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AJ couldn’t handle it anymore; he leapt out of his seat and stormed out of the room heading for a balcony across the hall. Nick got up to follow but Kevin motioned for him to sit back down.

“Give him a minute before you go charging out there.”

“Why?”

“Because you and I have been tearing Sam apart since the first time we met her and I don’t want him to think that we’re going to do the same thing now. He won’t be able to take it.”

Nick thought about it for a few seconds and then slumped back into his chair. Howie sat there lost in space with a sad look on his face. The information had hit all of them hard and they all wished at this point that they’d given her more of a chance when she was there. They would have liked to fix it but, based on what Sarah has just told them, they might not have the chance.

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Brian was heading back to the room when he noticed AJ smoking a cigarette out on the balcony. He kept pacing back and forth and Brian had never seen his brother look as upset and angry as he did now. Slowly pushing open the door, he slipped out in the chilly air and leaned up against the railing.

“You ok J?”

“No, I’m not ok!” AJ furiously replied. “I think I know the woman in my life, I find out that I don’t and now I find out that she’s been in danger the entire time I’ve known her.”

“But you didn’t know it before.”

AJ whirled around to face him. “I’m a fucking moron Brian. The signs were all there, her scars, her fear of getting close, her always keeping me at a distance. We had an argument once and she almost leapt of her skin trying to get a good distance between us.”

“You weren’t going to hit her were you?” Brian asked in shock.

“Of course not!” AJ yelled. “You should know I’m not that kind of guy.”

“I know but the way you made it sound…”

AJ sighed and slid down against the wall. He dropped his head into his hands and started to cry. Brian felt awful and knelt down next to him; he was careful not to crowd his friend. They stayed like that for a little longer before the others, and Sarah, joined them out on the balcony; Nick was the first to speak.

“I’m sorry AJ.”

“Whatever.” his brother replied under his breath.

“Seriously AJ.” Kevin piped in. “We really mean it when we say we’re sorry. We were wrong to treat Sam that way and to not understand how you were feeling.”

AJ pulled himself up and stood face to face with Kevin. “I hope you’re still that sorry if we have to go to her funeral!”

Kevin was caught totally off-guard by the anger surfacing in AJ and took a step back as AJ stomped by him into the building.

“What are we going to do now?” Howie asked finally.

“Find her.” Nick replied with determination. “We’re going to make this right.”

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Sam lay curled up on her bed, bundled under as many blankets as she could find in the room. She had planned on leaving during the night but a torrential rainstorm began just before sunset and was showing no sign of slowing down. To make matters worse, the heater in her room had died and the last thing she wanted to do was call attention to herself or her room. She would just have to deal with it and hope for the best.

Trying to get some rest, she stuck a pillow under her head and tried to push all the negative thoughts out of her head. The one thing that always made that possible was AJ and she smiled as soon as his picture came to her head. It didn’t last very long as the real world crashed in and she realized that the relationship she had with AJ was over and there was no way it could be repaired at this point. She was sure he’d seen all the news coverage and she couldn’t imagine him listening to, and believing, her side of the story with the amount of lies being spread around.

She was just climbing out of bed to use the bathroom when she heard something like pebbles bouncing off her window. Freezing, she waited for a few minutes to see if she heard it again. When she didn’t hear anything, she started her trip back to the bathroom; after two steps, it started again and she turned to check the door. It was at this point that she saw the chain hanging off the door. She quietly raced across the room and noiselessly slid it into place.

As soon as her fingers left the door, she heard a laugh outside the door; her heart seized up and the panic started in, she’d recognize that laugh anywhere. Tears started to well up in her eyes and the terror started to spread when she heard the low voice outside her door.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are.” The voice teased in a menacing tone. “You know you can’t stay in there forever.”

Sam backed up and ran into the closet; she had built what she’d like to think was a mini fort where she thought she could hide for a while. It was obvious that anyone who came in would find her but she needed to have hope in maybe something going in her favor. She spent the rest of the night curled into a ball, hoping that she would get to see another morning.

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Nick followed AJ down to the parking garage and caught ahold of him before his brother got in to leave. AJ stood still but refused to look Nick in the eye.

“I’m sorry J, I really am. I can’t even begin to tell you how sorry.”

“It doesn’t matter. Sam’s gone and now her ex is looking for her. With everything Sarah said about his connections, there’s no way he’s not going to find her.”

“Then we find her first.”

“What?” AJ said as his head whipped up.

“I said we need to find her first.”

“But…”

“But nothing J. She means a lot to you and she’s in serious trouble. Between you and the four of us, I know we can find a way to find her first.”

“Four?”

The others guys made their way across the parking spaces; Kevin wrapped his arm around AJ’s shoulders.

“We’re family J and we’re going to find some way to make sure Sam’s safe.”
Chapter End Notes:
Thank you to everyone for reading, please let me know what you think!