CHAPTER 3

Lisbon, Portugal

THIS IS US TOUR

Nick was in his room alone relaxing on his bed for a while. Suddenly his phone began to vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw it was a text from Aaron. He opened the text and read, ‘We need to talk. I know you’re on tour but I really don’t want to wait.’ He took a deep breath and hit the call button on his phone. It instantly dialed Aaron’s number. He held the phone up to his ear.

“Hello? Nick?” Aaron’s voice came on the line.

“Yeah bro, what’s up? You said we needed to talk.” Nick questioned.

“Yeah uh…” Aaron paused unsure of how to begin. “I um, I went to see BJ.”

Nick stiffened a bit, “Oh.” His reply sounded dry.

“Nick, she’s changed…”

“She’s in jail again. How could she be trying to change Aaron?” Nick cut him off swiftly.

Aaron sighed, “She went through rehab this time. She’s different, better. You can tell just being around her.”

“I don’t want to be around her. She hurt one of the two best things in my life.” Nick argued.

“She knows that and she just wants to make it right.”

“No! Hell no!” Nick shouted into the phone.

“Nicky, she just wants to see her and tell her how sorry she is. She isn’t going to ask Alaina to forgive her. She just wants to apologize.”

“No, tell her she made her fucking bed and now she has to lay in it.” Nick told her and hung up before tossing his phone across the room.

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In Howie and Leigh’s room, Howie was gathering items to take a shower. Arabella sat reading a book and Leigh was relaxing on the bed while emailing a friend from her phone.

When she finally finished she got up and followed her husband into the bathroom.

“Leigh, could you not have gone before I came in here?” Howie asked setting his things down.

“Babe, I just wanted to tell you that I think you should give some more thought on letting Bella stay with the girls.” Leigh smiled as Howie took off his shirt.

“Why is that?”

“Well, her being with them would give us some time alone.” She put her arms around his neck.

“Ah, I see.” Howie gave her a smile.

“Yeah, we can’t make babies with our baby in the room.” She winked, pulled away and started to leave.

“Leigh, Leigh, wait.” Howie stopped her and cleared his through. “Make babies?” He asked.

“Yeah, I think we’re ready. I mean when Bella was little we discussed waiting till she was older. She older now and we aren’t getting younger.”

“But are you sure Bella is old enough? I mean, she’s still my baby girl.”

“No Howie, she’s growing up. You have to realize that.”

“I don’t want her to grow up.” He looked away from his wife.

“I don’t either baby. She is though. So let’s make another one and see if we can figure out a way to keep it from growing up.” Leigh gave him as flirty smile.

“We’ll talk about it later. I gotta get in the shower.”
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In Brian and Leighanne’s room, she sat on the computer as he walked out of the bathroom.

“Hey Babe?” Brian questioned.

“Yeah…” Her response sounded preoccupied.

“What are you doing?” He asked her a bit annoyed.

“Looking over some Wylee stuff.” She explained briefly glancing at him.

“Well I’m trying to talk to you.” He really didn’t like when she didn’t pay attention to him.

“I’m sorry sweetie. What is it?” She closed the screen on her laptop and turned to him.

“I was thinking about calling AJ but wasn’t sure if maybe I should just go over to his room.”

“Do whatever if you think is best but I’m sure it’d be ok to just call Alex. Besides, he’s probably resting.”

“Yeah, but it’s about Scott. It’s not like a casual conversation it’s serious. I think I’m just gonna go over there.” Brian nodded.

Leighanne stood and walked over to him, “I know this is serious but I really think you need to calm down. You’re stressing yourself out and that’s not good for you.”

Brian placed a hand on her shoulder, “I’m sorry baby, you’re right. There’s just a lot going on in my mind right now.”

She nodded, “I know, why don’t you go talk to Alex then come back and we can relax together. Get our minds off our problems for a little bit.”

He nodded. She was right. He could tell the stress he was under was hurting their relationship. He didn’t want that. “Ok. I’ll be back.” With that he left and went over to AJ’s door.

He knocked on the door and waited for AJ to answer.

“Rok? What’s up?” AJ looked surprised by Brian’s visit.

“I uh, I just need to talk to you.” Brian looked upset.

AJ took a deep breath in slowly. Had he done something? He could tell Brian wasn’t happy. “Uh, yeah, why don’t you come inside?”

Brian slowly walked into the hotel room, “Alex, do you still remember any of the things they taught you about drugs and stuff in rehab?” Brian asked with his back to the tattooed man.

“Bri, yeah, of course I do. If you’re worried about me, trust me…”

“No Alex, not you.” Brian cut him off. He took a breath and turned around.

“Brian?” AJ’s heart began to beat faster. He worried about what Brian was going to say next.

“I uh, I found a lighter on Scott.”

“Christ Brian! You scared the shit out of me. I thought you were trying to tell me you had a drug problem.”

Brian briefly smiled, “Sorry Jay. No, it’s about Scott. He has me worried and kinda stressed out.”

AJ nodded and leaned against the small dresser in the room, “So you only found a lighter?” AJ watched as Brian nodded. “What did he say when you asked him about it?”

“He claimed he carried it around to look cool.” Brian rolled his eyes.

AJ ran a hand over his mouth and nodded. He had used that line back when he first started smoking. “I’ll talk to him. I’m sure he’s smart enough to know better though.”

“It’s what I’m hoping for.” Brian tapped his foot a little.

“Try not to worry Brian. I’ll scare him straight. You’re a good Dad.”

Brian laughed at the last line as he moved toward the door.

“You are B. I’d kill to be as a good a father as you are for Ellie.”

“ I never would have lost her if I was.” AJ said honestly

The two men’s eyes met awkwardly. Nothing was said. Brian swallowed hard as AJ fingers found their way to the hem of his shirt. Each man was unsure of what to say as they stood by the front door of the hotel room.

Suddenly AJ’s cell phone deeper in the room began to ring. Relieved by the break in the silence Brian quickly told AJ, “I’ll let you get that. Talk to you later.”

“Alright, bye for now Rok.” AJ said and let him leave then got his phone. “Hello?”

“Alexander James, it’s your faithful attorney at law.” The cheerful sounding voice said into his ear.

“Oh hey, I take it you got my E-mail?” AJ asked him.

“Yes I did. I read over it and I have to say, I think you stand a good chance of gaining some of your rights back. You’ve gone through rehab and stayed sober for a good long time. You’ve stayed up on each support payment. You’ve taken time to see her and conformed to Rochelle’s crazy request to do so. At Ellie’s age and taking all of this into account…I think any judge would be willing alter your rights.”

AJ smiled. This was great news. He wanted more custody of his daughter so badly. He loved her so much. “That’s awesome. What do we do now?”

“Let me get some kind of proposal to send to Rochelle’s lawyer written up. I’ll send it to you for you to look over and sign. We’ll send it to them and wait for their response. If need be we’ll take it to court.”

“Sounds perfect. Let me know when you’re ready to send that proposal and I’ll tell you were to send it.” AJ was still smiling.

“Alright Mr. McLean. I’ll talk to you again soon. Have a good day.”

“Thanks, you too.” He replied and hung up.