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* ANA POV *

The car ride to the Ethan's families home was filled with chatter, mostly about me and my shit storm of a life. I didn't want to talk about it but there really wasn't anyway to avoid it. I had asked him for help, and like the good friend that he was, came without any need for more explanation. I felt like I owed him a reason for his trip all the way here.

" Are you sure that you can take time off from work? I can take you back now. I totally didn't think about your life in all this."

"Please, I don't need to be at that place. I practically own it now and I can say when I take time off. Plus, I have been needing time off. I just needed a reason, not that you love woes is a good reason."

"I just don't want you to get into trouble. Jack wasn't exactly happy when I told him that I was taking time off. But I need to be as far away from Seattle as I can get."

"What happened? You really haven't told me anything. Not that I don't like spending time with ya, its just I sorta wanna know, ok. Does Christian know your here?"

"No and right now I couldn't care what he thinks. He hurt me really bad Ethan. Not physically or anything, like he hasn't hit me or anything, but I'm like 90 per cent sure he is cheating on me. I don't know what to do."

"I cannot believe that guy. Did I not tell you I had a weird feeling about him?"

He had. I had told him about the same time that Kate found out. But for some reason Ethan told me that the vibes he was getting off Christian was not anything good. But I was in love or in the hopes for something close to it and I was completely unable to think of him in any other way than being perfect. But Ethan never pressured me about it. He told me how he felt and let me make my own choice; it was a choice I would later regret, but my choice none the same. And looking at him now, I could see that he genuinely only wanted good things for me. He had never made me feel uncomfortable or annoying. Even during my awkward teenage years, he always told me about how I was beautiful no matter what, and that I only had to answer to myself. He made my life bearable. My parents were going through a messy break up and even though Kate was there, I couldn't always talk to her. She had always been beautiful and confident and outspoken and brave and sometimes I just was intimidated by that. It wasn't until we were both in college, that I found my own calling and with that grew into some resemblance of confidence. Ethan and Kate had just always been there, standing behind me in everything I wanted to do, so it did come as a surprise when Ethan flat out said Christian was trouble. I should have seen the signs. Its not like Ethan was a player or just looking for notches in his bedposts, but he did know a lot about guys and how things usually played out if a guy was off. He probably saw a bit of himself in Christian, even though they were polar opposites. Christian was like a god; copper haired, tall, slim and chiselled. Whereas Ethan was earthly; blonde relaxed hair and brown eyes, muscular and toned. Most people would have died to be with him, where as I was just happy to be his friend.

"I know. What's worse, is that I feel like I should have seen this coming. He was being so distant for so long, that I honestly should have just up and left a long time ago. But I really liked him. It was not because he is loaded, believe me. It was something in him that I found so alluring. But apparently he didn't feel the same way about me."

"Listen to me Ana, and I'm only going to give that dick a small amount of talk time and that's it. If he cant see you and how amazing you are, fuck him. There is nothing wrong with being on your own. If he is with some other chick, its cause he cant handle loving you the way you should be loved. And you do not need him to make feel anything less than what you are. Your perfect ok. Just fuck him, I don't even want to know the whole story, but I can tell he has hurt you, and now you know you cant trust him. So move on and find someone you can trust."

Everything he was saying was the right thing to say in this situation, and I know I sounded dumb, but I didn't want anyone else. I wanted Christian. I wanted the life that I thought we would have with each other, but now it seemed like there was no chance of that ever happening. I saw the way he looked at her; it was like she was the sun to him and in his eyes I could see everything I wasn't getting. I wasn't enough six months ago and I wasn't enough now. So why was I here thinking about him? Truthfully, it wasn't like a lot of time had passed, but I had hoped that there would be some sort of commotion. That he would come running and tell me it wasn't what it looked like and that had been some sick joke or some grave misunderstanding, but there hadn't been any word in the almost 3 hours since I left. A chilling thought of him being tied up with other things or people came to mind, and all the walls of indifference that I tried to build were crumbling down. I was so confused; one second I'm thinking that this was the best thing for me and that I got out before I really invested too much and got hurt too much, the next I'm waiting for him to come rescue me and take me into his arms. I'm so angry at him, and I hate him and love him and miss him and never want to see him all at the same time. My emotions were giving me a major headache and a bad case of whiplash.

"Look, I know. I cant trust him anymore and I will eventually go back and face the music. But for right now, all I want to do is have a drink and hang out with you and not think about how shit my life is right now."

"Steele, you don't have to ask me twice. I don't think I have actually spent anytime with you lately. Its like the last time we sat down and actually spoke was when you were taking your finals and lord knows how annoying you were then, with all the "I'm not gonna pass" bullshit."

"Hey!"

And with a punch to the arm and smile on my face, we pulled up to a beautiful home on a lake. It was a single story home with a pebble path leading to the door. By now it was pushing towards midnight, and with everything that has happened tonight, I was ready for bed. The house was amazing. It was nothing like Escala. There were flowers everywhere; all colours of red and white and yellow. There was trees surrounding the property, that bordered the lake and around the sides of the house. You could hear the wind and the rustle of leaves on the breeze and all around was the smell of fresh rain. As we walked inside, there was lounge room with a large fire place and rustic fixtures of oak and mahogany. The tiles felt cold underfoot, which lead us on a path to the kitchen/ dinning room. It was large and had modern appliances. There was a mixture of old world meets modern twist, but you could tell that there would have been meals and celebrations around this heart of the home. Large double doors lead out to a deck that was in view of the water and the greenest of grasses.

"I guess you can stay in Kates room."

"I didn't know that Kate had a room here. I remember the old house. I just thought her stuff was there."

"Yeah, well my dad wanted to move out of the city and all our stuff got moved here. My stuff is here too. We only come here for holidays. I must admit its beautiful here. I feel shit that I don't come here enough."

"Where are your parents now?"

"Travelling. They worked all the time when we were kids, you know that. Now since both Kate and me are all grown up they can see the world the way they have always wanted. Last time I checked they were somewhere near Tuscany or something. I'm glad that all that work actually paid off for them."

"Hey, they would be proud of both you and Kate. You guys have got your lives all together. You have made it too. Last I heard you were practically the boss at your architect firm. That's something to be proud of. "

"I'm really just taking over the family business. Dad cant do it too much longer and I have always loved making things. Come on, I will show you where to sleep. I'm beat."

We went down a long corridor that ended in two door on either side of the hall. On the right was Ethan's room and on the left was Kates room. Her room was filled with things from our childhood. There were pictures of us at graduation, at high school prom and family trips, all in neat little white frames all around the room. The large white bed was in the centre in front of another set of double doors, with another angle of the garden and water. The cream carpet felt nice underfoot and to the right wall, there was a closet; probably filled with clothes of our youth and of the present. That girl had so much clothes there wasn't a doubt in my mind that the surplus would have to spill over to a second location. Ethan left and I decided a shower and bed was the only thing I would think about tonight. In the steam is when I cried the most. I emptied everything I had into the water running over me. I found myself feeling the need to rub him off me, to remove every touch, every caress and every kiss that he left on me. I didn't want to feel him on me, suffocating me. All I could think about was the way he would be holding her, cherishing her, the way he had cherished me. I thought that he would have learnt from me leaving the first time. The whole week we didn't speak, was like torture for me; I hated every second that I was away from him. I thought that he had gone through the same thing I had, and that he wouldn't want to ever feel that way again. I had given him too much credit, and that was why it hurt more than ever. Because I thought he was better than he was; I thought he would be better or at least try longer than five months to mess around. My skin was searing, red with pain. Anything was better than the pain that I was going through now. It took my mind off the ache in my chest. As I looked in the mirror, I could see just how much this was taking a toll on me in this short time. My eyes were hollow, my skin was blotchy, my hair wet with no life. I just looked like I had nothing left. Like all the Ana had been scooped out and there was nothing but a hollow shell left behind. I hate him. Not only for the pain he caused me, but for the person he turned me into. I just hope I could sleep this off. The bed was comfy enough, and even though there usually wasn't anyone with me, tonight was the first night I actually felt alone.

* Ethan's POV*

I woke to a scream, a blood curdling scream and at first I forgot where I was. I could hear crying. I knew exactly that cry. I remember that cry from way back. Ana had cried this way when I told her that superman wasn't actually a real person. She had a massive crush on him all throughout junior college, and as the little shit I was back then, I had told her he wasn't real. I felt like a prick afterwards, when she started to cry. I had to promise her that I would take her to any movie of her choice and pay for any candy she wanted. It was worth it. I hated seeing her that upset. I never did it again. I couldn't bring myself to. And now I could hear the same cry. It was so surreal hearing it at all after all this time. Ana didn't want people thinking she was weak or some shit, and she never let anyone know how sad or upset she actually was. It was the one thing I would change about her. It always so hard to read her, but she gave some clues. She blushed when she was lying or flirting and when she was really pissed at you, she would chew the inside her cheek. It was little things like this that gave her away, and the whole ride here she wouldn't stop chewing at her mouth. I knew something was up, and when she called me it was obvious that she needed help. It had to be about that rich prick, who thinks he his the best at everything. I hadn't liked him then and fucked if I liked him now. Crossing the hallway, I could tell the bedside lamp was on. There was a warm glow from under the door and I could hear her talking to someone, probably him. Would be right to call her in the middle of the night, like the creep he is. I could hear her angry cries, like she had a world of emotions going on inside her. Silently I put my ear to the cold door.

No. I'm not telling you where I am.

No, Christian. I do not want to talk to you.

How could you do this to me?

No, I think I deserve an explanation.

Well its not up to you.

Fuck you.

I dare you. I dare you to try. The way I feel right now, I dare you to try and come here.

How could you?

I know I'm not beautiful or pretty or rich or over the top famous, but I thought that didn't matter to you.

Don't lie to me. There would only be one reason to do this. I was never enough for you.

That was all I could take. I hated hearing her talk as if she wasn't worth anything. She was one of the only ones who believed in me, apart from my parents and Kate. When all those high school bitches made fucking rumors about me being gay and teachers saying I wouldn't amount to anything, her and Kate made it bearable until I bulked up and moved out of the awkward shit part of my life. I walked to her bed and snatched the phone from her hand.

"You have to come home Ana. We can work through this. I don't even know what you know but it wasn't what it seemed like ok."

"Listen here dickhead. She doesn't want anything you have to give ok. Stop fucking calling her."

I could see Ana shaking her head, eyes pleading for me to give her the phone and to stop yelling at Christian. But he needed to know that there were people with her who gave a shit about her. And if he thinks I was bad, he had another thing when Kate found out. She would tear him a new one and I personally would love to see that shit.

"Ethan, this has nothing to do with you. You don't need to talk to me about Ana. I. KNOW. HER. VERY. INTIMATELY. SHE. IS. MINE"

"The fuck is wrong with you man? She doesn't want to talk to you and you need to fuck off and listen to what she wants."

"Give her the fucking phone."

"Man, you might wanna watch how you speak to me aye. I'm not a fucking employee of yours. So your overbearing shit get real old real quick. Don't make me make the trip back to Seattle and teach you how the fuck to speak to people who have been in Ana's life more than a fucking minute."

"Ethan, put fucking Ana..."

I hung up and turned her phone off. That was it for one day. Ana had tears running down her face. She looked like she hadn't slept a second of the night. I could help but feel so sad for her. Her small shoulders were still moving with now silent sobs. And for the first time in a long time, I saw just how vulnerable she really is. I moved to the other side of the bed, and jumped in the bed with her. I didn't want anything more than to just comfort her and be a friend to her. Holding her, she finally found sleep, just as the sun was rising over the horizon.

* Christian POV*

That fucker was with her, god knows where, doing god knows what. I hated the thought of her crying to him and not to me more than I should. I wanted to talk to her and make her understand or at least tell my side of the story. I had no idea how she found out, not that it wasn't a major issue, and I only knew that she was outside of Seattle somewhere. She was smart enough to turn off the GPS just as she got onto the highway, after stopping at her apartment for a brief time. I wanted to smash something or fire someone or do something I know I will regret. I raced back to Escala after she hung up on me with a great weight in my stomach. She wouldn't answer her phone and Sawyer had no idea where she would go. Kate was with Elliot somewhere, and I already checked and knew she wasn't with her mother in Georgia. I had a feeling she was with Ethan, when Taylor had informed me he had been in town for a couple of days. I just wanted to know that she was ok and to talk to her and tell her I still had strong feelings for her. I never wanted her to find out, let alone loose her. I couldn't bear the thought of her with someone else. I knew the irony there. I was with someone else cheating, but still wanted her for myself. When she first left, I hated every second without her, and now its more. It more hurtful, more painful, more intense because I knew there was a great chance that she would never be the same again and she would never want anything to do with me again. That I could not comprehend. I had come alive since I had met her. In many ways she had opened me to other people. She had allowed others to get closer to me. My relationship with my mother and father was better, and we spoke often and freely. Elliot said I was a happy bastard. I was happy. I just did not see sienna coming, and now the two world are colliding and it was all my fault. I hate myself and I know I should stop. I never thought it would be this hard to be a decent person. Sienna understood. She told me to take care of the situation with Ana. I think she was heading out of town on Friday anyways, so at least I can focus on Ana. I needed to make a choice. I should choose Ana and I hope that she still chooses me. Even though I had hurt her, I still believed that she still had feelings for me. She wouldn't give up us with out so much as a conversation.

"Sir?"

"What Taylor?"

"I have that information that you asked for. "

"Well?"

"There is footage from the café that you went to earlier. Sawyer and Ana were seen entering, then exiting. They had a conversation and left in the car back to Escala. We also managed to find the location of the family home of Ethan. Just a couple hours outside the city."

"Get the car ready."

I had to get her. I had to make her understand.