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Chapter Sixteen

Nick was probably the last person I wanted to call, but he just seemed the logical choice. Kevin was on his way back to Kentucky. Plus, knowing him, he probably would have chopped off my balls. And it was Howie's birthday. I didn't want him to spend a couple hours of it at the police station.

There there was Brian.

Brian would have come in, crackin' jokes and going all ADHD. The cops would have probably fallen in love with him and he would have ended up having coffee and doughnuts while I sat chained to a bench.

So, in the end it was Nick.

"I'll be right there," he said. Then he hung up. I contemplated calling my mom, but the blonde hooker cop walked back in and took the phone from me.

Nick arrived about an hour later. I was still waiting to be arraigned in front of the judge. The hooker cop had wanted to throw me in with all the other sharks, but one of the other cops had allowed me to stay in the private room. You can imagine all the names I was coming up with for that broad.

"AJ, what the hell were you thinking?" Nick said as the officer closed the door behind him. I studied the table intently.

"I don't know," I said. It wasn't a good answer, but it was the truth.

Nick swung himself down in the chair across from me. He looked disappointed and angry.

"Dude, hookers are nasty. You could have taken off those fucking glasses, walked into a club, and got the goods for free if you wanted to get your rocks off."

I looked up at him. They had taken my damn sunglases. I wanted them back.

"That's the thing," I said. "Those club girls would all know me. I just...I just wanted to fly under the radar for once."

Nick snorted. "Well you did a damn good job of that. Jesus, your face is going to be plastered all over TV and the web by morning."

I felt tears spring to my eyes. Sonofabitch. Nick sighed.

"Listen, if it helps, I called a lawyer just to see how much trouble you're in. You've never been arrested before for anything and this is your first offense."

"It'll be my last," I said.

"It better," Nick added firmly. "But, the lawyer said you should get a slap on the wrist and a fine anywhere from five hundred to a grand. Since you were probably shelling that out for the hookers, it's no big deal."

"I have a mugshot," I explained. I looked up. Nick gave me a small smile.

"We can add it to mine. Now we just have to get the other three guys to do something completely stupid and asinine."

I shook my head. Nick leaned back in the chair and stretched out his legs. Only Nick Carter would look comfortable in a police interrogation room.

"So, explain to me why you had to go looking for a piece of ass in the first place. Was your hand not enough?"

I closed my eyes. I didn't want to get into the details.

"Nick..."

"What? I've done it before. A lot."

I didn't want to think about Nick whacking off. It was just gross.

"I just needed some company."

Nick was staring me down; I could feel his eyes on the top of my head. I picked at the skin around my thumb; it started to bleed.

"This doesn't have anything to do with your nanny, does it?" Nick asked. I looked up quickly.

"Of course not."

"You think she's going to quit now?"

I hadn't thought about that. My stomach twisted unpleasantly. If she left...

"I don't know," I answered quietly.

At that point, the door opened and the hooker cop walked in.

"McLean, you're up."

I stood up. She handcuffed me again and led me past Nick. I turned my head to look at him.

"Is she the hooker?" he mouthed. I nodded. He tilted his head thoughtfully.

"Nice," he mouthed.

If my hands were free, I would have given him the finger.

Nick was right about the sentence. I was put on six months probation with an eight hundred dollar fine. The longest part of the night was just waiting to be de-booked. As I walked out, a free but absolutely humiliated man, I noticed Nick still waiting for me.

"I figured you needed a ride home," he said. I groaned. I was going to have to get my car out of the impound lot tomorrow afternoon. We walked out and got in Nick's convertible.

"Your mom's going to kill you," Nick said.

It wasn't my mom I was worried about, but I didn't say anything.

As we neared the house, Nick pulled to a stop at a redlight and looked at me.

"J, I really hate all this shit happening to you," he said seriously. I couldn't look at him.

"Well, I guess it's just the way the cookie crumbles," I said bitterly.

"It's got to turn around sometime," he said hopefully.

It was way more hope than I had.

A few minutes later he pulled up to the house. It was completely dark. I got out, closed the door, and then leaned back in.

"Thanks for doing this," I said. Nick smiled.

"What are friends for?" Then the smile dropped.

"But if you do anything, I mean anything, like this again, I'm going to let you rot in jail."

"Point taken," I said lightly. I stepped back and he took off.

I got into the house through the back way and headed to my room. I felt too dirty to even check in on Joe and Ally. I took a long shower to wash all of the jail grime from my body. As I crawled into bed, I reached out for Ro's pillow, but stopped.

The pillow deserved better.

With a sigh, I pressed my face into my pillow and shut my eyes.

I had a feeling the morning was going to be even worse than the night.

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It all started early the next morning. The off-kilter sounds of Ally's crying woke me up. I reached the nursery before Molly. By the time she walked in, Jonah had begun to cry. She picked him up and sat in the rocking chair. I stood over by the window, swaying Ally slowly back and forth.

"How was the birthday party?" Molly asked as the cries quieted down. I felt my entire body tense.

"Fine," I said, trying to keep it light. I'm pretty sure I failed.

"Do you want some breakfast? I think Shelby mentioned something about Toaster Strudels."

I fucking love Toaster Strudels.

"I can make them," I said. I turned to see her smile.

Damn that smile.

"If you want them to be edible, that sounds like a good plan."

We made our way downstairs, walking side-by-side. Shelby was already at the table watching the Today Show.

I got out the strudel; Molly got out the orange juice. I had just pressed the lever on the toaster down when Shelby let out a little gasp.

"Mr. J, there you are!"

I turned. There across the screen was my damn mugshot. The screen panned back to Matt Lauer and my mugshot shrunk to the upper right hand corner. The headlline along the bottom read "Backstreet Boy Arrested for Sexual Solicitation."

I didn't think Matt Lauer probably had any room to talk. It looked like he had been at a brothel a time or two in his life.

"Mom, what does it say?" Shelby asked. "Ba--ba--."

The channel switched to PBS.

"Drink your juice," Molly said. She glanced at me and walked out of the kitchen.

I couldn't decipher the glance.

The first of the strudels popped up and I applied the icing and set them down in front of Shelby. She grabbed one and licked the icing off first.

I did the exact same thing. It spread the remnants around better and gave each crispy bite just a light icing taste.

Molly returned to the kitchen. She plopped the big earphones on Shelby's head.

"MADONNA!" Shelby called out. Molly turned the wheel and then set the IPod down by Shelby's elbow.

Then she turned to me. She folded her arms across her chest.

I knew that sign. It wasn't good.

"Some birthday party," she said. I blushed; I actually blushed.

"This wasn't from the party. Really," I stressed. "It's just things went wrong after I left it..."

Molly glanced at Shelby. She was still nodding her head to the music.

"My first priority is making sure she has a good environment," Molly said.

I felt my heart speed up.

"This was a one-time thing," I said. "Well twice. But I don't usually do this. I...I..."

I trailed off. How could I explain that I got my rocks off on prostitutes as a substitute for her? How did I even start to describe all the dirty thoughts that ran through my mind when I looked at her?

She would have packed her bags so fast I wouldn't know what hit me. I decided to play the sympathy card even though I hated every single word that came out of my mouth.

"I've had a couple of really bad nights lately...missing my wife. I didn't make a good conscious choice."

Molly's eyes grew soft in sympathy. It was different than the pity I had seen in other's eyes. It was more of a understanding.

"I've done my share of stupid things," she said quietly. She glanced back at Shelby, but she didn't expound on the 'stupid' things. She turned back to me.

"Are you going to jail? Because if you are..."

I knew the next words were going to be 'then Shelby and I have to leave.' I quickly shook my head.

"I've never done anything wrong before," I said. Okay, so that was stretching it. "This was my first arrest and I paid my fine and I'm on six-months probation."

I saw her weighing her options. Finally she sighed; her arms dropped back to her sides.

"Are you going to make more of that streusel?" she finally asked. My shoulders slumped in relief.

"Sure."

I turned to put another couple pieces down. Suddenly the air grew warm. She was right behind me.

"AJ, I know that we've got a working relationship. But if you ever need to talk..."

I glanced over at her. She had exactly nine freckles across her nose.

"Thank you," I said quietly. Her lips were right there. I just wanted to lean down and...

The sound of the phone ringing broke my thought. I grabbed the phone off the wall. I figured it was Brian ready to give me an early morning sermon about the degradation of women or Howie screaming about our 'image.'

I was wrong on both counts. It was Ro's mom.

"One strike and your out," she said. No hello, just that.

"What?" I said.

"How could you do that? You disgust me. I can't believe you can fall asleep at night. The grass has barely started to grow over Ro's grave."

I closed my eyes. I didn't need the mother-in-law from hell on my ass.

"There was just a misunderstanding," I said calmly. "Everything was taken care of."

"I don't want someone who sleeps with random diseased prostitutes around my grandchildren," she said. My pulse spiked up.

"Well, I'm sorry you feel that way Mother Theresa, but you just need to shove it up that gigantic ass of yours and sit on it," I snapped. I shoved the phone back into its cradle. When I turned, Molly was still standing by the toaster. The strusel popped up.

"A big admirer?" she asked. I picked up the strusels and put them on a plate. I drizzled the icing over them.

"No," I said. I handed her the plate. Our eyes met.

"A big pain-in-the ass."