Judas Among Us

The door to the cabin swung open with a crash, disturbing the silence. Trent shouldered his way in, the door banging against the wall as he charged in, his broad shoulders still under Gavin’s arm, keeping him upright. Behind him, Brandon followed, entering with a lot less aplomb and cautiously looking around as he closed the door behind him, almost expecting Madison to pop out at any moment. He’d come when Trent called because catching Shawn was his biggest priority, but he still wasn’t ready to look his sister in the eye after what she’d done with him.

The only person there to greet them was Kendra, who had been sitting on the sofa, but leapt up at the sudden, loud arrival of the three young men. Her initial shock and fear gave way to relief that they weren’t in immediate danger. Whatever had happened, had already happened, though she still watched, bewildered as Gavin was carried to the couch. It was only when he got closer, she saw his face, the bruising and the blood. As roughed up as he was, he didn’t look like he shouldn’t be able to walk by his own strength.

The whole situation rather mortified Gavin. True, he still felt a bit weak, as if the energy had been sapped from his muscles, and his head still rang from getting knocked around earlier, but after lying in the back of the car for the entire return trip to the cabin he had been feeling much improved. Trent, however, had insisted on helping, acting as his personal crutch, leading him up the steps to the cabin, and pushing his way in as if it were some kind of emergency. As Trent set him down upon the sofa, the dark haired teen looked around and saw no one else, the dramatic entrance having been entirely for Kendra’s benefit it seemed.

“Where is everyone?” Trent demanded, looking around and drawing the same conclusion as Gavin.

“Victoria is resting,” Kendra informed them. “And the other girls went into town.” She turned her brown eyes upon Gavin. “What happened to you?”

Before Gavin could even open his mouth to respond though, Kurt stormed in from down the hall, his hurried, angry steps making almost as much noise as they had when they came in. Which was striking, considering he immediately began lambasting them about being too loud, half-shouting, “Would you guys keep it down? Victoria is trying to sleep off the-” It was only once he was in the room with the three guys that he took the chance to look at them and noticed that Gavin had clearly been attacked. “Oh shit. What the hell happened?”

“Shawn,” Gavin answered simply, but it was enough to visibly wrench the guts of both Kurt and Kendra.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Kurt growled, giving up all pretense of being quiet. “How? Weren’t you supposed to be going to talk to some chick from computer club?”

“That bitch is working with him,” Trent informed them quickly. “She knocked Gavin out and dragged him all the way across town to hand him over to Shawn. I saw them go in with my own eyes.”

“No, it wasn’t like that,” Gavin insisted with a deep breath. “I’ll tell you everything, but don’t blame Grace, please.”

“Wait, before you begin,” Kendra held out a hand to stop Gavin from continuing as she turned to Kurt. “Shouldn’t Victoria hear this too?”

“I don’t know. Yesterday I thought if she heard what Shawn was doing to you, it would encourage her to do something to stop him, like going to the police,” Kurt confessed, as he scratched his head, remembering how well that plan had gone. “But now Ashley told the police about Shawn, and considering her condition…should we really be stressing her out even more?”

“I don’t know if keeping it from her is a good idea either,” Kendra countered, crossing her arms over the well of her breasts. “Like, even if she recovers, won’t it be worse if she finds out then? It could just trigger a relapse.”

“I’m not suggesting that we never tell her, just that we hear what Gavin has to say first,” Kurt clarified, moments before a wooden ornament came hurtling towards his head. “If it’s not relevant or just upsetti-OW!”

The small, old statue, possibly hand carved some decades ago, collided with the back of Kurt’s head before falling to the floor, impressively still intact. The group turned to see Victoria standing in the doorway to the hall, quiet but her glare conveying all the words that she needed. While Kurt rubbed his head, he smiled sheepishly at the blonde, her hands on her hips and the coolness of her stare telling him that she had been standing there long enough to understand what they had been talking about.

“Sorry, sorry. It’s not like I wasn’t going to tell…fuck, this hurts,” Kurt winced, closing one eye as he continued to rub the sore spot on his head. Kendra leaned closer to observe the damage, pulling his hand away, but he got no sympathy from Victoria. “You can understand our caution. The last bad news you got rendered you speechless.”

Victoria shook her head, adamantly.

“No one is keeping anything from you, least of all me, I swear,” Kurt assured her, as Kendra backed away, satisfied that all he had to show for the attack was a small, red lump. “We’re just trying to look out for you. Shawn keeps doing these terrible things with impunity and yet we’re no closer to stopping him.”

The green-eyed blonde brought a hand up to her chest and patted it against herself, just above her breasts, though the **** of the slaps, gentle as they were, still made her large boobs jiggle slightly.

“Right, from now on, we’ll ask you first,” Kurt agreed, bowing his head slightly. “You’re right. It should be up to you whether or not you want to hear what’s going on, and how much you can handle.”

Content with Kurt’s apology, Victoria crossed the room to join the group, coming to stand beside Brandon. Her best friend’s ex-boyfriend reached out with one arm and pulled her close into a comforting half-hug.

“Gavin told us what happened on the way over,” the football player prefaced as she hugged him back. “I couldn’t believe it, but it’s really true, you really have lost your voice. That’s fucking terrible.”

Victoria nodded in agreement.

“Well, Gavin, I think we’re rea-” Kurt began, but Trent interrupted.

“Wait, maybe we should give Gavin some time to rest,” the black teen suggested, though he told himself he’d be worried about anyone who went through something so traumatic as being tased, tied-up and beaten. “And wouldn’t it be better to tell everyone at once, rather than having to tell the girls again when they get back.”

The others looked at Trent, unsure what to say. His concern wasn’t unwarranted, but it was strange, hearing it come from Trent. Even to Kurt and Kendra, who barely knew Trent at all, his sudden acute attention toward Gavin’s well-being felt unlike the teen they’d met just yesterday, who had generally been more interested in the next pussy he’d be fucking with his black dick than anything else going on at the cabin. Kurt, in particular, remembered how he’d had to convince Trent to stay at the cabin and watch over Victoria, and yet now he seemed to hate Shawn just as much as anyone, just because of what had happened to Gavin.

“It’s fine. I can rest afterwards,” Gavin said, the only one who had any inkling of what was going on. But Trent’s newfound concern couldn't just be because they fucked…it couldn’t change their relationship that much…could it? Pushing the thought out of his head, he continued, “Kurt can tell the others later. I’ll sleep better knowing I don’t have this ahead of me.”

“Ok, if you’re sure,” Trent relented.

“Alright, great, so what did Shawn do?” Kurt asked quickly, eager to hear what had happened now that all the objections and obstacles had been cleared away. “And how does it connect to the computer chick?”

“Grace. Her name is Grace Smith. Even if you don’t know her, you’ll know her family, they’re the oldest one in town. Which means there’s a lot of pressure on Grace to be successful and choose a career that brings recognition to the family name,” Gavin said, trying to impress upon the others the situation that she was in. “Her father is somewhat old fashioned though. He didn’t see computing or programming as an adequate profession for his daughter.”

“He’s not that old fashioned,” Kendra remarked, as she pouted thoughtfully. “Her sister was only the year above us in school and she ended up going into modelling rather than anything to do with the family.

“Yeah, but she is one of the hottest models I’ve ever seen. Her popularity skyrocketed ever since her debut, in fact…” Brandon blushed slightly as he realized what he was about to admit. “I had her poster on my wall, until Ashley made me take it down.”

“Wait, who is this?” Trent asked.

“Pietra Smith.”

“Holy fuck, that’s her sister!” Trent’s mouth dropped, unable to make the connection until right that second. “I guess I can kind of see the family resemblance, but I bet Pietra isn’t a bitch like her little sister.”

“I keep telling you, Grace isn’t a bitch. Pietra was able to model precisely because she was so good at it. Grace wanted to do the same with her computer skill, which meant proving to her parents that she was the best. But, when she lost a few awards and prize funds…” he hesitated, skimming over him being the reason that she’d been beaten out for the money and recognition. He didn’t feel bad about it, because he hadn’t taken them from her maliciously, but he also didn’t want to give the others any more reason to dislike her than they already had. “then she turned to some less…legal means to fund her career. Like providing her expertise to criminals who wanted something hacked…or encrypted.”

“I see, that’s how Grace got involved with Hannah, under the guise of ‘k3Y$Tr0kE’,” Kurt remarked, following Gavin’s indications.

“Shit, of course. There’s no way Shawn could have hacked the newspaper by himself,” Kendra exclaimed, surprising everyone. “He would have needed a program or an algorithm to do the job…so he enlisted Grace’s services, right?”

“Exactly,” Gavin said, nodded, slightly impressed Kendra had made the connection so quickly, but then, she did know Shawn the best out of all of them. “But, and here’s the key part, she had no idea what it was for. He told her that he was rewriting photos in one place with the photos in a hidden folder, as a sort of prank. She had no idea it would be used on the Walker’s newspaper or used specifically against Victoria.”

“And you believe her?” Trent asked scathingly.

“You heard her at the warehouse,” Gavin replied, imploring him to consider the situation Grace was in. “He’s blackmailing her. She doesn’t want to do this job and certainly not for him.”

Trent shook his head stubbornly. “I don’t trust her.”

“Wait, you talked to her after you got Gavin free?” Kurt asked, thinking that, if it were him, he would have brought her back with them. “Then where is she now?”

“We’re getting ahead of ourselves, but we let her go-”

“An idea I was against, for the record,” Trent interjected.

“You see, the problem was that, while we were arguing, I let slip her name, which Shawn overheard. And that gave him all the ammunition that he needed to pressure her into helping him, or else he would tell everyone who she was and what she was doing. Not wanting a scandal to damage her family’s reputation, she agreed to continue working with him,” Gavin explained, ignoring Trent’s input. “If we brought her with us, and kept her from doing what he wanted, he’d just release the information anyway.”

Victoria covered her mouth with her hands, mostly as a reflex, even though she made little sound other than the sharp sound of her breath inhaling. She wasn’t shocked that Shawn had tricked yet another woman into doing his bidding, but she was horrified that there seemed to be no stopping him. One way or another, he always got what he wanted in the end.

“Why even bring you though?” Kendra asked, tilting her head as she mulled over everything Gavin had revealed so far. “It seems like she was directly putting herself a risk by even having you there, and if she was an unwilling pawn with no knowledge of his grander scheme, why would she want to hand you over to him in the first place?”

“Because finding me was part of what Shawn had enlisted Grace for in the first place. Well, not me, you,” he said, looking pointedly at Kurt.

“He asked Grace to find Gavin Westher, still thinking I was Gavin, but then Grace thought he actually meant you, without understanding the mix up,” Kurt said, surprised for a moment, but he quickly realized what Gavin meant. “I bet she never even asked for a description because she knew you so well. So, Shawn knows we lied to him about Victoria’s boyfriend now. I guess it doesn’t really matter anymore. Was he pissed?”

“A little. Grace never intended on handing me over. I was just pretext to get a meeting because she wanted to confront him over the newspaper hack and what he did to Victoria. But once he found out her secret and had her over a barrel, that went out the window,” Gavin elaborated, growing uneasy as he continued, his betrayal nearing. “He punched and threatened me once he knew who I really was, demanding to know who you were, demanding to know where Victoria was staying.”

“What? He already knows she’s at the cabin. I told him so back when he was still tricking Dustin,” Kendra insisted, furrowing her brow as she tried to understand why Shawn would ask that question.

“But he didn’t know which cabin. He said Silver Lakes was a large area, and the mountain range makes it difficult to pinpoint by signal or satellite,” Gavin said. “But I think he also got some perverse pleasure out of making someone close to Victoria tell him where she was.”

“Presumably, he also can’t just go stalking every cabin up here, looking for the right one,” Brandon noted, trying to imagine himself in Shawn’s shoes and shivering at the thought. “At best, someone might report a suspicious person lurking about. At worst, someone would actually shoot him.”

“You didn’t actually tell him where Victoria was though,” Kurt asked him directly. “Right, Gavin?”

He swallowed hard. This was the moment he’d been dreading, telling Victoria and Kurt about his own betrayal. He hoped that they might understand the situation he was, **** to choose between protecting the woman in front of him verses one that wasn’t in any immediate danger, one who could be warned verses one who was in the clutches of evil. Anyone in those circumstances could make a mistake, and say the wrong thing. But he remembered how angry Victoria was the last time he betrayed her, when his actions had led to her harm. A terrible thought crossed his mind, a sense of gladness that at least this time, without a voice, she couldn’t scream at him.

“I did refuse, at first,” Gavin confessed, hesitant. “Then he stopped hitting me and started focusing on Grace. He made her give him a blowjob and then he threatened to take her virginity if I didn’t tell him where Victoria was. I wasn’t going to take him at his word, because Shawn being the slimy shit that he is would probably just fuck her anyway even if I did tell him what he wanted to know. But I was pissed, and feeling powerless, and without thinking I told him something I shouldn’t have.” Gavin paused, taking a deep breath. “I let it slip that Kendra was here. He said that was all he needed to know.”

“Me?” Kendra pointed at herself. “Why would he think that?”

“Unless you’re still working for him?” Trent narrowed his eyes at the older brunette. “A double agent!”

“Calm down,” Kurt insisted, holding out a hand to make sure Trent stayed in place. “Maybe he’s going to track your phone signal, but, hm, you said that was too weak up here.”

Gavin nodded, but suggested, “Tracking a signal would be, but an app, with its own data and servers, could probably pinpoint a location. And would any of us be surprised if Shawn was keeping tabs on her, without her knowledge?”

“So, all we have to do is destroy her phone, right?” Brandon asked. “No phone, no app, no tracking.”

“Better than that, we can catch him. He knows Gavin knows this, and he knows that if he let Gavin go that he’ll tell us right away and we’ll get rid of the phone,” Kurt noted, getting excited, almost giddy at the idea of entrapping Shawn. “He has to come straight here if he wants to have any hope of tracking Kendra to Victoria.”

“I don’t think so,” Gavin said, shaking his head and frowning. “All he has to do is look at it once and write down the coordinates and he can come whenever he wants, whenever he thinks it might be safe.”

“Yeah, it’s wouldn’t be like Shawn to pop his head up unless he thought it was on his terms,” Kendra agreed. “He won’t come for Victoria until then. Knowing where she’s staying is advantageous, so he can find her whenever he wants. He knows Gavin would tell you that he knows. It’s psychological.”

“Shit, there goes that plan,” Kurt stomped around the sofa, his fists clenched, wishing for something he could punch, that he could beat, that he could destroy. He picked up the wooden statue Victoria had thrown at him and toss it across the room, into the wall, leaving a mark. “Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit shit, shit!

Gavin felt terrible, knowing it was Shawn’s fault but that he had even, unintentionally, involuntarily, contributed. Shawn knew where to find them, and that was on him, whether it had been done to save Grace or not. He bowed his head, unable to look any of them in the eye until he felt a comforting hand on his shoulder. He looked up, expecting Kendra, but surprised to see Victoria.

“And that’s all he said?” Kurt demanded, when he finished his tirade of cursing. “Nothing else?”

“Actually, there was one other thing…”