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Chapter 5

AJ took another puff of his cigarette as he walked down the hallway. He had been completely on edge since last night. Every little noice made him jump. As casually as AJ could he continued to walk down the hallway until he saw Howie sitting in one of the side rooms. He sighed and walked in to join Howie.

"Hey J," Howie greeted.

"Hey," AJ replied almost bitterly.

"What's up with you?" Howie asked, concerned.

"Nothing," AJ answered quickly, "I'm just a little tired ya know?"

"You sure that's it?"

"Yes D. That's it."

"Oh, alright. So what's up?" Howie asked changing the subject.

"Not a damn thing," AJ replied as he sat on one of the chairs.

"Kinda miss workin right?"

"Not really. I could do with out that for a while," AJ explained, "just I wish I was back home. That would make this a lot easier."

"Yeah I know the feeling."

"Guys, have you seen Lena?" Nick asked frantically as he came into the room. His eyes were filled with concern and Howie jumped from his chair.

"What do you mean?" Howie questioned.

"She said that she was going to go out for something and I fell back to sleep and that was four hours ago," Nick explained. AJ stared at Nick. Part of him wanted to scream out what he and Nick had done, but he couldn't.

"Look Nick, we'll get security to look for her alright?" Howie suggested trying to calm down Nick. As AJ sat back and watched, a rage started to build within him. Nick had no remorse for what he had done. It was like it was nothing. He was able to completely move on from the experience and act like it never happened. AJ on the other hand, was already completely overcome with guilt.

"Howie, I just don't want anything to happen to her. I want her to be alright," Nick said as tears started to pour from his eyes. AJ had never been so disgusted before in his life.

"It'll be alright Nick I promise. She probably just got lost," Howie mentioned as he walked out of the room with Nick right behind him. Before leaving, Nick glanced at AJ as if to tell him to keep quiet and then left. AJ put out his cigarette and walked out to hopefully catch up with Nick and Howie. He had no idea what to expect. Nick hadn't told him what to do or what to look out for you, but then again this was a pretty obvious sign. As AJ continued to walk down the hallway, he stopped when he saw Howie and Nick standing with one of the security guards.

"I don't know where she went and I'm scared," AJ over heard Nick saying as tears gathered in his eyes. He just wanted to roll his eyes and tell everyone exactly what happened, but he was scared that Nick might do something since AJ knew his story would be so far off the wall.

"I'll send some guys out to look for her, alright?" the guard replied. Nick nodded, as he brought his hand to his face. AJ's eyes went over to Howie's. They were filled with concern and fear. He was falling victim to Nicks trap and didn't even know it.

"Thanks," Howie told the guard because Nick was unable to talk, "it's okay buddy," he assured Nick calmly.
"Yeah, I'm sure everything will be just fine," AJ heard himself say. Nick looked up at him. Their eyes met and Nick nodded as he put his hand back over his face and leand it on Howie's shoulder.

"Come on Nick, lets get you inside," Howie suggested. Nick sniffled and lifted his head from Howies shoulder.

"I don't know what I would do if something happened to her."

"Shhh, don't think like that Nick. I'm sure that everything is fine," Howie replied as they started to walk towards Nicks room.

"Poor kid," AJ over heard the guard mumble to himself.

"Yeah, right," AJ grumbled to himself as he started to head back towards his room.

"AJ what happened out here?" Kevin's voice came. 'Shit' AJ thought to himself. This was going to be the tough part of all of this. Making sure Kevin didn't find out what happened.

"Nick can't find Lena," he replied.

"What do you mean he can't find her?"

"Like she's missing. Gone, not around, dissappeared," he said trying to hide the fear that was building inside of him at that very moment.

"That's crazy, she probably just went for a walk."

"Howie said the samething but Nick doesn't believe it. He said it's been too long since he's seen her to think that it was just a walk."

"Where are they right now?"

"In Nicks room."

"Aren't you going to talk to him?" Kevin questioned.

"And do what? Fill his mind with lies? Do any of us really know what happened to her?" AJ snapped. Kevin looked at him seriously.

"Yeah I know but it might help him relax."

"It's alright, you go talk to him. I'm just going to go in my room and stay there for a little while," AJ explained.

"Are you feeling alright?" Kevin asked suddenly.

"Yeah I'm fine."

"You sure about that? Is there something on your mind that you want to talk about? Did you see Lena leave the building or something?"

"I didn't see shit Kevin alright?!? Just leave me the fuck alone alright," AJ replied. Kevin backed away from AJ, not sure what else he should do.

"Okay, I'm going to check on Nick. If you need someone to talk to, come find me," he said.

"Yeah sure, uh-huh," AJ answered bitterly as he opened the door to his hotel room and slammed it behind him. Way to go, AJ thought to himself. Yeah, now Kevin was really going to believe that there was nothing wrong. Maybe he could just pass it off as nerves. Nothing like this had ever happened before and there was no way to be positive of what reaction everyone was going to have.

AJ jumped when he heard his cell phone ring. He really didn't want to talk to anyone right now and get himself into even more trouble. He knew that he couldn't say anything to anyone because they would turn him and Nick in right away and there was no telling what Nick would do to him if he told someone.

"Hello?" AJ answered, not really sure how the phone came to be in his hand.

"Hey J, how is all back at the hotel?" Brian asked.

"Umm..," AJ mumbled. He didn't know what to say.

"Earth to AJ!!" Brian shouted, "are you alright man?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. I just was thinking about something, that's all."

"Oh alright. So did Lena get in okay?" AJ bit down on his lip when Brian said her name. He knew that he was going to have to tell Brian Nick's story about everything.

"She got in okay, but she's missing right now. Nick hasn't seen her in hours," AJ lied.

"Did you guys get security?" Brian asked, his voice was laced with concern.

"Yeah, but they don't really know what to do. They just think she got lost, I mean it is a big city you know."

"They're probably right. Did Lena have a cell phone on her?"

"Not that I know of."

"Damn, how's Nick taking it?"

"He's real upset, we can't seem to calm him down," AJ replied as he fought the urge to pour his heart out to Brian. If there was anyone that he could tell, it was Brian. He was always the one that was willing to listen. No, he couldn't tell him. He'd call the police. This wasn't some stupid prank that he had pulled. Someone had died.

"Do you guys need me to fly back out?"

"No, no, no. You stay out there with Leighanne. Be with your family. We'll let you know what happens alright?"

"Yeah sure, just let Nick know that he can call me if he needs to," Brian requested.

"Okay, I'll tell him."

"Thanks, I'll talk to you guys soon," Brian answered as he hung up the phone.