Kevin saw the pain in Howie’s eyes and said, "We’ll clear out so you two can talk."
In a whisper, without taking his eyes off Sarah, Howie said, "Thanks."
Kevin set his glass down and headed over to where Sarah now fully dressed sat. He knelt down in front of her and took her hand is his. He spoke softly to her, "Sarah, AJ and I are going to go now."
A flood of emotions clouded Sarah’s eyes and face as she looked at him. "Please, don’t leave me. I can’t face him."
Kevin put his hand on the side of her face and with his thumb, he stroked her cheek. "Sweetheart, you two need to talk about this."
Sarah looked to AJ for help, "Age, please..."
Neither man could take it and Kevin said, "Sarah, you can’t run away form this. We’re still going to be here for you but I think there are A LOT of issues you two need to deal with."
"Fine, I’ll deal with them later. Please, let me go home with you," begged Sarah.
Kevin looked back at Howie then at AJ. "I’ll take her home with me and you stay with ‘D’."
Irritably, AJ said, "Why do YOU always get the fun part?"
That brought a small smile to Sarah’s lips and she said, "You weren’t saying that..."
"Stop it, you two!" warned Kevin. Helping Sarah to her feet, Kevin said to Howie, "D, I’m going to take Sarah with me. I’ll call you when she wakes up."
Sullenly, Howie said, "Whatever." He watched from the bar as Sarah leaned on Kevin and he led her down the sitars. He thought to himself, "It use to be ME she leaned on. What the hell have I done?" and he threw his glass against the wall.
AJ looked at Howie as the glass shattered. To himself, "This is going to be tough."