"Clay there's something I need to tell you. I know who did this." Those words swirled around Clay's head as he tried to make sense of the situation.
"What? What do you mean you know who did this?" He asked her with confusion written all over his face.
"It's a long story. I wasn't going to say anything but I didn't think it was going to get this far." She confessed.
"Stella! What are you talking about?" He asked still confused and now slightly annoyed that she was hiding things from him.
"It's an ex-boyfriend. We only dated for like three weeks and he hasn't been taking it well. He started texting me, threatening you, freaking out on me. I didn't even stay at my own place last night because of him."
"You didn't think I had a right to know about that!?" Clay said annoyed but lightened up a bit when he noticed how upset Stella was getting.
"I swear I didn't think he would act on anything. If I did I would have told you… I just didn't want it to scare you away."
"You do know what I do for a living right? It's going to take a lot more than a crazy ex-boyfriend to scare me away Stella."
Stella shook her head understanding, then apologized for not telling him sooner.
Once things were cleaned up and a police report filed they headed back to Stella's apartment. "Will you stay the night?" Stella asked him, afraid to be there alone.
"Of course." Clay said noticing how on edge she was. They walked up the stairs and into her apartment where Stella told him everything she knew about Mike, which wasn't a whole lot considering they had only dated for a few weeks. Based on what Stella told and showed him, Clay came to the conclusion that Mike was manipulative, obsessive and crazy.
Little did he know just exactly how manipulative, obsessive and crazy Mike really was.
After bashing in the windows of Clays car, Mike went home and started formulating a plan but he was going to need help. He saw Clay at the shooting game and knew he was deadly accurate. He heard Stella multiple times mention to her friends that he was a SEAL, which meant he knew how to defend himself.
Mike knew he was bigger than Clay but wasn't sure if he alone would be enough to take him down. He needed his friends and he knew just who to go to.
He gave himself a black eye and walked out the door. He drove his car to the sketchy part of the neighborhood and knocked on the door of a rundown house. Inside was one of his best friends from high school who went down a dangerous path in life causing him and Mike to go their separate ways.
"Mike? What are you doing here? What happened to your eye?" Paul asked.
"I need your help Paul. I didn't know who else to go to."
"Whatever you need Mike. Come in." Paul said as he stepped out of the doorway allowing Mike to enter the house.
Mike proceeded to tell Paul how his girlfriend Stella was cheating on him with some Navy SEAL guy and when he confronted the guy about it he punched him, leaving him with a black eye.
"We'll get you some payback Mike. Don't you worry." Paul assured him
The night was relatively quiet. Stella and Clay both took comfort in each other's company. Stella feeling better that she wasn't alone and Clay content in knowing that he didn't have to worry about something happening to her and him not being there to stop it.
Throughout the whole week Clay continued staying at Stella's place causing them to get closer and closer. The only time they were together was when they had to go to work.
Mike's stalking had practically stopped, or so they thought, so they were both beginning to feel better about that.
Clay had been sent on a short mission with Bravo team, only to be gone for the weekend. He had an uneasy feeling about leaving Stella alone but felt better in the fact that they hadn't heard anything from Mike all week.
"Relax man. I'm sure she'll be fine." Hayes said trying to comfort Clay. Clay had told them all about Mike and the things he had done.
"Yeah I know. I'm just stuck in my head." Clay admitted.
"Well get out of it. We need you level headed on this."
During the mission things went a bit a sideways. The Intel they were given was slightly off. They were in the right location for the guy they were after but instead of 20 men surrounding the area there was about 40.
"Show time boys!" Jason said.
Each man shot to kill. None of them missing the target. They had taken out about 15 men before any of them could even realize what was going on. Once they did and started shooting back, that's when things got a bit hairy.
Although they had taken out a considerable amount of men, they were still outnumbered and disadvantaged. These men knew the layout of the building. That had planned for raids by Americans. They had all assumed their positions and started shooting back. Sonny and Ray had each taken a shot to the vest. The impact was enough to knock the wind out of them briefly but not enough to keep them down. They each got up angrier than they were before and killing anything that moved that got in their way.
Clay and Jason were on the other side of the building when a grenade was thrown. Lucky for them they weren't close enough for it to cause major injuries. It was however close enough for it to cause the wall they were standing by to collapse on top of them, trapping them.
Brock and Trent witnessed what had happened and quickly took out all the threats necessary to be able to free both Jason and Clay.
They were a little banged up but nothing major enough for them to not be able to complete the mission. Clay received a concussion and multiple bruises and lacerations. Jason receiving the same plus a broken hand.
Once they had taken everyone out and captured the guy they were sent to get the mission was complete and they were able to return back to base.
When they landed the first thing Clay did was call Stella. When she didn't answer he tried again. Still no answer. He was starting to get the feeling that something wasn't right.
"Everything alright Kid?" Sonny asked lightly slapping Clay on the shoulder who winced slightly, still sore from being trapped under the wall.
"Stella's not answering her phone. I'm sure it's nothing." He told him.
Jason had offered to give him a ride to Stella's since Clay's car was still in the shop.. When he got there he noticed her car was in the parking lot. He thanked Jason and told him he would call him in about an hour so that they could discuss some things from the mission. That first he wanted to check on Stella. Jason agreed and then pulled away. Clay ran up the stairs ignoring the aching in his muscles and found that the door was unlocked. When he twisted the knob and pushed the door open he was terrified by what he was looking at.
The place was a mess. Clearly showing signs of a struggle. He walked in, looking to see if any evidence was left behind that could lead to where Stella might be. He slowly walked down the hall towards the bedroom and went to grab his phone out of his pocket to call the police. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Mike sitting on the bed waiting for him and Stella tied to a chair with tape covering his mouth.
He was so focused on Stella that he didn't even notice the third person that appeared out of nowhere and knocked him out.