"Hey there girlie!  Have fun?" Beth asked Katie as she walked into the apartment later that afternoon.

Beth was sitting on the couch watching tv in their apartment.  At least Katie thought it ws their apartment.

She nodded her head, "What happened in here?"

"I cleaned.  So you went to the boardwalk?" she got another nod, "And did he ask?"

Katie nodded again, "Did he call?"

"Yes Dane called.  About an hour ago.  Don't change the subject on me now.  What did you tell AJ?"

"Not much.  He wants to take me out to dinner."

"So it must've gone well.  Small problem though...Dane wants to see you tonight."

"Didn't you tell him I was sick?" Katie asked, beginning to panic.

"Yeah.  He didn't care.  He said you go see him, or he came here.  I don't want him over here anymore Kate."

"I know, I know."

"He sounded really pissed.  I think you need to just get out of it.  Get a restraining order."

"It's not that easy Beth.  I'll talk to him tonight."

"If he lays a hand on you one more time..."

"What are you going to do?  You've seen him before!"

"I'll call the police.  He has no right to do this."

"I'll take care of it tonight Beth."

"Alone?  Right, like I'm letting you do that."

"I have to end this though.  And if you show up with me...I just don't want him to hurt you, too."

"'Cause hurting just you is so much better," Beth laughed, though it wasn't from the humor of the situation."

"I'll be fine.  What time does he want me?"

"About an hour.  He said if you didn't show up he'd come get you."

--Two Hours Later-

Katie pushed open the front door, slowly.  She knew Beth was going to go ballistic.  She just wanted to get washed up, changed and "fixed" before she was supposed to meet AJ for dinner, but she doubted that would happen...especially since he was already there.

When Katie walked into the apartment AJ was sitting on the chair across from the couch Beth was sitting on.  The mascara and eyeliner she'd been wearing was smudged around her eyes giving her the appearance of a raccoon.  She had a fresh bruise on her cheek, and probably more that weren't visible through her clothes.

"Katie!  Shit, look what he did to you!" Beth jumped up and ran to her friend.

"It's nothing.  I'm fine.  Let me just go get cleaned up," Katie brushed her off and tried to get to her room without breaking down.

"That's not nothing Katie," AJ stood up.

"Hon, what happened?" Beth stood in her path, not willing to allow her friend to pretend like it hadn't happened.

"He got mad when I told him I didn't want to see him again, okay?" Katie yelled, the tears falling from her eyes again.

"What did he say?" Beth prompted her to continue.  AJ stood to the side, not sure how to step in, or if he even should.

"He didn't understand why I didn't want to see him anymore," Katie paused for a deep breath, willing herself to keep going, "He said he couldn't live without me.  He told me that there had to be someone else...that I wouldn't do this to him on my own...he got so mad...he said I was lying...and he hit me...and..."

"Katie, you did the right thing.  You had to get away from him.  We'll go to the police first thing in the morning.  It'll all be okay now."

AJ had gotten up to get some ice for Katie's cheek.  He held it out for her and she slowly took it, putting it to her cheek and wincing at the pain.

At the same moment there was a bang on the door, causing Katie to jump.

"Don't answer it...it's him...please..." Katie quietly begged.

"Kitty-Kat, I'm sorry!" he yelled through the door, "I didn't mean to hurt you baby!"

"Go away Dane!" Beth yelled through the door.

"Come on Kitty-Kat!  I'm sorry!  I didn't mean to hurt you!  You just told me you didn't wanna see me anymore," they heard him yell, his words audibly slurred.

"Beth no...he's drunk..."

"I'm calling the police," Beth said over Dane's yelling.

"Beth no!  Dane, go away!  You are always sorry, but you keep hurting me.  I don't want to see you anymore!"

"Katie, we need to call the police...the neighbors may have already called."

"C'mon Katie baby...open the door," he continued to slur.

"Katie, stop.  We're calling the police," Beth took Katie's hand and pulled her into her bedroom, AJ following close behind.

AJ had chosen to keep silent.  He'd wanted to step in, but he was afraid for Katie.  If he'd made his presence known, who knows what Dane might have done.  He'd certainly have jumped to wrong conclusions, placing AJ and Katie together, and all hell would break loose.

"Katie!  Open the fucking door!" they could still hear him yelling from the other room.

"He's never going to leave me alone," Katie began to cry again.  She was upset for herself and the situation that she'd gotten herself into.  But she was more upset with the fact that she'd dragged her best friend into this situation as well.

"First off, we're not staying here tonight.  We're not safe here.  I'm sure Joe wouldn't mind us crashing over there," Beth thought out loud.  Joe was Beth's boyfriend of...forever.  Katie had always liked him.  He was good for Beth, and he was one of the few reasons Katie still had faith in males.

"Did he hurt you anywhere else?" AJ finally spoke.

Katie shook her head, "Not really.  Maybe my arm.  Beth, Joe doesn't have room for me.  I'll be-"

"You are not staying here," AJ simply stated, "Me and the guys are staying at a hotel close by.  Leigh and Kris are there, too.  I'll crash with one of the guys, and the girls can stay with you.  You're choice, but I'm not letting you stay here alone."

Beth nodded her agreement.  Joe would be fine with her staying over there, but she really didn't want to kick him out of his bed.  He lived in a tiny one bedroom.

"You sure they all won't mind?" Katie was interested in spending more time with AJ.  And who would pass up a chance to meet the rest of the guys and their wives?

"The girls would love another chick around.  I think they're getting sick of us guys."

The decision had been made.  Beth was going to her boyfriend's place, and Katie was going to spend the night with the guys.  There would be five guys there...not to mention the security.  She'd be safe there.  Now they just had to figure out how to get out of there.

Beth had gone to call her boyfriend to fill him in, and the girls packed up a few things.  They could steal here Dane outside, though he it sounded as if he were becoming less persistent.  If they could just wait it out, maybe he'd leave and they could escape.

The pounding stopped, but Katie wasn't satisfied that they were in the clear.  AJ had insisted on peeking outside to see.  When Dane wasn't in sight through the peep hole, AJ cracked the door to take a look.

"We're clear, but we should move fast," he announced.  He led the girls to his car and the three quickly got in and they were off.  There'd been no sign of Dane, and no one had appeared to be following them.

AJ followed Beth's directions and had dropped her off there.  Driving back to the hotel was a little uncomfortable.

"Thanks Alex."

"For what?  It's nothing.  I couldn't leave you alone back there."

They made it to the hotel and AJ was leading her up to the hotel rooms.

"You hungry?" he asked.

"Oh crap!  I completely forgot about dinner!  I'm so sorry!"

"Hey, stop.  We can still do dinner.  We can do room service, and I can introduce you to the guys."

"That sounds great...meeting the guys, I mean...but if it's all the same to you, I don't know if I want them all to see me like this."

"Not a problem."

They ordered room service and sat together, channel surfing and talking.
"How long have you been dating him?

"Dane?  About a year.  I met him through a friend of a friend.  Ben, the friend, never like him, but Oscar, Ben's friend, swore by him.  Ben kept telling me to dump him, but I was stupid.  And then I got in too deep and ended up here," Katie gave the general back story.

"When did he start...getting abusive?"

"Not long after we started dating.  He got really possessive.  Any time I didn't answer on the first ring or was three minutes late when I was supposed to meet him he'd get upset.  At first I told my friends it was an accident.  Ben didn't believe me, and I don't think Beth knew what to think.  So I started really lying.  I would tell him that I'd tripped or something.  And then Dane wouldn't let me see him...or any of my guy friends.  He would tell me only...only sluts would have guy friends other than their boyfriend....and...and that I needed to be put back in line..."

"You need to go to the police Katie.  I'll go with you.  I'll take you in the morning."

"Don't you have work to do or something?"

"We're on a break.  You're stuck with me for the week," AJ grinned.

They'd finished eating by this point, and it was obvious that Katie was exhausted.  AJ cleared the plates from the bed and grabbed a pillow.

"You're falling asleep on me.  I'll take the couch."

"I can't take your bed Alex."

"Yeah, ‘cause I'm gonna let you sleep on the couch," he laughed.

Katie had gotten up now, too.  She rifled through her bag, pulling out a tank top and pair of flannel pants to sleep in.  Turning towards the wall, her back to AJ, she began to change her clothes.

"Ouch, Katie, are you okay?" he noticed an ugly bruise on her lower-right back as she changed her shirts.

"What?" she asked, turning her head to look over her shoulder, "Oh, that.  I guess I forgot it was there."

"I don't know how you could forget that.  It looks like it hurts a whole helluva lot."

"You start to forget about them when they're always there," she sighed, "He's done worse.  Bruises are just the small of it.  He broke my wrist a few months ago.  And the broken ribs.  I'll live."

AJ was amazed that she could just brush it off like she had, but when it was your life, every day for the last year, you just got used to it.  Maybe that's part of why it's so hard to leave.

AJ got as comfortable as he could on the not-so-comfortable couch and watched as Katie curled up under the sheets on the bed.  He barely knew this girl, but he wanted to protect her.  He was determined to protect her.