Birds chirping outside of her window, signaled to Eve that today was a new day and that today was the day of the medical conference. She slowly swung her legs over the side of her bed and stretched out all of the kinks in her newly awakened body before getting up and heading to the bathroom to take a shower.

Fifteen minutes later, a newly freshened Eve came out of the bathroom in nothing but a long white towel then walked over to the closet and pulled out the outfit that she was going to wear today. After getting her outfit out of the closet, she casually dropped her towel and began to dress. Once she was dressed, she walked over to the dresser and began putting on her jewelry and some perfume. She then walked back into the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. Eve’s appearance consisted of a black blouse, with the top two buttons undone, a knee high purple skirt with the matching jacket, a pair of black heels and her hair was in a low ponytail that hung down her back. Once she was done looking herself over, she headed over to her bed, got her purse and walked out of the room.

Three hours later the medical conference was over and Eve was physically and mentally drained. Never before did she have to stay in one seat for three hours straight talking about absolutely nothing. Seriously, what was the purpose of coming to these things if all the other doctors talked about were golf and their homes.

As she drove her rented car back to the hotel she was staying in, her cell phone began to ring. She couldn’t take her eyes off of the road to answer it, so she continued to drive until she came upon a red light before reaching over to the passengers seat and picking it up.

“Hello.” She said but all she heard was heavy breathing in the background. “Hello…” She called out again and still nothing. She was getting ready to hang the phone up when she finally heard a voice.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you Eve. ” The voice said.

“Who is this?” Eve asked curiously.

“It doesn’t matter who I am.” The voice snapped. “Now look, I want for you to keep driving until I tell you to pull over. If you don’t, then I’ll put a bullet between your eyes. And don’t look back because if you do…pop goes the weasel…” the person sang into the phone.

The moment Julian stepped off the plane; he felt this weight being lifted off of his shoulders. He was on a mission now; he knew what he had to do. Before boarding the plane to come back here to Los Angeles, he called an old friend of his to let him know that he would be back in town for a little while and wondered if he could crash at his beach house for the time being. So he grabbed his bag and began walking out of the terminal to flag down a taxi and head over to his friend’s beach house.

After a twenty-minute drive, he was now standing in front of the beach house looking up at it. He then walked up to the door and found it unlocked with a note hanging from the knob. Once he was settled in, he walked into the garage and hopped into his friend’s old 2000 Jeep Cherokee. His friend Paul had left him to keys to the jeep, so that he could get back and front to where he needed to go. Pulling out of the driveway, he drove over to the nearest hospital to find out where the conference was being held.

Eve continued to drive just like the person over the phone told her to until she came upon a dead end street, and not once did she look behind her. Just the thought of someone holding a gun on her, scared the living daylights out of her. The person on the other end of the phone began talking to her again.

“Now Eve, I want you to get out of the car nice and slowly and don’t turn around, if you know what’s good for you.”

Eve did just like she was told and stayed that way until she heard footsteps behind her. Her breath hitched in her throat as she felt something hard stick her in the back.

“Now that’s a good girl. Ok, slowly turn around and face me.”

Eve slowly turned around and gasped when she came face to face with none other than the colleague that she brought with her to Los Angeles.

“Oh my god… it’s you.”

Once Julian arrived at the nearest hospital, he had to persuade the ugly receptionist to give him the information that he needed. After getting what he came here for, he walked back to his jeep and shuddered a bit once he was inside.

“Why are you doing this to me?” Eve said in a panicked voice. For the past ten minutes, her colleague said nothing and that made Eve’s already frantic state of mine hit an all-time high!

“Everything that I have ever wanted in life, you have taken from me.”

“What are you talking about?!” Eve shrieked.

“Like you don’t know…” the person scoffed.

“What did I do?”

“You took him from me. Hell, you even took the job that should’ve been rightfully mine!”

“Who did I take from you?” Eve asked curiously.

“Julian Crane… You took Julian from me.”

“What?!”

“In high school, you had him wrapped around your little finger. He followed you around like a lost little puppy. TC did too.”

“They were my friends. We hung out together.”

“Wrong! Julian wanted you… TC wanted you… I don’t know why, you’re not that special or anything…” the person said rolling their eyes. “Just admit it Eve, you loved them both.”

For a moment, Eve couldn’t answer her. Yes she loved Julian and yes she loved TC, but the love she had for the both of them was different.

TC cautiously followed Julian around Los Angeles just waiting him to find Eve. ‘The nerve of this jacka**… I won’t let him have her.’ TC thought viciously as he gripped his stirring wheel as tight as he could. TC suddenly came to a stop as he saw Julian pull over to the right and get out of his jeep and walk into this restaurant.

Julian noticed right away that someone had been following him. He couldn’t really see who the person was, so he came up with an idea. He would pull over at the next restaurant, walk in and wait for the person who had been following him to walk in also. And once the person walked in, he would sneak out back and get the jump on him.

When Eve didn’t answer the question the person asked her, the person just assumed that she was stalling. So they pointed the gun at Eve again and demanded that she answer the question.

“Answer my question damn it!”

Eve shook her head as she once again refused to answer the question. Getting frustrated, the person put the gun away, then back slapped cross Eve across the face drawing blood.

“Why should I answer you?! It’ll just be a waste of breath. No matter what answer I give, it will still be wrong to you.” Eve spat.

“I want to truth now b*tch! You see both TC and Julian are here in Los Angeles. I know that for a fact. Tell me Eve, who do you love most?”

“I love them both…” she said.

“I knew it…” the person scoffed.

“I love TC as a friend, but I love Julian more than a friend. He’s always been the one that I’ve wanted… always.” Eve whispered painfully.

And Eve was right, no matter how she answered the question, it was still wrong as the person suddenly jumped on her and tried to strangle her to death.

TC walked into the restaurant a few minutes after Julian entered and tried to find him. He looked to the left but Julian wasn’t there, he then looked to the right and still no Julian. He walked further into the restaurant just to make sure that he didn’t miss anything, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Slowly he turned around and saw Julian right behind him.

“Sonofab*tch! What the hell are you doing here in Los Angeles?!” Julian shouted.

“I’m here because I know that you came here to be with Eve. I told you to stay away from her, but you didn’t listen. It ends now!” TC sneered.

“You’re right, it does end now. I won’t rest until Eve and I are together. Whatever fantasy you had of you and her together is never gonna happen. Never. Not while I’m here.” Julian spat.

Eve’s eyes burned and she couldn’t catch her breath as she felt her windpipes being crushed. She blinked her eyes a few times before she somehow raised her up her leg and kicked her colleague in the side. As soon as that happened, the grip that was being applied to neck loosed up and she rolled over onto her knees gasping for air. Once she had enough air in her lungs, her stumbled up onto her feet and began running for her life.

Eve ran as fast as she could, still having problems trying to catch her breath properly, with her clothes torn and full of dirt. As she tried to use her cell phone to call for help, but she couldn’t use it properly because her hands were trembling badly and she couldn’t push the numbers correctly. She needed some place to rest up for a bit, so she continued to run until she came upon the side of a building to her left. Once there, she remembered that her colleague said that Julian was here in Los Angeles as well. She took a deep breath, and then started dialing his number.

TC was looked at Julian with so much hatred evident in his eyes that his hands itched to pull his heart out and stomp on it right then and there.

“You can’t have her. I won’t let you have her.”

“I’m sorry, but I love her. I always have and I always will. You can’t keep me from her. I won’t let you.” Julian said as he stared straight into TC’s eyes.

Whatever TC was about to say to Julian never came as Julian’s cell phone started ringing. Julian reached into his pocket and just flipped it open without even bothering to see who it was.

“Hello…”

“Julian…” Eve said in a faint whisper.

“Eve… is that you?” he asked.

“Help me… I need…your help…” she whispered again.

“Where are you?!”

Eve was about to give him the name of the street she was on when she was suddenly knocked to the ground hard, dropping her cell phone in the process as well. She groaned a bit then slowly watched as her colleague stood over her, with her cell phone in their hand.

“Eve! Are you alright?! Answer me please!” Julian shouted frantically over the line.

“I’m sorry, but Eve can’t come to the phone right.” The person said sarcastically to Julian.

“Who the hell are you?! Where’s Eve?!” Julian shouted viciously through the phone.

“Don’t worry Julian, she’s in safe hands. Anyways…oops, just a minute. I have to call TC too.”

Suddenly TC’s cell phone began to ring as well, so he answered it.

“Ok… now that’s much better.” The person said then started laughing hysterically.

“Where’s Eve damn it?!” This time it was TC who shouted.

“I’m the one giving the damn orders here, not you bastard!” They spat. “You both can find us at the old abandoned warehouse near the docks. And if you don’t make it here in the next two hours, Eve’s dead. I’ll be waiting.”

“Rebecca, don’t do this!” Eve shouted just as everything right before her eyes went black.