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** AJ **

I was having a hard time believing that the woman speaking to us through the television was a psychopath. She looked so normal. If I was being completely honest, I would even go so far as to describe her as ‘pretty’. Her features were soft, her eyes were round, and her cheeks were just pudgy enough to give her face an endearing quality. If I saw her at a show, there was a good chance that I would look twice.

“I see that the rest of you have arrived.” Sarah paused and peered intently into the camera. “Welcome.”

I discreetly rolled my eyes at Brian. It hadn’t taken long for the psychotic elements of her personality to push their way through. She had become less pretty simply by opening her mouth.

“I hear that you found out about my little web broadcast.” Sarah laughed softly. “I was hoping to keep that part a surprise.”

The five of us looked at each other, but none of us said anything. Was this woman for real? I scooted myself across the floor and propped myself up against the wall next to Brian so that I could have a better view of the television. I figured that it was best to face this lady head on, even if she was speaking to us from behind a television screen.

“The five of you are going to play a little game.” Sarah continued. “And all of your fans are going to get to watch.”

“What kind of a game?” Nick’s voice was small and timid.

“I’m so glad that you were the one to ask that question, Nick.” Sarah immediately switched all of her attention to Nick. “Do you remember me?”

I swallowed hard and prayed to God that Nick had the good sense to lie and say that he remembered her. I was pretty sure that we wouldn’t stand a chance at survival if he told her the truth.

“Yeah, sure.” Nick lied, his voice sounding at least a little bit more confident. “You came to our recent shows in North Carolina and you did VIP in Charlotte.”

Sarah’s face lifted into a smile and she immediately began to laugh; a high pitched cackle that sounded more than little psychotic. The five of us watched, unblinking as she leaned forward into the camera and flipped it off. The screen went blank and it took me more than a few seconds to realize that she had turned the camera off on purpose.

“Did I say the wrong thing?” Nick locked eyes with Howie; panic stricken. “You said that she went to the North Carolina shows, right?”

Howie nodded. “That’s what she said.”

“The chick is clearly off her …” I stopped mid-sentence as the lock on the door turned over with a heavy thud.

I scrambled to get to my feet, nearly knocking Brian over in the process. The two of us grabbed at one another and hurried to right ourselves as the door swung open and Joey, Tony, and Vinny trooped into the room. Each of them was holding a gun and a small blonde woman was wedged into the middle of their well-armed group. I could feel Brian’s arm shaking beneath my fingers as the two of us continued to cling to each other; our eyes locked on the formidable sight.

For a brief moment, I considered tempting fate and attempting to escape, but the sheer size of the three men kept me firmly rooted to the spot. Even if I did manage to make it past one of them, the other two would literally shoot me down in a matter of seconds. As if reading my mind, Vinny casually swung his leg out and kicked the door closed. He issued me a small smirk as the door slammed back into position. All of my lingering thoughts about being able to escape instantly vanished. We were officially trapped.

“Hello, boys.” Sarah stepped forward; a huge smile plastered across her face. After giving the rest of us a cursory glance, she turned her attention to Nick. “Hi, Nick.”

“H – h – hi.” Nick stammered. He had gotten to his feet and had manoeuvred himself behind Kevin so that he was practically using the older man as a human shield. It was easy to tell that he was absolutely petrified.

“Why are you hiding?” Sarah kept the smile on her face as she stepped forward. “Are you scared of me?”

“No.” Nick shook his head and curled his fingers around the extra fabric on the back of Kevin’s shirt. “I’m not scared.”

“You don’t remember me, do you?” Sarah took another step forward and her three body guards followed her lead.

“Nick already told you that he remembers seeing you at the North Carolina shows.” Brian spoke up. “What more do you want him to say?”

I pressed my fingers down heavily into Brian’s arm muscles. Sarah’s eyes were flashing as she looked the two of us up and down. She obviously hadn’t appreciated Brian’s comment. I could feel the sweat beginning to form beneath my facial hair; I could taste the salt on my lips. Brian had made her angry, that much was clear.

“Do you know how many times I’ve tried to get you to notice me, to pay attention to me?” Sarah turned her now steely eyes to Nick. “Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to be rejected time and time again in front of all of those people?”

“I’m sure that I’ve paid attention to you.” Nick licked his lips and took a step backward so that he was practically standing on top of my feet. “You’re a pretty girl.” He added lamely, tugging on Kevins’ shirt so that the older man also had to take a step backwards.

Sarah smirked and began to rhyme off her list of Nick’s supposed indiscretions on her fingers. “You refuse to follow me on Twitter, you won’t acknowledge my Instagram posts, you turn your back on me during your shows, you refuse to take pictures with me on the cruise, you’ve never acknowledged the gifts that I’ve given you, your fiancée called the cops on me when I came to your house …”

“You came to my house?” Nick interrupted. He was now staring Sarah head on, his eyes wide and watery. “My new house?”

“I told everyone I know that you and I had something special.” Sarah continued, ignoring Nick’s gasps of surprise. “Fifteen years ago, when I was fourteen, you sang to me in the TRL audience. When the song was over, you whispered in my ear that I was pretty. You told me that you would be interested in me if I was older. So, I waited. I’m older now, Nick.”

“What the fuck!?” I looked at Nick in disgust. “Did you really say that kind of shit to our fans?”

Nick let go of Kevin’s shirt and turned to face me. “I don’t remember what I said to anyone when I was eighteen! I’m sure that whatever I said wasn’t even half as bad as what you used to say in order to get girls to sleep with you!”

“I didn’t go after girls who were underage!” I shot back. “At least I had the decency to hit on the ones who were already legal!”

“This is really not the time to have this discussion.” Kevin interjected. He cast a cautious look at Sarah before directing his attention to me and Nick. “It doesn’t matter what any of us said to any of our fans more than fifteen years ago.”

“But it does matter!” Sarah shrieked. “I based my whole life on that promise, Nick; my whole fucking life!”

“That’s because you have a screw loose, lady.” I mumbled.

Brian groaned as soon as the words left my mouth. I could feel him tense beside me as Sarah returned her angry stare to the two of us. Sometimes I regretted the fact that I was predisposed to saying exactly what was on my mind. More often than not, my tendency to speak before I took the time to think things through landed me in trouble. This was easily one of those times.

“Take him.” Sarah turned to Joey and cocked her head in my direction.

My heart began thumping wildly as Joey stepped forward and sank his massive fingers into my upper arm. He tugged me roughly towards him and I stumbled forward, despite my best efforts to keep my feet planted firmly on the floor. He was just too strong. Thankfully, I didn’t move very far as Brian dug his own fingers into my other arm.

Brian yanked me backwards towards him and Joey started at the resistance. He looked over my head and locked eyes with Brian, making another effort to pull me forward. Brian responded by, once again, yanking me backwards in the opposite direction. My pulse was thundering in my ears as I looked back and forth between Brian and Joey. The two of them were locked in a tug of war and I was the rope.

“Let go.” Tony commanded; his voice dangerously even. He stepped towards Brian and aimed the barrel of his gun at his chest. “Let go, now.”

Brian’s grip on my arm didn’t lessen. He pulled his eyes away from Joey and looked warily at Tony. “What are you going to do if I don’t? Shoot me?”

Tony cocked his gun into position and curled his upper lip above his teeth. “Maybe.” He sneered. “Or maybe I’ll shoot one of your friends.”

I could feel Brian’s confidence wavering. His fingers were no longer pressing as forcefully into my arm. I wanted to speak up and tell him to let go, to tell him that it wasn’t worth it, but I couldn’t bring myself to open my mouth. My lips felt like they were glued together. I was sweating profusely now. It was hard to fathom how both Joey and Brian were managing to maintain a grip on my skin; it was so slick.

“Which one should I pick …” Tony trailed off as he flicked his eyes around the room. Without warning, he whirled around and fired a quick shot in Howie’s general direction.

Brian released his grip on my arm as soon as the bullet left the chamber. He staggered backwards against the wall; his face ashen. The bullet missed Howie’s shoulder by less than half an inch as he dove out of the way; slamming himself into the cement floor as the bullet ricocheted off of the cinderblock wall and bounced wildly along the ground.

“Howie!” Nick was on the ground before the rest of us could even react. He was running his hands frantically across Howie’s body; checking for damage while simultaneously attempting to pull him back up onto his feet.

Joey, meanwhile, had easily managed to pull me away from the others. I was so preoccupied with Howie’s wellbeing that I barely even noticed as he wrapped his massive arm around my neck. It wasn’t until my lungs started to constrict that I realized that I was in a bad place. I could feel Joey’s breath on my cheek; he had eaten too much garlic and the smell churned my stomach. I heard the click of the gun and felt the coolness of the barrel against my temple.

“Are we ready to play?” Joey’s voice rumbled in my ear.

“I think we’re ready.” The smile returned to Sarah’s face as her eyes settled on Nick who was still clutching onto a terrified looking Howie. “Who wants to play my version of Russian Roulette?”