Distractions

As much as Richard had intended to go to work that day, He found himself stuck at home by the afternoon. After he had dropped off Valentina and made his way back home so that he could take a shower, eat, and prepare for work, his mind wouldn't let him focus enough to go in.

The job of an accountant required a person to be completely focused at all times and able to catch any small mistakes that they or the person whose money they were in charge of might make. There was no real room for error or mistakes if one wanted to keep their job. Richard didn't feel like he could give that type of mental focus to his job today so he ended up calling in to take a rare paid leave day off.

His lack of focus has little to do with the fact that Juliet had somehow managed to contact him on his cellphone despite him never giving her access to it and more to do with the fact that he had fallen asleep at the club. He couldn't place what felt wrong about it and he doubted it had anything to do with Valentina considering how long she had been loyal to the club or Daniel as he never tried to pull any such tricks on his friend after all the years that they had known each other.

Yet, something didn't fit right to him with the fact that the amount of alcohol he had drank had such an effect on him. After years of drinking he had built a rather high tolerance to alcohol so that at most he would feel buzzed with the amount he drank to a bit tipsy but it was never enough to cause him to sleep.

He didn't feel any odd effects about his body aside from the bit of leftover brain fog he felt from drinking which was normal for him, but he couldn't get it off his mind.

Once he was past noon and he was certain that Daniel was awake, he decided to give him a call.

"Hey, what's up?" The voice on the other end of the phone sounded rather tired, Richard wouldn't have been surprised if Melissa was with him that he had just woken up not that long ago.

"I need to ask a favor." Richard replied, taking a sip of his coffee as he waited for his friend's tired mind to process what he said.

"Yeah? I'm guessing by the time that you're already back home by now, but I thought you had work today." Daniel replied, the other could hear the sound of the club owner moving around him room, mostly likely to collect his clothes and move to another location so that he didn't wake the other up if she was still asleep.

"I took the day off, but that's besides the point right now. I know you're aware that I was at the club for the night. I want you to get it checked out for me."

"Did something happen? I know Valentina was with you last night, is there something that I should be worried about?" He heard the caution in his friend's voice after he had said this.

"Nothing happened that I am aware of, something just doesn't feel right though. When have you ever known me in recent time to crash from drinking as much as I did last night?" There was a pause on the other end of the phone after Richard had asked this question. Standing up from where he had been sitting at his dinning room table, he moved over to the counter to pour another cup of coffee while he waited for his friend to reply.

"You haven't really..but I wasn't really pay attention to how much you were drinking last night so I just thought you had more than normal." Daniel replied with a touch hesitancy in his voice as he seemed to be thinking about what happened the other night. "You think someone drugged you?"

"I'm not certain, but if they did it would probably be with something that would already be out of my system."

"But, why you? I don't mean it like that, but I couldn't understand the reasoning." Daniel sighed.

"If anyone is looking for a scandal, they would certainly find one if it got leaked that I have been going there." Richard pointed out as he put the creamer in his coffee before taking a drink.

"A lot of people don't know who you are by sight though." His friend pointed out "Wouldn't that mean it would have to be something that you know personally."

"Not necessarily. Remember, I don't know many people around here outside of the club and work and the two don't mix. If the same person however who tried to leak the videos before did their research, they might know something." He mused. He didn't have much more of an idea than his friend did about what was going on, but he wanted it checked out either way even if it did turn out to be nothing that needs to be worried.

"I'll see what I can do before the club opens. A lot of people won't be around tonight either since it is only a Tuesday. I'll ask Walter and some of the other's as well to keep an eye out for anyone suspicious." Daniel assured his friend. "Unless someone was bold enough to come back into the room while you two were there or knew when you'd be leaving, it's likely that we will find something."

"Can you trace who might have gotten the drinks ready last night as well?" Richard asked. There was a pause again from Daniel and he heard a low curse and the sound of the other dropping his phone. More than a minute of silence went by before the club owner replied.

"Sorry, I don't know Miss was up and she startled me so I dropped my phone. Last night was really busy so I am not sure it would be easy to who prepared the bottle and cups and whom they were around before the girl who brought them in last night. I will try and call her later to ask if she can remember." After he said this, another paused follow before the voice on the other end of the phone changed.

"Good afternoon Rich. It sounds like you're dealing with some kind of problem here which I am certain is important. However, it is very rare that my boy and I get time together. This issue will certainly be looked into properly, I will make sure of that myself. For now, I'm ending this call so we can enjoy ourselves and I will be certain to make sure that he calls you after four this afternoon." Melissa didn't even wait to hear Richard's reply before the phone call was ended.

If it had been anyone else Richard would've felt rather annoyed after his call being interrupted and someone hanging up on him, but in this circumstance a ghost of a smile appeared on his face. He was actually rather fond of Melissa so this once he was going to let it slide since it was true that her and Daniel hardly did get time together with how busy both of them were.