Heartaches

Chapter 27

By KellyQ

Trudge grumbled all the way home, knowing that he didn't do anything. Why me? he thought, entering his own apartment that happened to be a one bedroom. The kitchen and living room were all one. The bathroom was off to the right, and two feet away was the bedroom. Trudge walked to his couch and sat down, leaned back, and closed his eyes.

He wasn't the only one who hadn't gotten that much sleep lately. Carly didn't either. She tossed and turned on her Air Mattress, trying hard to forget what Mr. Pitts said about Misty. She sat up and pulled her laptop next to her. Carly put the computer on her lap and logged onto the internet. She typed in Misty's full name, and her website came up. A picture of Misty flashed across the page. On the side was a video clip of last year's model contest that she had won.

Behind Carly's thick spiral glasses, she watched with envy. She's so beautiful, she thought. Carly shook her head to clear the thought. She scrolled down and read a little of the profile.

"Born in 2015," she read aloud, "her and her younger brother were born into a rich family and she started to model at the age of twelve, while her brother Toby wanted to become a good psychiatrist." Carly paused for a moment. "Interesting," she said to herself as she continued to read, hoping to know what happened to Misty's brother. When she was done, all it said was that he was found dead. "Poor thing," Carly murmured, feeling sympathy for Misty, looking at a small picture of her brother on the webpage. She bit her lip, wondering if she should send a response about the whole thing with Toby. "I wonder if she'll like it better," she wondered aloud, "if I told her that I looked at her website and know about her brother's death, considering what Mr. Pitts told me. That will keep my mind busy with things, so I'm not dwelling on Jack." Then an idea came to her. "Ah! I know! I'll look up Jack and see what his background story is!" Carly giggled. "Am I smart, or what?"

Her hands danced on the keyboard as she typed in Jack's full name, and the internet browser responded with various different sites, some of which were not even related to the Jack she knew.

Carly groaned. "I'm going to be up all night!"

A beam filtered in Jack's room when the digital clock struck 8 am. Yusei shifted a little, opened his eyes, and slowly realized that he had been moved from the kitchen to the bedroom. Yusei sat up and stared down to notice that he was wearing Jack's blue robe. He turned to see that his boyfriend was not lying next to him. Yusei turned to see that the bathroom door was open. That's when he picked up the atmosphere in the air, and it wasn't good.

Yusei got up, walked out of the room, and made his way into the kitchen to see Mina standing over the sink. He stared at her a moment before he made his presents known.

"Mina ...?" She stiffened. "Where's Jack?"

The young woman lowered her head a little. "Uh … he went to talk to Godwin. He should be back soon."

Yusei continued to study her, noticing that something was up. He didn't like the way her voice sounded hesitant. "Mina?" he probed.

Mina let out a shaky sigh. "Martha called a few moments ago and said that the security camera caught Trudge in Kiryu's room," she tried to explain. That caught Yusei's attention right away. "The nurse thinks that he tried to hurt Kiryu from what they saw on the tape."

It didn't take long for Yusei to figure out why Jack went. He nodded willfully. "Mina," he said in a coaxing voice. She turned to face him. "I want you to go to Trudge and get every detail you out of him. I'm going to get Jack before he starts something."

Mina gave a mute nodded. "Please. Jack wasn't pleased when he got the news," she pleaded softly, watching Yusei walk back to Jack's room to get ready to leave.

Jack walked down the hallway, burst through the door to Godwin's office, and stopped when he saw what was on the twelve-inch screen mounted on the wall of what happened at the hospital. The older man looked over his shoulder to see Jack standing there, watching.

"How may I help you, Jack?" he asked casually, snapping the blonde-haired teen out of his daze. The screen went blank as Godwin got to his feet and turned to face the blonde-haired teen.

"Don't play stupid!" Jack barked, remembering why he came in the first place. He took a few hostile steps toward his legal guardian, stopping when he was three inches away from Godwin's face. "Why did you choose Trudge? You know how much he likes us!" he said emphasizing the word. "Or was there another reason?" Jack asked.

Godwin closed his eyes, trying to keep his own temper at bay. He wasn't in the mood for Jack's temper. "Jack," Godwin warned. "I don't really have time for this."

"I'm sure ... considering you fuck around all the time!" Jack spat in disgust, referring to Godwin's sex partner, Jeager.

As soon as the name came out of Jack's mouth, he immediately regretted it. Godwin opened his eyes and gave him a hard look. Jack straightened up and pulled back, giving the older man some space that he wanted.

"Trudge will be dealt with for displaying such action when he comes."

As if on cue, footsteps echoed through the hallway and Trudge walked in with Mina by his side.

"Look sir," Trudge said in a rush. "I didn't do anything! He was acting weird and I had to stop him from hurting himself!"

"No wonder why you haven't moved up the ranks, Trudge," came Yusei's voice dripping with sarcasm. They turned to see him standing not too far away. "You still have a stick up your ass."

Trudge was shocked at first, but he quickly recovered and growled. Mina quickly nudged the officer with her elbow. He glanced at her and she shook her head.

"What brings you here, Yusei?" Godwin asked in a sickly kind tone as he moved toward the young teen.

Jack narrowed his eyes and stepped in front of Godwin, making sure that the older man didn't even come near his boyfriend. "You still haven't answered my question."

Silence fill the room as Godwin pinched the bridge of his nose. Yusei watched him turn and walk over to his desk and sat down. After a moment, Yusei stepped up, debating on how he was going to talk to Godwin.

"This has gone on long enough," Yusei finally said in a crisp tone. "It's obvious that you don't have time to really help us ..."

"Have you been keeping your end of the bargain, Jack?" Godwin asked him.

Jack grunted in response. "I've taken her out once so far," he answered quietly looking off to the side.

"Then I'm still keeping my end of the bargain." Godwin then turned his attention to Trudge. "As for you - I'd suggest that you look more closely at what you're doing, is that clear?" Trudge nodded his head. "Anything else before you're all dismissed?" Godwin added.

Everyone remained silent as the group turned and walked out of the office.

To Be Continued…