by Joan Rylen
Vivian made introductions to the family and everyone talked for a few minutes. The waiting room started getting crowded because Jason’s band showed up, along with a host of other people.
Vivian gave Jason’s mother a big hug. “It was really nice meeting you. I wish it was under different circumstances, but at least Daisy has been found and will be okay.”
His mom squeezed her back, then said to the group. “I know all of you played a role in this. We can’t thank you enough.” Her phone rang. “I’m sorry, family’s calling. I need to take this.”
Al, Adrienne and the girls left the hospital, and although they were emotionally drained, they had to celebrate. It was the girls’ last night in town, Daisy was safe, and Wendy was about to be hitched.
“I know just the place,” Kate said as Al valeted at Hotél Versailles. “They have Jell-O shots in great big syringes.”
Gary, the doorman, opened Adrienne’s door and the back door. His left eye was an ugly reddish purple.
Lucy got out. “You didn’t get the day off after getting punched out?”
Gary laughed. “I’m all right. I told them it looks worse than it is.”
Al slipped him a business card and a bill. “You ever need a job, call me.”
Gary expertly slipped that in his pocket and said, “So what happened to Mr. Surendran?” The girls got him caught up on the events from decoy to Daisy. “I need to buy y’all a drink,” Gary said at the end of the tale.
“We’ll be at the Funky 544,” Kate told him. “You and Lea should join us later.”
He smiled. “I may just ask her to do that.”
Kate led the way to Bourbon and the Funky 544. A band played downstairs, but she took everyone up the narrow staircase to a lounge and another bar that was pulsing to the sound of “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke.
“I love this song!” Vivian said and started dancing, then stopped. “Oh, I almost forgot.” She reached into her purse and pulled out Wendy’s battered bachelorette sash. “I brought this along, just in case!”
Wendy smiled. “Okay, one last hoorah!” She put it on and did a little shimmy.
The bartender gave everyone two strands of beads, except for Wendy, who got three, and told them that drinks were three-for-one and the giant, plastic syringe Jell-O shots were $2. They commandeered the balcony and Kate bought the first round.
Adrienne, Lucy and Wendy lined up, backs against the railing, heads tilted and mouths open like baby birds as Al, Vivian and Kate played nurse and squirted the red goo into their mouths.* They switched places and everyone got thoroughly medicated.
Vivian scanned the crowd and saw a familiar face walking up Bourbon. She pulled off her beads and chunked them his way. Antonio snatched them from the air and put them around his neck. Then he walked in, downstairs.
Adrienne gave him a big hug when he walked onto the balcony, tired but looking good. His wrinkled, white dress shirt was untucked from his jeans and his cuffs were rolled up.
Everyone congratulated him on the day’s events. Al shook his hand and gave him a beer.
Antonio walked up to Vivian. “What can I say?”
“About what?”
“Everything. Y’all are the ones who broke this thing wide open. We couldn’t have done it without you.”
Her cheeks flushed and she waved him off. “It was a team effort.”
He leaned down and kissed her, then held up his beads. “Not sure I did anything to deserve these.”
The space between them seemed to heat up.
“There’s still plenty of opportunity, you know.”
He grinned down at her. “I like new opportunities.”
Chapter 50
The girls, Al, Adrienne and Antonio stood on the balcony of the Funky 544 talking about Daisy’s return.
“She’s really lucky,” Antonio said. “That guy was an absolute narcissistic lunatic, but he didn’t sexually assault her. Daisy told us Sonu and a couple of his guys threw her around a few times and she’s got some bruises from where Sonu kicked her.”
“That asshole!” Vivian said.
“Evidently, Sonu was infatuated with her and became convinced she would grow to love him. He had his guys drug her with Rohypnol and planned on taking her back to Kuwait.” Antonio took a long draw of his beer. “Apparently his father is some big-wig politico, but that’s not going to save him. You can’t kidnap people in America and expect to get away with it. I don’t give a shit who your daddy is.”
“Is she staying overnight in the hospital?” Kate asked.
“Yeah, because she was drugged. They’ll run some labs and stuff and she’ll talk to the behavioral health folks. She’s been through a traumatic event but should be released tomorrow mid-morning or so if everything checks out okay.”
“Thank goodness he didn’t rape her,” Lucy said. “That’s my worst fear.”
“That’s pretty much all women’s worst fear, I think,” Wendy said.
They chatted a bit more about Sonu on the stairs of the plane. Antonio explained how he tripped and fell on the burqa Daisy was wearing. Everyone cheersed and had a good laugh at Sonu’s clumsiness.
“He fell down before he could be taken down,” Lucy said. “I love it!”
Adrienne pointed to Antonio with her vodka and cranberry. “How were y’all going to capture him without hurting the hostages?”
“The plan was to apprehend the bodyguard and intercept Surendran before he got to the other plane. Womack and Warner would have been able to pull it off. They’re some of the best.”
The group cheersed again to Womack and Warner.
“And one more thing, the undercover you saw everywhere was the problem in investigation. He stole the surveillance video of the club off Leffall’s desk before a copy could be made, and he worked to steer the investigation off-course. If you hadn’t alerted me to his random appearances, I may not have picked up on that.”
“What are they going to do to that double-crosser?” Al asked.
“Internal affairs is on it, but I think they’ll find a large amount of cash in his house.”
“How much cash we talkin’?” Wendy asked.
“Twenty grand. And that’s just the up-front payment.”
Lucy pointed her almost-empty syringe at Antonio. “We knew that guy was up to no good, even if he was cute.” Her finger slipped on the plunger and a blob of red goo squirted down the front of Antonio’s shirt.
He looked down and groaned. “Great, now I look like a crime scene.”
Everyone laughed and Al ducked inside. He emerged a couple of minutes later with two bags of beads. “Let me show you how it’s done.” He tossed Lucy one of the bags and ripped open the other. He pulled out several strands and leaned over the railing, twirling them on his finger.
Immediately a group began to form under the balcony.
“Ya gotta earn it!” he yelled down, dangling the beads over the balcony.
A woman flipped up her floral top, showing her black, lacy bra.
“I’ll let that slide,” Al said, grinning, and tossed her a strand.
This spurred a flurry of shirt raising and boob sightings. Al went through his bag quickly, so Lucy ripped open the second one and everyone grabbed a few strands.
“I don’t want boobs,” Vivian yelled to the crowd. “I want boys!” She smiled at Antonio, then focused on Bourbon. She pointed to three guys walking behind the crowd. “Whatcha got?”
One of the guys lifted his shirt. His belly was more like Silly Putty, but she threw him a strand for the effort.
Antonio came up close behind her. “Wanna know what I got?”
Vivian turned around to face him and ran her hand down his chest. “I think I like what you got.” She put the remaining beads in her hand around his neck. “You will definitely need to earn these.”
Al bought another round of giant syringes, and the girls took turns snapping pictures leaning over the balcony shooting their “medicine.”
; Vivian texted Jason a picture of everyone celebrating Daisy’s freedom. The Funky 544 sign shined brightly behind them.
He texted back:
More cause to celebr8. We r gettin married 2moro! Workin on plans, will let you know.
Vivian:
Congratulations! We leave tomorrow evening, but we’ll try to be there.
Jason:
You HAVE to be there.
Oh, u have a crowd comin ur way. Next round on me!
Vivian smiled and tucked her phone away. “Jason and Daisy are getting married tomorrow!” This got another round of cheers.
“Where?” Adrienne asked.
“He said they’re making plans.”
“I know just the place. Give me his number.”
Vivian did and Adrienne went inside the bar.
The girls danced on the balcony, flirting from afar with men on Bourbon. Al bought another bag of beads, and they got tossed to worthy flashers.
Twenty minutes later, four of the guys who had been in the ER waiting room came onto the balcony. One of them looked at his phone, then walked up to Vivian. He flashed his phone at her and the picture she had sent to Jason, the one of her taking a Jell-O syringe.
“Though your head is back in this picture, I’m fairly sure it’s you.” He smiled. “I’m Paul. This is Eric, Will and Thomas.”
Vivian stuck out her hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Vivian.” She introduced everyone else. “Y’all are in Jason’s band, right?”
“We are,” Paul said. “I hear you girls are the reason Daisy is safe. Thank you.”
Lucy nudged Kate. “This one here’s practically a psychic.”
Kate smiled. “We just got lucky. Antonio and his team did all the work.”
“Whoever did whatever, we’re grateful,” Thomas said, and he shook Antonio’s hand. “I hear Jason owes y’all a round.” He held up a credit card. “I think, since the drinks are on him, you deserve two!”
That got the group rowdy again, and they celebrated in true Bourbon fashion. Gary, the doorman, and Lea, the housekeeping manager, showed up, as did Jonathon, which made Lucy extra giddy.
Al and Adrienne called it quits after about an hour. Adrienne grabbed Al’s head and pulled it down to her eyes. “Oh my god! Is this another gray hair I see?” She kissed the top of his head. “You’re gettin’ old, old man! Time to put you to bed.”
He wrapped his burly arms around her. “I’m not old. I just need some post-excitement excitement.”
They said their goodbyes and left the bar, arm in arm.
The girls, Antonio, the band and others danced, drank, sang, laughed and enjoyed the night, knowing tomorrow would be a special day — a new beginning for Daisy and Jason.
Around 3:30 in the morning, Kate turned to Vivian. “I’m about to fall over.”
“Too many syringes?”
“Maybe. Or exhaustion. This has been a crazy day.”
“Okay, let’s hit it.”
The girls, Antonio and Jonathon said goodbye to the band, Gary and Lea. “Perhaps we’ll see you at the wedding later today,” Thomas said.
“Hope so,” Vivian responded. “If it works out with our flights, we’ll be there.”
As they headed out on Bourbon toward their hotel, Antonio wrapped his arm around Vivian’s waist.
Holy hellbuckets! I can’t believe this! She tried to contain her excitement as they neared Hotel De Lis.
Jonathon held Lucy’s hand as they walked. He’d gotten his job back at the pizza place and had worked that night, so he smelled like pepperoni.
When they reached the hotel, Wendy and Kate went on upstairs. Lucy and Jonathon walked to the elevators, but Vivian and Antonio stayed outside.
He pushed a blonde curl out of her face. “I wish I’d had the opportunity to get to know you better.”
“It’s probably best that you didn’t. I live in Fort Worth, which makes you geographically undesirable.” She put her finger on his chest and smiled up at him. “Though I do love this city and want to come back soon.”
He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulled her in tight and leaned down for a long, passionate kiss. His face was scratchy since it had probably been 24 hours since his last shave, but she didn’t care. His lips were soft and he was an incredible kisser. He moved her to the brick wall next to the entrance and kissed her harder, more urgently. His hands roamed up from her waist.
This is tempting.
He pushed himself against her, brushed his hand gently over her breasts and wrapped it around her neck, playing with her hair. He smelled faintly of sweetness, aftershave or cologne, and she moved her hands under his shirt, running her fingernails over his back.
I’m about to give in.
He slowly stopped kissing her and took a deep breath. “I want you to come home with me.”
Me, too! Me, too! Me, too!
She pulled her hands out of his shirt and looked down. “I better not. The last one-night stand I had, I thought I was going to get eaten by a bear. I took it as a sign that perhaps I should stop having them.”
He laughed out loud. “No bears in New Orleans, unless we go to the Audubon Zoo.”
“Yeah, I know, but you know what I mean.”
“Actually, I have no idea what you mean, but I understand.”
Damn bears!
Chapter 51
Vivian’s phone buzzed on the nightstand. She scrambled around, found it and looked at the display. Nine-fifteen and three messages. The first was Rick asking what time she was picking up the kids, then two from Adrienne wanting to know if Vivian did the naughty with her brother. She responded to Rick first — around 9. Then she smiled as she texted Adrienne that no, she was not that kinda girl. Ha ha ha.
She put the phone back on the nightstand and rolled over. Everyone was still completely out, so she drifted off again, too.
An hour and a half later, hunger drove her to wake up. It was already 10:45. Wendy had a cup of coffee in her hand. Kate was in the shower.
“Sleepyhead snore monster rises,” Lucy said, grabbing Vivian’s toes that were still covered.
Vivian pulled her foot up. “I don’t snore.”
“Oh honey, I have hard and fast evidence that, in fact, you do.” Lucy pulled out her phone and played a video of Vivian sawing logs like she was building a cabin from scratch.
“Geez, that’s pretty bad,” Vivian said and threw the covers back.
“Uh, yes. I will be bringing earplugs on our next trip.”
Wendy smiled as she folded her alcohol-stained bachelorette sash and put it into her suitcase. “It didn’t bother me, Viv.”
“You seriously need to go to a sleep study or something.” Lucy said.
The water in the shower turned off.
“Why? I slept great!” Vivian stood up and stretched. “Somebody woke up to be a grouchy gus this morning. Didn’t have any pepperoni last night?”
Lucy couldn’t help but laugh. She folded a shirt to perfection and placed it in her suitcase. “Not the good kind. I came this close to taking a big-ass bite, though.” She left about an inch between her thumb and pointer. “This close.”
Wendy took a sip of her coffee. “You better hurry, Viv. Checkout’s in 10 minutes.”
“No problem,” Vivian said. “Y’all can go check us out, I’ll grab a quick shower, throw my stuff in the suitcase, and shazamm, I’ll be ready.”
“Isn’t that supposed to be shazammapuss?” Kate yelled from the bathroom.
“You’re right! Shazammapuss, my ass’ll be ready!” Vivian clapped her hands together, then reached for her suitcase. She opened a drawer and started tossing things in. “Kate, move it or lose it! I gotta get in there!” Her phone buzzed. It was a message from Jason.
Wedding, 2:00, Jackson Square in front of fountain. Reception at Flanagan’s.
Vivian told the girls. “Yay, we can make it, our flights aren’t until 7.”
“And we have time to grab lunch!” Wendy clapped. “Let’s do this!
” She and Lucy went downstairs to check them out of the hotel.
Vivian switched places with Kate in the bathroom and flew through a shower. She double-timed shaving her legs and cut herself right by her ankle. “Ouch!” She jumped out of the shower, stuck a piece of toilet paper on her bleeding leg, ran some mousse through her curls, slapped on some deodorant, rubbed moisturizer on her face and swiped on some mascara and lip gloss. She threw on a sassy, pink, abstract-print maxi dress, slipped on her Shoe-Be-Do shoes and put on her chandelier earrings. “Voila.”
Kate nodded, impressed. “Not bad.” She wore a snazzy, aubergine purple, silk sheath tank dress and looked at the red toilet paper clinging to Vivian’s leg. “Technical difficulties?”
“That’s the way it goes, sometimes, but you look simply elegant as usual.”
“Thanks.” Kate did a room check to make sure they weren’t leaving anything behind and brought Vivian her toiletries out of the bathroom. “Don’t forget these.”
Vivian stuffed them into her suitcase, zipped it up and pulled it off the bed.
There was a knock at the door. “Open up. Police!”
Vivian opened the door to a giggling Lucy and Wendy. Lucy shrugged. “We couldn’t help ourselves.”
“Wow!” Vivian said. “You girls look fabulous!” Lucy wore a dark gray A-line dress with a plunging neckline and an amazing pair of Jimmy Choos. Wendy wore an off-shoulder, champagne-colored number.
“Love the bag,” Kate said to Wendy, referring to her oversized purse. “It’s perfect for toting your personal pharmacy.”
Wendy patted the coral-colored behemoth. “I thought we might need a thing or two out of here today since we didn’t get much sleep last night.”
The girls grabbed their bags, got to the lobby and checked them at the bellman’s stand.
“Where should we go for lunch?” Wendy asked as he tagged the bags.