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Kevin and Jamie were sitting at the kitchen table the next morning when the phone rang.


"Doesn’t everyone know its rude to call before 9 a.m.," Jamie said jokingly.


"Its probably one of the guys wanting a ride to the studio or something. . ." Kevin said picking up the phone.


"Hey. . .Uh, yes, this is Mr. Richardson. . .Ummm, yes, I guess I remember that. . . WHAT? You can’t be serious. . .Well, um, I guess I can be there. Four o’clock? And where is that?" Kevin hesitated, grabbing the note pad by the phone. "Yeah, I’ll be there. Thanks."


Kevin’s face went pale as he hung up the phone.


"What was that all about?" Jamie asked, concerned at Kevin’s reaction.


"Umm, well. . ." He stammered as he sat back down at the table. "Remember me saying I needed a restraining order?"


"Yes, why?"


"Well it seems that some chick told the police that Nick and I sexually harassed her at some promotional thing a couple weeks ago."


"You’re kidding right? This is a joke one of the guys is playing." Jamie paused, hoping she was right.


"It didn’t sound like a joke to me. That was a Detective Corin with the Orlando PD and he wants me to come down to the police station this afternoon to talk to him." Kevin was slowly regaining his color but he was obviously very upset. "He said that she hasn’t filed any charges against us but she filled out a report and so they are doing a routine preliminary investigation."


"Well at least she hasn’t filed charges yet. That’s a good sign. Do you remember this girl?" Jamie said with a bit more judgmental tone that she meant.


"I don’t know. He said her name was Molly Coughlin and it was at a record signing like two weeks ago here in Orlando." Kevin was searching his memory for the event but it eluded him.


"You don’t know, you don’t remember? What's going on, Kevin? Did something happen or not?"


"Damnit Jamie, you know I would never do anything like this. How could you even think that?" snapped Kevin.


Jamie sank against the back of her chair, "I’m sorry. I just don’t understand what’s going on here. If it is only a preliminary investigation then I don’t think its a big deal, but this could get ugly."


"I know this can get very ugly, especially if the press gets a hold of this." Kevin looked worried, "Something like this could really hurt our image, regardless of whether it is true or not."


"I thought you wanted an image change?"


"Jamie!"


She held up her hands, "Sorry. That was a very poor attempt at a joke. I didn't mean anything by it. Look, why don’t I go with you this afternoon. I may not be able to represent you since I am not licensed in Florida, but maybe I can help you figure out what's going on."


"Thanks, baby. That would be great. I need all the support I can get right now." He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead just as the phone rang again.


"Yeah. . ." He answered. "I know, he called here already. . .Uh huh, yeah, I know. Jamie is going to come with us. No, I don’t think we need to tell the guys anything. . .Hopefully this will all just blow over. Okay Nick, yeah, I’ll see you at the studio." Kevin hung up the phone. "Well obviously that was Nick, Detective Corin called him too."


"What did he say? Did he sound okay?" Jamie was sincerely concerned for her 'little brother,' as she thought of Nick.


"He’s a little wired about it, but I don’t think he’s going nuts or anything. Come on Jamie, let's go get ready, I need to get the studio."


They ran upstairs and quickly showered and changed. Neither spoke on the way to the studio but the constant glances they exchanged let each other know about the worry that filled them.





The recording session wasn’t going well at all.


"Nick, can you try that last tag line one more time. . ." Brian asked Nick with a hint of sarcasm. "Like, maybe sing it on key or something?"


"Just lay off Brian." Nick snapped back.


"Aww, is Nicky not in a good mood this morning?" AJ taunted.


"Come on guys," Kevin cut in, "AJ, cut Nick a break. Let’s just try it again."


"Now I have heard it all." Brian quipped. "Kevin sticking up for Nick. What is with you guys this morning?"


In unison Kevin and Nick said, "Nothing."


The guys settled down and tried to focus on recording the yet-to-be-named Song From Hell.


Jamie watched from the control booth as the guys snapped back and forth. She knew that this was hard on both Kevin and Nick, perhaps Nick even more because of his age. But she saw the fear in Kevin’s eyes and she wondered if that fear stemmed from something she didn’t know about.





The recording session ended about 3:30 and Kevin, Nick and Jamie left quickly in Kevin’s car, before the others could say or do anything. They rode in silence for a while.


"Jamie, can I ask you something?" Nick asked.


"Sure, Nick. . . what?"


"Um, what exactly is sexual harassment? I mean I guess I know what it is, but like, what do the cops think it is?"


"Well, Nick," she began. "That’s a good question. I suppose technically that sexual harassment is any action of a sexual nature, directed at another person, that makes the other person uncomfortable."


"Oh."


Kevin carefully looked back at Nick but said nothing. In fact, no one said anything else until they got to the court house.





"The detective said his office was on the third floor." Kevin said, punching the button for the elevator.


Kevin and Nick both twitched their hands nervously and seemed very edgy. Jamie appeared very calm and quiet, but actually her mind was wandering, only imagining the worst.


The three of them walked into the office and Kevin told the receptionist they were there to see Detective Corin.


"Just have a seat and I’ll let him know that you are here," she replied.


A tall light-haired man in his late thirties walked down the hall toward the reception area and looked toward the bench where they were sitting.


"Mr. Richardson, Mr. Carter?" He said looking at the three of them.


"Yes, that’s us." Kevin said as he stood up.


"I’m Detective Corin, thanks for coming down. Why don’t you all follow me, we’ll go back to my office."


Nick and Jamie followed Kevin and the detective down the hall to a small corner office.


Detective Corin sat down behind his desk as Kevin, Nick and Jamie each took a seat in front of it.


Looking at Jamie, Detective Corin asked, "I’m sorry, and you are?"


"I am Jamie Saxon, a friend of both of these gentlemen," Jamie replied coolly.


"Well, Ms. Saxon I am sure that they appreciate your support, but perhaps it would be better if you waited outside while we discuss this in private," he replied just as coolly.


"Well I think. . ." she began when Kevin cut her off.


"Actually, Ms. Saxon is our attorney as well, so, I think she needs to hear what's going on here," Kevin said, trying to soothe a bit of tension between Jamie and the detective.


"Very well then, that’s up to you two," he said looking from Kevin to Nick who just sat there kind of in a daze. When he didn’t see any objection from Nick he went on.


"Well, just a little background to start. We have a report by a Miss Molly Coughlin which was filed last week." The detective was reading from a slim file folder laying on his desk. "Do either of you recognize her name?" When both shook their heads no, Detective Corin continued.


"I understand that you two are quite the celebrities? The Backstreet Boys, correct? Well, it appears as though Miss Coughlin met you two at some sort of promotional event? Do you remember this event?"


"Which one was it again?" Kevin asked, "we do so many."


"Well, Miss Coughlin stated that it was at a local Tower Records store, some record signing or something. And that was almost two weeks ago. . . two weeks ago tomorrow."


"Okay, I remember doing the promotion, but nothing in particular is sticking out in my mind," Kevin stated.


"What about you Mr. Carter, do you recall anything strange at this event?" Corin turned to Nick, who paled a little under Corin's gaze.


"Um, well, not really. . . just maybe, um. . . Well, Kevin, do you remember that girl that was in the hallway when we went to the restroom?"


Kevin thought for a second. "Wait. . . yeah, I do. She was kind of strange. Could this be her?"


"What exactly do you remember, Mr. Carter?" The detective asked.


"Um, not much really, I just remember her being in the hallway when were coming out of the restroom. She said something to us, I don’t really remember what, except I remember thinking she was strange, and then we went back out to the table."


"Yeah," Kevin chimed in, "I remember a little now, she just kind of looked at us funny when we came out, then she tried to stop us to talk. We had to get back so we just kind of left her there. We weren’t mean or anything, just kind of left her standing there."


"Well that only slightly coincides with Miss Coughlin’s side of the story," the detective finished writing some notes and then spoke again. "She claims that you two stopped her in the hallway outside of the restrooms and you both propositioned her, explicitly, so to speak." Jamie gasped, then regained control of herself.


"NO. . . nothing like that happened, I know that." Nick spoke up. Kevin just shook his head in disbelief. "She talked to us first, not the other way around."


"Well, Mr. Carter, this is really just a preliminary investigation. We are just trying to figure out if something happened that is worth investigating further."


"I don’t know what the hell she is thinking, but she sounds like a psycho to me." Nick said laughing suddenly.


Jamie shot Nick a look that said 'Shut Up.' Nick stopped laughing, and apologized quietly.


"Mr. Corin, if I may ask," Jamie looked up at him and seeing no objection, "is this really going anywhere? You have a report, but no charges. And this 'preliminary investigation' as you call it, what exactly are you trying to do here?"


"Well, Miss, um, Saxon was it? When Miss Coughlin came to file her report, we realized that the allegations involved these two with some celebrity status and we convinced her to refrain from filing charges until we could do a little investigating ourselves." Jamie said nothing, realizing that the detective was probably doing them a favor.


"We aren’t thoroughly convinced of Miss Coughlin’s allegations but of course we can’t dismiss them out of hand either. From here it will be up to Miss Coughlin and the district attorney as to whether charges will be filed. I will talk with both of them about this meeting and then it is up to them."


Nick and Kevin looked at each other and then to Jamie who tried to give them a consoling look like everything would be okay.


"I really do appreciate you all coming down today, your cooperation will of course be noted in my report." With that everyone said their good-byes and Jamie, Kevin and Nick walked solemnly back to the car.


No one spoke on the ride home. Kevin and Jamie dropped Nick off at the studio to pick up his car.


"Nick. . ." Jamie said as he got out of the car. "Are you okay sweetie?"


He went to the passenger side window, "Yeah, I guess I’m okay. Just kind of confused and scared I guess. What do you think is going to happen?"


"Well, hopefully nothing. We just need to wait and see what they do next." She reached out to take his hands in hers attempting to comfort him.


"Thanks for being there today, Jamie. I’ll see you guys tomorrow right?"


"Yes Nick, we'll see you tomorrow. Try to relax tonight if you can, okay?" Jamie patted his hands and gave him a smile. Nick gave a weak smile in return. "Sure, Jaim. I'll try."


Kevin spoke up, "Nick? I don't want to worry the others. At least not yet. Don't say anything until we know more, okay?" Nick nodded, squeezed Jamie's hands once before releasing them, and went over to his car to drive home.


Jamie turned to look back at Kevin. "Are you sure you don't want to say anything to the guys? What if Detective Corin calls them? They may need to be prepared for this, you know."


"No," Kevin said firmly, looking out the windshield. "Not yet. They won't be called because they don't know anymore than what we've already said to the detective."


"But Kevin. . ."


"Jamie, I said no." Kevin turned to face her. Seeing the look of surprise on her face, he relented. "Look, I just want this to go away, I don't want to think about this. Just give me and Nick a couple of days, okay?" He touched her cheek gently, and she leaned into his hand.


"I'm not sure this is a good idea, Kev."


"Please, Jamie. For me. And Nick. We'll be fine, there's no need to worry the guys."


"This goes against my better judgment, you know."


"I know, but you'll see. By the time you leave, this will all be over." He smiled, but Jamie saw that it didn't reach his eyes, which still looked haunted. She nodded in agreement, and hoped they were doing the right thing.