On the Warpath

As Heather drove down the lane towards the main road that would take the girls into town, Ashley looked out the window at the trees and fields and blue sky that was all too quickly becoming a regular sight. Just yesterday, she, Victoria and Kurt had driven this same lane to the same road into the same town, all for the same purpose: to exonerate Lisa Rivera. This week was meant to be about a few teens just having fun, spending two weeks in the sun and seclusion of Raver’s Cabin. Instead, she’d broken up with her boyfriend, cheated with his best friend, cheated on the best friend, messed around with the best friend’s best friend and attempted to trick the best friend into sleeping with his ex-girlfriend, all to make them even, before being fucked awake by the best friend’s best friend and almost willingly cheating again. And at the centre of all this turmoil was the mystery of who framed Lisa Rivera. And that wasn’t even getting into the mysteries of what happened to Victoria or Zack’s true parentage.

The petite blonde teen rubbed her head as she turned and looked at Heather, a focused fury painted on her face as she gripped the steering wheel tightly. Ashley was convinced that it was Heather’s father, Robert Ravers, who was behind the arrest of Lisa and now possibly her father, Carlos, too. He was the only one who made sense to her because he had the means and the motive, and that’s why they were on their way into town once again, so that the daughter could confront the father. Heather didn’t think her father was capable of this, but Ashley hoped that she was wrong, least of all because then perhaps they could go back to just enjoying their time left in the cabin without all of this drama and bullshit infecting their lives. But Ashley could see that everyone gunning for a suspect was upsetting Heather.

“I don’t think anyone meant anything back there you know, especially not Zack,” Ashley assured her tentatively, hoping that another of her friends wasn’t about to explode verbally at her. “If any of them had known it was Robert we were investigating they’d have been a lot more sensitive about the issue.”

“Zack, I get. He’s just angry and wants justice,” Heather agreed, but her hands tightened around the steering wheel, the plastic squeaking in her grasp. “But Victoria knew.”

“Victoria?” Ashley tilted her head thoughtfully. “Yeah, she helped me figure out that Carlos was the only one that hadn’t sold to your dad. I guess she was the only other person in that room that knew Robert was the suspect we had in mind.”

“Exactly, and she was talking about him like he was some sort of super villain, manipulating events to make Carlos fly off the handle at a judge. Gavin was right, it is convoluted. He just didn’t want to argue with her because he still has feelings for her,” Heather huffed.

“I’ll admit to not being her biggest fan at the minute since she just chewed me out before we left for simply asking about her and Kurt, but I do think I should point out that Victoria probably doesn’t know that I told you that we suspect Robert. Though she might have guessed since we left together and wouldn’t let Zack come,” Ashley retorted, looking over at Heather to see if this was making her more or less angry. “And in fairness, I don’t think she was saying that Robert absolutely tried to get Carlos to attack the judge, just that since we don’t know what’s going on, we can’t eliminate any possibility.”

“We can if they’re ludicrous, the same reason we eliminated you as a suspect for planting them or Lisa for just bringing them to the cabin. This isn’t how my dad does business,” Heather insisted irritably. “The framing of Lisa I could at least understand. Her arrest could have been used to **** Carlos' hand. In fact, if that were the case, my dad would probably have already told Carlos, and maybe Carlos called his bluff and he followed through. But what benefit does getting Carlos arrested have?”

“Maybe he’d sell the cabin to pay for legal fees? Or if he lost the job, he might even sell it just for the money, to keep his family,” Ashley suggested after musing the issue for a moment. “But the problem is that none of us know Robert like you do, so we’re all just stabbing in the dark.”

“Ugh, you’re probably right. I’m just angry because as soon as I saw that news broadcast I knew that people were going to be looking at it and thinking that my dad was behind it and…” Heather paused, her breathing becoming shaky. “I…I’m not prepared if it is true. I don’t think I could handle that.”

“I hope for your sake it’s not…but I do think he’s our most likely suspect. All you can do is ask,” Ashley replied eagerly. “You say you’ll be able to know if he’s telling the truth…”

“Oh, I’ll definitely know,” Heather assured her.

“Then just ask,” Ashley said, encouragingly. “We’ll sort the rest out afterwards.”

Heather rubbed her forehead, eyes half closing as she tried to rub away the stress. “I need a distraction. What happened between you and Victoria?”

“Huh? Oh, that,” Ashley sighed, remembering. “I asked her about her relationship with Kurt, but she got really angry and started throwing everything that happened last week in my face. I know I’m no saint, but it seemed a bit disproportionate for simply asking if she was alright after last night. She got so defensive about Shawn, about Kurt, everything. I’ve known her to get upset before but nothing so irrational like that.”

“I did tell you to leave her alone,” Heather reminded her. “Whatever’s going on will come out when she’s good and ready. And so, she’s fucking Kurt, so what? Getting laid might do her the world of good. She’s always been a little uptight when it comes to sex. Kurt is a good choice to loosen her up a bit. He’s not a bad guy. If it weren’t for him, who knows if we’d have found Vicky.”

“I know. And it’s got nothing really to do with Kurt. We even talked after I spoke with Victoria and came to an agreement. He’s going to look after Victoria and try to figure out what’s going on with her,” Ashley explained. “But fucking some random guy like she did last night, and in front of Gavin, that’s not my best friend.”

“Yeah, I heard about Gavin seeing them. But honestly, all that tells me is that Victoria is hurting, and why wouldn’t she be? Both of her major boyfriends, two men she might have considered the loves of her life, both betrayed and lied to her,” Heather countered, laughing slightly. “Fucking another guy even if I got caught would have been the least I’d have done if I were in the same situation.”

“I know, it’s just the timing, I guess,” Ashley admitted. “It can almost taste something on the air that’s missing.”

Heather fell silent again, staring determinately at the road, while Ashley turned and looked out the window again at the passing scenery. This drive had never felt longer to the dark-haired cheer captain. It wasn’t a short ride by any measure but today, as Heather desperately wanted to reach her father and find out the truth, the drive felt like it kept stretching beyond the infinite. This wasn’t how she had wanted her second encounter with her father to go. After the blowjob yesterday and the subsequent interruption, she had hoped to go further in their next meeting. But with so much riding on this, she had to take it seriously.

But that didn’t stop her mind from daydreaming, fantasising as it so often did since Kurt had unleashed the dark, taboo desires that lay dormant inside her young, sexy body. She imagined a scenario where her father actually lied to her, denied that he had any part in the plot against Lisa and Carlos. Though, of course, Heather could tell that he was lying, but she had to make him talk, to say it aloud. She tore off his pants, picturing in her mind’s eye, that same monstrous tower of a cock rising up from between his legs. She’d pull up her skirt and straddle him, demanding that he tell the truth as she lowered her pussy upon that thick beastly tool.

“Zack has never been that angry with me,” Ashley said wistfully as she looked out the window, her words tearing Heather out of her daydream.

“What?” she choked, her cheeks red, embarrassed to have been interrupted during such wrong thoughts, and flushed with excitement all the same. “Angry like…Carlos? So, he isn’t violent…isn’t that a good thing?”

“Not violent, just passionate,” Ashley clarified. “Every time something happens to Lisa, Zack is inconsolable. But he never gets angry with me. Even when I’ve messed up and it’s my fault, he always just forgives me. Do…do you think that means something?”

“I think it means you need to stop overthinking your relationship. And stay faithful. But, it’s also a different situation,” Heather assured her, breathing carefully to control her lust. “Zack is getting angry because things are being done to Lisa that she doesn’t deserve. He’s forgiving you because you’re the one doing those things. But you really need to be careful, if this is a relationship you want to last, because I don’t think Zack is going to keep forgiving you forever.”

“I know. I am trying,” Ashley said, almost as much to herself as to Heather.

Ashley didn’t say another word for the rest of the trip, as the lush green views all around became brown and red, buildings sprouting up in the place of trees and grass, jutting up high into the clear blue sky. It would have been a nice day if not for the monumental task that lay before them, of the confrontation between father and daughter that could possibly change everything. The buildings became thicker, denser, as Heather passed into Azure Rock proper.

The dark-haired cheer captain could feel a tightening in her gut as she drove ever closer to her father’s place of business. Yesterday when she’d come to this exact spot and parked in the same lot, she had bore none of the same apprehension. Even the possibility of finding out that Zack might be her half brother hadn’t caused her body to tense and her mind to blur as it was today. Perhaps because Zack being her father’s son wouldn’t change the kind of man that she thought he was. But this, this question could mean that she never really knew her father at all.

Heather stepped into the lift, Ashley following closely behind, both girls stricken quiet by the trepidation and dread that flooded their brains and their blood. Ashley hugged herself close to keep from shaking whilst Heather clenched her fists at her side and set her jaw, her face becoming stony as she steeled herself, moments away from the answers they so desperately needed from her father. The elevator dinged, and Heather strode out, marching down the same corridor as before. The only difference, today Hannah was sat at a desk outside her father’s office.

“Heather!” The older Woodsen jumped to her feet at Heather’s arrival, rushing to keep the dark-haired daughter from intruding on her boss. “Mr. Ravers doesn’t want any visitors right now.”

“Too bad,” Heather growled, and then to Ashley, “Wait here.”

Without waiting for an answer from either, Heather shoved her way through the door into her father’s office, letting it slam behind her. Her father looked up from his desk, slightly dishevelled, an odd sight compared to his usual impeccably professional attire. It wasn’t much, just no jacket, tie a little low, shirt not tucked properly, hair messed up and weary wrinkled marking his face. Just a lot of small details that told Heather that her father was distressed. Her natural instinct was to go to him, to find out what was wrong, to help him solve any problem he had, but she had to fight it. She had to know the truth first.

“Heather.” He sounded exhausted and resigned. “I don’t have time for your games today.”

“Good, because I’m not playing,” she declared, folding her arms across her chest. She glared down at him as she raised her chin and asked, “Did you frame Lisa for **** possession so that you could **** Carlos Rivera to sell his cabin?”