Oh, it's getting good. I think you are as excited as I am about Steve's confrontation with Connor. I think it's long overdo!
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Steve was already running on more adrenaline than he had in weeks. Hearing this bit of information didn't help matters.
"How did that happen? I mean, how did someone you know happen to be at the airport at the exact time as Michaelson?" Steve asked suspiciously.
"Seriously? Look Steve, we grew up here…and we have a lot of friends. Most of them are in the showbiz industry in one facet or another which requires them to travel. Extensively. This particular friend was at LAX getting ready to fly to Vegas. She saw Connor boarding a plane at an adjoining gate and saw the destination…He's flying to Orlando. She called me immediately because she knows Shauni is going to be in Orlando the next couple of days."
Steve was silent as he took all of this in and thought of what to do next.
"So what the hell are you going to do about it?" Sasha asked, 'You KNOW Connor is going to go after my sister, Steve."
Steve sighed, "Mary just called me a few minutes ago. That's why I was going to call you…..to see if you knew Shauni has been getting text messages from Connor."
"WHAT?" Sasha sounded furious, "She's getting messages from that jerkface and didn't tell me?! I'm going to kill her…..I am literally going to kill her."
Steve couldn't help but let a small chuckle escape at her admission. "Calm down, Sasha. I'm already making plans to fly to Orlando. BUT…I'm not going to tell Shauni or anyone else that I'm coming. Mary is there with Joanie, and the only reason she knows about it is because she's the one who called to tell me about the texts from Connor."
"God bless her." Sasha said on a whisper. "How did she find out?"
Steve explained the situation of how Mary happened across the texts from Connor. "So, like I said, I'm making plans to fly there now but I don't want anyone to know. Understand?"
"What are you going to do?" Sasha asked.
"First I'm going to call Shauni to see if she will tell me anything on her own. Hopefully, she will. I'm still not going to tell her that I'm on the way to Orlando, though, so if Connor is stupid enough to be there when I show up, I'm going to kick his ass. No question….I warned him in LA, but it sounds like he isn't staying away. It's time for me to convince him it's in his best interest to stay away from her."
Sasha had no doubt Steve meant what he said. Her sister was in good hands; She just wished she could be there to see Connor's butt being nailed to the wall.
"I'm so thankful she has you." Sasha said, feeling uncharacteristically vulnerable to Steve.
Steve heard it in her voice and shared the sentiment, "I know, Sash. I'm glad I have her too. I'll always be there to protect both of you. Understand?"
Sasha was feeling a little too emotional to speak. She finally found her voice, "Okay. Now go get my sister."
"Will do! I'll take care of her. Try not to worry."
"I know you will. Now let me call the airlines and get a ticket for you. I'll use Daddy's frequent flier account and we can probably get you a flight for free. First class all the way."
"You don't have to do that. I mean, I can't do that without telling your dad."
"Listen, McGarrett…." Sasha's voice grew suddenly serious, "Your priority is getting to my sister and taking care of that SOB, Connor Michaelson! Mom and Dad let Shauni and I use their frequent flier miles all the time so they'll never know. We can tell them about it later, if it will make you feel better. You just need to get to her asap, so please let me do this for you. We'll get you there as soon as we can."
Steve couldn't argue with her logic, so he finally agreed. He said goodbye to his team as he headed home to pack and wait for a call from Sasha with flight details.
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He couldn't wait any longer to talk to Shauni so he dialed her cell on his way home. Thankfully, she answered right away which Steve considered a good sign that she wouldn't hide this from him.
"Hey beautiful." Steve began.
"Hello, handsome. It's so good to hear your voice."
"It's good to hear you too. What's going on today?"
"Well, Mary and Joanie are here, so we're hanging out. They came to the concert last night and we're going to Disney World tomorrow."
"Are you sure that's safe?"
Shauni smiled at the protectiveness in his voice. She had expected this reaction from him. "Don't worry. Jake and Tommy have it covered and I have a good disguise. Besides, John is getting things arranged ahead of time so we don't have to wait in any lines. We can take Joanie wherever she wants to go…hopefully without too much hassle."
"Huh. Must be nice." Steve teased as he smiled into the phone.
"One of the perks of being a celebrity, I guess." Shauni joked, but her normally happy nature was gone today. Her voice sounded worried; distracted. Steve decided to test the waters to see if she would voluntarily open up to him.
"You sound distracted. Everything okay?" he asked.
"Yeah." She paused. "Actually no. I mean…..it's okay. Nothing I can't handle."
When the line stayed silent after that, Steve probed further.
"Talk to me, baby." Steve said softly, "Tell me what's bothering you. No secrets, remember?"
He heard her sniff and her voice sounded shaky when she finally spoke, "Connor has been texting me the last couple of days. I'm not returning the texts, but he won't stop. I don't know what to do."
Steve let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding in and felt relief wash over him. Relief that she had told hadn't kept it from him. He wished she had called him first, but she had told him nonetheless. He also wished he was there to hold her and take away the fear in her voice.
One thought was running through his mind, "God help Michaelson when I find him!"
"I don't know how he got my number, Steve. Only you, my parents, my sister, Mary and a few friends have this new number. It scares me. I just don't know what he's capable of. I've never seen him like this before."
"Don't worry. I'm going to take care of it. Have you told Jake or Tommy?" Steve assured her.
"No." she admitted. "But I'll tell them."
"No, I'll do it." Steve said, "You just get back to Mary and Joanie and enjoy time with them. I'll take of things on this end, okay?"
"I miss you so much. I wish you were here." She whispered.
"I miss you too. Try not to worry….I'll get the guys to handle Connor, okay? And I'll get out to see you as soon as I can" Steve promised and smiled to himself knowing that she had no idea he was already on his way.
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Steve hurriedly packed things into a duffle bag and drove to the airport. Sasha had gotten him a first class ticket with one stop in Los Angeles before flying to Orlando. He wished he could find a non-stop flight, but it was rare to find any non-stops from Hawaii.
He called Tommy on his way to the airport to brief them on the situation. He was relieved to hear that things had been fairly calm and no one had mentioned seeing Connor. That could mean he wasn't there yet; Or it could mean that he was just laying low. Steve was hoping for the first option. Of course, now that Jake and Tommy knew he was probably on his way, they would need to be proactively looking for him and told him they would take measures to do so.
The flight was one of the longest of his life. He couldn't wait to get to Shauni and prayed he was there before anything happened with Connor Michaelson.
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Thankfully the flight from Los Angeles to Orlando was uneventful and fairly peaceful. He arrived in Orlando and quickly procured the rental car Sasha had reserved for him. He hadn't bothered with a hotel since it was pretty much a given he would be with Shauni. Steve's first priority after finding Michaelson and kicking his ass was getting Shauni alone. They had some making up to do.
He typed the hotel address into the GPS and began the drive. Then he called Mary to let her know he was on his way.
"Oh my God, Steve. I'm so glad you're here…" Mary sounded breathless.
"What's wrong?"
"We don't know where Shauni's at." She said.
"What do you mean? Where could she be? Where are Tommy and Jake?" he spat.
"She said she wanted us to go to the hotel spa for a massage, so Stacy was staying with Joanie while Tommy and Jake walked us down and waited."
"They waited where?"
"In the reception area! You know massages are normally done naked with a towel draped over you."
Steve's imagination began to run with thoughts of Shauni naked while she let him massage her. Hmmm…..maybe he could do that for her after the concert that night.
Mary interrupted his thoughts, "The guys didn't exactly feel comfortable going into the rooms with us, bro. Especially knowing what you would probably do if you found out they were in the rooms with us. So, they decided to wait in the lobby until we were done so they could walk us back upstairs."
"So what happened? " Steve asked the obvious question.
"Shauni finished before me, so her girl left the room to let her get dressed. When she came back in, Shauni was gone. They said she must've gone out the back way or something because no one saw her. We haven't heard from her since and she isn't answering her phone."
"Dammit!" Steve spat. "I swear, when I find her I'm going to…."
"Stop!" Mary demanded and Steve was so shocked by the urgency in her voice that he did just that. His mouth clamped shut and she continued, "You aren't going to do a friggin' thing but get her out of this mess. What if Connor is already here, Steve? If she was able to get out a back way, he could've come in that way too, right?"
"How is that possible without anyone seeing him, Mar?"
"I don't know, bro. You're the cop! Figure it out! All I'm saying is that most people don't know that he abused her before. He's famous….He's attractive…..He's charming…..and He's rich. Who's to say he didn't pay someone or charm them into letting him in secretly? Maybe he said he wanted to surprise her or something without knowing what a hell of a 'surprise' it would be."
Mary had a point. A very good one actually. "I'm on my way." Steve answered. "I should be there in fifteen."
He ended the call with Mary and hit the accelerator. Speed limits be damned; He had to get to Shauni.
Jake was waiting for Steve as he walked into the lobby of the hotel. He hadn't bothered getting his bags out yet figuring that could wait. He'd barely bothered parking the car, but since it was a rental, he did so as quickly as possible.
Jake saw Steve approaching and went to meet him.
"I'm sorry, man. We don't know what happened."
Noticing several people in the lobby, Steve asked Jake where they could talk privately. The last thing they needed was someone hearing word that Shauni was "missing" or "with Connor Michaelson", if that was indeed the case. Steve followed him to the hotel's on-site spa where they found Tommy on the phone and Mary talking to a woman Steve soon learned was the spa manager. Since Shauni had disappeared the spa had been "CLOSED" to avoid anyone coming in to find out what was going on accidentally.
Steve was certain the woman was normally very poised and professional, but at the moment she was wringing her hands and looked on the verge of tears. Mary made the introductions.
"I don't understand what happened." She told Steve "I'm so sorry, sir…I just don't understand."
Steve tried to offer her a reassuring smile, "It's okay. We'll figure it out. I will need to talk to all of your employees, though. Okay?"
She left to gather everyone together while Steve walked over to talk to Jake and Tommy. He pulled Mary into the conversation too.
"So tell me what you've found out."
The guys relayed to Steve an account of the brief interviews they had had with the employees who had been with Shauni that afternoon. They had saved most of the harder questions for when Steve arrived since they knew him well enough to know he would want to have a hand in those interviews.
"Anyone you got a suspicious feeling about?" Steve asked.
Tommy was the one to speak up, "Amber Restelli. She is one of the estheticians."
Steve shot him a funny look.
"You know….The ones who do the facials and all that skin stuff."
Mary giggled.
Steve scowled, "I know what it is. I'm just surprised you do."
It was Tommy's turn to frown, so Steve couldn't help but smirk. "Okay, so what is it about her that made you suspicious?"
By now, Jake and Mary were all ears as well, so Tommy filled them in. He shared his concern that Amber had been evasive with some of his questions as to whether or not she'd seen Shauni leaving since the area she worked in was closest to the back entrance. At first she had denied seeing Shauni. When Tommy asked her if she'd had any appointments while Shauni was there, she had gotten quiet and it seemed to him as if she was trying to come up with a story. She finally said she had been with a client but refused to give any more details.
Steve's eyes turned hard and Mary recognized the look as one he got when he was resolved to get to the bottom of a situation. No one messed with Steve in this mood….Not even her.
"I want to talk to her." Steve said.
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In the next chapter, we will see Steve and Connor. It's not going to be pretty...at least not for Connor...but we'll see our favorite over-protective SEAL in action. ;)
