He’d really fucked up. He allowed a woman to distract him. That was unacceptable. He knew better. He should have said no like he had the last one.
He looked around the get his bearings when he realized they had danced all the way back to the front of the club. When he turned back to the mystery woman she was gone.
“Drew,” Greg practically shouted.
“Yeah,”
“We have a problem. A major fucking problem.”
“I’m coming now.” Once he got back through the crowd.
Drew was kicking himself. What had he been thinking. He and women didn’t mix well. This was a prime example of why not. “Any activity outside?”
“A bunch of cars are showing up but no one getting out of the building yet.”
“Drew, you don’t understand.” Greg started to say but he wasn’t paying attention.
Drew pushed himself through the crowd, uncaring anymore if he was being rude when he heard it. The fire alarm. Everyone seemed to realize what it was at the same time and that’s when the sprinkler system turned on dousing everyone. People started running and screaming to get out.
Drew tried to push past the panicking crowd but it was like taking a row boat upstream. It was a loosing battle. He had to turn and go out with the crowd before they stampeded over him.
“Keep an eye on those exits. I don’t have a choice but to go out front.”
Once outside and clear of the entrance Drew looked up and saw the fire and smoke coming out of the second floor in the back corner. Several rooms looked like they were up in flames.
The drug deal was completely forgotten. Greg was his only concern. He was supposed to be upstairs.
“Greg, where are you?” Please don’t let him be stuck inside.
“I’m out.”
Drew sagged against the wall in relief. Thank god for that. The sound of fire truck sirens could be heard in the distance and coming closer. Soon police would be there. The last thing they needed was their intervention. “Tell me someone saw something. Any of dealers.” Please don’t let this night be a complete waste.
“Sorry man. Everything was total chaos. People were swarmed together which camouflaged the dealers.” Jackson sounded defeated as if it he carried the weight of that fail. It wasn’t. It was on all of them. None more so than him. If it hadn’t been for that woman he would have been upstairs. He might had seen something. Their drug raid was a bust. Great, who knew how long before they’d get a break like this again.
“Everyone fall back. Jack see if you can find out if they have security footage. Maybe we’ll get lucky. We’ll regroup in the morning.”
Despite Drew’s words he stayed behind. He hoped to hear some chatter about what happened upstairs. If there were any witnesses to the drug deal. Greg had said he swept the basement so the upstairs was the only other place it could have gone down.
The police and fire trucks arrived moments after he ordered everyone to leave. He kept to the shadows listening. People were telling them their stories each more exaggerated than the next. Drew couldn’t help look around hoping to see thewoman in white. He didn’t know for what purpose. The woman had cost him the drug bust. He should just forget about her. Women were nothing but trouble. Tonight was a prime example of why.
After thirty minutes he stalked away frustrated to his car. No one had seemed to see anything. At least nothing that seemed useful to him and his investigation. It was a long shot there was any security footage. If they were doing drug deals in the building they would know to hide it.
Drew drove home in defeat. This night did not go the way he hoped. It wasn’t until he was parked in the garage with the door closed that he leaned back in his seat and growled in frustration.
He really wanted to punch something but his car didn’t deserve that kind of punishment. She was a classic. A 1969 black Chevrolet Camaro. Maybe an hour of punching his punching bag would let off some steam. Scrubbing a hand over his face, noting the stubble of his growing beard, Drew picked up a scent clinging to his skin. He took a whiff. Jasmine.
His dick started to harden remembering. Damn, he just couldn’t escape that woman. He’d have to take a shower. Remove all traces of her as if she never existed. Never had he experienced a woman getting under his skin so easily. He better up his work out to two hours now. It wasn’t like he was going to get any sleep anyway.
Drew couldn’t remember the last time he slept more than a few hours at a time. The nightmares were always there. Waiting for him. Waiting to pull him back under. So many faces. The screams of his friends calling out for help.
Just thinking about it made him break out in a cold sweat.
Drew threw open the car door and stormed out suddenly feeling claustrophobic. The impulse to slam the door rode him hard but he resisted, barely. He raced into the house, the doorleading into the kitchen. He found an empty cup next to the sink and filled it to the rim with water. He hated how his hand shook. After taking several deep gulps he took a breath.
Feeling better he set the glass to the side. He was known for his calm and collectiveness. He needed to put that to use now. To think and strategize. After a few hours of working out he’d come up with a better plan.
Before he could head to his room to change into workout clothes he heard something. He cocked his head waiting to hear it again. That couldn’t be right. It was coming from his garage. There shouldn’t be anything in there. He knew for a fact it was closed before he’d come in.
