Chapter Fifteen

"If you know what's good for ya, you'll get back in that truck and get out of here."

Leo said as he held Gabby close to his body with a knife placed firmly under her chin.

AJ stared him down with evil intentions on his mind. He knew Leo was too much of a punk to do any real harm to Gabby otherwise he would have slit her throat already.

"Come on Leo, we both know what happened the last time you attacked a lonely girl like this in front of me. Do you really want a repeat of that ass kickin?" AJ said with his southern accent.

Leo was puzzled for a moment, "What do you mean...I never got beat up by some punk like you!"

AJ laughed and continued to inch toward them, "You mean you weren't the jerk trying to force yourself onto this poor woman a little while back?"

Leo's eyes widened in horror, "Wait...you! Oh man I don't need this craziness!"

Gabby shrieked as Leo pushed her into AJ's arms and then took off running for the exit.

"He really is a punk isn't he?" AJ asked as they watched him run.

Gabby slowly backed away from him keeping her eyes toward the ground. "Yeah he is...but so are you."

He sighed and gently lifted her head to look her in the eye. His heart ached when he saw the hurt and pain as tears began to reveal themselves. Without thinking about it he leaned into her pain stricken face and firmly kissed her. Although she was confused, Gabby accepted his tongue into her mouth knowing deep down she could no longer resist him.

"I'm so sorry I doubted you," He whispered as he pulled away from her, never letting go of her hands.

She smiled and gave a nod, before he walked her to his truck. "Stay here...there's something I need to take care of."

"AJ," Gabby said as he turned to leave her.

He turned around and was met with another kiss. "Bring your ass back here safely."

He cracked a smirk before heading inside to face Karl. As for Gabby, she climbed into the backseat of the truck and laid down as the sedative finally made it's way through her body.

AJ walked into the building and climbed the long staircase to the first floor. He was determined to finally end this long battle with Karl and then take Gabby and leave this city. He walked through the door leading down the hallway that Gabby had ran away from Leo. He could hear someone crying from the other end of the hall but he couldn't see him. Slowly AJ made his way down the hall. The voice became louder the further down he went.

When he finally reached the end of the hall he looked around the corner to his right and saw Karl kneeling down next to his dead comrade. He could see the gun in his hand and knew stepping out into the open wouldn't be smart. He leaned his back against the wall and called out to him.

"Karl...Karl it's me...AJ..."

Karl, who was startled by the sound of AJ's voice looked up with his gun pointed at the area he couldn't see. "Where are you? Don't tell me you're too scared to face me!"

AJ sighed and slowly appeared into Karl's line of sight. Karl smiled devilishly and stood to his feet, "So you actually came back for that little bitch, and here I was thinking she'd die alone."

AJ held up his hands, "No one has to die at all Karl,"

He chuckled and glanced down at Luke, "Well someone did...and it's all your fault. Tell me...what exactly did you do to my little cousin that made her betray me?"

AJ smirked, "Well you know I've always been good with persuasion Karl...besides...that's why all your women always left you for me."

Karl gritted his teeth and released the lock from the gun.

"Is that what's got you so mad with me Karl? Is it because all of your life you've been compared to the phenomenal AJ? Is it because all of your life you've just been second place? Is that why you lied to the police about who really killed that girl?"

"Shut up!" Karl yelled before taking a shot at AJ. The bullet grazed his arm making him turn away from Karl for a moment.

"Damn...can't even take a decent shot..." AJ said before Karl threw the gun to the ground and tackled him. For a few moments the men exchanged fists landing them on each other back and forth. Soon, AJ found himself with the gun in his hand pointing it at Karl.

"What are you going to do? Shoot me?" he asked. "We both know you wouldn't kill anybody!"

AJ gritted his teeth an thought about Gabby who was sleeping in his truck. "For your cousin I just might..."

"But then you'd go to jail...and you would never see her again!" he yelled.

AJ gave that some thought, but his short hesitation resulted in Karl running down the hall to a patient's room and jumping out of the window to the ground below. AJ had followed him to the room but was too late. He looked out of the window and saw Karl running away from the hospital as fast as he could. AJ cursed under his breath as police officers showed up and began to surround the building. He had to get out of there before he was once again framed for this massacre in the hospital. He took off running to another end of the building and found the garbage shoot. After landing in a dumpster behind the building he took off running not sure of where he was going.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK "Ma'am? Ma'am are you ok?"

Gabby's eyes popped open at the sound of a police officer banging on the window of the truck. She sat up and opened the door, letting the officer help her out of the truck.

"W-what's going on?" she asked. "Where is AJ?"

"AJ?" the officer asked. "Ma'am there was no one else inside of the building, just a lot of dead bodies..."

Gabby's heart was full of devastation. She told him to come back safely not get himself killed like the others!

"Listen we're going to get you transferred to the next hospital ok? Just hang in there." The officer told her as a paramedic helped her into the back of an ambulance. She could only hear her own thoughts as they read her vitals and checked her for any other injuries she might of sustained. All she could think about was losing the first man she had ever learned to be open with, the first man who showed her what it was like to be loved...