It wasn't his idea of a great time, and he wished he hadn't agreed to Lauren's invitation, but he had promised to take Tej out on the town more, and a swanky do at Rachel's house with other adults was a change from their normal routine of work and family. The thing was, the only people he would know at this party were his friends. Everybody else would be coworkers of Lauren's and Rachel's at Justiciar.
When they arrived, there were hardly any other people there besides the friends, which was a bit of a relief, as they could now hang back and blend in, and not feel the need to introduce themselves to everyone. Lauren did introduce him to Ralph Rose, one of the other two partners running the firm, and his wife. He was the one who was supposed to meet him when Justiciar first took on Westminster Law Group as a client.
"I still can't believe I sent Lauren to an initial client meeting with a person she was friends with so long ago," Ralph said.
"It was serendipity," Sunny agreed. "If we hadn't chosen you guys as our contractor, who knows if the rest of us wouldn't have reunited?"
"The rest of you?" Liz, Ralph's wife, asked. She gestured to them all. "So you, all of you, were childhood friends?"
"Well, not me," Tej said sadly, "though I wish I'd been there. Still, they've made me feel just as at home as if I had been."
"It wasn't hard," Al said. "You're delightful, and the only one who could keep this punk in line." He playfully punched Sunny on the shoulder.
More coworkers trickled in, constantly being buzzed in by Rachel. The couple for which this Jack and Jill party had been organized were the last to arrive, as if they'd forgotten this party was for them. They were in their twenties, and seemed unused to all the attention; they appeared to shrink into themselves as they were passed between well-wishers. Eventually, though, they warmed up and let themselves enjoy the adulation, telling everyone stories about who approached whom and how they finally knew they were in love.
As they didn't drink alcohol, Sunny and Tej had a front-row seat to how people's behaviours changed when they drank. They got louder, more boisterous, less inhibited. Even with a glass of wine or two, Lauren and Rachel were laughing together, hugging, and playfully squeezing each other's behinds, which he didn't think they would have done sober, it seemed oddly intimate even for the two of them, who were always the closest of the LSDC.
Al, on the other hand, seemed to be more of a quiet drunk. He sat at one of the dining room tables, taking sips of wine and sleepily gazing out at the room.
Joe didn't appear to be drinking at all, standing tensely in the middle of a sea of revellers, looking at something on his phone. He looked miserable, actually; being so large, this tight crowd must have felt claustrophobic. Sunny considered going over and chatting with him, but by the time he decided to, Lauren was already making her way over, weaving a little, as if the drink was already affecting her balance.
When Lauren took Joe's hand, he jumped as if electrocuted and looked at her, startled, quickly putting away his phone. What was that about? He looked furtive, all of a sudden, like he was hiding something. That wasn't like big Joe at all, but Lauren didn't seem to notice, or if she did, she made no mention of it, and after they chatted a few seconds, she stumbled into him, then raised her arms like a child wanting to be picked up. Embarrassed, Joe gently dissuaded her, but then, shockingly, she fumbled at the buttons of his shirt and grabbed him through his pants.
Joe batted away her hands, and Lauren cried, loud enough to be heard over the buzz of the room, "Why won't you love me, Joe?!"
He looked around to see if anyone was paying attention. More than a few were.
"This is getting out of hand," Tej said low in his ear. She'd been watching too. "We need to stop her from embarrassing herself."
"Come on," he said, taking her hand and leading her through the crowd toward them.
By the time they got there, the crowd had inched away from the huge man and his little wife, and Joe was looking like he was going to be sick, while Lauren continued to weave and grab for him like he was the only thing keeping her upright.
"Lauren?" Sunny ventured.
She turned and saw them looking at her. "You okay?" he asked.
"Fine, sorry, I'm fine," she said, still weaving.
"How much have you had to drink?" Tej asked.
"Just two glasses of wine. I'm fine."
Tej leaned in and said, "I don't like how your eyes look. They're a little dilated."
Lauren smiled dreamily and said, "I love your eyes, Tej. They're like Bambi's eyes... so big and liquid..."
Tej chuckled awkwardly and put a hand to Lauren's forehead. "Are you sure you're not sick or something?"
"You're so fucking beautiful," Lauren breathed, then leaned in and kissed her on the lips.
In the microsecond before Tej reared back as if slapped, Sunny had an out of body experience, wherein he witnessed everything he'd wished Lauren had bestowed upon him instead being given to his wife, and felt irrationally jealous about it. Tej hadn't known her as long as he had, why did she get to be kissed?
Then he realized Tej was being kissed by someone else, and that she might not want to be, and said, "Hey, Lauren, what the hell?"
"Sorry... sorry... always wanted to do that. You're a lucky man, Sunny, my boy... I can see why she chose you, though, you're like a fucking Indian lion..."
Did she just flirt with him too? Suddenly his jealously dissipated like a poisonous cloud, and he realized she thought he was as attractive as he found her. But Joe was fuming, and he thought it best not to aggravate things further by confessing his own fondness for her. "Lauren, I think you need to sit down," he said. "Something's not right, you're not yourself."
"I agree," Joe said tightly. He was barely controlling his anger. "Maybe you should sit down."
"Fuck off," she hissed at him. Sunny and Tej gasped. She waved them off and stumbled away.
"What's going on?" Sunny asked Joe. "She's never acted like this before." He looked at Tej, who was touching her lips as if they'd been burned. "I mean, kissing Tej..."
"I have no idea," Joe said, "but everyone's looking at her, and I don't want her to do something she'll regret tomorrow just because she's had a few."
"But she said she only had two glasses of wine," Tej said, still a little dazed. "She can handle her booze better than that, can't she?"
But Joe wasn't listening anymore. His eyes were staring after where Lauren went. Sunny turned and saw her suddenly sitting in Al's lap, and the two of them were laughing as if it were the funniest thing ever.
"Joe," Sunny warned. "She's drunk. Al will be a gentleman and behave. We'll just gently lead her somewhere quiet and--"
Suddenly Lauren leaned in, and Sunny thought she might have bit Al's ear. Then the two of them were kissing, Al's arms sliding up her back...
It was the most shocking thing Sunny had ever seen, even more shocking than Lauren kissing Tej, because that might have just been a playful indiscretion, but this was cheating, pure and simple, because Al was kissing Lauren back with just as much enthusiasm, and Rachel's open mouth said everything about what they were all feeling at the moment.
But he should have paid more attention to Joe.
With an emission that sounded like a bark of laughter but more maniacal, Joe was off, hands curled into fists, knocking aside Lauren and Rachel's coworkers in his effort to get to them. Sunny felt frozen on the spot, knowing Joe was going to injure one or both of them badly when he reached them but unable to make himself move to prevent it.
Just as he was about to reach for them, though, Rachel put herself in front of him and pulled Lauren off herself. Joe skidded to a halt and shook his head as if waking from a bad dream. Sunny could understand. There was something nightmarish about this night, and suddenly he just wanted to go home. Tej was still reacting to Lauren's kiss, and he thought she might want to go, too. He took her hand and they made their way over to them to say goodnight.
"Lauren, what the hell!" Rachel cried as Lauren flopped into her arms, all of her previous ardour spent. Al, too, looked as boneless as Lauren, flopped in his chair with arms and legs out like a marionette without a marionettist.
"What's gotten into these two?" Joe asked.
Rachel said, "Here, take your wife." She almost pushed Lauren into his arms.
Lauren looked up at him with eyes half-closed, and smiled sheepishly. "Oops," she said, and tittered, and then said something that made no sense. "No tears, this time."
"Lauren, are you okay?" Joe asked.
"What is going on?" Sunny asked.
"I don't know," Rachel said, lightly slapping Al's face in an attempt to rouse him. "I didn't think Al drank that much, not Lauren either."
"You probably weren't watching them the whole time, though," Sunny said. "They might have drunk more than you think."
"Fuck off," Lauren slurred, holding up three fingers and then curling one down. "I only had twooooo... glasses of wine..."
"Sorry about her behaviour," Joe said to Tej. "What she did earlier, I don't know what that was."
"It's okay," Tej said absently, still touching her face.
Sunny looked around the room. "It looks like your guests are starting to go. I think it would be best if we left too."
He went to grab their coats from the bedroom. As he searched for them, he noticed Al's cat, Samson, peering up at him from under the bed with wide eyes. Poor cat, he probably had no idea what the hell was going on with all these people here. He could identify, the two of them sharing an interspecies understanding.
Sunny returned with their coats and helped Tej into hers before putting his on. He looked at all of them and said, "Thanks for inviting us, Rachel. It was a great party, up to now."
Rachel nodded without looking at him. She was too busy prying Al's eyelids apart and looking into them. "Whatever you say, Sunny. Lauren just kissed your wife, she didn't punch her. You don't have to be so indignant."
Sunny blinked at her for a few seconds.
Rachel turned to him and said, "Unless you have a problem with two women kissing."
"No, it's not..." He shook his head in exasperation. "Whatever, I guess in your mind sexual advances aren't unwanted if they come from another woman?"
Rachel's mouth dropped. "I... oh. No, you're absolutely right."
"It's okay, really!" Tej protested. "I was just... surprised."
"And what about Al?" Sunny went on. "Did he invite her in?"
"Well, he didn't push her off his lap, did he," Joe said tightly.
"I wanted some love," Lauren whined. She looked at Rachel. "You weren't giving me any," she said for some reason. Then she looked up at Joe. "And you, what's your excuse? Are you seeing someone else?"
Joe pushed her away as if she were white hot, and Sunny, startled, caught her, looking at Joe with disgust. "What the hell, Joe?"
"She's drunk, she doesn't know what she's talking about," he said, looking horrified, for some reason.
Now Lauren began to sob. "That huuuuuurt!" she wailed. "You never hurt me before!"
"I'm sorry," Joe muttered. "I didn't mean to..."
"Not cool, Joe," Al said, suddenly lifting himself from the chair, not without considerable effort, and stumbling his way. "You don't hit the girls, don't you remember that from school?"
Sunny saw Joe's hands curl into fists again, and feared this night could end in violence if they didn't do something.
As if they were all reenacting their childhood roles, Rachel took charge again. "Al, sit back down, you're in no condition to defend Lauren's honour." She looked at Joe, sighed and rolled her eyes, and led Al to the couch, which was thankfully now free.
"Good idea, Rachel," Sunny said. "I think Lauren should sit, too."
The two, settled safely on the couch, seemed to power down again and were quiet. Lauren stopped crying, and Al stared blankly at the ceiling.
"Maybe we should just let them chill for a while," Rachel said. "They're not vomiting or going into convulsions. They're breathing."
"Do that, and call nine-one-one if their condition worsens," Sunny said. "We really do have to go."
"Yeah, go," Rachel said, waving them away in annoyance.
"Good night," Tej said weakly.
In the car home, Sunny asked Tej, "Are you okay?"
"Yes, why do you ask?" she asked.
"You've been quiet. I'm sorry Lauren kissed you like that."
"Sunny, I'm not a delicate flower whose purity has been sullied."
He blinked in surprise and looked at her briefly before looking back at the road. "I didn't mean to imply that it was a traumatic experience. I just know you didn't ask for that, and it put you in an awkward position."
"I mean, yeah, it was a surprise, but it wasn't bad, or anything... I mean, she's my friend, so I know she didn't mean to hurt me..."
"Still, Lauren must have been in a compromised state, at the very least; I mean, I didn't think she had any leanings toward lesbianism until now."
"Oh, come on, Sunny, don't be so naive."
He blinked in surprise. "What?"
"It doesn't have to be all one or all the other. Sometimes you can be attracted to someone even if they're the same gender, and it doesn't have to make you a lesbian. I think sexuality is more of a gradient than a series of categories."
Sunny's mind reeled with images of his wife and Lauren in bed together and fought a burgeoning erection. "So, you weren't put off by her kissing you?" he asked.
"Honestly? You won't be mad?"
"Of course not."
"Then no. I liked it."
His breathing grew heavy, and he laid a hand on her thigh. "Really? Is it weird that I like the fact that you liked it?"
"Really?" Now her breathing grew heavy, and her hand rested on his thigh and crept toward the unmistakable bulge in his pants. "Can you hold on to the image of us kissing until we get home, and I can relive it with you while you fuck me hard?"
"Holy shit," he hissed. "You're going to make me have an accident here and now if we don't quit it."
She chuckled, low and throaty, her whiskey voice driving him crazy as she said, "We don't want that now, do we. I want you to finish inside me, to wring yourself out with my whole body wrapped around you."
"Tej, you're killing me."
"Okay, I'll talk about something else to cool you down. How about Lauren and Al? I think those two will have a lot of explaining to do in the morning."
"Yes, you're absolutely right. I don't know where that came from; even though they were both clearly drunk, it looked like they'd been working themselves up to that for some time and didn't know it."
"Maybe you can call them tomorrow and ask how everything went. I feel like we left them when they needed us, and I'd like to know they're all okay."
Sunny sighed. "I know, but what could we do? We couldn't stay, we have the kids and Mom and Dad at home."
"So do Lauren and Joe. Who knows when they'll get home."
"You're right. Shit, now I feel terrible for leaving. I was just so embarrassed, and frustrated, and shocked at their behaviour, that I felt an overwhelming urge to leave."
"I know, my love, I know. Call them tomorrow, you'll see, it will all be fine."
Sunny didn't end up needing to call them. His phone rang at 8 a.m., almost on the dot, as if they'd been waiting for just that moment to do it. He'd just finished breakfast when he saw on the phone's screen that it was Al calling.
"Hello?"
"Sunny! Oh, thank God, it's Al."
Sunny was glad Al sounded okay, but he wasn't in a forgiving mood yet. "Al," he said flatly. "So. Have you called to apologize?"
"Sorry?" Al asked, surprised.
"Right word, wrong tone."
Al was quiet for a moment before saying, "Sunny, I don't understand. What's going on?"
Sunny was flabbergasted. The man was acting like nothing had happened last night. "How can you ask that?"
"Sunny, I mean it when I say I don't know what's going on. Lauren and I are here at the side of Highway One in Abbotsford, looking for Joe's phone."
Sunny shook his head at the unexpected diversion from what he was intending to discuss. Now all he felt was confusion. "What?"
"Look, this morning Lauren and I woke up in my apartment. We both discovered we couldn't remember most of the previous night, and Rachel and Joe weren't there. The only clues to their whereabouts are a few texts and a voicemail from Rachel that makes me think something bad has happened."
Sunny suddenly felt dizzy. "What the fuck?"
"So, we called you hoping you might be able to shed light on the missing hours and the reason why we can't find Rachel and Joe."
"Huh," Sunny said as he furiously tried to figure out what was going on here. Obviously the party hadn't ended the way Tej had assured him it would. "Well, I have no idea where Joe and Rachel are, but they were still there when Tej and I left. I wouldn't be surprised if they walked out on the two of you, though, after how you acted last night."
"Okay, see, that's already more than I knew before. What did Lauren and I do?"
"You really don't remember," he said dubiously.
"We don't, and we're really quite worried about that and about Joe and Rachel being gone."
Sunny sighed. "I have to say, I've never seen you act or talk the way you did last night, you and Lauren both. It was like you were two completely different people, and if I didn't know any better I'd have thought you'd been replaced by alien clones, or something."
"You mean like Invasion of the Body Snatchers?"
"Yeah. I don't know if it was the party atmosphere that got to you, or booze, or both. You were both lewd, embarrassingly so. Lauren made a pass at my wife, which really surprised me. This was after she tried to disrobe her own husband. Look, I'm not a prude; I don't mind watching affection between husband and wife, but there comes a time when you have to say get a room, you know? Not only that, she turned that affection on you, and that's when things got very, very uncomfortable, because Joe and Rachel had to intervene, and it was then that Tej and I felt we had to leave, because the party had ceased being fun, and you two needed to sleep off whatever you'd taken, or maybe a cold shower."
Al was quiet a moment before he said, "So, when you say she turned that affection on me, do you mean... we kissed?"
"Uh, before anyone knew what was happening, you were making out, and Lauren was in your lap, grinding on you."
"Jesus Christ," Al breathed. "And you were all there to see it?"
Al really did sound horrified, but Sunny wasn't going to let him off the hook yet. How could he not remember? "Yes," he said flatly. "It was quite alarming."
"Before, you said, sleep off whatever we'd taken. What did you mean by that?"
"Well... you'd both had a few... although you weren't sloppy drunk. I've heard people can have alcohol-induced blackouts, but I've never experienced one."
"Of course you haven't. You don't drink. Thing is, I didn't wake up hungover. I don't think Lauren did either."
"Well, I have no other explanation. So, why are you on the side of the highway looking for Joe's phone?"
"Lauren used a tracing app on her phone, and it showed her Joe's phone was here. We thought maybe they'd been in a car accident, because it hadn't moved the entire time we were coming to it, but when we got here there was nothing, not even the remains of an accident."
Sunny was still confused. "What the hell would they have been doing all the way out in Abbotsford?"
"That's what I'd like to know. Is there someone else involved here? For a while we thought maybe they were with you, because wherever they went they didn't take Joe and Lauren's van."
"Huh. I can't imagine the other guests sticking around long after we left."
"Other guests?"
"Yeah. You don't remember? They were work friends from Justiciar. You don't think..." Sunny trailed off as some dark possibilities occurred to him.
"What?"
"I don't know how well you knew these other people. Maybe one of them brought a little more than alcohol to the party."
"Fuck," Al breathed. "At one point we wondered if we were drugged."
"You could have, and it would be no laughing matter. Rohypnol and GHB are tasteless when added to alcohol, and can cause sedation, loss of inhibition, and, most importantly, blackouts."
"That's... well, that's evil. Could Rachel and Lauren's coworkers really do something like that? Don't they have to be bonded? No criminal record, and all that?"
"Well, sure, but everyone has a secret vice. Look, I'm not saying it was done with a nefarious purpose. Maybe someone wanted to feel nice, added just enough to their drink to do it, maybe you and Lauren picked up the wrong drink, and then, boom, disaster."
"Well. Maybe. Funny, they tell you to always keep your eye on your drink at a nightclub, especially women, right? But you never worry about doing it at your own party."
"True."
"That still doesn't explain where Joe and Rachel are."
"Hey, you want me to come out there? Help you look?"
"I don't know, Sunny, you have a family to look after."
"My friends are missing too, you jackass. I'll come."
"Thank you. I won't ask you to bring Tej, not after we offended her."
She wasn't that offended, Sunny thought, but wouldn't give Al and Lauren the satisfaction of telling them. They still had a lot of explaining to do, even if Lauren's actions last night had inspired Tej to do things in bed Sunny had never experienced before, the both of them going at it so long that they'd both been sweaty and spent by the end. "She'll forgive you if you were drugged. She likes you all a lot. But she should stay home and be with the kids. Hey, have you tried calling Joe's phone?"
"Jesus, Sunny, why didn't I think of that? I'll tell Lauren."
"What exit are you closest to?"
He told him, and Sunny rang off. He found Tej in their bedroom and said, "I have to go out to Abbotsford."
"Abbotsford?!" she squawked in surprise. "Why?"
"Al and Lauren are out there right now, looking for Joe's phone. Joe and Rachel are missing."
Tej paled. "It looks like I was wrong. It didn't end as well as I thought."
"I'll find out. Sorry, but I don't know if I'll be back in time for Gurdwara today."
"Don't worry, just go. I'll drive the family if I have to."
He kissed her, and the kiss lingered long after it normally would, with the memory of what they'd done last night. He broke off, breathless, and said, "I love you."
"I love you, too, now go find our friends."
"I'll do my best."
He left in his Prius, but he didn't know it would be two more days until they found their missing friends, or discovered the reason they went missing in the first place, which only had partly to do with what had happened to Lauren and Al, but was much bigger and more sinister than any of the Lawrence Street Detective Club could imagine.
Thanks for reading this far! If you've read the previous novels in this series, you'll have read variations on this scene from Al's, Lauren's and Joe's points of view. I wanted to write this through Sunny's to illustrate the evolution of Tej's feelings toward Lauren and the events that happened in the last novel, "Err on the Side of Violence." If you liked what you just read, hit "Vote" to send this title up the ranks. If I've made any errors in fact, leave a comment; I strive for authenticity.
Now, let's return to Lauren in the present day, Joe's change of heart about Al and Rachel moving out, and a worried phone call from Tej, by clicking on "Continue reading."