Chapter 3

Susan began to stir in the bed as she awakened, slowly coming to the realization that she was resting against something that was incredibly warm. At first she snuggled deeper into the warmth, content to simply lay there and enjoy it. But as all of her senses began to come back to her, she realized that whatever she was laying against was moving. Jerking her head up, she froze when she saw she was lying in bed next to Glen, who was still asleep and snoring lightly. Her mind began to replay the events from the previous night and she realized that she had slept with this handsome man that she had met in the bar.

"Oh my God!" Susan screamed in her mind. "What have I done?"

Scrambling from the bed as quickly and quietly as possible so as not to awaken Glen, she searched frantically around the floor for her clothes. She dressed herself as fast as she possibly could, then casting one last glance at Glen's sleeping form, she headed out the door, still buttoning her blouse as she went. She stumbled to the elevator, collapsing in relief when she was safely inside.

"What the hell were you thinking?" she said out loud to herself, as she pushed the button for her floor. "You're a married woman, for crying out loud!"

Fighting back the tears that threatened to spill, Susan left the elevator and hurried to her room. She knew she had to get packed and get out of there soon, before Glen came looking for her.

"What makes you think he would come looking for you?", she asked herself, as she quickly undressed to shower.

"Oh he will." she replied, feeling another wave of panic hit her. "After last night…I'm sure he will."

Susan quickly showered and dressed, and then packing the remainder of her things, she left her room and disappeared into the hallway.

XXXXXXXXX

Glen stretched and rolled onto his side, reaching out for Susan as he moved. He ran his hand up the mattress towards her pillow, before he finally realized that she was no longer in the bed with him. Sitting up quickly, he glanced around the room searching for her. Hesitantly, he called out to her, thinking that maybe she had stepped into the bathroom for a moment. When there was no answer, he climbed out of the bed and looked down at the floor, noticing that all of her clothes were gone.

"Shit!" he muttered, grabbing his jeans up off of the floor. "I've got to find her before she leaves."

Picking up the phone, he tried to dial the front desk with one hand, while trying to slip his jeans on with the other. It rang several times before the desk clerk finally answered.

"This is Mr. Jacobs in room 725. I need you to connect me to Susan Chandler's room. I know she's on the fifth floor but I'm not sure about the room number."

"Just one moment, sir." the desk clerk replied and Glen fidgeted nervously as he listened to the man type away on his keyboard.

"Did you say Susan Chandler?" the clerk finally asked.

"Yes! Susan Chandler! Fifth floor!" Glen repeated, starting to lose his patience.

"I'm sorry sir. She's already checked out of her room."

"Fuck!" Glen mumbled under his breath as he slammed his fist against the desk. "Look, I know you don't normally do this kind of thing, but I really need to get her information from you. It's extremely urgent that I find her." Glen stated.

"I'm sorry sir but it's our policy to not give out any of that information…"

"Look buddy, I don't care about your stupid policies. I need that information now and if I don't get it from you, then I'm going to come down to that front desk and beat it out of you!"

"I'm afraid I can't give you that information sir. If you'd like you can come down here and speak to the manager…"

That's all Glen heard before he slammed the phone back down on the desk. Grabbing up the remainder of his clothes, he got dressed and headed out of his room. He stormed toward the elevators, thankfully finding one that was empty. When he reached the ground floor, he headed in the direction of the front desk, clenching his fists when he spotted the clerk that he had spoken to only moments before. The clerk happened to look up and he spotted Glen stalking toward him from across the lobby. Glen almost chuckled when he saw the poor man's face lose every ounce of its color. Before the man had a chance to hide, Glen was right in his face, grabbing his shirt and pulling him halfway across the desktop.

"I want that information and I want it now!" he growled. "And if I don't get it right this minute, I'm going to take this…" Glen shouted, raising one of his large fists, "and put it right through your face!"

By this time, the clerk was so frightened he couldn't find his voice to reply. Fortunately for him, Mark happened to venture into the lobby at the same time and he quickly rushed over to pull Glen off of the poor man.

"Dammit Glen! What the hell is wrong with you?" Mark asked, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him away from the desk.

He was completely stunned by Glen's behavior. Glen was the one who was always so quiet and so friendly to everyone. Mark didn't think he had ever seen him that upset at anyone before.

"What's a matter? Room service run out of food or somethin'?" Mark joked, trying to ease the tension a little bit.

"Fuck you!" Glen shouted, casting one last glare at the frightened clerk before walking away from Mark and stalking back to the elevators.

Glen managed to duck inside and close the door before Mark had a chance to join him. But Mark wasn't about to give up that easily and he caught another one and followed Glen back upstairs.

When Glen reached his floor, he headed back to his room, with Mark hot on his trail.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Mark asked again, as he followed Glen into his room and shut the door. "What did that poor man do to get you all bent outta shape so early this mornin'?"

"I don't want to talk about it Mark!" he grumbled, as he sank back down onto the bed and placed his head in his hands.

"This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with that pretty lady I saw you leavin' the bar with last night, would it?" Mark asked with a smirk. "What happened? Was she disappointed the Big Red Machine wasn't able to live up to his name?" he chuckled.

Glen raised his head and glared at him. "I don't recall inviting you in here!" he growled.

"Look man, I'm just jokin' with you." Mark replied, pulling up a chair and taking a seat in front of Glen. "Now come on, what's wrong? As long as I've known you, I've never seen you this upset before. So what's the problem?"

Glen let out a loud sigh of defeat. He knew Mark wasn't going to leave him alone until he told him what the problem was.

"She stayed with me last night." Glen finally replied.

"The girl from the bar?" Mark asked and Glen nodded his head in response.

"So what happened? You two have a fight or something this mornin'?"

Glen shook his head. "When I woke up this morning, she was already gone."

"And… what exactly does this have to do with you tryin' to kill that poor man downstairs?"

"I was trying to get her personal information from him. I've got to find her again. I need to talk to her." Glen replied.

"What for? Did she steal somethin' from you?" Mark asked.

"Just my heart." Glen finally answered, smiling when he remembered how wonderful last night had been with her.

"Oh for the love of God! Don't tell me you've gone and flipped over some little ring rat! You of all people should know better than that!" Mark yelled.

"She's not a ring rat!" Glen yelled back. "She's in town on business. When I talked with her last night, she didn't even know who I was!"

"Look, Glen. For whatever reason, this girl obviously got to you good. But this is crazy! Tryin' to chase down some woman that you don't even know. I mean…it's pretty obvious that she doesn't want to be found! She didn't leave you a phone number or an address. Hell, she didn't even leave you a note saying 'Thanks for the good time last night.' You just need to just forget about her and let it go."

"I can't do that Mark." Glen replied.

"Why the hell not!"

"I can't explain it." Glen stuttered. "It's just…last night…we had this immediate connection. It was incredible. I've never felt that connected to anybody before. Not even Marissa and we were married for five years. I just need to find her again. I have to talk to her."

"Look, I know how disappointed you were when you're marriage didn't work out." Mark replied. "I know how badly you want to have a real family, with a wife who loves you and kids of your own. But you can't just start stalking some poor woman who obviously doesn't want anything more to do with you than have a one night stand."

Glen sighed in frustration. He hesitated for a moment before he spoke again.

"The first time you saw Sara…did you know right away that she was the one for you?" Glen asked.

"Of course!" Mark replied. "All she had to do was smile and she had me wrapped around her little finger. I've never been able to get straightened out since."

"So then, why is it alright for you to fall in love so quickly but when I do it, you think it's crazy! What's the difference?"

"The difference is that Sara didn't take one look at me and take off runnin' in the opposite direction." Mark joked as Glen glared at him again.

"Look, I hear what you're saying." Mark continued. "But I honestly think you're making a huge mistake by tryin' to track her down. It's best to just leave things as they are and move on with your life."

"Mark, I appreciate your concern but I've already made up my mind." Glen replied. "I'm going to look for her. As soon as I get back home, I'm going to hire a private investigator to find her for me. She's the one for me, Mark. I know she is. And I'm not going to just let her walk away from me!"