LWLU – Happening Again

“We find them.” Paul was already changing out of his bowling shoes. “There’s nothing else we can do right now.”

Sara followed his lead and switched shoes. “They could be anywhere right now.”

And Sucre could be doing anything to Nika.

Paul stood. “Yeah, they could. That means we have a lot of ground to cover.”

Sara followed him to the parking lot. “Do you have any idea where he might take her?”

“No. This is me.” He retrieved his keys from his pocket as they approached his car. “Where do people go to fool around in this town?”

She stared at him over the top of the car. “Why would I know that?”

“Because you’ve lived here longer than me.”

“So? You think I fool around with every guy I meet or something?”

He opened the driver side door. “That’s really not what I meant. I’m just trying to get some idea of where we need to start looking.”

Sara was about to respond with a snappy response, but something caught her eye. “Isn’t that Sucre’s car over there?”

Following her gaze, “Yeah. They can’t be very far away.”

“Do you think they’re still inside somewhere?”

“I didn’t see them on the way out.” He slammed the door. “Let’s go back and take another look.”

As they hurried back to the bowling alley entrance, Sara fumed over the situation. She should have kept a better eye on Nika today. It wasn’t like disappearing with a guy was new behavior for her. She just hoped they could find them before Nika learned firsthand that she’d disappeared with the wrong guy.

Sucre and Nika weren’t in the building. Not unless they were able to find their way into a machine room, that is. After Paul emerged from the men’s restroom announcing that they weren’t in there, panic set in. They’d covered every inch of this place and her friend was nowhere to be found.

“Calm down, Sara. We’re going to find them. They couldn’t get very far on foot. Let’s check outside.”

Even though he was supposedly there to make sure nothing bad happened to Nika, Paul didn’t seem all that concerned. He was too calm. Just another reason to hate the man. Her friend was in trouble and he was at ease.

Once outside, they caught a break. Nika’s voice drifted to them from the shadowy side of the building.

“I want to go.”

She met Paul’s eyes. “You heard that, too?”

Before he could respond, Nika’s voice rang out.

“I said stop. Let go of me!”

They sprinted to the sound of her voice. What they found was exactly what Sara was afraid of. Sucre had Nika pinned against the concrete wall, his hands pinning her wrists to the wall at either side of her head. It was hard to tell from this angle, but it looked as though a few of her shirt buttons were torn.

Paul pushed past Sara and advanced on Sucre, shoving him away from Nika. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“None of your business, papi.”

Sara rushed to her friend’s side. It was worse up close than she first realized. Buttons were indeed torn, but her wrists were scraped and bloody from being against the coarse wall.

“Are you okay?”

Nika didn’t respond.

Sucre rolled his eyes. “I don’t know what you two are making such a big deal about. We were just having a little bit of fun.”

Paul looked at him the way one might regard a talking mulberry bush. “In case you haven’t noticed, your date doesn’t look like she was having any fun.”

“Whatever, papi.”

“I think we need to have a little talk about your idea of fun.” He tossed his car keys to Sara. “Get her in the car. I’ll be there in a minute.”

She put an arm around Nika and guided her to Paul’s car. Well, she guided her in the general direction because she didn’t remember what kind of car he drove. Paul cut the wandering short by waving them over to his car a few minutes later.

Once he started the car, Paul turned to the backseat where Sara sat with her arms around Nika. “I understand that this isn’t a conversation you want to have with a guy, but I need to know if something happened. I don’t need any details. I just need to know if I need to take you to a hospital or a police station.”

Silence filled the car for several long minutes, breaking Sara’s heart. Paul wasn’t being specific, but she knew what he was trying to ask. God. Had they really taken so long looking for them that Sucre had time to rape her?

Nika’s lack of response seemed to answer the question.

Finally, Nika cleared her throat. “No. I need you to take me back to Sara’s house.”

Paul met Sara’s eyes and turned his attention back to Nika. “I know this has to be difficult, but if something happened to you then we need to make sure you’re okay.”

Again, Nika didn’t respond.

Sara gave her friend a squeeze. “I think he’s right, Neek.”

Nika took in a shuddering breath. “I know he is, but I’m fine. I wasn’t…he didn’t…it isn’t what you think.” She pulled away from the embrace and turned her attention to the window next to her. “I just thought…” Tears filled her voice and it broke. “It was like it was happening again.”

Sensing that Nika was done with the conversation, she turned to Paul and gave her directions to her house. Once they arrived, Nika jumped out of the car, got in hers and sped away. Sara stayed where she was for a long moment, not sure what to think.

“Thank you.”

Paul turned around in his seat to face her. “For what?”

“I don’t know what would’ve happened to her if you hadn’t been here.”

“We still don’t know what happened.” He cleared his throat. “Was she telling the truth? About being alright?”

“I think so. She’s never been that great of a liar.”

“Okay. That’s good. Do you know what she meant when she said it was happening again?”

“No.” She really didn’t. “She goes out with a lot of jerks, so maybe someone’s gotten too handsy before on a date.”

“Maybe.”

Sara turned that single word over and over in her mind. The way she’d reacted to the situation and spoken with measured calm made her wonder if there was something more to Nika’s statement. In a lifetime of friendship, Nika told her every detail of her life, but never anything like that. Maybe they were just reading too much into it.

“Can I ask you something, Paul?”

“Shoot.”

“How were you so unaffected and calm when we were looking for them?”

“Oh, I was far from unaffected and calm back there. I just couldn’t let myself panic. I had to set it aside if we were going to find her in time.”

So he did care. Maybe Michael was right about this one.

Maybe Paul Kellerman wasn’t as bad a guy as she thought.

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