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*Chapter Fifteen *
The plane ride back to LA was a long and tiring one. They’d had to wake up at three in the morning to catch their five o’ clock flight back. Glory was sad to leave the beautiful country behind, but was excited to get back to her life in the state which her other home was in, knowing that she could visit London any time her heart desired. She did, after all, have a home there too. Leaning over, she rested her head on Orlando’s chest, closing her eyes. In just a few hours, she would be back in the privacy of her home...no Winona or Dom just doors down to hear her and Orlando’s screams of passion in the night. Dom and Winona were the reason that she and her new husband had refrained from rated R action during their stay, for the most part. They were the reason that she and Orlando were going through sexual withdraw already. She loved her friends to death, but it was well past time for them to be off, taking their separate ways to their own homes in LA.

“Tired?” Orlando asked, kissing his wife’s forehead softly.

“Mmmm,” Glory responded with a smile, picking her head up to look at his handsome face and in to his beautiful eyes, “Just looking forward to being ho...going back to my second home. And yes, am very tired. Jet lag is gonna be setting in very soon....stupid eight hour time different.” she then muttered under her breath.

Orlando grinned wide, “I am looking forward to being home too...if you know what I mean.” He wiggled his eyebrows seductively, ignoring her second statement, hoping that she was catching on to what he was getting at.

Glory rolled her eyes, socking him in the stomach playfully, “Men...and their over-driven hormones. Is sex all your species thinks about?” she joked.

Orlando shrugged, a sexy smile taking over his face, “You know you miss it too, and no, sex is not all my species thinks about. Just ninety-eight percent of the time.”

Glory didn’t say anything, deciding to torture her new husband for a little bit, making him think that she didn’t want any bedroom action. Her thoughts strayed back to all that had happened since she had been in London, causing her to frown. She thought of her father...her idiotic, moronic, ass-hole of a father. The father that had been so horrible to her, she hated to even call him that. No, to her, he wasn’t much of a father. He was more of a burden...a thorn in her side. Something she wanted to forget, but couldn’t seem to. She thought of the disasters of Dom, Nick and A.J. all getting into physical fights over Winona, and on more than one occasion. She thought of Cadence leaving because of Todd getting in to an accident, which reminded her that she still needed to call her friend back and catch up on what had happened with him. Glory made a mental note to call her friend once they landed and she was home again and check up on the lastest with Todd. Glory cringed, remembering that she had promised Cadence that she would call a few hours later. That was before she had come face to face with the man that she despised most. Glory shook her head in disgust at the nerve of him. How dare the man expect her to be in his wedding, after so long of them not even speaking...after all of the horrible things he’d done, said, and made her feel about herself. She knew that he only felt obligated to ask that of her. What else was he going to say when they were staring right at one another. He was the reason also, that she’d stressed completely, pulling out her cigarettes and then going to a club to get completely trashed, resulting in Orlando becoming disappointed in her and angry. No, this definitely wasn’t one of her best trips to London, but at least her paintings had sold for quite a large sum of money. That aspect of the trip made her proud. She just hoped that her next trip back would, all together, be better and she could have fun.

“You okay, love?” Orlando asked, staring at Glory in concern, “You look like you’re about to kill someone.” he chuckled nervously, hoping that him bothering her wouldn’t make it him that she wanted to rid of..

Glory whipped her head around, distracted by Orlando speaking to her, “Huh?” she asked in confusion, missing everything he’d said.

“I asked if you were okay,” he repeated, “You look out of it, is all.”

“Oh, um....yeah, I’m fine,” Glory responded, forcing a convincing, or at least what she hoped to be, convincing smile, turning her head to look out of the small window of the plane at the ground miles below them, praying that Orlando wouldn’t push things and would leave her alone. She got her wish because Orlando knew better than to disturb her then, turning his attention to a magazine. When Glory turned away, avoiding conversation, he knew that it was best to leave her alone until she was ready to speak.

Meanwhile, Winona was a row behind the newlyweds, listening to a CD on her walkman. Bopping her head to the tunes, she closed her eyes, oblivious to the body which had suddenly moved over right next to her. She jumped when she felt a light tapping on her shoulder, letting out a slight shriek of startlement. Looking quickly to her side, she saw A.J. sitting there, grinning at his ability to scare her so easily. Winona smiled back, sliding the headphones off of her ears and letting them drape around her neck.
“Hey babe,” A.J. grinned, “Still mad at me?” He stuck his bottom lip out in a small pout which caused her to laugh lightly.

“Aje, I told you that I wasn’t,” she said, “Remember?”

A.J. nodded, “Just making sure...I don’t want you to be mad at me. I know that I was an ass...and I am embarrassed for how I acted.”

“Did Glory put you up to this?” Winona asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow. She wouldn’t put it past her friend to try and get A.J. to butter her up...especially when the man made her knees weak and she found him irrisistable.

A.J. shook his head, throwing his hands up in protest, “No...no...I swear, this is all me. I really like you a lot. I want you to know that.”

Winona grinned, blushing slightly at his
compliment. Never in her wildest dreams did she ever think that the gorgeous man sitting beside her would ever speak those words to her...but he had, on several occasions. The times before, she’d slightly doubted his intentions, afraid that Glory had threatened him with her infamous baseball bat. This time though...this time, she felt differently. This time, she believed that the words were coming straight from him...from his heart, intended solely for her.

“I really like you a lot too,” Winona told him, feeling a slight jolt as the plane hit a mild turbulence, “I’ve liked you a lot for quite some time.”

“So let’s date,” A.J. suggested, “Forget the others...be friends with them...but we should date. Glory approves, we both really like one another. How about it?”

Winona sighed, wishing that she could tell him ‘sure, let’s go for it’. She really did like A.J, but she couldn’t just jump at the chance, as much as she wanted to. A.J looked at her expectantly, the look in his eyes telling her that he was waiting for her to agree to his proposal. Winona bit her bottom lip, knowing that her response would hurt him.

“I wish it was that simple,” she said slowly, “I mean...I really want us to...be an item.”

“Then why can’t we?” A.J. interrupted.

“Because I need to give the others a fair chance too. I...I like you all...sure, I like you the best at this point, but...I can’t just jump at the first offer.”

“Oh...um, of course. I understand,” A.J. said with a forced smile, but Winona could tell that he didn’t understand. She could tell that she had hurt him, and wanted to kick herself in the ass for it. In all reality, A.J. was probably the best one for her. Nick was nice and all, but was immature and goofy. She knew that his natural personality and behavior would eventually get on her last nerve, and that a relationship could not work out between them. She didn’t want to lose her temper on him and end up screaming up a storm on how stupid he acted. And then there was Dom...he was nice as well, but Glory freaked when she saw them together, and plus, he had violated her, and had somewhat of a cocky attitude. She shuddered at the memory of coming back from the car, only to see him laying in front of her completely naked. No...she definitely wasn’t sure if he was the one for he either. She would forever fear that he would try and force her in to sexual actions. But despite Dom and Nick’s flaws, she felt that she should still at list try and give them another chance, just to make sure that she was making the right decision. Winona just hoped that when that time came, that it wasn’t too late and they’d all moved on to other women.

“When do you think you’ll know?” A.J. finally asked her, “I mean...when do you think you will know who you want to be with?”

Winona bit her lip, not sure how to answer that question. She honestly didn’t know how long it would take her, but A.J. wanted an answer, and she had to come up with a good estimated guess for him right then and there.

“I’m not sure...probably no more than ten days,” she answered, knowing that she could squeeze in three dates per guy in to that time span, and get to know each one better before the final decision was made. At the end, she would get all of the guys to come to her apartment, and tell them all who she was going to pick, in front of all of them, so that there was no confusion, and so she could tell the two who she didn’t pick how great they were, but why she had decided to say no. She felt that it was the best approach; to do it all at once. Rolling her eyes, she felt like she was going to make her final decision Survivor style, “I’m going to go out with you and the others a few more times before I decide. How about we go out tomorrow?”

“Okay, sounds like a plan,” A.J replied with a satisfied nod, “I can wait that long, I suppose...but I can’t wait like this forever. I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be led on. And tomorrow is good with me for a date. I’ll pick you up around eleven.”

Winona nodded, not trusting her voice to speak. She knew that if she did, it would be trembling. She knew that if she spoke, she would tell A.J. that she would date him, only to regret it in a day knowing that she’d made the choice too soon, and then have the burden of telling him that she took it back until she knew the others better. She also knew that she would cry for making him feel led on. But lastly, the thought of him moving on and forgetting about her upset her more than words could say.

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Cadence sighed as she walked the halls of the hospital which she’d come so familiar to her over the past few days. The doctors had shown up in Todd’s room to run some tests and check up on how he was doing. Cadence had decided to head down to the cafeteria for half an hour so that they could do their work without any distractions.
Making her way in to the large, yet almost vacant cafeteria, Cadence went up to the counter, ordering a plain bagel and a hot chocolate. Paid and took her purchases and turned around, looking for the best place to sit beings her options were open. She saw a seat by the far window which outlooked a garden. Cadence started to make her way towards it when she spotted Kevin off in a corner by himself sipping a cup of what she guessed to be coffee. Cadence smiled, making her way over to him. She really didn’t want to be alone. She hated silence. The closer that Cadence got, she saw that Kevin had a far-away look in his eyes as he stared blankly ahead. He seemed to be deep in thought.

“Hey there,” she greeted, causing him to look her way. He smiled tiredly back at her, “Mind if I sit here?” she pointed to the seat across from him.

“No, go right ahead,” Kevin said, “It was getting kind of lonely here...but Kristin was taken for some X-rays, just for a final check up to make sure she is okay.”

“She’s being released today, right?” Cadence asked, and Kevin nodded, taking another sip of the steaming liquid, “That’s great...I am so happy that she’s going to be okay.”

Kevin smiled again, “Thanks...how’s, um...Todd doing?”

Cadence shrugged, “He seems to be doing good, but he feels guilty about this whole thing...we’re both blaming ourselves for it.”

“How would it be your fault?” Kevin asked in confusion.

“I...I don’t know if I told you this, but we got in to a huge fight over his excessive weight gain and how much I worry about him. I pretty much told him that he was a hopeless cause.” A slight blush arose on her cheeks as she realized how cruel that sounded, “I was so angry...and he left. If I hadn’t gone off on him, letting out all of my anger over the past year and a half, it would have never happened.”

Kevin listened intently, and when Cadence finished, he said, “But he didn’t have to go and get drunk...he didn’t have to leave. It was an accident...don’t beat yourself up over it, and tell Todd not to either.”

Cadence tilted her head to one side, staring at Kevin in curiosity, “How are you so understanding about all of this? How are you so forgiving? My boyfriend almost killed your wife.”

Kevin shrugged, “But Kristin is okay, and he is going to be okay. I’m just to thankful for that, that I can’t be mad at him for anything else.”

The two sat in silence for a few minutes, neither knowing what to say next. Cadence gave great respect towards him for being so understanding and forgiving.

“Does Kristin know about her friend?” Cadence asked, “I mean...has anyone told her that Todd ki...killed her?” She could hardly get the last word out.

Kevin nodded somberly, “Yeah...I told her this morning.”

“How did she take it?” Cadence asked, immediately regretting her question, mentally slapping herself for it. How else would she be taking it? Her best friend was dead.

“Not well,” Kevin admitted, “She screamed, saying that it wasn’t true...and even tried to kick me out of her room. I had to comfort her to calm her down, which took quite a while. She’s in denial about the whole thing, saying that it was another mixup. I wish that it was...but it isn’t...this is real.” He sighed, wishing that nobody had died in the accident.

“Good luck with that when she realizes what happened...ya know?” Cadence responded, “I, um...I...” Cadence flustered, not knowing what to say, realizing that the words that she spoke really weren’t making much sense at all.

“Yeah,” Kevin said, knowing what she was trying to say, then chuckled somewhat bitterly, “Hopefully, things will turn out better than I am thinking they well..

Cadence looked at Kevin, and for the first time, noticed how bloodshot his eyes were, with dark circles under them. His hair was disheveled, making it obvious that he hadn’t really taken enough time to clean up over the past couple of days. He looked like he’d aged about ten years. He looked exhausted.

“You should try to get to get some sleep, you know,” Cadence told him with a small smile, “It would help you feel better.” She knew that in a week, he would look back to normal, slightly younger than his thirty-three years rather than nearing forty.

“I’ve tried,” Kevin admitted miserably, “I can’t seem to fall asleep. Every time I try to get rest, I can’t...I don’t want to. I’m afraid that once I wake up, Kristen being alive will have all been a dream. That she’ll be dead...and I’ll be without her again. I can’t bear the thought of being without her. Thinking I would have to live without her was painful enough.”

Cadence knew what he was saying, and told him so, “I know...when I thought I’d had lost Todd...I was a mess. I mean, sure, I’d said very hurtful things to him, but it wasn’t out of hate. It was out of love and frustration. I worry about him. Believe me though...this isn’t a dream. Kristen is alive and going home today. Todd is awake, and leaving in a day or two. Everything is going to be okay now...” Cadence bit her lip, remembering Kristen’s friend, “For the most part anyways.” she added solemnly in almost a whisper.

“Quit thinking about that,” Kevin scolded, “Yes, it’s horrible, but it can’t be changed. You did nothing to cause it, and nothing can change it.”

Cadence didn’t know what to say. Here sat across from her a man she’d always dreamed of dating. He was just as amazing in person as she’d always thought he would be just from watching him on TV. He was sweet, sensitive, caring, understanding, honest, truthful, forgiving, friendly, gorgeous...he had every perfect quality. Todd almost dying though had caused her to realize how much she loved her boyfriend. She didn’t think that she’d fantasize about what it would be like to be with Kevin. He would be nothing but a good friend, if that even.

“Thanks for not being a total ass about this whole thing,” Cadence laughed lightly, “I mean...not blaming me and stuff. A lot of people would have.”

Kevin just smiled at her, “Won’t get anywhere being like that, now.” he said, “Besides, you were miserable too. We were going through the same thing.”

Cadence sighed, looking at her watch. She was surprised to see that forty minutes had passed already. Time had flown by in the time she’d been talking to Kevin. She smiled, standing up, “I’d better get back to Todd.” she explained.

Kevin stood up too, “Yeah, and me back to Kris,” he said, “It was nice talking to you again.”

“You too,” Cadence replied.

Kevin reached out, giving her a friendly hug, grateful that he’d had somebody to talk to through all of this.

“Tell Kristen that I said I hope she feels better,” Cadence said. “Same with Todd,” Kevin stated, “Call me sometime. Maybe the four of us can go to dinner somewhere nice or something sometime.”

“Just might do that,” Cadence said, then hesitated, uncomfortable suddenly, not knowing what to do next, “Well, I’ll see ya later.”

“Yup, see ya,”

The two stood there for another second before parting, going their separate ways so that Cadence could check up on Todd and Kevin could prepare to take Kristen home. It had been a long past couple of days and neither could wait to put this part of this nightmare behind them and move on, getting on with life like none of it had ever happened.

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Winona smiled to herself as she unpacked her suitcase, hanging her clothes back up in her closet and placing her shampoo and other beauty products back in the bathroom. She and her friends had arrived back the day before. Catching up on jet lag had been a bitch, but she was caught up on the time change already, feeling great. She hummed along to the song that was playing loudly over her stereo, Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely, as she worked. She loved the song, and found A.J’s voice extremely captivating in it. It was hypnotic almost, making herself become lost in her own thoughts. His voice was so sexy, husky, slightly raspy...amazing. The thought of A.J. brought a huge smile to her face, even larger than the one she’d had on before. She and A.J. were going out that night to dinner at a fancy restaurant and then to a movie. She was happy that he was no longer upset, disappointed, or whatever he had been feeling towards her...or maybe he was. Winona didn’t know, but this date was the next step to helping her make her choice, although she was pretty sure that she already knew what it was going to be.

Finishing up unpacking, Winona shut of the CD, not wanting to miss A.J’s arrival because of the overpowering sound generating from the speakers, She was expecting him in what was supposed to be fifteen minutes. Winona bit her lip, suddenly slightly nervous about the date. She felt as if it were the first time she was going out with him. She figured that it was probably because this was the one of three dates with A.J. that would help her make her final decision. Winona wanted to make the best impression that she could with A.J, and she found herself mechanically walking in to the bathroom to apply some fresh makeup and re-straighten her hair so it looked freshly done. Taking a step back, Winona examined herself in the full-length mirror. She had to admit that she was please with the reflection looking back at her. All except for one thing...what she was wearing. Winona knew that if A.J was taking her to dinner, that he would be wearing a suit, looking like a picture-perfect gentleman. Her tight, hip hugger jeans and skin tight top wouldn’t do. Charging towards her closet, Winona started tearing thorough her hangers of dresses in the corner of the closet. By the time she was finished, it looked like a tornado had torn throughout the place, but she knew that she would look great when she brought out the dress that she was looking for. It hit slightly above her knees, and was tight and form-fitting. The color was a midnight black with a light glitter, making it sparkle at certain angles. Winona threw off her jeans and shirt, sliding the dress gently over her head. It slid over her form gently, making her feel sexy. Putting on some strappy black heels, and a small, silver bracelet, she finished off her attire with a pair of tiny, sparkling diamond earrings. Going back to the full-length mirror, she checked herself out once more. She spun around before giving a satisfied nod at how she looked right as there was a loud knock on the door. Winona picked up a bottle of perfume, giving herself a quick spray with it before scurrying out of her room and towards the front door to meet her date. Taking a deep breath to compose herself and calm her nerves, Winona slowly opened the door, revealing A.J. on the other side. He was wearing a bright smile and looked just as amazing as she’d suspected he would in a black suit with a crisp whit shirt underneath. He wasn’t wearing his sunglasses, revealing his beautiful chocolate eyes. She felt lost in them as she stared, hoping that she would be able to find her voice.

“Wow,” he whispered, almost speechless, “You look incredible.”

“You look pretty damn good yourself,” Winona grinned, surprising herself for saying something that wasn’t incredibly lame, eyeing him up and down and licking her lips at the sight of him.

The two just stared at one another, both somewhat uncomfortable, yet excited for the date to take place.

“So, um...are you about ready?” A.J. asked.

“Mmm hmm,” Winona responded, “Just let me grab my purse. Come on it. It will just take a second.”

A.J. stepped inside of the apartment as Winona ran back to her room, cursing at herself for forgetting about the purse. She grabbed a small black one that she’d used for prom years before, throwing in lipstick, blush, a small brush and a credit card, in case of an emergency. Her knees shook as she did this, her stomach in turmoil. Winona slowly sat down on the bed, squeezing her eyes shut. She didn’t think that she’d ever been his nervous in her life.

“Calm down, girl,” Winona muttered to herself, “It’s just A.J...you’ve been out with him before. You’ve known him for...well, not long at all actually. But it’s no different than any other time you’ve been out with him.”

Winona took a deep breath, hoping to stop her body from trembling. When she was sure she had herself under control and could do the date, she stood back up, feeling better already. Snapping the purse shut shut, Winona did a double check in the mirror before taking of back towards a beaming A.J.

“Okay, all ready,” she grinned, as she looped her arm through AJ’s and they were out the door to start begin the evening.

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Glory stared at her phone before picking it up. Orlando was still sound asleep, but she knew that she had gotten her rest for the night. She’d been awake for a good two hours, staring at the ceiling. Now she was bored, her attention span wandering to something new every few minutes.

Dialing Cadence’s cell phone number, Glory let it ring five times before it was answered by Cadence.

“Hello?”

“Hi...it’s Glory,”

“Oh, hey!,” Cadence greeted, taking Glory by surprise by her cheerfulness. She wondered if Todd had died and her friend was celebrating, “How did your art thing go?”

Glory rolled her eyes. Just like Cadence to call it an ‘art thing’, “My showing went fine.” she laughed, “You worry me...a lot.”

“I know,” Cadence said, and Glory could tell that she was grinning, “You know ya love me though.”

“Okay then,” Glory replied, then whispered in her joking, sarcastic tone, “Just keep telling yourself that.”

Cadence laughed, loving her friends strange sense of humor. You had to know the girl to understand it and appriciate it.

“Um...how is Todd,” Glory asked, getting to the point of why she was calling.

“He’s doing good...which is a miracle by far, but at least he’s alive and awake.”

“You’re confusing me,”

Cadence didn’t feel like explaining everything, beings she was visiting with Todd, but Glory wanted to know, so she stepped in to the hall. No use in making him feel bad by reminding him of what he had done.

“Todd went and got drunk out of depression of what I said to him. He was in an accident, hit someone head on. They thought that she was dead, and he was brain dead and a vegetable. Turns out though, that he did kill someone, but not who they originally thought...and he woke up, perfectly fine.” Cadence let out a breath, beings she’d said all of that in one.”

Glory was silent for a moment trying to comprehend the information she’d received. She had many questions running through her head...the first one being how had a guy as underaged as Todd gotten drunk? He didn’t know anybody in LA yet to even buy him the alcohol. Before she had the chance to ask anything though, Cadence started talking again.

“I met Kevin,” she said, “He’s a really great guy.”

“Huh,” Glory asked, “How did you meet Kevin?”

“Hospital.,”

“What’s he doing there?” Glory asked, her overprotective instincts overcoming her, “Is he okay...is he hurt?”

Cadence laughed “No...freak thing, but, Kristen’s car is the one that Todd hit...and she is the one that they thought was dead.”

“Kristen is dead? Your fat ass boyfriend killed Kristen?” Glory screamed so loudly that it was almost deafening.

“No,” Cadence was quick to interrupt, “They thought she was...but it was her best friend that was dead. Kristen is fine, thank god.”

“Oh,” Glory said, “But Todd still murdered someone..all because the truth hurts...I hope the girl wasn’t who I think that it was...”

Glory’s voice trailed off as she watched Orlando come out of his sleep. He sat up, bearing his naked torso and shoulders. Her eyes bugged out of her head, she licked her lips at the sight of him. Orlando leaned over and gave her a kiss on the mouth before getting up, exposing the rest of his naked manhood.

“Yo, Glory...ya there, girl,” Cadence asked with a laugh.

“Huh? Oh yeah, I’m here.” Glory answered watching her husbands naked body walk in to the bathroom to do his morning duties. She was eager to join him, “I gotta go though. I’ll call you later.” and then the phone went dead, Cadence left in confusion staring at the phone as Glory rushed in to the bathroom to take part in some X-rated action with her husband while he was still wearing his birthday suit.