Deadpan - Bennoda

Chapter Seventeen

"Jack and coke?" The waitress from the other night asked Sage immediately after we walked into the bar. I was astonished and glad she remembered us, perhaps she'd remember the creep. Sage gave her a calm, charming smile, but it let it slip as he grew serious. He probably thought about Chester as that was their favorite drink, then remembered he was gone, which caused him to slip back to a tight frown.

"We're not here for drinks," He said in a soft tone and the waitress glanced between us, possibly sensing our seriousness. 

"Is there something else I can help you with?" She asked and we both nodded.

"Do you happen to remember our... friend... that was here with us last time we were here?" I spoke up and she nodded. 

"Yeah, I remember him," She gave a knowing smile. "I think he'd be happy with either of you by the way."

"How did you-"

"We're not here for that," I reminded Sage before he could question her on how she knows about our odd love triangle. "Did you happen to see him walk over to the bartender?"

"Oh... I see," She appeared troubled. "Is this about Sawyer?" 

"Depends on if he's the one who raped our friend the other night," Sage sighed sadly and she bit her bottom lip. 

"Probably is... We've had a lot of trouble with that man. He's even slapped my ass before and tried to give me a drink," She huffed and rolled her eyes. "He's a total creep. I'm sorry about your friend."

"What else can you tell us about him? He was stalking our friend for a while and took him, we need to know anything we can," I informed her and she sighed. 

"I'm so sorry, Sawyer's such an asshole. There's not much more I can tell you about him other than that we've had people say he drugged them and raped them. We've told the police and they had him register as a sex offender, but that's all they ever did and he never stopped hurting people. We even banned him from the bar, but most of us are too afraid to tell him to leave whenever he comes in," She gave us a hopeful smile. "But go ask the bartender about him, I'm sure he knows something. Honestly, just mention Sawyer's name to anyone of the workers and they'll tell you whatever they know, we all want to see that creep brought down."

"Thank you so much," Sage said and we headed towards the bar and sat down on the stools, waiting for the bartender to have some spare time to talk to us. 

"What can I get for you, boys?" He finally came around and we hoped he could offer us any new information on Sawyer, though we at least had a name. 

"Um, do you know anything about Sawyer?" I asked and his face was that of disgust. 

"Ugh, that creep? He fucks with everyone, man or woman, it doesn't matter to him. He'll go after anyone with a pulse. What do you want to know, man?"

"Do you know his last name? Where he lives? A way for us to find him? He took our friend," Sage explained and the bartender frowned. 

"I don't know his last name, unfortunately, I'm sorry. I'm pretty sure he doesn't live too far away, I think he lives in the apartments down the street," He informed us and my stomach plummeted, he lived in Chester's apartment building? I shuddered at the thought of how easy it must've been for Sawyer to stalk Chester then. "All I really know about the dude is that he's a rapist and shouldn't be allowed to roam free. Sorry, thats's all the information I can really give you. I hope you find your friend."

"Thank you so much," I said and turned to Sage. "We should get back to the studio, see what the guys discovered."

"Wait," Sage stood up and cupped his mouth to make his voice louder as he shouted throughout the bar, "Everyone! Attention, please! Everyone? Please raise your hand if you've ever been harassed by a Sawyer here."

Nearly everyone raised their hand. 

"Okay, keep them up if he's ever drugged and raped you."

A little under half had their hands raised. 

"Has anyone of you been taken to his place?" 

No hands.

"Okay, thank you," He sighed and turned to me. "It was worth a shot, come on, let's go."

"Wait!" Someone called after us just as we were about to leave. A young man, probably a year shy of our age, approached us. "You were talking about Sawyer, what'd he do this time?"

"He took our friend," I explained shortly and he nodded. 

"So that's why you were wondering if anyone had been taken to his place," He muttered then nodded again. "I have been, but I put my hand down because he didn't drug or rape me. He lured me to his place, but I ran away when he started getting real weird."

"Where does he live?" Sage asked with worried eyes. 

"The apartments down the street from here, he lives on the second floor, either apartment twenty or twenty two, I can't remember, I just got the fuck out of there when he turned into a total creep," He cringed at the memory. "I know you don't want to hear this, but honestly, your friend is already getting hurt right now. Sawyer doesn't waste time. I suggest you move quick before it gets even worse."

"Thanks, dude, you've been really helpful," I sighed at what he had told us, not wanting to think about Chester getting hurt. The boy left Sage and I to talk. "Meet up with the guys or go straight to the apartment?"

"Meet up with the guys, I want them all there for when we bust that guy and get Chaz back. I want this Sawyer guy to see who he's messing with," Sage said darkly and I nodded in agreement. "Let's not waste another second though, tell the guys to go back to the studio since it hasn't been two hours yet."

"Okay, I'll tell them on the way," I tugged out my phone and started calling Brad. We better find Chester.