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“Nick, Nick, Niiiiiick?” Howie waved his hand in front of his friend’s face. “Are you in there?”

“Hmmm?” Nick blinked rapidly and grabbed Howie’s wrist. “What?”

“You’re totally spaced.” Howie laughed. “Who are you thinking about?”

“What makes you think that I’m thinking about someone?” Nick mumbled. “Maybe I’m just thinking about what I’m going to have for dinner.”

“You’re full of shit.” AJ stated, a large smile playing on his face. “You’re thinking about Kayyyyyla.”

“I am not!” Nick whined. He dared a quick glance at Brian out of the corner of his eye. His best friend was running through the set list with Kevin; the two of them appeared to be completely oblivious to everything else that was going on around them.

“I saw you sneaking out of her room last night.” AJ continued. “Me thinks that you two finally sealed the deal.”

“I wasn’t sneaking out of her room.” Nick frowned. “Nothing happened.”

AJ and Howie simultaneously raised their eyebrows. “Liar!” They announced in unison.

“Can we please just rehearse what we need to practice and then get out of here?” Nick tried desperately to change the topic. “I’m starving.”

After receiving Kayla’s devastating blow, Nick had spent the rest of the night wallowing in self-pity. He had told her the truth; he wasn’t upset by her admission. He had, in actuality, been seeing the telltale signs of her attraction to Brian for the past few weeks. Still, Nick was having a hard time digesting the fact that he had turned out to be Kayla’s silver medal. The egotistical half of his personality had taken a massive hit; since when did he come second to Brian? He had always been the heartthrob, the one that all of the girls were dying to sleep with. Sure, Brian was funny and, as much as he hated to admit it, not horrible to look at. Regardless, he was Nick-fucking-Carter! He couldn’t remember the last time that a girl had turned him down, especially not a girl for whom he harboured such intense feelings.

“Don’t try to change the topic.” AJ called him out. “Something must have happened? What did you guys do? Did you at least get an H.J.?”

“Jesus, AJ.” Nick ran a hand across his face. “Just drop it, okay?”

“You were denied!” AJ’s face lit up like the fourth of July. “Admit it, Carter! She turned the other cheek!”

“She did not turn the other cheek.” Nick’s already bruised ego reared its ugly head.

“So, you did get a little something-something?” AJ continued to goad him. “It’s about fucking time.”

“Yes, AJ, I got a little something.” Nick stretched the truth to save his pride. “Are you happy?”

“I think we’ve heard just about all that we need to hear about Nick’s sex life.” Kevin interrupted. “We don’t need the dirty details.” He looked pointedly at AJ.

“Speak for yourself.” AJ smirked. “Nicky and I will talk later.”

“Let’s rehearse, please.” Kevin rolled his eyes. “We only have so much time before Avril shows up and kicks us out.”

Brian caught Nick around the upper arm and pulled him back from the group as they went to get into position. “Did you sleep with Kayla?”

Nick looked into Brian’s anxious face and sighed. He knew that Brian was mostly asking to determine if he had violated their agreement, but there was more than worry in his eyes. Nick couldn’t believe that he had been so naive; it was written all over Brian’s face. His best friend wasn’t just worried about losing his son; Brian was worried about losing his chance with Kayla.

“No, I didn’t sleep with her.”

“Oh.” Brian cast a quick glance at the others and lowered his voice. “Then why did you say that you did?”

“AJ was raggin’ on me.” Nick shrugged. “I didn’t want to deal with it.”

“Ladies! Enough with the gossip!”

Brian and Nick both turned at Kevin’s outburst, and AJ immediately collapsed into a fit of laughter. “You guys just answered when Kev called you a couple of women.”

“Thanks for pointing that out, AJ.” Brian shook his head as he and Nick walked over to re-join the group. “We never would have realized that on our own.”

“I’m always happy to help.” AJ smiled. He motioned to the sound technician that they were ready to start before turning to Nick. “Even if you don’t want to give me the details, I’m sure that Kayla will give them to Ro.”

Nick cupped his hand over his microphone. “What do you mean?”

“The girls are out shopping.” AJ reminded him. “Everyone knows that shopping and girl talk go hand in hand. Whatever you guys did last night will have become everyone’s business before we hit the stage tonight.”

Nick fought to maintain his composure. “Kayla isn’t the type to kiss and tell.”

*~*~*~*~*

“Soooooo ...” Rochelle trilled as she picked up yet another outfit for Ava . “... what’s the deal with you and Nick?”

“There is no deal.” Kayla struggled to keep her expression neutral as she pretended to be absorbed in the task of inspecting a miniature pink hoodie. “We’re friends.”

Kayla was still grappling to come to terms with her admission the night before. Although Nick had claimed not to be upset, she had seen the rejection written all over his face. Her mind was jumbled with a host of different thoughts, but most of them were centred on the need to suppress her feelings for Brian.

Kayla knew that falling for a client would be the end of her career. Not to mention the fact that Brian’s life would be destroyed if it ever became public knowledge that she was harbouring feelings for him. Kayla had signed off on over eighty percent of the reports that had been entered into Brian’s file. All of those reports would be rendered null and void if someone were to get wind of her mounting feelings, and the ultimate result would be that Brian would lose primary custody of Baylee.

“So, he wasn’t sneaking out of your room last night?” Rochelle gave Kayla a sideways glance. “I have a source that tells me otherwise.”

“By any chance, does your source have a beard?” Kayla laughed as she added the hoodie to the pile of baby clothing that was already resting on top of the stroller.

“My source does have a beard.” Rochelle admitted. “And a gorgeous ass.”

“I figured as much.” Kayla giggled.

“Seriously though, what’s going on with you two?” Rochelle navigated Ava’s stroller through the narrow aisles in the small boutique and stopped in front of a rack filled with tiny dresses. “How was he?”

“What do you mean?” Kayla feigned ignorance.

“How was he?” Rochelle repeated. “I’m assuming that it was amazing. Why else would thousands of girls be so willing to climb on top of him?”

Kayla could feel herself blushing furiously. “We didn’t get that far.”

“How far did you get?” Rochelle gave Kayla a sinful smile as she reached for a forest green dress with silver accents. “Ava has to have this!”

“It’s adorable.” Kayla agreed. She was desperately stalling for time in the hopes that Rochelle would drop the subject of her and Nick.

There was no way that Kayla could tell Ro the truth. On the other hand, she didn’t want to exaggerate about what had happened between her and Nick; although, she was fairly certain that Nick may have stretched the truth if he was being accosted by AJ in the same way that she was being grilled by Rochelle.

“Oh my God!” Rochelle turned from the display and faced Kayla, her mouth open in amazement. “What did he do? You hated every minute of it! I can tell by the look on your face!”

“No!” Kayla looked around to see if there was anyone else within earshot. “It’s nothing like that! We kissed, that’s all.”

“Oh.” Rochelle’s face fell. “Do you think he’s not interested?”

“It’s complicated.” Kayla hesitated. She desperately wanted to come clean to Rochelle and ask for her opinion, but she knew that the situation didn’t afford her that luxury. “We’re holding off until I’m no longer involved with Brian’s file.”

“Right.” Rochelle added a few more dresses to her pile of pending purchases and began to push Ava’s stroller towards the checkout. “What would happen if it were to come out that you and Nick were ... testing things out?”

“Brian and I would both be screwed.” Kayla answered honestly. “I would lose my job and he would probably lose primary custody of Baylee.”

“No shit?” Rochelle breathed. “I guess I didn’t realize the severity of the situation. No wonder Nick has been able to keep it in his pants.”

“There are strict policies about client-worker relations, for obvious reasons.” Kayla affirmed. “If the lawyers for Brian’s ex-wife were to find out that I have been spending personal time outside of work with Brian, everything that I’ve validated and reported will be thrown out. The majority of Brian’s file would be lost. Case in point, the assessment that I’ve just done of Baylee’s on-the-road treatment and living conditions would be shredded and disregarded faster than you can blink.”

“But you’re not spending personal time with Brian.” Rochelle argued as she began loading the baby clothing onto the desk. “You’re spending time with Nick.”

“As far as C.P.S. is concerned, they’re one in the same.” Kayla pointed out. “Nick and Brian are practically inseparable. There’s no way that I could argue that Brian and I didn’t socialize on a personal level if it were to come out that Nick and I were ... involved.”

“So, what are you going to do?” Rochelle finished placing her items on the desk and pulled her wallet out of her purse. She motioned for Kayla to add her purchases to the pile and turned to the woman behind the counter. “Put our stuff together.”

“Rochelle, no!” Kayla resisted the other woman’s generosity. “You don’t have to – I can pay for my own.”

“Don’t be silly.” Rochelle waved her hand over the mountain of clothing. “It’s my treat. After all, our little girls are now best friends. You have to let me spoil them both.”

Kayla looked down at the strollers; Liliana and Ava were both passed out. Their heads held firmly in place by the sheer amount of blankets that surrounded them. “Best friends, huh?”

Rochelle nodded vigorously. “I’ve been waiting since Ava was born for one of the other wives to pop out a girl.”

“I suppose ...” Kayla watched as the sales associate began to scan and bag her items along with Rochelle’s. “... thank-you.”

“I really hope that you and Nick can find a way to make things work.” Rochelle turned serious as she handed the woman her credit card. “I think that Ava has grown pretty attached to Lily.”

“I don’t think that Nick and I will ever be anything more than friends.” Kayla admitted.

“Even after Brian’s trial is over?” Rochelle raised her eyebrows. She accepted the bags from the clerk and looped them around the handles of her stroller. “Why is that?”

The two women left the boutique and stepped out into the cold. Kayla immediately pulled her toque from her purse and jammed it on her head. She pulled her gloves on before bending down to make sure that Liliana’s snowsuit was still fully zipped and that the blankets were still tucked firmly in place.

“Well?” Rochelle reached out and placed a gloved hand on the arm of Kayla’s winter jacket as she stood up. “What’s the reason?”

Kayla sighed and looked into Rochelle’s face. The words were right there on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t bring herself to push them out. Kayla valued the friendship that she was developing with Rochelle and it was clear from Ro’s comments in the store that she felt the same. Kayla knew that the wives were very protective of all the boys and she was terrified of what would happen if Rochelle were to disapprove of her feelings for Brian.

“Did Nick finally figure it out, or did you tell him?” Rochelle shivered slightly in the wind as she spoke.

“What?” Kayla was taken aback. Was Rochelle hinting at what she thought that she was hinting at?

“Did you tell Nick about – about Brian?” Rochelle finally hit the nail on the head. “Did he freak out?”

Kayla’s face burned despite the cold. “How did – how did you – how long have you known?”

“The girls and I have had our suspicions since Thanksgiving.” Rochelle admitted. “Kristin saw you and Brian hugging it out in the hallway.”

Kayla’s face was now positively on fire. She was mortified that Rochelle and the other women had been able to pick up on her feelings before she had. “Oh God!” She moaned. “What has AJ said?”

“AJ?” Rochelle let out a snort of laughter as they began to walk back towards the hotel. “AJ has no idea. You should have seen how excited he was when he thought that you and Nick had sealed the deal last night.”

“Oh.” Kayla breathed a sigh of relief. “So the guys don’t know? Brian doesn’t know?”

Rochelle continued to giggle as she responded. “Of course they don’t know! Put the five of them together and they’re still a few fries short of a Happy Meal. They’re men; they don’t exactly notice subtle clues.”

“Well, Nick knows.” Kayla countered. “He looked beyond rejected last night.”

“He’ll get over it.” Rochelle affirmed. “Actually, I have some information that you may be interested in.”

“What’s that?” Kayla glanced at Rochelle out of the corner of her eye.

Rochelle was smiling back at her and her eyes were glistening with excitement. “Howie thinks that Brian has a thing for you.”

Kayla’s pulse quickened, she could hear her blood pumping in her ears. “You’re making that up.”

Rochelle shook her head. “Howie told Leigh, who told Kristin, who told me. Apparently Howie and Brian had a little chat on Thanksgiving.”

“Even if that’s true, it doesn’t change the fact that Brian and I shouldn’t be together.” Kayla pushed the butterflies out of her stomach. “It would be too much of a risk.”