“It rarely is.”
He glanced down at his watch once more, then said, “It’s getting kind of late. I better let you get home.”
“Okay.”
Since it was dark and I’d parked in the back of the restaurant, Thomas walked me out to my car. It was kind of crowded when I’d first arrived, so I thought it would be fine to park where I had. Now that it was just the two of us, I realized that it probably wasn’t the best idea. It was eerily quiet with just a few other cars parked behind mine, and unbeknownst to me, the streetlight was out, which made our farewell moment that much more awkward. When we got to my car, Thomas smiled and said, “I wish I’d come by to pick you up so you wouldn’t have had to drive home so late.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”
“Well, I don’t like it, but I guess there’s not much I can do about it now.” He smiled. “It really was nice meeting you.”
“Thanks, Thomas. It was nice meeting you too.” As I reached into my purse, I told him, “Thanks again for dinner. I honestly enjoyed it.”
“Maybe we could do it again sometime.”
“Yeah, maybe.” I should’ve told him right then that I wasn’t interested, but I was ready to just get out of there. “We’ll talk about it.”
Before he could say anything more, several men stepped out of the shadows and quickly surrounded us. When Thomas went to reach for his weapon, one of the men aimed his revolver at my head and said, “Don’t even think about it.”
“Easy, man,” Thomas replied calmly. He kept his voice low and steady. “Just tell me what you want.”
“Too late for that.” Panic surged through me as I looked around at the different men. My adrenaline kicked in with such force I thought I might vomit on the spot. In the small town where I’d grown up, the only crime we had was a local drunk who caused a little ruckus from time to time, but that was nothing in comparison to this. There were six men, all covered in tattoos and wearing dark clothing like they were a part of some gang, and the fact they were all carrying weapons made it pretty clear they were there to cause trouble. Realizing our lives were in danger, I turned back to look at the restaurant, hoping that someone might come to our rescue. Unfortunately, there was no one in sight. Damn.
The man who’d first spoken to Thomas stepped over to me and grabbed me by the hair, placing the barrel of his gun beneath my chin. “You already done fucked up, and now, you gonna pay for that shit.”
“Pay for what exactly?”
“Putting your fucking nose where it don’t belong.”
Before Thomas could say any more, one of the bigger men stepped up behind him and slammed the butt of his gun against the back of his head, knocking him to the ground. He tried to get back to his feet, but the man kicked him hard, forcing him back down. The guy was about to kick Thomas again when one of the guys announced, “Hey, man, hurry this shit up. We need to get the hell out of here before the cops show up.”
Like he was waiting for his cue, Mathews stepped out of the shadows and said, “The cops are already here.”
For a split second, I thought he was actually there to help me, but then I noticed the men’s expressions. They didn’t look like they were afraid of him. They didn’t look worried that they’d just been caught roughing up a cop. Instead, they looked liked one of their buddies had just walked up. Thomas glared at him as he snarled, “I should’ve known you had something to do with this.”
“Damn right, you should’ve known.” Mathews walked over to Thomas and knelt down, grabbing him by the throat and squeezing tightly as he growled, “You seriously thought I was gonna let some pencil-pusher cop like you take me down? You really think he would let you look into him without any blowback? Surely, you’re smarter than that.”
I had no idea who Mathews was referring to, but I got the feeling that he was the man behind whatever trouble Thomas was investigating. Thomas once again tried to get to his feet as he said, “You won’t get away with this.”
“Sure, I will. I always do.”
“Let the girl go, Mathews. She’s got nothing to do with this.”
“You’re in no position to be giving me orders, Long.” Mathews reared his fist back, slamming it into Thomas’s jaw, this time knocking him completely out. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t breathe. I could only stand there and watch as the man motioned his hand to one of the others and ordered, “Put him in the truck.”