“I’m think it’s time for you to tell me what’s up!” Nick yelled as he, Kaci and AJ took off running back down the street towards the restaurant where Marcus had parked the rental car. They reached the car in less than a minute and they jumped in as quickly as they could.

“What hotel?” Nick asked as he pealed out of the parking lot.

“The Wyndam Garden on Second,” snapped Kaci as she wrung her hands and chewed on her lower lip. “Just follow this road,” she explained, pointing to the road they were on, “it will take you right to Second Street.”

“Okay fine, I’ll do that, but tell me what the fu ck is going on!” he ordered firmly, keeping his eyes on the road. “Who is Mr. Manzke and why is he setting fire to her apartment? It’s not that prick she’s been dating for a while is it? Don’t they live together? Why would he burn down his own apartment?” Nick kept going on and on, asking questions but getting no answers. “Did they break up? Will someone answer me?”

AJ turned in his seat and glanced back at Kaci, the two of them silently deliberating who was going to share the sordid details with Nick. Kaci sighed and began.

“Yeah, Rob Manzke, Ros’s boyfriend. She reported him to the police today and now he’s trying to get at her.”

“Why did she report him?” Nick kept his eyes on the road, but the tone of his voice was rising a little, as if it was starting to affect him personally.

“He hurts her Nick,” Kaci replied softly, as tears began to form in her eyes. Everyone in Ros’s life, now that the truth was out, felt guilt and pain, but because Ros was Kaci’s best friend, she felt even worse, like she should have known and done something to protect her.

“What do you mean he ‘hurts’ her?” Nick was pretty sure he already knew that answer, but he needed to hear it anyway.

“He beats the shi t out of her, man!” AJ yelled before Kaci had a chance to answer. “He pushes her, kicks her, slaps her, punches her, says horrible things to her, take your pick. He was out of town on business and Serena and I kind of tipped him off that the cops were after him and now he thinks this is a game, a challenge, and God knows what he’s else he’s going to do!”

“Why would you tip him off? Are you insane?” Nick didn’t mean for his words to sound so hurtful, but they did.

“We didn’t mean to. Serena was so upset that she called Rob and tried to scare him, threaten him, just let him know that we are onto him and he better stay away, and then I got on the phone with him and did the same thing, but I guess it didn’t work and now he’s even more pissed and he’s going to take it out on Ros!”

Nick had a hard time concentrating on the road, horrible images and thoughts of Rob hurting Roslyn haunted his mind. How could anyone do that to her? And how could she let him do it for so long? I knew something was up with her when she was in LA a couple months ago.

Roslyn and Nick were actually more acquainted than they led most people to believe. They had met over two years ago when she had come out to LA to spend a few weeks with Kaci over Spring Break. That was her first time meeting her cousin’s new boyfriend, Alex, as well as his five band mates.

Nick liked her immediately, which surprised him, seeing as how she wasn’t his typical, platinum blond, colored contact wearing, tanning bed colored type of girl, but since he was in a current relationship with someone of the aforementioned description, he reluctantly passed on the ample opportunities to take her out. If it was a group thing, he was there, watching her, listening to her, taking all of her in, but never got any closer than that.

They had kept in touch over those two years, making a point of going to dinner or catching up over a cup of coffee whenever she would venture out to the West Coast or whenever he was passing through her neck of the woods, which wasn’t very often. Whenever they did get together though, they made the most of it. Talking for hours about what each other had been up to, learning each others likes and dislikes, and eventually moving into more personal territory like relationships and history that wasn’t made known to a lot of people in their own lives. And as weird and random as the friendship was, it seemed to be turning into a very strong one.

Two months ago, however, Roslyn had been sent to LA for her job, but he had to hear that she was there from Kaci; Roslyn didn’t call him like she always did.

“Hey Ros, it’s Nick, umm, Kaci said that you were in town, but, ah, do you want to umm…why didn’t you call me? I guess if, uh, want to, you know, umm, catch a late lunch or an early dinner or, um, whatever, I guess, give me a call. It’s the um, same number as always, in case, you know, you forgot or something.” He hung up his phone and stood in the middle of the living room of his condo, wondering why she hadn’t called him.

“She always calls me when she’s in LA,” he murmured to himself, his feelings hurt and his heart disappointed. He was about to set his phone down on the mantel but it rang before he could.

“Yeah?” he said into it quickly without looking at the caller ID.

“Nick? It’s Ros,” a quiet voice said from the other end. “I’m sorry I didn’t call you. I really didn’t think I would be here long enough to see you, but, well, after hearing your voice I, umm, will you come pick me up at my hotel?”

Nick wasn’t sure what he heard in her voice, but he wasn’t going to find out now. She had asked him to come get her, and he didn’t need to be asked twice.

“I’ll be there in ten minutes,” he said as he grabbed his car keys and headed out the door. They continued to talk as he was driving; only ending the call once he saw her walking towards his car in front of her hotel.

“What happened?” he asked, pointing to the cast on her arm and sling she was wearing. She looked away from him and answered blankly.

“Oh, I slipped going down the stairs at work last week, no big deal.” Throughout their evening together he had seen bruises and marks on her body, some appearing older than others, but he never questioned her. Like everybody else in her life, he assumed that if they were from something serious, she would say something.

He hit the steering wheel with his hands making the car horn sound as he did so. Why didn’t I do something then? he thought. He pulled into the parking lot of the Wyndam and they all hopped out, giving the keys to the valet attendant before walking into the exquisite lobby.

Oh I will love you more than that/I won’t say the words then take them back/Don’t give loneliness a chance/Baby listen to me when I say/I will love you more than that.

“How ironic,” Nick mumbled as “More Than That” played over the speakers as they walked through the lobby. I would love her more than Rob. I would never hurt her.

“It’s still so weird to be walking next to you and hear you singing on the radio,” said Kaci with a smile, trying to lighten the mood a little. They took the elevator up to the eleventh floor and then walked down the hallway to room 1169, which, of course, was AJ and Kaci’s room.

“Where’s Ros?” Kaci asked Marcus as they entered the room and saw him sitting at the desk making notes on a piece of paper. He pointed to a door that was slightly ajar, which Kaci knew was one of the bedrooms. She walked over and peeked in the door, then silently pulled it closed.

“What are you thinking man?” AJ asked Marcus as he plopped down on the couch.

“I googled this Rob guy and he seems to be a pretty popular guy. His consulting services are in high demand, he’s on the Forbes list, and he’s really involved in the community.”

“But yet he lives in Memphis, Tennessee, in a two bedroom apartment in an old part of town, drives a Ford, and beats his girlfriend? It doesn’t make sense!” Nick’s observation was right and everyone else was thinking the same thing, he was just the first to verbalize it.

“My thoughts exactly, and my theory why is that he can control things here. Four out of the five cops that are working on Ros’s case were listed on his website as community leaders, he’s president of about a half a dozen organizations in this dam n city, he’s got everyone so snowed or on his side that it doesn’t matter what he does.”

“So what do we do then? She’s lived in this community her whole life and you’re telling me that the cops are going to help the criminal instead of the victim? She doesn’t have anyone here to help her except for Serena; my parents aren’t even here very much anymore!” Kaci was beginning to get a little hysterical at this point, helplessness flooding over her.

“What about her parents?” Nick asked, wondering why Kaci didn’t mention them. AJ and Kaci just stared at him, as if he had two heads and the question he just asked had been spoken in some alien language.

“She’s never told you?” AJ spat at him, doubting whether or not they should. If she never mentioned it to him in all the times they had spoken, if might be something she just didn’t want him to know.

“Told me what?”

“Her parents were murdered last year.” AJ regretted saying it as soon as it came out, feeling that he had just betrayed Roslyn’s trust. It’s not my place let the skeletons out of her closet.

“They were asleep and Randy, Ros’s Dad, heard something crash downstairs. I guess it was two burglars and he scared them and one of them shot him. Then Diane, my aunt, heard the gunshot and came downstairs. They killed her too.” Kaci began crying, the loss of her aunt and uncle still hurting terribly.

“They never found the guys either,” AJ added, hugging Kaci tightly.

“Excuse me,” said Nick quietly as he made his way to the bathroom. When they thought he was out of earshot, Marcus spoke first.

“We are going to have to settle this our way. I already put in a call to some of my guys; they will be here in a few hours. We can’t rely on the cops here to catch him, since most of them appear to be this guy’s friends.”

“So, what are we going to do?” AJ asked.

“Whatever we have to,” was all Marcus said.

“Kace, does Nick have a thing for Roslyn?” AJ could tell by the way Nick was acting that he must be feeling something.

“It’s pretty obvious to everyone but her isn’t it?” she responded with a smile. “She’s got a thing for him too though; she just doesn’t let herself feel it. I think if anyone is going to help her through this it’s him, but we’ll see what happens.”

“Where is he anyway? He’s been in the bathroom a really long time,” AJ noted as they all looked towards the bathroom. The door was open again and the light was off, so it didn’t appear that he was still in there. Kaci got up and walked towards the bedroom where Ros was sleeping and pushed it open quietly.

“Oh my gosh,” she whispered as she peered into the darkened bedroom and saw Nick lying on the bed with Roslyn, his arms wrapped around her protectively. She backed away from the door and smiled. “I knew it,” she murmured as she sat back down on the couch next to AJ.

“He’s in there with her, isn’t he?” AJ asked with a grin on his face. Kaci just nodded her head in confirmation. “Good. They need each other more than they know.”