You're Gone and I've Gotta Stay High

Chapter 25

ALEX'S POV

New York.

Big city.

Big Apple.

I didn't know where to look. I didn't know where Mark would be. All I knew was that I had to find him. I had to find the jackass who raped my girlfriend.

First, I went to Val's apartment to see if I could find anything. Knowing she had a spare key in her potted plant, I was able to get in. Now that I think about it, I needed to talk to her about that when I saw her.

I walked in and the living room caught my attention at once.

The coffee table in the middle of the room was broken, there was a smashed bottle of wine in the floor, and her entertainment center had clearly been rammed into since there were CDs and DVDs all over the place.

I kicked away some of the broken bottle and bent over to see a wallet flipped open. I grabbed it and started to rummage through it. There was about $120 in it, a card to Starbucks, and a driver's license.

Mark Summers. What a fucking douche.

I stole his money and pocketed it. He didn't need it.

Then I stared at the picture. Val was right, you could see that he was handsome but in an arrogant business man way. He had perfectly cut brown hair and his jaw was strong and square. No wonder Val rejected him. He had nothing on me. Or on Johnny Depp, Val's celebrity crush and "future ex-husband."

I closed the wallet and tried to think. Where was that bar Val met him at? I knew it was close to her apartment so I could walk there.

I went back to her door and shut it, taking her spare key with me. I wasn't taking chances on someone finding it.

This whole disaster has made me paranoid.

I walked outside and started to look around. It was late and I knew I needed to hurry up and get back to New Jersey before the bus left me.

I searched around for bar signs and finally a name popped out at me.

"Jagger Dagger's Beer and Darts."

Jesus Val, I'm not letting you come back to New York.

I found the bar with some help from a kindly stranger (who proceeded to call me a fag and walk off. And Jack's not even here to kiss me this time. Damn.)

I took in the scene when I entered. There were some slutty girls dancing in the corner, a couple of bikers playing pool, and some groups of half drunk friends in the booths. My eyes scanned to find any suit type business men. A few shot out at me but none had his face.

I figured the bartender would know if he was here so I made my way up there.

The bartender was a short woman with shoulder length orange hair and big brown eyes. If I didn't have the most beautiful girlfriend already, I would have hit on her.

"What do you need sugar?" She asked. I liked being called sugar. Val should do it more often.

"I'm looking for this guy" I told her and held up the wallet with his picture visible.

"Mark? Yeah. He's over there..." her voice trailed off and she pointed to a table where he sat with a leggy blonde. Oh raping my girl didn't satisfy you? I felt like throwing up or punching a wall. I saw the bartender chew on her lip nervously.

"Something wrong?" I asked her.

She sat down the drink she had been stirring and looked up at me. "He did something bad, didn't he?"