An Illicit Gentleman II

                                                Chapter Thirty

            AJ lied in his bed under the blankets as Eve lied sleeping on his chest.  His head rested against hers as he gently ran his fingers through her hair.  He couldn’t sleep; his mind was a blender of thoughts and emotions. Raising his other hand that laid beside him he softly tucked her bangs behind her ear so he could see her face better.  Her eyes were closed, she looked peaceful, relaxed and happy, which was a far cry from how she was this evening.  Oh she tried to put on a good front for him after she had seen the ET segment but he knew better.  He knew that under the doting, the caring, the cooking, and everything else she did for him there was a fifteen year old girl terrified that the woman who killed her brother would be back for her.

            Lightly he kissed the top of her head and sighed.  When was it all going to end, when were they going to be able to enjoy happiness without something equally bad happening to them.  He wondered if he had cursed them, was everything punishment for the night in the booth at the strip club, for spending the night at her place when he was still with Sarah and did he make it worse by doing the same thing to Rachel. 

Eve’s body jerked with a moan and he looked down at her wondering if he had woken her.  Her eyes were still closed but the peaceful, relaxed look she had moments before was replaced with a frown.  His arms slipped around her tighter, he laid his cheek against the top of hers and he whispered words that he hoped were calming and comforting.  After a few moments it was obvious her dream wasn’t going away so he carefully slipped further down the bed just enough that he was now looking at her. 

“Evie” He whispered as he gently laid his hand against the side of her neck.  She mumbled and started to wake up.  Her eyes fluttered open and she looked at him for a moment a little confused, then they closed and she exhaled.  “Looked like you were having a nightmare.” AJ told her when she took his hand as it rested against her neck.

“I’m ok” She said with a light smile.

“Evelyn don’t do this.” He replied with a frown.

“Do what?” She asked.

“Talk to me about this evening and stop worrying you’re going to upset me.” He told her as his finger brushed along her ring.  “I worry more when you act like nothings wrong because I know there is.” 

“What do you want me to say Alex, that I’m upset? Yeah I’m upset, I never wanted to see her again and I wasn’t given the choice too.” Eve said as AJ listened.  “I’m angry because after all these years she still hasn’t taken responsibility for what she did to him, what she did to me.” He pulled her closer into his arms and she snuggled into him. 

“I wish he could have been there.” Eve spoke in a whisper and AJ knew she meant she had wished her brother could have been at their wedding.

“I do too hun.” AJ replied as he kissed the top of her head.  “We could go see him tomorrow, after my meeting if you want?”

“No” She sighed.  “Last thing I want is to have all those people follow us there, if there’re not there already.” AJ frowned as she wrapped them tighter in their blankets and was about to say how sorry he was when she interrupted him.  “And don’t apologize because it’s not your fault.” She said as she looked up at him.  He brushed her hair from her face with a light laugh and smile.  Eve laid her head back down on his chest as he ran his fingers through her hair; slowly he felt her head getting heavy.  Within a couple of minutes Eve was out cold and AJ was following right behind her.

The next morning AJ amazingly woke up first, he hopped into the shower and got ready for the meeting with his record label.  Eve still wasn’t up by the time he left so he wrote her a little note telling her to text him when she woke up.  When he walked out his front door he was greeted by hordes of Paparazzi’s asking him questions about Eve’s Mom and if Eve was going to tell her side of the story.  It took him about fifteen minutes to pull out of his drive way and get through the camera men.  As the sea of men dispersed AJ looked into his review mirror and saw them climbing into their vans and cars.  He sighed as he felt his blood pressure rise.  There had to be some place they could go, some place where they could hide out for a week or so. 

“You can’t go away.” Mike said shaking his head.

“Why? The album isn’t even done printing yet, we don’t have a single, and it’s only for a week.” AJ replied with a sigh.  He hated how he had to run the plans by Jive and now they were telling him no, so much for his well being.  He had the idea of maybe hiding out at Kevin’s place in Kentucky.  The authorities were always good at keeping the LA photo crew from prying too much and it was a nice quiet place to relax.  So on his way over to the meeting he called Kevin and asked him, of course Kevin was more than happy to help but when he mentioned it to everyone at the meeting it seemed Jive and someone else had a huge problem with the mini vacation.

“AJ you can’t ignore this.” Mike replied.  “This will help the CD and…”

“No” AJ snapped quickly.  “I don’t care if it will get us back to where we were eight fucking years ago, she doesn’t want to so it ain’t happening.”

“Alex they’re not going to just go away, not anymore, not the way things are today.” Brian told him.  “She’s making it far worse on you by not speaking out about it.”

“Eat me.” AJ snapped at Brian, he knew Brian was taking Mike’s side just cause he didn’t like Eve.

“AJ” Howie sighed.

“Well sorry D but this is bullshit, I came here to talk about the album not about Eve and I so can we just get on with what we all came here for.” He replied.

“We’re here to talk about the group and this is affecting the group.” Brian chirped in.

“How?” Nick replied a little ticked.

“Yeah, how?” AJ said as he looked at Nick then Brian.

“You almost had a heart attack or something; you have too much stress on you we need to work something out so we can all move on from this.” Brian told them.

“I do have something worked out, it involves me and Evie at Kevin’s in Kentucky, in the middle of no where Kentucky, a place where the police will happily arrest trespassers.” AJ said.  “So there problem solved.”

“Typical, running away from the problem.” Brian sighed.

“I’m not fucking running.” AJ snapped back.  “God damn it you prick!” He yelled as he slammed his fist down on the table when he stood up and walked out of the room.

He walked down the hallway of the building, not sure where he was going his mind to busy yelling at Brian.  He heard footsteps pounding behind him as someone chased after him and when they called out to him he wasn’t shocked to learn it was Nick.

“What?” AJ asked when his friend finally caught up to him.

“Where are you going?” Nick asked.

“For a smoke and chill out.” AJ replied as he stopped at the elevator.

“I really thought he was going to drop it after what happened at your house.” Nick said with a sigh.

“At my house? What happened at my house?” AJ asked confused.

“Eve didn’t tell you?” Nick replied copying AJ’s confusion.

“No.” AJ replied as his attitude went from confusing to more anger.  “What did he do?”

“Brian? Nothing, Eve was the one that ripped him a new one.”

“Huh?” AJ replied confused.

“She didn’t tell you?” Nick asked a little shocked then shrugged it off.  “It was funny; Kevin and I were laughing about it later.  He showed up, she let him in and then told him basically where he could go, that he needed to drop the pissy attitude and these are the way things are so he needs to deal with it and move on.” Nick told him as AJ took a drag of his smoke.

“No, she didn’t tell me.” AJ replied.  “She probably didn’t want to upset me.”

“Is she still playing nurse?” Nick replied and AJ knew he wasn’t being a pervert.

“Nurse, Personal Chef, Maid, Nanny…” AJ sighed. 

“I’m sure she’ll calm down once you get better.” Nick told him.

“Yeah, plus it’s better than how she use to react.” AJ said with a light smile.

“How’s that?” Nick asked.

“Run away.” AJ replied as he tossed his cigarette butt onto the ground and stepped on it.

“I wouldn’t worry about Jive; you two should go and get away.” Nick told him as they both headed into the building.

“I plan too, I’m calling Kev when I get home, getting us packed and we’re leaving after he brings me the keys.” AJ said as they walked down the hallway.

“Does Eve know?” Nick asked.

“No waiting for her to text me when she gets up.” AJ replied looking at his watch.  “Or maybe I should call her.” He said when he read the time on his watch.  “She usually doesn’t sleep this late.”  Stopping outside of the door AJ pulled his phone from his back pocket.  “I’ll meet you in there.” He told Nick as he dialed his home number.

“Ok” Nick replied as he opened the door and walked in. 

The phone rang in his ear as he heard people begin to bicker in the room behind the door.  He turned and walked to the other side of the hall as he waited for Eve to pick up.  When no one answered he decided to go back into the room and get this meeting over with.

“Did you get a hold of Eve?” Nick asked when he walked in and at first he thought it was a simple question but then he saw the look on Nick’s face.

“No, why?” AJ asked as he looked around the room.

“Tell him.” Nick said as he looked at their PR person.

“Tell me what?” AJ asked when he saw the look on Mike’s face.

“Just got a call from your Lawyer, seems there was a break out at State Prison and he told me although not involved with the break out Mats escaped.” Mike said as AJ’s whole body went numb, his breathing stopped and he felt himself slowly falling to the ground but luckily Howie was there to slip a chair under him.  Then his mind slipped back to minutes ago out in the hall when he tried calling her.

“I gotta go.” AJ said standing up.  “She didn’t answer.”

“I’m sure she’s ok, maybe she thought it was reporters.” Nick said quickly as AJ walked over to the door.  He gave them no response as he quickly made his way down the hall.

When he got into his car he fumbled with his keys as he tried to put it into the ignition.  Shoving the key in with a frustrated growl it finally went where it was suppose too and with a turn of his wrist the car started.  Quickly he looked behind him and reversed out of the parking spot and then all four tires squealed out of the parking lot as he stepped on the gas before letting go of the break.

“She’s fine Alex, she’s fine.” He told himself over and over as he began the race home.  “There’s like fifty photogs outside your house, there’s no way he would do something.”

When he turned onto his street, his foot slowly eased off the gas as his jaw dropped.  There were vans and cars lining the street, there were vans and cars pulling past him, and pulling up from the other side of the street.

“What the hell…” AJ said in a whisper as he began to drive slowly down the street.  He then realized they were all there for him, most likely to get his and Eve’s reaction to Mats escaping.  By the time he pulled into his drive way his frustration was exploding from him.

“Back the fuck up!” He shouted as he tried to open his car door.

“AJ what are your thoughts on Mats?” Someone shouted as he stood up squeezing his way from the car into the people and their camera’s.          They screamed questions at him as he pushed his way through.  “Come on AJ you gotta have a message for him, you think he’s watching?”  He fumbled for his keys again his mind trying with everything it had not to turn around and start throwing punches but when he got to the door it opened.

“Why didn’t you answer the phone when I called?” He asked almost in a panic when he turned around and saw Eve locking the door.

“I was in the shower.” She replied.

“Do you know?” He asked.

“Yeah my Lawyer called my cell and then yours called here.” She replied and then he pulled her into his arms.

“After I called I went back into the meeting and that’s when Mike told me, I was scared something had happened.” AJ told her.

“With all those people out there?” She asked as he pulled away.  “I don’t even think Mats that stupid.”

“I know but still.” He replied with a small frown.  “But now I’m really glad I made plans for us.”

“Plans? Where are we going?” She asked.

“Kentucky.” He said as he judged her reaction.  “Kevin said we can stay at his place, we’ll be alone and no worries about Mats either.”

“They will follow us.” She said pointing to the door.  “And how can you be so sure Mats won’t find out where we are.”

“He’s on the run, how is he going to get out there within a week without some kind of transportation.  He’d get out there as we would be leaving.” AJ replied. “And if we have problems with the paparazzi then we’ll call the police, remember it’s Kentucky not LA.” AJ told her.  

“I dunno.” Eve replied unsure.

“We’ve been stuck in this house since we got back from Maui, come on hun it’ll be good for us to get away.” He said with a small plea to his voice.

“Alright.” Eve replied with a light sigh.  AJ smiled as he leaned in and kissed her. 

“Then let’s go pack, I’ll call Kevin and check when he’s coming over with the keys.” He told her as he rested his head on her shoulder, hugging her.