I knew you’d be back for a drink, so I left this note. Please know I’m perfectly okay. I’m not drunk or anything, just tired. Love you girl. And I’ll pay you back for our cab fare.


“Great,” she muttered to anybody who was listening, “…well at least she let me know.”

Swallowing another sip of her beer, Gabriella realized that the club was beginning to wind down for the night. People were leaving and the bartender behind her called out Last Call. Checking her watch, she smiled to see that it was nearly 3 AM. Maybe it had been more than an hour since she had last seen Amy…

Gabriella shrugged and slung her backpack over her shoulder, letting the bag portion rest against her chest. She folded up Amy’s note and shoved it down into her pocket.

Feeling a sudden urge to visit the ladies’ room, she set her empty bottle on the counter of the bar and began weaving her way through the customers that were heading for the exit. To her dismay, the line for the restroom was two deep as far as she could see.

She sighed as she looked around for another possible avenue to relieve herself. Noticing another restroom sign on the second floor, she slipped through the crowd to the stairs and hurried up them, taking them nearly two at a time. Once she had reached the top landing, she glanced around to regain her bearings. Oh yes, to the left.

Taking a quick left, she hurriedly made her way to the bathroom, relieved to find no patrons waiting. Walking inside, she nearly gasped at her surroundings. There was a couch with two armchairs in the outer room and delicately painted walls. Walking into the adjoining room, she was even more amazed by the intricate details on the faucets and the stall doors. Only her bodily warning system pulled her from her admiration.

Moments later she emerged from the stall and approached the sink to wash her hands when she heard something outside the door. It sounded like a scuffle, but the walls muffled the voices just enough to make their words incoherent.

Quickly washing her hands, she wiped them on her jeans to dry them and moved closer to the outer wall to eavesdrop. It sounded like someone was angry and she could hear at least three different voices yelling. One of them sounded familiar.

With a gasp, Gabrielle jumped away from the wall. The voice she recognized was Nick’s. He was in an argument? With whom? Leaning into the wall again, she tried to pick out the other voices. Both sounded familiar and then it dawned on her. The deeper one… maybe that bouncer from outside? Whoever it was sounded mad, but what was he saying?

Stepping closer to the exit, she strained to hear what was being said.

“Listen…I will not tolerate this shit in my club. I am asking you nicely to leave before I call the cops.”

Gabriella’s eyes widened at the gruff man’s voice. What had Nick done? Still trying to lean closer to the exit, she lost her footing and tumbled head first out into the hallway. Gasping softly, she scrambled to get up and hide, but a voice stopped her dead in her tracks, “What the hell are you doing up here? The club is closed.”

She struggled to find her voice, but managed to squeak out, “I…was just leaving.”

Without making eye contact with the man again, she scurried up off the floor and made for the stairs. Before she had even dropped her foot onto the first step, the arguing behind her resumed, louder than ever.

“Fine, call the cops. See if I fucking care! I’m Nick Carter… “

She paused on the step, trying to take in as much of the conversation as she could.

The gruff man’s voice got even louder, “I do not tolerate drugs in my establishment… I don’t care if it’s pot or it’s heroin! None of it flies here Carter! I am giving you the chance to come down off your high horse and leave but if you refuse, I WILL call the cops.”

Nick huffed, obviously being stubborn, “Like I said…call them…”

Gabriella turned around on the steps and slowly approached the arguing group. Unsure of what she was going to say, she cleared her throat. Quickly, the man wheeled around on her.

In as nice a voice as he could muster, he informed her, “I thought I told you to leave. This is none of your business.”

Speaking as if the words weren’t coming from her own mouth, Gabriella quipped, “He’s with me. I’ll take him home.”
Both the man and Nick looked at her in awe. Nick shook his head violently, “I don’t know her.”

Gabriella sighed and walked over to Nick, brushing up against him and curtly saying to where only he could hear, “You’ve got two options. Suck it up and go with me… or go to jail. Recent DUI ring a bell?”

Nick’s eyes widened at her as he surveyed her expression. Through clenched teeth, he replied, “I thought you didn’t know anything about me?”

Gabriella turned to the man, “He’s coming with me. He’s so belligerent when he’s drunk. I apologize for this sir, I am very sorry.”

The man nodded and motioned towards the stairs, “Fine, just get him out of my club. I don’t want to ever see either of you here again or I will call the cops without a second thought.”

Gabrielle bit her tongue and nodded at the man, then turned to Nick, grabbing hold of his arm and pulling towards the stairs. Once out of earshot, she hastily quipped, “I said I didn’t know MUCH about you Carter… and that doesn’t mean I don’t read the news…”