***NICK***

"Is Alaina Davis rekindling her old romance with Backstreet Boy Nick Carter?" The reporter said. Photos of myself & Laney flashed on the screen. "A very pregnant Miss Davis was seen leaving a trendy Los Angeles nightclub late last night with Carter. Sources close to both parties have refused to comment at this time." I shut the TV off & threw the remote at the wall. Of course the paparazzi would get the wrong idea. I mean, after all this is LA. The land where it's impossible to remain on good terms with your ex. After I took Laney back to her hotel I went straight home; I didn't even go up to her room. I honestly couldn't give two shits that they were harassing me, but Laney didn't need this right now. She already had enough drama on her plate. I heard my cell phone vibrating on the coffee table in front of me. I picked it up to see that it was Carly calling.

"Great. I guess she's seen the damn pictures." I immediately hit ignore & sent her straight to voicemail. A few moments later I heard the beep signaling that she had indeed left a message. I dialed in to listen to it.

"Nick! I can't fucking believe you! I go out of town for one damn weekend & you go crawling back to her. Well, I hope you're happy because we are over." I ended the call & stared at my phone.

"Well this day is just fanfuckingtastic." I sighed & leaned back on the couch. If this was affecting me this bad, I hated to think about how it was affecting her. I decided to call her to make sure she was alright.

It went straight to her voicemail. "Hi! You've reached Laney. I'm sure I'm busy right now, so leave a message & I'll call ya back! Bye!"

"Lane, it's Carter. I guess you're still sleeping. I just wanted to call & give you a heads up that pictures from last night are everywhere. I hope you're okay. Call me when you can." I hung up & tossed the phone back onto the table. Could things possibly get any worse?

***LANEY***

I had woke up early that morning & caught a plane back to my home in Raleigh. I hadn't told Nick that I was leaving, I just left. Sure, I shouldn't have been flying in my condition, but I had to get things figured out and soon. I took a cab from the airport to my home. I took a deep breath before I opened the front door to go in. After all, I hadn't really talked to Micah that much in the past couple months so I didn't know how this was going to go.

Immediately when I walked in I noticed how quiet it was. I sat my bags down & made my way towards the home office. The door was left open just a crack & I could hear him on his phone. I gently tapped on the door before walking in.

"Never mind, Rick. She's here now. Yeah, yeah, I'll call ya back." He slammed the phone down. "Nice to see my whore of a wife still remembers where home is." He stood up & looked at me. I had never seen him so angry. I took a step back.

"Uh, excuse me?"

"Don't think I don't know what you were up to out in LA. You're an A-List celebrity, Alaina. Did you really think it wouldn't get back to me? I mean, it's all over the damn TV & internet this morning."

"Micah, what are you talking about? I was in LA for work, that's it."

"Don't fucking lie to me!" He raised his voice & slammed his fist into the wall, barely missing my head. I could contain the tears anymore. I was terrified.

"I'm not lying to you, Micah. I promise." I sobbed.

"You're promises aren't worth shit to me anymore. I saw the pictures of you & your ex, Alaina." He grabbed my left hand & yanked it up. "You see this damn ring? It means you belong to me. Do you understand that?" He started shaking me. "Do you?!" He screamed in my face.

I tried to speak but I couldn't. All I could manage was to nod my head. "Good. Now that we've got that settled you have a statement to type up."

I sniffled. "A statement? About what?"

"About how you won't be returning to the road after it's born. You've decided that you'll be taking an undetermined amount of time off & spending it here in Raleigh with me & your baby." I couldn't believe he was doing this to me. "Oh, & don't forget to add how insanely happy you are right now."

"Micah, you can't do this. What about the fans? I can't do this to them." I honestly had never seen him act this way before.

"Laney, sweetheart, I'm your husband. I can do whatever I damn well please." He kissed me hard on the mouth. "Now you better get started on that statement. Rick will be calling for it later. Oh, & Laney?"

"What?"

"Welcome home, darling." With that he left the room & I heard the garage door open. I looked out the window & saw him pulling out of the driveway. I didn't know where he was going, or how long he was going to be. All I knew was that it was now or never. I had to get the hell out of dodge & quick. I grabbed my bags that were still sitting by the front door & tossed them in the car.

I didn't stop driving until I reached my mom & dad's house that was about an hour away. I had knocked on the door & as soon as my Momma opened it she knew something wasn't right. Daddy had helped me carry my bags in and immediately called the police station to talk to my brother about what was going on. As soon as I was settled & knew that Micah couldn't get to me I dug my phone out of my purse & turned it on.

I had like a million missed calls & messages from Carter. Surprisingly none of them were from Micah. Something told me that he hadn't returned home yet & when he did he would be beyond furious. I decided that now would be a good time to have my number changed. I quickly sent Carter a text.

Carter - I promise that I'm ok. I have to get my # changed, but I'll give you the new one. Until then, this phone will be off. Call me @ my parents, I have a lot to tell you. ILY.

I quickly turned my phone off so that there would be no way he could track GPS signals & waited for Nick to call the house. I needed him now, more than ever.