Mike stood there looking from one to the other trying to comprehend what was going on. Alex looked back over his shoulder at Tess who had by now gotten off the bed and wrapped the sheet around her. She looked at Mike who looked over at her for a moment, his eyes full of fire and then looked away.

"Get dressed Tess." She grabbed her clothes and disappeared into the bathroom. He pushed his way into the hotel room and closed the door.

"Mike..."

"I trusted you. I told everyone sitting at that table that you wouldn't let anything happen to her. That she'd be okay with you." Mike said in a low voice.

"I know what you're thinking..." Alex started. Mike's hand around his throat stopped him midsentence.

"You have no idea what I'm thinking. Or exactly what I want to do to you right now."

"I didn't...I didn't force her...to do anything." Alex croaked out as Tess came out of the bathroom dressed. Mike looked over at her.

"Is that true?"

"What?"

"Tell him. Tell him that I didn't force you to do anything." She looked between the two of them.

"Tess..."

"I...I don't remember. I drank that one drink and then I remember feeling dizzy. I...called for you. And you answered me. Mike, you answered me and told me you were there in bed with me." She said. Mike looked at Tess and then at Alex. And he grabbed Alex up by the neck again.

John and Lindsay were walking by on their way to their room when they heard the commotion from Alex's room. John opened the door and saw Mike had Alex pinned against the wall by the neck.

"Mike, what are you going?" John asked they walked in.

"He had sex with Tess. I know he forced her. She wouldn't sleep with him."

"I didn't force her." Alex croaked out again. "I would never do that."

"Tess, what happened?" Lindsay asked her friend who nearly in tears.

"I don't remember...I called for Mike. I talked to him. He told me he was there." She said letting the tears fall. Lindsay hugged her.

"What did you do to her?" Mike asked tightening his grip on Alex's throat.

"Mike, let him go man." John said pulling Mike away and he let go of Alex, who coughed to catch his breath.

"I didn't do anything to her. I brought her here because she didn't have her key to the room. We were both a little buzzed and things just happened." Alex looked at Mike and the Tess. "But I would never force myself on anyone. Mike, you know that. John, you have to know that. I would never do that."

"Mike, Tess loves you. She would never just sleep with some guy. You know that about her." Lindsay said. Mike ran his fingers through hair.

"But it has Linds." He said.

"What? What are you talking about?" Lindsay asked. She had never heard about Tess cheating on him and she assumed someone would have told her. "She wouldn't do that."

"Ask her. Ask her about what happened with her and Josh Kelso. The reason he kept hitting on her in the first place. When I went away to baseball camp."

"You were broken up when you went to baseball camp."

"Just ask her." Mike said. "Let her tell you everything."

Lindsay turned to Tess. "What happened? I know you. You're not a cheater. What happened?"

"Mike had just broken up with me and Josh found me crying. He was comforting me and it just sort of happened. I didn't mean for it to happen but it did." Tess said quietly. "But this is different Mike. I told you I don't remember exactly what happened but I called out for you and you talked to me."

"If you don't remember, how are you so sure you called out for me?" Tess closed her eyes and let a few tears fall. "How do I know that what happened with Alex didn't go like he said?"

"If you believe that, we don't belong together." She said as she slipped the ring off and lay in on the entertainment center before she walked past Lindsay and out of the room.

Lindsay turned to her brother. "You're an idiot. She loves you."

"I found her in his bed naked. She slept with him."

"Something is wrong with this picture." Lindsay said turning to Alex. "I will find out the truth and if you did something, no one will be able to save you from the ass kicking I will give you. Now I'm going to see to my friend." She turned back to her brother. "Give me the key to your room." Mike reached in his pocket and handed it to her. She looked over at John. "She's staying with us tonight. She's been through enough tonight." John nodded. She walked down the hallway and caught up with Tess. "Hey, let's get your stuff and you can stay with me and John tonight okay?" She nodded.

"I'm going home in the morning." Tess said. "I uh….just can't be here anymore right now." Tess sobbed and Lindsay hugged her.

"Alright." She took her arm and they headed to get her things. Once they had them they headed to her and John's room. She couldn't believe her brother and she couldn't shake the feeling that something else was going on with it.

Once they were in the room, Tess called Aubrie who said she would be right over.

John looked over at Mike after they left Alex's room. "You sure changed your tune awfully fast in there." John said. "You do believe that she didn't sleep with him right? You saw her when she was leaving the club. She was damn near out of it."

"I don't know what to believe anymore. I wanted to believe she wouldn't cheat on me the first time. But she did. She slept with that guy hours after we broke up. Why wouldn't she do it again?"

"Because you weren't broken up. You guys just got back together." John sighed. . "Mike, don't you think it's odd that Alex all of sudden started hanging out with us again and he offered to take Tess back to the hotel. Didn't you find that odd?"

"Yeah but Alex is or was a friend. I just don't know."

"Do you love her?"

"What?"

"Do you love her? Do you really believe all that stuff you've been saying the last few months about her being the missing part of you?"

"Of course I do."

"Then you need to talk this out with her. You need to make this right."

"But how can I forgive this?"

"Mike, if you truly love her like you say, then you will hear her out and try. I would if it were Lindsay."

"Right." Mike sighed and headed with John to the room. He hoped Tess would talk to him. They got to the room and John opened the door. They were met with two sets of angry eyes and one set of sad ones.

"What the fuck is he doing here?" Aubrie said as the door opened and she and Lindsay instictively stepped in front of Tess.
"He came to talk to her."

"Hasn't he run his mouth enough tonight? Throwing accusations around like they were his fucking catch phrase?"

"Aubrie...they need to talk this out." John said.

"No. He needs to get a fucking clue and stop making her cry. For the last eleven years, she's held out hope that somehow he'd come back to her. That all those promises he made to her weren't just bullshit lies to get into her pants. And he did. He came back and things were the way they were before. Until tonight. And then Lindsay calls me and I come over here and find her in a heap on the bed sobbing into the pillow about how she didn't remember everything but how she knew she'd somehow let him down. How he'd lost his trust in her and how he didn't love her anymore just like before. And I will not let him wreck her again."

Lindsay looked at everyone in the room. "Maybe they should talk. It will help to get everything out in the open. Provided she wants to talk to him."

Tess sat there looking from Mike to Aubrie to Lindsay to John. She wasn't sure she wanted to talk to him. Would it do any good? She sighed.

"I'll talk to him." She said softly. He breathed a sigh of relief. "I'll call you guys when we're done." Aubrie looked at her.

"Are you sure?" Tess nodded and hugged her sister and her best friend. Aubrie looked at Mike.

"I'm watching you Mizanin. Don't you dare hurt my sister again." She said as she pushed past him. Mike looked over at Tess.

"You want to go back to our room?" She nodded. She still wasn't sure about talking to him but she knew she had to get things out in the open. She still planned on leaving the next morning. Maybe space is what they needed. They walked down the hallway in silence, not even touching. Not like people who only a few hours before had been in love, happy. Strangers. That's what it felt like. And she knew that no matter what happened, things would never be the same.

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