Chapter 4



“Okay guys, I’m starving,” whined Roslyn as they walked out of the tuxedo shop. Kaci looked at her watch and laughed.

“Ros, it’s only two o’clock; you just had a huge omelet four hours ago!”

“Yeah, I normally eat breakfast around eight and then lunch at noon; four hours apart—so what’s your point?” retorted Roslyn, a little annoyed at her cousin’s tone. I know she’s like a size NOTHING and eats like a bird, but us NORMAL women eat three meals a day, plus snacks! She’s not even that much thinner than me! Of course, to Rob, I’m a cow.


“Okay Rob, I’m ready to come out now,” Roslyn announced from her bedroom to Rob who was sitting in the living room waiting for her. He felt so bad about her Senior Prom being ruined that after a few months of planning he had put together a prom-like event in Memphis. All of their friends, family, and various members of the community had been invited, making it a huge ordeal.

“Get out here then!” he yelled back to her, slightly amused at how excited she was and how much it actually felt like a real prom to her. Slowly she emerged from her room and moved into the kitchen, where Rob got a great look at her, since the living room and kitchen were open, meaning there were no walls separating the two rooms.

She was wearing a strapless lime green silk number with a black lace overlay from the top to the dropped waist and then a solid black overlay from the dropped waist down. It was form fitting at the top, with a corset look to it, and then it widened as it went down so that by the bottom of the dress the fabric flowed and cascaded with each step. The final accent on the dress was a slit on the left side that almost reached her hip, exposing her entire left leg. Jesus himself would have stopped dead in his tracks if she had walked past him and she only hoped that Rob would have the same reaction.

“Wow,” he whispered as she took several more steps through the kitchen. He started walking towards her and met her halfway into the kitchen where he started walking around her, taking it all in. She was beaming, feeling so sexy and beautiful, loving the way Rob’s eyes wandered over her entire body, obviously pleased with how she looked. She had been so careful about what she ate in the past month, also doing some light cardio and weight training in hopes of toning her limbs a little before the big day. She was waiting for the praises of beauty and attractiveness to poor out of his mouth, but that didn’t happen.

“Your arms look great, but you should have done some extra running on the treadmill to firm up these love handles,” was the first thing out of his mouth and he stepped behind her and pinched the little bit of skin above her hips. Then he reached his hand down to her exposed leg and slid his hand inside the slit until his hand was right under her butt cheek.

“This is a little loose too, but with any luck your dress with cover it when you walk and dance so no one besides me will notice it.” The tears stung in her eyes and she fought her hardest to keep her face from twisting and the tears from falling. Her lips were trembling and she placed her hand over them to try and stop it. Rob didn’t even notice, he was still too busy examining her body with a magnifying glass and a fine tooth comb.

He moved around to her front and studied her face, and then he smiled. “You have always had such a beautiful face Ros, that’s never been an issue to me. At least I know that if you don’t get rid of those problem areas I will have a beautiful fatty instead of an ugly one.” He laughed a little at his own joke, thinking it was hilarious, but Roslyn couldn’t even move. She had never been spoken too like that, especially by someone she loved and trusted. It takes a lot of trust and self-esteem to allow a person of the opposite sex to see you naked, and Roslyn felt, at that moment, she had made a terrible mistake.

What must he think when he sees me naked every night? No wonder we always have sex with the lights off, she thought to herself, horrified and embarrassed beyond control. She was shaking so hard she could almost hear her brain rattling inside her head and almost didn’t hear Rob asking her if she was ready to go. Without another word she walked out the door, silent tears ruining her perfectly made up face.

She tried to conceal the tears that were falling from her eyes as she remembered that horrible night four months ago. That was the first time he had emotionally and verbally abused her, and it was a moment that she had never, and probably never would forget.

“Ros, I’m sorry,” Kaci said softly, seeing her cousin’s tears and feeling like a complete bi tch for saying anything. She knew Roslyn’s insecurities about her body, but looking at Ros she knew she had nothing to be insecure about.

Ros was five seven, about 145 pounds, making her a size 10. Most of the size 10 though was made up of her amble bum, for her stomach was quite taught. She had an hourglass figure, her hips roughly eight inches rounder than her waist, making a single pair of hip-hugger jeans look deliciously perfect on her. Her breasts were a full C-cup, and provided the right amount of cleavage with a low cut shirt.

Kaci felt slightly like a lesbian, giving her cousin the once over with her eyes, but she was trying to figure out how Rob could have been so cruel to her. She had a gorgeous body, always has, and it was not fair to Roslyn for anyone to challenge or argue that.

How much damage control and repair is this poor girl going to need when this is all said and done? Kaci wondered to herself as she pulled her cousin into a tight hug.

“I’m really hungry too,” piped in Serena, hoping it would take some of the pressure and focus off of Roslyn. “Let’s find some place to eat.” The foursome walked down the street to Roslyn’s favorite Italian bistro. “A little Café Mulino should cheer you up.”

As they were sitting down at their table, AJ’s cell phone rang. After glancing at the caller ID, he excused himself and walked away from the group towards the entry way to talk privately.

“Hey man, did you land?” AJ asked into the phone.

“Yeah, we are in the rental car driving out of the airport now. Where should we meet you?”

“We? What do you mean we?”

“You know as well as I do that Q is back home for his dad’s funeral and I’m on double duty this week Alex.”

“Shit, that’s right.” AJ went on to fill his bodyguard, Marcus, in on the details and then ended his spiel by telling him to come to Café Mulino and meet them for lunch. “I’m sure you guys are hungry and this will give you a good chance to get better acquainted with everyone else.”

“I’ve already got it pulled up on the navigation system. We’ll be there in ten minutes,” Marcus responded.

“Marcus,” AJ started, but then paused, unsure of how to put this.

“Yeah man?”

“Don’t let Nick cause any problems. We both know how he gets when he’s ‘on vacation’. He’s not going to care that there are real issues going on here or even that me and Kaci are getting married. He’s just going to get drunk every night and probably make a fool of himself at the wedding.” As soon as he said that, he felt horrible. He loved Nick so much and knew he shouldn’t talk about him that way, but there were just so many things weighing on his shoulders right now, and the thought of having to keep Nick under wraps was just too much.

“He’ll be fine Alex; don’t worry,” was all Marcus said before hanging up.



“Were you talking about me?” Nick asked defensively as soon as Marcus hung up the car phone. “What was he saying?”

“Nick, relax man. AJ is stressed about the wedding and some problems that have come up with Kaci’s cousin and he is just worried that you’ll—“

“That I’ll screw things up again like I always do?” Nick asked with a hurt look on his face. He didn’t wait for Marcus to respond; he just plugged the ear buds from his ipod into his ears and turned the music up as loud as he could stand it.

Nobody has any faith in me anymore. Nobody’s even seen that I’ve changed. The last tour was months ago, and they still look at me as that guy. Vanessa hasn’t even noticed, he thought bitterly. He closed his eyes, trying to push all of the bad energy out and breathe the good energy in. This trip was his chance to show everyone that he had grown up, that Nick Carter was not the childish, self-centered person they all think him to be, and if he was completely honest with himself, the childish, self-centered person he had shown himself to be in the past. His first task: finding out what the problem was with Kaci’s cousin and fixing it so AJ and Kaci didn’t have to deal with it.

I mean, how hard is it going to be to re-dye her hair her normal color or fix a couple broken nails anyway, he thought, assuming that any “problems before the wedding” would be that simple and minor.
Even if she gained a few too many pounds, there has to be a tailor somewhere in Memphis that can let the seam out a little more. God knows how many times it’s happened to me.

He almost laughed out loud as that thought crossed his mind. Of course, no one’s noticed that either, he gently reminded himself, referring to the fifteen pounds he’d lost since the tour ended. But he knew they would; he was here now, and he was going to show them, and he was going to make everything alright.