Dez looks across the curly haired brunette who flops down into the chair in front of him. Her arms are crossed and her eyes are narrowed on him, but for a reason she didn't know, Dez never quite intimidated her.

"Well," Dez inhales, "I didn't think you'd actually meet me here."

"It took some convincing." Trish admits.

He gives her a polite smile that she almost flares her nostrils at. "I'm glad you came."

She huffs loudly. "Are you?"

Dez sighed. "I know what you're thinking and I know how...uncomfortable it must make you feel, but I didn't lie to you if you never asked."

A muscle in Trish's jaw twitched, because, yeah, she never did ask him. She never thought to ask: hey, so do you happen to be a criminal?

He continued, "You're the one who jumped into my car with your freaky book."

There was a silence. Finally, she said, "Touché."

Dez exhaled as if he'd been holding his breath. "Can we move on?"

"Move on?" she lifted her eye brows at him. "I just found out I sat in a car next to a criminal and you expect to move on?"

"You convinced yourself to sit in front of a criminal, that's got to count for some moving on, don't it?" Dez questioned, corner of his mouth twitching upwards.

"Why am I here?" she questioned.

"I sort of wanted to talk about the Austin and Ally thing." Dez answered after a slow hesitance. Trish sighed, her narrowing eyes relaxed. "He's absolutely crazy about her."

"Well, consider checking him into a facility, because he is getting nowhere near Ally. She has a boyfriend whom she's deeply involved with and, honestly, I value her life very much and if you think-"

Dez rolled his eyes. "-That you'll let a criminal lay hands on her, I must be just as crazy as him?" Dez finished lazily.

"I see we're on the same page." Trish replied.

"I just - come on, Trish, they're soul mates. How do you expect to keep Ally away from Austin?" Dez quizzed.

"Honestly, I don't know." Trish shrugged. "But I do know that Ally isn't thrilled about this whole thing-"

"-You told her?" Dez interjected, surprised.

"Last week." Trish nodded. "Gavin, too. I actually think he accepted it better than she did. She's just...trying to pretend like it's not happening."

Dez nodded.

Trish hesitated before she cringed, telling him, "I told her about this medium, or this expert or something. She...Well, Ally wants to find her to see if she has any information on how to stop the connection."

Dez sucked in a deep breath. "Oh, Austin's not going to like that."

"I know." Trish winced.

"She can't just stay with somebody who isn't supposed to be hers, can she?" Dez questioned, "They're together, I get that, I get that! But this has to be serious business. Soul mates? You can't just push away your soul mate. It doesn't work like that. At least I don't think it does. It can't be that simple."

"It's not." Trish exhaled. "I've done more reading on it. The connection is just going to get stronger. Ally loves Gavin, she really does, but I don't even know if you can stop a connection. It's like fate's design or whatever."

"Austin's my best friend, but...maybe stopping the connection is what's best for Ally. I mean, Austin's living the fast life, he's got no time for settling down, he doesn't want that life. He's not...good for her, I guess." Dez admitted timidly.

He felt guilty. Like he'd betrayed his best friend, but maybe his best friend just couldn't have the happy ending.

"I agree." Trish said, gently.

x

It was late.

Ally would much rather be at home right now with a blanket, but she was out of Advil and her head was killing her. A quick stop the corner store wouldn't hurt.

Just as Ally swung the door open and stepped inside, she heard a deep voice. "The money. Give me all of it."

It was funny how still her body stood when her bones were quivering under her skin.

Her mind was trained on the sight. Two men standing in front of the shaky cashier who struggled to get the register to open. With no masks on, Ally recognized blonde hair and leather jacket. Next to him stood a boy with hair so red it was hard to miss.

The jingle above the door gave her presence away.

She probably portrayed the look of a ghost, Ally figured. She could feel the blood rushing to her toes, every other part of her ran cold. All she saw was a gun pointing at her.

She heard the slap her purse made when it hit the floor by her feet.

Having turned to the unfortunate new guest, Austin was prepared for a threat to leave his lips but when he recognized the wide eyes and the stiff posture, he stayed silently for a moment. His finger moved away from the trigger and he lowered the barrel away from her.

Ally.

Her presence explained the warm feeling in his gut and also the severity of emotions scrambling all over him.

"Drop the phone!" he heard Dez shout from behind and immediately turned to the cashier who immediately let the phone slip from his hand.

"Ally," she hated to hear her name ring from his lips, "Why don't you come over here?"

She didn't say no. She didn't say yes. She didn't even breath. She was sure her lips were blue from oxygen deprivation.

"Come on." Austin coaxed, holding up an arm as if she was supposed to cocoon herself beneath it.

There was no way she was going to even come near him. She'd done a graceful job at avoiding Austin overly the past couple of weeks and she wasn't interested in acknowledging him again, but he did have a gun and she was lying if she told herself she wasn't afraid of him right now.

She wondered why his criminal eyes looked so bright to her.

Maybe it was out of fear or maybe it was out of curiosity, she didn't really know, but soon her feet carried her slowly towards him.

"Thatta girl." His lips twisted into a smirk and she didn't like it one bit. In fact, it exasperated her. She would have shown him the mood she was in if it hadn't been for how hard she was shaking.

"Come close." Austin taunted, wrapping an arm around the back of her neck when she was close enough and holding her to his side tightly while his arm dangled from her shoulder.

He was guilty enough for her shaking to even regret coming here tonight. To regret even showing up in Miami. They should have gone somewhere else. He should have stayed away from here. He shouldn't have gotten involved in this city.

To shake off his thoughts, Austin sighed teasingly towards the cashier who was trembling like a cold deer. "Look, man, just pass us the money and we'll get out of here."

"Let the girl go." The man's voice was not very steady.

"Ally? No, it's okay. We're friends." Austin said, dismissively.

The man gulped as he looked between the two of them. "She doesn't look too friendly with you, if you asked me."

"Well, that's the point: I didn't ask you. Now, hand over the damn money so I can go home." Austin rolled his eyes, twirling his gun on his finger tip.

The cashier scrambled to toss the money on the counter and Dez swiftly collected it.

Ally felt disgusted.

This man had done nothing wrong and they'd just come in here and probably created a moment in his mind that he'll never forget for the rest of his life.

Was this pleasurable to Austin? Did he find joy in hurting other human beings?

"Let's get out of here!" Austin exclaimed.

His tone rang in Ally's ears like he'd completely forgotten what he'd just done to somebody. Her thoughts drifted to Elliot. She wondered if she'd been hanging about somebody who did this, too. She felt sick.

When she realized, Austin still had a grip on her as he headed for the door, she realized that Austin was probably taking her with him and that both excited and scared her. She didn't know what to be excited for, maybe just his presence. His eerie presence.

"No, Austin, you can't just..." stumbled from her mouth.

"He'll be fine, Als. Trust me." Austin told her and she flinched at the name she only ever wanted Gavin to call her.

"Trust you?" Her words quivered as he shifted out the door with her.

Austin rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. Remember, I'm still the guy whose presence you once enjoyed." He gave her a caustic grin.

"That was before I knew...anything." Ally replied.

He stopped in front of a car, opening the back door. "Get in." he told her.

She chose not to argue, because she thought about not winning and she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of feeling victorious. But as she crawled in, she realized that was exactly what he was feeling right now.

He slipped in beside her, tossing the car keys to Dez who'd jumped into the driver's side. He looked over his shoulder at Austin.

"I really get to drive?" Dez arched a suspicious eye brow.

"Yeah, yeah. I don't mind." Austin waved his hand at his friend.

Dez knew it had something to do with the small girl tucked under his arm in the back seat. Dez shrugged and turned around.

Ally felt uneasy when the car lurched into motion. She felt Austin's finger tips rubbing gently circles along her shoulder, but when she went to look at him, he was looking the other way.

"Relax." Austin told her easily, finally looking over at her. "It's not like I'm kidnapping you. I could, but I'm not."

"Because that makes me feel so much better. Thank you." Her sarcasm was spoken in a low grumble, but he still heard it and managed a smirk.

"Austin, I can't go anywhere with you. Gavin's waiting for me. I was supposed to only be gone for a couple minutes. I need to go home." Ally told Austin and even she felt silly for thinking Austin would even feel remotely bad for her.

Austin shook his head. "The boy can wait. Besides, Dez tells me that you finally learned some interesting information about me."

The smirk he cast down at her told her he wasn't talking about his thieving habits. He was talking about something that she wanted to forget about.

Ally's eyes found Dez's in the rear view mirror.

"Sources!" Dez chimed quickly before resuming to focusing on the road.

She looked up at Austin, but timidly looked away from him, picking at a loose string on her sweater sleeve.

"I want to go home." Ally mumbled again.

"You will. Later." Austin chirped. "For now, I think it's nice we get to know each other."

Ally shook her head. "Austin, you don't really believe in it, do you?" she looked at him. "It's stupid. It was a stupid book."

"With a very interesting explanation." Austin replied.

When Ally felt the car stop, she glanced over to a house. Elliot's house. She figured that must be where Austin is staying. Dez got out of the car, leaving the keys in the ignition.

Ally really didn't want to be alone with Austin. It made her unnerved.

"Are we going to go inside-"

"-I like it in here. It's quiet." Austin said.

"Right." Ally inhaled.

"Does that mean you don't believe in it?" Austin questioned.

"No, I don't. It's silly." Ally replied, curtly.

"It does, doesn't it?" Austin said. Ally looked at him oddly for agreeing with her. "But then what's the explanation for this." Austin added, gently brushing his fingers up and down her arm and she felt guilty when shivers spidered up her spine but the feeling of his fingers felt like every nerve in her body was on fire.

"Austin..." Ally shifted away from him uncomfortably but his grip around her shoulders tightened, keeping her in place.

"You know you feel something, Ally." Austin said. "And it's indescribable and the only thing that's even making sense right now is this whole soul mate fiasco."

"You're not my soul mate, Gavin is." Ally retorted, crossing her arms.

"Yeah? Does he make you feel like I do?" Austin questioned, bringing his lips close to her ear. "Did you feel even half the things you felt when you met me?"

Ally's mind was scrambling and she started fidgeting.

He moved his head away from her and she relaxed, feeling like she could breathe again.

"No," Austin answered himself, "He didn't. Not even close. I make you feel alive." He jabbed his index finger into her ribcage and she squirmed in response.

"No, you don't." Ally argued, shaking her head. "You don't. You make...You make me feel like...Look, I don't know. I just want to go home."

She felt embarrassed for not be able to speak abruptly to him like he could to her, but his entire presence distracted her and he was right, she did feel things with him that she didn't feel with Gavin and quite frankly, it terrified her.

"Right, your boy is waiting up on you. Probably in his jammies and you guys are going to watch re-runs and kiss and cuddle." Austin mocked and Ally sighed.

Ally rubbed her forehead. "Austin, can you not do this? It's late and I have a headache. I just...want to go home. I don't want to be here."

"Yes, you do." Austin said. "Admit it, Ally; Avoiding me was the hardest thing you've ever had to do. Admit how dirty you feel because you have a boy, but all you can think about is me."

She wanted to hit him. That's all she wanted to do. Her teeth clenched and Austin smirked at the reaction he was getting.

"You can stop anytime, you know." Ally scowled. "Besides, it's useless thinking you can get to me when I'm not going to feel anything much longer."

"What are you talking about?"

"Trish knows somebody who's an expert on this kind of thing. I'm going to be talking to her and she's going to tell me exactly how the connection can be stopped. So, you see, I won't feel anything anymore. I won't think about you or feel uncomfortable every time you show up to make my life hell. I'll be happy."

Her words stung a lot and he suddenly remembered why he didn't do this love thing. If he had a choice in any of this, he would have chosen crime. He would never choose her. Never. She's the one thing that risks everything he's ever known. She's the one thing that can tear down everything he built up by hand.

A muscle in his jaw jumped as he looked out the window, sliding his tongue along his back teeth. He took his arm off of her.

Ally didn't know if she liked this silence either.

Austin shook his head and narrowed his eyes down at her. "You can't just stop it."

"Apparently, I can and I will." Ally replied.

"You're telling me you hate it? You hate everything that I make you feel and you're just going to put an end to it?" Austin quizzed her.

Ally nodded her head.

"Well," Austin smirked at her dryly, "Tell me how it works out for you."

Next thing she knew Austin was jumping in the front seat and swiftly pulling out the drive way. Ally watched him through the rear view mirror and felt the tingle in her gut.

She hurt him.

She could feel it. She could feel his anger and something mixed with it like sadness or aggravation. She let her gaze fall down to her feet as she fidgeted them. She didn't want to feel bad, but she did.

It wasn't any sooner than that when he'd pulled up in front of the apartments. Ally looked up at the building and relaxed slightly, knowing that she could finally get out of this tight space with the boy who made her lungs burn.

He stared ahead, not sparing another glance.

"Thanks." she muttered, not sure what she was even thanking him about. He technically kidnapped her for fifteen or so minutes. She slid out of the car and she'd barely shut the door when he'd sped off, cutting another car off in the process.

She let out a breath, her cheeks puffed out and she ran fingers through her hair.

Pissing off a criminal is just as unsettling as it sounds.

Ally turned around and headed into the building. She realized she still didn't have Advil and groaned. But that was when she realized, her headache only came back when Austin was gone. She had merely forgotten about it.

She turned her head to look back to where his car had driven off and exhaled.