Eric's POV

I woke up to pounding on the front door. I slowly wake up and throw on some sweatpants and a t-shirt. I head downstairs as the pounding gets louder and faster.

"Hold on a minute! I'm coming."

I hear the guys coming down behind me.

"Who the hell is pounding on your door at eight o'clock in the morning on a Sunday?" Todd asks as he rubs his eyes.

"Open up, it's Sheriff Stevens!"

We all stop and just look at each other. It's all going down as I thought and I think I just lost Amanda for good.

"I'm coming, hold on." I open the door and there stands Amanda's dad and two other officers, with Jenkins standing off the porch with a smirk on his face.

"Please step outside, son."

"Yes, sir." I step outside and he turns me around as they place the handcuffs on my wrists.

"You are under arrest for assaulting an officer. Jones read him his rights."

He reads me my rights as they walk me to the police car. They stop to put me in and before they could, Jenkins walks up and punches me in the stomach. I double over in pain.

"Enough Jenkins, don't get yourself into more trouble."

"That s.o.b. ruined my face."

"And you return the favor and you're out of a job."

I look back at my friends and see them both standing on the porch with apologetic looks on their faces.

"Hey, call my uncle and let him know what is going on."

"We got it man, no worries!" Todd yells back.

They place me in the back and head off to the precinct. Once we arrive, I am shuffled into a holding cell, and left. It's been a couple of hours and I haven't heard anything from anybody. I don't know what's going on or what's happening. Finally I hear someone coming down the hall and they stop in front of me. It's Jenkins and he has this evil smile across his face.

"What the hell do you want?"

"Just thinking about having time with your girl and there is nothing you can do about it."

"I told you to stay the hell away from her."

I charge the cell door trying to grab him and he backs away quickly.

"Don't worry, I'll take good care of her for you."

He turns around and walks away laughing and I am left fuming in my cell. A little while later I hear footsteps again, this time it is Amanda's father. He walks up to my cell and looks at me sternly.

"Listen, I have a proposition for you. It could be good for all of us."

"What is it? Of course I don't think anything you give me will be good for me."

"Alright, you leave, get out of town, and don't look back. You are not to talk to Amanda or give her any kind of clues to what is going on, and you walk out of her life with no record of what happened last night, your record is clear."

"Are you serious? I can't do that. I love her, this will kill her!"

"I will give you one hour. And I will make sure that Jenkins leaves my daughter alone. Think about this really hard!"

He leaves me alone with my thoughts. What should I do? If I leave she will be devastated. If I don't, then I will end up in prison, and she will be devastated, then there is Jenkins. I don't know what to do. I have to think about her though. I won't have jail time and hopefully this whole Jenkins thing will be over. I think long and hard until he comes back.

"What is your decision, boy?"

"You have to promise me that Amanda will be looked after and Jenkins will be gone."

"That I can promise you. So you have decided to leave this town?"

"Yes, I may regret this, but I am doing this for Amanda. You promise me that you will do something about Jenkins?"

"Yes son, I will." He says with a smile on his face as he unlocks the cell door and leads me out front. I see Jenkins at his desk, with an evil smile and I hope Amanda's father will do right by her. Sheriff Stevens has one of his men drive me home and he tells me to be out of town in a few days or the deal is off. As I walked back in the house the guys were still there and my uncle is now with them.

"Alright nephew, tell me what is going on?"

"I was ambushed, uncle. Her father basically told me that I have to get out of town and leave Amanda alone or I go to jail. He gave me a deal."

"You took the deal?"

"What could I do? They were going to throw the book at me if I didn't."

"Where are you going to go?" Todd asks.

"I don't know, but I have to be out in a couple days or the deal is off."

"I have a brother in California. I can call him and see if you can stay there until you find something." Brian offers.

"Thanks man, this just sucks. I don't want to leave her, but I have to for her sake."

"You will need to tell her." Uncle Tony says.

"I can't. I am not allowed to speak to her, or it's off. He doesn't want me anywhere near her. It hurts me so much to be hurting her."

"I talked with my brother and he said that would be fine. He has an extra room and he also said he has a job for you if you want it." Brian offers after he hangs up the phone.

"What kind of job?"

"Same thing you are doing now. I will send you the address and his number. He will be looking out for you."
"That's great man. Thanks alot. I will probably head out sometime tomorrow."

"I guess we better head out now that we know you are okay."

"I'm not okay, but I am still here."

Everyone starts to leave and my uncle stops.

"Come to the house your aunt will want to say goodbye. I'm sorry Eric. This is total shit and I can't believe this is happening to you again."

"Thank you uncle. I will stop by when I am heading out."

"See you later then."

He heads out and I start packing up all my clothes. It seems like it was taking forever, but I guess it will when you are doing something you don't want to do. After I have packed up my clothes, I sit down to write Amanda a letter. He said I couldn't talk to her, but he didn't say I couldn't leave her a letter. It's late in the night and I finally lay my head down for a sleepless night. The next morning I get up and put all the boxes in the back of my truck and head over to my uncle's. They are both in the living room when I walk in. My aunt jumps up and throws herself into my arms sobbing.

"Oh Eric, I am so sorry! I hate that this is happening again. You two were so great to great together and I kind of understand why you are doing this. I'm sure she won't be happy at first, but we will help her. Maybe someday you two will be together again."
"It's just shit and I hate it. I feel like I'm making a horrible mistake and I am losing her forever."

"Maybe not, maybe this is how your story goes. Time for you two to really grow up and see if you are truly meant to be together."

"I hope so. Maybe I will see her again someday."

We hug each other and I hand her the letter for Amanda and I head out to say goodbye to my uncle before I leave.

"Hey uncle, just letting you know I am leaving. I gave a letter to Aunt Tonya for Amanda. I know she will come looking for me very soon."
"I hate that you have to do this. Be safe and call me when you get there."

"I will"

My phone starts buzzing and I look at the caller id and see who it is. My eyes start to water as I turn it off. Looking back at my uncle he gives me a look of sadness and then hugs me.

"You know I love you like a son. Take care, we will talk soon."

"I love you too. I'll call when I get there."

I turn around and climb into my truck and head out of town and out of this life.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Amanda's POV

It's finally Friday and I haven't talked to Eric all week. I have been so busy with schoolwork. I miss him. I quickly dial his phone and it goes to voicemail. I go about my day with classes. That evening I tried again. It goes straight to voicemail again. I try several more times and I get the same thing. What is going on? I am getting worried now. He is never like this. He always picks up when I call. What is he doing? Is he out with someone else? Alright, tomorrow I will go home to find out what is going on.

The next morning I got up and got ready. I climb into my car and head home. I am so scared of what I might find when I get there. Please let me be overreacting and something is wrong. Maybe he can't answer. There has got to be a good answer. After a couple hours I pull into his driveway and his truck is not there. I knock on the door, no answer. Again, I called his cell phone repeatedly and got no answer. Now I am super worried. I try to look in the windows and I see nothing. Now the tears threaten to spill over. I quickly get in my car and head over to his aunt and uncle's. I walk up to the door and his aunt opens the door.

"I knew we would be seeing you soon. Come in and sit down sweetie. We have something for you."

I follow her into the living room and sit down. She goes over to a side table and picks up an envelope and hands it to me. I look questionably.

"It's from Eric, sweetie. He wanted to tell you but couldn't. He is heartbroken."
"Your father had a lot to do with this. He couldn't tell you."

I carefully open the envelope and pull out the letter inside.

My dearest,

If you are reading this then I am already gone. I am so sorry I had to go, but your father gave me an ultimatum. Either I leave and you are safe, or I stay and face jail time. Your father won't listen about Jenkins and it seems this is the only way. You were my endgame. Your father promised to keep you safe after I left. Leaving you is ripping my heart out. I hope that someday you can forgive me and maybe someday you will find me again. I love you so much and I wish I could have told you in person. I hope that someday I can.

Love you always,

Eric.

"Oh my god, what did my dad do?"

"Jenkins egged him on until he broke. He was saying things about you. Eric jumped him and beat him up good while Jenkins was in uniform. The next day they came and arrested him. They took him away and your father told him that he either left and got out of your life or he faced jail time. This would have been his third time and they would have thrown the book at him. Your dad also told him that he would get Jenkins away from you too."

"Are you kidding me? Why would my dad do that?" I stand up and start pacing around the room. "How could he be so cruel?"

I just become angrier and angrier. Tears start to fall as I try to think about what is going on. Why? I finally stop pacing and the tears start falling as I begin to sob. His aunt comes over and wraps her arms around me as I place mine around her as I lay my head on her shoulder and the tears soak her shirt.

"I am so sorry Amanda. I know how much he loved you and I hate that this happened. He has had such a hard go at life. A lot of it was bad decisions on his part, but he was finally turning a corner."

"Have you talked to him?"

"Not since he left. He won't answer any calls."
"He won't answer mine, either."

"He was told he couldn't talk to you, or the deal was off."

I am so angry at my dad! I have got to go talk to him."
"Are you okay?" Uncle Troy asks.

"Not right now, but maybe someday. Right now I have got to go see my dad and find out why he did this."