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“I still can’t believe that you gave up on her so easily.” AJ dropped his voice to a whisper so that Kevin and Howie wouldn’t be able to overhear the conversation. “What really happened?”

Nick shook his head. “I told you, AJ. She flat out told me that she was crushin’ on Brian. What was I supposed to do?”

“It just seems weird that you’re completely okay with this whole thing. Doesn’t it piss you off every time that you see them together?”

Nick considered AJ’s question before responding. In the beginning, it had been beyond difficult for him to even fathom the fact that Kayla had chosen Brian over him. But, after seeing them together, Nick had quickly come to realize that he had done the right thing by giving up his pursuit of Kayla. “Brian’s happy. They both are.”

“Are YOU happy?” AJ peered intently at Nick.

“I’m not unhappy.” Nick answered. “I just need to focus on getting my shit together. I’ve got to move out of Brian’s house and sort myself out.”

AJ nodded. “Any thought as to where you’re going to go? Ro and I could use some company in L.A.”

Once again, Nick shook his head. “L.A. isn’t a good place for me. The past is proof of that.”

“Tennessee?” AJ raised his eyebrows. “You may run into Lauren though.”

Nick sighed. “Is it weird that I’m thinking about Kentucky?”

AJ let out a full blown laugh that caused both Kevin and Howie to turn their way. “I knew you were gonna say that!”

“What did you know that Nick was going to say?” Howie continued to peer at the two of them over his shoulder. Kevin, on the other hand, had immediately lost interest and had returned his attention to his phone.

“Nothing.” AJ smirked. “We were just talking about Brian and Kayla.”

“I called that shit!” Howie bragged. He turned fully around in his seat to join the conversation. “You can ask Leigh.”

Nick rolled his eyes. “It would have been nice if you had let me in on your observation. That way I could have avoided making an ass out of myself.”

A wide grin spread across Howie’s face. “That WOULD have been nice of me.”

“Asshole.”

“Hello to you too, Nick.” Brian’s voice cut into their conversation. “I know that I’m late, but there’s no need to insult me.”

Nick looked up into Brian’s smiling face and continued to scowl. It was obvious that Brian had caught the tail end of their conversation. “Asshole.”

“Is everything okay?” Howie glanced at his watch. “We were expecting you more than half an hour ago.”

Brian sighed and dragged a folding chair across the floor. He positioned the chair so that he could be a part of their small circle and sat down hard. “Baylee’s teacher cornered me when I was dropping him off. Guess which class my son is dangerously close to failing?”

“Math?” AJ and Nick guessed in unison.

“It better not be math!” Howie accused. “I spend the better part of every evening on the phone with that kid walking him through his homework.”

Nick and AJ exchanged devilish smiles and repeated their guess. “Math?”

“Now who’s the asshole?” Howie muttered.

“It’s not math.” Brian wacked Nick lightly on the arm and shot a disparaging look at AJ. “It’s music.”

“Music?” AJ’s mouth fell open. “How is that even possible? The kid was our fucking opening act for the whole North American leg of the tour.”

Brian rubbed absently at the back of his neck. “According to Mr. White, Baylee is simply refusing to participate. He says that if Baylee doesn’t smarten up he’s going to receive an R on his mid-term report card.”

“Unbelievable.” Howie shook his head. “I guess he’s taking his whole I-don’t-want-to-be-anything-like-my-dad idea to the extreme.”

Brian grimaced. “Tell me about it! Do you know how bad it’s going to look if Baylee’s marks come up in court? How am I going to explain away the fact that my son is failing music because he hates me?”

“Can’t Kayla just, you know, make sure that his report card isn’t referenced?” AJ made his suggestion slowly. “I’m sure that it wouldn’t be that hard for her to ‘misplace’ the document.”

“I can’t ask her to do that.” Brian frowned. “She’s already forged one surprise inspection report. I can’t ask her to compromise her job any more than she already has.”

“She compromises her job every time that she sits on your dick.” AJ shot back. “You do know that, right?”

“Jesus, AJ.” Brian could feel himself becoming embarrassed. “We’re both well aware of the fact that what we’re doing has some serious implications.”

“I think the best thing that you can do is encourage Baylee to start participating.” Howie agreed. “Once your court date has come and gone you and Kayla will be home free. Like you said, there’s no point in asking her to compromise herself any more than she already has.”

“When is the hearing?” Nick interrupted. “Will Baylee’s report card have even been released by then?”

“The hearing is next Friday; January 17th.” Brian affirmed. “Baylee’s report will be sent home on the 15th.”

“Figures.” AJ mumbled. “All you can hope for is that Baylee doesn’t receive an R and that Peachy Peggles doesn’t have anything more to do with your file.”

“It’s Peggy Peach.” Kevin’s voice was gruff. “And the four of you have legitimately lost your minds.”

“How so?” Brian raised his eyes to his cousin. “Please share your displeasure with us.”

Nick quickly stifled his laugh with a series of coughs. Kevin looked less than impressed with his younger cousin’s sarcasm.

“I’m not saying anything.” Kevin held up his hands in defeat. “But I will say ‘I told you so’ when all of this blows up in your face.”

“That’s real classy of you, Kev.” AJ snorted. “Way to have Brian’s back.”

“I do have his back.” Kevin mimicked AJ’s choice of words. “I will hold my tongue, as well as my breath, until the gavel bangs and Baylee is allowed to remain with Brian.”

“But you think that I won’t win.” Brian challenged. “Go ahead and say it.”

“I think that you’re one wrong move away from ruining your life, Kayla’s life, and Baylee’s life.” Kevin admitted. “If it comes out that the two of you are fucking, you won’t have a hope in hell of maintaining primary custody of Baylee.”

“I’m not just fucking her, Kevin.” Brian held back his anger. “It’s more than that.”

Kevin pressed his lips together and stared at his cousin in disapproval. “What are you saying? Are you saying that you would choose Kayla over Baylee?”

“I want them both.” Brian replied. “That’s not too much to ask for.”

“And what if it is?” Kevin challenged. “What if you have to let one of them go?”

Brian hesitated. He didn’t have an answer to that question and, worst of all, Kevin knew it. “It will all work out.”

Kevin sighed and dropped his eyes back to his phone. “You better hope that you don’t end up losing them both.”

“Well that sure was uplifting!” AJ slapped his hands together and pulled himself into a standing position. “Shall we rehearse?”

“You should already be rehearsing!” Catalina breezed into the warehouse, her arms loaded down with an assortment of seemingly random items. “Sorry I’m late. I kinda figured that you would have just gotten started without me.”

“We were just ironing out some details.” Howie shot Brian a supportive glance. “We’re ready to go.”

Catalina gave the five of them a suspicious look as she dumped her stuff on a nearby table. “We only have so much time before the tour starts, and we’re already losing all of next Friday so that Brian can squabble with what’s-her-name. The European leg is a big deal. I need you guys to be focused.”

“We’re focused.” Nick reassured the leggy choreographer, but he kept his eyes locked on Brian. “Everything is going to turn out just fine.”