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“Love Can Save”

-“If I can right the wrongs that made you cry.
The words you promise not to say goodbye.
Cause I’m holding on with a love so strong.
And I can’t take the day without you by my side.” BSB “Like A Child.”

**~Without Your Smile~**

A.J. yawns, his hands grip the steering wheel as he turns to a corner on the street and parks on the sidewalk. Switching the gear shift to park, he eases the car into a parking space, exiting his vehicle. The sudden conversation in Yasmine’s cell phone played over in his mind. He grinds his teeth, his fists slowly clenching at the thought of who that man could have been who brutally ruined A.J.’s relationship with Yasmine. A.J. walks up ahead of his four friends who seemed in their own private conversations.

“D, I don’t know, he’s been all quiet and moody for the past two hours and he hasn’t told me anything.” Nick quietly mutters to Howie as they keep in step with each other a few feet behind A.J.

Howie sighs, shaking his head. “Well what do you want me to do about it? He doesn’t really talk to me when he has issues, he tends to be quiet about things.”

“But D, can’t you find a way to get the truth out of him?” Nick pleads, his eyes gazing at A.J.’s back.

“I’ll try. But I can’t promise you that he’ll tell me anything new.”

“Maybe Brian can do it.” Nick states, glancing over at the two cousins whispering about something behind them.

“I don’t know. But hey, it’s worth a try.” Howie responds, opening the glass doors to the recording studio, holding it open for the others. A.J. slides in first as the others followed behind. After a few hours of writing and gathering ideas for some singles on their upcoming album, silence loomed around the five men in the conference room. The early morning sun beamed through the white blinds in the room as the only other sound in the room was of the men slowly breathing.

“Ok, well, this is nice. I always wanted to sit and stare at you guys.” Nick breaks the uncomfortable peacefulness.

A few chuckles from the others responded back and Nick took that as a sign for him to talk to A.J. “Yo J, you aight? You seemed distracted all this morning since we got here. What’s up?”

Brian sits up rigidly in the thick mahogany chair, staring at A.J. quietly.

A.J. gulps, distracting himself by shifting and adjusting himself in his chair.

Kevin sighs and immediately stands up in front of A.J.: slamming his hands on the armrest of A.J.’s chair so A.J. will not be able to move the chair anymore. “Nick’s right. Something’s up? I mean I’m not asking you to spill your secrets to us Alex, but you’ve been distracted this entire morning since we got here at the studio.”

A.J. clears his throat, his eyes roam around the table to see the other three men stare back at him. Sighing, he shakes his head and leans back in the chair as Kevin eases slowly away to allow A.J. some space to speak. “I, I, I…don’t know what’s going on with me and Yasmine. I trusted her. I really did. But a guy called her up and I was talking to him. Come to find out, he stated he was dating her. Of course I didn’t say who I was or my relation to Yas, but dude! Dammit, that wasn’t nice to hear that she’s playing me!”

The others remain silent in shock, each gazing at one another confused. Kevin shakes his head, leaning on the edge of the table. “Are, are you sure? You know Yasmine isn’t that type of woman to do that to anyone, let alone you. You guys are friends, you’re like one of the only ones who is really close to her besides her family. She couldn’t do that to you.”

“Yeah, well she did. End of story. Can we move on?” A.J. growls out agitated, pounding his knuckles on the arm rest of his chair.

“What guy? Did you talk to her about it?” Howie asks.

A.J. narrows his eyes, hissing out, “I said, let’s move on.”

“Fine, but you should talk to her to find out why. Don’t leave her now with all that she’s been through.” Howie slides his hands down the edge cool mahogany table, his gaze down at the blue carpet below him.

“You did talk to her before leaving her place right?” Brian finally speaks up, watching A.J.’s cheek do a slight twitch.

“Oh no. J, tell me you didn’t walk out without hearing her first?” Brian murmurs.

A.J. fakes a smile and nervously laugh, “Well you know when the anger gets to me, I kind of just didn’t want to hear her.”

“Dude! Oh man, go and talk to her! You idiot!” Kevin smirks, handing A.J. his cell with Yasmine’s number on it.

A.J. smirks, “Kev, guys, I’ll promise to call her back and see what that was all about.” He chuckles, taking the cell and placing it on the table.

“Good boy. And I don’t wanna see ya sulk anymore or I’ll give ya a reason to sulk.” Kevin teases him, grabbing a seat as the conversation take a lighter turn, all the guys now joking around and taking about plans for the music.
~*~

She sighs and closes her bedroom door, rocking Faith in her arms. “There, there honey. Mommy’s right here.” She coos at her child, placing a blanket over Faith’s shivering body. “You get some sleep. It’s alright. I’m right here.” She croaks out, tears piercing at her eyes. She sits on her bed, quietly rocking Faith back to sleep. “A.J. what happened?” She whispers quietly to herself. She sniffs as a tear rolls down her cheek, landing on Faith’s forehead.

The infant gazes up at her mother, her little fingers touching Yasmine’s wet cheek. Yasmine gulps, the sobs rising up in her. “Oh sweetie, you shouldn’t see mommy like this. I’m ok. I’ll be fine.” She whispers to Faith, gulping down the lump in her throat. She tucks Faith to sleep in her crib and walks over to her cell phone, playing around with it. She pushes on incoming calls to see Kelvin’s name listed, the call done only a few hours earlier. “He called? I didn’t hear it ring and he didn’t leave a message.” She mumbles to herself, confusion etching her face. Sighing, she places the phone on her desktop and goes to the den to turn off the lights before heading back to her room. She pulls on the bed covers, ready to catch up to some sleep: thoughts of what she had done earlier replayed in her mind. She went to see a detective in which Anya managed to hire for her protection. Yasmine was forever grateful and had thanked Anya over and over again. She knew she had the others worried about her, but she had to do to this hidden away from anyone. If Kelvin got word of what she was doing behind his back, she could be in deeper trouble. As for Kelvin, he was still around, he would frequently harass her with threats of more sexual interactions. Yasmine gulps, shivering at the thought of that ill man touching her torn body.

She gazes at the phone, waiting for A.J. or at least the detective she hired to call and say that she would be alright, that things are looking on the up. But neither happened and she sank down to her knees. She crawls over to the window, gazing up to the morning sky, the beautiful skies a bright blue signaling a peaceful day. She closes her eyes, clasping her hands to her chest and begins to pray. Pray for some hope, pray for the strength and wisdom to deal with what she’s going through. “I don’t know what to do anymore. I just keep thinking that maybe, just maybe you didn’t mean to make me suffer, but I can’t do this Lord! I can’t keep living a life like this knowing that man is out there still after me! Why?! Why do you let me go through this?! Don’t you care? Don’t you notice how much I cried and suffered?! Yet you’re not doing anything about it! I don’t know if I can take the fact that I’m making an effort in talking to you when you don’t do anything in return for me. I wake up alive yet I don’t feel alive. God what is happiness, I don’t know anymore.” She whispers to herself. She opens her wet eyes, wiping away the invading tears that stained her eyes.

Sighing, she thinks of A.J.’s earlier actions, knowing something wasn’t right with his response. She sighs and heads to the kitchen, her thoughts on her boyfriend. She opens a cabinet above her, pulling out a plate when suddenly the shrill ring of her cell ring breaks the silence. Rushing over to the bedroom to answer the mobile phone, she quickly exits her room, closing the door silently behind her. She answers the phone on the third ring, placing the silver phone on her ear.

“Hello?”

“Yasmine, I can see you. Can you find me?” The raspy familiar voice echoes into her ear.

“Ke, Kelvin…why are you calling?” Yasmine hisses out, trying to control her voice.

Kelvin breaks into a laughter, “Answer my question, can you find me?”

“What? What are you talking about?” Yasmine stutters out, gripping the Formica counter tightly, her eyes averting around the den and kitchen slowly. She can feel her heart quicken in pace as her throat dries.

“Are you scared?”

“Go ahead and try something, I’ll call security on you before you can touch me.”

“My, aren’t we a little bold today? You seem to have toughen up being with that guy. Tell me something, do you think I could have doubted A.J.’s faith in ya after I talked with him…”

Yasmine interrupts, “You what? You talked with him? How?”

Kelvin laughs, “Seems you were busy with something and your little boy answered. But don’t worry, I made sure I told him what was going on with us.”

“WHAT DID YOU TELL HIM?” She rages out, walking out of the kitchen.

Kelvin chuckles, “Ahhh, nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

“TELL ME!”

“Easy babe, you don’t wanna wake up Faith now with all that yelling.”

“How do you know Faith is sleeping?” Yasmine cradles the phone, peering into her bedroom to check up on her child who was sleeping peacefully.

“Didn’t you hear me? I said I can see you. Find me.” And with that Yasmine hears a beeping sound followed by a click. “You hung up on me.” She mutters, glaring around behind her. Slowly, she closes the door behind her and inches her way slowing into her den, her footsteps silent on the carpet. Tugging on the hem of her black halter top, her sandaled feet pad across the carpet. She hears a shuffle somewhere behind her and she glances back to see nothing. Gulping, she feels her pulse quicken as she inches further into the den. She hears a shattering sound behind her and she races over to the kitchen to see a shattered glass plate on the wax wooden floor. She kneels over to pick up the shards splattered on the floor but hesitates, wanting to see if the intruder is in the apartment. Her ears perk up at any sounds and she hears a sneaker squeak.

She shots up from the floor in alarm as she dumps the shards into a trash can besides her. “You think you’re funny coming in here, trying to scare me.” She softly speaks, her voice trembling with each word.

“But you are scared aren’t you?” Kelvin’s voice seethes out. Yasmine gazes around her dimly lit apartment and stands frozen, waiting to see if he would pop out of the dark corners of the den.

“Yasmine.” Kelvin whispers, stepping out of the dark shadows behind him, a grin smeared on his caramel cheeks as he approaches her. She gulps and grabs a butcher knife off the counter behind her.

“You can’t kill me. That would be wrong. Don’t you want to go heaven? Killing won’t get you there.” Kelvin whispers out, a snarl spreading on his cheeks.

“God will forgive me. This is an act of self defense.” Yasmine trembles, backing towards the counter.

“Well, such strong words for a little girl. You can’t kill me.” Kelvin whispers, feet away from touching her.

“Get out of my house now.” She whispers, trembling slightly. The fear clinging to her: clothing her in a blanket.

“I think you are scared.” Kelvin whispers, inching closer to her.

She gulps and closes her eyes for a moment, hoping that when she reopened them, it was just her imagination.
~*~

“Well guys, real funny. But I think I should give Yas a ring.” A.J. smirks, flipping open his black cell phone. He hears it ring and gets her voice mail. Grumbling, he closes the phone and sighs, running a hand through his hair.

Nick smirks, poking A.J. in the ribs, “What’s up man? You seem preoccupied.”

“Ahh, na I’m aight. I guess I’m just ansty. Maybe I should go back and apologize to Yas for walking out like that. Maybe she explain why she did what she did to me.” A.J. murmurs, feeling the others eyes boring down on him.

“Uh yeah, that’s what we waiting to hear from ya. Now go get scrawny self back to her and don’t give ya no cheesy apology either. She can read ya inside out. So don’t play her like that.” Nick smirks, giving a small push off the chair.

A.J. smiles warmly and waves bye to the guys as he exits the room, ready to head back to Yasmine’s apartment. He boards his vehicle and speeds off towards his girlfriend’s place, hoping that she would accept his apology. Perhaps there was a misunderstanding but he couldn’t understand why a guy would just call and say that, was it just to scare him away from Yas so the guy can stand a chance with her. He couldn’t put a finger on it, but that voice, it sounded so much like he heard that man’s voice on the phone before from someone else. Shaking his head, he turns on the stereo in his car and sighs, letting the hip hop music brush his problems away for the time being.
~*~

Yasmine slams the front door behind as she heads to the bathroom. Kelvin had left after he heard the sirens outside and assume Yasmine was serious about getting him arrested. So he left but not before leaving a mark on Yasmine for remembrance. She sobs, gazing at the bathroom mirror, passing her quivering hands over her bruised right cheek. The man had the nerve to slap her for trying to get him arrested and she was left with a welt on her cheek. She winces in pain as the dark purple bruise with wisps of blood seeping out. This was getting too much, now Kelvin resulted in physical violence and that just wasn’t going to happen. Yasmine was now more determined to see that man rot in jail and hell if it was the last thing she do. She gulps, passing a hand over the welt and immediately cleaning it. She patches it up with a small white gauze and backs away to see her reflection in the mirror. What ever to the smile she had and the glow of happiness in her eyes? Was her soul that tortured that a laugh stop existing? She already knew the answer to those questions, it was all one word, a name that haunted her and still existed in her reality: Kelvin.

She sniffs as fresh tears burn her eyes, spilling out on to her cheeks. She backs away and leaning on the tiled bathroom wall behind her, she slides down, clutching her knees to her chest as she cries.
~*~

A.J. knocks on Yasmine’s apartment door, hoping she would at least open the door. “Hey Yas, you home?” He calls out, sighing.

He can hear slow footsteps coming inside as the door slowly opens. A.J. smiles but was stopped at Yasmine’s appearance. His heart sank as his trembling hands brush against the growing welt beneath the gauze on his angel’s face. “Dear God! What happened?!” He breathes out nervously, entering the apartment and locking the door behind him.

Yasmine manages to fake a smile, shaking her head. “I…I know why you left. I’m so..sorry…I…”

“Shhh… that doesn’t matter right now. Oh God what happened? Look at you! Who did this to you? I’ll kill him!” A.J. cries out, embracing the shivering woman in his arms.

Yasmine allows him to hold her as she nozzles her head on his neck, “I just want it to all go away. Why can’t that happen?”

“You’re going to the hospital and I’m getting a dectitive on it. You need security around all 24/7. I left you cause I was upset and when I come back, I see you like that! I can’t…” A.J. bites his lower lip before continuing, “I can’t leave you. I wanna save you, take away all that you’re going so I’m gonna do my best and find who this guy is. Yasmine if you know the man, you need to tell me. You wouldn’t lie to me right?” A.J. pulls her away so he can gaze into her cloudy eyes.

Yasmine gazes at his face, her eyes blurry and lost as she touches his face. “Take this pain away. God isn’t helping me at this point.”

A.J. sighs, embracing her, lifting her up in his arms as he carries her over to her bed quietly. Tucking the cool bed covers over Yasmine’s shaking body, he strokes her head, trying his best to maintain strong for the both of them. She sighs and looks up at him from her bed, her green eyes weary and tired. “A.J. do me a favor and remember me when I was laughing, smiling and joyous.”

“Why sweetie?” He whispers softly to her.

“Because I think that part of me died already.” She murmurs out, closing her eyes for some rest.

A.J. gulps and roughly wipes away the tears that broke its way out of his eyes. Whoever the man was responsible for breaking his angel soul has a death wish on him and A.J. was certain he can find out who it is.
~**~

**~To Be Continued…~**