Ben’s payback to Nick came in the form of a birthday party for a ten year old girl. And all of her ten year old friends. Eyeballing them from across the game room, Ben quickly put his plan in motion. Fortunately, Nick was so busy beating his brother’s pants at pinball that he’d be none the wiser…until it was too late.

Hiking Amy up on his hip, he cautiously approached the party, trying to look inconspicuous. Finally, he reached the birthday girl who was huddled in a corner with a handful of her friends. “Psst…hey.”

“What?” Some of the girls immediately cooed over Amy, while others were just disgusted a boy…ew…would dare come speak to them.

“You want the birthday present of a lifetime?”

“What!? What are you talking about?”

“You like the Backstreet Boys?”

By this time, Amy had been away from the action long enough and started squirming out of Ben’s arms. “Nick! Nick!”

“Shhh…Amy…hang on…” He hiked her up, scolding her with his eyes. “Yeah, Nick Carter’s here…that Backstreet Boys dude.”

“No way.”

“He is not.”

“Would you just go away??”

Turning to walk away with dramatic smugness, Ben put Amy down, firmly grabbing her hand. “Go ahead, Amy. Tell ‘em who’s over there playin’ pin ball.”

“Nick! Nick!”

Half of the girls couldn’t hide their curiosity and started peeking through the thin columns that divided the dining area from the gaming area. Right on cue, a squeal to rival any hog calling contest winner soared through the crowd. “Oh my god! It is! It’s Nick Carter!”

Ben scooped Amy up to avoid getting stampeded by a small horde of girls and laughed as he watched Nick lose his ball in play, and spin around to the approaching screams, white as a sheet.

“Woah! HO! Hey! Stop! Hang on! Hang on!” The girls surrounded him like bees to honey and Nick looked up to see Ben laughing hysterically, trying to hang on to Amy who was a pile of giggles too. Having to clue often made life a happier place to be.

With a glare to Ben and a quick thought of Liz and Jack being unattended, he held up a hand to the girls and tried to quiet the situation. Why he didn’t bring security was suddenly beyond him. “Okay, hang on…seriously. Back up a bit and I’ll talk to y’all. Go on…back up…good. Now,” looking up for his charges, he sighed seeing everything pretty much under control.

“Jack, you got Liz?”

“Yep…we’re good…goin’ in the tubes.”

“Okay, come with me, girls…” Nick led the excitable crowd back to their booth and sat down, hoping a few minutes of his time would satisfy.

And it did. A few pictures with the birthday girl, a piece of cake to appease the horrified mother and he was off. Now, to kill Ben. It was time to head home anyway.

Waiting at the bottom of the slide, he caught Liz and scooped her up in his arms. “You ready to head home?”

“No…I wanna stay.”

“Well, kiddo, we can’t. Maybe Kitty’s home by now, huh?”

Liz shrugged and pecked Nick’s cheek with a kiss as she slid down to the floor, calling for Jack to come out of the mass of tubes, nets and slides. “Jack! Get down here! Time to go home!!!”

“Where’s Ben?”

“I dunno…haven’t seen him since he sent those girls to you.”

“Great. Jack! Come on, man! Time to go!”

Just as Jack appeared at the bottom of a slide, Ben did too, coming in from outside with Amy en tow. “Where you been, man?”

“Just getting some fresh air. Those girls really hog up the air, you know?”

“You’re so gonna pay for that.”

“Uh, no, I think we’re even. You made me suffer through Chuck E. Cheese and baby sit my sister, remember?”

“You got a free meal and a night away from home. I still think I owe you some form of pain and suffering.”

The smile slid from Ben’s face, body and out of his voice. “I get that every day…don’t need any more from you, pop star.”

Nick opened his mouth to say something, but realized only foolishness would come out. Looking to Jack and Liz, he offered the young girl his hand and led the way outside.

It was a good thing he wasn’t in a hurry. They weren’t going anywhere.

“What the he-…Jesus Chr-…who the fu-…I’m gonna kill someone.” Nick dug his cell phone out of his oversized pockets and hit a pre-set number, looking to the kids for either some form of calm or possibly an answer as to how this had happened.

“Mike. Good…I need you to look something up for me, man. Go into my office.”

“What’s up?”

“Someone’s slashed my god dam--…my stupid tires. I’ve got that mechanic that helped out when the truck broke down. Said I could call him anytime. I need tires…now.”

“Damn…where you at?”

“Chuck E. Cheese in Brandon.”

“What the hell are you doin’ at Chuck E. Cheese?”

“Eating, assho-…just get the number, would you?” Leaning back on his truck, Nick looked over the kids for any sign of knowledge as to how this happened. No other car in the parking lot had their tires slashed. And Ben was looking suddenly skittish. He couldn’t have…not after Nick had done this for them…

“Okay, you ready?”

Shaking out of his anger, Nick jotted the number down and clicked off his phone. “Okay, guys…gimme another minute and we should be good to go.”

“I wanna go home now, Nick!!”

“I know, Liz…so do I. But we can’t drive with flat tires. We’ll get a tow or my friend will bring out new tires now…something.”

“How’d your tires get flat anyway? They look all cut up!”

Nodding to Jack’s question, he breathed a sigh of relief as a familiar voice answered the phone. “Ted, hey, it’s Nick Carter. Hey, man…I need a huge favor.”

Everybody wants something and Ted was no different. Nick would have four new tires delivered in the next 30 minutes if he promised a private visit to his daughter in the next week. He felt like he was bidding on an auction. “No, I’m not gonna do a private concert, Ted. Yes, I want the tires. Okay, I’ll come visit and have dinner with her. No, not tomorrow. Before the week’s out. Yes, I promise.” It was insanity. But, for now, it seemed a small price to pay. It’d be cheaper than the exorbitant bill he’d see in his mailbox when this was all over with anyway.

“Okay guys. Thirty minutes. We can wait that long, huh?”

“Can we go back and play?”

“Um, no, let’s not go back. We’ll have to take our shoes off again and…” Looking up, he noticed Ben sneaking away, having left Amy at Jack’s side. “Ben! Get back here.”

“I’m just goin’ over here…chill, man.”

“No, I will not chill. Get over here now.”

Ben plead with Nick with his eyes and a hand motion for a cigarette. “Please, man.”

“Nope. Sorry. You have responsibilities over here now.” He had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach that Ben was responsible for this. Not one shred of proof, but his gut was feeling queasy at the prospect.

“Shit. Fine. I’ll just stand here and look at you guys for half an hour. Wee. Fun.”

“I didn’t plan on this happening, Ben. None of us are happy about it, so just relax. Here…” Tossing his car keys to the boy, he motioned inside his truck. Turn on the battery and get some music crankin’ anyway.”

Ben took the keys and couldn’t hide his shock. He’d just slashed this guy’s tires, knew Nick knew it and yet, was being trusted with the keys to the ignition to his Cadillac SUV. It made no sense. “You want ME to turn on your car?”

“No, I want you to turn the ignition to battery. If I hear one bit of engine, you’re dead.”

That was enough for Jack, who up to this point had been a nervous wreck. Not guilty, but it was apparent he too, felt Ben was responsible. Hearing Nick’s threat, though, broke the ice of his nerves and made the tension swimming around them all disappear.

After a make shift game of musical chairs not only with no chairs, but also with no possible winner, Nick let out a whoop when he saw his friend’s pick up truck pull into the parking lot. “Alright! We made it guys!”

Keeping the kids out of Ted’s way as he changed all four tires, Nick tried to make eye contact with Ben when Ted’s inquiries on how this happened persisted. Not until Nick handed over a hefty check and slid into the car, checking that all passengers were buckled in safely, did he finally get such eye contact.

“Happy now, Ben?” His voice was a hushed angry whisper, trying to keep the conversation only to the front seat and away from the younger kids.

“Huh?”

“Was that fun for you? Add enough excitement into your evening?”

Quickly averting his angry gaze, Ben stared out the passenger side window. “Just start the damned truck. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You screw with my engine too? We all gonna die now?”

“Oh, you’re a riot. No…just…god, let’s go. Kitty’s probably home by now thinking we’ve been kidnapped.”

“Don’t you wish.”