Chapter 14 - Snatched

Nef's POV

"What you gonna do tonight?" Sasha asked me.

We were on the phone talking. Last night the caps played the Hurricanes at home and then flew out Toronto. They had a game tonight against the Maple Leafs. It was the first game of a ten day road swing.

"I'm going out with Jesse for her birthday."

"You not watch me play?" he asked feigning hurt.

"Not tonight Kitten." I had taken to calling Sasha Kitten after that day he had the team over to his house. He had taken some ragging from the guys over being called Sex Kitten but it had played itself out in the locker room. I think it had something to do with calling another guy "Sex Kitten."

Later that evening as I was getting dressed I heard Stephanie and Terry arguing. They had been doing that a lot lately. It seemed like they wanted different things from their relationship. Terry wanted something serious and Steph still wanted to have fun and be free. She told him that she wasn't ready to settle down and he didn't seem to be able to accept that.

"You just don't get it, do you?" Steph shouted.

"You're selfish and self-centered," Terry screamed.

When Jesse and I left Steph and Terry were still arguing. I sent Sasha a text wishing him good luck and telling him to play well. Jesse and I were meeting up with friends for dinner and then we were going out to a bar crawl in Adam's Morgan.

"So, Nefertiti who is this boy that has been taking up most of your free time?" Pete asked me at dinner.

I still hadn't told most of my friends about Sasha. My roommates and those closest to me knew of course but I was rather reluctant to tell more people.

"Just a guy I met. We hit it off and started dating."

"Are you guys like together together?"

"Yeah, we've been official for a couple of months.

"Well what does he do? Where is he from?" Pete's girlfriend Trish asked.

"Uhm, he's from Russia - Siberia and he works with the Washington Capitals Hockey Club."

"Cools. Why didn't he come out with you tonight?"

"He's in Toronto working."

After dinner we went to a place called Heaven and Hell. It's a bar that's set up on three different levels. The main entrance is to purgatory - a standard bar with a dance floor and two bartenders. The top level was called Heaven and it was set up like a lounge with seating, light blue lights and soft music. The bartenders wore white and had on angel wings. The lower level was dark with loud dance music playing The walls were painted blood red and the bartenders were dressed up as demons and devils.

"Happy Birthday to Jesse! The birthday girl," we cheered as we did a round of shots of patron.

We spent most of the night in Hell dancing and drinking.

I had been checking the scores of the caps game on my phone and the guys ended up losing 6-3. I knew that Sasha would call me after he got settled. He always called after a lose looking to focus his mind on something else. The caps had been performing incredibly well so loses were infrequent.

It was around midnight when Sasha called me. I went upstairs to Heaven to talk to him for a few minutes.

“Sorry about the game Kitten.”

“We just not play our game,” he said with a sigh. “It happen sometimes. You still out with Jesse?”

“Yes, we’ll probably leave in a little while, once Jesse is absolutely shit faced.”

We talked for a little bit. I even handed Jesse the phone so that Sasha could wish her a happy birthday.

“Why aren’t you here?” Jesse drunkenly babbled into the phone. “You had to play? Why was there a game tonight? It’s my birthday you have to be here!”

There was a back and forth exchange between Sasha and Jesse that ended in her saying “You have to hurry back. Nef is moopy and sad when you’re gone.” I managed to wrestle the phone away from her. Damn drunken girl.

“You drive tonight?” He was laughing at Jesse

“No, we cabbed it. We’ve both been drinking. Jesse a little bit more than I have.”

“Kay milaya moya (My sweet), call me when you get home. I want know you are safe.”

“Will do.”

I said good bye to Sasha. Jesse and I said at the bar for another half hour or so before I made the decision that we should go home. It was becoming harder and harder for her to stand.

“Hey Pete, can you watch Jesse while I go call a cab for us?”

“Sure no problem.”

I walked outside of the bar past the bouncer and to the street corner to call a cab. As soon as the phone was to my ear someone ran past me pushing me to the ground and snatching my clutch out of my hand. I looked up to see a guy dressed in all black with long brown hair, and fair skin running down the street with my pink coach clutch.

“Are you alright?” The bouncer asked me, dragging me toward the side walk. He had run to the edge of the street to pull me out of the road.

“No,” I said. I had fallen on a broken bottle and there were shards of glass in my arm. I could feel the blood beginning to seep through my long sleeved shirt.
The bouncer pulled me inside of the bar, toward the staff lounge.

“Someone is calling the cops,” he said as he wrapped a towel around my arm.
Pete saw me heading toward the staff lounge and followed. “Hey Nef are you okay? We need to get Jesse home. She’s starting to throw up really badly.”

“No, someone snatched my clutch. I have to wait for the police and the paramedics. Take Jesse home."

“Wait what?” He asked.

“Someone snatched my purse and I fell on some broken glass. I’m okay but I need to stay and wait for the paramedics and the police. Take Jesse home. Steph should be there. Call her.”

Pete and Trish left with Jesse once the police and the paramedic got there. The bouncer stayed with the police to give a statement and I was taken by the paramedics to the hospital to get my arm looked at. The officer came to the hospital to take my statement.

“Good evening Ma’am. I’m Officer Peterson,” he said. “I’ve taken a statement from James, the bouncer at the bar, but I need to get one from you.”

The nurse gave me a shot of pain medicine in my arm to numbed it so that she could removed the glass without there being too much pain.

“I, um, went outside of the bar to call a cab to take my roommate and myself home when a guy pushed me into the street and snatched my clutch.”

“Do you remember what he looked like? Or what he was wearing?”

“A black pullover hoodie, dark jeans. I couldn’t tell if they were dark blue or black. He had on black converses and long brown hair. I didn’t get a look at his face.”

“What was in your purse?”

“Not much, just about $40 in cash, a credit card, and lip gloss. I had my phone in my hand and my ID in my pants pocket. It was a small clutch – not much room in it.”

“Okay. Can you call your card company and let them know that it’s been stolen? If the guy tries to use it we might be able to get him.”

It was around 3:30 when I was finally released from the hospital. I had gotten a few stitches to close the wounds left by the largest shards of glass and antibiotics to prevent an infection. I called Steph to see if she could come and pick me up from the hospital.

“Hey Steph, sorry for calling so late but I need you to take my car and pick me up from Washington Hospital.”

“Not right now,” she said. She and Terry were still arguing. I could hear him screaming in the background.

“Steph, I’m at Washington Hospital. My purse was snatched and I need you to come and get me,” I repeated.

“Why can’t Jesse get you?”

“Is she there? Pete was supposed to drop her off to you. She was really drunk when they left.”

“Maybe. I gotta go.”

“Steph-“ She hung up.

I tried calling her back but she didn’t pick up. I called Pete.

“Hey Pete, did you drop Jesse off at place?”

“Yeah. I dropped her off with Steph and Terry. They were in the middle of arguing but they said that they would look after her.”

“Steph said that she didn’t know. I called to ask if she could come and get me from the hospital and she told me not now.”

“What?!” Pete shouted into the phone. “Stay where you are. I’ll be right there to get you.”

“Where am I going to go Pete? I have no money and no way to get money. My purse was stolen.”

Pete called me a smart ass and told me that he would be there in 15 minutes. While waiting for Pete I called my credit card company and reported my card stolen. When Pete and I got to my place we found that both Steph and Terry were gone and Jesse was lying on her bed with vomit on her pillow and her clothes.

“Where the fuck is Steph?” I said. I was more than a little pissed with her.
Pete helped me get Jesse into the tub to clean her up. He went to change her bedding while I washed her.

“Can you go to my car and get some Gatorade out of the trunk? My keys are on my dresser.” I had bought a couple of cases of Gatorade earlier in the day to keep at my place for Sasha. That and Mountain Dew were just about the only things that boy drank.

“Sure.”

Pete went into my room and then said that he didn’t see them. We pulled Jesse from the tub and dressed her. Pete sat on her bed trying to get water into her while I went to my room to find my keys. I couldn’t find my keys and where in my apartment. I looked out of my window and my parking space was empty.

“My car is gone.”

“What do you mean gone?”

“My parking spot is empty and I can’t find my keys.”

“Did you park somewhere else?”

“No. I always park in the row that faces my bedroom window.”

Pete told me not to worry, that maybe I just forgot where I parked. We made sure that Jesse was okay and then went outside to search the parking lot for my car.