"Come on kid! Pick up the phone!" Jason said bouncing his leg up and down. Clay had told him he would call in an hour. It's now been two and still no word from him.
"I'm sure he's just busy with Stella." Mandy said to him, trying to calm him down. She could see the worry all over his face.
"I should have went up with him. I shouldn't have left him alone so I could do what, come have lunch?" He was beating himself up. He knew something wasn't right. Clay was always a man of his word. If he said he was gonna call in an hour, he was gonna call in an hour.
"Don't to this to yourself Jason. None of this is your fault. I'm sure he's fine." Mandy was still trying to calm him down.
"I need to get out of here. I need to drive over there and see for myself." Jason said as he stood up and headed for the door, not even waiting for Mandy to reply.
On his way over to Stella's he called Ray and Sonny to see if either of them had heard from Clay. Neither of them had but they both offered to meet Jason there. They all pulled into the parking lot at the same time. With Jason leading the way, the three men walked up the stairs and pounded on the door. No answer. Jason tried again. Still nothing. Since knocking wasn't working he decided to try calling Clay again. Still no answer.
"Wait… Ya'll hear that?" Sonny asked putting his ear up against the door.
"I don't hear anything" "Nope." Jason and Ray answered simultaneously.
"Call his phone again. I think I hear it ringing."
Jason dialed Clay's number again and sure enough they all heard it ring this time.
"This can't be good" Ray whispered.
Jason tried the door knob and was super surprised to find that it was unlocked. He opened the door and the three men just stood there taking in the sight in front of them.
"God dammit! I knew I should have went up with him!" Jason said, beating himself up all over again.
"Don't touch anything. We need to call the police." Ray said pulling out his phone as they walked throughout the apartment to make sure no one was inside.
Once the apartment was clear they decided to figure out their next course of action.
"The police should be here any second." Ray commented.
"There's no way I'm leaving this to the police to handle. We can find him way quicker than they can." Jason chimed in.
The police arrived within 2 minutes. They questioned the three men, particularly Jason considering he looks like he got into some sort of physical altercation from the wall falling on top of him. They wanted to know everything they knew, especially about Mike.
Once the three men were cleared, they all left and headed to Jason's. They called Brock, Trent, Mandy, and Lisa and told them to meet them there. Between all of them they had enough whit's to find Clay without help from police. They knew Mike was involved and it wasn't too hard to find out his whereabouts. Once they find Mike, they find Clay.
Clay woke up with a killer headache. He already had a concussion and taking another hit to the head, hard enough to knock him out, definitely didn't help make it feel any better. He opened his eyes and didn't recognize anything about his surroundings. He blinked hard a couple times trying to get rid of the blurry vision. It helped a little but not completely. Suddenly he realized his wrists were tied together and that he was hanging from the ceiling.
He looked around a little more, trying to desperately find anything that would let him know where he was. He just about scanned the entire room when he noticed Stella, still tied to a chair with her back to him off in a corner. He tried to call her name but was unable to due to the tape covering his mouth, which annoyed him. He tried to make some sort of noise to catch her attention but she remained motionless. His mind started wondering. Is she dead? Is she just unconscious? Maybe she's awake and just not moving.
His thoughts were quickly interrupted by the sound of a door slamming shut.
"Ahhh Mr. Spenser. You're awake. How wonderful." The voice said, coming from behind making it almost impossible for Clay to see who it was. The man slowly made his way over to Clay, running a finger down his bare back, literally sending a chill down Clay's spine. He was wearing nothing his pants, exposing his bruised and cut up torso from being trapped under the wall.
Paul stood behind Clay for a few minutes because he knew it was making him nervous, which ultimately made him squirm. He watched Clay grow more and more frustrated with not knowing who was behind him. He knew it wasn't Mike. This guy's voice was too deep for it be him. Eventually Paul moved to the front of Clay, allowing Clay to see him for the first time.
Clay eyed him up and down. Taking in the guy's size and weight and calculating how he was going to make his escape. Paul knew exactly what he was doing. He looked up and Clay with an evil grin that made Clay feel uneasy. He then walked over to Stella and turned her around so that she was facing Clay.
She looked at Clay with heavy eyes. She had a bruise forming on her right cheek and eye. Clay stopped eyeing Paul up and started inspecting Stella. It was very clear to him that Stella had been drugged. Other than that and the bruise on her face she looked physically fine.
"This is all because of you." Paul told her. "As soon as Mike gets here, your little boy toy over there is going to wish he never got involved with you. And lucky for you, you get a front row seat to watch.
The drugs were starting to wear off and she was becoming more aware of her surroundings. She wasn't fully aware yet but she was aware enough to understand the words that had just been said to her. She looked over at Clay and let a tear fall from her eyes. She gave Clay a look that broke his heart because he knew how guilty she already felt and nothing serious had even happened to him yet.
All Clay wanted to do was tell her to close her eyes and not to worry, that he could handle whatever this guy planned to do to him. The tape covering his mouth prevented that so he had to settle with a head nod to let her know that he was fine. I'll be fine baby. Don't worry about me. Jason and the guys will find me. I never called him. They have to know I'm missing by now. They will leave no stone unturned until they find me. Clay had become lost in his thoughts but they were the only thing giving him hope at the moment.
Five minutes later they heard the door again and Clay knew instantly that it had to be Mike. Paul looked up with that evil grin again and welcomed Mike with a hug.
"Show time." Mike informed Paul, who then focused his attention back to Clay.