Chapter Eleven

"Lonely?" AJ asked.

"More like scared," Sekarah said.

"Scared of what?"

"I heard a noise outside," she said.

"You know that nothing can hurt you," AJ said. "There's a fifteen foot steel fence outside and three trained dogs."

"I know," Sekarah said looking a bit uncomfortable.

Then AJ felt ashamed of himself. The poor girl was truly terrified of this man and he was treating her like a fool.

"Any games on?" AJ asked.

"Carolina and Colorado," Sekarah said turning the television on.

AJ laughed. She got so excited when someone mentioned hockey. He sat down beside her on the bed.

"I don't like Colorado," Sekarah said. "They're all old."

He laughed again. "Well what about Brind'amore? He's old too," AJ said.

"But Staal's not," Sekarah said.

"And what am I?" AJ asked.

"You're…young," Sekarah answered. Then she looked at him. "And me?"

Without even thinking AJ replied with, "Beautiful."

Then, for the first time, a smile spread across Sekarah's lips. AJ wrapped his arm around her waist and let his hand fall.

They continued to watch the game for a while until the door opened. Both of their heads snapped around. They didn't expect to see Chris standing in the doorway.

"Wanna come watch the game?" AJ asked him. When he could tell that Chris was going to reject the offer he started again. "Why don't you love me anymore?"

Chris tried as hard as he could but he could not hold back his laugh. AJ sat up, moved over and patted the bed.

"Come on big man," AJ said.

Chris walked into the room and sat down on the bed. They watched the first two periods before Lisa popped her head into the room.

"Aww…isn't this cute?" She asked.

"Why yes, I am extremely cute," AJ said.

Lisa rolled her eyes and laughed. "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure thing sweetheart," AJ said getting off of the bed and following Lisa downstairs.

"I don't get it," Lisa said. "How'd you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Get her to talk," Lisa said. "She barely says anything to me when she's here."

"I don't know," AJ said. "I getting ready for bed last night when I heard a knock on the door. I said 'Come in' and then it was Sekarah who opened the door. She said that she was scared so I offered her my bedroom and she said that she was just going to sleep on the floor, because she's used to it."

"When she's at home her husband makes her sleep on the floor," Lisa said.

"Ever see this guy?"

"No, never," Lisa said looking up the stairs to make sure that no one was listening. "But you two sure seem to be hitting it off."

AJ smiled at her and then shrugged.

"Get out of here you loser," Lisa said laughing.

"You know you have wet dreams about me," AJ said.

"Yeah, I piss myself laughing when you fall off cliffs," Lisa retorted.

"For a physiatrist you're not a very nice person," AJ said.

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"Why would you want to tell him that?" Chris asked.

"Well I don't want to tell him that," Lisa said. "I don't want to hurt AJ."

"When did you draw up this crazy theory of yours?" Chris asker her.

"It's evident that she only goes over there when she becomes afraid of something," Lisa replied.

"Maybe she just needs an excuse. And do you think that AJ's gonna stick around after you tell him that?"

"I know, the poor guy's just getting over Alyssa and now I think that Sekarah's just using him for protective purposes," Lisa thought out loud.

"Just leave him alone," Chris said. "He doesn't have to be thinking about that before our major PPV event of the year. Discussion closed."

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AJ walked downstairs. The house was extremely quiet. He looked into the living room. He found Sekarah sitting in front of the picture window bathing in the sun.

"Why don't you just go outside?" AJ asked her.

"I don't go outside while I'm here," Sekarah said. "It's too scary."

"Do you want me to come outside with you?" AJ asked.

"You don't have to completely change your lifestyle because I'm here," Sekarah said. "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

Instead of replying AJ gently took her hand and helped her up.

"C'mon," he said tenderly guiding her.

He opened the door to the backyard and let her step out first.

"See? It's not that bad," he said walking up behind her and wrapping his arms around her.

She took a few more steps and sat down on the soft grass.

"It's nice out here," she said looking at him.

Then her eyes went wide.

"What's wrong Sekarah?" AJ asked looking around the yard.

"You have to shut the door!" She yelled. "Shut the door!"

"Calm down," AJ said to her.

"No, you don't understand! If Trevor sees that the door is open he'll get mad! You have to close the door!" She yelled.

"Alright, alright," AJ said getting up and closing the door.

Her breathing returned to normal.

"Do you want to talk to me about him?" AJ asked her.

She didn't reply. She just looked at the ground and played with the grass.

"You know that you can talk to me Sekarah," AJ said. "I won't hurt you."

She looked at him, with eyes full of tears, and nodded.

"Come here," he said motioning to her.

She gently climbed onto his lap and let him sooth her.

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"I have to tell him," Lisa said to Chris.

Chris looked out the window.

"So you're going to tell him that Sekarah actually doesn't need him?" Chris asked. "She's made tremendous progress since she met him."

"But it's not good for AJ!" Lisa said. "This is the first girl that AJ's been with since Alyssa! He doesn't even know how attached he is to her."

"Are you jealous?" Chris asked her. "Are you jealous because Sekarah turned to AJ and not you?"

"It has nothing to do with me," Lisa hissed. "You and I both know that there'll be a day when Sekarah thinks she needs Chris, most likely when you guys have a game on the road, so she'll go back to him. And what the hell do you think he's going to do when he finds her back in the house after so long! He's going to beat her Chris, like always."

"We don't know that she'll leave," Chris fought. "Maybe she's happy with AJ. Maybe she finally realizes that not all men beat women."

"You and I know for a fact that she thinks that marriage leads to beatings," Lisa said.

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