Previously...
"I'm s..sorry," Nick hurriedly apologized before running out of the cemetary.
"Um...no problem?" The other man looked astonished, but he held no grudge. It was his fault anyways, he had bent down to tie his shoelaces.
Nick cried all the way to his blazer and got behind the wheel. There his emotions got the best of him and there was nothing left to do but let his tears flow free once again. ******************************************************* In a hotel private floor somewhere in the states...
"Oh I'm fine, hun. Sit down, I just want to chat a bit." Jane had her cold smile on.
This wasn't going to be good....
End of Part 5
------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimers: This is a work of fiction and should not be taken any other way. Any similarities between the story's events and any real life persons or events are highly coincidental. This is, once again, a PG-13 story and made for everyone to enjoy. So please, if you find homosexuality offending, or is illegal in your area, please hit the back key a couple of times. Saves us all the trouble. Otherwise, sit back and enjoy the show! -------------------------------------------------------
Part 6
In John The Long-haired Bodyguard's Room on The Backstreet Boys' private hotel floor...
"How have you been John?" Jane elegantly placed herself onto a comfy high backed cushioned seat.
"Um, I've been great, thank you ma'am." John wasn't sure what the heck to do or what she wanted from him. Other than telling him to carry this thing or that bag, Jane Carter had never bothered to ever converse with any of the hired help around the Boys.
"That's good." Jane Carter smiled and nodded, her eyes sparkled with mock concern. "How long have you been with the group, John? It seems like it's been forever since Dustin got injured." Something about the way she said the last made John feel a little bit uneasy.
"Um, I think that I have been with the group at least 4 years now ma'am." John moved over to the small fridge. "Would you like something to drink ma'am?"
"No, thank you dear. And enough with the 'ma'me' nonsense. Call me Jane." Her smile became broader still.
John grabbed himself a small cold bottle of mineral water. Having Nick's somewhat scheming mom in his room was making his mouth a little dry.
"In these last four years, you've only been Nick's bodyguard mainly right?" Jane ran long orange fingernails over and over the cushioned arm of her chair.
"Ah, yes ma'...er I meant, yes Jane. That is correct." John couldn't help but feel a bit cold in his own hotel room.
"Right, right." Jane turned in her chair and got up to her feet. "Have you been fucking my gay son, John?" Her face was anything but smiling now.
"I-I-I..." The sudden change was too abrupt for John.
The question had literally came from nowhere.
"You seem to be so nice and cozy with Nick these last couple of years, now that I think about it." Jane never failed to keep her step. "Is that what took you so long to get back after you drove him home? Is that it? Did you fuck my gay son?" Jane was perilously close now. Her taloned hands were poised and ready to slash away at John's face.
Right before John could even answer, the door swung open and Burk came in with a young lady friend.
"Yeah, I'm the top security..." Burk was laughing it up with his red headed friend when he entered. "Mrs. Carter!" Burk stopped dead in his tracks. "I didn't know you were in here, I..."
"That's alright, Burk. John and I were just finishing our conversation about tomorrow's flight." Her face was once again a pleasant mask of smiles and sparkles.
"Don't forget about what I said, John." She shot him a quick glance, her eyes were cold as the rust colored nails she sported in each hand.
"yeah..." John's throaty whisper barely came out audible.
"I'll see you guys tomorrow." Jane flowed towards the door. "Oh, and Burk, don't stay up too late okay?" She winked at the young lady before shutting the door behind her.
"She scares me." Burk's lady friend gave an involuntary shudder befor going back to giggling and clinging on the big man.
'You have no idea....' John thought wiping away cold sweat that had poured out of his pores just a moment ago. "Hey Burk, I think I'm gonna go get some fresh air. You take the room tonight." John slipped on his overcoat and practically scampered out the door and into the elevator. ******************************************************* Nick...
Nick turned to look at his alarm. 4:30 a.m. He couldn't sleep after all the dreams he had been having these past few weeks. He was afraid of what pains came along what seemed to have become Brandon's nightly visit. He tossed and turned, back and forth, his eyes were heavy with bags -- he hadn't been able to stop crying since he left the cemetary last night. He loved Brandon, and he knew Brandon loved him too. Maybe that's why he just couldn't seem to shake his pain; he had loved Brandon way too much. Added to that was the fact that the other had loved him even more despite the cruel break up that had resulted from Nick's spineless submission to his mother and his then desire to be with Brian.
Nick rose to sit on the edge of his bed, his silk sheets lay in a bundle at the foot of his bed.
Nick sighed and grabbed his robe. Since he met Brandon, Nick had gotten into the habit of sleeping naked. Up until then, Nick had been ashamed about his body; but Brandon had showed him the errors of his ways. Infact, Brandon had showed him many things: among those was the most important -- love.
Nick wrapped his robe around him with his arms. He shivered a little, but he knew that it wasn't from the coldness of the room. His puppy whimpered up at him, looking worriedly at its owner and best friend, the puppy pawed at his robe, trying to get Nick's attention.
"Hey," Nick croaked. "Daddy's just going to get a drink." Nick attempted a feigned smile, but even that was an effort to do. The dog lightly padded behind his master, worried and feeling the same burden in his master's heart.
"Scott..." Nick snickered as he scratched the puppy behind its ear. "Scott..." Nick repeated, his eyes taken once again with a glazed look. "Did I ever tell you how I picked your name, boy?" Nick's eyes took on a sparkle that had not been there in the last few weeks. "Oh course I did." Nick opened the door and stepped out.
Scott, the dog, whimpered again and padded loyally behind his master -- similar almost to his namesake so long ago when he too had been loyal and loving to Nick and Brandon.
[Flashback] Outside the Backstreet Boys' hotel in Tampa.
"Hey, Nick's leaving out the back!" A male voice called out just around the corner of the building quickly overrunned by the rabid voices of the female fans.
Back up front.
"C'mon, Mr. Carter, this way." John the bodyguard, hurried Nick out the front to the waiting Lincoln that had pulled up as the last of the fans made the corner.
"Hey blondie." Brandon smiled up at Nick from his side of the backseat.
"Hey you." Nick leaned up and kissed him on the lips.
"I can't believe how good that works sometimes." Nick looked back out the rear window. He could see the male figure unkempt from all the trampling of the rabid female crowd.
{ring ring}
John's cell phone rang. "It's for you." John handed it back over his shoulder as he pulled the large vehicle out the driveway.
"You guys so owe me for this!" The male voice came in from the other line -- the same voice that had called out the lie earlier.
"We love you bro." Brandon laughed sensing the shake of head and the soft smile on the other end.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. You two have fun, and I think Burc's finally made it out. So I'll catch you two later." A loud audible sigh of relief -- or uncertainty -- came from Scott before he hung up.
"Scott is so awesome." Nick cuddled up to Brandon, who automatically wrapped a shoulder around the blonde while the other switched the cell phone off.
"Yeah, I love that guy." Brandon kissed the top of Nick's head befor John interupted.
"So where to guys?" John looked into the rear view mirror.
"Over in Grand, John. There's a nice little restuarant there that we can have some privacy at." Brandon responded as he and Nick took to separate seating as to not make the situation more uncomfortable for the bodyguard. ******************************************************* A few minutes earlier in the side of the hotel...
"Whew!" Scott sighed loudly as he hung up. "Aw man, I just bought this." Scott whined as he finally noticed how badly ripped and torn his shirt had gotten in the initial stampede of the female fans. He stood a while trying in vain to fix his shirt when a voice rang out over the tumult of disappointed fans.
"Hey that wasn't Nick." One shrill female voice pierced the air, shattering the others' commotion, finally taking notice to the fascade.
"You're right." Another broke the confusion of the group. "Hey, there's the guy that said Nick was out here! Get 'im!"
"Oh, boy..." Scott's eyes went wide as the large frothing crowd made a break for him. "Ladies, please hold on...it was him..." Scott's voice cracked in panic. 'Oh I am so gonna get you for this Brandon! How the heck did I ever let you convince me to do this!' Scott gave up his futile attempts to settle the crowd and made a run for the hotel doors and to safety.
[End of Flashback] ******************************************************* Back at the hotel in the present time in Mike's room.
"...yeah, that's right Mike, it's been fairly crazy since meeting." Burc's articulate growl came as an audible murmur through the doors when John showed up.
"John, where have you been?" Mike got up and headed to his small make shift desk in the corner.
"I went out for some fresh air and kinda lost track of time." John gulped, trying to hide his discomfort under his long black overcoat.
"Burc told me about what happened last night...well from where he stepped in that is." Mike turned to John holding a small wad of newspaper. "Well tell me about that later, but check this out." Mike tossed the paper down infront of the tall bodyguard.
It was the entertainment section of the newspaper. And the headline quickly grabbed John's attention:
"NEW BACKSTREET BOY: To revive the old and welcome the new fans."
In a haze, John picked up the newspaper and read the short first paragraph.
'As of last night, an unnamed reliable source -- a close association with the Backstreet Boys -- came to this journalist to inform me that there are now plans to replace Nick Carter -- who left the group due to some undisclosed reasons a month ago -- with his rising star younger brother, Aaron Carter.'
"Who...?" John looked up, but he knew the answer to his question even before he asked it. "Who...?"
"We should ask you that, John." Mike sat behind the small table behind the burly bodyguard. "What happed last night with you and Jane? Burc said he walked in on you two in a discussion.
Burc cut in. "Yeah. You two seemed a bit heated, shortly after Jane, you made like a head ache and split. What was up with that man?"
"We don't want to accuse you of anything, John, but this..." Mike gestured to the newspaper in John's hands. "That is very hurtful to the Backstreet Boys' plans. And if you know anything about this, you have to speak up now while we still have time to undo the damage."
"Mike, I swear I didn't..." Before John could finish his answer, Jane and Kevin burst in through the doors in what could have only been a heated arguement.
"Mike, what the hell is this?!" Kevin hurled his copy of the business section inbetween the bodyguard and their publicity director/manager.
"Pardon, for the intrusion Mike, I tried to calm Kevin down a bit but he wouldn't listen." Jane cut in shortly after giving John a quick cold glance. "Surely, you don't think anyone of us had anything to do with this. I mean none of us, after all, left the hotel last night." Jane said the last with a slyness that neither one of the bodyguards missed.
"No, wait a minute what are you insinuating, Jane?" Kevin had been too heated to notice the oddness of the last statement.
"Nothing, only that shortly after I had a discussion with John, I remember seeing him leaving the building." Jane smiled diabolically at John.
"John, you know something about this?" Kevin's fuming eyes turned to the dissheveled bodyguard.
"I...I..." John stuttered under the intense gaze.
"Man, I should..." Kevin made for the bodyguard in a furious vengeance before Burc stepped in.
"Kevin, calm down man. John didn't do anything."
"That is what we were trying to find out when you barged in here." Mike now helped Burc try to calm Kevin and keep him away from the obviously bothered bodyguard.
"However, until we get this thing settled, we will try to deny this story and keep a close eye on every detail." Mike turned to Jane. "As for you Mrs. Carter, you should get Aaron ready for his photoshoot which will be in a couple of hours."
"Of course, he's just about done." Jane smiled broadly -- almost knowingly Mike thought -- and left.
"As for you, Kev. Wake the other guys, and brief them on what's going on. In a few hours, we will get a statement out to deny this rumour and go ahead with our photoshoots today." Mike nonchalantly escorted Kevin out the door. "John, go get things ready downstairs. And tell Erin to start cranking on our statement. Oh and it wouldn't hurt if you get cleaned up also." Mike added before he shut the door behind the tall bodyguard.
"What do you want me to do, Mike?" Burc came around to meet Mike by the door.
"I want you to keep a close eye on John." Mike realized that the other was a close friend and so intercepted Burc's attempt to speak up for his friend.
"I know you think that John wouldn't do anything like this, but you saw how he came in this morning. Messy, unshaved, reeking of alcohol; he might not have done this on purpose, but maybe, just maybe now, he might have let something slip in his drunken stupor. So, keep an eye on him. I don't want him getting into anymore trouble."
"And Jane?"
"I will watch her myself. I swear we will get to the bottom of this before the week is over." Mike said the last convincingly -- or he thought so at least. ******************************************************* Back in Florida in Nick's new community college.
Nick slowly made his way through the halls. His mind was still reeling with the pains of his heart when he failed to notice another student coming 'round the bend. The clashed and books and papers went flying everywhere.
"Man, we have to stop meeting like this!" The other boy laughed staring up at Nick.
End of part 6 -------------------------------------------------------
Whew! That was a long chapter. Now I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I did writing it. Now I am once again going to ask y'all of your forgiveness, as I will once again be overwhelmed with paper work in the next couple of weeks. So the chapter after this one will definitely be taking a backseat to my future. Anyways, email me what you think of this chapter. Good, bad, so-so, anything.
Thanks for your time...especially for reading this ramshackle of a story!
John