Club de Fleurs 4: Rachel

Theresa grabbed Rachel in a tight hug and asked, “Are you okay? I was so scared. I’ve never dealt with anything like that before. Alan threw me in here right away, and I didn’t see anything that happened. I feel like I’ve been sitting here for hours.”

“I’m okay, one of the jerks tried to pull me outside, but I got away and found Craig.” She started calmly, but by the time she said “Craig,” she had tears running down her face.

“Was it that Hawkins guy that grabbed you?” Theresa asked.

“No,” Rachel answered.

“Do you think it was one of the other jerks?”

“I don’t know, I’d have to look at the pictures again, I tried to block their faces from my mind,” Rachel answered, worried now that it had been one of the jerks.

Theresa could see the distress on her friend’s face. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything. The guys will figure it out.”

Rachel took a deep, cleansing breath. She grabbed Theresa’s hand and said, “Come on, let’s go to the suite, I need to get out of here.”

Theresa nodded, and Rachel called over the bartender. Tim was behind the bar. He was part of the security team and had been instrumental in saving Jenna when she was kidnapped. Rachel quickly told him where they were going and asked that he make sure Craig and Alan know where they were. Nodding, he went back to what he had been doing.

The girls went back to the suite and sat talking, waiting for their men. After several hours, they heard the sound of the men coming down the hall. As the door opened, both women launched themselves at their men, holding on for dear life.

Rachel ran at Craig and jumped, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder. Theresa did the same with Alan.

The men stood and held their loves for a moment, glad nothing worse had happened. They didn’t know about the man who had tried to abduct Rachel. She hadn’t had a chance to tell them.

Rachel started sobbing, and Craig looked down at her with concern. “What’s the matter, little lamb? Everything’s fine.”

Seeing how upset her friend was, Theresa quickly related what Rachel had told her had happened. The more she told, the redder Craig’s face got. By the time she had finished, he was on the phone to the cops, quickly relating the pertinent details.

“Do you feel up to going and trying to identify the man who took you, love? The police have most of the crowd in custody.” He really didn’t want to put her through that, but wanted to find the ass.

One of the things Tina had stressed with Rachel was the importance of making sure that people were held accountable for their actions. This was something she had to do. “Yes, I want to,” she answered firmly. “I’d like to try and call Tina again. It would be great to have her there with me.”

Craig was sure the woman was still away or she would have contacted them after all the messages that Rachel had left over the past several days, but he indulged her and let her make her calls. When she once again got the answering service, she left more messages and nodded she was ready to go.

Looking at Alan for permission, he gave a slight nod of his head. Theresa asked, “Rachel, do you want me to go with you?” She hadn’t seen anything, but she could offer moral support.

Nodding, Rachel hugged her friend, and they all went to the police station so that Rachel could do what she needed to do. On the drive there Theresa sat in the back with Rachel and held her hand being as supportive as she could.

Having experience with the police and not happy experiences with some of them, Alan called his friend Kevin Hoffman to meet them. He wanted Rachel to have all the support she could.

The first question Rachel asked was if any of the crowd were the men that had attacked her and Jenna. The police refused to answer until she identified her attacker.

It was a grueling experience at the police station. First, several different detectives asked Rachel the same questions over and over until Alan and Kevin put a stop to it.

Rachel was finally taken to a room where she could observe the men without being seen. The only person the police allowed with her was Kevin, and she was glad of his presence. He was very supportive and didn’t allow the police to bully her.

The man that attacked Rachel was easy to identify. She hadn’t seen him that well, but he had a bandage wrapped around the hand that she bit, and she knew his voice.

After she identified the man, a detective came in and told them that the man was not part of the eight, but they weren’t sure he didn’t have some sort of tie to the group. They were going to do some further investigating and promised to notify them when they found something out.

By the time they made it back to the club, it was late. Evan and Dave had been called when everything had happened, and they had closed the place early that night. They were sitting at the bar with the security team when the group arrived back. The girls went to the suite, and the men, including Kevin, went to the bar for a quick debriefing.

Rachel was exhausted and just wanted a hot shower and to lie down. Theresa assured her she could entertain herself and sent her off to shower.

After her shower, she felt much better. She wrapped herself in Craig’s robe, the next best thing to being in his arms. Then she and Theresa raided the refrigerator and found a snack, sitting and talking until the men came back a couple hours later.

Alan took his wife home, and Craig took Rachel to bed. He held her, talking and cuddling until she relaxed enough to fall asleep.

The next day, Craig sat Rachel down, standing in front of her with his arms crossed over his chest. He told her, “We need to talk about last night.”