Chapter Five  


 

Six days went by and JC had no word from Alexa. He didn*t know if he should be worried or not. But when it came right down to it, he didn*t have time to worry. He was too busy to worry about a woman that clearly had no concern for herself. Alexa reminded him so much of Heather, but he had to keep telling himself that she wasn*t his little sister. There was absolutely nothing he could do for Alexa if she didn*t want to help herself first.  


That didn*t mean that he didn*t think of her often. He was still plagued by horrible nightmares, but they were the kind that he could remember now. Instead of waking up in the middle of the night with an indescribable feeling of dread and not knowing why, he woke up with sweat pouring down his face and his heart pounding, trying to block out devastating images of Tyrell and Alexa. He hated that this woman had affected him so. He hated even more that she didn*t seem to know*or care.  

~*~  

Alexa entered the condo happily. Things had gone so well over the past week. Tyrell hadn*t hit her once. He hadn*t even yelled. She assumed that his business dealings must have been going well for him to be so happy all the time but she didn*t ask him about it. She didn*t want to jinx this.  

As soon as Alexa entered their bedroom she knew that something was wrong. Her drawers were open. Clothes were on the floor. Her journals, her precious journals, were torn to bits all over the bed. Fear hit her stomach in a sharp pang. Had someone broken in? Were they still in the condo? Where was Tyrell?  


A scream erupted from her now dry mouth as she felt someone grab a handful of her hair from behind. She attempted to spin around but was immediately confronted with a large black fist smashing into her nose. She knew without saying that it was broken. Blood spurted everywhere as the pain made stars flash in front of her eyes.  

"Tyrell," she gasped. "What*"  


"God damned slut!" he growled, hitting her again, this time aiming for her cheek. "Mother fucking liar!"  

Alexa didn*t have the slightest clue what he was talking about. She*d done nothing, absolutely nothing to set him off this week. Not since Sunday afternoon when JC had shown up at the* Oh dear God. She hadn*t thrown out that business card. She had just slipped it in the back of one of her old journals. Realization registered in her eyes and Tyrell laughed insanely at her.  


"This is the last time, bitch. The last damn time."  

~*~  

JC jumped from his sleep. He looked at the alarm clock next to his bed and rubbed his eyes tiredly. It was almost one in the morning. But it wasn*t a nightmare that had woken him. It was the phone ringing only inches from his head. In a somewhat dazed stupor, he picked it up.  

"Hello?" His voice was groggy. He wasn*t even sure that the person on the other end had understood him.  

"JC?"  


"Yeah. Who*s this?" He was slightly aggravated. If this was some fan who had gotten hold of his phone number he was gonna be pissed.  

"It*s Alona."  


He was suddenly wide-awake. "What*s wrong?"  

"I*m at the hospital with Alexa. She asked me to call you*"  

"Which one?" he interrupted quickly, not really thinking about it.  

"Johnston Memorial over on*"  


"I know right where it is. Give me ten minutes." JC hung up without saying anything else.  


On the other end of the line, Alona shook her head. It was all well and good that he wanted to help, but she could sense something else in his voice. She feared the he had already fallen for her best friend. And that was the absolute last thing Alexa was going to need right now.  

~*~  

Alona was waiting in the Emergency Room lobby when JC came running in. He skidded to a halt in front of her, completely out of breath. His jeans were loose and worn down at the knees, and his simple white t-shirt was wrinkled. The ends of his dark hair peeked out from underneath an NYPD baseball cap. This was as disheveled as JC usually got. "Where*is she?" he panted.  


"There*s a doctor in with her now," Alona assured him. "We can both go back and see her after he*s done."  

"What happened? Is she okay?"  


"JC, calm down, alright?" Alona instructed seriously. "If you go back there and freak out, it*s only gonna make things worse for Lex. I*ll tell you right now that she doesn*t look good. Tyrell broke her nose and fractured her jaw. They*re seeing right now if she has any other broken bones*and they*re running the appropriate tests*" she trailed off, not wanting to say why the tests were needed. She was fairly certain that he knew anyway.  


"He raped her?" JC exploded, standing up and beginning to pace back and forth across the room. "That bastard! Did you call the cops? I*ll kill him myself."  


"This is what I*m talking about!" Alona shouted at him, standing up as well. "You HAVE to calm down. Lex wants you here because you said you would help her. But acting like this isn*t gonna help anyone. Yes, I called the cops. But Lex doesn*t know that. So keep your mouth shut. And as for you killing Tyrell yourself, I*d like to see you try. Do you know who he is? Do you know what he does? He*d break you in two, JC. And he wouldn*t even think twice about it!"  

That comment got a reaction. JC sat back down and put his head in his hands. "What are you talking about?" he mumbled.  

"Tyrell is a dealer," Alona explained softer now, sitting down next to JC. "And not just any dealer. He*s THE dealer for South Central LA. You have no idea the things he could do to you. No, he wouldn*t even have to do them. He has people that could do them to you for him."  

"Morbid much?" JC tried to laugh.  

"I*m being completely serious. You need to watch what you*re doing, JC. Tyrell is nothing to joke about. And it*s not gonna help any that the reason he put Alexa in the hospital this time is because he found your number in their bedroom."  


"Oh*shit*" he mumbled, shaking his head. "I told her to be careful*"  


"Yeah, just what she needs," Alona spat out icily. "Someone else telling her what to do."  


"Hey, I was just trying to help her out," he replied defensively. "You say that like I was trying to get her hurt or something."  

"I*m sorry," Alona whispered honestly. "I*m just a little stressed right now. My best friend is in the hospital, alright?"  

"Yeah, well I understand," JC told her seriously, reaching out and rubbing small circles on her back. "I*ve been where you are right now. Except it wasn*t my best friend*"  

"It was your sister. I know. Alexa told me all about it. And honestly, I do think it*s sweet that you want to help Alexa because of what happened to Heather. I*m just concerned*for both of you*and for me. Once Tyrell finds out that I*m the one that called the cops I*m gonna be in just as much danger as the rest of you."  


JC chose to ignore the comment about being in danger for the moment. He knew that Alone was probably right and that was the last thing he wanted to think about. "I*m not helping her because of Heather." That comment surprised even himself. He had been thinking it, but hadn*t meant to say it out loud.  


Alona looked up at him. "Then why are you helping? You just some sort of Good Samaritan pop star or something?"  


He chuckled and looked away from her, taking off his hat and running his fingers through his hair. It was time for him to admit what he had known from the start. Maybe he would feel better after vocalizing it. "I*m helping Alexa because I want to*because I think there*s something special about her*because*"  


"You like her?" Alona finished his thought.  

"Is it that obvious?"  


"Only to me and everyone else who really watches you every time you look at her. I*ve only seen you two together twice, but your face practically lit up the entire room while you were with her. And as sweet as I think that is, that*s what bothers me."  

"Why does me liking her bother you?"  

"Look, JC, I want Alexa to leave Tyrell as much as the next person. I*ve been trying to get her to leave him for over a year. But she hasn*t. Because she hasn*t wanted to. She hasn*t been able to find a reason for her to get out*"  


"So let me be that reason," JC barely whispered.  

"No," Alona stated bluntly. "Alexa has to leave Tyrell for her*not for you*not for anyone. I have no doubt that you have the best of intentions, but if she leaves him for you and then you hurt her, even without meaning to, she will go right back to him. Do you see what I*m saying?"  


He did. He understood completely. But he didn*t have the chance to tell her that. He was too busy getting up and walking towards the doctor that was saying they could go back and see Alexa now.  

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