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I stood staring at the elevator doors for a few moments. My mind was at full tilt, wondering what I was going to do. I couldn’t just be like ‘hey guess what, I love you.’ Or could I? As I turned to head back to her office, Jordan came flying out the door. I swallowed the lump in my throat as she hurried my way.

“Nick!” She grabbed my arms gently and looked up into my eyes. “Go back down to Sammy’s office. Tell him that I need him to take you guys to your hotel. I gotta go, it’s important. He’ll take care of you, okay?”

“Uh...yeah…” I barely got an answer in, as I watched her rush to the stairs. Wisps of her hair had fallen out of their twist and I just stared after her, as the stairwell door closed behind her. Taking a deep breath, I headed back down to her brother’s office.

After I went back to Sam Harris’ office, he led me to Brian and AJ. Sam quickly rounded us up and we headed out to his car. I didn’t really pay much attention to anything as I gazed out the window, from the backseat. My thoughts drifted back to Jordan and how I was going to tell her about my feelings for her. AJ snapped me out of my trance, once we got to the hotel. It was a nice place, looked like it was a family owned type deal. I continued to space out as Sam got us checked in.

“223…223…” I spoke out loud as I slowly walked down the long hallway. “Aaah, 223, here it is.” I stuck the key in the door and swung it open.

“Night, Nick!” Brian called from the other end of the hall.

“Yeah, night!” AJ hollered.

“Good night,” I gave them a weak smile and trudged into the room. It felt so empty. Over the past week, or so, I had gotten used to sharing a room with Jordan…even if I was on the floor, most of the time. Sleeping on the floor, really, hadn’t bothered me, but when she asked me into the bed, with her, the previous night…I sighed at the thought. A smile spread over my lips as I sat on the double bed. Laying back onto the blankets, I stared at the ceiling.

Letting a heavy sigh escape my lips, I got up and stripped down to my boxers and crawled into the bed. It seemed so cold. How could one week of sharing a room, and only one night of sharing a bed, with her, affect me so much?!? What’s wrong with me?

“Uuuuuuuuuuuuh! DAMN IT!” I swore as I threw the covers off me. It was, now, almost 12:30 am and I had spent the past 6 hours, tossing and turning. I had flipped through the channels on cable, about, 20 times already. I had, almost, paced a hole in the carpet and I was extremely frustrated with my inability to sleep. A hot shower failed to help and I was out of ideas. Pulling on my jeans, shirt, and shoes, I headed to the hotel room’s door. I grabbed the key, off the table, on the way out. As I made my way, through the lobby, I pulled on my jacket and hat.

The cold air nipped my cheeks as I stepped out onto the sidewalk. I figured a nice walk would help me to relax. I shoved my hands in my pockets, after pulling the hood, of my sweatshirt, over my head. I turned to my right and started to walk. Spring was arriving and there was no snow left, but it was still a bit too cold, for my liking. I breathed deep as I let the fresh air fill my lungs. Nick Carter, you have become a complete emotional mess. I huffed at the thought. Trying my best to not think about anything and clear my mind, I continued to walk. My pace was fairly slow, but after about 45 minutes or so, I came to a halt.

“Dane?” I tilted my head to the side and examined the cherry red truck that was parked along side the street. After spotting the license plate, I rolled my eyes. “Ha, ‘This is not my boyfriend’s truck.’? Only you, Jordan.” It was definitely her Dane. I mistakenly, placed my hand, softly, onto the door.

“HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK…..” the alarm pierced the air, causing me to jump three or four feet in the air and my eyes to pop out of my skull.

“Shit shit shit shit…shhhhhh! Dane, please…shhhhh…” I hushed the truck as I ran a hand through my hair. “O dear God, shhh, I’m sorry, Dane! Please, just…shhhhh!” The alarm stopped and I took a step back. “Did that seriously, just work? Oh, thank you.”

“Sorry, Nick,” Kyle’s voice startled me. I whipped around, stumbled backwards, bumped the truck and caused the alarm to sound, again. Kyle hit the button to stop the honking, as I just stared at him, mouth wide, like a moron. “Talking to Dane only works, if you’re Jordan. Anyone else has to use the button.” He held up the key chain.

“What is going on out…Nick?” Jordan had come flying out of the door and took the keys from her brother.

“Uh…hi?” I scrunched my eyebrows and gave her an, embarrassed, smile.

“Oh my gosh, Nick! What’s wrong? Are you okay? What are you doing here? How did you find my apartment?” her questions jumbled together a little as she quickly blurted them out.

“Nothing’s wrong…I…I’m fine,” I stuttered, looking down at her. She was in one of those sleeper sets of hers, with the little shorts and spaghetti strapped tank top. Those things should be banned, because they have been driving me out of my mind for over a week now! This particular set was purple with kissing cows. How odd. Her matching purple slippers were huge, fuzzy and rather cute.

“He was out here talking to Dane,” Kyle snickered.

“How did you get here?” She tilted her head to the side and glared at me.

“I…uh…I walked. I just kind of…found Dane, by accident, really.” I, reluctantly, admitted as I slipped off my jacket. I stepped towards her and slung the jacket over her shoulders. You could visibly see the goose bumps on her skin.

“You WHAT?!? By yourself? Now? At 1 am? Are you insane?!?” I hung my head a little as she raised her voice and flung her arms in the air. “Who knows what could have happened! You could have been mobbed! Or followed! Or hurt! Or KILLED! We have no idea if there might be a gang member’s long lost second cousin, twice removed, by marriage on their father’s side, that might be trying to hunt you down! GOD, Nick, how could you be so irresponsible? I thought you were smarter than this! You can’t go wandering out and about, by yourself, at this time of night!”

“I think he gets it, Jordy,” Kyle laid a hand on her shoulder. I stared at my feet, embarrassed, with a nice sized bruise on my pride. I really didn’t like the feeling that was resulting from her being mad at me. “Get a grip, he’s fine.”

“Yeah and very lucky, to be! Come on, I’ll take you back to the hotel,” she sighed as she started to walk around the front of the truck.

“Wouldn’t he be safer here?” Kyle piped up. He had a visible smirk on his face. “After all, with all of us guys, he has the protection in case that deranged second removed father’s cousin, or whatever, comes. Besides, I’m sure he’d like to hang out with all your brothers, watching the basketball game.” He raised an eyebrow and turned his attention from his sister to me.

“All the br…brothers? Uh. No…no…that’s okay. I’ll uh…you know…just go back to the hotel.” I quickly turned around and briskly started to walk back the way I came.

“You are NOT walking anywhere!” Jordan’s fingers wrapped around my forearm and spun me around. “Either I drive you, or you stay.”

“He’s staying,” Kyle smiled as he grabbed my arm and pulled me inside the apartment building. “Come on. We DVR’d the game from earlier. It’s the 76ers and the Magic. We’re only into the second quarter.”

“Right…yeah…” I swallowed the lump in my throat as he, practically, dragged me up the two flights of stairs. Once we were in the door I saw not just her brothers…but…oh God, no! That is NOT her…DAD!!!!

“HEY! It’s Nick!” Sam smiled widely as soon as he saw me. I just gave him a forced smile and slight nod.

“Alright, Nick. You know Samuel,” Kyle said as he dragged me further into the room. Okay, this sucks. I caught a sympathetic, half smile from Jordan, out of the corner of my eye. “Samuel is the oldest, I’m next, then Andrew, Michael, and Tyler. You already know that Jordy is the baby. Then there’s dad.” He pointed to each person, in turn, as he said their names. All I did was nod, in response. I was feeling really nervous and uncomfortable. Everything in me, told me to run like a bat out of hell, but I don’t think I could get away with it.

“Ky, you’re such a dill weed,” Tyler rolled his eyes and came over to me. “Nice to meet you, Nick. Let me correct my dumb brother. It’s Sam, Ky, Drew, Mikey, and I’m Ty. Nobody ever calls us by our full names.” He shook my hand and gave me a can of beer.

“Unless you fuck up,” their dad chuckled as he took a swig of his beer. “Please, don’t call me dad, either. I don’t need another son…unless he was an in-law,” he cocked an eyebrow in my direction. My breath caught in my throat as I came to the realization that Sam must have told the other men about me. They already all knew! Wow, this situation is getting worse by the minute!

“His name is Ben,” Sam spoke up again. The game was paused, so all eyes were still on me. All I wanted was to curl up, in a hole, and die. “Technically, he is an in-law. Nick and Jordy are still married…until the boss finishes finalizing the paperwork, that is. She got everything all filled out and stuff, but when I left, it still hadn’t gone through the boss man.”

“Ooookay, you know what, we should finish watching the game!” Jordan blurted as she stole the remote from Mikey. She pushed play on the game and tossed the remote back to her brother. “I’m going to the kitchen.”

“Yes please,” Drew raised a hand.

“Same, please,” Ty nodded.

“Here, too, baby girl,” Ben smiled. I just stood in the same spot, with an unopened beer, staring at the TV. After she left the room her dad spoke again, “Come on in here, boy. Sit down.”

“Yes, sir.” I replied softly, as I, nervously, took a seat in the only open spot. I was sandwiched between Mikey and Drew.

“Sir?” Ben laughed loudly. “I do declare, Sam. I think you are on to something, with this boy.” Oh fuck! I was right! They all knew…what was I going to do now? This made my nerves rise, as my palms started to sweat. I swallowed a lump in my throat as Jordan reentered the room.

“What the fucking hell was that?!?” Jordan cussed, glaring at the TV. All the other men joined in, screaming at the referee. Relax, Carter. You like basketball…just be yourself and you‘ll be fine…just…breathe.

“You better drink that before it gets warm and everyone thinks there’s something wrong with you,” Kyle whispered in my ear, from behind me. I just nodded and cracked open the can. Good idea, a few beers and I’ll loosen right up. It didn’t take long for me to realize that they were all 76ers fans, except Jordan. She seemed to be impartial but didn’t hesitate to point out bad calls and she screamed just as loud as her family.

“Jordyyyyy?” Ty whined as the halftime show started.

“Everyone need one?” She stood up and rolled her eyes as everyone, but me, nodded. All the other men watched her disappear into the kitchen.

“So, Nick…” Ty leaned forward to look at me.

“What do you do for a living?” Ben questioned.

“I sing.”

“Sing?” Mikey laughed. “Wow that pay has got to suck.”

“So, what? You do like karaoke or something?” Drew scrunched his eyebrows. It was my turn to crack a smile.

“Well, not exactly.”

“He’s a Backstreet Boy, now quit pestering him,” Jordan answered as she handed out beers and collected the empties. I took the last swallow from my can as she held out a fresh one. It was nearing 3:30 a.m. when Jordan told everyone that she was turning in. She gave her father a hug and followed with one for each brother. I bit my bottom lip as I stared at the TV, a little hurt that she passed right by me.

“Good night, Jordan,” they all chimed. Great…now they would really start in on the 3rd degree!

“Night guys,” she smiled as she walked around the back of the couch. “Good night, Nick,” she whispered as she wrapped her arms around me, from behind. I brought my hands up and rubbed her forearms as she kissed my cheek. My heart skipped, I was so happy that she didn’t overlook me.

“Sleep well, Jordan,” I turned my head to look at her. I forced a soft smile as I realized our faces were only an inch or two apart. I licked my lips and leaned my head back, to kiss her cheek in return. It wasn’t until she stood back up; that I looked around to see that all the men, of her family, had their eyes glued on to us. I felt my cheeks redden as Jordan headed down the hall. I drew in a shaky breath. I was alone with them…I was just praying that I wouldn’t get eaten alive!