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Chapter Seventy-One
Point of View: Narrator

Kayla clung to Nick's jacket, keeping it closed around her chest, and holding onto his hand. Zoe was shaking his shoulder, blood was coming out of his face, running down into the blue shirt. His face was contorted, though Zoe wasn't sure if it was from the hit he'd taken or from the expression on his face. He was shaking his head. "Nick, damn you, wake up," Zoe snapped, frustrated and scared.

"Nick, I'm scared," Kayla's tears were hot on her cheeks. "Please wake up. Nick?"

His eyes blinked open slowly, and Zoe let out a shuddering breath of relief. Nick's blue eyes were unfocused, far away somehow, and he looked from Zoe to Kayla shakily. "I didn't do it," he said, his words running together and catching in his mouth, "But it was because of me."

Kayla looked up at Zoe, her heart slamming in her chest. "He saved me," she said, thinking Nick was talking about what happened in the alley.

Zoe didn't take her eyes from Nick. She was frightened for Kayla, frightened for Nick. The whole damn world seemed shot to hell. There were people screaming and yelling in the next room. She felt like she was in an extremely bad nightmare, or a B-rated movie."We know."
"No. Krystal," he mumbled, "I didn't kill Krystal."

Kayla leaned back into the chair, her body cold. She wanted Nick to hold her, to hold more than her hand, to make her feel better, and here he was, laying on the floor, thinking about Krystal. She knew it was selfish, she knew she shouldn't, but she was jealous, and hurt, and -- she started to cry even harder.

Zoe's eyes flickered between Nick's bloody face and Kayla's tears, torn between which to help first. Deciding Nick was in his own world, not understanding the magnitude of what he was saying, she moved to be closer to Kayla, and wrapped her arms around her. "It's okay, little one," she whispered into Kayla's ear. The crying and the shaking reminded her too much of the night Zara had died. It made her ache.

"I feel dirty," cried Kayla.

"I know," Zoe whispered, cradling Kayla's head against her chest. Nick was muttering on the floor, but Zoe wasn't listening, her focus was entirely on her niece.

The police were there in no time. There was a loud guffaw outside of the dressing room and they could hear Leon yelling, demanding someone go get Nick, too, and Drew's deep voice explaining the mess of Leon's face. A knock came at the door, and Zoe looked up from Kayla. "Come in," she called.

Nick was on his knees by this point, curled down like he had an extreme stomach ache. He had his eyes closed. One arm was extended to his side, still holding Kayla's hand. The blood was drying on his face and shirt, and spatters of it littered the floor and Kayla's dress. He knew what was coming, and felt powerless to stop it.

Three cops came in the room, two big burly guys and a third, scrawnier guy. One of the two big guys moved to kneel beside Kayla. "What's the matter, miss?" he asked in a gentle voice, "Do you think you can tell us what happened?"

Kayla was sobbing into Zoe's shoulder, but she nodded weakly. The other big guy bent down and seized Nick by the arm, wrenching his hand out of Kayla's, pulling him up to his feet, as the scrawny cop started reciting the miranda. "Nick!" Kayla cried, looking up to see what was happening that had taken Nick's hand away from hers, "What are you doing to him?"

"Yeah, what the hell are you doing?" Zoe demanded, looking their way as the larger guy took handcuffs out of his back pocket and started connecting them around Nick's wrists, which he'd pulled roughly behind his back. "That boy saved my niece," she snapped.

"Now, ma'm," the scrawny cop said, turning to Zoe, "We need to bring him in. He did a number to the other guy's face --"

"You can't just take him in for no reason!" she bellowed, "He saved her!" Nick, his head hung low, looked so resigned, Zoe felt her anger flare even further. He wasn't even fighting it, wasn't even complaining. It was like leading a sheep to a slaughter house, he was just going to stand there. She struggled to her feet, grabbing her crutches angrily. "Stop it! Let him GO," bellowed Zoe.

Nick looked up, his eyes meeting hers, sadness filling every detail of them. "Zoe," he pleaded, "It's okay."

"It is not okay," she shouted, angry at him now for not standing up for himself. "Nick they're arresting you, for something you didn't do."

Nick closed his eyes, his jaw set, "Zoe, just please.. just take care of Kayla."

"Come on." The smaller cop led the way, the other cop pushing Nick along, followed and allowed the door to slam heavily behind them. As they exited Kayla's dressing room, Nick heard Lauren gasp and Drew start yelling, following after the cops and Nick as they shuffled out of the theater to the waiting cruisers. The blue and red lights were a blur, and Nick could focus on none of it.

Leon, who was giving the officers a hard time, and was pinned to the sidewalk, saw Nick, and started hooting with laughter. "Hell yeah!" he yelled, "Come on, Carter, I'll fuck you up when we get there... I'll fuck you up so bad..."

Nick didn't react.

Cameras were flashing, and he felt sick to his stomach. How long until the world sees me like this?

They shoved him into the back of a cruiser and Nick laid down across the backseat, his nose aching dully, and blood smearing onto the leather.



"Where are they taking him?!" Kayla was up, out of the chair. She would've followed them if the remaining cop hadn't caught her, practically midair, no her way to the door. "I want Nick! Bring him back here!" she sobbed.

"I'm sorry," the cop said, "He's got to be booked..."

"Haven't I been through enough tonight without you taking away Nick, too?" she screamed, "He tried to rape me and he would've succeeded if Nick hadn't came out right then! He was hurting me, and Nick was there. Nick saved me. I feel safe with Nick, I want Nick!"

Zoe laid her hand on Kayla's shoulder. "Shh, it's okay, Kay," she whispered.

"No it isn't!" she yelled, turning on Zoe, her confusion and pain channeling into anger. "This isn't fair, what did I do that deserves this? I want Nick back, now!" She sounded like a child crying for a chocolate bar, she knew. She felt like a damsel in distress whose knight saved her from the dragon, and then got beheaded by the king for slaying the dragon. She turned and started pounding her fists against the chest of the cop, "Give me him back! Give me him back! Give me him..."

The cop was bewildered. "Miss, calm down," he demanded.

Zoe pulled Kayla, as best she could, back to the chair, where Kayla dissolved completely. Zoe looked up at the cop apologetically. "I think I should take her home, officer," she said quietly.



Kayla locked herself into the bathroom and took showers, dressed in shorts and a tank top because she didn't want to be naked, for the rest of the night. She used two whole bars of soap, scraping her skin until it was red, raw, and bleeding in some places, but still not feeling like she'd come clean. She sat on the floor of the bath tub, hugging Nick's suit jacket to her chest, letting the water rain down on her, her face shoved into the neckline of the coat until every ounce of his smell had run down the drain with the water, which was icy cold.

She wondered where he was, if he was okay, if he was as scared without her as she was without him, when she would see him again, if he was safe...

Over and over again in her mind the scene replayed. He was there, like a shining ray of hope in the dark, fierce and untamable, a lion, standing between her and the snake of an attacker she'd once trusted. He'd taken the brunt of the attack, the anger and the pain. It was Nick that had bled in the end, not her.

Nick's jacket was heavy and soaking wet. She turned off the water faucet and just let it lay over her, the weight of it comforting. She closed her eyes and fell asleep curled up in the bath tub, imagining the heavy feeling of the jacket was Nick himself, with his arms wrapped around her.



Brian showed up with the bail money as soon as he could, along with a fresh set of clothes for Nick, which Leighanne had insisted he stop to get on the way. Nick had come out, silent and faded looking, his face needing desperately to be cleaned and the hollow of his eyes bruised from his nose. Brian had taken a deep breath to stay calm when he saw him, and thanked the officers politely, before taking Nick out to the car.

Drew and Frank, another bodyguard, were waiting in the vestibule by the exit. Outside, a herd of media and photogs had collected. Brian looked at Nick, "We're gonna move quick, okay? Just get in the car, don't look at them. It's gonna be all right." Nick nodded vaguely and silently.

With the security guards flanking the Boys on either side, Brian bending as close to Nick's hunched figure as he could to keep the majority of pictures featuring himself instead of his best friend, the group of them moved quickly to the Jeep, where Leighanne was waiting in the driver's seat. The moment they stepped out of the building, yelling ensued, and flashes of the cameras. It was one of the longest walks Nick had ever taken before, even though it was so short. Quickly, Brian pulled open the back door and Nick climbed in, followed by Brian as the guards closed in behind them, to keep the view of the inside of the Jeep obscure as Brian pulled the door shut.

Leighanne drove away, the flashes following them all for quite a way before she got on the highway and only a couple sleek black vehicles were following them, with cameras hanging out the windows. Her fingers were clasped tightly to the wheel, nervous they would try to bump the car or something, as had happened to so many other celebrities over the years.

Brian turned to Nick, "What happened? Tell me everything."

Nick looked up at Brian. "I dunno what to do."