An Illicit Gentleman II

                                           Chapter-Forty Six

AJ walked down the hall towards the meeting room.  It had been a couple of days since he got into the fight with Brian but he was still pissed as hell.  Brian’s only saving grace was that the fight didn’t seem to affect Eve that much not like he thought it would.  In fact she seems to be happier these last couple of days.  Smiling more and interacting more and she even seems more interested in going to her therapy sessions.  As he approached the door he could hear the loud voices on the other end and a small smile crept across his face when he recognized the voice doing the talking.  Slowly he opened the door, careful not to interrupt.

“I don’t believe you man!” Kevin shouted as AJ saw him yelling at Brian.  “Where’s your God damn respect bro?”

“Respect why should I show her respect?” Brian snapped back.

“She’s Alex’s wife that’s why.” Nick piped up. “If I was him and you said that shit about my wife I would have done more than told you to fuck off.”

            “Ha” Howie remarked.  “By the looks of him and the way he walked in here AJ did do more than tell him to fuck off.”

“You need to stop this Brian your like obsessed with it, anytime you get a chance to knock her down you do.” Kevin told him.

“Look Kevin you haven’t been around you don’t know the problems she’s caused.” Matt said and Kevin spun around.

“I’ve been around, these guys right here are my brothers and Eve is a very good friend to my wife and I, so don’t tell me what I know and don’t know and where in the hell do you get off saying she’s been nothing but trouble.” Kevin snapped before AJ could jump in.  Now standing with the door wide open for all to see but everyone was to busy staring at Kevin.  “If you guys would get off your damn high horses you would see that Eve is an amazing person, who loves Alex more than anything in this World.”

“Were you there when Alex got shot?” He asked Matt.  “No you weren’t so you didn’t see her up all night waiting on word, fending off attacks from Brian and AJ’s Mother, fending off questions and prying eyes from us because we didn’t really know who she was.” Kevin continued. “Were you there when Alex found her? After what Mats and his friend did to her and were you.” He said pointing to their Manager “And were you…” He said again pointing to Brian. “Were you there when those two got married?” Kevin asked.  There was silence. “No you weren’t, you two aren’t apart of that relationship at all so you have no right to judge it.”

“Do you really honestly think she loves him?” Brian said as he turned his head to look at his cousin but as he did he saw AJ standing in the door way.  Kevin was about to lose it on his cousin but that’s when he saw AJ too.

“And that right there proves you don’t know me anymore, you’re to damn busy hatin’ on Eve to see how much that woman loves me.” AJ said as he walked over to an empty chair.  “And it’s why I have no problems keeping you out of my life except for business reasons, you obviously haven’t been apart of it for the past seven or so years.”

“How’s Eve doing?” Howie asked as Kevin sat down.

“She’s good.” AJ replied as he looked around the room.  “I think she might be starting to come around a little.”

“That’s good.” Howie nodded.

“Has she heard anything yet?” Nick asked.

“No” AJ replied as he fixed his watch.  “Not really getting my hopes up for that, either way it’ll take time.”

“Can we get this over with I have stuff to do.” Brian sighed.

“Stuff more important than the group, I’m so disappointed in you.” AJ snapped with a sarcastic scoff.

“Shut up.” Brian snapped back.

“Make me prick.” AJ replied

“Alright enough.” Kevin shouted above them.  “Seriously Brian what will it take to get you to back off.”

“I want Eve to admit what she did.” Brian told them.

“Well she’s not going too because she didn’t do anything!” AJ said as his voice started getting louder.

“And you believe her?” Brian asked.

“Yes I do, Kevin’s right Brian you weren’t there in the beginning, you weren’t there in the middle of it and you’re not in it now, so you don’t know how much I love her and how much she loves me and if you knew Eve you would be laughing your ass off right now at the mire thought of it.”

“I am.” Nick spoke up.  “On the inside.”

“Shut up.” Brian scoffed rolling his eyes.

“Who’s the source?” Howie spoke up.

“What?” Brian asked.

“Who’s your source?” Howie asked again.

“Why do I have to give up my source?” Brian snapped.

AJ started chuckling and then laughing as he shook his head.  “It really was Sarah wasn’t it?”

“Oh Jesus Brian.” Kevin replied spinning in his chair.

“You’ve missed out on an amazing part of his life because Sarah told you Eve was cheating with Mats?” Howie asked looking at Brian.

“Well what am I suppose to think look what she did for a living, look at what she did with him.” Brian snapped.

“Maybe if you had actually paid attention to what was going on, he might not have been telling us much but you could see there was something.” Kevin said to his cousin.  “You could tell he was different because of what was going on, say what you will but more good has come from that relationship than bad.”

“Give me one.” Brian mumbled.

“AJ’s sobriety.” Kevin snarled through his teeth.  “The fact he’s married and happy and we honestly never thought that would happen, even when he was engaged to Sarah.”

“Well as much as I love this trip down memory lane, I need to get this shit signed so I can go get Eve.” AJ said as he sat up in his chair.

“Therapy?” Nick asked as Matt started pulling out contracts.

“Yeah and apparently I get a surprise too.” AJ replied wiggling his eyebrows and rubbing his hands together.

“What?” Nick asked giggling.

“I have no idea, it’s a surprise.” AJ replied looking at Nick with a duh look.

“Is she there now?” Kevin asked.

“Yeah I dropped her off before I came here.” AJ told him.

They resigned contracts and worked out what Kevin would need on tour; they went over some last minute details and also started a rough break down on what would be Kevin’s parts.  The meeting didn’t last very long and soon all five were on their way down to their cars Brian following a little bit behind.

“So who’s all coming to the Bar B Que at my place on Friday?” Nick asked as they walked out of the building.

“We are.” AJ told him.  “I asked Eve about it last night she said she was ok with going if the group was small.”

“Yeah man just us and fam.” Nick replied.

“We’ll be there too.” Howie said about him and Leigh B.

“Are you coming?” Nick asked Kevin.

“I’ll talk to Kris but I don’t see why not.” Kevin nodded.

“Cool, I’ll need to double up on food then.” Nick joked.  “AH! And you can’t say nothing cause look…” Nick said pulling up his shirt.  “Wait till my fans get a load of these.”

“Oh great” Howie moaned rolling his eyes.

AJ laughed as he walked over to his car listening to Nick talk excitedly about his new found abs.  He put his key into the door lock and turned, opening the door when it unlocked.  Since it wasn’t rush hour he decided to take the freeway and with ten minutes cut from the trip he made it a little early. 

He went into the hospital got a coffee and made his way up to the therapy rooms.  AJ walked into the waiting room and sat down knowing Eve would come out here when she was done.  Giving his coffee a stir a shadow approached him and he looked up.

“Done already?” He asked when he saw Eve standing in front of him.  She shook her head as she put down his coffee and motioned for him to stand up.  He looked at her confused but followed.  Eve walked him over to the glass window and as he looked at her confused she signed “Look” and pointed into the large therapy room.

AJ followed to where her finger was pointing and when he saw what she wanted him to see, he almost passed out.  His face frowned unsure if what he was seeing in front of him was real or not.  So he looked at his wife, she had a smile on her face he hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Her name is Anabelle, she’s three.” Eve signed to him but AJ still looked at her very confused.  “Her Mom and Dad were killed in a car accident; she was with them and lost her hearing.” AJ quickly looked at the little girl again.  He couldn’t believe it she looked like the girl from his dream.  His eyes darted back to Eve and she started signing again.  “That’s her foster Mom.” Eve said of the woman holding her.  “I did not want to say anything until I knew for sure but she is up for adoption and if we are interested we can apply.”

He looked at her stunned.  “Are you serious?” He signed.

“Yeah” She replied.  “Is that not the girl in your dreams Alex? How can we ignore this?”

“Evie are you sure you are up to it?” AJ asked.

“It will take a while, I’m sure they will have questions about Mats but ever since I saw her Alex I knew it was something I wanted to do.” Eve signed.

“Yeah Evie Mats, you still have someone trying run you off the road.” AJ told her.  “You want to bring her into all that mess?”

“So you’re saying no?” Eve signed and AJ could tell she was getting upset.

“No, no I’m not saying no but I want to make sure we can give her or any child a safe home and I don’t think we can yet.” AJ explained to her.  “When did you see her?” He asked.

“A couple of days ago in therapy, she was running around, Dr. Bliss told me about her.” Eve said and AJ looked back to the little girl.  He then looked at Eve.

“Is that why you have been happier the last couple of days?” He asked and she nodded.

“I wanted to make sure there was a possibility we could before I told you, I thought you would have been happy.” She signed.

“I am.” AJ told her as he sat beside her.  “She is, she is just like the girl in my dreams and that’s why I want to make sure we do this right.”

“But why do we have to put our life on hold.” Eve signed.  “You told me a long time ago not to live in fear because of Mats.”

AJ sat there thinking about what she had just said.  He turned a little in his chair and looked at the girl again.  It was eerie how much she looked like the girl from his dreams.  All the feelings the dreams had left him came rushing back. What if Eve was right, what if this was a sign, could they really afford to ignore it, and would they ever get a chance again if they did.  He looked at Eve and saw the look in her eyes, there was hope and happiness in them, something he hadn’t seen since the accident.

He took a deep breath.  “Let’s go talk to her Foster Mom.”  He signed and then was greeted by two arms wrapping around him almost choking him.  He couldn’t help but smile.