Disclaimer: I own nothing except a LoJack that only finds other cars, but not mine. I know, I'm running out of material.
Chapter Twenty-Five: The Intimate Gathering
The next night, Derek headed to Sam's to meet up with him and Ralph. He hadn't filled them in on the change of plans yet, and he didn't know how they were going to take it.
"Dude, we have to abort." Ralph said upon hearing the news. Sam agreed, but Derek wasn't ready to give up just yet. "I think we should just head over there and case the place." An idea popped into his head. "Sam, do you still have your video camera?"
Sam thought for a moment. "Uh, yeah, I think so. I don't know if the batteries still work though."
Derek waved him off. "Go get it. Maybe we can catch them in the act and get it on tape. Our own tape." He smiled craftily.
After finding the camera and determining that, yes, the batteries still work, they headed off to Alex's. They parked down the street in the shadows of a tree and walked silently down the sidewalk to his house. Derek led them to the window where he had seen the action before. This time, there were only a few cars in front of the house, which didn't surprise Derek considering it was supposed to be an "intimate gathering." He had come to hate that phrase.
The window was open and the blinds were in the same position as before. However, the room was dark and empty. "Let's stay here for a bit and see if someone comes in." Derek whispered to Sam and Ralph, who were standing behind Derek against the house.
"Sweet. Just like spies." Ralph said, rubbing his hands together. Sam and Derek rolled their eyes.
A half hour later, they were still waiting, and Sam and Ralph – especially Ralph – were getting restless. "Dude, I think this is a bust. They could be using any number of rooms." Sam said. "I say we come back another time and try again."
"Yeah, dude. This sucks, and I'm getting hungry." whined Ralph, clutching his stomach.
Derek was annoyed. "Guys, this isn't some crackerjack operation! It's serious shit! People are getting hurt. Don't you think we should do something about it?" He looked at Sam and Ralph. "Remember why we agreed to do this. Casey, remember? Do you want her to get drugged and raped? Do you?" He whispered forcefully.
"No . . ." Sam and Ralph both said, hanging their heads.
"OK, then. Let's not give up because we have to wait or because we're hungry." Derek looked pointedly at Ralph.
Just then, they heard laughing coming from around the front of the house. Derek, Sam and Ralph crept up the hill and Derek poked his head around, hidden by the giant shrubs that flanked the house. He knew that laugh sounded familiar. It was Kendra and a guy Derek knew named Matt. They were strolling up the walkway approaching the front door. They entered without knocking. "It's Kendra and Matt." Derek whispered to Sam and Ralph. "I wonder if Kendra knows what these guys are up to. Or, she could be their next target." Derek was worried for Kendra. Sure, their relationship ended badly, but she didn't deserve to be taken advantage of. "Guys, we gotta do something. We can't leave knowing that Kendra could be attacked."
Sam and Ralph looked at each other. "Uh, dude. I know you don't want to hear this, but Kendra hasn't exactly been Miss Polly Pure. She gets around. So, why would they have to drug her to get what they want? She would probably gladly give it up without any help." Sam said, stepping out of Derek's reach.
Derek scowled. He didn't enjoy hearing that his ex-girlfriend is a whore. Not that he cared so much about her reputation (he did, a little), but it made him look stupid. "Oh, the girl's easy, so we might as well let her get attacked?"
Sam shook his head. "Dude, that's not what I was saying. I meant that I find it hard to believe that Kendra is involved."
"Then why did I just see her going in?" Derek asked impatiently.
"I don't know." Sam shrugged his shoulders.
Ralph spoke up from behind Sam, "I guess I won't be calling Kendra for a date . . ." Both Sam and Derek glared at him. They moved back to their previous position and looked in the window again. It was still dark. Derek then led Sam and Ralph around the back of the house and tried the downstairs slider. Amazingly, it was open. Derek slid it open and they all crept in. It looked like the lower level was unoccupied, judging from the lack of lighting.
They could hear laughing and talking coming from the main floor. Derek, Sam and Ralph stood off to the side of the staircase leading upstairs and debated what to do next. "How do we get upstairs without being seen?" Sam asked softly.
"Hey, maybe we can find some disguises and then no one will know who we are!" said Ralph excitedly.
"Why did we bring him again?" Sam asked.
"Because he's fast and has a good sucker punch." Derek said.
"Right." said Sam.
They stilled when they saw the door to the stairway open and heard someone coming down. "This way!" Derek whispered. They all hid in a closet that was just big enough for the three of them.
The voices came closer and Derek recognized that it was Kendra and Alex. They moved past the closet and entered what Derek assumed was the room where he had seen Alex, Brad and Brett before. "Oops, sorry." He heard Ralph whisper.
"What . . .?" Derek was saying when the smell hit his nose. "Damn, Ralph. That reeks!"
"Derek, you owe me big time for this." gritted Sam. "Hiding in a tiny closet with a gassy Ralph was not part of the plan."
"Just shut it, will you?" Derek whispered. He quietly opened the door and poked his head out. Seeing no one, he opened the door wider and they all exited the closet quietly, heading for the now-closed door. Derek saw this and waved for Sam and Ralph to follow him the other way back outside. He was going to return to his former perch and see if he could catch a rat.
Upon returning to the window, they settled in to observe; Derek on one side, Sam and Ralph on the other. Cautiously, they peeked in the window. Inside, Kendra and Alex were sitting on the couch talking. Kendra leaning against Alex, her hand on his chest. He had his hand on her knee and was rubbing it. "Ken, I have some stuff that I think you would enjoy." Alex leaned forward and took out a bag filled with what Derek assumed was drugs. He saw Kendra's eyes widen. Derek knew that Kendra drank a lot, but he had never known her to take drugs. Of course, there were a lot of things that Derek didn't know about Kendra until after they broke up. The most obvious being that she couldn't keep her legs closed, even when they were together.
Kendra's eyes darted to the bag and then to Alex. "Um, I don't think so. I was hoping that you had some weed."
Alex put the bag on the table. "Babe, that's kid's stuff. You're way past that. I thought an adventurous girl like you would want to have some real fun." He returned his hand to her knee, this time running it up her thigh and under her skirt. Kendra's eyes closed and her knees fell open. Derek felt vaguely sick watching. 'The things I do for Casey . . .'
Sam and Ralph were also watching, Sam with an expression of shock on his face and Ralph with a curious look, like he couldn't wait to see more. Alex took his hand away from Kendra and prepared the powder for snorting. Kendra watched as he cut and divided it up, her eyes looking around nervously. She took a long sip of her beer and licked her lips. Alex then leaned forward and snorted the first two lines, leaning back when he was done. "This is some awesome shit, Ken. It'll give you a high that you'll never forget. And," he paused and leaned over her, "It makes sex fantastic."
Derek clenched his fists. He didn't like the fact that Alex was pressuring Kendra to do cocaine. He hoped that Kendra had enough sense in that head of hers to say no and walk away. He waited for her reaction.
She sat there for a while, seemingly thinking about what to do. Just when Derek thought she had come to her senses and was leaving, she leaned forward and snorted a line. Derek let out a breath that he didn't know he had been holding. "Idiot." He said softly. Sam and Ralph looked at Derek with wide eyes. Sam shrugged his shoulders as if to say 'should we do something?' Derek shook his head. He didn't come here for this, he came to find any evidence and hopefully bust someone in the act of assault. 'Shit. Maybe we should just place an anonymous call to the police.' Derek thought morosely, because all he was accomplishing was becoming a peeping tom and exposing himself to things he never wanted to see again.
They watched for a while longer, Derek hoping to catch Alex doing more taping, but nothing else happened, and when Kendra and Alex started undressing each other, Derek had enough. He waved for Sam and Ralph to follow him. Sam did, but Ralph seemed to want to stay there and watch. He only left after Sam went back and grabbed Ralph's arm, dragging him away from the window.
They went back to the Prince and got in, no one saying much on the way back to Sam's. Finally Sam spoke up. "Well, that was a bust."
Ralph snorted. "Yeah, that dude Alex gets more ass than a toilet seat."
He was the only one who laughed.
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