Hello faithful readers. I hope you had a nice weekend and that you will enjoy this chapter.

Challenge King: Thank you. Maybe he can, maybe he can't. Maybe in the end the only that can save Callie from herself is herself, freewill and all.

darck ben: Thank you. It is a moral quagmire in that there are so many opinions on what Callie should do.

Fanfic-Reader-88: Helping her is not easy in the slightest. They may not be on the same page as she's still geared more to killing her father while he's advocating her getting her justice in another manner.

Twilight Warrior 627: Yes it is getting more interesting and this chapter should make things really interesting. A certain blonde with glasses whose job it is to make certain things happen might not be happy, but Dusty's note really concern what she thinks. She appears to him at any point and he will kill her if given the opportunity. It is unrelated to this story for the most part where he has his own destiny that she wants him to play out and he's not going to be a good player.

There are a few updates of my fellow readers: Fanfic-Reader-88 has a new oneshot 'In Need of Some Alone Time' and mkpunk's update 'Jumping the Tuna'. Happy reading.

Rating: T Violence, Language, minor Adult Content.

Chapter 6

Callie was seething with anger and disgust at her 'stray' while she walked back to her father's car in the side parking lot to the bar. He had effectively sabotaged her one chance of getting her father's will switched to the older one. She wanted to strangle the life out of him. He seemed to understand and support her position, yet he sabotaged her at the most critical time.

The one thought that dominated her mind as she pressed the button on the electronic key to unlock the car then slipping inside the driver's seat was that she would find someway to make him suffer too. She didn't know how at the moment, but she would find a way.

She threw her purse in the passenger's seat then settled into her seat and slipped the key into the ignition. She turned the key and was about to pull her seatbelt on, but a hand wrapped around her left side and palmed over her lower neck while on the other side, a small knife was brought above his hand to her jugular.

Jake, her ex-boyfriend she thought she had successfully ditched in Missouri, peered his head around the headrest from her right and impatiently whispered, "Shut it off. Shut the car off."

The brunette bit her tongue and reluctantly did as she was told. Before she could ask how he had found her, he interrupted, "Where's your boyfriend?"

She squinted and looked into the rearview mirror. She muttered, "Boyfriend?"

Jake gently added a little pressure to her neck and answered, "The guy you had answer the door to your motel room and help you steal my truck."

"I don't know—"

He pulled her tighter against the headrest and the blade closer to her throat. "I saw him go in the bar after you, so did you just ditch him in there? Huh?"

The bit of fear she felt with the knife close to her throat, but she pushed it down. She lifted her chin and closed her eyes. She took a soft breath then answered in a breathy tone, "Yeah… he's walking home."

Jake snorted out with a grin, "You got tired of him already?"

"He's not my boyfriend."

He mockingly chuckled, "Really? So he's what? Just hanging out with you for company? You haven't spread your legs for him yet?"

Callie licked her bottom lip to help suppress the rising anger that was overwhelming the mild fear starting to grip her. She really didn't appreciate him alluding that she was a slut that would just put out for just anyone. It took the longest time for them to go that far.

"Doesn't matter… I finally got you alone. I've been watching you, been waiting to get you alone, so here we are… where's my truck?"

"Truck? I don't know. It ran out of gas somewhere in Indiana, just go steal another one—"

He wrapped his hand around her throat tighter and shouted, "I don't give a damn about the truck Callie; I care about the ounce of meth that I had stashed in the seat cushion. So besides the money you owe me, I got a bunch of pissed off bikers who want my head." He took a soft breath and started massaging her throat with is fingertips before he continued in a calmer voice, "You've been nothing than a pain in my ass since the day I met you."

He paused and glanced around, quite fidgety. "Okay, so this is what we're going to do. You're going to get out and give me the keys to this."

Callie narrowed her gaze into the rearview mirror and questioned nearly dumbfounded, "What?"

"I can get some money for it."

"No, it's not my car," she retorted with a slightly raised pitched voice.

"Well we'll go back to that mansion of yours and you'll get me my money. I figured with the truck and the meth and what you owe me… ten gs should cover it."

Callie closed her eyes and slightly shook her head. "Jake, I don't have that kind of money. I can't get my hands on that kind of cash right now."

Jake moved his left hand from her lower neck and up to cup under her chin. He slowly started rubbing it as he whispered, "Then I really don't know what we're doing here. I really don't. Give me just one good reason I don't put you out of my misery? Just one good reason?"

A muffled, but recognizable voice answered, "Because if you do, I'll send you to Hell."

The former couple looked out of the driver's side window to see Dusty calmly standing outside of the car then leaning down to rest his hand on his knees so he was even with their faces.

Jake snapped, "Back off man or I'll slit her throat."

Dusty gave him a cold stare though he answered in a casual tone, "Oh, I know you will and when you do, I will beat you to death, so your choice is to either let her go and start walking… or you die."

Jake brought the blade closer to Callie's throat and confidently stated, "I'm the one with the knife."

The younger man cocked his head to the side and answered, "Have you looked at my shoulder? You think a knife is going to stop me?"

The drug dealer licked his lips, fear creeping into him as he had seen that same look in his biker dealers' eyes that had no hesitation in killing him. He muttered to Callie, "Start the car."

"Don't you dare start that car Callie. He'll kill you and just take the car as soon as you're out of sight."

The drug dealer rounded his head around the headrest to Callie's right and shouted, "Start the car!"

Callie looked to Dusty, the fear that she had suppressed quite successfully started to rise up and appear on her face.

Dusty took a step back and raised his hands up. He mouthed to the pale Philadelphian, "It's going to be okay."

"That's better," Jake muttered confidently then looked back to the front and whispered to Callie, "Now start the car and drive."

The dark brunette turned the ignition and took a second to put her seatbelt on before putting the car in reverse.

Jake shouted through the window, "Now don't go calling the cops or anything if you want to see your girlfriend again in one piece."

"For your sake, she better be," the boy from many different places warned.

Callie passed Dusty one more fearful expression before she backed the car up then turned to the right to head for the parking lot exit. Jake looked over his right shoulder out the back window to see Dusty remaining in place as the car remained stationary before she could pull out into traffic.

As soon as the car pulled into traffic and out of sight, Dusty looked around the parking lot, going on the assumption that Jake had to have his own wheels if he had been following Callie to lie in wait. He quickly checked to see if any of the vehicles were unlock, figuring that if he carjacked a vehicle, he wouldn't have the keys to lock and unlock it.

After only testing three cars, he found one unlocked and opened it, noticing immediately that underneath the steering wheel that the panel was popped open. He slipped inside the seat and leaned over slightly to start the car with the exposed wires. The engine came to life and he hopped into the seat. He put the car in reverse then floored it out of the parking lot to attempt to catch up with the former couple.

A mile or so down the road, Jake casually remarked, "You said he wasn't your boyfriend? I guess you're really leading him on as he sure seems to care about you."

Callie glanced into the rearview mirror and dryly remarked, "I guess he's just a nice guy…"

"Really? You two really haven't done anything? What is he? Some fag or something?"

The brunette threw him a quick glare as to not take her eyes off the road for too long. She debated whether to even dignify the remark with an answer then finally remarked, "He said he was getting over a recent breakup and he's kind of religious. He says he doesn't do that."

Jake paused, nearly dumbfounded then let out a hearty laugh and asked, "And you believe that load of shit?"

The dark brunette clenched her jaw tightly, feeling insulted once again, but this time to her intelligence. She didn't have the opportunity to respond as a car accelerated past them on their left and for a moment, Callie thought she saw from the corner of her eye Dusty driving the other vehicle. However, she didn't give it much thought as the car whipped around in front of her by about a dozen feet then slammed on its brakes with the obvious red tail lights.

Out of pure instinct, Callie slammed her foot down on the brakes and fortunately there was enough distance and similar breaking performance, her car stopped before slamming in the back of the other vehicle. The seatbelt caught her then flung her back into the cushion seat, but Jake continued forward between the seats and slammed his head against the dash.

Callie took several breaths to calm herself from the near collision and in those few seconds, Jake tried to pull himself up and the driver's side door of the other vehicle nearly flew open. Dusty stepped out to Callie's stunned surprise then dashed to her driver's side and nearly flung the door open. He reached for the emergence release to Callie's seatbelt and pressed it to release it then slipped his left arm under the backside of her knees and his right arm under her left arm. He picked her up out of her seat then stepped back to pull her from the vehicle, her arms naturally wrapping around the back of his neck and over his chest. Just as he was turning towards the direction of the front of her father's car to set her on her feet, the back passenger door started to open. The Angeleno kicked back with his left foot against the door, slamming it nearly shut if not for Jake's lower leg already stepping out of the vehicle.

Jake let out a cry as he felt like his shin had been broken and he flopped out onto the road. He stopped his face from eating the pavement with getting his hands up in time. He was still loosely gripping his knife when the tried to push himself up, but after Dusty sat Callie back onto her feet, his left foot slammed hard down on Jake's right wrist, snapping it and causing Jake to let out another cry of pain and dropping the knife.

Dusty bent down and grabbed the fallen drug dealer by the shoulders of his jacket and dragged him to his feet for a moment it took the Southern teenager to slam Jake's face into the truck of Callie's car then flung him back onto the pavement.

Jake rolled to his right and spat out blood… and a few of his front teeth. He turned enough to look at the teenager from California looked down coldly from the corner of his left eye.

Dusty closed his right hand into a fist then opened it and the next moment out of literally nowhere a one foot long silver blade dropped from his inner forearm and the dark gray leather handle slipped into his hand. He gripped the leather wrapped handled tightly in his hand then leaned down and grabbed the taller, older young man by the collar to pull him up enough so the drug dealer could look the teenager straight in the eyes.

The angry teenager held the tip of the blade underneath Jake's chin and coldly whispered, "I've killed seventeen men in the last few weeks… it looks like you'll be number eighteen."

Jake stared back into the angry filled yet brown eyes. In his heart, he had that same coldness to end Callie's life, but to see it directed at him was a terrifying prospect.

Dusty had every intention of putting the blade into the center of Jake's neck and out the other side, but Fate, figuratively speaking, stepped in the way by the broken beam headlights of an oncoming car in the lane. He looked to his right and saw Callie standing in the same lane to look on in shock at about what Dusty was about to do to Jake and that a car was approaching from behind her. She apparently caught his gaze and started to turn look over her right shoulder towards the car as it attempted to screech to a halt. However, at the rate it was slowing down, it wouldn't stop in time before it would run over the girl.

Dusty's eyes opened wide and without thinking, he let go of Jake and moved faster than an Olympic sprinter towards Callie. He was to her in no time and wrapped his right arm around her back then throwing himself onto the hood of her car.

The car continued to screech and passed the pair, nearly clipping Dusty's feet. Before it stopped, it smashed the driver's side door shut, sending glass flying from the door's window and ran over Jake as he attempted to pull himself up. The car bumped over him like a speed bump before the vehicle finally came to a stop. He rolled under the vehicle then came to a stop onto his back. His left arm and leg were bent in ways not to be bent.

Jake started couching up blood and choking to death on it.

The pair sat up from the hood, Dusty protective holding the pale girl, and stared at the scene. He reluctantly let her go and slid off the hood of the car. He opened the left flap of his jacket and sheathed the blade out of sight then dashed to Jake and knelt down to his left. The older male looked up and began coughing up more blood.

They looked at each other and Jake realized that his life was about to end.

The teenager glanced over to the driver of the car while she exited her vehicle in a panic.

Dusty growled in disgust to Jake and made another quick decision. He placed his left hand on the center of his chest. He could feel most of Jake's rips and sternum broken and with the wheezing and coughing of blood, he could tell the prone man had a pierced lung.

The next moment a soft whine emanated from where Dusty's hand rested then the next one Jake took a deep and clear breath.

Dusty spat in disgust at the lying drug dealer and himself, "I'm not mending your broken limps, but you won't die of organ failure. She's not going to steal my kill."

Jake muttered though a blood filled mouth, "What the Hell are you?"

"'What the 'Heaven' am I?' would be the better question to ask."

The teenager stood up then walked towards the shocked young woman. He stopped in front of Callie and gently gripped her upper arms. He desperately asked, "Are you alright? Did he cut you or hurt you in anyway?" He looked down to her legs to see if the car had hit her feet enough though she was standing perfectly well in heels.

The dark brunette looked on stunned from the last half minute and couldn't speak.

"Callie, are you alright?"

She finally met his concerned eyes and froze for a moment, being unable to recall someone ever really looking at her with that much concern other than her vague memories of her mother. The last thought she had of him as left the bar was how to make him hurt yet he was here rescuing her from her ruthless boyfriend and a car nearly running her over.

"I'm… I'm…" She cut herself off by wrapping her arms behind his neck and pulling him into a hug.

He took a sharp breath in surprise then hesitantly wrapped his arms around her and tenderly rubbed a hand up and down her coat covered back. He reassuringly whispered, "You're okay, you're okay."

Ross Residence
Philadelphia, PA

After several hours of talking with the police—well Callie talking to the police as after Dusty gave them his name, he invoked his right to remain silent and not speak with them, something that frustrated and immediate invoked suspicion of him and his blood stained shoulder didn't help—the pair along with Emma arrived back at the mansion with the housekeeper leading the way in entering the home. She was clearly a victim of a kidnapping and her description of the events with Dusty's actions—leaving out the part were a short-sword magically appeared out of thin air—they had no reason to hold them after their statement.

The housekeeper closed the door after the younger pair entered and continued to insist, "Oh Callie, I still wish you would let me take you to the hospital to have them check you out."

The pale young woman forced a smile and mustered enough patience to calmly reply, "Emma, I'm fine. I just want to maybe grab a drink, take a quick bath then go to bed."

The faithful housekeeper looked to Dusty and hoped that he would support her in convincing the girl to her point.

He chuckled while raising his hands up, "Oh no ma'am, she's clearly made up her mind and at this point it would be like arguing with a brick wall… which I would do if I thought I was right, but it would just be as unproductive as trying to convince her to see anyone."

Callie rolled her eyes at the young man before pulling off her coat and making her way to the kitchen. Emma relented for the moment and went about to put up her coat while Dusty followed the brunette to the kitchen. She draped the coat over the back of the chair then walked around the kitchen island to the top cabinet cattycorner to the oven. She opened it to grab a glass then turned for a bottle sitting near the range.

She sat the glass and bottle on the island then asked the young man, "Do you want a drink?"

He cocked his head to the left and cracked a smile. He softly mockingly asked, "I'm only nineteen."

She smirked while answering, "I won't tell if you don't."

"No thank you. My father was borderline alcoholic—still enjoys his booze a little too much if you ask me. I'm not interested in potentially falling into that trap."

The dark brunette pursed her lips in a near apologetic manner and nodded her head. She turned her attention to the glass and pulled the lid off the bottle to pour herself a drink.

Dusty took the end stools with a backrest on the other side of the island and had a seat. He casually asked, "You sure want that drink?"

Callie sat the bottle on the counter and smiled. "I just had a near death experience; I need to calm my nerves."

"Then why don't you have yourself a nice glass of milk and some cookies? It'll help you sleep."

She gave him a look questioning whether he was serious and after several seconds of studying his eyes, she realized that he was serious.

He shrugged his shoulders and remarked with a mild laugh, "Hey, it's your internal organs."

She glanced down at the glass and gave second thought about whether she wanted the drink.

At the front door, the doorbell rang and Emma was just returning from the coat rack and quickly went to the door. She saw through the glass the newcomer and immediately unlocked and opened the door to reveal Laura standing on the other side. She breathed out while walking past the housekeeper and looked for her sister, "Emma, where's Callie?"

The housekeeper pointed towards the kitchen which Laura immediately started towards with Emma immediately following.

"Callie?!"

Callie looked past Dusty, still debating about the drink and towards her near panicked sister. Laura quickly crossed the kitchen and walked around the island pulled her sister into a hug and demanded to know, "Are you okay?"

The younger sister put a small forced smile on her face and answered while pulling away, "I'm fine." She shrugged her shoulder and tried to flippantly remark, "It was kind scary, but I'm fine, really."

Emma softly admonished when she caught up to the older Ross sister, "Callie, you had a knife held to your throat and kidnapped—and nearly run over. I still wish you'd go to the hospital to be checked out."

The older Ross sister looked to the housekeeper in astonishment then back to her sister. "You didn't go to the hospital?"

Callie sighed and glanced to her right for the briefest of moments before answered in hopefully a disarming tone, "I didn't need to go to the hospital. I'm fine. I don't have a mark on me."

Dusty casually remarked, "It's a psychological trick in order for the mind to protect itself. It hasn't sunk in for her yet."

The dark brunette knotted her brow. "You're an amateur psychologist?"

The young man shrugged a shoulder and continued, "No, I saw the affects it had on one of my friends. She was in a near fatal accident that nearly made her quadriplegic. She had a… 'miracle' happen to her and survived with no long term physical problems. However, it messed with her for a little bit—without realizing it at first. She and her fiancé had to take a trip to Vegas for some alone time to heal."

Callie didn't want to sound insensitive, but she snorted out, "Heal? Vegas doesn't seem like the place to 'heal'."

"It depends on how you want to emotionally heal. They needed to re-bond with each other. She should have died and even if she didn't, if she ever woke up, she wouldn't be her. He is absolutely in love with her and would still have spent the rest of his life with her regardless of what happened to her.

He looked to Emma and continued, "As you're doing with Mister Ross—though I understand it, he has the potential of making a major recovery."

He divided his attention to all three ladies and continued, "It was from there that they're husband and wife in every sense of the term other than getting in front of a preacher or judge. They needed to express their love for each other physically and he was eighteen at the time and she was seventeen and the age of consent in California is eighteen while it is sixteen in Nevada… it wasn't our business what they did that weekend—and I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't do anything. I just know that after they came back that they were better… and I got a T-shirt from the Pawn Stars."

The three gave him a mixture of curious and odd expressions.

He awkwardly smiled and brought up, "You know, those guys in Vegas from the History Channel… the sibling channel of Lifetime… okay, no one watches history?"

Callie nodded her head while wearing a tight smile. "I think I'll be fine."

Laura looked to her sister and nearly pleaded, "If it turns out you're not and you need to talk, I'm here. We're all here."

The younger of the sisters looked to him with a gaze that hinted at her annoyance. She clearly didn't like the idea of her sister potentially becoming a hoverer.

Laura walked around her sister, around the end of the island and took a seat on one of the stools with backrests. "So what exactly happened?"

Callie glanced down at the island and decided she needed the drink if she was going to retell the events of the last few hours. She took a sip from her drink before she answered, "My ex-boyfriend tracked me down. I owed him some money and… when he came collecting the day before I got back, he came to my hotel room to collect. I slipped out a window while he was—"

Dusty interrupted with a smile, "While I was knocking him flat on his behind when he tried to force his way into the hotel room."

Emma and Laura looked the young man in mild surprise.

Callie quickly picked up, "While Dusty was doing that, I stole his truck—my ex's truck—to get away. I drove it across three states before I ran out of gas and called you."

The dirty blonde asked in mild disbelief with a slight tilting of her chin down, "So he tracked you down?"

"I never told him where I was from, but he received a letter for me, but he didn't give it to me. He found the house number and called it. I'm the one that picked up the morning they were brought dad home and he didn't say anything when he recognized my voice."

Emma quickly covered her mouth with a hand, instantly feeling guilty that she was partially responsible for what happened. "I sent you that letter to tell you what happened to your father—"

Dusty interrupted her with a patient and kind word, "Miss Granger, don't go down that line of thought. Only one responsible for Jake's behavior is Jake, no one else."

The housekeeper thought on his words and was quickly impressed with the wisdom of his words. However, as basically a surrogate mother to the Ross daughters, a piece of her would irrationally blame herself for Jake finding Callie.

Laura turned her gaze back to her sister and asked, "Has he tried to hurt you before?"

Easily realizing that her sister was referring to Jake, Callie hesitantly answered, "He could get loud and upset, but he never put his hands on me."

"Why were you with him in the first place?"

Dusty took a particular glance at his unexpected charge, curious as to the reason why she would get with such a loser even though he had a pretty reasonable idea as to the reason.

Callie glanced to the countertop, took another drink then answered with a bit of distaste in her voice, "He wasn't all bad and… things got pretty rough out there, so… he was useful."

"So you needed him to take care of you? Financially speaking?"

Once again, the ladies turned a curious gaze to the man from California and Carolina.

He casually answered their looks, "Thousands of years of human behavior since the time we were cavemen and hunter-gathers to the present have humans predisposed for a man providing for a woman. In human history, getting with someone because you love them is a relatively recent phenomenon compared to getting with a partner for mutual benefit."

The statement about what Callie did for Jake to hold up her end of the 'mutual benefit' part of the relationship was an uneasy point that hung in the air.

Laura cleared her throat and looked to Dusty and placed a hand on his upper right arm. "Thank you so much for being there for Callie. I don't know what would have happened if you weren't there."

Dusty answered in a deadpan manner, "Oh, I know exactly what he was going to do: he would have slit her throat, threw her dead body out onto the side of the road then try to sale the car as quickly as possible for whatever cash he could get out of it."

The three ladies looked to him with quite a bit of surprise at his bluntness.

He slightly knotted his brow while dividing his glance between the three then seconds later slowly asked, "You've been very sheltered from evil people in your lives, haven't you?"

Callie cocked an eyebrow and questioned, "I take it you haven't?"

Dusty smiled, but it wasn't a warm one. "My father didn't sugarcoat the world for me. It is a harsh and cruel world, especially for a blue collar family. I knew as soon as I could understand that monsters existed, whether they were people or things that go bump in the night, and that they can and should be slew. His lessons were simply confirmed to me as I grew up, especially in my second high school, but that's a story for another time…"

An odd silence fell among the quartet, but Emma quickly took the opportunity to state with a pleasant smile. "I'm going to go check on your father and send the nurse home. I'm sure your father would want one of us be with him."

Laura warmly smiled to the housekeeper and waved at her goodbye.

"'Night Emma," Callie followed up.

Dusty politely smiled to the sisters and stated, "If you'll excuse me ladies, I think I will hit the bed, but before I go, I have an idea. If you two really need to catch up, which I know you haven't had the opportunity to do so, why don't you two get together for lunch? It'll be Sunday, so I'm sure that Laura won't have any pressing business with her business."

Callie turned her head slightly towards Dusty's direction and knotted her brow.

Dusty knowingly grinned.

Laura was quick to agree beaming with a smile, "That's perfect. I know this great restaurant where we can really catch up. You still have so much to tell me."

Callie put on a tight smile and nodded her head. "Yeah, we can do that."

The young man got up from his seat, bowed his head and headed out of the kitchen. "Later ladies."

Laura watched him until he disappeared by the bottom of the stairs then turned to her sister and remark, "He seems kind of rough around the edges, but…"

Callie raised an eyebrow and cautiously asked, "What?"

Laura knowingly smiled. "He seems like he could be a good catch for you. He certainly is handsome and he definitely cares about you…"

The dark brunette bowed her head and snorted out a breath. She cracked an ironic smile and commented in a soft laugh, "Yes he does…"

About half an hour or so later, Dusty had his back propped up with a pillow to sit up in bed with his legs out, reading from his laptop resting on his thighs. He had changed into a different athletic shirt and a pair of sleeping boxers for bed, but wanted to take a few minutes to catch up on some news before he 'went to bed'.

The news was the same old same old about how the world was going other than a slacking off violence in Egypt. Apparently several appearances by a young man being called 'The boy with black wings' had caused a few to question whether they should keep up their harassment and killing of Coptic Christians or become victims of their eyes and the internal organs fried—or so the reports said about the individuals. He quickly ran through some other headlines to get to some celebrity news. One could say it was a bit ridiculous taking the time to go over it in being obsessed with celebrity lives, but he had a particular celebrity to check up on.

He briefly read over the news that his ex-girlfriend was one of the headlines, but was a positive headline that she was soon to have a new modeling stitch for some high profile fragrance. However, further down the article there was mention (along with several paparazzi photos) that she had been spotted several times out with a new fellow and fueled the rumors that she had broken up with her boyfriend as they hadn't publicly been seen with each other for weeks.

This news wasn't a particular shock for him that someone would be interested in her and be making a move since he wasn't in the picture. She was a very lovely young woman along with being fairly well off already in modeling over the last few years. He had to deal with a number of contenders that had tried to push the son of a blue collar worker out of the way for his (and sometimes a her) shot at her. The other reason that he wasn't surprised by the news was that he had 'heard' from a number of friends that she had a male friend that was clearly interested in being more than a friend.

A soft knock from the partially opened door caught his attention and he looked up to a much unexpected sight: Callie standing at the threshold of his room while wearing just her black slip and visibly black plunge/pushup bra that she had worn under her borrowed red dress from Laura.

He cautiously greeted, "Hello?"

She teasingly smiled and closed the door behind her before strutted over to him with a swing of her hips. She crawled onto the left side of the bed, closed his laptop and pulled it off his lap to sit it on the neighboring dresser while distracting him by looking at him with a hungry look in her eyes.

He raised an eyebrow and questioned, "Ah Callie?"

She answered by swinging a leg over and straddling his thighs with her arms crossing over his shoulders and snaking around the back of his neck. She tilted her head to the left and moved in to press her nearly red lips against his lips.

He went bug-eyed for a several brief moments before he closed his eyes, rested his hands on her upper thighs, slightly turned his head to his left and returned the kiss with gentle pressure of his lips. He brushed his tongue over her bottom lip out of habit with another girl he used to do this with on a regular basis and she took it as a sign to part her lips and allowed him access.

The very tip of his tongue slipped past her lips and she let him set the pace for the dancing of their tongue.

The pair softly moaned into each others mouth while Callie pulled her arms tighter to hold him and his fingertips softly pressed into her thighs.

Those few seconds dragged on as they traded deeper kisses and Dusty for a moment was back in his room in California sharing some sweet and playful affection with a girl on his lap, but… the touch was slightly off and he quickly realized that the smell and taste was different than he was accustom and enjoyed. Seconds later he processed that he wasn't in California and the girl on his lap wasn't—he was kissing with another girl. He moved his hands to her upper bare arms and gently pushed her away to break the kiss.

He met her eyes and stuttered, "Woah, woah, woah, ah… stop."

Callie furled her brow and blinked while her arms pulled back and hands rested over his collarbone on either side of his neck. Her eyes darted for several seconds, studying his brown, almost innocent eyes. She finally uttered above the sound of their combined breaths, disbelief shining from her face, "You seriously are not interested in me are you?"

He politely smiled to her and quietly answered, "Callie, I am flattered nearly beyond belief, I told you that I broke up with my girlfriend… a girl I am very much in love with and I am not looking to be with anyone else at the moment… or at any time in the future." He glanced down, which wasn't such a good idea as he was looking directly into her creamy colored cleavage that sent additional blood flow to his lower extremity. He quickly looked back to meet her blue eyes and state with a trembling voice, "You are a very lovely young lady… and ah… even with the rough edges around your soul right now, you'd be a good catch for any decent guy, but… I'm not that guy, so would you please get off my lap."

Callie swallowed and bowed her head. He may have been turning her down, but his words were flattering even if they unexpectedly hurtful. She slid off his lap and took a seat to his left. She glanced at her lap and suddenly felt a wave of modesty. She tried pulling the hem of her slip further down to cover her thighs and casually remarked, "You must really love her."

He blew out a heavy breath then muttered, "Yes I do."

They pair sat there quietly for seconds that felt like it stretched out to a minute before Callie turned to look at his profile. She reached up and cupped his left cheek to turn his face towards her and whispered, "Why couldn't I have found you three years ago? Someone who doesn't think I'm crazy?"

He turned his face press his lips on her palm and cupped the back of her hand. He kissed down to her wrist and took time to kiss over each of her three scars then curled his fingers over the top of her hand into her palm to pull down and rest on his left knee. He quietly answered, "My life and a lot of others would have turned out differently if we had moved north instead of the West Coast, but… Callie, I wish I could promise you that everything is going to turn out to be alright, but I can't, but… I will do everything in my power to make it so."

She looked into his brown eyes and for a moment, she thought she would get lost into them and never find her way out. She knew something like that was just a silly romantic notion, but the same part of her that told her the universe spoke to her was telling her that there was something more to him than she could see with just her eyes and that unknown factor was the part pulling her inside.

She finally broke her staring with a hushed word, "I'm sorry for getting mad at you earlier tonight and at the bar, for… telling you to go to Hell."

He chuckled for a moment then answered with a big grin, "You're not the first person that I've pissed off with my self-righteous attitude."

She cracked a smile and asked, "Oh? I'm not?"

"Nope," he answered with a Cheshire grin.

"Dusty, I just want…" She closed her eyes and clenched her jaw tightly.

He slipped his hand into her right hand and gently squeezed. "Callie, I really do understand your need for justice. I really do. My grandmother on my father's side was murdered and my grandfather spent nearly twenty years in hunting down the man that did it. He couldn't finish the job, but my father did by putting a bullet in the son-of-a-bitch's heart."

She cocked her head to the side and snapped, "Then how can you tell me not to… not to get my revenge?"

Dusty let out a breath while meeting her eyes. "I'm just telling you there is a better, sweeter way that doesn't cost you anymore than what he has already stolen from you. There is that whole prison thing if you want him actually dead and get caught… then of course I know about your feelings, so I would be a loose end…" His voice became barely above a whisper as he finished, "…and when you tried to tie up that loose end… I'd end you."

She nodded her head, believing his words. She verbally pivoted, "You were going to kill him, weren't you?"

"Yes. You put down rabid dogs before they can bite again. I was not going to give him a second—third shot at this point at you, but that car just had to be coming… let him enjoy traction for a few months then become Bubba's bitch when they can give him a cell."

Callie paused in thinking out that line of thought: Jake had kidnapped and threatened to kill her and he had stolen a car, so he should be facing some serious jail time. If they could link him to some of his other activities… She brushed that aside and turned her attention back to her odd companion and asked something that had been itching at her since nearly being run over: "Have you killed before?"

Dusty glanced to the foot of the bed and answered, "Yes, but that's a story for another time."

The dark brunette took a breath and slowly coming to terms that the young man sitting next to her was more dangerous than Jake, but one that used that dangerousness to protect her. As she thought on that notion, she randomly asked without much thought, "Where did you get the knife?"

He grinned and gave a glance from the corner of his eye. "More like a short-sword, but… we all have our secrets."

"I guess we do, but you seem to know more of mine than I do of yours."

He focused on his wiggling toes while he answered, "If you've learned anything from your experiences, it is that life isn't fair. I'm not an open book."

"I'm sure it would be a fascinating read."

The Southern teenager turned and rested the side of his head on his right shoulder to look at her. He directed a boyish grin and answered, "I might let you read a few pages one day…"

She returned the smile, feeling more relieved than she felt in a long time. She felt… normal, however, that normal was a passing feeling and couldn't wrap herself in it and hide. So, she slid off the bed then looked to him with a bashful expression. "I guess then you have a good night."

"You too Callie."

She made it a few steps to the door before she heard him call out, "Callie?"

She paused just before reaching the door, thinking perhaps he had changed his mind about sharing the evening.

"Remember to bring up the will to Laura, but be careful how you handle it. Say you were double checking to see if he hadn't slipped away any kind of living will and you wanted to know exactly your father's wishes and you just happened to run across it. You don't want to come off as a greedy girl just counting down the days until he dies. Play it as if you're seeing at a sign that he doesn't love you, that the money isn't the issue but the act of cutting you out. And for God sakes, don't begrudge her for what he decided to leave her; she's not the enemy in all this."

She nodded her head and forced a soft smile onto her face. She exited the room and pulled the door shut.

Dusty palmed over his forehead then pulled his hand over his face then looked up at the ceiling for a few seconds. He reached from under his pillow and pulled out the same silver one foot long blade that tapered to a point with a leather wrapped handle that he nearly used on Jake hours earlier. He sighed out in relief, "At least I didn't need you for protection."

Callie walked back to her room, her mind befuddled on her next course of action. Hours earlier she had been furious with him sabotaging her original plan that she thought was her only chance to get her revenge, but now… no, she couldn't just let her hatred go with her father. Her mother needed justice, but… Dusty had saved her life—something she really didn't want to face as she knew the boy from the South was correct that given the chance, Jake would have murdered her—and was giving her another way out.

She struggled with that dilemma as she reached her room and closed the door behind her. She went to her closet to pull out her sleepwear and strip then changed into a reddish tank top and black sweatpants. Once she dressed she walked to her bed and pulled back the cover and sheet then slipped inside with the intention of just slipping into unconsciousness and let her mind deal with the battle in the morning after she had rested.

She turned and reached over with her left hand turn off the lamp, but stopped when she saw her wrist. She pulled her hand from the knob and scooted over to look at it under the light. She blinked several times looking at and ran the pad of her fingertips over her blemish free wrist. The scars were completely gone and didn't know if she was seeing things for a moment. However, she could feel her smooth skin and she was betting that she wasn't hallucinating tactile sensations.

She snapped her head up and stared at the door, but her mind was going to the young man down the hallway as the only explanation for her clear skin hit her like a ton of bricks.

"Oh my God…"

Author's note: That was another twist to this story. I hope you enjoy this chapter. I think the next update, will be the final chapter and I'm shooting for Friday, if not sooner. Don't be shy with the reviews and passing along word of this story. OneHorseShay