Sarah packed her things in her suitcases and proceeded to check out of the hotel. Having completed all the paperwork and paid for her stay, she waited for AJ outside of the hotel, loving the warm Orlando night air. As she waited patiently, her cell phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Sarah."

"What do you want, Stephen? Where are you?" she asked.

He laughed coldly. "Do you really think I would tell you where I am? I’m not that stupid."

"I never said you were stupid."

"You didn’t have to say it out loud. Regardless, I didn’t call you to discuss my intelligence."

"Why did you call me?" she asked hesitantly.

"I know that you are in Orlando. I also know that you’ve tried to contact ‘loverboy’ and warn him about me. Very stupid move, Sarah. VERY stupid! Don’t you know me well enough by now to know that I don’t tolerate people who aren’t loyal?"

Sarah’s breath caught in her throat as he continued on.

"You can warn him all you want, but I WILL get to him and make him pay for taking Kristina away from me. When he least expects it, I’ll be there and he will pay dearly."

"Stephen, don’t do this. Please! Kristina is dead and he has suffered enough just by losing her. Let it go for God’s sake" she cried.

"Don’t tell me what to do, BITCH! You are just as bad as Kristina and you see what she got. You don’t want to end up like her, do you?" he hissed angrily.

Sarah’s blood ran cold thinking about what he did to Kris and what he was now threatening to do to her. Softly, in a desperate attempt to clam him down, she said, "Stephen, I love you. You are my only brother and I would never betray you. Yes, I went to see him. But it was because I didn’t want to see you get hurt or into anymore trouble than you are already in."

"Don’t give me that brotherly love routine again. I don’t want to hear any of your self-righteous bullshit. It makes me sick to my stomach!"

"Please, Stephen. What do you gain by hurting Howie? He doesn’t even know you and didn’t know anything about you until he found out Kristina was dead. Why can’t you leave him alone?"

Angrily he shouted, "Because she never loved me! She only loved him and she never felt anything remotely close to that with me!"

"But, it’s not his fault and it wasn’t Kris’s fault either. You can’t help who you love."

There was an eerie silence on the phone as Sarah waited for a reply.

"Doesn’t matter now. Kristina got what she deserved and her little pop star boyfriend will too. Maybe, I’ll even have some fun with his new girlfriend. I’ve always wanted to know what it was like to be with a blonde. They are supposed to be a lot of fun."

"How did you know that his girlfriend is blonde, Stephen?" she asked curiously.

She had no more asked him that question when AJ pulled up and got out to load her things into his car. He saw the fear in her eyes and quickly went to her. She put her hand up to let him know not to speak a word as Stephen said, "Now I know why you want me to turn myself in so badly. You don’t want your little tattooed boyfriend to dump you because your brother killed his bandmate. Well, isn’t that just convenient?"

Sarah felt her knees weaken, her hand trembling at his words. "What did you just say?" she asked as she began to look around for any trace of him. Silence. "Stephen?"

"I gotta go now, sister dear. Just remember – you can’t get too far from me. I have ways of knowing where you are and who you are with" he said as he hung up the phone.

"He can see us, Alex. He’s somewhere close," Sarah said as she frantically looked around to see if she could spot him.

AJ put her in the car and hurriedly loaded her bags. He peeled out of the hotel parking lot and onto the freeway, hoping that Stephen wouldn’t follow.

"Where are we going?" Sarah asked, noticing the worried look on his face as he repeatedly checked the rear view mirror.

He took her trembling hand and squeezed it gently. "We are gonna drive around for a little bit to make sure that we aren’t being followed and then we are going to go to Howie’s house and tell him what happened."

"He knows everything, Alex. He knows that I warned Howie and he threatened me for being disloyal. I’m scared."

"Tell me everything he said, baby. I need to know EXACTLY what he said."

Sarah told him everything that Stephen had said as best as she could remember. When she was finished, AJ took out his cell phone and dialed Howie. No answer. Then he tried the cell phone but couldn’t get through.

"Shit!" he shouted as he hit the steering wheel.

Sarah turned her head towards the window, staring at the darkened sky. "I’m sorry, Alex."

AJ pulled over to the side of the road and got out of the car. He was angry. Not at Sarah, but, at Stephen for all of the hell he had put everyone through and at himself for not telling Sarah that Kristina was still alive. But mostly, he was angry because he felt helpless.

After a few moments of kicking the back tires, the rocks and the gravel along the side of the road, he went to Sarah’s door and opened it. He held out his hand to her and helped her from the car.

The look on her face tore him up inside. He cradled her face in his hands and kissed her. "It’s not your fault, Sarah. None of this is your fault. You’ve got to quit blaming yourself."

"But he’s my brother!’

"Baby, we don’t have the option of choosing the family that we are born into. We do, however, have the option of who to make a family with and I can promise you that my brothers and I are not going to let anything happen to you."

Hugging her tightly he added, "I don’t know where ‘D’ is but we are gonna sit in his driveway until he gets home if necessary."

"Alex, has he found someone to love again?" she asked.

"Why do you ask?"

"Stephen said that Howie has a blonde girlfriend now and I was just wondering if he cares for her the way he did for Kris."

"We gotta go, baby. We have to warn ‘D’" was all he said as he helped her back into the car and sped towards the beach house.

Chapter 63       Index