Love Is an Irresistible Desire to Be Irresistibly Desired
"What's wrong?" Jen asked when she saw Amber at the bar.
"I needed someone to talk to," Amber said wiping the tears away from her eyes.
"Well what happened?" Jen asked trying to console her friend.
"It's over," Amber replied. "AJ and I are over."
"Over? How are you over? You two were madly in love. I witnessed it," Jen said shocked.
"We still are Jen!" Amber said crying. "But his sister is giving him a guilt trip about seeing me."
"Why the hell does his sister matter so much in your relationship?" Jen asked.
"Because he's all she has," Amber replied. "I could tell he didn't want to do it but it was the only option left. We even kissed in his driveway after we had broken up."
"Wow," Jen said.
"You can say that again," Amber said as the bartender brought her another beer.
"I thought you got the point that I wanted you to stay away from my brother," Janessa said to Amber.
"You've got some nerve coming up to me," Amber said.
"Just stay away from him," Janessa said walking away.
"I'll see you later Jen," Amber said following Janessa through the crowd. "Come back here!"
Janessa kept walking until she walked right out the back door. Amber didn't care, she followed her.
"Who the hell do you think you are toying with your brother like that?" Amber asked going nose to nose with Janessa.
"You better watch who you say what to," Janessa said smiling. "You wouldn't want to get hurt."
AJ was asleep upstairs when he heard someone pounding on the door. At first he just rolled over and ignored it until he heard someone yelling.
"Orlando Police Department! Open the door!"
AJ got up and slowly walked down the stairs.
"How can I help you?" AJ asked leaning against the door frame.
"AJ Styles?" The first officer asked.
"Yeah," he answered.
"Where were you tonight?" He asked.
"I was here the whole night," he said. "Why?"
"There was a crime committed approximately six hours ago and we have reason to believe that you might have been involved in some way," the second police officer said. "And if you don't have a problem with it we would like to bring you into the station for some questioning."
"Just let me get some shoes on and I'll come with you," he said and then turned around. "Exactly what time is it?"
"It's five o'clock in the morning," the second police officer said.
"So we're just going to ask you a few questions," the sergeant said sitting across the table from AJ. "Are you okay with that?"
"Yeah," AJ answered.
"Alright. Does the name Amber McTavish mean anything to you?" She asked.
"She's my girlfriend. Well she was my girlfriend," AJ corrected.
"Bad breakup?" She asked.
"No, it was mutual," he said.
"How did it end?" She asked.
"It was putting too much stress on our families so we decided to end it and save everybody the trouble," he said. "What happened to Amber?"
"Around eleven o'clock in the evening Amber McTavish was brutally beaten behind Tammy's Tavern," the sergeant said. She watched AJ's expression and knew right away that he couldn't have done it. "Do you know of any men that would've wanted to hurt her?"
He didn't even hear her. He was too busy thinking of what Amber was going through.
"You're free to go now. If you want to see her she's in room 344 in the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Women and Children but call me if you know anything. Here's my card."
"Thanks," AJ said basically running out of the room.
The sergeant had arranged for the police to take him down to the hospital.
AJ didn't even stop at the nurses desk. He ran up the stairs until he got to the fourth floor. He found room 344 and looked went inside. It was then he remembered that she had four older brothers, a strict father and a mother whom she never mentioned.
"How's she doing?" He asked not even worrying about them.
"Why would you want to know?" One of the guys asked.
"I don't know if she told you about me, but I'm AJ," AJ said to them.
"Oh, she told us about you," the same guy said. "She also phoned to tell us about how you dumped her."
"You must've misunderstood her," AJ said. "It had to be done. Neither of us wanted the breakup. Just tell me how she's doing."
"Sit down," a woman said pushing the man out of the way. "Amber talked about you a lot. I'm Dayna, Amber's mother. I'm warning you though; it's not a pretty sight."
Dayna pulled the divider back and let AJ in to see Amber. He almost got sick when he saw her. Her eyes were black, she had burns, contusions and lacerations all over her body, her skin was almost white, her breathing was awfully shallow and she had tubes going in and out of everywhere.
AJ knelt down beside the bed, took her hand in his and kissed it.
"I'm so sorry, Ambs," he said kissing her hand again. "This never would've happened if we just ignored her."
He continued apologizing to her for another fifteen minutes before her mother told him that he should take the chair on the other side of the bed.
He was sitting down for a while before he saw a weird mark on her neck. He moved her hair out of the way and studied it. It was an 'X' burnt by a lighter. The mark looked so familiar but he couldn't place it. The same mark, but going in the opposite direction kept flashing in his mind.
"What'd the doctor say?" AJ asked stroking Amber's hand.
"He said that she will be alright," Dayna said tearing up as she looked at her daughter. "She has quite a few deep bruises and cuts but she amazingly has no broken bones. She'll be very sore and very stiff for over a month."
"I never wanted to hurt her," AJ said staring at Amber.
"I know," Dayna said rubbing his back. "She phoned me and talked to me for about half an hour after it happened."
"I don't see how anyone would want to hurt Amber," Dayna said wiping a tear away from her eye.
AJ looked closely at the mark and then it hit him. He knew where he had seen that mark before.
"I'll be back soon," AJ said jumping up. "I'll explain when I get back."
He ran out of the hospital and grabbed a taxi.
"986 Terrace Avenue," AJ said pulling his cell phone out. He called the sergeant. "I know who beat Amber McTavish, get your guys down to 986 Terrace Avenue ."
He hung up, paid the taxi driver and ran up the stairs. He pounded at the door.
"Yeah?" Janessa said opening the door.
"What is wrong with you?" AJ asked holding her by the shoulders. "First you killed Chase and then you tried to kill Amber?"
"How dare you accuse me of killing Chase!" Janessa screamed.
"You did it Janessa! There is the exact same mark on Amber's neck that there was on Chase's neck!" AJ yelled at her. "Chase didn't commit suicide! You killed him and you made it look like suicide!"
"Stop saying that!" Janessa shrieked.
"Why'd you do it?" AJ asked wanting to shake her as hard as he could.
"I didn't do it! I didn't do it!" She screamed trying to cover her ears.
"Why'd you do it Janessa?" He asked.
"Because I needed you!" Janessa yelled directly at him. "We could've been happy together Jay! Just me and you!"
AJ stopped. He was shocked.
"We were in love!" She said happily. "And now that Amber's gone we can run away!"
"You need help Janessa," AJ said looking at his sister. "You're not healthy."
"Yes I am," Janessa said. "I just had some things to do before we could be together."
And then the police officers ran into the apartment and shoved Janessa onto the floor to handcuff her.
"Stop it!" Janessa shrieked. "Get off of me! You're hurting me!"
AJ had to turn away from what he was seeing and try to block it out. It was always his first instinct to protect his baby sister from harm and now he was going against everything he knew.