DOWNTOWN

"You what?!",

A loud voice of an angry man shrieked in haste inside a roadside club that had been getting along with the fun of men and ladies dancing to the loud beats of the music filling the whole corners of the rowdy hall with its noisy rhythm which shrouded the ears of the party dwellers as well as distracting their minds from feeling more concerned about the rain falling outside the party venue located in a dirty slum twenty five blocks away from Emma's domicile even after the rain died down an hour before midnight where most of the nude women including drunken men of illicit mindset of having fun with the ladies in the club, were fully engrossed in getting themselves relieved of the burden of working tirelessly during the day though majority of them only came spend quality time to hang out with few special friends. As for a few others apart from the owner of the club whose attention was focused on some ladies giving him a massage in his room at the upper part of the hall whilst the music kept rolling in the background thanks to the uninterrupted power that was still functional enough in this part of the area to keep the party going on in spite of the stormy night brewing violently outside the noisy club.

"Keep your voice down. Fred",

The second speaker who had in fact been the reason why the angry fellow shouted in disdain though his voice was not completely heard because of the music rolling in the background, responded without any ounce fear of being intimidated by loud scream that failed to surpass the noise of the music.

"Don't tell me shit, Max. That suit really meant to be your outfit for the rest period of the night as a varlet but you ruined it",

Fred replied taking another bottle of whiskey from the bartender while placing his other hand around the lush waist of a blonde haired lady whose makeup wasn't enough to conceal the hideous beauty of her skinny face.

"How was I supposed to know that the rain would fall, huh? It's not like I could foretell the future",

"No, Max. You should have been here much sooner before sunset or a little late than that when the rain hasn't gone fierce enough to get a grown man of twenty six years fully soaked from top to bottom",

"Whatever you say, I don't care. Am I fit to work today or not?",

"I don't know, dude. It won't do you any good to work in that wet outfit",

Fred answered as his eyes went giddy for a moment as a result of him savoring the harsh effects of the alcohol plaguing his conscious mind while his hands kept caressing the back of the lady, standing next to him in such a repulsive way that irritated Max who stood facing him, with his entire outfit and his shoes utterly wet from his head to foot.

"Then help me out with some clothes. I really need the cash tonight",

"We don't have any",

Fred replied sipping down another round of liquor into his mouth from a short glass having two ice cubes inside it and gave the empty glass to the lady for her to decant another whiskey into it which she did in a jiffy.

"Don't lie to me, Fred. I saw a lot of them in a room backstage",

I'm sorry, Max. All of them had been taken for tonight and I'm afraid there's none we can give you",

"Not even a Jacket?",

"Yep. Unless you are ready..... to work in that wet outfit of yours",

Fred answered savoring the soft but harsh effects of the alcohol reeling inside his head as well as the soft smooth skin of the lady on which his left hand roam till it finds its way to her behind.

Max remained evermore silent with nothing else to say in order to persuade the club owner's nephew whom he knew personally and kept contemplating on what to decide if he would really accept to work under the terrible conditions he found himself in for he was a bit cold and wet to the insides of his pants as a result of him making a poor decision to venture into the heavy rain when it was already dark enough for him not to find a taxi cab at a secluded neighborhood near the docks so that he would not be stranded at a Chinese restaurant where in fact, he had at first, taken shelter from the first storm and was a bit preoccupied with assisting the staff workers of the infamous Chinese restaurant in closing for the night for it was so late in the night that few motorist hardly pass by that side of town and he did help them shutdown their restaurant voluntarily for a token of four hundred dollars which the generous Chinese chef gave to him even though he wasn't part of his staff till the next heavy downpour came which almost robbed him of the chance to arrive early at the party.

Against the good advice of the Chinese chef and his stranded staff workers to wait for a taxi, he stubbornly ventured undaunted into the rain and doggedly ran all the way from that side of town till he reached the neighborhood where Emma lived but he was only a few blocks away from the club when he got closer to his destination and took a turn to an alley away from the harsh rain in order to catch up with his breath as well as to drag himself out of the storm mercilessly raining down on him though he made several stops at the local roadside kiosks and retail outlets that lay scattered at different corners from that area which had already been closed down by the owners before dusk and before the first round of the rain started.

He peered with a bit of disgust at the way Fred fondled the lady who seemed to have already been used to being touched in a repulsive way and took a look around the noisy crowd of people dancing non-stop to the heavy beats of the music which kept keeping the vibe in the hall very much alive to enthral those who actually came to enjoy the music with various dance steps.

He hesitated for a while, swallowing hard his pride and decided to do the job, after all, the hall was a bit cozy for him to work with a little bit of difficulties regardless of the fact that he was shivering a bit under his wet outfit that stuck firmly to his skin and it was only going to be just for the night at least until till break when he will be paid for the fifth time in a row. With this thought in mind, he shrugged and let go of his temper which had begun to becloud his countenance ever since Fred refused to heed to his demands of providing another outfit that would ease his chilly nerves and clad him in some warmth.

"Very well, Fred. I'll do...it, anyway. Even though I may look like a handsome wet duck in front of everyone",

He said, sneering at Fred whose attention was almost captivated by the lady now wrapped in a tight embrace with the odd fellow who seemed already lost in his frantic eagerness to satisfy his vulgar desire but Max statement prevented him from ripping her skimpy dress.

"Fine.... Go knock yourself out....You'll get the cash as usual after the party",

Fred barely replied without him, even taking a look at Max's face since he had fully engrossed himself in locking his lips with that of lady who seemed to be having fun, kissing him hard on the lips even though she knew Max and the bartender whose black headphones stuck tenaciously around his neck whilst he as well as other bystanders were watching them as they got themselves drunk with profound pleasure.

"Alright, dude but who can I meet to check out if I can get another.... ",

The words was barely out of Max's mouth when the heavy beats of the music rolling in the background suddenly overshadowed his voice which blotched out the sound waves from the air, causing it to diffuse into the vibrant song that somehow got the dancers at the dance floor within the hall rocking each other violently than ever before and inevitably blocked the ears of Fred from hearing what he had to say regarding whom he should meet to inquire if there might be some clothes that he could use to replace his.

Figuring out that it was of no use trying to talk to him, Max set out to work and went straight to the bartender who wasted no time handing over to him, a little round steel tray with ten glasses of champagne standing on it.

"Thanks a lot",

"Don't mention it, Max. Return the tray in one piece, got that?",

The bartender said and winked at him after giving him the tray before picking up a white napkin which he had dropped on the counter table when he had to give the tray to Max who carried it slightly above his left shoulder.

" Of course, I will",

"You better get going if you wanna finish up early the next morning",

The bartender advised noticing Max glaring angrily at the two lovebirds who felt no shame of trying to satisfy their burning human desire right there at the counter though other guests as well, some of were very much underage, were quite lost in the same esctasy at different corners of the club both at the upper floor and in the noisy crowd bottom below where the trios had engaged themselves with some drinks at the counter including the restricted VIP lounge where it was much intense than the others.

"Adios, mon ami",

Max answered in French, took one last glance at the repugnant display of Fred laying soft kisses at the blonde lady's nape in front of him and head downstairs carrying the drinks alongside with him to get himself lost in the crowd downstairs whilst serving the alcoholic drinks to anyone interested in getting themselves drunk with the cold liquor. Two other valets like himself climbed past him on his way down to the bottom floor with empty trays in order to replenish their supply of drinks after a fourth round of serving the ecstatic guests lurking at every corner of the hall especially the crowd below and he headed straight into the misty crowd of several bodies touching him on either side. Fortunately, for him some of the guests did not react when their bodies came in contact with his wet outfits as he trudged in their midst with his left hand placing the tray above the heads of the dancers crowding his path including that of his own head as well and only a few felt a bit uncomfortable and irritated when they felt him with their bodies but they only took a brief moment to find him out in the crowd with their eyes before returning back to resume their never-ending barely interrupted dance.

At least, a fair number of three male guests and three females had drank six glasses out of his tray as he ventured deep into the center of crowd till he came to a halt at the other end of the hall where the sound of the music was far heavier than the other parts of club which got his ears as well as his eyes spinning and his head almost fainting with the intensity of the beats drumming inside his brain via his receptive ear drums but he was a able to suppress the loud feeling of voices echoing inside his mind since he had gotten used to the loudness of the music though it prevented him from hearing the plea of customers demanding for liquor from him amidst the crowd whose rowdiness got his eyes dizzy a bit as he doggedly kept to his duties. He succeeded in getting two more drinks taken away by the guests and slowly drifted further apart from the guests to a corner to get some fresh air and sat down on a chair meant for the guests in order to respire freely since he could barely breathe freely in the crowd where he was fighting hard not to suffocate to his early demise.

Max relaxed his breath slowly and sighed heavily, letting a lot of suppressed air out of his lungs for ten minutes.

He got a bit weary holding onto the tray in spite