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All true and did it really matter? I was searching for Hannah’s car but didn’t see it. Maybe she’d already headed home? Gary flipped on his high beams to navigate through the haphazardly parked cars and I saw that vehicles had spilled out onto the grass. Finally, I saw the one I was looking for. She was still here.
“There it is,” I said, pointing.
Gary pulled onto the grass as well, and I was out of the truck before it rolled to a stop and almost at the entrance when he caught up. Yanking open the door, I was hit by a wall of noise and a cloud of smoke. From the number of cars, I’d known the club would be crowded, but it was as if every car had disgorged a half dozen clubbers. It was wall to wall people. My head swiveled even though I couldn’t yet see clearly. Lights flashed to the beat of some heavy metallic music and the slightly sweet odor told me that it wasn’t only tobacco being smoked. The only thing in my favor was that the haircuts of several men I saw told me that a lot of the customers were military. Evidently news of Dawson’s band had spread though the information of his cancellation obviously hadn’t.
“How about we split up?” Gary shouted, which was the only way to converse.
I nodded and pointed to the left then back at the door, telling him to go left and then meet back where were started. About to ask if he knew what my wife looked like, I realized he must as he immediately started pushing through the crowd. Going right, I began my own search.
I’d not gone ten feet before I recognized someone. Tapping him on the shoulder, the man turned, his eyes going a bit wide even as his hand started to lift.
“No need to salute, soldier,” I said. God, I hated having to shout just to talk, but raised my voice higher when he leaned forward, his hand moving to cup his ear. “Jackson, right?”
“Right, sir.”
Pulling out my phone, I scrolled to a photo I’d taken just yesterday. It was of Hannah with a huge smile on her face. I’d caught her talking to the plants and then slapping at the stem of a tomato plant.
“What are you doing?” I’d asked then grinned. “Hannah Griffith, are you spanking the tomatoes?”
She’d giggled and nodded. “Yes. I read that if you spank the stems, it encourages the pollen to release.”
I’d pulled out my phone and snapped a photo when she gently cupped a group of yellow blossoms.
Holding the phone out, I shouted, “Have you seen my wife?”
Jackson looked and then shook his head. I didn’t bother to thank him, just kept moving. I’d completed a circuit of the outside of the crowd without seeing her. I went down the hall to where a dozen women were lined up outside the bathroom. It was only slightly quieter here. The thumping bass made the very floor vibrate. I showed several women the photo, all who shook their heads, a few giving a look that said they wouldn’t admit to seeing her if they had. I was all for women supporting each other, but not when it put one of them in danger. When a woman I recognized as someone who’d been at my house earlier that week stepped out of the bathroom, I moved to the head of the line.
“Nancy?”
“Major? What are you doing here?”
“Looking for Hannah. Have you seen her?”
“Yes, we were about to leave, but had to make a pit stop. This place is nuts tonight.”
“Where is she?” I asked.
“Oh, at the bar,” she said, pointing back down the hall.
Nodding, I began to turn and then paused. “You’re okay to drive?”
“Yes. I’m the designated driver tonight.” Two other women came out of the bathroom and joined us.
Satisfied that they’d get home safely, I returned to the club, heading straight for the bar. It was three deep, and if Hannah, who was already petite, was at the front, it would be hard to spot her. It wound up that I didn’t have to push through the crowd because I heard a high-pitched cry. Whipping around, I saw red, and it had nothing to do with the color of the dress that Hannah was wearing and everything to do with the asshole who had his hand cupped around my wife’s breast.
I had no idea how I got to her, but the moment I did, I grabbed the guy’s arm. “Get your fucking hand off her.”
“Find your own bitch,” the guy said. “This one owes me…”
He never had a chance to finish because I planted my fist in his face. He grunted, bent over, and though he released Hannah, he also pulled a knife from his boot.
“Brett!” Hannah screamed but I’d already seen the glint of the blade. The guy swiped a hand across his lip, flinging away the blood that flowed from his nose. I grabbed for Hannah to pull her behind me, but the bastard made his own grab.
“I told you, she’s mine,” he sneered, putting the knife to her neck. I froze, my entire body going cold.
“Let her go,” I said, releasing her arm so as not to have that knife accidentally cut her.
“You broke my fucking nose,” he said, one arm wrapped around Hannah’s waist.
