Elizabeth tugged at her sleeve trying to cover the now purple bruise on her forearm. The last thing she wanted was Jason seeing it. It had taken him such a long time to cool off after what happened with Billy at the bar last night and she didn't want to dredge it all up again by exposing the remnants of Billy's bullish behavior.

"You have everything packed?" Melanie asked poking her head into the bathroom.

"Yeah, just gathering up the last of my things," she answered.

"You okay?" Melanie stepped further inside the tiny hotel bathroom. She didn't like the frown she saw clouding her friend's features.

"I'm fine."

"Want to try that again with a bit more enthusiasm? What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Spill it Ryan. You aren't fooling me and I'm almost sure that you won't be fooling neither of the boys either. What's wrong?"

Elizabeth pulled up her sleeve revealing the hand shaped bruise on her arm. "That bastard!" Melanie watched as Elizabeth cast her gaze toward the floor. "I'm sorry," she apologized knowing that wasn't the reaction that her friend needed at the moment even if it was the only one Melanie was able to muster.

"I'm just worried that Jason's going to freak when he sees this."

"Of course he is," Melanie said stating the obvious. "And he damn well should. Hell he should have ripped Weston a new asshole last night."

"I can't have him ruining his career over me." Melanie heard the angst in her friend's voice. "My dad will never forgive me," Elizabeth added softly. Pat Ryan had put all of the Ryan Racing eggs in one basket, Jason's basket, and Elizabeth knew that if that fell through because of her the tenuous at best relationship she had with her father would have been blown to smithereens.

"Who cares what your dad thinks. From what I have seen Jason certainly doesn't! Billy deserves what Jason can dish out – hell he deserves worse!"

Elizabeth wanted to agree and somewhere in the back of her mind she did but she knew how much racing meant to Jason. It was his legacy and his last link to his father. She didn't want to be any part of the reason that he could lose that.

"You ladies ready?" Leo called entering their room.

"Just about," Melanie offered. "You better pull it together girl. If Jason doesn't see right through you, you sure as hell know Leo will. You can't control this one. Billy was gunning for Jason long before the two of you hooked up. He's just found another way to get to him…."

"Yeah by using his feelings for me as ammunition," Elizabeth interrupted her.

"Jason knows what kind of person he's dealing with when it comes to Billy. He's not going to let someone like him get the upper hand. He's too smart for that. You have to trust him." The minute Melanie said that she knew how difficult that was going to be for her friend. Admittedly she knew how far Elizabeth had come in letting her defenses down when it came to her relationship with Jason Morgan – another NASCAR driver no less. Trust wasn't an easy emotion for Elizabeth to hand over.

"It's Billy I don't trust," Elizabeth stated.

"Who does?" Melanie concurred. "He's an ass and all we can hope for is one day he gets what he has coming to him."

"I just hope that he doesn't take anyone else down in the process," she said absently thinking about how Billy's underhanded tricks caused Leo to spin out. It could have been a whole lot worse and with Billy's need to win at all costs Elizabeth couldn't squelch the sick feeling she had in the pit of her stomach.

"Hey if we want to get back to Charlotte before dark we better get a move on," Leo called impatiently.

"We're coming!" Elizabeth shouted back hoping to have her voice filled with its typical sarcasm as to cover the thoughts that were running through her mind.

"You okay?" Melanie asked again.

"I guess I have to be." Elizabeth pulled at her shirt sleeve, grabbed her overnight bag and let the hotel door click closed behind her.

Elizabeth glanced in the rearview mirror as she merged onto the ramp for I-77S. They were in their final leg of the trip home and admittedly she was more than a little glad – not because she didn't enjoy Jason's company but she had been more than a little stressed trying to keep the large wine colored bruise hidden when she shifted gears.

"Hey have you heard a word I've said?" Jason asked.

"Look," she said nodding for him to look at the reflection in the mirror.

Jason lifted his eyes and saw both Leo and Melanie sound asleep her with her head on his broad shoulder and his head resting against hers.

"Cute aren't they?" Elizabeth grinned.

"Not as cute as you," Jason joked giving her arm a bit of a squeeze. She stiffened a bit in an attempt to transfer the pain to anywhere other than her face.

"She was freaking out yesterday at the race when Leo skidded off the track. She's never going to admit it but she was ready to jump out of her skin until we made it to the pits and she could see for herself that he was okay."

"You think she can handle falling for one of us?" Jason questioned. He knew first hand it took a special sort of woman to be a part of the racing circuit and even then there were no guarantees on what their true breaking point was. His mother was a prime example of such a woman.

Elizabeth put some serious thought into his question. Her gut reaction was to immediately say yes however the anxious way Melanie had been in the stands had her questioning that just a little. "I know that she can handle falling for Leo. I mean seriously she already has even if she can't admit to it."

"Like someone else I know," Jason teased.

"Yeah okay, so I'm a little slow on the uptake…"

"A little?" he mocked.

"Hey!"

"Just kidding," he said flashing his million dollar smile.

"You'd better be!"

"Seriously though," Jason began, "You of all people know what it's like to sit in those stands. I don't think I could it if roles were reversed. I'd go out of my mind thinking about all the things that could possibly go wrong or happen to you."

Easily Elizabeth laced her delicate fingers through his larger ones bringing the back of his hand to her lips. "Yep, I know the feeling."

"So you know Melanie better than I do. Can she be a racer's girlfriend?"

"Maybe. I know that she wasn't just anxious yesterday she was downright terrified especially when she saw Leo's car spin out into the infield. That doesn't mean she doesn't have feelings for him though. I just don't know if those feelings will be enough for her to hold on to, if you know what I mean."

"Yes I do. But I have to ask what happened to the Elizabeth that was hell bent on getting her friends together come hell or high water? Who are you and what have you done with the real Elizabeth?"

She laughed at herself. Jason was so right the words coming out of her mouth sounded nothing like her. But she didn't want to see either of her friends get hurt and until she was certain that Melanie could hang in there for the tough and scary times that came with loving a NASCAR racer she wasn't so sure she wanted to push either friend into something she might regret doing. "She's still in there I promise," she reassured him. "I have lived this way all my life. I know the risks but Melanie she doesn't. She's only lived them vicariously through me and well I just don't want….."

"Her to end up bitter like my mom?" Jason asked before she could finish.

"I hadn't thought about your mom at all actually but maybe. Even though I know all the dangers, I still don't know what would happen to me or who I would become if I had to live through something like she mom has," Elizabeth answered truthfully. "I mean don't misunderstand I am not taking her side. It's just I honestly don't know what it would feel like to lose the love of my life."

At the time when she found Billy in bed with Teresa, it had felt like that – like the world as she knew it had been spun out from under her but now she knew better. The thought of losing Jason was more than she could bare and if Melanie felt for Leo even a quarter as much as she felt for Jason Elizabeth knew she needed to let her friend come to terms with all that meant in her own time.

The remainder of the drive home Elizabeth felt more relaxed as she and Jason eased into a very comfortable conversation about really nothing at all but for her it was so different than what she had been used to in a relationship. She and Jason weren't just boyfriend and girlfriend they were truly friends and that made such a huge difference somehow. The illuminated Ryan Racing sign flashed in the distance. "Looks like we're home," she announced.

"Should we wake up sleeping beauty and the prince?" Jason motioned to the pair still fast asleep in the backseat.

"In a minute," Elizabeth said as she leaned in to kiss him softly. "Thank you."

"For what?" Jason asked unsure of what she meant.

"For just being who you are."

Jason didn't know how to respond to her words. Part of him understood what she meant and what she was trying to say. Between what she told him and what he was able to see for himself, he had been able to piece together the risk she had taken with him was certainly a leap of faith for her.

"I'm not so sure everyone has the same opinion of me as you might," he said with a laugh as he imagined people like Pat Ryan, especially would have preferred him to be more worried about his statics and plastering his face over every racing rag in the country than taking off to find a friend who was having a tough time of it. But people like that meant very little to Jason, he had never been one to follow the typical and he didn't intend to start now.

"I don't care about anybody else or what they might think," Elizabeth grinned back broadly. "I love you Jason Morgan just the way you are!"

"And I you," he agreed kissing her first on the forehead before trailing his lips to the tip of her nose, then cheeks finally resting softly on her awaiting mouth. "I love you too," he said once more.

Elizabeth looked up at the ginger colored sky allowing herself to get lost in the moment. She looked at Jason and smiled brightly. To hear those words and know that the person saying them actually meant them without having a hidden agenda was something that she hadn't expected to find again, if ever. Elizabeth had looked at the string of horrible events in her life and the disastrous end to her relationship with Billy as the culmination of it all that happiness wasn't in the cards for her but in walks Jason Morgan and suddenly all of that changed. Admittedly she was still a bit weary but for once in her life she was going to throw caution to the wind and live in the moment. It was Leo's sudden loud snore coming from the backseat that pulled her from her thoughts. She looked at Jason as they both laughed loudly.

"Hey!" Jason announced slapping Leo's outstretched foot. "Time to wake up!"

"You too sleeping beauty," Elizabeth added reaching to shake Melanie's arm.

The slumbering pair was slow to wake up but when they finally did and realized the close proximity of their bodies to one another each jumped away from the other luckily for them the doors to the car were still closed or they would have both tumbled to the ground. Again Jason and Elizabeth did little to hide their laughter.

"What?" Leo questioned as he straightened his shoulders never once looking in Melanie's direction which only served another wave of laughter to erupt from Jason and Elizabeth.

"Nothing," Elizabeth said coyly as she grinned from ear to ear staring both her friends squarely in the eye. She was sure she saw a crimson blush color Melanie's cheeks as she gathered her purse and made a hasty exit from Elizabeth's dusty black Chevelle.

"I'm going to head to the garage and check on the damage Weston did to you my car yesterday," Leo said making his own quick exit in the opposite direction.

"Bye Leo." Elizabeth wiggled her fingers in his direction as she spoke to him with that know it all tone in her voice that she knew her friend knew all too well.

"You're so bad!" Jason laughed as he watched Leo quickly wave her off with the slight of his hand.

"Who me?" she giggled slyly.

"Yes you," he confirmed as he easily slipped his chiseled muscular arm over her petite shoulders. "Nothing like making them squirm a little huh?"

"No harm," she smiled brightly at him. "But I guess I should catch up with her and try to talk her down a bit. Did you see her face when we woke them up?"

"What about his?" Jason countered. "They both looked like a deer caught in the headlights."

"Yeah," she agreed. "Go see what you can get out of Leo and I will do the same with Mel." Elizabeth hadn't forgotten their earlier conversation about Melanie's ability to handle what it meant to be the girlfriend of a NASCAR driver and she needed to find out.

"Will do," Jason said before his lips sweetly grazed her plump ones. "Catch up with you later?" he asked.

"I need to stop by the hospital and check my messages. I'll call you later." She returned his kiss with one of her own. Jason pulled her into his chest and for a brief moment inhaled her scent deeply before he began to caress her silky skin with the back of his hand. Her breath hitched in her throat when for one brief second his hand grazed the side of her breast through her thin tee shirt. She bit her lip as that same hand trailed down the length of her body setting every nerve ending on fire. "I have a friend to talk down off a ledge you know," Elizabeth said with a crack in her voice.

"I know," Jason's husky voice whispered in her ear letting his tongue tickle its lobe.

"Jason," she let out a breathless sigh.

"Yes?" he answered innocently.

"You're so bad!"

"I learned from the master," he announced with a wicked grin.

"Who me?"

"Most definitely," he said before reluctantly breaking their embrace. "Go do what you need to do."

He knew he sounded like a dejected child however the thought of being away from her wasn't something that sat all that well with him especially after the stunt Billy had pulled last night at the bar. Jason was well aware of the large purple bruise that she had been trying to hide from him the entire drive home. Just the thought of it ignited a fire in the pit of his stomach all over again.

"I won't be long. I promise," she assured him.

Theresa used the covered of one of the outbuildings to watch the exchange between Elizabeth and Jason. Clinching her hands tightly together it took all she had to remain in the shadows. Even from her distant perch it wasn't difficult to see the sexual tension between the pair. It made her sick but more importantly it pissed her off. Princess Ryan always getting what she wanted well not this time Theresa thought. She had gotten Billy easy enough and she would get Jason Morgan too no matter what it took.

Billy had been pacing for what seemed like hours as he waited for Elizabeth to arrive back at the Ryan compound. The images of her and Jason together from the night before danced in his head fueling his raging inferno when it came to Jason Morgan. Finally he saw the dust cloud billowing up the road and ducked out of sight waiting for the right moment to approach Elizabeth.

The back of Billy's throat began to burn as the bile from his stomach inched its way higher and higher at the sight of Jason's hands all over Elizabeth, his Elizabeth, if he had anything to say about it. Billy fought every urge that raged within him to rush forward and claim what was once his. The war inside his head wrestled with how he wanted to handle the scene before him and how he knew he had to handle it. He let out a labored sigh, clenched his jaw and continued to watch and wait. Eventually that wait paid off when he saw Elizabeth part Jason's company and two headed in opposite directions. Resisting the impulse to immediately sprint after her, Billy hung back for a few more moments just until he saw Jason disappear around one of the many large metal buildings. The last thing he wanted was to have Morgan anywhere in the mix.

When he felt the coast was clear Billy quickly dashed to catch up with her. "Elizabeth!" he called. "Hey Elizabeth, wait up." He watched her look over her shoulder and instantly saw her beautiful smile yet it faded abruptly when she recognized who was calling out to her. Billy tightened his jaw in a vain attempt to not let her reaction get under his skin. He knew he had to keep his emotions in check or none of this was ever going to work.

"Elizabeth, please, I just want to talk to you." Bill was glad to see her pace slow and in a few strides of his own he easily caught up to her.

"What do you want?" she asked folding her arms across her chest revealing the rather large black and blue mark Billy's hand had left the evening before.

He instantly caught sight of it and without thinking his hand reached out fingers tracing the brandy wine mark. For a brief moment Billy felt sick to his stomach but that feeling quickly faded when Elizabeth jerked her arm away from his touch. Again Billy heard his inner voices warring on how to handle this all.

"I'm sorry about that," he told her as he swallowed his golf ball sized anger. "You know I would never hurt you purposely."

"I do?" Elizabeth said cocking her brow thinking that's all Billy had done and how his words rang of untruth. "What do you want?" she spat not allowing herself to let her mind revisit her past with him. It wasn't worth the time or the inevitable heartache.

"I just wanted to say I was sorry for what happened last night," he said gesturing towards her arm this time careful not to touch her. "It wasn't supposed to go down like that…."

"Still singing the same tune I see," Elizabeth's biting tone cut him off. "Nothing is ever your fault or better yet you always have some reason why…."

"Liz, please," he said his turn to interrupt.

"Please, what? So you're sorry. You're always sorry. I like I care, Billy."

Once more he clenched his jaw tight forcing down the caustic words that were fighting for their escape. He felt the waves of anger ripple through his frame. "I am sorry," he finally stressed. "I just wanted you to know how happy I was to see you at the track again."

"So you said." Elizabeth wasn't buying whatever Billy was attempting to sell.

"I never realized how much having you there meant before. Just knowing you were out there had me wanting to do my best….for you," he added.

Elizabeth almost laughed in his face at that last addition Billy Weston never did anything for anyone but himself. And she had up close and personal knowledge of that fact. "Are we done?" she asked rolling her eyes.

"I am sorry, really I am."

"Okay." She wasn't sure what else she could say to him.

"Do you forgive me?"

Elizabeth stared at him her blue eyes wide with disbelief. She couldn't believe he uttered those words to her. Forgive him? Was he kidding? She had so much bottled up anger for the man that stood before her that she wasn't sure if she would ever be able to forgive and she certainly wasn't about to forget all he had done. She knew she would have to say something though or he wouldn't be satisfied and more importantly he wouldn't leave her alone until she did. "I accept your apology," she ultimately answered. "But as forgiving you – don't hold your breath!"

"Thank you." It took everything in him to make those two words fall off his tongue. "I am sorry I hurt you."

"Are we done?" she asked again.

"Yeah, just don't be a strange at the track. I did mean it when I said you are my good luck charm."

"Ugh!" Elizabeth groaned as she turned on her heal heading off in search of Melanie once again.

Theresa watched again from a distance and the fire in the pitch of her stomach burned on as she had to witness yet another man and his affections for the Ryan Princess. She saw how Billy's eyes lingered on Elizabeth's retreating form and how he slowly smiled at the sway of her hips. It made her blood boil. She was pretty sure what he was up to and it wasn't going to happen, not if she had anything to say about it.