Running From Him (ManxMan) ✔️

Chapter 40: A Father's Sister

Ethan had never been inside a police department before. Maybe it was embarrassing to say, but there had never been a reason to go to one. At this very moment, though, he wished for it to have been for any other reason than this.

He and Santiago raced into the building and went up to the front desk. Santiago began to explain to the man there why he and Ethan were there in the first place without letting on how distressed he was. But, it was pretty obvious no matter how hard Santiago tried to hide it. Ethan was a bundle of nerves while Santiago tried to stay calm enough for the both of them.

When Santiago was finally forced to drop the name of the woman he came to see, the man raised a single, surprised, brow and let the two through quickly.

Santiago always got that look when he admitted who he knew inside of this police station. If it wasn’t for the fact that Santiago needed her help to save Clark, he never would have mentioned her name, let alone have come. But Clark has just been kidnapped, so Santiago was left with no choice.

~~~~~~~

Clark woke up laid against the wall like an old stuffed toy. His legs were propped up against the wall, neck bent at an odd angle and most of his body weight supported by his upper back. He was extremely uncomfortable. But, then again, he had just been kidnapped and Kevin, of all people, never cared much about how Clark felt.

Clark tried to move, at that moment realizing that his hands were tied behind his back.

Classic

Clark sighed and somehow maneuvered his body in a way where he was able to sit regularly with his back against the wall and legs resting on the floor. He had to do this because, for some reason, the men who brought him in didn’t think to do so. Now that he was comfortable --as comfortable as he could while sitting on the floor-- Clark began to assess the room.

There were many places that Clark expected to be kept if he was kidnapped. An industrial warehouse, an abandoned farm far from the city, maybe even some assassin’s basement or something. The last thing expected was to find himself staring at Kevin’s recently brought in bed.

If the blankets, a pattern that he remembered Meaghan picking out online, wasn’t enough to key him into the fact that it was Kevin’s bedroom, then the walls did the trick. Picking the paint colour for Kevin’s bedroom was one of the many decisions that had taken five times the usual amount of time to decide all because he was stalling. Clark was strangely happy to see all of their work manifested in a physical product of his and Meaghan’s ideas.

He was so . . . proud.

But, this pride was quickly washed away by sadness again. He was not brought here to marvel at his and Meaghan’s hard work, he was here to meet whatever punishment Kevin had in store as a punishment for running away.

It was his punishment for running from him.

Clark looked up when he heard the whooshing sound of a door sliding open. At first, there was simply a black leather boot, worn down by years of wear. Then, there was the appearance of worn deep blue denim jeans. Finally, a light gray t-shirt and a cross necklace wrapped around the neck of a smug Kevin.

Kevin

Always the last person that Clark wanted to see.

Kevin’s eyes found Clark from across the room. The shorter man’s lithe body was now crumbled and dirty from being pulled and spending hours on the floor. His usually pleasant and bright face was covered in a light layer of sweat and the cut on his head left a thick line of blood down the side of his face.