Nick had finally leaned his head against the wall at a position that his wounds had no pressure on them and closed his eyes when he heard footsteps enter the room.
�I can�t eat this,� he groaned. �I just need water.�
�Oh my god,� he heard someone gasp.
As Nick�s eyes slit open and Kevin rushed into the room, they both saw A.J. collapse onto the floor in shock.
�No, no, no, no� I didn�t do this. Please no�
Nick panicked again and, ignoring the pain, forced his body to stand up. He stumbled a few steps before Kevin was able to rush to his side and steady him while pleading that he lay back down.
�Nick�� Kevin begged, gently tugging on his arm.
�What the fuck are you doing, you asshole?� Nick spat. �Get out.�
�Nick, please, lie back down,� Howie coaxed.
�Get this bastard out.�
�I�m sorry. Please� I didn�t� I� is she�?� A.J. began to sob uncontrollably, burying his face into the carpet. �I�m so sorry.�
He began to move towards the bed.
�Stay the hell away from her!� Nick yelled.
Angel rolled onto her back and moaned.
�Nick�?� she gasped, trying to open her eyes. �I� I can�t see. What�s going on?�
�Angel, stay there. Just stay still,� Kevin commanded.
�Where�s Nick? I heard him� Where did he go?� she begged, extending her arm, which was coated in large welts, in hopes to find Nick.
�See what you did to her? Do you see that? You fuckin� did that! And now you come in here and wake her up. She needs rest. Get out!!!� Nick cried, tears beginning to run down his face.
�Nick?� Angel whimpered.
�So do you. Lie down. A.J.�s leaving,� Howie said.
�A.J.?� Angel whispered in fear. �Oh god, where�s Nick? Please Howie� don�t let him hurt Nick again.� Sobs overtook her body and she gripped her sides in pain.
�She has some broken ribs too,� Kevin muttered to no one in particular. �Howie, get A.J. out of here.�
He nodded before pulling A.J. to his feet and out of the room as he continued to beg for forgiveness.
�See Nick? He�s gone. Lie back down. I need your help to calm Angel down.�
Groaning, Nick settled next to Angel.
�I�m right here,� he whispered, running his fingers over her hair. �I won�t let him hurt you again.�
Kevin allowed a few tears to escape down his cheeks as he watched the two together. They were nearly helpless without the other it seemed. He fought to pull himself together again so he could check over Angel, who finally stopped fighting against becoming his patient.
As he gently ran his hands over her ribs - at least two were nearly shattered - he felt her body relax as she, then Nick, fell back into dreamless sleep.
*
Kevin slept in a chair next to their bed that night. Every time one of them grew fitful, he�d try to calm them down without waking them completely. If they were sleeping soundly, he would as well; if either grew restless, he�d be wide-awake beside them.
It wasn�t until the sun began to rise that he was faced with another dilemma. Nick seemed to be doing better, and there didn�t seem to be any lasting effects from his head injury. Angel, patched up and clean, needed stitches in her face and the soles of her feet, but would be fine overall.
�Kevin?� he heard faintly, pulling him out of his thoughts.
�Yea? I�m right here,� he whispered, kneeling by Angel�s side of the bed and taking her tiny hand in his.
�What day is it?� She sounded worried.
�Thursday,� he replied.
He began to believe that she�d drifted back into sleep until he felt her grip on his hand tighten slightly.
�I have to go home.�
�What?� he asked, forgetting to keep his voice down. �You can�t go home. Not in this condition. We wouldn�t be able to get you anywhere.�
�My flight leaves at eight tonight. How long do we have?�
�Angel, you can�t get on a plane. You� you have broken ribs and your fe��
�What time is it?� she demanded.
�7:36 a.m.,� he replied after a slight hesitation.
�I have to, Kevin.�
�No you don�t. We can postpone your flight. I could do it right now.�
�No.�
He stared at her in disbelief. She was as stubborn as he was at times and it made him angry.
�So you�re going to just up and leave Nick after you almost got him killed?� he spat through clenched teeth. He knew what he said wasn�t true, but he hoped to guilt her into staying in his care.
�Yes.� She paused before licking her cracked lips and continuing. �He knows. I told him. We have an understanding, a deal, a negoti� whatever you want to call it. He knows and that�s all that matters. He expects it. That�s why I have to leave.�
She didn�t bother to mention that she�d left behind a clueless family who�d probably be more forgiving if she showed up a week later beat half to death than a month later with scars and faint bruises left from being beat. This way her mom could take care of her and feel useful despite the madness.
�You�re going� but how?� Kevin asked.
�Is Louie still here?�
~
Around noon, a loud pounding brought Louie away from his meal. Curiosity mixed with fear filled his over-grown frame when he opened the door to a distinctively distraught Kevin.
�She�s determined to leave,� he said, entering the room without hesitating for an invitation. �Her flight leaves at eight tonight. Somehow we have to make sure she�s on that plane.�
�Whoa, wait a minute,� Louie said, still standing at the door, which he reluctantly closed. �She? Nick�s girl?�
Kevin nodded.
�Is leaving? To where?�
He shrugged. �Home, I guess.�
�And why are we responsible for getting her to the airport? Why are you telling me?�
Kevin sighed. �Do you really think Howie or I could take a half-conscious girl to the airport without suspicion? And I�m not about to send her out to fend for herself when she has broken ribs, can�t stand up, or even see because her eyes are swollen shut!�
�Then make her stay.�
�She refuses. She�ll try to leave by herself if I even threaten to try.�
�What about Nick? Has he tried to talk to her?�
�He hasn�t even woken up today, but supposedly they have an understanding.�
�Do you believe her?�
�I have to.�
�But do you believe her?�
Kevin stood silently, allowing his gaze to fall to the window where a partly cloudy day was going on normally without any participation from him.
�She�s leaving Louie. No matter what anyone says, she�s leaving. We just have to help her get there safely. I�ll take care of the repercussions as they come.�
Louie nodded slowly, thoughtfully, as he sat on the edge of his unmade bed.
�So what do you need me to do?�
Kevin�s shoulders relaxed noticeably as he sunk down on the bed next to his trusted bodyguard.
�Thank you,� he whispered.
*
Once Kevin had left the room, Leslie carefully pulled herself off the bed and stood up on wobbly legs. Instantly, lightning bolts of pain shot through her lower body and she collapsed in the vacated chair next to the bed.
�Fuck�� she muttered, trying to wiggle her toes against the bandages she�d just realized bound her feet.
She�d gotten used to the fire in her abdomen from her shattered ribs and the throbbing of her face began to dull as her nerve endings grew numb, but this new discovery was a problem. The spasms in her legs began to subside as she sat there, tears pooling in her eyes.
�What did this accomplish, Brian?� she whispered as the salty tears spilled over.
Gritting her teeth, she pushed herself from the chair and stood, forcing herself to withstand the pain as she�d done many hours before when adrenaline and worry fueled her body. As she refused to give into the misery, she walked to the bathroom where she filled the sink with ice-cold water. Leaning her elbows against the cabinet, she dunked her face into the basin. The shock instantly woke her up and every nerve ending in her body; on impulse, she opened her mouth to scream from the pain, only to intake a lung full of icy liquid.
Quickly Leslie withdrew her face from the sink, hacking and coughing as water flew from her hair. She turned from the cabinet and fell to her knees, her arm landing across the toilet; instinctively, she began to throw up the remaining water, along with some blood, into the commode.
When her chest stopped heaving, she pulled open her crusty eyes and clearly glimpsed her surroundings for the first time since the entire fiasco some two days before. One last wave of nausea passed through her from the pressure against her injured ribs that came with each gasping breath.
�Calm down, Leslie. That�s as bad as the pain gets. Relax. This will all be over soon�
She knew everything she told herself was a lie, but it got her body under control. While Nick stirred in bed, mumbling in his dream, she pulled herself off of the floor and walked silently to her bag. Pulling some clothes out, she returned to the bathroom.
Carefully she removed all of her clothing and studied the damage in the mirror. She looked like a boxer�s battered girlfriend. The majority of her face was covered in blood-spotted, water soaked bandages, while the rest was swollen green and purple flesh. Her arms were covered in handprints much larger than her own and two of her fingers were jutting out at odd angles.
�Broken,� she told her reflection.
Her chest was covered in spotted bruises and a cut down the side of her right breast had gone untended so dry blood had run down her side. Her stomach was bloated by unseen injuries from where A.J. had kneed her, which also was the action partly responsible for the broken ribs that swelled her upper abdomen. Her legs had gone mainly unharmed besides occasional bruises, but her ankles were purple and swollen from the balcony railing. She shuddered at the memory.
�At least no permanent damage�
Leslie took no account of the rustling of sheets in the other room or the fact that she�d left the bathroom door wide open, so she didn�t notice when Nick woke up in a panic because she was no longer beside him. She just continued to study herself in the mirror.
Nick, however, did notice the bathroom light and when he was finally able to prop himself up without the little sight he had going black, what met his eyes was both horrific and beautiful.
�Angel,� he tried to say to her, but the name refused to leave his parched throat. So he was left to watch the most beautiful woman he�d ever seen study her broken body.
He gazed at her through clouding eyes as she removed the bandages from her face, revealing a series of deep, bleeding wounds across her cheek, and gently pressed a wet towel against them.
Overcome with emotion, he slid back down in bed, trying to imagine what it�d feel like for her to treat him with such tenderness. Or what it�d feel like to touch her like that, without the typical clumsy way he had with women in general. His mind stirred as he turned his head to the side in hopes to continue his voyeurism. Suddenly wide awake, the pain pushed aside, his earliest desire to kiss her came back and filled him with a lust more complete than he�d ever felt before.
Nick closed his eyes for what seemed only a second in hopes to regain control of his hormones, but when he opened them again, the bathroom light was off and Angel was sitting in the chair next to his bed, fully dressed and reapplying bandages to her face.
Tentatively he reached out and brushed his fingers across her knee. Jumping in surprise, she looked up at him and smiled a little when she saw he was awake.
�Hi,� she said quietly, finishing with the bandage before reaching to brush some of his ebony hair off his forehead with her good hand.
Nick reached up to gently catch her wrist before she had the chance to pull it away. The electricity from her touch dulled his pain, and thankful, he brought her fingertips to his cracked, swollen lips and kissed each one gently. He watched as a single tear fell from her green eyes. He didn�t want to see her cry anymore and without thinking, he looked at her and said, �I love you.�
Or at least he tried to say those words. They caught in his throat and refused to leave his lips, but he believed she understood. Carefully she stood up and leaned over him, barely pressing her lips against the skin around his bruised left eye.
�Get some more rest,� she told him.
As he closed his eyes to follow her command, he didn�t see her leave his room nor did he realize that she wasn�t coming back.
~
Kevin walked back into Nick�s hotel room a few hours later to find Angel sitting in the window seat, dressed in baggy athletic pants and a tank top, a baseball cap shadowing a large portion of her face. Sitting next to her were a pair of sandals and dark rimmed glasses with blue tinted lenses. Her bags were packed and stacked in a heap at her feet.
�You�re really doing this, aren�t you?� he asked.
She turned to him, and although mounds of swollen skin mostly hid her eyes, he could see tears sparkling in them. She simply nodded before taking a deep breath, folding over in pain from the expansion of her lungs. Kevin kneeled at her feet and took her hand.
�You can stay here, you know. We�ll take care of you,� he gently told her.
�No I can�t.� Looking straight into Kevin�s eyes, she pleaded, �Take care of him for me.�
�I will,� he replied softly.
A moment of quiet understanding past between them as Kevin began to feel what Brian must have felt for this headstrong girl.
�We should leave. Louie will be down by the elevator with a wheelchair for you,� he informed her.
�We? You�re coming?�
�To the airport at least� so I can tell Nick that you got that far safely.�
A sigh of relief escaped her lips and she gave him a small smile.
�Thank you� for everything.�
Kevin gave her a nod as he took her sandals, placing them over the bandages tight enough to stay on, but not enough to provide extra pain. She slipped on her glasses before Kevin helped her slowly to her feet.
�I don�t look too bad, do I?� she questioned.
He surveyed her beat up face and arms carefully before answering.
�No.�
�Liar,� she shot back before giving him a small smile.
He smiled back at her, glad to see the first sign of good humor in her since they�d met. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, he began to lead her out of the hotel room. Angel hesitated at the doorway of the bedroom, but with one last look at Nick�s sleeping figure, she walked out the door without turning back.
*
The car ride to the airport went by in a blur of silence and half-consciousness for Leslie. After she and Kevin had reached Louie, they inconspicuously exited the hotel, Kevin pushing her through the lobby decked out in a baseball cap and dark glasses, Louie with her bags walking beside them, and her staring at her hands with a jacket laid across her shoulders despite the ninety degree weather. No one had tried to stop them, so they quickly got into the rental car Kevin had been driving since his arrival, where all three let out a collective sigh of relief.
After Louie had carefully picked her up and laid her in the back seat, he sat up front and Kevin began the hour drive to the airport.
�I feel like such an invalid,� she remembered saying.
�That�s because you are one,� Louie retorted, turning around with a sparkle in his eyes saying he was teasing. �Get some sleep invalid. We got a ride ahead of us.�
And then she had slept, waking every few minutes just to return to sleep.
�We�re here,� Kevin announced, stopping the car in front of her terminal, but not turning it off.
�You�re not going in?� she questioned sleepily.
�Can�t. You were the one who told me �What would the public think if it got out that a pop star was accompanying a battered teenage girl through an airport?�� he remarked as Louie opened the back door, ready to return her to the wheelchair.
�Oh yea,� she mumbled.
Once she was safely in her chair, Kevin got out of the car and crouched down on his knees in front of her.
�You could still back out, ya know?�
�No.� She paused while she took a moment to debate with herself. Sighing she asked, �Could you do me a favor? Well� two favors?�
�Anything,� he replied.
Looking around her while she talked, Kevin got the feeling that she felt unsure of what she was about to ask of him.
�There�s a envelope on the table in Nick�s room. Make sure he gets it after you take him to a hospital.�
Kevin nodded in agreement. �And the other one?�
She motioned for Louie to bring her backpack closer to her. As she rifled through a pocket, Kevin looked at her in wonder until she finally pulled out a box.
�Give this to A.J.�
Angel handed the box to Kevin, who looked at her with a mixture of fear and confusion.
�Don�t worry. It�s good� and it might mend the pain that I�ve caused.�
Kevin began to protest, but Angel cut him off.
�Just please� make sure he gets it. Both of them.�
He nodded before giving her a gentle hug and a scrap of paper.
�Call me when you get home, so we know you�re in one piece.�
She nodded as tears sprang to her eyes and she stuffed the phone number in her pocket. Motioning for him to lean closer, she laid a chaste kiss on his forehead and whispered, �Take care of him.�
Kevin nodded and stood up as Louie wheeled her to the entrance of the airport. Holding tightly to the box with one hand and covering his pain-filled heart with the other, he whispered, �We�ll meet again, Leslie. For better or worse, we�ll meet again.�
~
An hour later, the stewardess was allowing Louie to help her board the plane before the other passengers.
�What about the wheelchair?� she asked.
�Take it home as a souvenir,� Louie quipped, �of the exciting events of the past week.� Growing serious, he asked her, �How are you going to manage on the other end?�
�I�ll have someone waiting for me,� she told him.
�Sir, we�re about to board the other passengers. We need you to leave,� a stewardess said.
�All right, one second, please,� he replied before turning to Angel. �Take care of yourself.�
�Of course. Don�t I always?�
He smiled. �You do a bang up job. I�ll make sure Kevin keeps his word.�
�And that Nick sees a doctor.�
�And that too.�
She smiled sadly at the much larger man. �Thank you.�
�You�re welcome. Have a safe trip home, and may we meet again under better circumstances.�
And Louie left her on the airplane. Alone to face her fate.