Chapter 7 – Drop The Ball

Paul watched Jen fidget with her pen, not looking him in the eye. She had been staring at the same bit of paper for the past ten minutes. "Jen, come into my office for a moment." Finally she glanced up, taking in the sight of him stood against the door frame to his office. Hesitating for a moment she eventually stood up and smoothed down the black pencil skirt she had on. He sat down behind his desk once she closed the door behind her; shutting out the gentle hum of the main office.

"How can I help you, Paul?" With her head held high, she was on high alert. Looking for anything out of the ordinary. To be honest, she had no clue what she was looking for. Drugs, or money came to mind. That's what Stu always seemed to be on the hunt for.

"Last night, you left the party. Why?" His voice was stern, drifting slightly as his gaze wandered down her body.

"Tiffany didn't need my help." Jen furrowed her brows, if this was what Paul needed to talk about, there wasn't much more that needed to be said.

"Tiffany doesn't get to make those decisions." Jen opened her mouth to speak but Paul held his hand up to stop her. "Consider this your verbal warning. You can go now."

"Wait, that isn't fair." Jen moved closer to his desk. Eyes on the papers precariously placed on his desk.

"You break the rules, you get punished." Hypocrite. Jen wanted to stand and argue but she knew it would come back and bite her in the ass. Paul stood up, making his way over to Jen. Her eyes widened as he came closer, she needed to get out. Quickly she backed away from him. This was a side of Paul she had never seen, and quite frankly she didn't want to. Turning around she slammed into the metal filing cabinet, knocking off a box resting on top. The box hit the floor with a thud, landing on its side and spilling the contents. Paul sunk to his knees, gathering everything up frantically whilst mumbling something under his breath. Jen had seen everything though. The drugs, the money and the gun.

Paul glanced up, and seeing the shocked impression on Jens face knew she had seen it all. He shot up, gripping onto her arm and holding her against the wall. "If you mention this to anyone, I will make sure you never see the light of day again. Got it?" Jen nodded, clawing at Paul's hand to get him off her. He let her go and she flew out of his office into the main room. Everyone turned to her, her sudden movements disturbing the calm atmosphere. A million miles away from what she had just experienced. A few clients were at the opposite end of the room. Deciding against causing a scene she moved to her desk and grabbed her handbag. She needed to get out and quick.

Another day at work and another day with his mind on anything but the job at hand. Stu let his gaze wander around the office; everyone was working hard and getting on with business. Exactly what he should be doing.

"Bennett." Glancing up, Stu's gaze landed on his partner. He raised his eyebrows waiting to hear what he had to say. "If you had to go without food or sex, what would you choose?" Cody seemed oblivious to how ludicrous his question was.

"What?"

"Kim asked me last night." Cody's nonchalant attitude didn't surprise Stu one bit.

"And what did you answer?" Stu didn't need to ask, but he thought he would humour the young man.

"Well, food. Because if you think about it, if you don't have food then you will die and you can't have sex." Stu stared at Cody, utterly bewildered at how he made it into the FBI. As he was about to answer, he got a call through. A visitor was waiting for him in the lobby, and although Stu had an inkling as to who it would be, he wouldn't get his hopes up. Stu left Cody and his food and sex filled thoughts to go see who was waiting for him. Deep down he hoped it was Jen. And after their activities the previous night, it was getting hard to get her out of his mind. As he reached the lobby he smiled. His instincts were working perfectly fine, as well as other things. He felt the familiar tug of lust pulling him towards her.

"Jen." Stu boomed in to the lobby, causing her to look up. Her eyes were wide and she ran up to him. She started rambling at him, words flying out of her mouth that he couldn't quite catch. "Whoa, slow down. Start again."

"Stu, I need your help. It's about Paul." As soon as Jen clutched onto his arm, he had to take a deep breath. He couldn't be letting her effect him, especially at work.

"Jen I don't really have time for you right now." That was half true. He shouldn't have gotten involved with her in the first place. With her boss involved in the case, he was likely to screw it up amongst other things.

"Stu, please this is important." Jen begged as Stu pulled her hands away from his arm.

"You can't keep coming here whenever you please. I have a job to do and you are interfering with that." Stu gripped onto her forearm, dragging her away from prying eyes. It pained him to say it, but they needed boundaries. Turning up at his office was a nice surprise, but one he couldn't be getting daily. People would start getting suspicious. Stu continued walking, nodding to the few people they passed. No one dared to ask questions, instead they continued walking and left him to it. They ended up in a small empty interrogation room. "Make it quick."

"Paul threatened me." Jen stared at Stu, watching his jaw lock and felt his grip on her arm tighten. "Stu, you're hurting me."

"Sorry." He let go of her arm and shook his head. "What did he say?"

"He gave me a verbal warning for-"

Interrupting, Stu raised his voice. A flood of different emotions running through him; mainly anger but that was nothing new. "Jen, how the fuck is that a threat?"

"Are you going to let me finish?" Jen ran her hands through her hair and dropped her bag onto the small table into the room. Stu was starting to unsettle her. He was the only person she could turn to. The only person who she knew would help her. But at the same time, he often seemed reluctant.

"Go on." Stu crossed his arms across his chest. The suit jacket he was wearing scrunched up and stretched at the chest.

"He gave me a verbal warning for leaving the party last night, I bumped into a cabinet. Some stuff fell off and there were drugs, money and he has a gun." Jen spoke quickly, trying to avoid Stu butting in again. "He said if I tell anyone I'll never see the light of day."

Stu ran a hand over his face and let out a frustrated groan. "Quit."

"What?" Jen stared at him wide eyed. He knew she couldn't quit, they'd had the exact conversation the day before.

"Quit your job and don't go back there." Stu's mind raced, he knew where they were on the case, and they were nowhere close. They needed strong evidence, and that didn't include a few pounds of cocaine. He wanted both Paul and Matrianou locked away for as long as possible.

"Stu I can't do that."

"Yes you can. I can't do anything straight away, but in time sweetheart. He won't get away with what he's doing."

"If I leave he will know I'm scared. I'm not quitting."

Stu sighed and took a step closer to her. His big bands framed her face and he studied her expression. She was scared. He could read it a mile off but also knew she would never want to show it. "I promise he won't hurt you." Her hands moved to cover his own.

"I trust you." Jen spoke with nothing but truth and sincerity. Stu pushed his lips against hers. They had been tempting him since he laid eyes on her. His big hand slipped to the back of her head, holding her still so he could do as he pleased.

"Good." Stu kissed her lips one last time, and ran his hands down her arms. "Think about what I said." Stu needed to get his head down and figure something out with his team before Matrianou got away, or something happened to Jen.

A/N – Thank you RampantMuses, peeps8705, ThatGirl54, xSamiliciousx, moxxie23 and xFindTheEnigmaWithinx for the lovely reviews :D! Lou x