It had been no easy feat to tear Momoko away from the house at the Hamptons. It turned out that the next group of tenants, who'd rented the cottage for the weekend, had a death in the family and had to back out at the last minute. Carol Anne, Sully's friend who rented them the place, told them they could have it at half price if they wanted to stay.

"Yes! Yesyesyesyes!" was Momoko's answer, of course. "Oh my god, we get three more days in this gorgeous place!" She was twirling around in the living room, and nearly twirled a conch shell decoration off a shelf.

"We can't," Sully said regretfully into the phone where he was talking to Carol Anne. He also shot Momoko a look that told her to be quiet at the same time. "No, we have a gig on Sunday night, and we have to get back to the city to brush up for it. Yeah, thanks, though, it's a really nice offer, we really wish we could."

Momoko stood, mid-twirl, looking bereft. Oh yeah, her look said. The gig.

So now they were driving back to New York, tired out from the sun and salt and all the relaxation. Momoko lay asprawl in the back, as much as her seat belt would allow, leaning comfortably on Tommy, tanned legs up on Jude's lap. He stroked them meditatively from time to time, enjoying their smoothness.

"Well, I think we're going to make it back in record time," Sully told the car. "It's a weekday, and we're heading into the city, opposite the commuters who are heading home, so we're in luck, I guess."

When they got into Manhattan there was no traffic, either. "Wow, even more luck, unbelievable," Sully marveled, pretty much to himself, this time, since everyone was sleeping at this point.

But when he turned onto their street, he saw a familiar figure sitting on the cement pad in front of their gate.

Their luck hadn't lasted all the way home, it seemed.

"Shit," he said, loud enough to wake the other occupants of the car.

"What?" Momoko asked, knuckling her eyes with her fists and sitting up. Her seat belt had left a mark on her cheek.

"We have company, Peaches," Sullivan said grimly.

Hunter sat, despondent, picking at his nails.

"Oh no," said Dane, his voice gravelly with sleep.

"You want me to just keep on driving?" Sully asked. "I don't think he's seen us yet."

"No, he'll just stay until we come home," Momoko said. "Best to just get it over with and send him on his way. I'm so sorry, you guys."

"Please stop apologizing for that wanker," Jude said, putting an arm around her. "It's starting to really irritate me."

"Seriously," Tommy agreed from her other side.

Sully double parked as close to the other cars as he could and they got out, going to the back of the SUV to get their stuff.

"Hi, Hunter," Momoko said, attempting to just walk by him.

"Hi, babe," he answered, jumping off the cement pad. "You go somewhere? You got some sun, huh? You look great, really beautiful."

"Thanks." She continued walking up the stairs, but he stopped her with a hand on her arm.

"Let me go, please."

Tommy, as the strongest, stayed with her, and he put his stuff down, turning to confront Momoko's ex. "You heard her, Hunter. Let her go."

"Could you please leave us alone so we can talk privately?" Hunter asked Tommy. "I'm trying to be polite today, okay man? Not lose my temper? So could you just be human and let me talk to my girlfriend? Please?"

Sully came back down and grabbed Momoko's stuff from her before getting some more things from the back of the SUV and taking it upstairs. "Everything okay?" he asked as he passed.

Momoko nodded.

"Sorry, but no. I stay." Tommy said firmly.

"Hunter, Tommy's staying," Momoko said.

"But babe, it's not necessary, really."

"And don't call me that anymore."

"Look, I'm trying, okay?" Hunter begged, putting a hand on her arm again. "Don't I get credit for trying? Please, just, let's talk? This is me, trying."

Momoko took a step closer and looked into her ex-boyfriend's eyes.

"This is you, higher than a kite, is what it is." Her voice was filled with disgust. "Oh my god, when did you start using again?"

Hunter took a step back. "Can you blame me? I've been so fucking lonely since you left me, Momo! It's been hell! What was I supposed to do?"

"Tommy, go upstairs, please," Momoko instructed. "Go upstairs and call the police. He can go from zero to a hundred when he's high."

Tommy stared at Momoko. "Are you nuts? I'm not leaving you alone with him after you said that."

Momoko shook her head. "He won't hurt me, he thinks he loves me."

"Babe, I do love you, don't hurt me like that."

Jude was coming back down the stairs. "Got to get the last load. All okay?"

"Jude? Please call 911," Momoko requested, her voice tense. "Hunter is blasting something, probably meth or heroin or both, and it makes him very, very unpredictable."

"Are you having me on, love?" Jude's eyes were wide.

Momoko shook her head, not taking her eyes from Hunter. "No, now do as I say, please."

Jude turned and ran up the stairs, pulling out his phone as he went.

Hunter continued talking to Momoko as if he hadn't heard her words. He reached for her arm, this time grasping it by her slim wrist.

"Let her go." Tommy's voice was like steel, and he reached for Hunter's hand.

"Touch me and I twist it off." Hunter's voice was low.

Tommy stopped moving, brown eyes flicking to Momoko, who shook her head.

At the top of the stairs, Sully, Dane, and Jude had gathered, watching anxiously. Jude was on the phone.

"Now, Momoko and I are going to have a talk, like couples do when they're trying to work out their problems, right?"

Momoko nodded.

"And you, big guy, you're going to go behind that gate, you're going to shut it, and you're going to stay there and not say or do anything, you understand? I see you trying to open it, and this hot little piece of cooze is going to be in a world of hurt, you get what I'm saying?" Hunter turned glassy eyes to Tommy, who nodded. "All I want to do is talk to her. That's all."

He looked at Momoko and twisted her arm, making her bend her knees and wince in pain. "If you'd just been reasonable instead of being the tight ass bitch you always are, it wouldn't have come to this, but you always have to have things your way, don't you?" He leaned in and kissed her, hard, mashing her lips back against her teeth.

"Hey," Tommy protested from behind the gate. "You said all you wanted to do was talk!"

Hunter twisted Momoko's arm again, driving her to her knees as she cried out. "What did I say about not saying anything, big guy?"

Tommy could see from where he was that Momoko's shoulder blade was popping way out, and he was afraid that if Hunter twisted her arm anymore, he'd dislocate her arm. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to find the other three boys had come down the stairs to stand next to him.

He hoped this wouldn't anger Hunter, who seemed seriously insane at the moment.

"The police are on their way," Jude whispered.

"Hunter, please let my arm go, you're hurting me," Momoko told him, her voice low and surprisingly even.

"Well, why shouldn't you hurt?" Hunter cried out, sounding near tears. "After how you treated me, after how much you hurt me? Do you even know what it's been like for me? Knowing you're over here, fucking one of these guys, maybe more? Which one? Which of these dudes you been fucking? Hm? You fucking whore?" He viciously twisted her arm again, forcing her down until her face was nearly touching the pavement, making her shriek with pain.

A few people had started to gather to watch, and they were recording what was happening. Dick came out of his donut shop and was on the phone with 911. Everyone, it seemed, had the sense not to intervene, knowing that Hunter was seriously unhinged.

Hunter pulled Momoko up and punched her face without releasing her wrist, sending her around in a circle as her hair fanned out around her, the sound of his fist connecting a shocking sound in the afternoon. A sound of anger and disgust went up from the gathered people, and, Hunter's instructions notwithstanding, the boys behind the gate grabbed it and tried to open it.

The gate was locked, however, and none of them had their keys with them. "You stop right now, you piece of shit!" Tommy yelled through the gate. "I'll kill you!" All of the boys were shouting as Sullivan turned and sprinted up the stairs to get the keys to open the gate.

Two beefy guys in the crowd that had gathered tackled Hunter and brought him down, thereby freeing Momoko.

She rose slowly, just as the sound of sirens rose in the background. Two women stepped over to her from the crowd and put their arms around her, leading her to the concrete pad to help her sit as Sully returned with the keys and unlocked the gate, releasing the four guys. They swarmed around Momoko, who leaned into Sullivan and began, finally, to cry.

The men were holding Hunter on the ground, one kneeling on his back as the other held his legs. Hunter was being surprisingly quiet for the moment, head to the side, eyes closed. However, when he heard Momoko crying and saw Tommy put his arm around her, he began to shout and struggle.

"Keep your fucking hands off her, you asshole! Stop touching her!"

Finally, the police arrived and the wheels of professionalism and justice took over. An officer approached Momoko, asking who'd made the call.

She pointed to Jude, who took over speaking to the officer.

Meanwhile, other officer cuffed Hunter, who was still struggling on the ground, then prepared to search him.

"Be careful," Momoko called as she watched. "He probably still has his heroin paraphernalia on him somewhere, probably in his sock. Don't stick yourself."

The officer carefully looked in Hunter's socks first, and pulled out a needle. "Thanks for the warning," she said to Momoko with a wry smile.

"You injured?" The second officer asked Momoko. "Need an ambulance?"

"No," Momoko responded, shaking her head.

At the same time, Dane and Sullivan answered, "Yes."

The officer looked back and forth. "Well, which is it?" he asked.

"No," Momoko said firmly. "I got hit in the jaw, but it wasn't that bad."

"What about your arm?" Dane protested. "You might've sprained your shoulder. You should get an X-ray."

Next to him, Sully nodded.

"He hurt her arm?" the police officer asked.

They nodded.

The officer spoke into a speaker on his sleeve. "We need a bus," he said, his voice sounding suddenly very official.

Momoko sighed. "Now it's going to turn into a big old thing," she said to the boys.

Tommy, who heard her, turned away from where he was watching Hunter being searched. "This is a big old thing, Peaches," he said sternly. "You were assaulted! By a stalker and an abuser! He's being arrested as we speak!"

Momoko flinched at his words as fresh tears appeared in her eyes.

"I'm sorry to upset you," Jude continued in a softer tone. "But this is a really big deal. You're going to have to go to the hospital, and get checked out, and you're going to press charges against this asshole, and file a restraining order, and all that."

The police officer, whose name was Fulton, looked at the weeping Momoko with sympathy in his kind blue eyes. "Listen to your friend, Miss. This is serious. Take it seriously. You're lucky he didn't hurt you worse, it sounds like."

Momoko sighed and bit her lip, nodding. She stepped over to the two young men who'd tackled Hunter and brought him down to thank them.

They nodded, embarrassed.

When Momoko reached up with her good arm to hug them, Hunter, who was sitting in the open back seat of the police car, again began to yell. "You whore! You'll fuck anyone, won't you? You dudes better get your hands off her!"

Momoko apologized to the men. "I'm so sorry. He's high."

Dane, who was standing next to her, spoke. "You have to stop doing that. Stop apologizing for him. He's not your responsibility, Peaches."

One of the young men nodded. "I agree. You don't have to apologize for him. And you don't have to thank us. Anyone who was capable should step in to help a fellow human being who needs it."

"Miss McDaniels?" Officer Fulton called. "The ambulance is here. We're going to take you to the hospital to get you checked out, okay? One person can come with you, the rest of your roommates will have to get there on their own."

Tommy elected to go with her, and the rest would follow in the SUV, which Sullivan didn't have to return until the next day.

As Momoko was getting into the ambulance, the police cruiser with Hunter inside pulled away into the August evening.

Momoko sighed again, and spoke to Tommy. "This isn't going to be over for a long time, is it?"

Tommy leaned in and kissed her forehead. "Probably not, but just remember, none of it is your fault."