...

Axel lets out a long, slow breath. Today was what he'd always hoped for - unconditional friendship. But today had been the first time he'd allowed it to happen.

He shakes his head a little, a wry grin forming at just the corner of his mouth. "Yeah, well... this rainbow doesn't really like letting go of the storm either."

Sighing, he looks around the restaurant, then back to Jess. "I don't know what to do now, Jess... I'll admit that to you. Back in Nevada, my job and home might be gone for good. My reputation is smudged and who knows what the guys are thinking..." He pauses, wondering about all of that. Jess hadn't said "come back" but it was as good as implied. "But here..."

Axel stops, not wanting to decide now. "Would you like to meet the family that took me in after I got myself out of jail?"


Carson listens to Peter, making him squirm under the knife blade. "Press charges against me?" A cold laugh surfaces. "I don't think you'd really want to do that anyway, would you?"

The knife goes sliding across Peter's forearm, just enough to draw blood but not wound deeply. "So you got what you wanted eh? You really got what you wanted."

Carson's blood boils. The knife goes back to Peter's throat. "I ought to kill you right here," he hisses. "No one would miss you. No one would care because you're the scum of the earth. But you know what? Killing is too good for you. No... you're going to confess outright, then you're going to stay behind bars - this time I'll make sure of it."

Half an hour later, Carson is finally satisfied with enough recording to convict Peter. Another punch to the jaw and Peter is out cold for a nice quiet ride down to the police station. Carson preferred there over TJY... at TJY Peter might not get out alive.

Reviving him once more, Carson drags Peter out of the back of the van, keeping his hands tied behind his back. He pushes Peter mercilessly up the steps and inside, not caring about the marks Peter bore. It wouldn't matter.

An officer lifts his eyebrows as he sees them, and Carson shrugs. "He fell down."


"Whoa whoa whoa." Con points across the dashboard to the city park, forcing Nate to slow down. "Bryce's car, ten o'clock."

Sure enough, the vehicle was still here, and Bryce was still standing beside it.