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Kevin: Bay is asleep. Q’s staying with him for a bit. On my way over.

I pulled myself away from AJ and began wiping at my face as Kevin’s text message registered on AJ’s phone with a loud bing.

“You look like shit.” AJ confirmed, letting out a small laugh as I dragged myself into the bathroom to wash my face.

“YOU look like shit.” I retorted as I quickly tried to make myself look presentable. I heard movement in the hallway as I splashed water on my face and ran my fingers through my hair. A few seconds later, Kevin’s unmistakable heavy knock sounded on the door. I stepped out of the bathroom and pulled open the door to see, not only Kevin, but Nick, Lauren and Howie standing on the other side.

“I figured these guys needed to know what’s been going on.” Kevin said, obviously noticing my look of surprise.

“You guys do know that it’s almost three in the morning, right?” Howie grumbled. He was still wearing the outfit that he had worn to the after party and his red-rimmed eyes registered a look of extreme annoyance. “What is so important that it couldn’t wait until tomorrow? Kevin literally pounced on me as soon as I got out of the elevator.”

“Yeah.” Nick affirmed, taking a long chug from a bottle of water.

“It’s not my fault that you guys had too much to drink.” Kevin snapped, giving both Nick and Howie a warning glance. “I don’t know what you were thinking doing shots with the crew. We have an early flight this morning.”

“I thought that I was going to be able to go to bed when I got back. How was I supposed to know that you were going to call a bitch fest at 3:00 A.M.?” Howie shot back, pushing past Kevin and sitting down on the bed.

“I wasn’t drinking! Howie was the one doing all of the shots with the boys. You know that I’m not into that shit anymore!” Nick protested, finishing his water in one loud gulp. “I AM exhausted though, so let’s hurry this little pow-wow along.”

“Just sit down, Nick.” Lauren sighed; clearly exasperated. She whipped her hair up into a high ponytail and tugged at her tank top. “I wonder if Kevin will let me leave to put on my pyjamas?”

She flashed me a playful grin as she made her remark, but her face fell as soon as she saw my expression. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve been crying.”

“It’s a long story.” I whispered back, daring a quick glance at Kevin.

He glared back at the two of us and motioned angrily for us to hurry up and sit down. “Whenever you’re ready, ladies ...”

“Sorry.” Lauren apologized. She rolled her eyes at me as the two of us joined Howie on the bed.

“Why am I heeeerrrrre?” Nick whined.

He had followed Lauren’s instructions by depositing himself in an arm chair. He had both of his legs flung over one of the arm rests and his head was lolling around on the back of the chair. He didn’t even bother to open his eyes as he spoke.

“We’re here because AJ and Amy have something to tell us.” Kevin said through clenched teeth. “And they better tell us fast. I have to be back in my room in case Baylee wakes up.”

“AJ and Amy?” Nick repeated. “What happened? Did you guys fuck?” He accused with his eyes still firmly closed.

“Nick!” Lauren shouted. “Stop being a dumbass?! Pay attention!” She grabbed a hardcover book off of the nightstand and whipped it in his direction for emphasis.

“Ow! What’s wrong with you, woman?!” Nick yelled. His eyes flew open as the book connected squarely with his shoulder. “I’m gonna have a bruise.” He moaned, manoeuvring himself into a proper sitting position and giving Lauren an angry stare.

“I think you’ve lost my place ...” AJ interrupted, looking dejectedly at his discarded novel.

“Wait a minute! Why is Baylee in your room?” Howie asked, finally picking up on Kevin’s earlier statement. “Where’s Brian?” He added, looking quickly around the room. He blinked rapidly in an attempt to regain some sense of focus.

“You guys are unbelievable.” Kevin stated, shaking his head. “Can we all at least attempt to pay attention for a few minutes? We’ve already wasted twenty of them ...”

He was cut off by a sudden thump at the door. It almost sounded as if someone had walked right into it. A few seconds later the doorknob began jiggling wildly and Brian’s voice resonated through the stillness.

“AJ? Are you asleep? Open the door!”

“Unbelievable.” Kevin repeated, dragging his hand down his face as he stalked over to the door. “You have impeccable timing.” He stated dryly as he held the door open for his cousin.

“Kevin?” Brian blinked in confusion. “I’m looking for AJ.” He looked past Kevin and finally saw the rest of us all staring back at him. “You’re all in here? What are you all doing here? It’s so late.”

“Thanks for pointing that out.” Nick grumbled. “Some of us would like to be in bed.”

“Where’s Baylee?” Brian asked, ignoring Nick’s complaint. “AJ? Where’s Baylee? You said that you were bringing him here.” The panic was evident in his voice as he spoke.

“Baylee is in my room.” Kevin explained. “He’s sleeping. Q is watching him.”

“Oh. Oh, good.” Brian stuttered. “I think that’s good. Leighanne is still in our room. She’s upset ... she’s kicked me out ...”

My stomach clenched as I watched Brian struggle to get the words out. He was a mess. Whatever had happened between him and Leighanne had clearly rattled him. His voice was raw, either from crying or shouting, and his eyes were swollen and glossy. He rubbed a shaky hand against the back of his neck and took us all in.

“Brian, what the hell happened?” Howie asked. “Why has she kicked you out?”

“She thinks it’s true. She thinks that I’ve done ... things ... with other women. She says that she has proof. She says that people have sent her stories, information, hotel receipts with my credit card number...” Brian trailed off.

I could see the tears prickling his eyes and I forced myself to look away. It was taking all of my willpower not to jump off of the bed and comfort him.

“That’s a load of shit!” Kevin roared. “What proof? If she has proof, I want to see it!”

“There can’t be any ...” Brian affirmed, his eyes frantically searching everyone’s face. “I’ve never been unfaithful to her ... ever!” His gaze finally found mine and I could see the same pleading look in his eyes that he’d given me only hours ago. The only difference was that the lust had been replaced with sadness and dread.

“She said that she’s going to publish everything.” He continued. “How could she do that? How could she lie like that? We’ve been through so much ... she could ruin it all ... our reputation ... the tour... Baylee ...”

He let out a choking sob and covered his face with his hands. Nick, who had obviously woken up very quickly during the whole ordeal, suddenly sprang out of the chair. He covered the distance between himself and Brian in less than five steps and grabbed him roughly into a tight hug. Nick didn’t say anything as Brian sobbed shamelessly into his chest, his body shaking noticeably with the effort.

“Just wait until I talk to that little blonde bit...” AJ’s rant was cut off by the ringing of the phone.

We all turned and stared at the phone on the nightstand as if it were a foreign object. Even Brian and Nick disentangled themselves and turned to stare. Howie, who was sitting the closest, finally reached over and answered it.

“Hello?” He answered. “Yes, this is Mr. McLean.” He lied, after a few seconds pause. “Thanks very much.” He finished, replacing the receiver.

“That was the front desk with your wake-up call.” Howie said, turning in AJ’s direction. “We have to get ready to go. Our flight leaves in less than four hours.”