“I’ve got a picture of the investigator if it helps?”
“You do?”
“Yep, when we were taking our selfies, he had come up behind you. Here, look at this one; you can see his face perfectly.”
“Oh, that’s awesome. Let’s find Brandon and show him.”
It took us nearly twenty minutes of walking around the club before we finally found Brandon and his friend Josh. As nervous as I was, I was also excited to be able to s
how Brandon the picture of the guy who said he was with the SEC. Hopefully, he would be able to use the picture to figure out who was after him and why.
“Hi, ladies, glad you found us. I was all the way over here when I realized it was going to be messy finding each other in this busy place. Delilah, this is Josh; Josh, this is Delilah and her friend Mattie.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Delilah. Brandon says an apology is in order,” Josh said as he held his hand out for me to shake. “I was just going with my gut. I hope you can appreciate that I just wanted to protect my friend.”
“Sure, I understand.”
“We have a picture of one of the bad guys,” Mattie blurted out while she held her phone out to Brandon to look at. “This is the guy who said he was investigating you.”
“His name was Carlos, and he showed me a badge and looked really professional.”
Both Brandon and Josh grabbed for the phone as shock washed over their faces. I instantly knew they recognized the man in the photo; there was no doubt about it.
“Who is it?” Mattie asked.
“It’s Brandon’s ex-wife’s fiancé,” Josh said.
“What?” I couldn’t figure out what was going on.
“It’s definitely Carlos,” Brandon muttered as he looked at the photo. “Can I send this to myself so I have a copy?”
“Sure. Do you want a copy, too?” Mattie asked Josh.
“If you want to give me your number, you don’t have to ask,” he joked.
“Ha, ha, very funny.”
The guys spent some time texting Brandon’s lawyer and the investigator working on the case while Mattie and I got drinks for all of us. It seemed like we had solved a big part of the mystery around what was going on with Brandon. Of course, we still had no idea why this guy was after Brandon, but he knew who the guy was, so that was a huge load off of his back, I was sure of it.
“Man, I’m sorry you had to pay for the drinks,” Brandon said as we got back to the group.
“I’m not. I doubt you’d ever let me pay for the drinks in any other situation. At least let me enjoy the independence of this moment.”
“Yeah, women can buy drinks for men; it doesn’t always have to be the other way around,” Mattie added.
“You can buy me drinks anytime, darling,” Josh suavely said as he started to make the moves on Mattie.
I moved over to be closer to Brandon while Mattie and Josh moved to the other end of the table. It was nice to see them keeping each other company so Brandon and I could spend the evening together and not worry about the two of them.
“I think he likes your friend,” Brandon said.
“I’m pretty sure he likes all women,” I laughed. “I’m glad things are starting to get straightened out. Still sucks that your ex is involved, though.”
“Yeah, I’m not sure if she knows what this guy is up to or not. But I’m relieved that we have some answers. You know what else I’m feeling?” He raised an eyebrow and moved closer to me.
“That you’re exhausted and want to go to bed?” I was joking, but I really was exhausted and could have gone to bed that very moment if I had been back at my place.
“Oh, I’ll take you to bed right this second. You don’t have to ask me twice.” And just like that, Brandon grabbed our drinks and put them in front of Mattie and Josh as the two of us made our way out of the club.