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A/N: Hey I’m back for a quick update. I just want to thank those that reviewed so much. I hope you enjoy and please review; it lets me know what you the readers liked or didn’t like about the story! Thanks!!!

“Love Can Save”

-1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

**~Shattered Dreams~**

A.J. shuffles in the bathroom and jerks his head up from the sink as the ringing of the phone reaches his ears. In pain, A.J. covers his ears and yells out, “Shut up. Shut up.” Stepping out the bathroom, he slowly makes his way over to the hotel phone besides his bed. Picking the cradle of the phone up, he slowly sits down on the edge of the bed.

“What!?” A.J. grumbles in the phone.

“Well good morning to you too sunshine.” Nick’s voice blurts through the phone.

A.J. rolls his eyes, “Hi, whatever Nick. Why the call?”

“Just wanted to know if you heard anything about Yasmine.”

A.J. scans his eyes over the sliding glass pane that leads to the balcony before answering, “No. Nothing yet. I’m about to go to her dorm to talk with her. Though if she’s pissed, I’d doubt she’ll speak to me.”

Nick’s laughter cuts, “Dude, you better hope she don’t kick your behind man for last night.”

“Shut up, you’re not helping.”

Nick calms down and sighs, “Alright, you want back up. I’ll drop you off at her place if you want.”

“Aight. Ok. I don’t think I can get behind the wheel right now. I have a hangover that’s killing me over here.”

“Ok, I feel good. I threw up it all up this morning and the hangover left after that.” Nick states smiling.

A.J. sucks his teeth, “Thanks, like I wanted to know that. How the other guys doing?”

“Brian was barfing all over the place and said he never wanted to ever drink again and Howie is just fine and so is Kevin.” Nick states, splashing cold water onto his face while holding his mobile phone in the other hand.

“Oh ok, look be ready by… God what time is it?” A.J. asks, glancing around to find a clock.

“Three o three why?” Nick asks.

“Holy… oh damn. I slept all day and you didn’t wake me up!” A.J. states, hurriedly running around the room: flinging on a pair of black cargo pants and blue button shirt.

“Well J, man you looked like hell. I figured some sleep will do you some good. Guess I wrong. I’ll meet ya down in the lobby in a few. I’ll tell Kevin we’ll be back in time for the production meeting k?” Nick states as he reaches over to grabs his hotel card and exits his suite.

“K, I’ll be there in a sec.” A.J. whispers and hangs up the phone, racing out the room and grabbing his hotel card along the way out.
~*~

Howie yawns and glances at his watch again. He couldn’t believe A.J. stood him up. A.J. was supposed to have met up with him over an hour ago and here he was awaiting a miracle of some kind that maybe A.J. didn’t forget. “Boy has a memory shorter than my fish.” Howie grumbles, tossing a car magazine on top of the coffee table in front of him.

“D, there you are. Where did A.J. go?” Brian asks, stifling a yawn as he enters the small bar the hotel provided.

“Don’t know. I was about to ask you the same thing.” Howie states, standing up from the soft plush black sofa.

Kevin smirks as he enters the threshold of the bar, “I saw Nick. Seems they’re gonna go talk with Yasmine about last night.”

Howie rolls his eyes, “Figured and now is when A.J. is gonna do it? It’s a quarter pass three, guess he must have just gotten up.”

Kevin slumps in the sofa across from Howie and shakes his head, “Forget him for now. I just thought of this great beat for one of the songs Brian did, check this out.” Brian and Howie lean in and gather around Kevin as Kevin using his lips, plays a beat. The guys chuckle as the conversation turned into music and for now A.J. and Nick wasn’t a concern.
~*~

“Stop. Pull up right here.” A.J. points to his right to a cobblestone building that is rented out to college students. “This will only be a minute. The way I see it, she probably wouldn’t even want to talk to me.”

Nick smirks and parks the forest green SUV a few feet away, “Good luck. It looks like you’ll need it.”

A.J. shakes his head and flicks Nick on the head, “Thanks it might take a miracle for her to be nice to me.”

“A.J. all you gotta do is pucker up and bats those dark chocolate eyes at her and she’ll be putty in your hands.” Nick smirks, pouting his lips and batting his eyes at A.J.

A.J. sighs and steps out the vehicle, slamming the door behind him.

“Hey, no slamming my door!” Nick shouts as A.J. while walking towards the building flips his middle finger at Nick from behind him.

Nick smiles and leans back on the seat, pumping up the volume on the new single of Linkin Park, ‘Faint’ on his stereo.

A.J. sighs and walks into the large lavish lobby of the dorm apartments. Passing by some guards and getting signed in, he heads towards the elevator bank and gets off at the fifth floor. Passing by the first couple of mahogany doors, he stops in front of 5K, the apartment Yasmine shares with her room mate. Ringing the small bell on the side of door, he takes a deep breath and whispers a small prayer that somehow Yasmine won’t be so angry with him. ‘Please girl. Don’t be mad with me.’ He whispers to himself just as the apartment door swings open. A.J. smiles and stares at a carrot colored haired tall lean woman. She smiles and tilts her head at him as some recognition comes into place.

“Wow, she wasn’t lying. She really knows you. Hi, I’m Anya. I share the room with her.” Anya states as she lifts her hand to shake hands with A.J.

A.J. feeling a bit uncomfortable: quickly grabs her hand and stands nervously at the threshold of the apartment. Giggling, Anya moves aside and tells A.J. to come in. A.J. kindly steps into the apartment and into the small comfortable living room.

“Umm, yeah. This is a nice place. I mean the last time I came here it was all empty and stuff cause she was just moving in. But wow, looks nice. Decorated nice.” A.J. states, still feeling a bit odd talking to a stranger. He never had the chance to meet the room mate, but by the looks it he was glad Nick stood in the car, ‘cause Nick would have been hitting on her the moment he had the chance.

“You want to see Yasmine, don’t you?” Anya asks, her hazel eyes scanning the man in front of her.

“Oh yeah. I hope she wasn’t too mad at me for last night.” A.J. whispers, nibbling on his lip as Anya stares at him.

“Yeah well… She never came home.” Anya whispers shaking her head and collapsing into a small flowered seat behind her.

“What? She never came here?” A.J. asks nervously, his heart racing as terrible images begin clouding his mind. “Please tell me you know where she is?”

Anya sadly shakes her head, “I, I don’t know where she is. She didn’t call me since last night. I mean I was going to pick her yesterday ‘cause we were going to see a movie, but when I got to the school, someone said she headed out with you.”

“Yeah, that’s right. Sorry about that. Didn’t mean to ruin your plans. It was a surprise, I haven’t seen her for the longest and…” A.J. gets cut off as Anya interrupts.

“It’s ok. You don’t have to explain. You’re the A.J. she’s always talking about. She misses you and when I heard you came to pick her up, I figured she’ll be out having fun with you.” Anya smiles gently, her snowy complexion glittering brightly in the afternoon sunlight that crashed the windows.

“That’s weird. I thought she’d be here. See yesterday: my friends and I surprised her with a cake and all. We missed her and wanted to know that we all missed her and was glad to have her in our lives. We had a little cake and everything. A party for her sake.” A.J. explains as Anya smiles.

“That’s so sweet that you went through all that for her. I’m sure she was ecstatic and all.” Anya states, her eyes glittering.

“Yeah, she was so surprised!” A.J. states, running his butter pecan hands through his red tipped black hair. It was funny from the minute Anya got him to talk about Yasmine, all his uneasiness vanished as he gloats happily about Yasmine’s success in the writing world.

Anya smiles and giggles, “She wasn’t lying about you. You really care for her.”

That statement catches A.J. off guard as he stops mid-sentence and laughs, “Yeah, I have stories on her you wouldn’t believe.”

Anya grins and bats her eyes, “Really now? Cause she already told me about yours.”

A.J. stares at her as she laughs and stands up, “It was nice meeting you. I don’t want to sound mean or anything, but I have an exam that I have to start studying for.”

A.J. nods his head and pulls out a wrinkled piece of paper with his number on it. “Yeah its alright. Listen, if you hear anything about Yasmine or see her later on, can she call me or can you call me if you know where Yasmine is at?”

“Sure, no problem. I’ll call if I hear anything k?” Anya states, tucking away the wrinkled paper in her jean pocket.

“Alright it was nice meeting you. Bye.” A.J. states as he steps out her apartment.

“Same here, take care. Bye.” Anya whispers and waves goodbye.

A.J. smiles and walks down the corridor as the door closes behind him. “Nice girl she’s rooming with. Too bad Nick wasn’t with me.” And he steps into the elevator.

Walking out the brick apartment building, A.J. sighs and start making his way back to the SUV where Nick was blasting away at a CD he got. Suddenly just as he was about to open the passenger side door to the vehicle, A.J. hears his cell phone go off. “Nick, lower the music! Shhh! I think its Yasmine now!”

Nick looks confused and shuts off the CD as A.J. boards the SUV. Nick drums his fingers on the steering wheel as A.J has a quick conversation with whoever called him.

A.J. gulps and quickly pulls his cell phone, looking at the number. ‘It’s from Yasmine’s apartment. Did she come back and I missed her on my way out?’ He thinks to himself as he pushes the talk button.

“Hello?” A.J. asks in the phone as Anya’s voice answers back.

“Hey A.J. I know you said to call you if I found out anything about Yas. Well I just got a call right after you left on where she’s at. And she’s staying in Saint Vincent’s Hospital.” Anya whispers nervously.

“Hospital!? A.J gasps, fearing the worst could have happened. “Oh please what happened to her?”

Nick watches in silence and feels a cold shiver sweep his back, ‘Hospital! That’s not good! Oh man something went wrong!’ He thinks to himself as A.J. gasps and places a closed fist onto his lips.

Nick gulps as his throat goes dry, something went seriously wrong. The look on A.J.’s face tells it all, he’s never seen A.J. this distress before except for when he confessed he had a drinking problem. But whatever it was that was told to A.J. seemed to be far beyond anything that he could imagine.

A.J. hangs up the phone and throws the cell on the head board, “Drive!” He chokes out, crossing his shivering arms over his chest.

Nick immediately pulls the SUV down the street and onto a highway, “Where to?” He wanted to know what was troubling A.J. but decided to stay quiet. Whenever A.J. was ready to talk he’ll be listening.

“Get off between Thirteenth and Twelfth Avenue.” A.J. chokes out, his eyes tearing up.

Nick gulps and knew right there that Yasmine must be seriously hurt. He didn’t want to ask but he needed to know what was going on. “J, who was on the phone? You didn’t tell me how it went at her place?” Nick whispers softly, keeping his eyes focused on the road ahead of him.

“I was talking to her room mate Anya. Seems Yasmine never made it back home and Anya had no idea what could have happened to her. I told her if she hears anything about Yas to give me a ring.” A.J.’s voice rasps out the last words as he shuts his eyes tightly to prevent any tears from falling out.

“And that was Anya on the phone right?” Nick whispers out, his heart racing in fear.

“Yeah.” A.J. answers slowly.

“You don’t have to answer, but do you know why Yasmine is in the hospital?”

“Yeah.” A.J. states softly.

“She’s hurt bad?” Nick whispers.

“Yeah.” A.J. sighs and leans his head back on the seat.

“Oh God, I’m so sorry. It was stupid of me to drink that much last night. We were all blasted and…” Nick hesitates as guilt washes over him.

“Nick, it doesn’t matter. What’s done is done, alright. I just want to see her now. That’s all that matters right now.” A.J. whispers.

“Ok.” Nick whispers as he pulls up to Saint Vincent’s hospital. “Whoa, this place is for the brain trauma victims, J. please what happened to her?”

“I don’t want to talk about right now, k?” A.J. whispers as he steps out the vehicle.

Nick quickly follows and both men run into the main entrance of the hospital section. A.J. feels his throat go dry as he approaches the front desk to where a nurse was typing something up. The harsh yellow lights gleam on them as they pass by a crowd of people walking around the waiting room.

“Excuse me miss. Hi, I just got news that a friend of ours is admitted into this hospital.” A.J states as the nurse looks up from what she was doing.

“Ok, what’s her name? I can look her up and tell you.” The nurse states softly, her gentle dark eyes provided comfort for both men.

Nick gulps and shakes his head, the smell of medicine and aesthetics leaked into the atmosphere as he grips his stomach tightly. The smell was beginning to make him nauseous as he swallows softly, gazing at A.J. He doesn’t pay attention to what was being said but notices that A.J. was swiftly moving towards the elevator bank after the nurse.

“Nick, hey listen buddy. You can’t go with me. Its not visiting hours yet. Wait for me here in the lobby k?” A.J. states, pleading with Nick.

Nick confused, tugs on A.J.’s arm, “Dude, you ain’t her relative either.”

“Shhhh, the nurse said it was ok. I told her that I’m Yasmine’s cousin. It seemed that Yasmine was asking for me when she was being brought in here.” A.J. whispers, patting Nick’s shoulder as he steps into the elevator with the nurse. “See ya in a few.” And the metal doors close, taking A.J. to his destination.

Nick nibbles on his lip, “Damn, what the hell happened to her?” he whispers as he picks up his mobile to inform Brian, Howie and Kevin of this.
~*~

Brian laughs as Howie folds the newspaper and looks up from what he was reading. Smiling, Howie watches Brian and Kevin act out a scene from ‘Ace Ventura where the main character was using his butt to talk.

“You guys, boredom is a scary thing. Look what its doing to you two.” Howie raises his eyebrows as Brian chuckles. Suddenly the ice cream song goes off from Howie’s cell phone as Kevin and Brian glance at each other with a smirk on their faces.

“Yeah we can tell.” The cousins say in unison as Howie rolls his eyes and answers the call.

‘Ello?’ Howie asks as Nick’s panic voice answers back.

“D! Oh Man! You won’t believe this! We’re at the hospital right now! A.J. went off to see Yasmine, something happened to her last night and I don’t know what it is.” Nick whispers as he cradles the phone.

Howie swallows, “You guys aren’t hurt though right?”

“No, but I think the way A.J. is acting that Yasmine is!” Nick softly yells out, the panic rising up.

“Nick relax, tell me where you are and we’ll meet you k?” Howie whispers as Brian and Kevin look up alarmed and listen intensely to Howie’s conversation with Nick on the phone.

“Ok, ok, Nick listen to me, try to remain calm k? We’re gonna meet up with you shortly. Please just calm down ok. Try to see what happened to her. Is A.J. there with you now? He is, but he went up? Oh, he was allowed to go up… Ok Nick, we’re on our way out the hotel now ok? Try to keep calm buddy. See ya in few.” Howie whispers as he hangs up the phone.

“To the car right?” Brian whispers.

Howie nods as Kevin leads the way out, “Howie what happened?” Kevin asks, never turning around as fear edged its way to him. God how he hated hospitals, it always seemed to bring him bad news each time he went. They all take a stairwell and walk towards the parking lot heading to their car.

“Don’t really know. Nick is scared and was almost freaking out. Said something about A.J. went to Yas’s place but found out from her room mate Anya that Yas never came home. A.J. told her to call if she found out anything and she did shortly after A.J. left the place.” Howie whispers.

“God what could have happened to Yasmine?” Brian whispers, placing his worried hands over his tired eyes.

“Don’t know, guess we’ll find out shortly.” Howie whispers as they board the black Benz and pull off from the hotel driveway and into the streets.
~*~

Her eyes snap open as her blurry vision tried to focus in the bright room she’s in. She tries to sit up but notices a small IV placed on the top of her hand. Her body feels worn and her head seemed to be banging with fresh pain. She can’t seem to remember to what happened, but this isn’t her room. Why is she in the hospital? What could have happened to her? No matter how hard she tries to recall what could have lead her to this room, she couldn’t remember. She runs her soft caramel hands shakily through her tangled black locks. It scared her to think what could have lead her to this place. Her body feels sore but other than that, she seemed fine. Upon hearing the door open, her eyes avert to it when suddenly her memory came to her full blown. The figure that stepped through the door was the man that assaulted her in the elevator, the same black wool mask and black attire he wearing when he assaulted her. He steps close to her as she cringes in fear. “No this can’t be happening! Not again!” She whispers frightening, shaking as the masked man walks into the room and leans close to her. She starts screaming and struggles in her bed as the masked man suddenly vanished and the male doctor along with a nurse tries to calm her down.

“Miss, it’s ok. Please, we need you to calm down. Who ever hurt you isn’t here. It’s just me- Dr. Ross and the nurse.” The doctor whispers as Yasmine cries out, her tears flooding her face.

“Please stay away from me! No more! No more please! Oh God help me!” Yasmine screams out, flailing her arms out in the air in a struggle as the nurse and doctor try to sustain her.

“We’ll need to give her something to calm her down.” Dr. Ross whispers as he pulls out an injection and injects it directly into her arm.

“There, there. Don’t worry, that man will get caught.” The nurse whispers as she pets Yasmine’s locks gently. Yasmine gulps and swallows as the lump in her throat throbs. More tears will come before things will get better. Yasmine looks up at the harsh yellow lights above and sighs as the drugs begin to work on her, relaxing her body as she looks up and sighs.
~**~

**~To Be Continued…~**