The music was still on, and loud but most of the patrons have already left, save for the seriously drunk ones. The club Rhapsody is known for its versatile clientele, including celebrities and well-known personalities. Those, are catered for in designated VIP lounges. There are several of those and every entrance has its bouncer that keeps the strays away unless the occupants invite them in. It is in one of such exclusive rooms where we find the well-known handsome Fedorov heir. The medium-sized glass table in the middle of the small room has not been cleared, evidence of the party that had been going on. It wasn't long until Matteo was standing next to his bouncer with his hands on his waist, slowly taking the scene in.
Empty bottles of the house's most expensive champagne, and several expensive hard liquor bottles, littered the glass table and floor, as a result of an evident altercation. Residue and smears of the familiar white powder, a bank card, and a rolled bill are also on the same glass table.
A handsome man in his 30s wearing a blue suit and a blood-smeared white shirt that is now missing the first 3 buttons, revealing most of his well-toned upper body. Spotting a slightly bleeding lower lip, was passed out on the couch.
"Any pictures taken?"
"None Boss, I made sure of it. The guests collected their phones at the desk as they were leaving, and I kept my eyes on the whole situation." Responded the big bouncer.
"Thanks, mate." Matteo was born in Australia and left the country when he was going to start University but has never lost the accent.
"I guess we should congratulate him. It has been three months since this has happened. I believe his longest streak yet?" It was more a statement than a question. The bouncer just shrugged. They did not pay him to keep count of customers' drunken bouts but to stop them!
"Many times I have considered banning him from coming over." Continued Matteo still watching the passed-out man. "Most of the women come here with hopes to spot him and being invited into the VIP area, he is good for business. Not to mention that I wouldn't be owning the club in the first place had it not been for him. But he is still my friend."
"If you ask me, I'd say ban him for the last reason." The big bouncer finally said something.
"It is a good thing that I did not ask you now, isn't it?" He does not take his eyes off the man on the couch.
"I guess so." Mumbled the big bouncer. He was also staring at the drunken man.
At that point, Matteo took his cell phone out of his trousers pocket and started a call.
Cole was in bed with his wife Londie when his cell phone started buzzing. As a light sleeper, a habit he perfected in university, he woke up almost immediately. The bedroom was in darkness thus making it easy for him to locate the neon-lighted cell phone on the bedside table. The caller ID reported that Matteo is calling. Glancing at the digital bedside clock, it showed the time to be 3:15 am and the day as Sunday. The caller did not wait for a greeting.
"Ai mate, sorry for the late call, but I need you to come over. Aleksei is out again."
Cole curses under his breath before asking "How bad is it?"
"It's a 7 out of 10.”
"Any casualties?’
"Taken care of, nothing major. A guy accused him of hitting on his girlfriend, the usual Aleksei rubbish.”
"I will be there in 15 minutes." He hung up immediately after.
Turning on to his sleeping wife, unsure if she has been awoken or still sleeping.
"Aleksei is at the Rhapsody. There was a fight, and he is now passed out. I need to go and fetch him." He announces.
No response. She has her back on him.
"Londie?" He contemplates shaking her awake but changes his mind. No need to wake her up for Aleksei's stupidities. He sighs and gets up. He goes to the closet and pulls out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, using his cell phone for light.
In less than 15 minutes, Cole parks his car at the back of the Rhapsody, in an alleyway. He parks as close to the door as he possibly can. He is trying to think of the number of times he has done this but fails to reach the answer. He then switches the car lights off, walks up the one step that is next to the big garbage bins on the right and knocks on the thick steel door and waits. It is not long before the door swings open and Matteo is standing there under dim lights, with an undecipherable look on his face.
"I'm getting too old for this nonsense."
Matteo chuckles. "It seems Aleksei is the only one not growing old or tired of it."
"We need to stop doing this, I thought you were going to ban him from the club."
"Thought of it and maybe still considering it, but mate, what will happen to him if he pulls this stunt at another club where they don't know him?"
"He can take care of himself."
"He can, but still what kind of friends will that make us?"
Cole stops and as soon as he does, Matteo stops too.
"You don't owe him anything. Didn't you pay him back every cent he invested in this place?"
"It is not about that Cole. He has done more for us than our families have. Besides, why do you keep coming to get him?"
"Guess you have a point there. But I think it is time we dealt with this. Pull out that intervention bullshit that people do for shitheads like this one!"
Matteo laughs. "Take it, easy man."
"I thought he had this thing beat. It is three months since he disappeared without a trace for two weeks. How he keeps on winning all these awards beats me!”
"We all have something chasing after us mate, some of us are just good at hiding those. He has brains and when he works he works hard. That and the fact that the ladies just love him maybe be the reason why." He laughs.
They continue walking down the dimly lit hallway. A young man appears from one of the doors and is walking towards them, hauling two large garbage plastics out to the bins. He is in his early twenties, with a ponytail and black earrings on both ears. He smiles when passing them but says nothing to them.
"Business must have been good last night." Comments Cole as he turns to look at the young man heading towards the same door he had used as an entry port.
"Yeah, and the night is not over yet." The music is still on, the party stops when the music switches off.
They go up a flight of stairs into the VIP area. To VIP room 4 where the big bouncer is keeping watch over the passed-out Fedorov heir. He nods at them as they walk past him into the room. Aleksei is still in the same position that Cole has left him in.
"Let's get you home you little piece of…"
"Duke, please help us." Matteo cuts him off before he could finish cussing at their friend.
The bouncer nods and grabs at the passed-out man, effortlessly hauling him over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes and starts walking towards to door. The two follow behind him.
Feeling that he was moving, Aleksei starts stirring and murmuring slightly.
"I should slap the drunkenness out of him." Cole is annoyed.
"Take a video instead." Was Duke the bouncer's suggestion?
"Not a bad idea. Then we show him how ridiculous he looks draped over another man's shoulders like this! We should have taken a video of him from the beginning." Cole was getting excited, he knew how embarrassed Aleksei will feel watching that, and he will make him watch it until he pukes!
"We have footage from the club's camera for that." Added Matteo.
"Send me the footage. We should have done this a long time ago! This pea-brained big child would have learned his lesson by now." He was recording as they walk.
In reaching the door, Matteo opens it, and motions for the others to stay behind as he goes out and checks the perimeter. Once he had decided that it is clear, he nods for them to come out.
Cole steps out first and he goes and opens the back door, then proceeds to step aside for Duke to get Aleksei inside. Matteo puts his hand over his head to try and shield him from banging his head as he is being placed inside the vehicle.
Duke handles him very gently, bends down, and sits him on the back seat. As soon as that is done and before the men could close the door, a flash from a camera lights up the whole place. Someone had taken a picture of the passed-out Aleksei inside the car.
"Son of a..." It was Matteo, and he trails off before finishing the sentence. What was the use of cussing, it won't undo or delete the picture. The inevitable truth is that they are all going to be in some story tomorrow, again, because of Aleksei. Something they had to deal with since they all met at university!
A dark figure suddenly darts out from the darkness and runs to the opposite end of the alley and disappears around the corner before anyone could do anything.
Duke looks at his boss for instruction on what to do next.
Matteo just shakes his head and says "he is gone. He must have been stalking Aleksei and had anticipated that this would happen." Turning to Cole, "You better brace him for it."
"The hell I will! He deserves it I am not going to say a word, let him find out from the tabloid and tags on social media tomorrow. Susan is going to have his head!"
"You will be in the picture too, Londie won't be happy."
"She won't, she doesn't even know that I had to go out. I might find her waiting for me. She is the one that I will brace for the news and the onslaught."
"You should get out of here before another one jumps out from one of the bins," Duke says.
Both Matteo and Cole laugh, though a bit uncomfortably as they turn to look at the bin.
"I will call tomorrow to find out how he is doing." Says Matteo as he and Duke start walking back to the steel door.
"As if he will be grateful." Was Cole's response as he steps inside his car and starts driving slowly off the alley into the street, around to the front of the Rhapsody.
The main street was well lit and very few people were still around. Some were getting into their cars, while some were walking about.
In less than fifteen minutes, Cole was parking his car inside the garage at his house. The remote-controlled door closes on its own after he had parked. For a while, he sits in the darkness contemplating leaving Aleksei in the car. He will open the windows of course, for safety. But finally decided against that. He gets out, goes and switches the lights on, he then goes back to the car and opens the backseat door, the man is completely out cold. He did not relish the thought of carrying him up the stairs into the spare bedroom. It wasn't without a great struggle that he finally managed to drag and pull Aleksei out of the car and half drags him to the living room. There was no way that he would have been able to climb the stairs with him!
He walks into the living room and gently lays him down on the sofa. One of those long couches, Cole knew he would be comfortable there. He then proceeds to go upstairs, and creeps into the bedroom, praying that he does not wake her up and that she is not up waiting for him. He goes to the closet and pulls out a t-shirt and some sweatpants, as quietly as he can. He then leaves the master bedroom, to the hallway, turning left in the direction of the other bedrooms. He passes two doors and softly knocks on the third one.
Not expecting an answer, he pushes the door open, switches the light on, and proceeds towards the bed.
He stands for a few seconds just watching the occupant with a proud smile on his face, before leaning over and shaking the boy slightly.
"Hey buddy, wake up. I need your help."
The boy in the bed makes a sound but does not wake up.
"Blake. Wake up." Cole shakes his son again, a bit more aggressively and this time the boy wakes up.
"What do you want Noah." Complains the sleepy boy in annoyance.
'It is Dad, not Noah. Wake up I need your help..”
"Dad?" asks the boy slowly coming into full consciousness.
"Yes, it's me. Come on, get up and come with me to the living room." He was already starting to walk away from the bed.
"Why?"
"I need your help with Aleksei."
"Uncle Aleksei is here?"
"Yes. Come on now."
"What time is it?"
"Early in the morning. Come on now!" Cole then continues walking towards the door, assured that the boy will follow soon. He walks out of the room into the hallway, all the way to the stairs on the right before realising that Blake is not following him.
"Come on buddy."
He turns back, careful not to make a noise and almost bumps into him on the door.
"Jeez dad, be careful!"
"Sorry. I thought you went back to sleep.’
"I was getting dressed." Replies the boy still a bit sleepy.
Cole chuckles.
"Ok, don't be loud, I don't want to wake your mother up."
They walk down the hall and descend the stairs quietly. Between the two of them, undressing and redressing the passed-out Aleksei took just over ten minutes. He would protest now and then and try to fight them off, but they manage to get the job done.
When they are done, they stand over him.
"He is very heavy and tall." That is all Blake had to say while catching his breath.
"You are only seventeen and almost as tall as he is already." He then goes quiet and adds after a long pause, "Let's leave him to rest now. He has a few hours to sleep it off and it won't be a pleasant morning for him."
Blake laughs. Both return to their own bedrooms.
