My wife has a big mouth. She loves to tell people what to do, what they have done wrong, and how much smarter she is than them. Most of the time, she rarely gets in trouble. I’m a pretty big guy, and she knows I’ll be there to bail her out. Usually, I just have to stand up in front of someone she’s mouthed off to, and they back down and go away.
But this is the story of one time I couldn’t protect her.
We were out on the town celebrating our 15th anniversary. We’d sent the kids off to her parents, and her and I were going to do the town. We had a great dinner, a nice bottle of wine, and we decided to go to a jazz club we like, to listen to some nice jazz.
Gary’s Jazz Club is in a slightly rough part of town and a lot of not so nice people hang there. We don’t go there for company, we go for the music. And on Saturday night, it’s always full.
My wife had a good buzz on before we even got there. Once there, I ordered a couple of drinks and we sat back and listened to the music. It was standing room only, but we were lucky enough to get a table near the back. Around us people were standing up listening to the cool jazz.
The place kept getting busier and busier and soon we were feeling a bit crowded at our table. People kept crowding around near us, sometime blocking our view of the stage. A couple of times, my wife told a couple of people standing too close to us to move away. They gave her nasty looks, but after looking at me, they moved away.
We were drinking our last round and getting ready to leave when a short kind of unkempt guy moved next to us. He had a few friends he was talking to while he drank his beer. When he finished, he placed his beer bottle on our table.
My wife got a bit pissed, and I told her to lighten up. It was crowded and we were leaving anyway. But that wasn’t good enough for her. She yelled at the short guy and told him to come get his bottle.
He just smirked and turned his head back to his conversation with his friends. That pissed my wife off she yelled at him again. This time, he ignored her. This really pissed her off and she grabbed the bottle and threw it at him, hitting him in the back. He turned quickly and looked extremely pissed. My wife yelled at him to keep his trash off her table.
He picked up the bottle and began to walk towards our table. I thought I should step in, so I stood up. I’m a muscular 6’2” and weigh around 250 pounds. This little shit couldn’t have been more than 5’6” and maybe weighed 150 pounds. He quickly looked at my wife and then me. He muttered something under his breath and turned and walked away.
I turned back to my wife who was grinning. Damn, she pissed me off when she did shit like that! I just nodded my head and told her it was time to go. She told me to sit down and have another drink.
We ordered one more round and were in the middle of drinking it, when my wife spotted her friend glaring at her.
“Look at that little shit. I think I pissed him off.” She said.
I turned and looked and saw the little bastard staring at her. As I looked at my wife, she was blowing him a kiss.
“Stop it.” I told her.
“Why? You can kick his ass.” She replied.
“I’m not in the mood. I’m celebrating our anniversary. Drink your drink so we can get home. Remember? The kids are gone. We got the house to ourselves.” I told her.
She drank her drink and made a few more faces at her friend. I drank mine down and stood up to leave. I put on my coat and helped my wife with hers. I turned to look to see if her friend was still staring and did not see him. I thought that was good. I really wasn’t in the mood to fight anyone, even a little shit like him.
We went out into the parking lot and walked towards out SUV. We have a nice large black Ford Expedition. I held my wife’s hand as I walked her to her side to unlock it.
As I fumbled for my keys, I felt someone push me from behind. I turned quickly to see my wife’s friend; the little shit had shoved me. I was about to move forward, when I noticed him holding a pistol out in front of him. I turned towards my wife and saw two large black men holding her, one with his hands clamped over her mouth.
“Your stupid bitch ruined my evening asshole. Now I’m going to ruin hers. Open the fucking door and hand me the keys.” He snarled at me.
I realized I could do nothing. I quickly looked around the parking lot and saw no one. Not one person who could see what was happening and possibly call the police. I opened the passenger door and handed him the keys.
He quickly unlocked the doors and told me to get in and slide over to the driver’s side. I watched as my wife was pushed into the back seat with the two large black men sitting on each side of her. Her friend slid in the passenger seat and held the gun pointed at me. He handed me the keys and told me to start it up and drive.
I started the SUV and slowly pulled out of the parking lot. I looked at my wife in the rear view mirror and her face was filed with terror. I tried to reassure her with a look, but I had no idea how we were going to get out of this mess. Our new friend told me which way to drive.
I tried to talk to him, apologizing for upsetting him evening, but he quickly told me to shut up. He just set there holding the gun at my waist, telling me where to drive.
We drove to a remote part of town where a lot of run down warehouses are. I tried to pay attention to every turn, in case it would be needed later. I also kept thinking of ways to get out of this mess, all the time trying to give my frightened wife reassurance that we would get out of this alive.
I was directed to a small building. I noticed a car already parked there. I was told to park next to the car and turn it off the engine. I did and turned to our friend. As I again tried to talk, I was told to shut up.
We were led into the building. The two large black men held onto my wife, while our little friend with the gun led me. Two other men were in there. They were both young, I guessed around 20, and very thin. I began to take inventory to see who I should take out first, if it came to a fight.
The building was empty, except for an area that was lit by a single lamp. There was a couch and a couple of chairs and a small mattress. We were pushed onto the couch and our friend stood in front of us, holding the gun, still looking pissed off.
“Bitch, you ruined my night. I just got out of prison last week and my friends were taking me out to celebrate. And you had to fucking ruin it!” He said sneering at my wife.
“I’m sorry. I’m really very sorry.” My wife softly said.
“Yeah, you’re fucking sorry now. And you’re going to be fucking sorrier later.” He said.
“Come one, please. She is really sorry. Just let us go, and we’ll say nothing about this to anyone.” I began to plead.