If Only She'd Loved Him

Chapter 31

Friday 10:10 pm

Sean twisted in Paul's hands till his neck was wrinkled and red, but Paul wouldn't let go. "Where is Erik now?" Jean demanded.

"Screw you bitch!"

"The lady asked you a question," Paul said, his hands clenched just so.

Sean tried to back up in the chair, away from that hairy fist. "I don't know where he is," he said. His eyes were closer to tears than not. "I told you it's been a month."

Softening her face, Jean seemed to reach a decision. In her riding experience, some horses responded better to sugar and some to the quirt. She had tried the latter, time to try the former. Her whole countenance changed as she switched tactics. Paul watched in surprise the effect this had on Sean. Sean's wet eyes looked almost hopeful as Jean knelt down. His hands unclenched. Reaching into her pocket, Jean pulled out a Kleenex, offering it to him.

"Sean, Megan's in trouble, and we think Erik's involved." Her voice gentled even more as she watched Sean dab the tissue against his mouth, his hands shaking. "Please, we're not screwing around here. We're really worried about her. She's been missing for two days now. Someone showed up at our apartment and took her. We haven't heard from her since that night. Please, help us."

Sean stared at Jean. Her red hair sparkled like rubies. Her skin smelled so good. Almost, he reached out to touch her, but Paul's snarling face broke the fantasy as he reached down to haul Sean back up. Shaking her head no, Jean touched Sean on the shoulder.

"We need your help," she repeated.

Sean stared up at both of them, the corners of his eyes sparkled. His nose started to run as his shoulders slumped downwards. "It was quick like I said before, but it was weird. I asked Erik what he was doing on campus, and he said he was just checking up on things. But he kept looking over his shoulder, like he was afraid someone was watching him. He asked a lot of questions about Megan, and stuff about you." Sean frowned at Paul.

"Questions, what kind of questions?"

"What kind of car did you drive? What classes was Megan taking? Did she look happy? Could a stupid asshole jock who doesn't even know a quark from a quasar really be good enough for her?" Sean smirked as Paul narrowed his eyes.  Jean stifled a laugh, unable to help her reaction.  It was an excellent question.

"A quark is small like your puny neck and a quasar is huge like my fist in your face," Paul replied.

Jean stopped laughing.  "Did Megan look happy?" She repeated softly. "What did he mean by that?" she asked more to herself than to Sean, but he answered her anyway

"I don't know. I told him to forget about her, that she was trouble and he was smart to dump her." He shook off Jean's hands. "And I meant it, she was a bitch to him. He did the right thing." Jean ignored his tirade, but Paul hated it when people misconstrued things. There was black; there was white. Grey was for wussies. He got back into Sean's face.

"For the record, Wozianowski, Megan broke up with him. Get your facts straight."

Sean spun around. He hated dumb jocks with every fiber of his high school locker memories. "Oh, yeah," he challenged, "then why did she give him her apartment key? You don't do that unless you're serious about a guy."

"He had a key to our apartment?" With those words, Jean lost her nice girl act. "Megan would never do that?! How did he get a key to our apartment?!" She reached for Sean's shirt, ready to wrinkle it up past recognition, but Matt suddenly whistled inside.

"Security's walking through," he whispered loudly, adding with a knowing glance at Sean, "We've gotta go."

Jean shook her head. "Matt, that weirdo had a key to our apartment. I'm not leaving till I find out more."

Matt glanced down the hall. It was still clear, but the footsteps were getting louder. "Bring him along then, but his little playmates must have called in the cavalry, so we've got to go now. Haverson?"

Paul nodded and lifted Sean up by his collar. "C'mon, let's go check out what stuff your one and only friend might have left behind. C'mon move!"