Carefully slipping his arm from beneath her after holding her all night, Tate wandered downstairs, his head still spinning from the gut wrenching story of what his father had done to his Violet.

His violet, which is how he thought of her now, a part of him, maybe the part that he could save.

The one thing he did know was that he would never let Gabe hurt her again, no matter what, no matter if it meant his life, she would be safe.

Reaching the bar he rubbed his tired eyes reaching for the light switch which didn't work, fumbling past tables groggy and exhausted he reached for the shade covering the front door to let the morning light in.

That's when he noticed it, broken glass shattered beneath his feet, the doorknob missing, ripped out as wind pushed the unrestricted door back and forth.

Resting his hand on the bar trying to balance himself to remove a shard of glass that was stuck in his foot, he felt something wet and sticky on the counter.

Flipping up the shade from the large window by the door he fell backwards hitting his head against the wall as his stomach dropped, twisting with unfathomable grief staring at Gus slumped over, a large knife shoved into a chest along with a message written very to the point on a cocktail napkin.

BRING HER BACK

Stumbling to Gus' side Tate's tears fell upon his portly innocent face knowing he was responsible for this.

Gus was literally the only person who ever cared about him, who ever believed he could be something more than just a fuck up and a loser, the only one who ever gave him a chance to prove himself.

Tate took a deep breath as he carefully closed Gus' eyes, before reaching under the bar to retrieve a sawed off shot gun that was always there for emergencies.

Taking off up the stairs Tate burst into the bedroom as Violet was lifting her shirt over her head to get dressed.

Out of breath focused and scared Tate reached for a duffle bag that was on a shelf in his closet and began shoving all his clothes and a framed small picture of his mom that he kept by his bed.

Tossing her sneakers at her he rushed around the room getting dressed himself as Violet looked on completely clueless.

"What's going on? Did something happen?"

"Just get dressed, we have to get out of here now!"

Zipping up the bag, Tate, dressed and ready to go turned towards her and lifted the hood from her sweatshirt over her head, doing his best to tuck in her blonde hair before grabbing her hand and leading them down and out the back door.

Once in his truck, he took off to the short distance of Gus' apartment as his mind raced with questions on what he should do next to keep her safe.

Leaving her in the truck with it running, Tate turned to her grasping her cheeks with both hands staring intensely into her whiskey colored wide eyes.

"If anyone should come, take off, go to the corner of Parkway and Main, there's a little laundry mat run by an old lady, tell her you need to go in the back room, that you're with me. She'll understand, just promise me you won't wait for me, no matter what Violet... promise me."

Looking down at the dried blood caked on the palm of his hand she nodded sadly, moving in to give him a gentle kiss before whispering how sorry she was, "Was it someone you cared about? Did Gabe hurt someone you cared about, Tate?"

Grabbing the bag Tate averted his eyes before grasping the handle of the truck, "Just take off as soon as anyone comes, I'll find you again."

Like a shot he was off running down an alley, jumping up onto the stairs of a fire escape, skillfully ducking into a window before landing inside Gus' apartment.

Rushing into his bedroom he removed the cushion of a chair that was hallowed out to hide a safe.

Closing his eyes he tried to concentrate to remember the combination, 4-34-54-31, the numbers were meaningful but sentiment would have to wait as he opened the metal door.

Hidden inside was an envelope, and a large sum of cash, at least a few thousand. Stuffing it all in his bag he ran back to the fire escape to find five cop cars, lights and sirens blaring and no sign of Violet.

"Good girl." he whispered under his breath as he burst through the door and into the emergency stairwell running as fast as he could down into the basement and out a small window that he had to climb a stack of boxes to get to.

Racing towards the street corner Tate gave her, she looked down to see her hands shaking, she knew this would happen, knew that Gabe wouldn't let her go, that he would punish anyone who dared take her away from him.

Wiping away tears, feeling as if she would definitely lose Tate, if he wasn't dead already, she approached the laundry mat.

Hiding the truck in the back behind a dumpster, she ran inside to find an elderly woman wearing a flowered moo moo, with her hair in bright pink curlers, and a cigarette hanging out the side of her thin lips.

Breathless she repeated what Tate told her to say and waited while the old lady slid her horn rimmed glasses down to the edge of her nose to look Violet up and down before sighing and shuffling to the back of the store.

Moving a poster of a kitten with its paws hanging from the limb of a tree, she revealed a narrow dark staircase, "Well, go!"

Terrified Violet took off up the stairs into a door shutting it fast behind her.

Looking around there was a bed, a small window, and what could possibly pass for a bathroom if the world had gone to hell, which for her it just might have.

Nervously she sat on the mattress leaning up against a headboard that had several etchings carved into it, they were quotes from poems, and sonnets from Shakespeare, with several dates and times, all of which seemed eerie and out of place considering the room was over a laundry mat.

It was well after dark when the door whipped open and Tate came limping in throwing the duffle bag on the floor before collapsing on the bed quickly passing out.

Panicked she looked over him dragging the rest of his body on the bed before noticing blood dripping from the side of his head causing his blonde curls to be plastered to the side of his face.

It was well over three hours before he woke, finding himself wrapped in her arms with her big hazel eyes staring down at him.

"I thought you'd never wake up... did Gabe do this to you?"

Squinting from the pain, Tate felt the gash along his head from the bullet that grazed him as he ran down the alley.

Forcing himself to sit up he felt the opening that had been stitched up crudely.

"Did you fix me?"

Reaching for his hand she gripped it tight scared to death that he'd never wake. "As best as I could... Tate, did Gabe do this?"

Staring out onto the blank dank wall ahead of him, Tate quietly answered her unable to get Gus out of his mind. "No, it was the cops, they think I killed Gus."

From weeks of spying on him she knew exactly who Gus was, and what he meant to Tate. "Gus is dead? Oh my god, that's why we ran, Gabe, he did this, he's making a point. Hell that could've been you Tate! I have to leave, I have to go before he finds us and hurts you."

Clutching her hand tighter, pulling her close to him, he shook his head.

"Don't worry about me, Gus is on a rampage, he'll kill you if he gets the chance, or worse. We're in this thing together now. Besides, I think he's working with my father, there's no way the cops would've known i'd be at his apartment. My father's definitely involved in this."

Wrapping her arm around him Violet buried her face inside his chest as he leaned down to kiss her temple, "Tate, what does that mean."

Whispering he laid down carefully on the bed scoping her up against him so he could hold her tight.

"It means tonight we get some sleep, because tomorrow we fight the devil himself."