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Chapter Three

“So, what are we going to tell people tonight?” Howie asked as he got ready for the show.

It was a new night and a new location on the tour. It had been exactly ten days since AJ had been kicked out of the group. Ten days since the Backstreet Boys had become four members instead of the five that everybody was so used to from the past thirteen years. It didn’t seem that anybody had caught on yet to their lies every night, but it was bound to catch up with them sooner or later. This could only go on so long before the truth had to come out, or at least something come out.

“Are you going to answer me?” Howie asked when nobody replied to his questioning. His main target was Kevin, who just grunted in response. Nobody else replied either, too afraid to speak up. The situation was delicate and sensitive even though it was something that they couldn’t look past and ignore. Howie sighed, “Okay then...”

“What do you suppose we tell people?”

Howie looked over at Kevin who was buttoning his pants. He was looking directly at Howie with an eyebrow raised up waiting for a response. Howie just shrugged, pulling on a fresh shirt for the first part of the show. He took a drink of water to cool himself off, not really knowing what they should say. Kevin’s eyes never laid off of him though. In fact, everybody was eyeing him expectantly. As always, Howie to the rescue to speak for all in the wrath of Kevin. It was obvious that nobody else was going to and here they were all eyeing him expectantly. It was obvious that he’d dug of the grave of a conversation that was better left alone. He was stuck now, wracking his brain for something to say.

“Maybe the truth?” Howie suggested meekly, wincing at what was to come.

“Oh yes, that would be wonderful.” Kevin spat out sarcastically, “The press would have fun with that one and the fans would hate us for kicking him out. It would just cause a whole sticky mess that I am not ready to deal with yet.”

“But Kev...” Nick bit his lip, “AJ has had the ‘flu’ for a week and a half...sick in his room throwing up. This can’t go on for much longer before people catch on.”

All was silent making it obvious that Nick’s comment had angered Kevin. They all knew deep down that he was right though. The ‘AJ is feeling a bit under the weather’ bit was getting old and could only be used for so much longer. They’d always been completely honest in the past. What was the difference now? Humiliation. Hurt. Anger. Betrayal of trust. Those were the things that made this time different because they’d gone through it before and had gotten to a comfort point where they’d been sure that the threatening days were over. Obviously, it had been by lack of better judgement on all parts. Or had it been?

“I wonder how he’s doing at least.”

This caused all eyes to go in Nick’s direction. Kevin’s anger had made it clear that they were to have no part in AJ’s life whatsoever. The man was gone from their lives as if he had never been there to begin with. Kevin had figured, as much as it hurt him to say it, that it would be better for all of them going on not knowing what AJ was getting in to. It would be better if they went on with their lives without the complications and worrying. Nick’s comment was going against that silent vow that they weren’t going to wonder.

“Nick...” Brian sighed, his Southern draw soft and sad.

“What?” Nick exclaimed defensively, “He was my brother for half of my life. It’s natural to wonder.

The others took this in to consideration, knowing that they couldn’t argue. It had been in the back of all of their minds constantly though. Nick was the only one bold enough, or possibly even naive enough, to speak these thoughts and feelings aloud. Nobody replied to it though. Kevin’s eyes were dark and his mind set in stone that this was the way things had to be though.

You’re dead to me

Kevin sighed as he recalled saying those very words only a few years before. This time, he hadn’t had to speak the words though. He’d made it a reality. A harsh reality, but none the less something that had to be done. He couldn’t help but wonder if maybe it was too soon to start touring again and that had caused it. It was too late to turn back time though, and somehow Kevin doubted touring had anything to do with it this time.

“I’m going to call him.” Nick decided out loud, “I’m worried.”

“Nick...” Kevin warned, eyeing the blonde, or rather glaring at him.

Nick ignored Kevin as he dug his cell phone out of his jeans pocket. He flipped open the high-tech, top of the line device going straight to his contacts list. As he scrolled through, he completely overlooked the faces that Brian and Howie were shooting each other knowing that an argument was about to break out between the oldest and the youngest. Nick was just about to press send as he found AJ’s name when Kevin spoke again.

“Nick...we agreed not to even think about AJ.”

Nick looked up from his phone, his blue eyes showing glimmers of guilt and confusion. He took in a deep breath, letting it out in a frustrated puff. By the look on Kevin’s face, Nick knew that it would be in his best judgement to just shut his mouth and close his phone. However, he didn’t do either. His finger lingered over the ‘send’ button for another second as he bit his bottom lip.

“You can’t honestly say that you don’t care at all about where he is, how he’s doing...” Nick spoke up, his voice trailing off, “None of you can honestly say that, can you?” he waited a second and when nobody replied, Nick knew that he was right, “See. I’m calling.”

And with that, he pressed the button, bringing the cell to his ear. He saw Kevin come at him, but Nick shifted his body away simply and the man backed down again. He could tell that the eldest was not happy in the least with his decision, but at least he wasn’t trying to stop it any longer. At this point, Howie and Brian were looking at him expectantly as Kevin turned away from them all sulking that he wasn’t getting his way. It wasn’t until a few seconds later when he heard the phone click shut that he turned around again.

“Well?” Brian asked, “What is it?”

Nick raised an eyebrow as he shoved the phone back in to his pocket. He reached up to scratch his head in disarray for a moment before looking up at them all to answer what he knew they were all waiting for.

“His phone’s been disconnected.” he informed them.

At first there was no reaction to this at all besides dumbfounded looks wondering exactly what had happened. That was, until Kevin spoke, getting in the last word as always.

“Well, now we can get on with our lives and forget about it all like we’d originally planned all along.”

There was something in his tone though that said that he too was worried. Something that made the others not believe his cold-hearted words for a moment. The thing was, none of them could do a thing about anything because Kevin would never admit that he was changing his mind, they didn’t want to argue him and come in the path of his wrath and most importantly, none of them knew where to find AJ. It looked like they had no choice but to just move on and forget all about Alexander James McLean.

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The bartender glanced up at a very obviously drunk man wearily as he wiped down the counter top. The young Latino was slumped over the counter with his face pressed against the cold surface. He was clutching on to a now empty glass which only minutes before had been filled with an amber colored whiskey, staring in to it longingly and dazed. He longer had any feel or sense for where he was, time or even who he was. He was the only one left from a rather slow night at the place.

Folding up his towel, the bartender placed it under the counter. He closed the doors, locking them up to secure all of the liqueur for the night. He looked at his watch and then back up at the man with hesitation before speaking.

“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to leave. We’re closed for the night.”

AJ looked up in hazy-eyed confusion. His eyes were bloodshot, his mouth hanging open in thirst. The bartender winced at the thought of how horrible the mans hangover would be. The guy squinted, scrunching up his face as he pushed his glass towards him.

“Pour me nother.” he slurred in a loud tone.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t. It’s going on three. We closed nearly an hour ago.”

“Jus one mo...” AJ glared at the refusal.

The bartender took in a deep breath. He was used to dealing with this kind of behavior from drunks. Every night was the same story, different man. Sometimes they got violent and he had to call the police. Other times, with just a little yelling and arguing, they would leave. He wondered what way it would be with this one. It was always hard to tell.

“Sir, you’ve had more than enough. Even if we were open, I would have to cut you off.”

“Huh?” AJ asked. He squinted some more and noticed a sign behind the man who’d been serving him all night.

WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO REFUSE SERVICE.

The words were extremely blurred to AJ, running together and even doubled. He could make out a few of them but nonetheless was having trouble comprehending them. In fact, he was having trouble comprehending anything. He was so far gone that he felt numb and lost. He was right where he wanted to be. Right where he wanted to stay.

It wasn’t like he had anywhere to go back to anyways. He’d officially been evicted from his home. The warnings hadn’t gone away. If anything, they’d just come to kick him in the ass, haunting him because he’d ignored them. He had nothing left but his car, which wasn’t even in the greatest of shape. It was all they hadn’t taken from him. That and his will to drink and get stoned. All he knew was that he’d have to find some sort of living arrangements. He’d been living in his car pretty much for going on a week already. It had been almost three since his friends had disowned him from their lives.

“Sir, let me call a cab for you.” the bartender offered, already picking up the phone to dial out.

AJ shook his head in refusal, digging in to his pockets to get his own keys out. Much to his dismay, they weren’t there. The bartender had managed to get them, finding them on the floor some time ago. This man was in no condition to drive himself home. It was likely that he would kill himself, if not somebody else along with him.

“No,” AJ stated, “Where...my...keys?”

“Sir, you aren’t driving.”

“I wa...walk.” AJ was determined now to take care of himself.

He got up, falling to the ground already the second his feet touched solid ground. He grabbed on to the bar to steady himself, hoisting himself back up. Stumbling, AJ slowly made his way across the bar, his reactions severely delayed and clumsy.

“Sir.” the bartender barked out

AJ ignored the man, tripping over himself as he made his way out of the bar completely. The bartender called after him one more time, but AJ was already out the door. Without his car, all he could do was walk down the side of the road, hoping to find an empty ally way behind a dumpster where he could pass out for the night in a drunken slumber. He barely made it, falling face first in to a pile of old newspapers, the classifieds.

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“So, you and Derrick have been dating for two weeks now, right?”

“Huh?” Nicole looked up from her cell phone with a small smile curled on to her lips, pressing the send button so that the text to her boyfriend was on its way.

“Two weeks since your official first date?”

“Oh, um...yeah...or two and a half about.” she smiled wider, “Things are going great.”

“So I’ve noticed,” Gia smirked, “Why don’t you just up and ask him to move in with us...you can share a room and I can get one all to myself.”

Nicole laughed out loud, “You’d love that one, wouldn’t you,” Gia just shrugged, “Besides...Derrick has to live on campus to keep his sports scholarship...and more complicated things than that...” her voice trailed off as she didn’t want to make her lie too elaborate, not wanting to spill her boyfriends personal matters that he trusted her with. Things that were from a darker past.

Gia sighed in disgust, “That would be too easy actually...having him move in and help solve our financial problems. You realize we haven’t found one good candidate for moving in with us yet. Which one was your favorite... the guy who just got out of prison for rape or the girl who is a convicted con-artist.”

Nicole laughed, “Or how about the man who freaking admitted to stabbing somebody due to a violent temper, putting them in the hospital for several weeks...and then saying his temper can flare up at any moment...because he’s bipolar or something.”

Even Gia had to laugh at that. They’d definitely had their share of psychos that had tried to get in with them. Some even, they’d had to hide their own fears about until they were gone. So far, nobody had been found suitable. Everybody had some sort of issue that they didn’t want to risk in a living situation. Things were becoming more and more tight for them, and to be honest, Nicole had secretly begun seeking apartments elsewhere, none of which were in the expensive State of California. She didn’t want to let Gia know of this though, for there was no use getting the short-tempered girl riled up for no reason unless it really had to be done.

“So, do you have the day off today?” Nicole asked as she placed a couple of pieces of toast in to the toaster.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Gia snorted, plopping down in to a chair as she pushed her straight brown hair behind her ear, “I work third shift today. My ass needs to take a nap or else I’ll be napping in the middle of some kids MRI.”

Nicole rolled her eyes. Leave it to her best friend to have that attitude. Despite her rough-around-the-edges demeanor, Nicole knew that deep down, the girl did have feelings that she tried to cover up. The truth of the matter was, both of them had become rather tough after learning that in today’s society, being nice and sensitive got you nowhere and trusting was stupid until that trust was gained.

“Well, ummm...at least it will be easy?” Nicole tried

“Stupid ass people will come in with stupid ass injuries that could have been prevented if they hadn’t been so MORONIC!”

Nicole laughed, choking slightly on her milk, “How kind of you.”

“Ah, well... fuck the world. That’s my motto.” Gia shrugged her slender shoulders before getting up again, “I’m off to the shower though and then run some errands before my lovely work shift of fifteen hours. Yay.” her voice dripped in sarcasm.

“Have fun.”

Gia flipped Nicole off as she sauntered off to her bedroom causing the younger girl to laugh again. It was only when Gia was out of sight that she let a frown of distress come on to her lips. She buried her face deep within her hands, raking her fingers through her hair just as the phone rang. Not having the energy to pick up, she let the machine get it. After the beep, there was a long hesitation, but eventually a male started speaking in a rather slow, slurred voice.

“Hi...I s...saw your ad....in the pap...paper. I...needa place...to l...live. Call me...901-555-5686...iza cell... maybe geta in...interview. Names Alex Mc...Mclean of BSB.

Nicole let out a groan as she rolled her eyes, hitting her head on the table top, ‘Great, now fucking delusional men with identity problems is prank calling us like some psycho freaked ass clown.” she muttered in disbelief, but with the way things were going, she already figured that it wouldn’t hurt to at least see what he was all about. She sighed, replaying the message to jot down the number, hoping that she didn’t get her own ass murdered along with Gia’s.


And there you have Chapter 3. Sorry it took awhile. If you're reading this, let us know what you think. Ayleen will have Chapter 4 soon, so stay posted!