Unfinished Business

Jane was the life of any party. She would walk into a room and it would be like she came in with her own entourage of personalised branded rays of sunshine. She was that girl, so feisty and storing way too much life in her 5 foot frame. She was never one to shy away from any confrontational engagement. In its stead sometimes actually going out of her away to ignite little fires. Hence her alias as Tarzan Jane.This was especially more-so in her journalism career. Hardly one to shy away from controversial issues, she had rubbed a couple of shoulders causing more than her fair share of friction and heat. She had absolutely no sense of filter nor censorship, but that was what made her a force to reckon with among her peers. She gave zero chills and just published. Let the chips fall where they may. Her confidence was uncanny and never lacking. She was always on her game. That’s why she couldn’t get over that particular night when she slipped and everything almost went to shits.On this said night, she had taken a chance and gone out on a date with Pretty-Face Kevin. A befitting moniker considering his sculpted and model like features. He was a reporter and they had met on the field covering a press conference for an artist’s launch. She detested those kind of events and had even zoned out when Pretty Face Kevin had approached her. And thank goodness he had because she had been bored out of her mind. Her curiosity had been piqued because she had thought his cocky attitude was almost a match for her egotistic confidence. Almost.Now here she was giving him a chance, seated across him at a popping club in Nairobi’s  Westlands area, where all the cool kids hang out. Honestly it had more to do with her good judy, Juliet, standing her up. Not that she entirely blamed her because Juliet had a lot on her plate, what with a sudden proposal from her mystically re-appearing ex, one year too late if you asked her.“Are you sure you don’t want anything else to drink Jane?” he was askingShe glanced up at him and lazily smiled. She’d only had one drink in the hour or so that she’d been here, but for some reason she was beginning to feel lightheaded, loose, more brazen than normal. She sighed heavily as she shook her head, wondering what was wrong with her. “No I’m fine”He smiled at her, showcasing a perfect dimple that added charisma to his face. “Yeah baby you definitely are, and I’m dying to find out just how far that fine goes”.At any other time a remark like that from any man would be a total turnoff, but for some reason she liked it. In fact it made her feel good. Leaning forward in typical Tarzan Jane fashion, she whispered, “Do you think you’re up to it?”He mischievously chuckled, “Oh yeah, I am up to it all right. Slide on over here and feel how up to it I am.”She laughed him off with a wave, “O Kevin you’re simply outrageous!”At that moment, his phone rang. He snapped it open and after a few short words he looked over at Jane, “Excuse me. I need to take this call. It’s my job.”She nodded as he zapped away in his phone. She took the time to try and rehash their  little tete-a-tete. He had mentioned that he worked for which paper? Or was it a TV station? What was wrong with her? She usually was sharp at remembering things.“Don’t go away. I’ll be right back, and when I return we’re leaving here and going somewhere we can be alone. Ok?” he said smiling.Kevin’s words intruded on her blurred thoughts. She felt herself returning his smile. “All right.” She then watched as he walked off.

***

In the same club at a dark corner seat were 2 brooding men drowning their sorrows seeking refuge at the bottom of the bottle. Both for different reasons. Maina, freshly separated from his wife, was finding out the hard way that the single bachelor scene had changed drastically since he had been single. For his apparent shortcomings as a husband, he made up for by being a brilliant lawyer and an astute business man. According to him anyway. And on this day he had just defended his friend, brooding culprit number 2, on yet another physical assault.“You need to get your shit together man,” Maina had ostracized Dru after their court proceedings. “It’s a good thing you have me on retainer but you might wanna consider some anger management classes.”Now thanks to that hefty retainer they ended up, in typical male fashion, in a club drinking away their day’s woes.Newly engaged Andrew Shaka, aka Dru, culprit no 2, was supposed to be basking in his engagement. Instead he had spent most of his time in court waning off what he termed as ‘petty issues’. After all just because he expressed his anger with his Tyson fists didn’t make him less of a man and he only resorted to fists when the situation called for it. He was definitely not a common criminal. If anything the counselor he had seen during his earlier teen years had encouraged him to express his feelings.Andrew Shaka had noticed Kevin’s familiar face as the man he had assaulted and caused him enough strife in court. Kevin has seemingly been with one of Gina’s (his fiancee) friends Jane. He and she had never really cared for each other and went out of their way to be nasty, it seemed. Gina had often shunned him for deliberately not making an effort to be friendly.Andrew saw Kevin head in the direction of the men’s room. He had been watching and something was awry by Jane’s cavalier attitude and languid movements. Getting up from the table he headed towards the men’s room too and left Maina who hardly noticed while he was busy canoodling with a young heavily-breasted clown-looking made up lady. He was trying to ‘work out his marriage issues’ by finessing some young girl. Although from where he was standing it was hard to tell who was actually running the scam. She had a scheming way about her, and had introduced herself as Tracy, or was it Tina? Either way Maina would figure that out in the morning.He heard voices emanating from the bathroom as he approached.“Hey man your date is really wasted. what did you give her?” someone was askingKevin smiled over at his friend as he zipped up his pants after using one of the urinals. “I dropped Tina a huge tip to slip something into her drink, something guaranteed to loosen her up. She’s been playing hard to get and I intend to get into her stuff tonight. The beauty of it is that she wont remember a damn thing about it in the morning.”Damn! Even Jane nasty as she was, didn’t deserve that kind of hellish treatment. His Tyson fists were already twitching. He could swear his ears were smokingThe other guy chuckled, “you’re finally going to find out if her bark is as good as her bite.”Kevin guffawed, “you know it man.”Dru stopped dead in his tracks, just inside the bathroom doorway. Fury coursed through him just hearing his voice. He had given Jane a date rape drug? Now that’s reason enough, if there ever was one, to strangle somebody. He burst into the men’s room ready to kill somebodyThe two men turned around and Kevin exclaimed in recognition, “What the hell! You are really asking for it huh. Do I need to get a restraining order against you? I swear…”Dru went straight for Kevin grabbing him by the throat, “You bastard!”The other man grabbed Andrew from behind. Dru elbowed him in the stomach before giving him a quick jab at his midsection, followed by a hard kick that sent him sprawling against the wall where he collapsed unconsciousDru then turned his attention back to Kevin, who’d remained pinned up against the sink. “What’d you give her?” he asked his voice deadly“Hey man, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t give anybody anything.”Dru snatched him up and brought his face within inches of his own, “then maybe a little flushing might help you remember.”With a firm grip on the collar of Kevin’s shirt, Dru pulled him into one of the stalls and dunked his head in the toilet and held it there, then pulled him back up, “Can you remember anything now?”Amidst poor Kevin cussing out loudly, he admitted, “Jeez! Okay, I put some roofies in her drink..”Dru beat him to a pulp and left him unconscious, before making his way to Jane’s table.“Come on Jane,” he said reaching out and gently pulling her into his arms.“Brooding Dru, you’re here!” she was shrieking, for crying out loud! The drugs were already in effect by her slurred speech. “Ummm, I want to dance with you before I go,” she murmured softly wrapping her arms around his neck and blatantly rubbing her body against his.That was definitely not what he had signed up for, “No I’m taking you home”“No I want to dance!” Hysteria had clearly kicked in. She was drumming on his chest like he had become some type of Isikuti drum.Why did he have to be such the knight in shining armor, was his last thought as he swooped an overly hysterical Jane into his arms and hailed the first taxi he saw.