A case of beer later and Jason realized that it still hurt to come home.
He had been standing in his doorway for the past five minutes, his hand gripping the shiny gold knob as he glanced around the apartment and found nothing remaining of Elizabeth Webber. The fuzzy slippers that she wore were no longer poking out from under the couch, there was no burnt cooking surprise wafting in from the kitchen, the pool table wasn't set up for a game, the room no longer smelled like lilacs but the memories were still there, her laughter still haunted him.
He stormed in, growling, slamming the door behind him, causing the frames on his wall to shake and threaten to fall to the floor. He hated this place, hated that he had to live here, hated what she had done to it. It was no longer an apartment filled with sparse pieces of furniture, it was a home, a place that he longed to go to at the end of the day. She filled it with sunshine, made him relax and was usually there before him, waiting on the couch with a cold beer.
She would roll her eyes and tell him about her day, he would grumble about coffee beans and explain his. Somewhere between their words the kisses started, then a game of pool began and often times they decided to skip dinner and go right to dessert.
How long had she been in his life? Two, three months at best and yet he felt as if someone were reaching into his chest and ripping out his heart. He felt a physical pain that was like a blow to the gut and he knew that the spinning in his head wasn't resulting from too much liquor.
He missed her; he wanted her after all that she had done. He didn't want to live without her and yet he didn't know how to go after her, he didn't know how to fight for someone who knowingly put his life in danger, his friends life in danger, who knowingly continued with the lies she had told.
Someone who was just a child.
So he started towards the kitchen, aiming for another beer, something that would make his brain fuzzy, something that would dull the pain, blur her image for just a little while until he could start moving on.
It was then that he noticed the papers; spread out on his coffee table with the silver key next to it, the key he had given her the morning after she had moved in. He had placed it on a beautiful lap tray next to the breakfast he ordered from Kelly's.
The papers held the most intrigue, the results of Elizabeth's HIV test, the results that didn't matter to him a few hours ago. He didn't even think when his body slammed into hers; he didn't question what she had dropped on the floor the moment she stepped into the penthouse. He just knew that was his last time with her, he knew that he needed her to fill the void she had caused, it was like needing his next breath, that's how she described it, that's simply how it was.
His hands reached out, with a mind of their own, and picked up the sheets, his eyes searching, reading her information, her false information before he found the stated results. Elizabeth Webber tested negative for HIV.
He crumbled the papers in his hand and grabbed his own sealed package, already knowing the results, already being tested after being with Robin. It was something they had always done together; it was something he was going to do with Elizabeth, to prove to her that he was just as safe as she.
And look where it lead him, down the same road, towards the same heartbreak.
Kicking the small gated cage in front of the fireplace, Jason listened to it clang and scrap against the floor before he threw the packets down amidst the logs. He reached for the long matches on top of the mantle, scrapping one off, watching the flame dance before his eyes.
When he crouched down before the stone façade, looking for the perfect spot to ignite the fire, he noticed it, a piece of cotton material. He tossed the unlit stick on top of his papers, his fingers reaching for the scrap at the bottom of the logs.
It was a piece of blue silk bra that she had worn the night he had taken her on the pool table.
His fingers curled around it as he tried to fight back the tears, the memory of her body joining with his, rocking against his, wrapping around his. He scrapped the partly burnt material against his face as he cursed it, cursed her and cursed everything around him.
Standing up with a growl he tossed the material back into the fire and grabbed the pack of matches, lighting one and then sticking it in to the book. He then tossed the pack into the logs and hopped that it would burn, all of it, their results, her clothes, the memories.
He turned around and grabbed the first thing he saw, his end table, picking it up and tossing it across the room, sending it flying into the bookshelf beside the pool table. Next was the chair, pulling it up and flipping it to his side, sending it crashing into the gated fireplace cover that he kicked just a few minutes ago.
He stalked across the room, ripping apart the couch cushions, rolling it over onto its back. His desk chair was lifted over his head and tossed clear across the room, breaking the glass doors that led out to the patio where the seat came to its final resting place.
His fists slammed against the desk until he caused the wood to start to break and splinter, then he yanked the drawers out, slamming them against the penthouse door. After that he started towards the pool table, picking up the balls and tossing them into the kitchen. He picked up the sticks and broke them across his knee, sending each end flying in different directions. He hoisted the table up at one end and cried out with a roar when it landed with its legs straight in the air and the wonderful green felt was facing the floor.
The kitchen couldn't be ignored, not when she had spent so much time in there trying to cook, not when she had finally succeeded in making brownies only to have them burn because he simply couldn't keep his hands off of her. He pulled open the cabinet doors and started yanking out the boxes of food, tossing all items into the garbage. Next he pulled out a pan and bashed it against everything thing that he could. Throwing it to the ground, he stomped over to the refrigerator and pulled out her chocolate milk, pouring it down the drain, every last drop. Tossing the plastic container in the sink he walked over to his counter and grabbed a butcher knife, the one that Elizabeth was always afraid to touch.
The next room was the bedroom.
And that's all he thought about as he stalked back out into the living room, kicking pieces of furniture and debris out of his way. He pounded up the stairs, his fists punching against the railing, the knife curled in his hand.
He wanted to tear it all to pieces, everything that she had touched and he kicked open the bedroom door with his foot, intent on tearing the mattresses apart, ripping it to shreds like she had done with his heart.
But when he approached it, when he had stared at the rumpled sheets that they had sweated upon last night in their furious lovemaking before they fell asleep wrapped up in each other's arms he couldn't bring himself to do it.
He could tear at the sheets they had made love in but he couldn't tear her from his mind.
The knife slipped from his hand as he felt to his knees, his arms resting against the edge of the bed, his face buried in them as the hot tears started to fall.
Sonny Corinthos was a man who prided himself on always being prepared. That was why he hired the men that he did to keep him up to date on the latest information and whereabouts of any known enemies. It was why Jason was his second in command, because he was smart and efficient, he took care of things that needed to be handled and made sure that Sonny was the first to know about it.
And he knew the day something slipped past the Corinthos-Morgan organization it would hit them hard. He just had no idea how hard.
Jason was a wreck. Sonny didn't know when he would be able to get a good day's work out of him. He had appeared at the warehouse a few hours earlier, his eyes red, his face looking haggard and his hand reaching for the bourbon that Sonny kept in his office.
Sonny knew that whatever Jason had to tell him it wasn't good and frankly he was expecting news of a death or a war brewing but he wouldn't, couldn't, prepare himself for the news that Elizabeth Webber was a minor, associated with an, at this time, unknown organization.
He felt as if someone had shot him in the back.
He couldn't fathom why Elizabeth had kept that information from him. In the beginning he could understand with her being underage that she had to keep it hidden, that he understood, and that he might be able to forgive. She, of course, would have to find another job but he would've made sure things worked out.
Putting his family in danger, knowingly staying in town when she knew that someone was looking for her, that was unforgivable and he could understand Jason's anger, he felt some of the rage himself and he was eager to get home to Lily, to explain things and hold her and his two children a little tighter.
He prided himself on being a good husband and father and that was why he tried his hardest to keep the danger out of Port Charles, he tried his damndest to do the best bargaining that he could so no one would try and take over the territory, so he could keep his love ones safe.
Now they were all at risk, because some underage girl got under Jason Morgan's skin and decided she didn't want to leave.
He was glad that Jason assured him Elizabeth was out of town. He didn't want to have to face her, not after this betrayal of trust. He wasn't sure what he would do to the young woman who had caused so much hurt and destruction.
Opening the door to his penthouse and seeing his wife anxiously waiting for him he didn't realize that Elizabeth was smart enough to get to Lily before anyone else did.
"You know, Jason told you," Lily said, "Well I'm telling you that there are two sides to the story and you are going to hear hers before you make any rash decisions."
"Lily," Sonny sighed tiredly as he pulled his coat off and hung it over the back of his chair.
"She has nothing, Sonny, she has no one, she didn't know who to trust and who not to trust," Lily said as she approached him, "She's seventeen, Sonny. She's seventeen and she's running from someone. I think she's running for her life. She didn't tell me that but…"
He smiled sadly at her as he took her face in his hands and kissed her tenderly before pulling back and caressing her cheek, "I love you so much because you are so angelic. You take care of everyone. I don't know what would've happened to me if I never married you, Lily."
"She didn't know what to do, Sonny," Lily whispered, "Elizabeth never had any intention of us getting hurt. She doesn't want that."
"She brought danger upon us, upon my family," Sonny said quietly as he stepped away from his wife, "I can't forgive that, I can't forgive her for being around my children knowing that any moment someone could come collect her."
"She is gone, she is leaving town because of this," Lily said as she followed Sonny over to the couch, "She wants to stay here and fight for Jason, prove to us that she truly does love us and wants to be a part of our family but she's not doing that because she knows that she's wrong. She doesn't want to put us in anymore danger. Sonny," she sighed as she sat down next to him, "She said that she's going to leave a trail for these men to find her, she's going to lead them right out of Port Charles."
"Good," Sonny said, "That's what needs to be done."
"Sonny, if they find her…what if they kill her, Sonny? Do you want that on your conscience?"
"And what about Jason, huh?" Sonny asked, "Does Elizabeth mean more to you than he does? Because he walked into my office looking like hell earlier and I never seen him this bad Lily, not even after Robin. Aren't you concerned for him?"
Lily pulled away from him, "You know that I love Jason. You know that he is part of this family, but…"
Sonny sighed as he got up and moved to his wet bar, preparing himself bourbon.
"Elizabeth is a child," Lily said, "She was fourteen and a half when she started to strip, fourteen and a half, Sonny." Lily would never forget the age that Elizabeth told her, the age where she was forced to remove her clothes and dance for strange men, "She's only seventeen now and she has seen and done more things in her lifetime than I ever have and I grew up in this world."
Sonny took a long sip of his bourbon, trying to not let this tale of woe get to him, trying to remember that his family was in danger, that Jason was in pain.
"What if that happened to Adella?" Lily whispered from her curled up position on the couch, "What if Adella was handed over to strangers by some madman and forced to do what Elizabeth was done? Wouldn't you want someone to save her Sonny?"
Sonny turned to Lily, taking another long drink from his glass before placing it back down on his wet bar, "Are you telling me that some madman kidnapped Elizabeth and made her strip?" he asked with raised eyebrows.
"No," Lily said quietly, "I'm telling you that her father did."
Sonny felt his heart lurch, felt his stomach drop to his feet and then turned back around towards his wet bar, back to get another drink to steady his nerves. Her own father turning her over to the hands of the mob who could do what they wished with her.
He didn't want to imagine, as he took another sip, what more she was doing besides stripping.
"I'm not asking you to take her under your protection, Sonny," Lily said, "That isn't safe for anyone. All I'm asking is that you get Elizabeth out of the country. Please, Sonny, for me," she whispered and then he felt her arms around him, felt her warm cheek press against his back through his silk shirt.
"Mi bellza," he whispered, "Anything for you."
Elizabeth secured the cinch on her robe tightly as she stepped out of the motel bathroom, towel drying her hair. That was the fifth shower in a row that she had taken and she still felt as if the slime from the owner of the club was still on her. She shuddered as she walked over to the century old refrigerator the cheap room housed and pulled out a beer from the case she scored in the deal.
It wasn't so much a deal with the devil as it was a deal with the scum of the earth.
She was making her way to the bus stop, walking across town from Harborview Towers was more like it, when she encountered a thief in the alleyway. He threw her up against a dumpster, threatened plenty of unpleasant things if she didn't turn over her bag and robbed her of all the money she had, tossing the bag back at her before he ran away laughing.
She cursed herself for wearing sensible sneakers instead of her stripper heels where she could've easily kicked the guy in the balls and probably jammed a hole in his neck.
Instead she picked up her clothes, which were now dirty, brushed herself off and made her way to the first seedy strip bar she came upon. She asked to speak with the manager, he inquired about her black eye and she told him her situation, asked if she could get an advance.
He offered her a job, two hundred dollars and a case of beer while he leered at her.
It didn't take her long to add up what she needed to do to actually get the things that he was offering. She laid down some ground rules, he followed, and she was right back to where she started, whoring herself out to strangers.
She had to do what she had to do and that was get out of town quickly. Two hundred bucks wouldn't take her far enough so she decide to stay the week, earn what she could, however she could, and then she was gone, first to Florida then she was going to fly out to the Bahamas, disappear from sight, never to be found again.
She sighed as she took a sip of her beer and collapsed back against her bed. She wanted to run to Jason, wanted to beg for his help, beg for his forgiveness but she screwed all that up. No matter how much time she gave him he would always look upon her as the woman who took his trust and threw it right back in his face laughing. No, she'd never get a second chance with the best thing that ever happened to her. She would just move on, away from his life, and make sure that the ones looking for her would follow her out of this city.
She would disappear somewhere between the Carolinas and the Keyes and then she would start anew and pretend that the wonderful Mr. Morgan never walked into her life.
She laughed sadly as she sat back up, brushing a tear from her eye and taking another sip from the long neck bottle. That was a fat chance. She would never forget Jason, never forget the way he touched her, the way he moved her, the way he made her feel like she was a real woman instead of a used up piece of garbage. She would never forget the way she loved him.
Rolling her eyes at the knock at her door, Elizabeth stood up, hopping it wasn't the teenager desk clerk that tried hitting on her or that her new boss did some questioning and found out where she was so he could go for another round. She wasn't up to any visitors tonight. She just wanted to crawl into her semi clean sheets and try to get a few hours of sleep.
Sipping her beer, she pulled on the handle of her door, opening it with an annoyed sigh, "What?"
His smirking eyes met hers, "Hello Lizzie, long time no see."
Elizabeth gasped as her face paled, her body started to shake and the beer bottle crashed against the linoleum floor.