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“What?” Howie stared down at the burly man. Surely, he couldn’t have heard him correctly. The tension around his neck was probably cutting off the supply of oxygen to his brain. There was no way that the question could be that simple. “What do you mean?”

“I want you to pick.” The big man sounded exasperated. “Who do you pick, Howie? Nick or Kevin?”

Shit. Howie could feel the sweat running down his neck and pooling around the circumference of the rope. His skin was starting to itch, but he didn’t want to risk moving his hands upwards in order to relieve the discomfort. The risers beneath his feet already felt precarious, and he didn’t want to lose his balance and speed up his untimely death.

“Hurry up, Mr. Dorough.” It was obvious that the big man was getting impatient. “If you don’t pick, my partner and I will pick for you.”

“Okay, okay.”

Howie silently cursed himself for wasting his breath on unnecessary words. His throat burned every time that he spoke. He looked back and forth between Kevin and Nick. He knew that whatever choice he made would end up being the wrong one, but he still wanted to at least try to make things better. He racked his brain; trying to rationalize the situation based on how the men had acted in the past. More than likely, their captors would be harder on the person that he didn’t choose. They would assume that he would avoid picking the man that he cared about the most and would; therefore, inflict the most torture on him.

“Nick. I pick Nick.” Howie choked.

Nick’s entire body tensed as Howie said his name. He closed his eyes briefly before glancing upwards into Howie’s desperate face. Nick forced his lips into a small smile. He could tell that Howie felt bad. He could tell by the way that Howie’s face was twitching that there had been a rationalization behind his friend’s choice, but he couldn’t quite figure out what that reasoning was. Nick could feel his forced smile start to falter. Maybe if he could read Howie’s mind in the same way that he had always been able to read Brian’s, he would know what the older man was trying to tell him through the heavy sadness in his eyes.

“Excellent choice!”

The gruffness of the massive man’s voice snapped Nick out of his trance. He pulled his attention away from Howie, and scowled at the men who were holding them captive. Inside he was bawling like a baby, but he was tired of showing their captors that he was weak.

“It looks like Nick gets to be our star.”

“W – What?” Nick stammered. His decision to appear tough had already disappeared. His eyes were so wide that they were straining against their sockets.

“Howie picked you, so now you get to be the lead in our final production.” The big man explained the situation as if it were totally obvious. “Aren’t you excited? I thought you liked being the centre of attention. I thought you liked being the one that everyone wants so desperately to please.”

Nick made the mistake of looking at Kevin. The expression on the southerner’s face was all it took for the tears to start running down Nick’s cheeks. Kevin never let his pain show, but now it was written all over his face. The man who had always stood so tall, who had always gone out of his way to protect the rest of them, now looked completely and utterly lost.

“Don’t cry, Nicky.” Angelo feigned sympathy. He stepped forward and placed his index finger under Nick’s chin; tilting the blonde’s face upwards. “Your tears will throw off your performance.”

Nick stood rooted to the spot; his arms glued to his sides. His heart was hammering so hard that he was positive that the big man could feel it beating through his chest. The tears were still leaking out of his eyes, but they did nothing to stop the man from coming closer, from running his finger down the column of his throat and pressing his meaty palm against his chest.

“You need to calm down, Nicky.” Angelo cooed. He pressed his hand even harder against Nick’s chest; kneading the dense muscle between his fingers. He could feel the blonde’s heart slamming erratically under his touch. The notion that he was terrifying the younger man pleased him to no end. “We don’t want you to pass out.”

Nick’s vision grew fuzzy. The man’s touch was taking him back to a place that he hadn’t been in a long time, to a place that he had absolutely no desire to revisit. He was in Lou’s basement. The rest of the guys were around somewhere, but it was just him and Lou on the couch. The two of them were laughing; watching some stupid movie that his mother would have never allowed him to watch because of the restricted rating.

Lou’s motion had been so quick and so fleeting that Nick couldn’t even remember the specifics of it. But, he could remember leaping off of the couch. He could remember the burn of shame and the rush of terror that had followed. He could remember AJ busting into the room to get a Coke just a few seconds too late. He could remember running to find Brian and convincing him to stay up late playing video games because he didn’t want to close his eyes. He could remember passing out on the couch with his head on Brian’s shoulder; feeling safe simply because of the proximity of his best friend.

“Stop touching him.” It was Brian who spoke now; echoing AJ’s earlier statement. “Just stop – stop all of it.”

“I’m afraid that we can’t stop now, Brian. It wouldn’t be fair to the people who are watching at home.” Angelo laughed. “You wouldn’t want to disappoint your fans. Would you?”

Nick could feel his body swaying under the man’s touch. The desperation in Brian’s voice was too familiar. It was the same voice that had peppered him for information about Lou. It was the same voice that had confronted him about his self-destructive behaviour. It was the same voice that had admitted to missing him. It was the voice that Brian reserved exclusively for situations in which he was on the verge of losing it.

“What do I have to do?” Nick pulled himself out of the past. He refocused his eyes on the masked face that was dangerously close to his.

“That’s more like it!” Angelo stepped back from Nick and let out an exaggerated sigh of relief. He motioned for Nick to step forward as far as his shackled ankles would allow, and repositioned him so that he had a clear view of all of his band-mates. “For now, all you’re going to do is stand here and hold this gun.” Angelo withdrew the extra weapon that had been holstered to his waistband and handed it to Nick. He dropped down and quickly removed the restraints from around Nick’s ankles. “Now, don’t go getting any crazy ideas about shooting me and trying to run away.” He continued. “If you so much as aim that gun in my direction, I will have my buddy over there put a bullet in your brain.”

Nick hastily nodded his understanding. The gun felt heavy and foreign between his fingers. He was trying to hold on to it without actually touching it. The lump in his throat was growing exponentially by the second. He knew what was coming. He knew that he was going to be asked to turn the gun on one, or maybe even all, of his brothers. He started to dry heave. It was too much. It was all too much.

“This is still a bit too complicated.” Angelo looked around in mock confusion. He stepped back into position next to Carl, tapped his own gun softly against his palm, and turned his attention to Howie. “It looks like we’re going to need you to pick again, Howie.”

Howie swallowed the bile that was rising in his own throat as he watched Nick clutch his stomach with one hand and the gun with the other. This wasn’t fair. This wasn’t how things were supposed to end. None of them were supposed to have been cheated out of watching their kids grow up. Nick wasn’t supposed to have been denied the pleasure of seeing his own son being born. The five of them were supposed to have grown old together; belting out cheesy lyrics until they all simultaneously dropped dead from exertion in the middle of a performance.

“So, Howie, who do you want to pick next; Brian, AJ, or Kevin?”

Howie licked his lips. They tasted like salt. He hated himself for playing along; for giving their captors the satisfaction of making a choice. Still, he didn’t know what else to do. His whole body was trembling now. All he wanted was for the whole terrible ordeal to be over.

“We need an answer, Howie.” Angelo prompted. “I don’t think you need to be reminded that we will pick for you if you take too long to decide.”

Like with most decisions in his life, Howie found himself worrying about Nick. He knew that the blonde would never forgive him if he picked Brian. He bit at his bottom lip and muttered the name of the person who he didn’t really want to choose, but who he thought would make the situation easier for Nick.

“AJ.” Howie swallowed noisily in a painful attempt to dislodge the lump in his throat. He stared into AJ’s eyes; determined eyes that were now laced with confusion. “I’m sorry, Aje. I really am.”

“Don’t be sorry, Howie.” Angelo chided. “You made the right choice. Mr. McLean was getting pretty fucking annoying.”

The situation unfolded in a matter of seconds. Angelo clicked over the safety as the despicable words were leaving his mouth. In one fluid motion, he raised his weapon, took aim, and pulled the trigger.

The silencer muted the gun’s discharge, but it did nothing to silence the wounded cry that escaped AJ’s mouth as the bullet tore through his body. And it certainly did nothing to diminish the heavy thud of AJ’s body hitting the cement.