Her Striker by Charlene Raquel

Chapter Eight

 

 

“Who was the redhead?” Dean flopped down on the recliner in the living room of their apartment.

Drew wiped a hand down his face. “I’m pretty sure she and that dick, Adrian, are two of the kidnappers.”

“I can do some research. See what I can find out.” Dean leaned back with his feet up. He was tired but pumped at the same time. Sam had finally opened up to him a little.

“What’s up with you and Sam? She’s talking to you now?” Drew watched his friend closely. Dean was usually good at concealing his feelings when he wanted to, but he had tells.

“I like fighting with her.” Dean closed his eyes, thinking about the fiery auburn temptress. “She’s witty, funny and sexy.”

“And she’s best friends with Gwen.” Drew let that statement hang between them.

“Something’s up with her. Sam told me that she hasn’t spoken to her parents in years. Gwen goes home with Sam for every holiday.” Dean leaned the chair upright.

Drew shook his head. She had yelled at him that he had jumped to the wrong conclusions. He needed more information. “Someone’s lying, and we need to find out who. I don’t like that she was here when Landon was killed. She might know something about it.”

“I’ll do some digging, but maybe you need to talk to her.”

Drew rubbed the back of his neck. “I’ll accidentally run into her jogging. She’ll talk to me.”

 

~*~*~

 

“Dude, you better have some information for me.” Drew paced from the living room to the kitchen and back. “It’s been a week, and I haven’t managed to run into Gwen once. I also can’t find Abby. Classes start in a couple of days, and we’re no closer to finding out anything.”

Dean guzzled from his bottle of Gatorade, trying to ignore his friend. He had been playing Xbox when Drew stormed inside from his morning jog. “There isn’t enough for me to research. We need a little more information since there are too many variables. I pulled everyone’s class schedules for you.”

Drew grabbed a water bottle from the fridge. “That will help once classes start. We can keep track of everyone easier. Have you found out anything about the Scorpio Society?”

“Not a mention anywhere. Just a few vague rumors. We need to get into some of the buildings to explore their basements. You said you were held in a stone building with a lower level. There are probably a lot of them out there, so we should get started checking them out.”

“Good idea. We can go tonight.” Drew couldn’t stay still. “Can you get past any security systems that might be in place?”

“Not a problem. Have you considered that it might not be on campus?” Dean pulled a handful of popcorn from the large bag on the table in front of him.

“It could have been anywhere. We have to start somewhere. It might as well be the campus. Almost all of those buildings are stone.”

Dean’s mouth was full, so he took his time answering. “Two of the fraternity houses are stone, but they aren’t as big as you mentioned the basement being.”

“I have a feeling it’s on campus.” Drew shook his head at the popcorn all over the table and the couch. His buddy was a slob. “I need to know if Gwen is a part of this.”

Dean shoveled more popcorn into his mouth. A piece fell out when he tried to talk. “You told me not to hack into Gwen’s finances, so I haven’t. Now you want me to?”

Drew stopped and sighed. “Yeah, do it. We need to know.” He made another loop and then stopped with a jerk. “Can you get into her phone?”

Dean’s eyebrows shot up. Breaking into phones was some serious shit that he hadn’t given a try. “Don’t know. Do you really want to go that far? Why can’t you just go to her house?”

“Have you talked to Sam?”

Dean growled. “No, and she hasn’t been working at the diner either. I’ve stopped by there every day.”

“You didn’t tell me she wasn’t there.” Drew flopped down on the recliner. “Maybe they went somewhere together.”

Dean’s eyebrows shot up. “I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe they went home for a visit before classes started.”

Drew pulled out his phone. “I’m going to call my aunt. She lives across the street from Gwen’s parents.”

“You can’t just call her out of the blue. Won’t she get suspicious?”

Drew shook his head. “No. I used to hide out at her house when my father was acting like an asshole, so I was there a lot. She has never gotten along with my father even when they were growing up together.”

Dean looked skeptical. “Give it a try.” He put the phone on speaker.

“Hello.”

“Hi, Aunt Dee.”

“Oh Drew! How are you, kiddo? I miss you.”

“Miss you, too. How are things?”

“I should be asking you that. How are you holding up?”

Drew sighed. He didn’t want to talk about Landon. “I’m okay.”

“Why are you calling me? What do you need?”

Drew winced. He needed to give his aunt a call once in a while. “Just saying hello to my favorite aunt.”

“I’m the only aunt you speak to. Now, tell me.”

“Has Gwen been home for a visit?”

Aunt Dee inhaled deeply. “I thought you didn’t want me to mention Gwen.”

Drew ground his teeth. “Well, now I want to know.”

“I don’t know what happened between you two. You were inseparable growing up. So cute together.”

“Aunt Dee. Please.”

“No, Drew. I haven’t seen her in over three years. She left the summer you both graduated from high school, and she hasn’t been back. Her parents make excuse after excuse, saying she is studying abroad, has internships, a summer job, whatever to protect their perfect appearance.”

“She really hasn’t been back?”

“No, Drew. I don’t think she’s spoken to them either. Her mother let it slip one night when she had too much to drink. She told the garden club that her little bitch of a daughter abandoned her without ever looking back. She denied it the next day, but I think she was telling the truth.”

“Thanks, Aunt Dee.”

“You’re at the same college now, aren’t you? Are you going to talk to her? You really should. She was such a sweet girl.”

“I’ve got to go, Aunt Dee. I promise to call more.”

“You better. Talk to you soon.”

Dean sat forward with his arms on his thighs. “She hasn’t been home in three years.”

Drew wiped a hand down his face. “This doesn’t make sense. When I was home for Landon’s private funeral, her father was over after the service. I heard him tell my dad that she won her last tournament and was still getting straight A’s as expected. He told him he was indulging her appearance of freedom until she graduated. My father assured him that Carter would wait until she finished school but not longer. Her father said that she was looking forward to it.”

“Gwen wants to marry your brother?” Dean clasped his hands together.

“I don’t know. It sounded like it, but after talking to my aunt, I’m not sure.” Drew groaned. He had way more questions than answers.

“You need to talk to her.”

“Look into her finances first. Who’s paying for Stonewall? It’s expensive. I allowed my father to pay for it so I could come here and investigate. He was only too happy for me to be attending his alma mater and taking up the family legacy.”

“He believed you?”

Drew shrugged. “He wanted to believe me, and I can be a pretty good actor when I need to be.”

A knock on their door stopped their conversation. Drew frowned, but pulled the door open. A teenaged boy stood at the door, looking around nervously.

“Yeah?” Drew was not going to be all that welcoming. The kid didn’t look old enough to be a freshman, but Drew suspected he probably was. Some older classman was taking advantage of the younger student.

“Uh, I have an envelope for Andrew Maxwell.” The kid shifted from foot to foot. “So, uh, yeah. Are you Andrew Maxwell? I have to give it only to him. No one else.”

Drew sighed and opened the door, scanning the area. No one seemed to be around.  “I’m Andrew. Thanks.”

The kid shoved the crisp cream envelope at Drew and scurried away.

Drew closed and locked the door, glancing at the mail in his hand. Only his name was printed in calligraphy on the back. The thickness indicated that it was expensive and formal.

He flipped it over and ran his finger under the flap. Drew pulled out an even thicker card. “It’s an invitation. I am cordially invited to a cocktail party at the Athletic Club with the Dean of Athletics and select guests.”

Dean arched a brow. “I’m crushed I wasn’t invited.”

Drew grinned at him. “What? You don’t want to be my plus one?”

“I won’t put out on the first date.”

Drew gave him the finger. “Wonder what this is about.”

“You’ll find out tonight.”

Drew smirked. “And you’ll be on a stakeout in the parking lot gathering information.”