“Well, he really seems like a nice guy, he was more preoccupied with his niece
being an AJ fan. He told me that she would give anything in the world to
have an autographed picture. Now that’s funny,” Nick smirked.

“Nick, are you telling me we still don’t have anything to go on?” Brian shook
his head in despair.

“N-nothing solid,” Nick stammered. Sweat was beading on his forehead and
the room seemed to narrow and then go back to it’s normal size. Nick shook
his head slightly, hoping to put the room back into focus.

Brian picked up on Nick’s behavior immediately. “You had something to drink,
didn’t you? After I told you specifically to keep your head clear you---”

Nick jumped up, cutting Brian off from his lecturing. “I gotta take a leak.”

After successfully getting away from Brian, Nick decided what he needed
more than anything was fresh air and fast. Blindly pushing the on the exit
door, Nick literally fell into Jack’s arms.

“Hey, are you okay pal?” Jack asked as he caught him and prevented Nick
from falling to the ground.

Nick sleepily rubbed the palm of his hand across his forehead, messing his
hair. “I-I don’t feel right.”

“You don’t look like you do either, come on, let me help you to my car, you
need to sit down,” Jack offered as he pulled Nick in the direction of his
vehicle.

“N-no, I just need air,” Nick protested, but his body wasn’t obeying the
commands of staying put.

Jack ushered Nick to the passenger side of his car, the whole time looking
around making sure no one was witnessing them. Jack quickly took his place
behind the steering wheel and started the engine.

Panic started to set into Nick’s drug paralyzed body. His mind was screaming
‘run..run’ but he couldn’t move. Before the car even left the parking lot, Nick
had passed out.

Brian glanced at his watch. “Okay, fifteen minutes is plenty of time, where
the hell did that little shit run off to now?” As he stood up, he asked the
bartender to have Nick stay put if he wasn’t back before Nick showed up
again.

“I’m going to kill that kid,” Brian mumbled under his breath as he walked
towards the bathroom. “He better be constipated for the amount of time
he’s been taking in here!”

Walking into the restroom, Brian was met with empty stalls and only two men
standing at the urinals. He decided it wouldn’t be a clever idea to ask two
men if they had seen Nick for fear he could be labeled as gay. “Thank you
Nick for planting that idea in my head,” Brian said to himself through
gritted teeth.

“Hey! Aren’t you Backstreet Brian?”

Brian was nailed before he barely crossed the exit by two young women.

“Yes?”

“Cool! I thought you were! My friend Susie said there was no way that Brian
Littrell would be in a bar, but here you are!”

Brian pasted a thin smile on his face, always the gracious one of the group,
but his mind was in other places and the girl instantly picked up on it.

“Are you looking for Nick?”

“Huh?”

“Nick, Nick Carter? I saw him sort of stagger out of the bar and then he
fell into this guy’s arms and he left with him, talk about weird,” the girl
gushed.

“Who did he leave with?”

“He left with that one dude, Jack, he’s a regular here, he’s cool,” the girl
replied confidently.

“Whoa...wait! Do you know where he lives?”

“Nope, no one really does, I’m sure he will take Nick back to your hotel, I
wouldn’t worry about it.”

Brian thanked the girl, but there was a gnawing in the pit of his stomach.
Something was wrong.

Very wrong.