Surprisingly, the exhibition had gone without a hitch. To her credit, Rita had played the her part well. It did not take long before she went back to her strictly business approach with him. When they returned on Saturday, the police had sweeped the house for fingerprints and bugs. They did not find fingerprints but they did find bugs in the rooms, her phone, her laptop and even the TV. A week later, missing persons case was filed for Anthony and Irina. It took them an additional two more weeks to find their bodies. And Samuel still had no idea who had done it or nearly kidnapped Rita.
She had been very hesitant about going back to the house. It had taken two more weeks get somewhat over it. Of course, both Irina and Anthony being declared missing and pronounced dead, did not help. In the slightest.
Irina’s death he could maybe understand but trying to abduct his personal assistant, he did not. It frustrated him that he was as close to the answer as Canada was to Australia. He had taken out some of that frustration on the DeKali Group. Leon, the fucker had come to Nexion to beg him. He was a sorry mess. Well, too fucking bad. Samuel was not in the mood to see things from his point of view. He had DeKali thrown out, the man did not even do himself the favour of walking out on his own. He went down kicking and screaming empty threats like a toddler. Neither he nor Rita were amused but the press were.
After the near kidnapping experience she had had getting back into that house was the last thing she wanted. But she did not have anywhere else to go so.
She had not mentioned any of it to the guys at the bakery, though they all knew something was up. Paranoia was hard to hide but work helped and by the time she got her first invite to a drink, it had almost faded. Almost.
She had not expected it, she had kept mostly to herself those past weeks. Well, that was what happens when you are almost kidnapped and the cops after weeks investigating turn up with absolutely nothing.
It was after work one Friday evening, Mr Princeton had left work early and she had wanted to go straight home which was really pathetic for a Friday night by her standards and also because she was still afraid. She always felt like she was being watched and she could not stop herself from looking over her shoulder now and again. Before she got to the revolving doors Miguel caught her attention. “Miss Anozim, do you have a moment?” he asked.
Rita stopped and faced him. “Is anything the matter?” she asked.
“No, I just wanted, well to be honest some friends and I were wondering if you would be interested in joining us for a drink or something tonight.” He answered, slinging his workbag onto his shoulder, expecting her reply.
It had been a while since she last had a good Friday night. She did not even know when the words came out of her mouth. “Yeah, I guess,”
“That’s great–” he beamed.
There was still a catch. “But why would you– ”
“And my friends.” Miguel included
“Okay then, why do you and your friends want me with you on a Friday night? ”
“Well, it was I who insisted. Based on the last CEO’s Personal Assistant, we all kinda got a small glimpse at how lonely and stressful it is up there all alone with a boss and paperwork. And that’s excluding city hopping. And your one monthiversary celebration is overdo. So…”
Rita was surprised by his last sentence. Huh, so she had been working at Nexion for a full month and then some already. That was right, it was mid August. She truly had not noticed. She tried to decide whether to accept the offer or decline. After the stressful week she had had with paperwork and putting up with that ass that was her boss, did she not deserve something special? And by special, she did not mean drinking a bottle of wine in that house full of cameras. Rita never felt truly safe there, forever reminded of Theo and the others actions. “Alright, who are your friends and where are we going?”
“Um…Shane Edmond, he’s in distribution, Lara Traf from marketing, Fiona Mclord from editorial and Travis Dromous from security detail. We want to hit up the new bar that just opened, Umbra’s the name. It’s right down Hernandez Avenue.”
Hernandez Avenue went by many names, club heaven, spring of liquid courage, booze town and a lot more than Rita hardly cared to remember. It was not too far from where she lived but she had not been to that part of Alvas in a long while. Not since her favorite club got shut down. “What time?” she asked.
Miguel answered with a smile. “6:15,” Rita looked down at her wristwatch. It was 5:40 pm. She had thirty five minutes. She could do that. “The rest are left a while ago, I stuck around to ask and get some more work done.”
“You said Umbra was the name of the place, right?”
“Yeah. Would you like some directions?”
“No, it’s alright I’ve got a GPS. Thanks and see you in a few.” She concluded before going out the revolving doors.
She was back home now and still contemplating how in the world she agreed to any of it. She googled up Umbra and she wondered just how in the world Miguel and his friends and her could possibly get in. The place was supposed to be high end unless the owners were letting in a few ordinary people to boost their publicity on the streets later and have everyone clambering to get in. Rita really hoped she was not going to be spending this Friday night in a line. For nothing. That would be even more pathetic than staying home.
She had two sets of choices, go or flake and depending on the first choice, fun, sexy or comfy cozy. What kind of person would she be if she just flaked? And on Miguel of all people, who so far was one of the friendliest–the only person she had ever interacted with in all of Nexion. Except for that bastard that was her boss and he did not count. Even after everything. Ok, maybe a little.
She was usually good at this sort of thing. Taking decisions. Now it was becoming less and less of an easy task. That was it! She was going and nothing was going to get in her way. So between fun and sexy. What the heck, why not both, Rita thought with a smile.
****
It was not that hard to find Umbra even without GPS. There were billboards advertising the grand opening with the written address everywhere. Maybe it was the power of advertising but the place promised to be fun and she believed it. Umbra was just a block away from where her favorite place used to be.
She found Miguel waiting for her outside, dressed in a black pair of jeans and a grey top. Rita really hoped to the moon and back that they were not going to spend the night in a line. At least if they were, there was some coconut rice and fish waiting for her back at the house. Miguel spotted her, flashed a smile and waved. She returned the smile and the wave and walked up to him.
“Hi Miguel.” She greeted.
Miguel ran his eyes over her with surprise and something that looked like approval in his eyes.“Hi Rita. I can call you by your first name, right?” he asked, shy.
A small laugh escaped her lips. “It would be weird if you didn’t.” She had curles her hair and let it fall free and gone for a simple midarm black minidress and heels. Keeping the makeup to a medium. Based on Miguel’s reaction tye combo was good one. She was already getting back into the swing of things, however the real test would be inside. “Shall we?” Miguel asked producing two passes. Rita internally squealed, excited and nervous all at once. “Let’s.” Rita replied.