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Chapter Twenty – Ten Minutes in Neptuno (As Told by Nick)

I watched Liv and Leigh make their way through the crowd of people and then I took off; Brian was right behind me.

Even as we approached the table, I couldn’t believe it. Of all places to find my stupid shit-head brother, it had to be Cozumel. It seemed uncanny timing; here I was about ready to bust a nut I wanted to sleep with Liv so bad, and Aaron appeared. It was déjà vu of Vegas all over again.

It just pissed me off even more.

The light show was still going full force and I wished it would stop. Every so often my vision became confused and I stumbled into someone, or Brian practically knocked me over. Aaron seemed oblivious, he was deep in shadows. If it wasn’t for a bright red light that had flown past his table a couple times, I would have thought I was going insane.

Brian and I finally slid into shadows and snuck up on the table. I didn’t really have a plan of what I was going to do to the little weasel once I got to him, but I figured Brian and I would make it up as we went along. Even though they were doing well at staying hidden, I knew we had three body guards in the building. I had seen one of the guys following Liv and Leigh outside. Another was probably keeping tabs on Howie and AJ. I just hoped the guy watching Brian and I wasn’t sleeping on the job.

I stopped a little ways away from the table. The light show slowly would down and he became a little easier to see. Unfortunately, I would have preferred not to see.

Aaron sat at a table with three Mexican guys and a big-busted Mexican girl. I could clearly make out a razor blade and lines of Coke on the table. Aaron leaned down and inhaled a line, tossing his head back and closing his eyes. If he had looked thin when I had last seen him in Vegas, he looked completely skeletal now.

“Nick are you sure that’s Aaron?” Brian said uncertainly. I could tell he was just as surprised as I was, but there was no doubt in my mind.

I motioned for Brian to stay a few steps back and walked up right behind him. His head was still back. Grabbing the front of his shirt, I yanked him out of the chair.

In seconds, his Mexican roughies were all around me. Aaron’s eyes flew open, he stared at me in utter horror.

“What the fuck, man?!” he screamed. I tugged on his shirt; I could feel every single bone in his chest.

“What the fuck?!” I yelled. “What the hell are you doing Aaron? Where’s Maile?”

“Who?”

“Your wife?”

I saw a strange look come across Aaron’s face. A bead of sweat erupted on his upper lip. “She left me, man,” he said. “She ain’t here.”

“She probably left you because you’re a strung out crack whore,” I said. I wanted to punch him so much; not just for revenge but because of pure stupidity.

“It’s none of your business,” he said angrily. He lowered his voice. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll just walk away.”

“Walk away? Yeah, and let you kill yourself? You need help Aaron,” I said.

The Mexican roughies started talking amongst themselves. My eyes darted back over to the cocaine. I let go of Aaron’s shirt.

“Come back with me and we’ll get you checked into rehab,” I said a little more gently.

Aaron laughed. It wasn’t the response I had expected.

“You have no idea. No idea,” Aaron said, his voice was rising. He looked around at the guys surrounding us nervously; I was struck with the feeling that they weren’t his buddies.

“Well however clueless I am you’re going to walk out of here with me and my security and get on the ship.”

He shook his head. I saw his hand start to reach back towards the lines of cocaine. I grabbed his wrist. Even for as thin as he was, the drugs seemed to give him some type of inner rage. We struggled for several seconds until my elbow caught the edge of the cutting plate. The blade and the cocaine hit the floor.

That propelled the roughies into action. I felt a sweaty arm go around my neck and yank me backwards. The next thing I knew I had the tip of a long knife held to my cheek.

“Voy a matarte!” the guy yelled angrily. I had a feeling he wasn’t asking me to dance.

“No!” Aaron rasped.

All of a sudden, two gunshots rang out loud and clear. At the sound of the gunshots, everyone began to freak out. The guy suffocating me with his arm loosened his slack. I ducked quickly and ran blindly. I didn’t even see that I had run past Brian and two of our security guards (guns raised) until Bri grabbed my arm. We ducked into an employee’s-only area, our feet pounding on the pavement. I heard footsteps behind us. My palms smacked into the metal door that lead out to where the dumpsters sat in a dingy alley. I turned around to close and block the door when Aaron slid out.

He doubled over, his hands on his knees, breathing like he never ran before. It was a far cry from my brother who had once played b-ball with Shaq. He looked up at me with bloodshot eyes.

“I’m a fuckin’ dead man thanks to you. I’m DEAD!” he yelled out.

“We can help you Aaron,” Brian said. He put up a hand as one of our security guards tried to step in. Aaron looked at Brian incredulously.

“I fucked up the deal,” he said, almost to himself. “You think they’re going to let me live now that I’ve fucked up the deal?”

He turned back to me. “Why can’t you just stay out of my life?” he said. He was beginning to cry.

“You’re my brother. I can’t stay out of your life,” I said seriously. “Aaron you’re killing yourself.”

Aaron laughed through the tears. “I’d rather kill myself than see what those gringos are going to do to me,” he choked out. I heard sirens in the distance. Aaron straightened up to his fall height, a look of panic sliding across his face. I stepped up and grabbed his arm before he could make a run for it.

“Let me go!” he yelled, twisting and turning. I stumbled slightly to maintain my grasp. Brian came over and tried to get a hold of Aaron’s arm, but before he could, Aaron whirled around and cold clocked me with his free fist. I sunk to the ground like a sack of potatoes and Aaron took off like a marathon runner. One of our security guys gave chase while the other one helped Brian scoop me off the floor. I felt like Sylvester the Cat after he had gotten hit by Tweety Bird. Little yellow canaries were floating all around my head.

“I think we need to get him back to the boat,” I heard Brian say.

It was the last thing I heard before I went lights out.

-------------------------------------------------

“What do you mean they held a knife to his throat?”

“Man, his cheek is turning a horrible shade of purple.”

“I think he’s waking up.”

I groaned and opened my eyes. Liv was hovering right over my face; her eyes were as round as saucers. As more of my vision filled in, I saw everyone crowded around me like I was a corpse.

“Dude,” I croaked. Pain shot up the side of my face.

Everyone backed up as I sat up. Somehow I had ended up back in our cabin. I felt like shit; I could only assume that it was my cheek bone that AJ had said was turning purple. I looked at Brian.

“Did anyone get Aaron?” I said. Brian shook his head.

“The guard said he scrambled over a fence and took off towards the lighthouse.”

Before I could answer, I felt a heavenly cold press against my cheek. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Liv sitting on the bed next to me, pressing an ice pack to my face. She looked pale, stressed, and tired.

“Of all the places in the world to run into your brother, how the hell did you see him through that light show?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” I said.

“And,” Leighanne said. I saw Brian look down sheepishly; he must have already gotten scolded. “Why the hell did you decide to approach him with drugs on the table and a gang all around him? You guys are so stupid. You’re singers; not superheroes.”

I watched her get up and stalk out of the room. Brian slid out after her.

“Hormones,” I muttered. I felt Liv press the ice pack harder into my face. I let out a little yelp.

“Ouch!”

That was the moment I remembered the part about the baby being a secret. I saw Howie and AJ share a look, but they didn’t ask me what I meant.

“Listen,” Howie said. “The police are going to fax a copy of the police report to the ship tomorrow. They wanted to keep you for questioning, but we convinced them otherwise. Brian filled out a statement that you’ll have to sign to corroborate. I strongly suggested to Brian to smooth over the fact that you guys saw drugs all over the table.”

I nodded. Even though I didn’t know the whole story, I thought it might be better if we didn’t mention the fact that we had probably infiltrated a drug deal. The goon that tried to slice my throat owed me. Yeah right.

After a few more minutes, AJ, Rochelle, Howie, and Leigh left. The ship’s doctor came and checked on me at the same time.

“You’re going to have a horrible bruise on that cheek bone and below your eye, but nothing’s broken,” he said. “Just get a good night’s sleep and keep ice packs on your face.”

Liv let the doctor out and locked the door behind him. When she turned back she looked about ready to cry.

“I’m sorry,” I said. She looked at me like I was crazy.

“You’re sorry?” she said. “Nick, you could have been killed.”

Liv stood by the bed, her hands splayed across her belly. She was still wearing the dress that I had been obsessing about all night. Somehow I thought I could talk her into sexy time with everything that had just happened. Instead I held out my hand. She placed her hand in mine and I urged her to the bed. She crawled in beside me, burying her face in my neck. I felt a hot tear fall on my skin.

As my testosterone high faded, I felt even worse. Placing myself in her shoes, I could see just how stupid we were. Here I was, three months shy of becoming a father, and I had rushed head first into a dangerous situation.

“I don’t deserve you,” I murmured into her hair. She shook her head, looking up at me.

“I don’t want to lose you,” she amended. She leaned over and kissed me softly. Her lips tasted sweet. I tried to let the kiss linger, but she pulled away. I watched her get up and head to the bathroom.

“Get some sleep, Nick,” she said quietly. I sighed and closed my eyes.

My head was pounding. Not only was I mad at Aaron for too many reasons to count, I also couldn’t help but be worried about him. Over and over in my head I heard him screaming that he was a dead man.

Deep down I knew that if those goons didn’t get him, the drugs would finish the job.

I fell asleep with that thought weighing heavily on my mind.