[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
Chapter Five / Nick


We agreed to drop Lemon off at the hotel she was staying at. Whatever we were going to tell Kevin about her, I thought it would be best not sprung on him in the form of her awkward presence at the studio while we were supposed to be recording the new Backstreet Boys CD. Especially not when he was already bound to be pissed off that we were so late getting there in the first place. I pulled up in front of the hotel and AJ and I both watched as she walked up to the front door, paused between the two big plants in the doorway, and waved. AJ wagged an unlit cigarette in acknowledgement in her direction, while I flashed my palm. As soon as she’d turned her back, I turned to him.

“What do we do?”

“What do you mean what do we do?” AJ asked.

“About this?” I said, gesturing the way Lemon had just gone, “What do we do? Do we tell Kevin? And if we do - what do we tell Kevin, exactly?”

AJ put the unlit cigarette back between his teeth and shook his head, “Fuck if I know.”

“But we do tell him, right?” I asked.

AJ took the cigarette back out and licked his lips. “I guess so.”

Our eyes met.

“We have to,” I said.

“He’s going to flip his shit,” AJ said thickly.

“But we have to tell him,” I said.

AJ sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Do we even believe her? I mean… This chick could be anybody. Could be a con artist, you know, like that fuckin’ movie - what’s that movie? The one with the con artists.”

“Drifters?”

“Yeah, man! She could be one of them, you know? She could be fuckin’... fuckin’ after money or something. Like she says she’s his kid, he believes her, and she’s got a shit ton of money, you know? Set for god damn life just like that. It’s brilliant.”

“Well, I mean, a DNA test would prove if she’s tellin’ the truth or not, so… it would be a short lived gig.” I shrugged.

AJ shrugged back, “Doesn’t matter, if she gets all the money she’s after before the test results then bada-big, bada-boom.” He slapped his palms together, like he was dusting off the topic.

I stared up at the door she’d disappeared through. “Honestly, I’m kind of inclined to believe her.”

AJ raised an eyebrow.

“She looks like him,” I explained.

“You know how many people in Kentucky probably look like fuckin’ Kevin? Like half of them. They inbreed there.”

I shook my head, “No I mean she looked like him,” I repeated.

AJ nodded, “Yeah, and they marry their cousins.”

“So… so what are you saying? You think we should just not tell him?” I asked, raised eyebrows.

“I think we do some investigating before we freak him the fuck out,” AJ suggested. “We try and verify some facts, you know? Why make Kevin think he’s got a fuckin’ illegitimate kid with a dumbass name to deal with if he doesn’t?”

I nodded slowly. “Fair. But how do we do that? I mean, what if she runs into Kevin like on the damn street or something and just blurts out that he’s her father?” I asked, “I can picture her like running through the aisles of Kroger screaming at him.”

AJ snorted. “I can, too, actually.” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully a moment. “Okay, so we let her in on it.”

“Let her in on it?” I asked, confused

“Yeah. We tell her what’s up. She’s got to understand why we don’t want to freak Kevin the fuck out and we could get a DNA test done, then tell Kevin. That way we’ll have fuckin’ science on our side when he finally finds out. God knows the first thing he’s going to want is proof.”

That seemed fair. “Alright. So what do we tell him right now?”

“Nothing,” AJ replied. “Nothing at all.”

“Nothing?” I repeated. That seemed wrong somehow. “Nothing at all?”

“Nothing. At. All.”

I drove back to the studio, chewing on my lower lip, nervously. Of all the people knew, AJ and I were the worst two candidates for being secret keepers. Especially about shit like this. I glanced over at him and took a deep breath. It was going to be a contest of which of us would take longest to break and tell Kevin about Lemon.

We got to the studio and AJ grabbed me by the arm before I got out of the car and stared into my eyes. “Nothing at all,” he reminded me.

I nodded. “Nothing at all.”

We got out of the car and went inside. Kevin must’ve been pacing in front of the windows, watching for us, because he descended on us at the door as we came in. “Where in fuck were you two?” he demanded, face hot with annoyance. “Five grand an hour! Five grand an hour to rent this studio and you shmucks are off getting coffee for two hours - that’s ten grand for coffee that --” he looked at our hands pointedly, “-- you don’t even have.”

AJ and I looked at each other.

And both of us started talking at once.




It was getting dark by the time I came out of the studio. The sun was setting, sending gold rays over the tops of the buildings of the city skyline. I shrugged my bag up my shoulder and shimmied my pants up higher on my hips, pulling my phone out of my pocket. I was about to call Lauren when I spotted Lemon, standing by my SUV, leaning against the back, half sitting on the bumper. Lemon was biting her thumbnail and staring at a bird pecking at the ground a few feet away. She looked up as I walked over, her eyes wide.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hello…” I said, glancing over my shoulder. At any moment, the other guys would come spilling out of the studio and Kevin would see Lemon and everything AJ and I had come up with to explain away our two-hour coffee break would be undone. Because, despite all the convoluted bullshit that we’d both spurted off the cuff, we had managed to piecemeal a halfway decent excuse for our absence somewhere in our rambling. I hit the button on my keys. “What’re you doing here?” I grabbed onto her elbow and pulled her ‘round the side of the SUV opposite of the studio, where she might not be seen.

“Is he here?” she asked, peering over her shoulder.

The door banged opened and I moved like lightening, tugging open the passenger door and unceremoniously pushing her into the car.

“I wanted to see Ke--” she started, but Brian’s voice carried across the lot, talking to Kevin, so I slammed the car door in her face and rushed around the SUV, flinging myself into the driver’s seat and starting the engine with a burst. Lemon turned in her seat to look at me, “Where are we going?”

I shifted out of park and backed up, only just barely taking the time to make sure none of the guys were behind the car. I peeled out of the lot, seeing Brian shaking his head disapprovingly in the rearview mirror as I left.

Lemon was twisted in her seat. “I wanted to see --”

“I know you wanted to see him, but I gotta talk to you,” I said. I took a deep breath. “Look. I don’t wanna be an asshole but there’s a fairly good chance that you’re full of shit and I can’t be having you freak Kevin out before we’ve made sure you’re not like a con artist or something.”

Lemon blinked at me in confusion, “But. I’m not.”

“Of course you’d say you aren’t,” I said, “That’s what every con-man… or woman… con-person… that’s what they’d all say.”

Lemon frowned. “So… so I can’t see Kevin?”

“We just need proof first. Of who you are.”

“How?”

“Well. See. AJ and I weren’t really all the way there yet but we were thinking a DNA test.” I glanced over at her.

Lemon gave me a funny look. “A DNA test?”

“Yeah. You know. To make sure it’s Kev’s… er… balls… you come from.”

“Ew.” Lemon was making a face. “That’s disgusting.”

“I know,” I replied.

“Well doesn’t Kevin need to be involved for that?” she asked.

I shrugged. “I dunno, I haven’t had time to think it out yet. They always get DNA from people in the movies without them knowing it. I’ll like pluck some of Kevin’s hairs or steal a used tissue or something. The main thing right now is that I need you to not be seen by him.”

Lemon frowned down at her knees as I navigated downtown rush hour traffic. We were almost to her hotel when she said simply, “He’s not going to be happy.”

“What?” I looked over at her.

“About me. He’s not going to be happy about me.” Lemon’s voice was flat but dismal at the same time. You could hear the lump rising in her throat as she spoke the words with a sort of fatal detachment.

I didn’t know how to respond.

Lemon looked out the window at the passing buildings and tourists. I put the blinker on to go down the street to her hotel, but a glance at her made me feel guilty. She just looked so sad, like someone who really shouldn’t be alone.

I drove past the hotel.

She watched it go by.

“Now where are we going?” she asked.

“Home,” I answered.