Under Pressure
Chapter 19
I only got about five minutes of shut-eye before someone started shaking my arm to get me awake. Not cool. All I wanted was to sleep. I opened my eyes and lifted my head slowly. Everything was all achy.
"Rehearsal time, Nick," Brian said softly. "C'mon. You don't have to do anything, but we-"
"No, that's okay. I'm good," I said, getting up quickly. Note to self- don't get up fast when you have a headache. Causes dizziness. I gave Brian a lopsided grin.
"You sure?" He was giving me this dubious look, but I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah, I'm sure. I told you I just needed to rest a little. Now I'm fine." Whatever, Nick. I was suddenly really tired, as if all those sleepless nights were catching up to me. I could barely keep my eyes open.
"Uh-huh ..."
"Sorry if Kev's mad at you now," I said quickly, turning the topic off of me. "Since you didn't tell him." Brian just shrugged.
"Hey, you know Kev," he said with a short laugh.
"Yeah ... Well, thanks. For not telling."
"Hey, no prob. It's your choice, not mine." Brian said this with a hinting tone, as if he wanted me to agree to tell. No way. Like I said before, this whole problem was my fault, so I could solve it myself. It was all because I left that hotel. I was stupid. If I had never woken up that morning ...
"Guys?" Kevin poked his head in the kitchen. "We're late, c'mon."
-
I was poking around the band's equipment on our break for fun when I heard the loud crash. It was followed by a short yell coming from the upper part of the stage. I dropped the drumstick I was holding and ran to the edge of the stage, Howie was straight behind me.
"Shit!" I heard Kevin yell. Uh oh, what the hell just happened? Howie jumped up on the stage and pulled me up behind him easily. We followed Kev's voice up to the top, finding him and Brian in a sweat.
"What hap ..." Howie trailed off as we got a little closer. It was pretty obvious. For our show we have these five platforms at the top of the stage behind the pyros that we use for our intro. You have to be careful around them because you never know when you'll step on one and it'll just fall below the stage. Which was exactly what happened.
"AJ, man, you okay?" Brian yelled down.
"Yeah, I think so," came the muttered reply. "Damn ..."
Shit. I bet Sean did it. I bet he messed around with all of our stuff so that me and the guys would get hurt during the show or something. Killed. I wouldn't be surprised. Suddenly I was really scared. If he messed around with our stuff ... who knew what would happen.
I watched as Kevin sat on the edge of what was now an open hole in the stage and jumped down. It wasn't really a big fall when you were expecting it. Maybe six feet? I don't know. You could land on your feet.
"Brian ..."
"Yeah, Nick?" He looked up at me and wiped his forehead with the end of his shirt. "What?"
"Do you think ... I mean, it was probably ... It was ... Do you think it could have been ... him?"
"Say what?" He stared at me. I guess I didn't get that across too clearly. I discarded what I said.
"It was sabotaged," I hissed softly. Brian just sent me an annoyed look.
"Enough, Nick. Really."
"I'm serious. He told me-"
"Nick, stop. Don't even talk about it, ok?" Don't talk about it? Don't talk? What was this? After all the 'Nick. you have to tell everything' stuff he'd going through for the last few days? Okay, fine. Good for me.
"Jay, are you okay?" Howie was asking. I looked up and saw AJ coming up the stairs with Kev. He looked fine except for the way that he was cradling his arm. I bit my lip. This was all my fault.
"I'm fine," AJ was saying. He was trying to convince Kevin obviously. "Don't worry about me, geez."
"I'm sorry, AJ," I said quickly. He gave a weird look.
"Sorry? Why?"
"It's all my fault," I mumbled. I don't think he heard me but he shook his head with a thin smile.
"Unless you played with the platforms- which I know you didn't- don't be sorry."
I just shrugged and chewed my thumbnail anxiously. What was I supposed to say?
"I'll go get some of tech to check 'em out," Brian spoke up, jogging down the steps and toward some of the workers checking the lighting. Everything was still getting set up for tonight.
"Can you move your hand?" Kevin was asking. AJ was nodding impatiently, but didn't even try to when Kev told him to show that he could. "AJ ..."
"It's not broken," AJ muttered. "Okay?"
"Let's just get it checked out. We have time."
"Off to the ER we go," AJ said with a roll of his eyes. "Nick, wanna come?" He looked at me, raising his eyebrows. I just shrugged. "C'mon ..." he wheedled.
"Alright, sure." Couldn't hurt.
-
I was wrong. It could hurt. The ER wasn't too busy for some reason, so AJ was brought into one of the examining rooms almost right away. I just sat next next to Kevin in a folding chair, watching AJ get his arm wrapped. AJ was making the doctor really nervous for some reason. He was saying all this stuff to the guy, I couldn't hear what, but you could tell the man was getting all flustered and uneasy. It was pretty funny.
It turned out his arm wasn't broken or anything, but just badly sprained. So he was pretty much done after getting it all wrapped or whatever. Then the doctor gave the little speech about taking it easy, blah, blah, blah. I know AJ wasn't listening. When he stepped over to us, Kevin touched his shoulder.
"What were you saying to the guy, huh?" he asked. AJ grinned.
"I was asking him about his sex life," he said with a loud laugh. "I think it made him uneasy."
"You think?" Kevin answered sarcastically. "You're too much."
"I know." AJ grinned even wider.
I was hoping we could get out of there soon, but then Kevin came up with his stupid idea to get me checked out while we were there. I stared at him.
"What? No."
"Nick, you're gonna anyway, so you might as well get it over with now, don't you think?"
"No."
"It's not exactly an option," he started. I shook my head.
"Yeah it is. I say no."
"What happened?" AJ interrupted. "How come I don't know about anything?"
"Because there's nothing to know about," I said evenly. "That's why."
"No really. What happened?" he pressed. I shook my head.
"Nothing," I repeated. Kevin opened his mouth, but I cut him off. "No, let's just go." If he wasn't blocking the whole doorway I would have taken off a couple of minutes ago. "We need to get back."
"We have time," AJ spoke up. I think he was really curious now. I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. I shouldn't have even come with them. I should have stayed with D and Brian.
"Why don't you want to tell me?" Kevin started. "You told Brian, right?" Because Brian's my best friend. Duh. I just looked at him with a frown and sat back down in the folding chair.
"Because I want it to just go away." There. I crossed my arms across my chest and let out a breath. "I don't know. It doesn't matter anymore," I said, looking down at my shoes. "If you really wanna know. I don't care." I didn't either. I think I was beginning to realize that there was no way I could get out of this mess by myself. It was impossible. I learned that the hard way.
"Then spill it, little man," AJ teased with a rough laugh. "It can't be that bad." I just stared at him. He had no idea. I shifted my foot.
"It's bad."
"Alright." AJ shrugged.
"It's not my fault though," I started. "I mean, it is, but ... You can't get mad at me. Ok?" Kevin seemed amused at that, I don't know why. I really didn't see anything funny though. I looked at him seriously. "Promise?"
"Promise," he repeated.
"Alright." I took a deep breath and moved in my seat. Here goes nothing.
-
Chapter 20
I was proud of myself. I didn't break down once relaying the whole story to them. I think I was getting used to the whole ordeal or I was just too tired to even care. A little of both probably.
"And you didn't tell us?!"
"You promised you wouldn't get mad at me ... " I answered to Kevin's sudden outburst. I knew he'd get mad. He always did. He seemed to back off a little when I reminded him but started pacing the room. Back and forth ...
"I'm not mad at you. Why didn't you tell us?" he asked softly, running a hand through his hair. He looked tired. I concentrated on my sneaker, not looking up. My shoelace was untied.
"Because I thought it would go away," I mumbled. I glanced at AJ, who was quiet. It takes a lot to get AJ to be quiet. He looked kind of surprised at the whole thing really.
"I thought you were making it up," he said after a minute. I shook my head. I wish I had made it up. I wished I could turn back time. Just a couple days, that's all. I heard Kevin curse under his breath and looked at him. He was looking at his watch.
"We have to get going. Let's get you fixed up." He gave the examining table a swat for me to sit up there. "I'll go get the doctor again."
"But-"
"No buts. C'mon." He hit the table again and disappeared out the door. I just sat there until AJ touched my arm.
"I'd listen. He's not happy."
"This isn't my fault."
"Obviously, man, but that doesn't make it go away," he replied. I just shrugged.
Kev returned with the doctor less than a minute later, so I hopped up on the table like they said to. The doctor made his way over brightly. "Hello, young man! And how are we today!" I rolled my eyes at his chipper tone. What a phony. He instructed me to pull off my shirt. When he got a view of my side, he whistled. "And how did that happen?"
I was silent.
"Hm?" the doctor pressed.
"His family's abusive," AJ filled in. Kevin smacked him, wiping the smile off of his face.
"We have to report things like that, son," the doctor said seriously, turning to me. "Is that true?"
"No!"
"Alright. How did it happen?" I ignored the question as he started to feel along my ribs. Why are doctor's hands always cold? No matter what. You must need bad circulation to become a physician or something. I've never met one with warm hands, that's for sure. I jerked away suddenly. "Does that hurt?" No genius. It felt great.
"Yeah." His fingers immediately probed that spot, so I moved away and gave him an evil glare. It didn't stop him. "Look, stop. Just wrap me up or whatever so we can get out of here. We have places to be, you know."
He stared at me a minute before shaking his head. Why was he smiling? "I'll be right back, son."
"You're obnoxious," Kevin said when the doctor was out of the room. "Very."
"Sorry." He just shook his head. He didn't look pleased.
It took about fifteen minutes to wrap my ribs. Too tightly if you ask me. I felt better before, but I wasn't about to say anything. I just wanted to get out of there. I've never wanted to get out of a place so bad. When he was done with that, I pulled my shirt back over my head and slid off the table to the floor, ready to go.
"Now, son. Take it easy. I'm serious. Those ribs need to mend." He looked at Kevin and AJ. "Make sure he doesn't do any strenuous activity." What were they, my keepers? I rolled my eyes. The doctor looked back at me. "Alright, son?" God, I hated when people called me 'son'. I couldn't stand it. I tried not to glare at him too much. I mean, he was trying to be nice, wasn't he? I just nodded.
Done. Finally.
"You guys want something to eat?" Kevin asked when we piled into his truck. I shook my head and AJ nodded. "I thought we should pick up something for the guys too."
"Fast food?" AJ suggested.
"I was thinking more along the lines of a pizza or something," Kevin answered. "How's that sound? Nick?"
"Fine." If I said no, he'd just take it out on me, so I figured I'd just play along. "Sounds good."
-
Later on at the arena, after I actually managed to down a slice of pizza, I was coming back to the stage area through a hall when I ran into KC. I should know by now not to be off by myself when I have people after me. Common sense, right?
"Nick," she hissed, grabbing my arm. I was completely caught off guard when I heard her voice, and debated running for a second. Where did she come from? We have so much security around the arenas that we can't even sneak out if we wanted to. Believe me, I've tried. It's impossible. Don't ask me how she could get in without being spotted.
"What do you want?" I was afraid she was going to drag me back to see what's his face again. Vin.
"Not so loud," she muttered, pulling me a little to the side of the hallway. "How're you doing?"
I stared at her for a second in surprise. "Fine," I said sarcastically. "And you?"
"C'mere." She rolled her eyes and opened a door, which turned out to be some empty office. She pushed me inside and shut the door. "Take a seat."
"Why?"
"I'm gonna tell you a story," she answered with a smile. I just raised my eyebrows. A story? I looked at her and to the door, debating what to do. I heard KC sigh and looked back at her. "Just sit down, kid. I just thought you'd wanna know a little more about what you got into."
Well, it's about time. I nodded and pulled myself up on the desk at the front of the room. "Okay. I'm all ears."
She smiled and nodded, pulling up a chair. "Alright. Well I don't know how much you saw that day, but-"
"I saw everything," I mumbled, rubbing my face. I didn't want to start thinking about that again.
"Okay," she said gently. "You saw everything. Well ... Fiona is- was my sister." I stared at her, frowning.
"I'm sorry."
"Anyway," she continued quickly, her gaze never wavering. "Sean was Fiona's boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend at the time. Fiona inheritated a lot of money from my father, and we never thought Sean knew about it, but I guess he found out somehow. He was crazy to begin with. Fiona didn't know about his background or else she never would have gone with him. When he heard about the money ...I don't know, it must've gone to his head. I don't know much about him." She paused and shook her head when she saw my face. I must have looked shocked. "I think that's all you need to know."
"What's the key for?"
"A safety deposit box, at the bank. That's why Sean wants it."
"Oh." I didn't know what to say so I just stared at the floor. The information made a little more sense, but it made me even more wary. If Sean would kill someone that close to him, I didn't want to know what he could do to me. And if what she said was true, I had had no problem handing the key over to her. But that probably wouldn't get Sean off my back.
"And I wanted to warn you that Sean will probably be here tonight. So just be careful. Okay?" I nodded. She was turning out to be pretty nice after all. I still didn't trust her completely, but she was nice.
"Thanks."
"Right, kid. I've gotta run, but I'll be in touch." Before I could move, she was out the door and around the corner. I slid off the desk and headed to the door, running a hand through my hair. I was getting sick of this whole thing. I felt like I was in some stupid movie, only I didn't know the ending of the script yet.
"Nicky!"
I spun around at Brian's voice. "Hey ..."
"C'mon, we've been lookin' for you. Gotta get back."
"I'm comin'." I looked up and down the hallway to catch sight of KC, but she was gone. Vanished. I shrugged and caught up with Brian.
-
Chapter 21
I put all I could into the concert, don't ask me why, and I knew I was going to regret it later. It's just something about being on the stage that gets you high I guess. Like I said before, it makes you forget about your problems. It was my release.
When we came off stage, I headed straight for the couch and stretched out there, falling asleep. I don't know how long I slept, but it only felt like a minute had passed until someone was shaking my shoulder gently. I covered my head with one of the pillows from the couch and rolled over.
"Nick, c'mon. Time to get going." Go away, Kevin.
"I'm sleeping," I mumbled back.
"You can sleep at the hotel. C'mon, baby. I'm too tired to mess around." The pillow was pulled out of my hands and off of my head. I groaned and sat up slowly. Anyone else dizzy? Anyone?
"I'm coming." In a minute though. I sat there looking at him for a second until he just pulled me up. I wasn't really thinking. I was in that half asleep state where I was barely functioning. I didn't feel like going anywhere. Kevin pushed me gently to the door. Before I knew it we were on the bus.
The one thing I kept thinking was where Sean was. Hadn't KC warned me that he was going to be at the venue? I hadn't seen him anywhere. Which was a relief obviously, but nonetheless I was kind of confused. Maybe he wasn't coming after all. But then why would KC have warned me?
I figured it wasn't worth worrying over. I mean, I should be counting myself lucky that he didn't show up. We had a good show. That's all that mattered.
When we got to the room, my only thought was if I was going to make it to my bed before I fell asleep. The guys had a different idea. As usual.
"I think we need to talk," Kevin started, catching my arm before I could take off.
"Sleep," I objected. "Sleep now, talk later."
"This is important. I know you're tired, buddy. Just a couple minutes." Ugh. I hate group meetings. Maybe it was because whenever we had one it meant that something was wrong. I grabbed a seat on the couch next to Brian and tried not to doze off.
I was only half listening as Kevin told us not to go anywhere without security, to be careful, that we were going to the cops with this tomorrow. I think we all knew how serious it was, he didn't really need to fill us in. I'm sure there was some much more important thing he was getting through too, but I was too tired to try and think about it.
"Nick? You listening?" I felt Brian pat my cheek. "Nick?"
"Yeah," I mumbled. "Listening, yup."
"Okay, he's too tired. C'mon, go to bed," Kevin said. I would if I could move, Kevin, really. I guess I lost my chance before. I didn't move and so Kevin lifted me up, carrying me across the main room to my bed. I was too tired to object.
"Sorry, Kev," I said tiredly. He dropped me on my bed and pulled off my sneakers, tossing them to the floor.
"Don't be. This isn't your fault." I didn't answer and I heard him move toward the door. "Go to sleep."
I didn't have any objections.
-
I woke up some time in the morning because the sun was shining in through the window and blinding me. I rolled over and rubbed my eyes, trying to wake up. My whole body ached. Not just my ribs, everything. My head was still sore too.
I got up to splash water on my face and downed about five Tylenol's. Extra strength too, think those'll help? The bottle said not to exceed six in 24 hours, so I figured it was safe. I could even take one more if I needed it. I decided to see what the five would do for me first.
I showered, got dressed, and was doing pretty fine until I opened my duffel bag from last night. I hadn't opened it after the concert until now, and waiting for me was a small white envelope. Damn, not again. I sat on my bed and tore it open. Two tickets fell out and a piece of paper.
Nick, Meet me at Houston's. It's a restaurant on Grange Avenue where we can talk about our plans. The tickets are for the bus- I wrote you directions on the bottom. I gave you two in case you feel like bringing a friend. -KC
Oh boy. Here we go again. I looked at the tickets and grimaced. I didn't really want to go, but I didn't want to go to the cops either. This seemed to be the safest way of the two, judging by what happened last time. And Brian could come! If I could convince him at least. I pocketed the tickets and the directions, heading out into the main room.
"Hey, Nicky."
"Where's Brian?"
"Fine, don't say hi back," AJ muttered with a small smile. He went back to watching TV. "I don't care." I rolled my eyes and boxed his head when I passed him. He grabbed my wrist.
"Hi, AJ," I greeted finally, trying to pull my hand away.
"Hi," he said twisting my arm. "What's up?"
"Not much. Let go."
"Not much? Something's gotta be up."
"Nope. Let go. Where's Rok?"
"He left."
"No, really. Where is he? It's important." I pulled my arm away but he didn't let go.
"On the balcony. What's important?"
"Nothing. Where'd your cast thing go on your arm?" I asked, changing the subject. My arm was starting to hurt.
"I got rid of it. I didn't like it."
"You're supposed to wear it you know."
"Oh well. Too bad." He rolled his eyes. "What's important, huh?"
"Nothing." I wrenched my wrist out of his grip and hit his head again before I headed to the balcony. He didn't even move. He'd probably get me back later.
"Brian, c'mere," I said, opening the sliding door a little. Him, Kevin, and Howie were out there.
"Mornin', Nicky," Howie greeted.
"Hey, Howie. Brian, c'mere."
"What is it?"
"Just c'mere. I need your help with something." Kevin was giving me a funny look.
"What is it?" Brian repeated. I reached out and grabbed his arm, pulling him inside and to our room. "Nick, what's so important?"
"You have to hear me out, okay? And don't tell anybody?"
"This sounds familiar ... I swear, Nick-"
"No, please? Please? C'mon." He relented and I pulled the papers out the pocket of my jeans. I showed him the note and then the two tickets, explaining a little. "Will you come with me?"
"No! You're not going, kiddo. Are you crazy?"
"Brian, you don't understand! This is it. It's safe. I trust her."
"You should trust me. Do I have to spell it out for you? N-O. No. No way, Nick." I grabbed his arm as he turned away. "Nick, stop. Sit down." I sat. "Listen to me very carefully. You're not going anywhere." I stared at him and blew my hair out of my face.
"Bri ... "
"Stop. I don't wanna hear it. You're not leaving. Don't fight on this, Nick."
I took a deep breath and looked at him steadily. "I'm going, ok? I'm gonna fix this whole thing. You don't have to come even. I just thought ..." I trailed off.
"You're definitely not going alone," he said. I raised an eyebrow.
"But, you said-"
"I know what I said. Forget it." He paused for a minute and I could see him thinking things over. "I'll trust you on this, little man. You better pray that it turns out the way you think it will or you're gonna regret ever talking to me." I grinned.
"Thank you, Brian!"
"Kevin's gonna kick my ass," he muttered.
"Thank you, thank you. C'mon, let's go."
"Get shoes on. Let me make up some dumb story about where we're going to tell the guys."
"Leave a note instead. Kev won't let us leave if we talk to him."
"A note?"
"Yeah, I'll write it so it's my fault." I jumped up and grabbed a pad and pencil from the desk. I scribbled out some note saying that me and Brian went out and we'll be back later, so don't worry about us. And PS don't get mad. I showed Brian when I was done.
"You really need to work on your handwriting," he said with a laugh, struggling to make it out. "But that's fine. I can't believe I'm letting you do this. If you get hurt ..."
"I'm not gonna. C'mon." I pulled on my sneakers as Brian tossed me my jacket. He grabbed his too.
"Where're you going?" AJ asked. He never looked up from the TV as we passed behind him to get to the door. What an idiot. He must be tired too.
"Vending machines," Brian answered. "We'll be back." Brian was a really bad liar. Really bad. I was probably even worse, so I shouldn't talk, but he really was. AJ bought it though.
"Alright, bring me back something."
"Okay, sure," Brian said. "Seeya, Jays. Be good."
And we were out.
