AJ stood with his hands on his hips looking at D, waiting for her to explain what he had just overheard.

"J, I…I’m sorry...you weren’t..I..." she stuttered.

"Just tell me if it’s true," he demanded with his teeth clenched.

D looked at Nick as if asking his permission. Nick looked back at her and nodded. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Yes, it’s true," she whispered.

AJ just stared at her. He couldn’t believe this was happening.

"When?" He asked, walking over to her with his arms folded.

D looked up at him and could see the hurt and fury burning in his eyes. She didn’t want to tell him the truth…to give him all the details but she knew she had to now. There was no getting out of it. He had to know.

"That night that Dawn and Noah got really drunk."

"But Dawn said that they didn’t. Noah said that they didn’t!"

"He was lying to you Bone," Nick cut in. "D was hounding him about what happened that night while you were talking to Dawn. He admitted that they slept together."

AJ looked at him, his eyes narrowing. Were they telling the truth? Why would Dawn lie to him?

"And you’re sure he was telling you the truth. When I had him against that wall he swore that they didn’t do anything."

"He lied to you, AJ. He was scared. He didn’t want you to beat the shit out of him anymore."

"But how do you know he wasn’t lying to you and telling me the truth?"

D shook her head. She knew what he was trying to do. He didn’t want to believe it, he was in denial.

"J, he wasn’t lying to us. He hates me and when I was in his face about it he admitted it. He knew that we wouldn’t say anything to you or Dawn. He played us J…and he played you."

AJ stared down at the ground, trying to comprehend what D had just told him. He just couldn’t grasp the fact that his fiance’ had cheated on him, with the man he despised most in the world at that.

"AJ, man, I’m sorry that we didn’t tell you. We didn’t want to hurt you or Dawn," Nick stated, putting a hand on his shoulder.

AJ looked up at him, his jaw clenching. He shrugged off Nick’s hand and backed away. He looked at both of them, his anger boiling.

"The two of you should have told me what happened, no matter how much it was going to hurt me or piss me off. I had a right to know!!" He yelled before walking out of the room.

"AJ!! Wait!" D called, running after him.

AJ headed for the front door and opened it.

"Where are you going?"

"I have something to take care of," he snarled before slamming the door.

Noah sat up in his bed when he heard someone pounding on his door. He ran a hand through his tousled hair as he looked at the clock.

"Three a.m? Ugh…" he groaned, collapsing back on the bed.

The person knocked louder and Noah reluctantly got up to see who it was.

"They’re gonna wake the whole fucking street," he mumbled.

He peeked through the peephole to see who this obnoxious knocker was.

"What the fuck?" He asked, as he opened the door.

"AJ, what the hell do…"

A fist hitting him squarely in the jaw cut him off. It took him by surprise and he fell back onto the hardwood floor. He lay there dazed for a second. He lifted his head and looked up at AJ, who was standing over him.

"What the hell was that for?" He asked him, rubbing his sore jaw.

"That was for fucking my fianc�."

Noah looked up at him in shock. How the hell did he find out?

"Don’t even try to deny it you piece of shit. I know you fucked her, you took advantage of her when she was drunk."

Why should he deny it? Dawn and AJ were back together now. What did he have to lose?   He smirked as he got up and stood to face his enemy.

"I didn’t have to take advantage of her, AJ. She was all over me. She wanted me as badly as I wanted her."

"Fucking liar!!" He yelled as he punched him in the stomach with all the anger he had in him.

Noah fell to the floor with a groan.

"You stay the hell away from her, Williams!! If you know what’s good for you, you will stay far, far away!!"

With that he turned and stormed out the door, slamming it behind him.

The next morning Dawn woke up and went to check on Arianna. She was awake and playing with her toys like a good girl. Dawn carried her into the kitchen for breakfast. D was sitting at the table staring into her cup of coffee.

"Morning," Dawn greeted cheerfully, setting Arianna in her highchair.

"Morning," D said, absently.

Dawn looked at her strangely as she made Arianna some cereal and poured herself a cup of juice. She gave the baby her cereal and sat down across from D.

"So where are Nicky and Alex this morning?" Dawn asked, taking a sip of her drink. "They left awfully early."

"They went to a meeting with Fatima about the new tour, then they have a rehearsal," D told her, not looking up from her cup.

"Oh okay." Dawn stared at D for a moment. "What’s wrong? You look like you lost your best friend."

D looked up at her. She didn’t know how close to being true that statement was.

"Nothing," she said, getting up and putting her cup in the sink.

"Are you sure? Did you and Nicky have a little fight?"

D shook her head. "I’m just a little tired".

"Me too," Dawn sighed.

"So you didn’t talk to J yet today?" D asked carefully.

"No, he was gone when I woke up. Why?"

"No reason. I was just wondering."

D didn’t want to mention anything to her about what happened the night before with AJ. If AJ was going to confront her then he could do it in his own time.

"Me done Mommy," Arianna told Dawn as she pushed the bowl away from her.

"Okay sweetpea. Let’s get you cleaned up and dressed so we can go see Grandma. Would you like to go see Grandma?"

"Yeah! Gwamma!!!" she squealed, clapping her hands together. Dawn laughed and picked her up.

"Would you mind taking us, D?"

"No, not at all. I’ll go get dressed."

Dawn smiled and went to get herself and the baby ready.

They spent the entire day at Denise’s.  At five, Denise took her over to AJ’s. She left Arianna
with Denise because it was the day before she was moving back home and she had planned a romantic evening for her and AJ.

It was six o’clock when AJ came through the door. He was exhausted. He didn’t get any sleep the night before and he had spent the entire day rehearsing the new dance moves for the tour. He kept messing up the steps because he couldn’t keep his mind off of Dawn and Noah.

Fatima and the other guys were constantly on his case about not concentrating. Nick was the only one who knew what the problem was and left him alone.

When he walked into the living room he was shocked to see the candles lit all over the place. It was then that he noticed the wonderful smells that were coming from the kitchen. He closed his eyes and inwardly groaned.

She was here. She was making him a romantic dinner. The last thing he wanted to do was have a romantic dinner with her. He didn’t even want to see her right now. He wasn’t ready to confront her yet. He was too angry and too tired. He just wanted to go to bed.

"There you are! I thought I heard you come in," Dawn said sweetly, coming up behind him and putting her arms around him.

She could feel him tense up at her touch. He pulled away from her.

"What’s wrong, baby?"

"Nothing," he answered, picking up the mail on the table and flipping through it.

She looked at him strangely.

"Okay." 

She walked over to him and attempted to put her arms around him again. 

"You know, I was thinking about when the baby is due and when the doctor said that I got pregnant, and you know what?"

AJ just looked at her, not in the mood to play guessing games.  She took the look on his face as the
hint that he was not in a very good mood. 

"Well, remember that night of my CD release?  After the party….on the beach?"

AJ let a small smile graze his lips.  He remembered that night, he wished they could go back to it.  

Dawn saw him smile and knew that he remembered.

"Well, remember how we said that that night felt different somehow….."

"Yeah," he answered quietly.

"That’s the night we made our little miracle." She smiled as she nuzzled her nose against his neck.

He pulled away from her again.

"Alex, I know you’re not in a good mood today, but, geez, don’t take it out on me."

He couldn’t take it anymore, he was about to blow up.

"I know what happened that night," he spit out.

"Huh?   What night?" She inquired, confused.

"That night you got drunk with Noah, " he stated between clenched teeth.

"Nothing happened. I told you that."

"You think nothing happened. You don’t remember anything! Well GUESS WHAT?!?!  You did fuck him!!" He yelled.

Dawn stared at him in shock.

"What? No, I didn’t. I couldn’t have. Who told you that??"

"I overheard D and Nick talking and she said that she hoped I never found out that you slept with Noah. He told them when D confronted him about what happened."

"That can’t be. He told you we didn’t….."

"Well he lied Dawn!! I woke his ass up this morning and he admitted it to me! I accused him of taking advantage of you and he said he didn’t have to because you were all over him!!" He screamed in her face.

She cringed at his words. Out of all the arguments they had been in and all the things they had been through, she had never seen him this angry before. She felt tears start to fall down her face.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "I would know if I slept with him and I didn’t. Alex, please. You have to believe me!" She begged.

He shook his head and walked to the door.

"Alex! Please!" She cried, grabbing his arm to stop him. "Don’t leave, please talk to me!   You can’t really believe that I would do something like that to you! He’s lying to all of you. He’s jealous of us. He wants me and I’m devoted to you. We’re going to have a baby Alex.   We’re going to get married!"

She took his face in her hands and she could see the tears in his eyes. She was getting through to him.

"I love you more than anything in this world. I know in my heart that I didn’t sleep with Noah, I don’t care what anyone says. He made this up, I know it! Please believe me, Alex. I love you and I would never do such a thing.    I don’t care how drunk I was!" She sobbed.

"I want to believe you, Angel…"

"So do it. I’m telling you the truth Alex. You know me.   Please believe me."

He looked into her eyes. He wanted, more than anything, to believe her.   In his heart he did believe her, but the fact that she couldn’t remember that night was what worried him.   Still, he trusted her, she was going to be his wife soon, he had to trust her.   Maybe Noah was lying.   He wasn’t going to let him win.

"I believe you.   I’m sorry I doubted you," he whispered pulling her into his arms as he held her tight.

Chapter 47
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