AT THE CLUBHOUSE

Arriving at the club, the two friends having forced their way through a small dispersing crowd of observers, took a peek inside the club, from where they stood beside the entrance to find out if any activity was going on inside without their awareness other than the strange sight of some people talking nonstop about something that occurred last night but they actually did so to keep a close watch out for the two bouncers, in a careful attempt to check out if they were still safeguarding the premises from outsiders and noticed some bystanders standing at the doorway, fully engrossed in some sort of conversation about the same thing they had heard from the nosy people already leaving the vicinity bewildered by something they were yet to find out and whose outfits told them that they must be amongst the people that frequently come by the club both in the daytime and night, to get one or two drinks from the bartender inside but today was different with all the murmurings of curious people chattering in groups of two whilst the two bouncers themselves were no where to be found around the vicinity. No one had to tell the two men that something had occurred in the club in their absence the previous night and they could easily tell that some terrible incident took place without them having to witness it themselves by staring at the number of gruesome facial appearance they saw in the Visage of the bystanders oblivious to their eyes but Max had refrained Jeremy from speaking to those chattering outside before leaving the vicinity and wanted to go inside the club first in order to get a more detailed explanation of the sudden appearance of the crowd who seemed less concerned about the men inside especially the owners of the club whose presence wasn't felt by the two guests as soon as they doggedly ventured into the club uninvited after fear had departed from their minds paving a way for inquisition to find out what may have caused the interior part of the club to be muddled profoundly, to control their thoughts as their eyes came across a lot of broken things that were in utter disarray with little or nothing left untouched by the whole mess including some of the drinks beside the counter that had smashed to pieces on the floor the night before dawn, now lying in shattered pieces of glass with traces of liquor spilled all over the place. Both men stared at the repugnant scene in disbelief as they continued treading deeper into the club with careful footsteps amidst the pile of things scattered on the floor around the whole place and were appalled beyond words to see the disco ball almost falling out of place above the heads of some men who luckily weren't standing directly underneath. Max kept his eyes roaming around the total mess of things as well as a tight lookout for the man whom he had planned to see while avoiding trampling on any hazardous object that may damage his black sneakers which he had worn to cover his feet instead of the hefty boot he used during the fishing trip that almost ended his life life and that of his friend. So far coming, the duo hadn't talked much about the possibility of a deadly fight that broke out in the club an hour later after they were kicked out of the noisy party which ended in the eventually arrival of a police squad whom someone called to arrest of a lot of people involved in the night brawl and had much of their attention focused on the untidy outlook of the gigantic hall whilst their eyes roamed around every corner of the half empty spacious hall even though they came across the group of individuals that were left talking to themselves inside the hall and they did not bother to inquire about the initial cause of the whole mess since Max and Jeremy had deciphered the look of things to be the result of a fight way fiercer and dangerous like that of a gang fight, so they thought from the way a lot of drinks were shattered to pieces and most of the chairs lying broken in halves which could seen at every corners of the hall except for the VIP lounge upstairs where Max could barely see some men having a serious discussion about how to restore all of the things that got damaged in one night. Feeling dissatisfied with not knowing the full reason behind the mess of things and the silence that had prevented Jeremy from talking now whom he had expected to be the first one to ask the fellows standing behind them near the gate but to his surprise, Jeremy had chose to be silent instead of speaking out during this kind of situations like he always do at times like this which got Max frustrated as they trudged further inside the wide spaced hall seeking for someone who probably may not be present in club to explain why they kept seeing broken stuff lying scattered everywhere without the janitors who used to frequently clean up the dirt in the club even before sunrise after the end of every party. His frustrations grew deeper in parallel to the prolonged silence between him and his friend though they could hear the murmurings of the men behind them which echoed in forms of unintelligible whispers inside the hall as they kept walking heading to no where in particular till they found themselves strolling next to arena that he could recalled, was used as the dance floor for the guest to have fun dancing to the music beats the previous night. Five minutes later, they were strolling on the dance arena headed to no where in particular which seemed more like an hour of frustration for Max who wanted his pay for last night job pretty badly until they encroached further towards the staircase that led to another bar near a passage leading to a private inner room upstairs meant only for the top owners of the club and those of whom wanted to have a personal discussions that was meant to be discussed in secret without the hearing of people outside and which was also used by affiliated partners to satiate their perverted desires of having intercourse with many of the hot ladies sent to entertain them during their visit to the club including the owner himself as well as his son whom Max was intended on confronting when they came to the club few hours ago. He was about giving up trying to scour the gigantic hall for the man who had had him a task to handle as a varlet in return for money last night which he found to be a waste of time, even Jeremy's silence didn't help his mood either though his instincts told him of the possibility that Jeremy must have received the shock of seeing the whole club in utter disarray much more than he did when they first saw the whole mess the very first time they entered the hall. He wanted to turn back to exit from the hall after they reached the bottom of the stairs where he himself remembered to have left to join the crowd from the mini bar above with the tray of champagne drinks on it, when a familiar voice called out to him from above the stairs, echoing loudly into the quiet hall that was fairly dark with most of the shadows obscuring one end of the hall.

"Max, what do you want?",

The voice questioned from above preventing the intruder and his acquainted partner from heading back to the way they came.

"I came to collect my pay, Justin",

"Your pay?",

"That's right",

Max retorted with all boldness and beckoned on Jeremy to join him ascend the stairs to meet up with the speaker.

"Now's not a good time, Jonas. Fred said you should come back tomorrow when things are much better",

"I won't buy that. I want my pay even if you guys have a lot to do cleaning up your own mess",

"Things are a bit rough for us and we've got quite a few expenses on our necks right now",

"So what, Justin? That's your problem to think about not mine",

Max doggedly replied as they climbed up towards the mini bar from whence they could see Justin replacing some of drinks in array in the chilly shelves behind him whilst some champagne glasses remained on top of the counter since he had been the bartender for the entire night even after Max was kicked out of the club along with Jeremy.

"Take my advice and leave now that you can. Freddy won't be happy to see you back here",

"Don't worry about me. I can handle a little chit-chat with him. Trust me on this one",

The intruder replied as soon as he arrived at the counter with Jeremy trailing behind him.

"Sorry, dude. I don't trust you anymore after you failed to return the tray like I told you to last night",

"It's wasn't my fault I didn't get it back to you cuz I got caught up in a middle of something",

"Oh really? Something, huh? Something got you kicked out of the club with some dude",

Max eyes widen with surprise the moment he heard Justin's response which stunned him profoundly while Jeremy flinched nervously in such a way that gave him away as the other accomplice to the bartender who noticed Jeremy's face turned pale after his statement.

"Wait...don't tell me he's the other guy",

Justin said gesturing at Jeremy with his eyes after Max's silence confirmed his doubts. Max followed the direction of his eyes but quickly acted as to save themselves from being chased out of the club without achieving what he actually came to do.

"It doesn't matter if he's the one or not. Where the heck is Freddy and my money?",

"You're barking on the wrong horse here. Freddy's inside the lounge with some important visitors and I believe he will not see you today",

"You're sure about that?",

Max inquired placing his hand on the counter.

"Pretty sure and I guess he's seeing them because of what took place last night which probably didn't go well for all of us",

"What happened in the club after we were kicked out?",

This time, the intrusive question came from Jeremy who fixed his gaze on the bartender while Max suddenly felt a flush of embarrassment.

"I knew it! He's the one some dudes mentioned that those bouncers kicked out last night with a varlet for disturbing the guest or causing nuisance of some kind, aren't he, Max?",

"For heavens sake, put the past behind you already and answer the darn question, Justin",

The smile across the face of the bartender suddenly dropped as soon as Max retorted in Jeremy's defense.

"Okay, fine. I'll tell you alright but don't tell Freddy I told you about it, okay? He'll surely kill me if he finds out I told you of the incident last night",

"We promise, so spill the truth",

Jeremy replied gazing at the bartender more intently than ever before.

"Okay, here's what happened, everything was fine and everyone was having fun even after a small commotion which I believe both of you were the one responsible for the slight disturbances... The music got everyone dancing wildly after you left and they were drinking merrily as if it was the new year. Things were going well as usual until some dudes suddenly showed in black outfits and started attacking everybody",

"Who were they?",

Max questioned looking more curious to know the identity of the assailants.

"No idea but they were armed and wore some kind of a mask to conceal their identity. Even Freddie's goons that came out to control the situation couldn't recognize them and were having a tough time dealing with the situation when the cops suddenly showed up as well to join the fight",

"You mean someone called the cops?",

"Yep. And it was a good thing they came to the scene because the invaders were already destroying everything by then before the cops came even though some of them were getting beaten by Freddie's gangsters. And a lot of things were smashed to pieces when the cops came in while innocent people were scrambling out of the club but eventually, many people got arrested as a result of the violence and I believe some of them are still in jail as we speak",

Justin explained trying to avoid Jeremy's hard stare and took another drink from the counter and kept it back neatly on the shelve.

"I see. How come you weren't arrested with the rest of them?",

Max inquired resting his elbows on the counter

"Luckily, the VIP lounge was the only safe place for people upstairs to hide and Freddie's dad isn't around. So, a lot of us hid inside till the situation died down but I think some still got arrested trying to enter the room and even after the whole incident ended",

Justin replied without looking back at the duo especially at Jeremy whose Visage had turned already pale ever since Justin's tale affected him the most rather Than Max who didn't see his appalled face and was busy thinking of what to say to man who owes him money.

Jeremy suddenly withdrew himself and head downstairs but he stopped abruptly as soon as he remembered he had not enough cash with him to take cab. Then he went back to meet Max who didn't see him leave at first.

"You got some cash there, old friend?",

"I don't think so. Why?",

Max questioned feeling perplexed by Jeremy's request.

"I need to catch a taxi",

"But we aren't leaving anytime soon besides, we haven't seen Freddie yet",

"I know that but I really gotta go. Do you have some cash,Mister?",

This time, the question was directed at Justin who responded in haste immediately after he returned back from arranging the drink on the shelf.

"Yeah, I think I do have something. Here you go",

Justin said handing Jeremy twenty dollars from his wallet.

"Thanks, mate. See you later, Max",

Jeremy replied and ran downstairs as soon as he received the cash in haste leaving Max and the bartender in confusion, giving them no time to ask where he was going.