Page 90 of Deadly Misfortunes

But the other guy wore a T-shirt and jeans, looked bullish, and didn’t seem to have any intention of giving up his ex-girlfriend.

Henry asked, “Do you want me to break it up?”

Gregory took a drink of his tequila sunrise. “Nope. The pub's bouncers need to deal with it. If it involves us, then that’s another story.”

Since Rose was busy dancing with the bodyguards, Gregory asked Sascha, “Do you want to dance farther away from the rabble-rousers?”

“No. One of them is going to pull a gun and shoot at the other,” Sascha suddenly said. “Everyone down.” She pulled Gregory down, while Uncle Jimmy tackled Aunt Meg to the floor.

Gregory’s dad and mom got on the floor behind a table. Prescott hurried to take care of Katrina. Nick raced through the dancers and got hold of Rose, even though she was dancing with Red, and took her to the farthest corner of the pub where she couldn’t get hurt, while Red hurried after them.

Lucy and Damon dove for cover, but not together. Gregory was sure Nick was telling Red and Rose what Sascha had envisioned and why he had interrupted their dance.

Most everyone was still dancing, unaware of the imminent danger.

Then the shooting began seconds later. Gregory was still behind the table with Sascha, but he saw a man go down, and then a woman, and without really thinking, he lunged forward to stop the shooter.

He got there first, grabbed the man’s arm, and jerked it upward. Nick quickly joined him. Red helped them take the shooter down to the floor as the music stopped and people hurried to get out of the building. Gregory removed the gun from the shooter’s hand.

Then Nick began checking out the man the gunman had shot. A bouncer gave him a cloth napkin to hold against the man’s chest.

Red and Gregory kept the shooter pinned down until one of the bouncers got handcuffs on the gunman. They could hear sirens in the background while Red helped the woman who had been shot in the leg, and a nurse who was just dancing with her friend quickly assisted him. Nick and another man helped a man who had been shot in the arm.

Omar and Henry watched over the ladies and Gregory. Distractions could easily make Gregory and maybe Sascha, if the attempted murderer was truly after her, an easy target.

Police and EMTs were there in short order. The EMTs quickly began working on the wounded. Most everyone there dancing had quickly vacated the club. This made Gregory wonder if any of them were in trouble with the cops! But he and his party stayed to give witness statements while the police took the shooter into custody.

Gregory hated that their trip to the pub to dance had turned into a nightmare. Unless Sascha objected strenuously, he wanted to make sure they all had dinner together tonight after what had happened.

When they were done giving their witness statements, and everyone who had blood on them had washed off in the restroom, Gregory wrapped his arm around Sascha’s shoulders and said, “About dinner tonight⁠—”

“You want us to have dinner with you guys.”

“Yeah. Did you read my mind?”

“Absolutely. And I’m fine with it. I know the ladies will be too. You’re going to grill for us, aren’t you?”

He chuckled. “This mind-reading stuff is unreal.” He had to admit it kind of spooked him.

She laughed. “Just be glad you can’t see ghosts.”

“Okay, grilling it is. We’ll make a list of what everyone wants to eat, go shopping at the local market, and then meet up at our rental house. It has lots of outdoor seating and indoor seating for a barbecue.”

They all decided on chicken thighs and legs, corn on the cob, and spinach. The ladies planned to bring a fruit-and-cheese platter and buy a cake.

When it was all decided, they went home to change into more casual clothes, and then they ended up at the same grocery store, to everyone’s amusement.

Prescott and Kat paired up while Gregory and Sascha were together as they picked out whatever they needed. The other couples had been married for so long that they didn’t seem to need to stick together with their partners.

Damon and Lucy stayed far away from each other. Gregory wondered if they had danced on the floor together.

“Nope,” Sascha said to him. “And the bodyguards were afraid to ask her to dance because she is supposed to be Damon’s fiancée.”

Gregory sighed. “I guess you can listen to my thoughts because things are kind of quiet.”

“Absolutely. I really try not to pry, but when you thought of my cousin and her forced mate-to-be, I had to listen in. But Lucy was happy to enjoy her drink and watch the ‘entertainment.’”

“And Damon?”