Days turned into nights and nights turned into weeks. Kimberly had not spoken to Nick in about two weeks, she was too afraid to call him. She was hoping he would call her, but no such luck – everything they had wasn’t real, it was based all on a lie. Did he use her? She wasn’t sure and maybe she was too hard on him and said things she shouldn’t have, but she was so hurt and upset. He made the band think she was some heartless monster. She barely spoke to anyone, her depression was hitting overdrive…she just didn’t know what to do. Ashley called her a few days after the break up and panic filled her voice when she heard her friend’s depressed tone. She always worried about Kimberly, she was like the sister she never had. She begged her to open up and tell her what happened and all she told her was that her and that guy Nick broke up. She couldn’t say anything else, talking about him made her depressed; it made her heart bleed more. She would do anything to make the throbbing stop, if only she had the balls to pick up the phone to call him…but she didn’t. He hasn’t talked to her for obvious reasons, he didn’t want anything to do with her. Not that she could blame him…she was the reason the Backstreet Boys broke up. Did the world know yet? Nope. Although they canceled their tour to Canada, saying that Nick was highly ill with some sort of virus. Tears drained from her eyes as she remembered everything that dreadful morning….the things AJ said to her about how worthless she was. He was right, she knew that…she always had been, but Nick for whatever reason tried proving her wrong. He almost succeeded.
She tried hiding her depression at work, but it was unfeasible. Greg noticed her change of behavior and she knew it wouldn’t take him long before he figured it out. She tried pretending to be happy, but it was just impossible. Her heart was shattered into a million pieces and putting on that kind of act wasn’t one of her talents. She never was a good actress. When Greg asked about Nick she felt like a knife was being stabbed into her heart and each time he was brought up, the knife was slowly turning; ripping her heart apart even more.
Kimberly looked up at the clock and thankfully it was just about five PM, she would be able to punch out. The door opened and she jumped when she saw Greg walk in. She was getting sick and tired of his hounding. Why did he care so much about her relationship anyway?
She looked up at him, “Did you need something?” She demanded, as she taped the last box, as she shipped it down the squeaky belt.
“I haven’t heard of that boyfriend of yours for quite some time now,” he said, almost smug. “Things didn’t work out with you?”
She tried to suppress her tears, as she put the equipment into the large blue plastic bin on a wooden shelf. “Why do you care so much about my love life suddenly?!?”
“Defensive.” He was toying with her and she knew what. What did he want? To gloat that her and Nick broke up? She didn’t need this; it was bad enough the thoughts ran in and out of his mind constantly, she could feel her eyes starting to puff from holding back the tears.
“Well, if you excuse me,” she said in a hard voice. “But I need to punch out.”
As she went to shove past him, he aggressively grabbed her arm and pushed her against the hard belt, causing the sharp edge to jab the back of her knees; almost causing her legs to give out. “You’re not going anywhere!” He hissed in a hard voice…the voice she was far too used to. “Not until I’m through with talking to you.” He knew that Nick was gone and so now his true self was coming out of hibernation.
Kimberly could feel the fear rising inside of her as she stared at him with her worrisome green eyes, “What…what do you want?!?” She demanded, “To torture me some more?!?”
A sinister look formed on his face, “It’s just so much fun!” His brown eyes narrowed as they stared her down, “And now since that fagot of a boyfriend isn’t around anymore he can’t tell me how to treat my employees. Who the fuck did he think he was?!? So if I want to grab you because you walk away, so be it I’m gonna. And if I want to knock some sense into you because you try to fuck me over by conning a raise out of me that you don’t even deserve, you bet your ass I will!” Before she could react she felt his large hand connecting to the side of her face with such a force it caused her body to jerk to the side. She nearly fell, she held herself up with the side of the belt. She could feel the burning sensation flair across her right side of her face as she looked at him in repulsion.
“How dare you even lay a hand on me!” She shouted, as she stood straight up.
He laughed, “How dare me?” His brown eyes then got sharp and he shoved her down onto the belt, which had shut off, but the sharp edges were digging into her back, “No, how DARE YOU!” He roared, “Bringing that mother fucker in here to threaten me!!! Did you think I was just going to let that slide?!?”
“I didn’t know he was going to do that!” She swore, as she felt warm tears make their way down her burning face.
“Bullshit! You’re lucky I don’t just fire your ass! So what are you going to do now, Kim? Since your bodyguard isn’t here to protect you anymore?” He then scoffed a laugh, “Did he see you naked? I don’t blame the poor soul for leaving you….in fact I almost feel sorry for the lad. Sorry for his eyes!” He laughed again and shook his head in disgust, “Why I keep you around, I don’t even know.”
Kimberly could feel anger overcome her and she jumped up and shoved him, “You fucking prick! You know what; I think if I really wanted to I really could get your ass arrested for what you just did to me!”
His eyes narrowed, “If you do that you’re not going to have a job anymore.”
She coughed out a loud laugh, “You think I care?!? If Nick were here he would – ” she had to stop herself, because she suddenly felt the hard slap of reality. The point of the matter was, Nick was not there, he wasn’t going to prevent this.
Greg raised his bushy brown eyebrow that was tinted grey, “Well, Nick isn’t here now, is he? So don’t go trying to play this tough act. It’s just going to bite you in the ass.”
“Fuck you, Greg!” She shoved past him and towards the door and turned to him before walking out, “You can’t keep treating me like this! I’m getting sick and tired of your bullshit.”
“Oh put a cork in it, Kim. I wasn’t going to let you get away with that. Letting that guy rob me like that.”
She shook her head in outrage at him, “You’re lucky that’s all he did! He wanted to murder you, I should have just let him…if he comes back around I’m not going to stop him.”
He laughed, “If? So you guys are over? I knew it. Trust me, I’m not that scared of him. Now get out of my sight before I fire you on the spot.”
“Fire me?!?” Kimberly could feel the heat building up inside of her, she just wanted to explode, “You can’t fire me because….I QUIT!!!!”
He looked at her dumbfounded, “You won’t quit.”
“I won’t?!?” She hissed, “Just watch me!”
With that said she shot out of the building and rushed to her car and jumped in the driver’s seat, slamming the door behind her. A new fresh load of tears were rolling down her face. She pressed her forehead against the steering wheel, wishing so badly that Nick was here. Wishing so badly that he would teach Greg a lesson…he would have beaten him so badly that he would need to be on life support, but she messed it up. It’s all her fault why her and Nick were no longer together, it was her fault for the band’s break up…it all her fault for everything. She missed him so much that it hurt, hurt so badly she would give anything to make the pain stop. She pulled out her phone and scrolled through the names and she just wanted to call him, she just wanted to hear his voice. But she knew it was best that she had no contact with him. She ruined his career, why on Earth would he want anything to do with her? She looked up into the rearview mirror and looked at her face; it was a deep red; she could already see it was starting to swell. The corner of the right side of her mouth was bleeding; she licked the blood away and felt a sharp sting. She touched her cheek and winced, this was going to bruise no doubt about that. She knew she should just go to the police, but she didn’t want to deal with them, she didn’t want to deal with anything. She took a deep breath and started her car, all she wanted was to crawl deep in a hole and be left alone. Laura was going to flip her lid when she found out she quit her job, but she didn’t care, she didn’t care about anything anymore. She pulled out into the street and drove towards her apartment to face Laura’s wrath…
Angel was at the mall with a few of her girl friends. Benny was at work and she was in the need to buy some new cute clothes. As she was looking at the clothes on the rack, her friends were talking about going out to a club.
“What do you say Angel?” Asked the blonde named Kendra, “We haven’t had a girls’ night out in soooo long!”
“True that!” Chimed in Becky, their other friend with the dark hair and chucky blonde highlights, “You can even bring that boy toy of yours.”
Angel laughed, “Boy toy? I think he’s a bit more than that.” She then shrugged, “Maybe.” A couple passing through the clothing store caught her eye, “I’ll be right back.” She then rushed over towards the man and woman holding hands, “Hey!” She ran over and grabbed the guy’s arm, “What are you doing here, Brian?!? Aren’t you supposed to be in Canada?”
“You mean Nick didn’t tell you?” He asked in surprise.
“Tell me what?”
Leighanne looked at her husband, “I think I see a few purses over there I like…I’ll let you two talk.”
He nodded, “Okay, Leigh.” He sweetly kissed her on the lips before she left for the rack of pocketbooks. Brian then looked back at Angel whose face was full with confusion, “I’m really surprised Nick hadn’t talk to you.”
“I haven’t heard from him in almost two weeks.”
“Yeah, me either,” he mumbled.
Fear soon began to overwhelm her, “Is he…is he okay?!?”
He shrugged, “I guess so…since he’s the one to do it.”
“Do what?”
Brian inhaled deeply as he said, “He quit the group, Angel.”
Her brown eyes expanded as what he said sunk in, “HE DID WHAT?!?”
“Shhh!” He ordered, as he used his hands to tell her to keep the volume down, “We don’t want it to get out…yet.”
“What…what did you tell the fans? What are you going to do? Why would he do that?!?” Questions flowed out of her mouth so quickly they almost sounded squashed together.
He shrugged, “He claims he’s been unhappy for a long time…but…I don’t know.”
She tried to study him, “You don’t believe him?”
“The other guys and myself…well we kind of think this new girl is the real reason.”
“What? Are you serious? I know that Nick likes her, but I doubt he would throw his whole life away for a girl he barely knows.”
“Yeah, you’re telling me. I don’t know what’s running through his head, all I know is that he’s lost and I wish he’d find his way. I don’t know this girl and I don’t know what she’s telling him, but…it worries me.”
“I met her,” explained Angel. “And I saw no signs that she was imputing bad thoughts in his head….in fact she was downright crazy about him. And he…well he told me that he actually thought he was in love with her.” She then paused, “But now that I come to think of it, not too long ago he came over my place to vent about some interview you guys had. Apparently AJ was being really mean to Kim. He’s been unhappy for a long time, Brian and he’s so crazy about this girl. Maybe he was getting sick and tired of having to put up a front for you guys?”
He sighed and shook his head, “I don’t know, Angel. I mean yeah, AJ has been pretty mean about this girl, but that shouldn’t cause someone to quit a group!”
She nodded, “I know. So where is he?”
He shrugged, “I don’t know, I’ve tried to call him, everyone has. We’re hoping this is just some stupid thing he’s going through and will snap out of it. But so far we’re not hearing anything from him….I’m really scared this is it for the Backstreet Boys.”
“I’ll call him,” she promised. Angel pulled out her phone and dialed her brother’s number and all she got was his voice mail…that was startling. He always picked up whenever she called, “Hmm…that’s weird. Where’s he staying?”
Brian shrugged again, “He packed all his things and left, Hell I don’t even know if he’s even in the same state anymore.”
She shook her head, “No, he wouldn’t leave….not when Kim is here and she has a job. She won’t just get up and leave.”
Brian studied her with his blue eyes, “She has a job?”
She nodded, “Yep. You would be surprised about this one….I know I was. She’s different, she really cares about him. He wants her to quit her job, but she won’t, she likes making her own money. How many girls do you know that date my brother are like that? Nick told me he feels that AJ doesn’t like her because of how she looks. Do you think that’s really true?”
“I honestly don’t even know with him….he does bash her appearance a lot though. So maybe.”
Angel’s face turned hard, “God, he’s such a sleaze.”
“I think there’s more to it though. I’ve never seen AJ have such a dislike towards a girl he doesn’t even know before. I really doubt it has anything to do with how she looks. I think he’s scared he’s losing Nick…we all are, but I think AJ’s taking it the hardest.”
Leighanne then walked over with a new black leather Baby Phat purse, “Is everything okay now?” She wondered.
Angel shook her head, “No, not really. I can bet you where he is.”
“Where?” Questioned Brian.
“His place in Tampa. I gotta go….I need to talk to him. He wouldn’t just quit the group unless there was a real reason. I mean yeah, he was really upset that one day, but once Kim texted him he was so happy.” She let out a loud sigh, “Something is wrong, I’ll update you when I come back.” She quickly ran over to her friends, “Listen, I can’t go out tonight, I need to find my brother.”
“Oh God,” moaned Becky. “What kind of trouble is Aaron in now?”
“It’s not Aaron. If I leave can you guys find a way home?”
“I’ll take care of it,” said Brian, walking from behind them.
She smiled thankfully, “Thanks. Bye, girls. I’ll call you later.”
“Wait!” Cried Kendra, “Is Nick okay?”
She turned to face her friend and shrugged, “I honestly don’t know.” With that said, she rushed off into her car and sped to Nick’s house in Tampa.
Nick felt the beer finally hitting him, as he laid down on his back on the black sofa. The marble coffee table was full with empty beer cans. He just wanted this pain to stop; drinking himself to death seemed like a good idea at the time. But all it made him want to do was cry like a little bitch, he wanted to call her, go down to her place, but he couldn’t. He threw his hands over his face, he hated himself…he hated everything. He just wanted to crawl in a hole and die. He missed his Baby Angel more than he’s missed anything or anybody before and the pain he caused her….oh man, the pain. How could he allow himself to be such a douche bag like that?!? He grabbed his phone and pulled up to her name, he chewed on his bottom lip, it’s been two weeks and she hasn’t called him once…he was hoping he’d at least get a text. But he got nothing….nothing at all. He really fucked up, saying those hurtful things to her, he hated himself.
He jumped as he heard a pounding on the door; his heart lit up with hope, but it quickly vanished, he never showed her his house. All she knew was that it was in Tampa. He hesitantly stood up, afraid it was one of the guys and he knew if it was AJ standing in his doorstep he would have no problem breaking every bone in his body.
He took a deep breath as he opened the door and was surprised to see his sister, “Angel?!? What, what are you doing here?” He demanded, as his tone slurred a bit.
Her brown eyes turned dark as she looked at him over, “My God! You’re drunk!” She screeched, “What the Hell is the matter with you, Nick?!?” She demanded, “Drinking is more important than your life?”
“Shut it, Angel!” He hissed, “Is that why you came here? To lecture me? Well, I don’t want to hear it, so why don’t you just fuck off!” He yelled, turning his back towards her and walking back into the living room and throwing himself down on the couch.
“FUCK OFF?!?” She shouted, “No, you did not just tell me to FUCK OFF!” She stormed inside the house, slamming the door shut behind her, “What the fuck is up your – ” she stopped herself once she saw the state he was truly in. His hair was a mess, it looked like had hadn’t showered in almost three days, his face was unshaven and his clothes were beyond wrinkled. “Nick,” she said, in a softer tone. “Why did you leave the group?” She asked, as she sat on the arm of the couch he had thrown himself into it.
“So that’s what this is about?” He coughed up a laugh, “Did Kevin or one of the other guys beg you to come find me?”
“No…I saw Brian at the mall with Leighanne and asked why he wasn’t in Canada and he told me the news…I mean I know you were thinking about it, but Nick – this is your life. You can’t just throw it away…for some girl.”
“For some girl?!?” He yelled as, he jumped up, startling her, “You think I fucking left the group because of Kim?!? That’s fucking bullshit. I left because I’m sick and tired on how they’re treating me! And yeah, okay I’ll admit it; Kim may have something to do with it, only because I am fucking up to here on how AJ talks about her.”
“Well, what does she think of this little stunt you pulled, Nick? I’m sure she can’t be happy about it.”
He sat back down and ran his hands through his greasy blonde hair and shook his head, “No, she’s not. What good am I when I’m not in the band?”
She looked at him confused, “What?”
He pulled his hand from his face and looked at her with his suffering blood shot eyes, “We broke up, Angel…I said things…she said things….I was such an asshole. But she overheard our stupid fight…about how I quit and she begged me to work things out with the guys. I mean for a mere second I felt maybe she was only with me because I was in the band, you know? Why would she care so much that we broke up?” He cleared his throat as he felt it starting to get scratchy, “And so I called her a fan….I said the guys were right. How the fuck could I say that to her, Angel?!?” By that time small tears were slowly running down his face and the rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hands.
She moved closer towards him and put her hand on his shoulder, “Do you….do you think she was using you?”
He shrugged, “I don’t know…she seemed so different – she was so perfect. She didn’t care about the Backstreet Boy me, she cared about who I was…Nick Carter. Then all this shit happened. She hasn’t called me in two weeks and I don’t know what to think. I miss her so much.”
Angel wrapped her arms tightly around her brother, “It’ll be okay, Nick. I’m so sorry this happened to you, but it’ll be okay I promise. I knew you dating a fan was a bad idea.”
“I’m so stupid,” he mumbled through his soft sobs.
“Shh, no you’re not.” She kissed him on the cheek, “You’re not…she just fooled us….Hell, she even had me fooled.”
“What am I gonna do?”
She pulled away from his hold and looked at him and could see the torment in his eyes, she hated how much pain her brother was in. She just wished she could make it go away, “I wish I knew,” she softly answered. “But sadly you’ve been through this before and I know how much it hurts, but in time it’ll go away.”
He let out a loud groan and threw his head back on the couch and ran his hands over his face, “I just didn’t think I would have to worry about this with her…she was so different – I know if I just talked to her maybe we can – ”
“No, Nick!” Snapped Angel, “She’s no good for you. I mean, look what she’s doing to you! You need to stay away from her, you got that?”
He pulled his hands away from his face and looked at his sister annoyed, “I think I’m capable of seeing whoever I want without my little sister’s approval.” He then stood up, “Like it or not Angel I am in love with her and I fucked up and I am willing to do anything to get her back. I’m probably wrong about her using me, I mean she never brought the other guys up…I was just being a dick. I hurt her…I mean really hurt her!”
“Well, good! She deserves to be hurt.”
His tinted red eyes glared at her, “No, she doesn’t. Whatever, I’m gonna take a shower, I don’t feel like talking about this anymore. Thanks for checking up on me, but I’m fine.”
She sighed, “Nick. No, you’re not fine. You’re hurting here, you can’t just let that slide, you can’t just let her get away with it. This is why people walk all over you!”
“Goodbye, Angel!” He growled, as he walked into the bathroom, slamming the door hard behind him.
She groaned, “Nick.” She ran her hands through her hair, she wasn’t just going to sit around and let this bitch hurt her brother even more. She should have just went with her gut instant, she knew fans were no good for her brother, so why should this one be any different? She was going to show her what happens when you fuck with her family. She got up and walked over towards the bathroom door. She could hear the shower running, “Listen, Nick,” she spoke loudly through the door. “I gotta jet, I’m sorry if I got you angry, but you gotta understand where I’m coming from. I love you and I’m only doing this for your own good. I’ll call you later.” With that said, she left his house and got into her car, and sped down the freeway…having no idea how to find this girl, but she was going to really give it to her once she did.
Kimberly pulled into her driveway, seeing another yellow convertible was parked in her parking spot. Who’s car was that? Maybe Ronny’s? But she didn’t remember him having such a nice vehicle before. She just shrugged it off and parked along the side of it, so he or whoever it belonged to could get out. Once she put the car in park she looked herself over in the rear view mirror once more, seeing the mark on her face was turning into a large bruise. There was no possible way to hide it. She touched it and flinched, she tried to force the tears to stay in her eyes, she had been doing far too much crying. What was she going to tell Laura? That someone wacked her with an elbow? That was believable. Okay, that was the story she would use. She got out of the car and walked into the apartment and saw Laura sitting on the couch, she almost looked…well annoyed.
“What’s wrong with you?” Wondered Kimberly, she did everything in her power to keep her voice from breaking.
“Nothing,” she snapped in a hard voice. Her brown eyes then glued to her face, “What happened to you?”
She just shrugged, “Got wacked in the elbow, wasn’t watching what I was doing.”
She scoffed a laugh, “Wow…only you.”
Kimberly just shrugged, “Well, I’m going to be in my room.”
“Well, there’s a surprise for you there.”
She raised her thin light brown eyebrow, “Oh? What?”
“Nothing important,” Laura simply answered, as her attention turned to the television.
Kimberly looked at her roommate questionably before walking up the stairs and into her bedroom. Once she opened the door something popped out at her, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BITCH!”
She stumbled back, nearly tripping on her own two feet. It was….ASHLEY! She regained her balance and lunged herself at her best friend, “Oh My God! ASHLEY!” She cried and squeezed her friend with all her might.
She snickered, “I thought I was the perfect birthday present…sorry I’m a little late though. It was a bitch to get time off of work.”
“I don’t care, as long as you’re here!” She choked out and before she knew it she was softly sobbing as she hugged her best friend.
This concerned Ashley, “Hey, Kim? Are you okay? Why are you crying?!?” She demanded, as she held the crying girl in her arms.
“I’m sorry,” she sniffled, as she pulled away. “I just…I just missed you so much.”
That was when Ashley noticed the large unwelcomed bruise on her frail face, “What happened? God, I feel like such a shitty friend…so much stuff has happened to you and I haven’t been there for you.”
Kimberly sat down on her bed, “You live a thousand miles away, Ash. You’re doing the best that you can.”
She sat down next to her, “Apparently that’s not enough. Now cut the bullshit, Kim. What’s wrong? And how the Hell did you get that gigantic bruise?”
“I-I quit my job today…” she then trailed off.
“Why?”
“Greg…he – he hit me, Ash. I just – I just can’t deal anymore of his abuse. Nick scared him and now that Nick is gone….Greg went on a field day.” Kimberly dropped her head, “I miss him so much,” she quietly wept.
“WAIT!!!” She screeched, “He hit you?!?” She silently nodded, “Oh, that son of a bitch! You are going to press charges; you are going to put his nasty ass in jail.”
“No,” she protested. “I don’t want anything to do with him. I can’t deal with it…at least not right now.”
Dismay soon began to fill up inside of her, “I’m worried about you, girl. I mean really worried. I know how upset you are about the break up with you and that Nick guy…but I’ve never seen you like this before.”
Kimberly sighed, “I know…and to be honest I’m worried about me too, Ash.” She looked up at her best friend, “I’ve never been this distraught from one guy before. I – I loved Nick so much…and it’s almost like I don’t even know how to cope.” She then ran her hands through her hair, “I just want this feeling to go away.”
Ashley embraced her into a tight hug, “I know you do, Kim. But it’ll be okay, I swear. And I’m gonna be staying here for a week and I promise you, I’m gonna do anything to help you smile again.”
Kimberly wrapped her arms around her best friend tighter, “I love you so much. Thank you for coming to see me.”
“I love you too, bitch.” Kimberly softly chuckled and Ashley pulled out of her hold, “How about we get the heck out of this place…it gives me the chills. We’ll go out and talk…it seems we REALLY need to talk. Maybe we can go to the mall and shop? Shopping always helps me,” she added with a grin.
A smile slowly appeared on Kimberly’s lips and she nodded, “Yeah, I’d like that. Let me get dressed first.” She quickly changed out of her uniform and slipped on a pair of dark blue jeans and a white V-neck shirt and threw her hair up in a messy bun, “Okay, let’s go.”
“Sweet.”
“So is that car yours?” Wondered Kimberly, as they walked down the stairs.
Ashley laughed, “I wish, I rented it. It’s hot though, I’d kill for it. Figured why not look stylin’ while here in Florida? I mean, I do bring this state alive somewhat.”
Kimberly giggled, “Yes, you do. It was rather dull before you arrived here.”
She smiled widely, “I know.”
“Where are you two going?” Demanded Laura as she stood up from the couch.
The tension between Ashley and Laura was becoming a little too thick for Kimberly’s liking, “We’re just gonna head out for a bit. We have stuff to talk about. We’ll be back in a few hours.”
“Okay good.”
Ashley sneered at her, she hated how Laura was acting. Ever since Laura found out she got a modeling contract she’s been a complete bitch to her. “Why is that good?” She asked as nice as she possibly could.
“Because Ronny might be coming over so take your time.”
“Fine with us. Come on, Ash.”
Ashley and Laura had a stare down for a few seconds before she left the apartment with Kimberly. “How do you even put up with her?”
She just shrugged, “I honestly don’t even know.”
They both then got into the car and sped off; heading towards the outdoor mall, Kimberly defiantly had things to tell her best friend. If she didn’t tell someone soon she was just going to explode.
