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“Love Can Save”

-“See I don’t know if I can handle you as just a friend/
Awww baby I can’t pretend/
Awww baby I’m so far in/
But I don’t mind as long as I can have you in my life/
Awww baby I’m satisfied even if you’re not just mine.” –Ashanti “Rock Wit U (Awww Baby)”

**~A Voice Within~**

A pile of cassette tapes crash onto the floor as Nick smirks: glancing at Howie who fumbles to clean up the littered mess on the floor. “D, maybe the stuff he had is in one of those tapes?”

Howie sighs, throwing the pile of the tapes onto an empty hotel bed. “Don’t know, but I don’t feel like going through any of these tapes. It’s too many of them and I’d doubt we got time to listen to it all.”

“Guys, did you find A.J.’s cassette yet? We got to meet up with him in an half and hour and you know Kevin hates being late.” Brian smirks, strapping on a book pack and heading out of the suite room.

“Alright, I’m ready. We can’t find the cassette, there’s a whole pile without any labels or anything.” Nick mumbles, scratching the side of his head, reaching for his tinted shades that lied on a dresser.

Howie sighs and passes his fingers through a small radio A.J. had on a display on the night stand, pushing the buttons on it playfully. The radio suddenly ejects a cassette from its slot as Howie smiles and slips the cassette onto his hands. Holding the tape in his hands, he nods his head, “We can leave now. I think I found it.”

“Great, so let’s go then.” Nick shuffles over to the open doorway where Brian was waiting patiently for them. Howie rushes and grabs his knack snap, leaving the suite behind, locking the door shut behind him.
~*~

“Ok, wait. Don’t move! Right there. Perfect!” A.J. smiles, adjusting the camcorder lens to focus better on Yasmine and little Faith sleeping soundly in her carriage, wrapped in a thin cotton blanket.

Yasmine giggles, brushing some of her black curls into a ponytail, “Alex, why are you filming this?”

“Cause I want Faith to see what mommy does when she goes out. It’ll be a good laugh for her and all of us.”

“You’re really bored huh daddy?” She grins into the camcorder, her bright emerald eyes standing out . A.J simply shakes his head and laughs,

“Just sit down on the bench, I need you to look like you’re doing something natural.”

Laughing, Yasmine pretends to pull out an ‘imaginary’ magazine and begins to ‘read.’

“Ha ha. Real funny Yas. I said natural, not psycho.” A.J. snickers as he zooms on the infant in the carriage. “Ahhh, lookie, little Faithy sleeping away. See this is what you looked like when you were baby. See ain’t you the cutest thing? You look just like your mommy, oh yes you do.” A.J. coos into the camera.

Yasmine withheld her laughter as she sees Kevin, and the other three men of the group approach quickly to hear A.J.’s little cooing.

Nick in response answers back in a baby voice, “I sure am daddy. Look, film me in this position.”

A.J. smirks, eyeing Nick and greeting him along with the others, “Hey guys.” He whispers through his chuckling.

Nick beams and embraces Yasmine, tickling her. “So when you heading back to the gym? You said you planned on working off the baby fat right?”

Yasmine tugs on her black snug tank top, smiling: “What? Nick I’m not fat. Are you saying I don’t look nice with all these new curves the pregnancy gave me?”

Nick’s grin broadens, his eyes sculpting the woman before him, “I never said that, bang! Faith gave mommy alotta of bo…”

“Nick!” Kevin barks out, interrupting Nick’s statement, controlling the smile that crosses his face.

Nick smirks, rolling his eyes. “Look all I was gonna say was that Yasmine’s breasts…”

“Ok, that’s it. Nick you have time out.” Brian points to a vacant wooden bench: its green paint already chipping off.

The other join in the laughing as Nick playfully sighs and heads over to the bench. “Boobs isn’t a bad thing Yas. Not a bad thing at all.”

“Nick, turn around too. You can’t talk to us till you’ll behave like a big boy.” Brian adds on, flopping besides Nick as he reaches over to hug Yasmine.

“You guys are too much.” Yasmine giggles out, her golden tan checks glitter in the gentle light.

“So, what’s with the filming A.J.?” Howie whispers out, digging through his pockets to find the cassette.

“Oh.” A.J. smiles before continuing, “I’m just so excited that I wanted to film Yasmine’s outing with Faith. See, the way I figured it out is that when Faith starts asking questions about when she was an infant later on, I can simply have her view this video.”

“Ahhh, well that’s a cool idea.” Kevin grins, patting A.J.’s shoulder.

“Well yeah, actually is was Yasmine’s idea as well. I just tag along and went with it.” A.J. grins sheepishly, gazing at the cement pathway.

“Ah, the wonders of technology.” Brian grins, eyeing Yasmine, “That’s an interesting idea, though I don’t think I would ever have enough film for Baylee.”

“Yeah, knowing you, you would probably film when Baylee does his first fart.” Nick smirks, slipping a stick of gum into his mouth.

“You retard.” Howie laughs as the others gather around the carriage.

“Aight, well Alex, we should start heading to the studio now, Yasmine you’re welcome to come along with us.” Kevin whispers, fanning himself from the early summer breeze.

Brian smirks, “I heard today is suppose to be the start of a heat wave.”

“Great, just what I needed.” Yasmine fans herself, “Summer just started here in New York and already we’re having a heat advisory.”

Nick grins, “See that’s what I like about summer, it always makes the ladies hot. If you want, you can take off the shirt, I won’t say anything.”

The others groan as Yasmine laughs, “Sweetie keep dreaming, cause that ain’t happening any time soon.”

“Alright, alright guys. Come on. We gotta head to the studio now or we’ll never make it there.” Kevin smiles, helping Yasmine off the bench. The other four men gather their belongings as A.J. hands the camcorder to Howie.

“D, here. Keep filming, in case something juicy happens.” A.J. comments, adjusting his white cotton tank top.

Howie smiles, “Alright, cool.” He holds the camera and continues filming as they all make their way towards the awaiting vehicle. A.J. pushes the carriage and breathes in the sweet warm scent of the humid air and flowers. Howie turns the camera to A.J. and smiles. “So tell me, how do you feel about being a dad?”

A.J. grins cheekily into the camera, the gentle warm breeze flutter his black and brown tipped hair. “Man, it feels good.”

“Good? Can you get more specific?” Howie whispers as they were nearing the SUV.

“Uhhh, k. Well this is a new feeling. The feeling of taking responsibilities for another human being. The fact of having a small person rely on you constantly is pressure, but I like it. This is a good kind pressure. I don’t think any words can describe the exact feelings I’m having. I love her and I would do anything for this little child.” A.J. slowly states, a comforting sense of love encompasses his soul.

Howie lowers the camera and nods, “Yeah, I know you would. I’m proud of ya man.”

A.J. smiles and glances at the others a few feet down waiting for them to caught up. “Thanks. I’m only doing what I can to help out.”

“And that’s a big thing Alex. Buddy if you only knew how Yasmine is feeling for all your help. I don’t think she would have made it if she didn’t have a friend like you. You already helped even before taking up the father role for Faith.” Howie smiles, placing a hand on his friend’s arm.

“How?”

“You saved Yasmine.” Howie whispers, leading A.J. and Faith towards the SUV.
~*~

He sighs softly, picking up a black sharpie to cross out the date on the calendar. “Wow, already June 29th.” He whispers, taking a seat on the edge of his bed. His eyes glance towards the window in his room and watch a flock of birds descend down to the ground outside. Tugging on the cord to pull the shades down to block the bright sun, he ties his black combat boots and smiles. The full length mirror reflected his tall broad shoulders and recently shaven goatee. His runs his butter pecan fingers through his straight black hair to make sure it looked perfect before heading out. “Tonight is the night Yasmine. Did you receive my letter? I know you did.” He whispers to himself, pulling a short sleeve black shirt over his head. His dark eyes glitter in glee as he takes a pin used to pick locks into his pockets. “Oh Yasmine, won’t you be happy to see me again? Indeed it will be sweet and I get to see my child as well.” And with that, Kelvin saunters over to his apartment door, grabbing his car keys and locking the door behind him. He had quite a plan to fulfill tonight and he needed to get started with it right away. Smiling, he walks down the vacant dirty carpeted hallway and awaits for the elevator, eagerly thrilled to pull the plan off.
~*~

A.J. pushes the play bottom down on the radio in the studio to hear instead of the bass playing he had practice for one of their singles to a conversation. A.J. smirks and not paying attention to the radio, turns to see the other men and Yasmine along with Faith laugh about something that was being discussed. A.J. turns back around and leans close to the radio speakers to listen what was on the radio. He inhales deeply, listening to the sudden private conversation that was recorded on the tape:

Yasmine sighs, “Na, their not a boy band. Man they’ll kill you if you said that.” She giggles, pushing a black curl behind her ear.

“Yeah, I’ll watch my mouth. Hey that’s a nice shirt, I’ve seen it before.” And stops himself: gulping, hoping his mistake goes unnoticed. “Oh, green always did look good on ya.”

Yasmine smirks and tugs on her blouse, “Really? I never noticed. This shirt is new by the way. I had one like this before but…” She stops, closing her eyes, “Before I went through that incident.” She cries out.

“Shhh, Sorry about that. Man, I didn’t want to make you cry.”

A.J. raises his eyebrows and rewinds the tape, playing it over again, trying to figure out who are the voices. He recognized one as belonging to Yasmine, but the other voice was of a man. And it was bothering A.J. that he had no idea who it was. He knew from the background in the tape that it happened recently, in fact he could almost hear another voice singing from far off to a song being played. He pressed his ears close to the speakers to try to identify what was happening in the tape but feels the boring of the others eye him. Blushing, A.J. clears his throat and shuts off the tape, staring at the others. “Uh hey guys. What’s up?”

“Whatcha hearing?” Nick bounces over, his fingers reaching over to the radio. A.J. swipes Nick’s hand away as an idea pops into his head. “Nicky, do me a favor? I wanna try something, can you go into inside the recording set, I wanna hear something.”

Nick frowns and glances at Kevin who simply shrugs his shoulders.

“What for?” Nick whispers quietly.

“I just wanna hear something. It’ll be quick, I’m trying to figure something out.” A.J. whispers quietly so that the others wouldn’t hear him.

Nick gulps, nodding his head in confusion, he opens the recording studio door and steps behind the glass pane window. The rest of the group watch Nick from the other side of the room all wondering what was A.J. thinking of.

“Nick, sing anything. I’m trying to see how the sound would sound from another room.” A.J. states, speaking into the microphone as he pushes himself onto a chair and presses some of the buttons on the control set.

Nick eyes him before testing the microphone.

“Wait. Nick what’s that song? It’s a rock song, it has the words “Addicted” in it.” A.J. states, receiving confused glances from Howie, Brian and Kevin.

“A.J. what did you hear? What’s the big deal?” Kevin whispers, heading over to the radio. A.J. turns and pulls out the cassette before Kevin reached it.

“I heard something, but I can’t remember what day it was, I just need Nick to do this favor for me, it’ll help me out.” A.J. states, adjusting himself on the leather recliner the studio provided.

“Uh, ok. J, that’s “Addicted” by Simple Plan. We played it a while back during Yasmine’s baby shower, remember?” Nick voices through the microphone.

A.J. bolts upright and gulps. “That’s it! Thanks Nick, you don’t have to do anything, I just got it.”

“Got what? What’s on the tape?” Brian whispers, eyeing Yasmine who was sitting with her infant not paying attention to the on going conversation the men are having.

A.J. sighs and glances back at Yasmine as Nick enters the studio to rejoin them.

“It’s a conversation, but it’s a weird one. Seems I left my tape to record that night and Yasmine was in my room with a guy. But I can’t figure out what guy it was. He said something that kinda had me thinking.”

“Dude just play the tape.” Nick whispers, taking a sip of his bottled water.

“Uh, I will, but I don’t what Yas to be here. I don’t want her to think I was spying on her or something,” A.J. fiddles with the radio.

Howie nods, “I’ll take care of it. I’ll take her out of here. Hey maybe she remembered something from the incident she had.”

“Yeah, maybe.” A.J. eyes Howie.

Howie strides over to Yasmine, kneeling down: “Hey momma, seems we’ll be here longer than we thought. How about I take ya home? A.J. will see ya there shortly. K?”

Yasmine beams and nods, “Ummm, k. I guess Faith had too much excitement for today. So guys, I’ll see ya later then.” She whispers out, waving to the guys before heading out the door. They all embrace her and wish their farewells before Howie and Yasmine head out the studio.

“Ok, play it now.” Kevin rushes, sitting on a vacant chair, curious to see what was intriguing A.J.’s curiosity.

A.J. gulps and slides the cassette into the radio slot, pressing play on it. The room boomed with Yasmine’s voice along with an unidentified man.

“Who the hell is that?” Kevin whispers, tapping his foot on the tiles.

“He sounds familiar though.” Brian responds, getting a few nods from the other guys.

“Wait listen to this part, check it out, the guy mentioned something about seeing Yasmine in a green shirt before hand.” A.J. whispers, hinting at the minor clue.

Once the tape was done, Kevin sits there more confused than anything else. “That didn’t really help us out.”

Brian narrows his eyes, glancing at A.J., “What is it? What do you find that is so interesting about their conversation?”

“Guys! Yasmine was wearing a green shirt the day of her rape incident! That’s what the big deal is?!” Nick calls out, getting a nod and smile for A.J.

“Bingo. That’s what I was thinking.” A.J. whispers out, eying Kevin and Brian.

“So, she wore green that day too, that can’t lead us to anything. It was an innocent conversation. It’s not like you can take this to the police.” Kevin mentions. “Its not real evidence.”

“Ahhh, but maybe this letter is good enough.” A.J. murmurs, digging through his jean pockets to pull out an unaddressed envelope to reveal to the guys the letter that he found last night that cause Yasmine to freak out.

Brian takes the typed written folded letter in his hands and spreads it out onto a cloth onto of the table. “Whoa, check this out!” he gulps, shakily reading out the words:

-My Love, do you remember me? I remember you. Why are you so scared? Why did you back away when you saw me? Confessions of your words run through my head since that last day I saw you. You are beautiful, alluring in so many ways. My desires have only increased since the last you’ve seen me. I can’t seem to get you out of my head since that day. And yes, do you still remember what happened that time when you gave yourself to me? Call it force, I prefer to call it territorial. It wasn’t a rape that I committed: you willingly gave yourself to me. I have the one thing that your little companion can never get. Even if he has your love, I have your innocence and no other man can ever experience that. Not even that pesky friend of yours. So I wanted to write to you to tell you that I haven’t forgotten you no in fact I’ve been waiting patiently till we meet again. I’ve been watching you consistently. Even when you ran to the police to try to book me, I watched and laughed knowing not even the police can save you from me. I’ll never hurt you, nor was that ever my intention. I love you sweetheart, there isn’t anything in this world that would make me a happier man than to see your smile when I touch you, but that night all you did was scream, telling me you didn’t want my love, my touch. I wanted that night to be special for the both of us but you turned it into something more, something I feared turned to violence. That wasn’t my intention darling. All I wanted was for you to be with me, to always be with me. I’m not obsessed. I’ve passed that line too long ago. So go ahead and show this letter to the police, your friends, family and anyone else you choose. But my desire for you won’t die. And until you belong to me, it never will.

-Longing to be yours always, your friend K.C.

Nick gulps, “When did she get this?!” He rushes the words out, nervously eyeing Kevin.

“Yesterday. Last night when I was in the living room at Yas’s place, I noticed a letter peeking from the door. I didn’t pay mind to it, but what ever it was, freaked out Yas. I thought for a moment she was gonna get an anxiety attack. I knew it had to do with the letter but I didn’t get a hold of it till later this afternoon before leaving Yas’s place. She was distracted with Faith and I had the chance to search in the cabinets.”

“And this is what you found.” Kevin whispers out in concern.

“Yeah.” A.J. gulps.

“Sh…” Nick was cut off when Brian bolts out of his seat and points to Nick,

“Wait, didn’t you tell me you got a strange letter by the same person?”

“Huh?” A.J. eyes them as Kevin watches on in interest.

“Uh, yeah. Somewhat. I didn’t want to tell ya J, but whoever this guy is, knows us. Knows you or at least indicts he does. I got a letter from the receptionist in the hotel today.” Nick murmurs, fidgeting with his back pack, searching through it.

“You have it with ya?” A.J. whispers nervously, feeling the tension rise in the air. Nick nods and continues searching through his back pack.

Kevin grabs hold of the letter on the table and shakes his head, “This is some sick bastard then! You have to turn this in to the police.”

“The police? Kevin, what are they gonna do with this? You forgot they closed the case a while back. They’re not interested, that’s means we have to take this into our own hands.” A.J. slowly whispers out.

“Own hands?! What do you mean? Alex you don’t even know what you’re getting yourself into!” Kevin stands up, worried for the sanity of his friend.

“Kev, listen to me, we can find the guy. This means he’s closer to us than we think. I asked Ysamine if she knows a K.C. and I recalled she mentioned it was friend of hers. That’s means we should track down all her friends and start questioning them.” A.J. states, determined to start investigating immediately.

“What? We can’t find a rapist! A.J. are you out of your mind?! This is a criminal you’re talking about! We can’t track this person down. We have no real evidence just that letter, the cassette which doesn’t tell us anything. And one possible suspect.” Kevin states frustrated.

“One suspect?” Brian asks.

“That man on the cassette, that’s who.” A.J. retorts.

“So you have the letter Nick?” Kevin sighs, rubbing his weary eyes with the palms of his hands.

Nick gulps and nervously pulls out a blank envelope, inhaling deeply.

Kevin takes the blank envelope and pulls out a neatly folded typed written letter. Spreading the letter on the same table, the four men gaze over it as A.J .reads it out loud:

-Greetings. You don’t know me nor do I intend for you to personally know me, but I’ve been watching you and your friends. I saw you one day in the lobby and your friend on a date with Yasmine. I dare you to show this to the police. I have connections that even your celebrity powers can’t perceive. Are you scared? You should be. I have plans for you and others. Especially for Yasmine. Have you ever thought of what would happen when Yasmine is alone? You haven’t yet cause you haven’t left her alone. That’s good, such nice friends you are. No wonder Yasmine has taken a liking to you. But you can’t watch her all the time and when that happens, I’ll be there. Don’t you worry your pretty head about her, she’ll be taken care of like she was suppose to. Tell Yasmine I miss her and we’ll meet one day. As for you, perhaps you should walk with your security more often, cause it would be a pity to see one of you wounded or die for someone’s foolish mistakes. Don’t expect to see me, cause you won’t find me. But rather I’ll find you. Until later, watch over Yasmine, she’ll need it.

~Unlikely Adversary, perhaps.

The studio held a suffocating atmosphere as the letter topples out of Kevin’s shaking hands. “What the…” He whispers, inhaling deeply.

“That’s it! We’re telling the police, I can’t walk around fearing for my life!” Nick cries out.

“Nicky buddy relax. This guy is threatening all of us.” A.J. whispers out, cracking his knuckles. The nerves racing down his body.

“Damn, we still have to meet with the producers though, but I don’t think we should be here right now.” Brian states.

“I’ll, I’ll call Stevens and tell him to forget today. I’m not in the mood to meet with anyone after all this.” Kevin whispers.

“I can get our security to double check and double up on the amount of people to watch over us. We’re getting threatened with our lives and we need to be prepared.” Brian slowly murmurs, gathering his belongings.

“Great, just great. Thanks a lot K.C. for ruining our day.” A.J. hisses quietly, grabbing his back pack and glasses.

“Alright. I’m gonna call Howie and tell him what we found. K?” Nick whispers as they exit the studio.

Brian quickly scribbles a note and leaves it on the door of the studio as he rushes off to the others.

“I’m gonna get Mark and the rest of the security to get ready. Don’t worry Nick, we’ll be ok man.” A.J. smiles weakly.

Nick sighs and nods, lost in his fears as they head out to meet their security guards.
~*~

Howie yawns quietly as he smiles watching Yasmine place Faith in her crib to finish sleeping. “Oh Howie, I forget to check my mail, my mom sent a package for the baby and I just got a voicemail on my phone that their holding it downstairs. Can you pick that up for me real quick?”

“Uh sure. I’ll rbe ight back then.” Howie smiles and exits the extravagant apartment. He walks down the blue plush hallway carpet and enters an elevator, just missing a stranger dressed in all black, creeping around the corner of the hallway.

Yasmine sighs and enters her bathroom, deciding to take a shower. She closes the bathroom door and slips out of her summer clothes, eagerly awaiting for the cool water to hit her heated body. She steps into the shower stall and slides the glass panes close behind her. Sighing in relief, she moves towards the falling cold water and washes up. The front door of her apartment creeks open as a man dressed in an all black attire slides through. Walking silently into the room, he smiles and using the same pin used to unlock her apartment door begins scratching on the dark kitchen a message. Smiling, he creeps over to the closed bathroom and slowly turns the knob, seeping through the threshold. He smiles, watching the silhouette of his angel bathing in the nude. He blushes fiercely, feeling as if he seen a holy creature that he wasn’t met to see. He grins and walks over to window pane, sliding it open. Yasmine glances up at the sound and gasps at the man.

“What are you doing here?!” She cries out.

“Shhh…Don’t make a sound.” The masked man whispers, pulling out a pistol and aiming it at her. “I won’t hurt you if you do what I want.”

“What do you want from me?” She cries out, shrinking back, covering her arms around her exposed body.

“Stay quiet. I saw your friend heading downstairs. Don’t scream or you’ll get shot. I won’t hesitate like I did before.” The masked man seethes out, stepping into the shower with her.

She cries out as the man pushes her against the shower stall, aiming his magnum at her head. “Let me finish what I started.” The man seethes out as Yasmine chokes out and shakes her head, her tears slamming down her frightened cheeks. He slides his hands down her waist and yanks her hand away to reveal her in all her glory. She whimpers out, tears clouding her vision.

“Please no! I have a child! What are you doing? I did nothing to you.” Yasmine chokes out, her shoulders racking in sadness.

“Shut up! Now stand still.” The masked man whispers, taking the full opportunity of lavishing her body as Yasmine cries out, failing to fight back.

She closes her eyes as she feels the man destroy her body. Even if she was in the shower, no amount of water can ever clean off this filth that he has done to her.
~*~

Howie grabs the package and begins to head back to the elevators when he hears his phone ring. He answers it and flips it open, “Ello?”

“D, oh thank God! Listen is Yasmine nearby you?” A.J. whispers, watching the trees whirl pass him on the highway as Kevin slams on the pedal taking them back to Yasmine’s new apartment.

“Uh no why?” Howie whispers, entering the elevator.

“Oh ok, listen to what we just found out, Nick got a le…” A.J .was cut off as Howie lost signal from his cell in the elevator.

“Damn.” Howie hisses, placing the phone back on the clip of his pocket. The elevator lands on the fourth floor as a lady boards it. Howie sighs and leans back on the polished wall waiting for the elevator to bring to him to the seventh floor. He wondered what A.J. was gonna say before he lost contact. He gazes slowly over to the lit numbers the elevator passed and finally feels the soft bump as the metal doors slide open. Howie sighs and walks down the beautifully carpeted hallway, struggling with the cardboard box in his arms. He pulls out his spare copy of the keys to Yasmine’s door and enters it to see the bathroom door open. Curiosity getting to him, he drops off the box on the sofa and narrows his eyes at the scratched kitchen counter that seem to have a message scrawled on it. Gasping he eyes over the words “You left her alone.” Howie runs over to the open bathroom, his heart slamming against his chest as he walks over to a curled nude Yasmine who was shivering violently.

“OH GOD!” He cries out, grabbing a towel and gently wrapping her body in it. Yasmine peers at him, tears streaming consistently from her tan cheeks.

He wraps his arms around her as she wraps the towel around her. Sobbing, she shakes her head and barely in a whisper she speaks into his arms, wrapping her arms around him. “He got me! He got me!”

Howie gulps and carries her out of the bathroom, her small body trembling in his arms as he places her down. “You have to tell me what he looked liked ok? Please, I’m so sorry, why did I leave? How did he get in here?” He whispers more to himself as Yasmine curls herself up in the towel.

She sniffs and wipes away a tear from her eyes, “You left me alone.”

“I, I know. Oh God, I’m so sorry.” Howie whispers, inhaling deeply afraid his heart would beating.

Yasmine breathes in and wrapped in a long towel, walks painfully over to her bedroom to get dressed.

“Yasmine, I’m sorry this happened to you again.” Howie whispers out sadly.

She turns and frowns, nodding her head and sliding into her room in silence, closing the door behind her.
~**~

**~To Be Continued…~**