20 Questions

Chapter 101

Hunter

If these assholes don't make up their mind in the next five minutes on what they want, I will say fuck it and pass on this project.  They have already made me come in to the office when I was supposed to be working remotely and kept me here longer than I want to be with all their petty demands and nitpicking.  I felt like I was being very generous, staying over after business hours, when all I wanted to do was go home to my girl.  Tyler is going out for the night so Jenna and I can finally have some much-needed alone time.  Jenna has been off since his arrival and I can't quite put my finger on why.  I know the guy is a prick, but she has been distant and that is so unlike her.  Then again, the biggest day of our lives will be here in a couple days and I'm sure she is just preoccupied with all the details.  Either way, I was really looking forward to tonight to reconnect. 

We had just wrapped everything up when I hear my phone chime.  I shake their hands, flash a fake smile and show them out before checking it.  When I have successfully escorted them from the building, I pull out my phone and see a new text from Jenna. 

Jenna:  Get home now!!!!  911!!!

Damn, she must be ready to get...it...on!  I hear you, baby girl.  I dial her number and wait for her to answer to see if she needs me to pick up anything on the way home.  Her phone rings and rings and eventually goes to voicemail.  That's weird, she just texted me.  She couldn't be far from her phone.  I grab my stuff and try her again on my way out.  Still no answer.  I call Tyler's phone to see if he has left yet, but he doesn't answer either.  I call her phone one more time, but the result is the same.  I'm worried now.  It's not like her to not answer her phone when I call. 

When I get in my truck, I call Patrick.  Neither he nor Helen have heard from her in the last forty-five minutes.  I pick up my speed and try to call her once more.  This is four attempts to call with nothing but her voicemail.  Something is very, very wrong.  I don't know what it could be, but I'm sick to my stomach.  I try Tyler's phone one more time.  He answers but immediately hangs up.  The background was quiet, not noisy like it would be in a restaurant. 

Tyler is a bit of a womanizer, but he wouldn't dare make a pass at Jenna, would he? 

My mind is racing as I recall the conversation I had with Jenna about him early on.  She implied that he was making sexual advances toward her and felt uncomfortable about it.  At that time, I brushed it off and tried to reassure her that it is just his New York ways. 

What if she was right all along and he was coming onto her? 

She has a strong intuition and is a good judge of character.  Oh my God, if he has his hands on her, I will murder him.  I have run through every stop sign and stop light on the way home.  This thirty-minute drive is feeling more like thirty hours.  If she is in danger because I didn't take her seriously when she tried to warn me about him, I will never forgive myself.  I immediately call Patrick back as he lives the closest to my house. 

"Hello?"

"Something is wrong.  Jenna isn't answering her phone.  I've called her a million times right after she texted me and it is just ringing and going to voicemail.  Tyler didn't answer his phone at first, but when I called back, he picked it up and then immediately hung up on me.  It wasn't noisy like he was in a restaurant."

"Hunter, it's Helen.  Patrick put us on speakerphone.  What do you need us to do?  Where are you?"

"I'm on my way home from work.  I had to go in and stay over to meet with some clients.  I need you to go over there right now.  I have a really bad feeling.  Do you think Tyler is capable of doing something to her?  Oh my God, I will annihilate him if he lays a finger on her."