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10

"Away from him now!" Keith said moving towards Mike very quickly with the rest of the boys following behind. Before I could say anything to his defense, Keith grabbed my brother and put his hand behind his back and had him pinned against the wall. Mike dumbfounded by the whole incident didn't even make a squeak.
"Stop Keith!" I yelled but was stopped by Kevin who tried to usher me out of the room. "Are you okay?" He asked grabbing me by my shoulders.

"Yes, of course I am okay, why wouldn't I be okay?"

Keith now had pulled Mike farther away from me as Kevin kept pulling me trying to get me out of the room, "I don't understand.."

"Get him out of here" Keith said continuing to push Mike against the wall.

"But...Keith stop!"

"Did he hurt you?" Brian asked coming up from behind Kevin. I was so confused. They always made me so confused, "No! Why would he hurt me?"

"When we walked in someone at the front desk said a guy was arguing with you and followed you up to your room"

"No, it's nothing like that"

My attention left from Brian and Kevin hovering around me to Keith shoving my brother out of the room, "No wait! Mike!!" I screamed breaking free from Kevin.

That made Keith turn around his grip still very tight on my brother, "You know this guy?"

"Yes! That's what I have been trying to tell you!!"

Immediately Keith let Mike go with a shove forward. Mike straightened his shirt and rolled his shoulders. I bet that hurt.

"I'm sorry man, can't be too careful" Was about the only apology Mike was gonna get from my bodyguard.

"No, that's okay sir...you were just doing your job. I'm grateful he has you around"

I smiled. I didn't remember my brother that well but the guy I thought he would be would have said something like that.

"You know this guy?" Kevin said now walking closer to me looking mad. Very mad.

"Yes"

"Do you remember the little rule we have about bringing in people to our hotel rooms Nicky when no one is here?" Now it was Howie's turn. They were embarrassing the hell out of me. Mike just continued to watch while nursing his shoulder.

"Yes I know..."

"Well, then why is there someone in here?"

"There just is all right? It's none of your damn business anyway!"

"Nick, when your parents aren't here, it is our business" Kevin was quick to correct me. What else is new?

"You shouldn't be having people in here anyway if you were too sick to show up for an interview" Of course AJ had to mention the interview. He absolutely hated it when I got to get out of stuff and he didn't. I just would kid him it's because he had yet to develop a trademark sad face.

"This was a special circumstance" I looked over at Mike who was watching me the whole time. Unfortunately Kevin saw that too. Of course in his haste, he misread it, "Um..sorry about all that but I think it's best that you go now" His tone cold sounding like he was so much better then everyone else.

"No way!" I said making my way over to Mike. "He stays"

Kevin shook his head at me, which made me want to just throw myself on him and start punching him. "Nickers, it's okay. I tell you what, I'm gonna go down to the lobby for a while, then maybe we can talk some more okay?" I turned to him, while he was talking he had put his hand on my shoulder. Funny how that one little gesture made me feel so protected when always having four older guys around didn't always make me feel that way.

"Okay" I said and then grabbed a piece of paper from the desk. Mike not sure where to look, feeling everyone's eyes on him just stared at the floor.

I sat on the bed and fished for my cellphone. I grabbed it and handed it to him, "Here ya go. I'll give you a call in a little bit"

He smiled. "So you believe me now?" I didn't want to answer him with our little audience but I did nod my head. I stood up and moved towards him ready to hug him, but he grabbed my hand and shook instead. I was hurt but understood that he probably didn't want to be tackled again.

"Talk to you soon" He said gripping the phone as if it was the hand of his baby five year old brother, and then with Keith unnecessarily escorting him, he left my room. Leaving me in there with four very mad, inquiring sets of eyes.


~*~*~*~*~*
Mike walked out of that room stiff, sore and a little flustered about being 'taken down' He had only been 'taken down' like that once in his whole life by the police when they suspected he was selling drugs to kids on the corner. They had been wrong about that, but not wrong about the drugs. Luckily for him though, they failed to search his apartment, quickly realizing that they had the wrong person.

After that scare, he had laid off drugs for a little while. A little while meaning two weeks. It scared him sober for two whole weeks. He smiled at the memory, now that he was pretty much drug free with the exception of the joint he allowed himself to smoke every so often. He's pretty sure that if he was on drugs, after that bodyguard roughed him up, he would have gone on another one of those cold turkey kicks.

Even though he was now sore he still couldn't seem to wipe the silly grin from his face. He had found his brother finally. Not that he had been searching for years or anything like that, but even still there he was. Happy, healthy and wealthy beyond belief. A true success in every sense of the word.

One thing he was sure of, he had NO plans on letting his father know. Not that he even really talked to dad much anymore; but if the guy caught wind of who his son was, that would be so bad for Nick, which led Mike to start thinking about that side of the story.

Surely the kid was going to ask about his Father. He walked out of the lobby and stood outside the big doors, wishing he had a cigarette with him. Even though he wasn't a smoker. After all that had happened today he really needed something.

"So what are you doing out here?" Mike jumped. Which caused Melinda to laugh, "God you are skittish as a cat you know that?"

"Jesus Christ woman! Why the hell are you still here? Are you stalking me or something?"

"Did you really expect me to just leave?"

"Yeah..because you said that's what you were planning on doing"

"I know, but I just had to stick around for a little while. Besides, I decided to call in sick. I said I had a family emergency"

Mike put his hand to his head, he had forgotten all about the prospect of working. "Shit, when am I supposed to go in?"

"Relax...not tomorrow" She said winking at him. He nodded. "So...why are you out here? Did he get sick of you already?"

"No...his bodyguard tackled me and his friends threw me out" For some reason she just thought that was hilarious and let out such a loud belly laugh that everyone who was walking by couldn't help but stop and stare.

"So...does he believe you?"

"Yes"

"Really? How awesome. I'm happy for you Mike"

"Thanks"

"But if he does believe you, then why are you out here talking to me?"

"I guess he needed to talk to the others for a minute to let them know who I am so I don't get body slammed every time I enter the room"

"Ah...good idea"

Mike nodded, "I should go in, he's gonna call me when he's done" He held up the phone as proof of his statement.

"Nice...so I guess my work here is done then"

Melinda gave Mike a huge hug, holding him tight in their embrace. She felt goosebumps form on her arms which tingled all the way up to her lips now formed in a small smile.

"Melinda...I just wanted to thank you for sticking by me today. You really gave me the courage to do this"

She smiled at him, "My pleasure. Have a great time and don't forget to give me a call and tell me all about it"

As she walked away, Mike couldn't help but stare at her butt. She was attractive, and he could feel himself falling for her some day. Now, though, all he had to do was think about his brother. He looked down at his hand. The hand that held the phone and tried to will it to ring.


~*~*~*~*~*~
I sat on the bed and watched Kevin pace back and forth in front of me as if I were a child. Which I wasn't. I was 18 years old, soon to be 19. I didn't need to be treated like this. I didn't need a baby sitter. I needed friends right now.

I really wasn't listening to anything he was saying but occasionally I heard words like maniac, fans and death. Leave it to Kevin to be ridiculously extreme.

"So... who was that guy anyway?" Brian's question finally made me look up from the floor. My heart quickened as I prepared to tell the guys my secret.

"Yeah, if he's your buddy how come this is the first time any of us have seen him?" Howie asked.

"He's not really a buddy of mine"

"See? I knew it!" I rolled my eyes at Kevin, "He's a relative" Ha! Take that!

"Oh" Kevin slinked back and sat down. I think I actually made him feel stupid for a minute.

"Relative?"

"Yes..."

"I mean...well, this is going to sound really odd but..." I was stammering. Something I always did when I was nervous.

"What? Is he your cousin that you have chained in the basement that nobody talks about?" Brian was joking but I didn't laugh. It was sad how close he actually was to the truth. I suddenly felt ashamed that I had never told them.

"He is my brother...kind of" That got their attention.

"Your brother?" AJ asked standing to walk towards me.

"Kind of? What does that mean?" Now Kevin was up and pacing again.

"He is my brother from my Mom's first marriage"

"What?" I didn't like the accusatory tone it seemed like they were all suddenly taking with me.

"I don't really talk about it much"

"No! You don't talk about it at all. Nick is this some kind of joke? If he's one of your friends just tell us" Even Brian sounded like he was getting annoyed.

"Why would I lie?"

"So, you have a brother now? Suddenly?"

"You know what? GO TO HELL!" That about did it, I was furious and stormed out of the room and into AJ and Howie's room slamming the door and locking it tightly. How dare they question me. This was hard enough without them in the picture.

I walked over to the phone by the bed and called my cellphone to talk to my brother.