I woke up on the edge of the bed. I would’ve fallen off by now, I was sure, if AJ hadn’t had his arm around me. I turned around enough to see that he was sleeping diagonally, on top of the covers.

I smiled automatically.

This was nice. Well, aside from being an inch away from a drop to the hardwood floors. I decided to lie there, simply enjoying the moment and waking up naturally, without an alarm clock buzzing in my ear. Thanks to work, I rarely had the opportunity to do this.

Work. I opened my eyes and searched for the time. A clock was sitting on the dresser. It took me a minute to remember what day of the week it was. Darn it, I was late for work. With all of the commotion yesterday and then sleeping over here, I hadn’t given it a single thought.

I probably had several angry messages left on my cell, which, come to think of it, I’d left in the living room.

I hated to wake AJ up, not knowing at what hour he’d finally put his laptop away and fallen asleep, but I couldn’t very well walk from here.

“AJ,” I said. No response. “AJ,” I repeated, lightly tapping his shoulder.

“Mmm,” he mumbled, not opening his eyes.

“I’m sorry, but I need a ride to work.”

It took several more attempts, but I finally managed to get him up.

I changed back into the clothes I’d been wearing yesterday and went downstairs to get my cell. He came down still in his PJs but holding car keys.

“Don’t you have to be at the studio?” I asked, hoping I wasn’t the only reason he had to get up early. Well, obviously early for him. It was several hours past the five o’clock I was used to seeing.

He shook his head and yawned, his hair sticking out in every direction. “I texted Brian last night and told him I probably wasn’t coming today.”

“Oh.”

“I didn’t think you’d work today, either.”

I shrugged. “I can’t really afford to miss a day. Besides, I think Brian will be a bit more understanding than Jack will.” I didn’t mention the other reason: working would at least help me keep from thinking about Peter all day, and the fact that he was in town.

AJ didn’t look happy, but he motioned towards the door. He stayed quiet the first part of the trip, but finally broke the silence. “What time do you get off? I don’t want you walking to and from work.”

“You don’t want me walking?” I repeated.

“Michelle, this is no time for your sarcasm and independence crap, okay? This is serious.”

Wow. Someone was a little testy early in the morning. But he seemed as serious as he said, so I didn’t shook back with any remark. “I’ll call you when I know, all right? I’ll probably try to work later than my regular shift to make up that time.”

He nodded right as my phone started singing. I cringed.

“What?”

“It’s a text message,” I pulled it out of my pocket. It was a different number every time, but I knew who it was from before I even opened the text.

Think it wise to put someone between us? I’ll overtake any obstacle you throw my way. You’d do well to remember that.

Out of habit, I glanced around us,at the other cars and the stores we were passing. I didn’t see him. That didn’t necessarily mean anything, but I didn’t think he was actually watching me at this moment. We’d lost him after the mall, so I had some time until he found me again.

“Is it him?”

I paused, but nodded.

“What does it say?”

“Oh, just the usual.”

“Michelle,” he pressed.

I handed the phone over to him. This was the first time Peter had threatened AJ. It made me sick. I gave AJ a sideways glance as he read the message.

“Told you he was all about theatrics,” I said, trying to make a joke and failing miserably.

“Well if he thinks he can scare me off with a text message, he’s even more of a dumbass than I thought.”

We pulled up to the coffee shop.

“Call me about picking you up,” AJ reminded me.

I promised him that I would.

“And don’t… wait for me inside, okay?”

“Yes, mom,” I managed a smile. Without thinking, I leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks.” Then I hurried out of the car and headed inside, ready to pretend that I was fine. That this was just another day.

And it wasn’t too hard to do. It was nice having someone who knew that I wasn’t fine. To know that someone was watching my back.

Thanks to AJ, I wasn’t as afraid anymore.

~*~ AJ’s point of view~*~

“Hey, look who decided to drag himself out of bed today,” Nick teased. “A night on the town last night or what?”

I’d gone as far as running home, making a cup of coffee, and getting changed. But I hadn’t showered or made an effort past that. It was almost lunchtime when I walked into the studio. Howie was just coming out of the recording booth, laying down a final track for one of the songs.

I ignored him and sat down.

“Whoah, what’s up with you?” Nick asked.

Brian was staring at me, too. “What’s wrong? You said you weren’t coming in today.”

“Yesterday… wasn’t a good day.”

“What’s wrong, man?” Howie asked, too. All attention was on me.

“It’s about Michelle.”

“It usually is,” Nick smirked.

“This isn’t funny,” I snapped.

“Calm down, AJ. He didn’t mean it like that,” Howie said, and then waited for me to give them more information.

“She’s got this ex after her.”

“So? I don’t think you need to be jealous of him,” Nick said, still not grasping the severity of the situation.

“He’s stalking her, Nick. I saw them at the mall yesterday, and she was literally running from him. I don’t know what would’ve happened if she hadn’t gotten away from him.”

“Did you call the police?” Brian said.

“I got her out of the mall as quickly as possible. And I mentioned that later. She said she’d talked to them at least once, because he’d been sending her texts, but they hadn’t taken it seriously.”

“Well, receiving texts and then having him show up are two different things,” Brian said. “You guys need to report this. If this guy is a real threat…”

“He is,” I said, adamantly. “She thinks he… wants to kill her.”

Brian stared wide-eyed. “Go to the police,” he repeated.

I nodded. “I’ll take her after work. Michelle just doesn’t think they can help.”

“It certainly won’t hurt. And she’s probably just scared. She seems like she usually just depends on herself,” Howie said, observantly.

Wasn’t that the truth? Yeah, we’d go by the police station today. I told them the rest of the story. They were all shocked.

“She doesn’t need to be staying alone at her apartment,” Howie said.

I shook my head in agreement. “She stayed at my place last night. If she insists on staying there tonight, I’m not leaving.”

I wished Kevin had stayed in town longer. He would’ve known what to do.

I was relieved when Michelle called a little later to give me a time to pick her up. She said everything was fine, and that several other people were working. Peter couldn’t get away with anything in such a public place.

The day dragged on. I didn’t contribute much to the group. I went outside to smoke a cigarette and Brian followed.

“It’s going to be fine, AJ. I know how you feel, though. I don’t know what I’d do if someone was after August…” he looked away and got quiet for a moment. When he recollected his thoughts, he said, “I’m sure they’ll catch him. It’s not like she doesn’t know who he is. The police will have sufficient information to go by.”

“I hope so. Anyway, let’s talk about something else,” I breathed in more of the cigarette, hoping it would relax me.

“Like lung cancer?” Brian joked.

I laughed. “I can always count on you, can’t I?”

“Of course,” he put a smile on his face.

We got back to album discussion. We were no closer to finding a name, which was troublesome. We had a list of top contenders, but there were none we were all pleased with.

“Oh, you know that song you’ve been working on?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“If you want to get it on the album, we need to get it done soon.”

I nodded. “I’ll finish it this week. I need a third verse.”

“It’ll come to you. Just takes awhile sometimes.”

We headed back inside.

“I can’t stay much longer. I need to go pick her up.”

“No problem,” Brian said. “I’d invite you guys over tonight, but…”

“Don’t worry about it.”

So he and August were still fighting about the anniversary? I’d been so wrapped up in my own world, I hadn’t had much time to notice. I felt bad that he was trying to be there for me, and I wasn’t returning the favor. “It’s going to be okay for you, too, you know.”

“Yeah,” Brian smiled again, though it didn’t reach his eyes.

We went back into the room so I could finish up.