Chapter 1

 

“This is Emily Hudson with Channel 7 News.  The body of twenty-two-year-old James Murphy was found late yesterday afternoon on a private strip of beach outside Daytona.  The results of the autopsy performed on his body this afternoon show that Murphy died of a massive head injury.  He was also stabbed in the chest multiple times, in a pattern that looked like a happy face, but the autopsy showed that these injuries were obtained after Murphy was already dead. Murphy was last seen at his apartment late last Saturday.  He-”

 

With a click of the remote, Bianca Parker quickly changed the channel.  “Ugh, that is so freaky,” she said with a shiver.  “Somebody stabbed him in the shape of a happy face?  How sick!”

 

“There’s some sick people out there, baby,” said her boyfriend, AJ McLean, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her close to him.  “But don’t you worry. Bone’s here to protect you,” he cooed, kissing the top of her head.

 

“My hero,” Bianca replied sarcastically. “What would I ever do without you?”  She rolled her eyes and grinned at him.  Glancing at the clock on the wall, she said, “Howie and Krystle will be here to pick us up any minute now.”

 

AJ’s best friend and fellow Backstreet Boy, Howie Dorough, and his girlfriend of several months, Krystle Moore, were going out to dinner with AJ and Bianca that night at one of Orlando’s hottest new restaurants.  The foursome often did things together when the Backstreet Boys were not touring. Bianca suspected that AJ and Howie were just trying to get her and Krystle to become friends.

 

Fat chance of that happening anytime soon, Bianca thought.  She had known Krystle for three months now, ever since she had moved in with Howie, and she still didn’t like her.  No amount of time spent with her was going to change that.

 

Krystle wasn’t a bad person; she just grated on Bianca’s nerves.  She was a busty, black-haired beauty who knew just how pretty she was and milked it for all it was worth.  Bianca would never tell Howie, but she had always thought Krystle was just using him.  On the outside, the couple seemed happy, but Bianca sensed that they really weren’t.  It seemed like Krystle was only dating Howie because of his money and fame, not because she really loved him.  She pretended all right, but her love was not true.  Whether Howie was really interested in Krystle or just her Krystle’s looks was a mystery.  Bianca personally couldn’t see how anyone could love Krystle for her personality.  She acted sweet enough, but she had a shiftiness about her that made Bianca wonder.  Also, she had no sense of humor.  While Bianca and AJ loved to tease each other, Krystle got offended any time Howie tried to play around with her.  She obviously did not understand the concept of a joke.  And then there was her opinion of Bianca.  While Krystle had never actually put it in words, Bianca had always gotten the impression that Krystle did not like her much.  Bianca did not know why, but the looks Krystle sometimes gave her and the tone of voice she sometimes used made it evident.  That was fine with Bianca though because she didn’t like Krystle either.  The two women tolerated each other, for their boyfriends’ sake, but it was laughable to think they could ever become friends.

 

“They’re here,” AJ said, standing up, as Howie’s SUV pulled into the driveway.

 

Bianca followed AJ out of the living room, through the foyer, and out the front door.  AJ checked that the door was locked and the security alarm was on, then led Bianca out to the car.

 

“Hey, J.  Hey, Bean,” Howie said, turning back to grin at AJ and Bianca as they climbed into the back of the SUV.  Over the past year, he and Bianca had gotten to be good friends, so good that he now called her “Bean,” the nickname AJ and her friends all called her.

 

“Hey, D.  Hi, Krys,” AJ and Bianca replied.

 

“Hello, AJ.  Bianca,” Krystle greeted coolly from the front passenger seat, not bothering to turn around to look at them. 

 

The drive to the restaurant was fairly quiet.  AJ and Howie carried on a conversation, with Bianca joining in every now and then, and Krystle examining her long, burgundy nails and ignoring them. 

 

When Howie parked at the restaurant, the four of them tried to hurry in unnoticed.  This was never possible though, and AJ and Howie had to stop in the lobby to sign a few autographs before going on to the small private dining room Howie had reserved so they could eat dinner uninterrupted. 

 

The four of them sat down, and Krystle commented, “Bianca, did you cut your hair?”

 

Bianca fingered the curled-out ends of her auburn hair, which had been cut into a layered, chin-length style, and nodded.  “Yeah, I just got it cut Wednesday.  Do you like it?”

 

Krystle shrugged.  “It’s alright,” she said, “but I think you should have it longer, with your face shape.”  She ran a hand through her long, shiny, black hair, as if to accentuate her point.

 

Bianca bit her tongue, plastered a fake smile on her face, and replied cheerfully, “Well, it’ll grow back in no time.  And besides, I like it.”

 

Krystle raised her eyebrows and gave Bianca a look of distaste, but said nothing. 

 

AJ, obviously sensing tension between the two girls, slung an arm around Bianca’s shoulders and said casually, “I think Bean’s hair is cute.”  He smiled at his girlfriend, giving the back of her hair a playful flick.

 

Bianca returned his smile with gratitude, shot Krystle a triumphant grin, and turned her attention to the menu in front of her.

 

***

 

Bianca checked her watch for the third time in the past five minutes and sighed.  It was the next afternoon, and her shift at the local Barnes and Noble was over in fifteen minutes. Then she could go to watch the end of AJ’s rehearsal.

 

Normally, Bianca didn’t mind working.  She loved the atmosphere at Barnes and Noble, the smell of new books and coffee and the quietness of the store.  But sometimes, she just wanted to finish her shift and get out of there. This was one of those times.

 

It was her last shift before the Backstreet Boys tour started the following day.  She would be touring with them for the next three months, taking a long vacation from her job.  She was lucky her boss was letting her leave for so long and still promising to give her her job back when the tour was over, so she mentally scolded herself for complaining about having to work and forced herself to focus on her work.

 

A woman came up to Bianca’s cash register, carrying two paperback romance novels.  Bianca rang them up quickly, and the woman paid and left.  Bianca checked her watch again.  Twelve minutes left.

 

“Next!” she called down to the line of customers waiting by the row of cash registers.  A grizzly old man at the front of the line started slowly towards her register, carrying two large hardbacks.  Bianca recognized him at once.

 

“Hello, Mr. Gunzenmeier,” she said politely. 

 

Rudy Gunzenmeier was a regular Barnes and Noble customer.  He stopped into the store usually about once a week and bought large hardback books, usually biographies, historical books, or medical books. 

 

“Always wanted to be a doctor,” he had told Bianca one afternoon when she had looked at the medical books strangely.  “Just never had the money to go to medical school.  I’m still interested in medicine though.”

 

Today he was buying a biography of Edgar Allen Poe and a book about the Tower of London.  Why someone would want to read such a large book about a building was beyond Bianca, but Mr. Gunzenmeier was sort of strange like that.

 

“Yeah, he’s pretty weird.  We just kinda stay away from him,” Howie had told her once.  It just so happened that Mr. Gunzenmeier lived next door to Howie, in a brick mansion that resembled a castle.  Based on the books he bought, Bianca assumed he had an interest in castles too.

 

“How is he weird?” Bianca had asked Howie curiously. 

 

“I don’t know.  He just… is.  There’s just something about him that’s not quite right,” Howie had replied.  “Ask Krystle – she’s completely freaked out by him.”

 

Bianca had just laughed.  Mr. Gunzenmeier was indeed a bit odd, but he was harmless.  He was nothing but an eccentric old man, as far as she was concerned.

 

“Hi,” Mr. Gunzenmeier grunted in reply now, sliding his books across the counter to her.  Bianca rang them up.

 

“Your total is $29.87,” she said, putting the books into a bag.  Mr. Gunzenmeier paid her in cash, took his bag, and left, disappearing through the gold double doors. 

 

Bianca glanced at her watch yet again.  Eight minutes.

 

***

 

“Alright, great job, guys.  Take five, and then we’ll move on to the choreography for ‘Get Another Boyfriend’,” said Fatima Robinson, the Backstreet Boys’ choreographer.

 

It was late in the afternoon, and the Boys were almost finished with their last rehearsal before the opening night of their tour the following night in Miami.  After a year-long break from touring, the five guys were all excited about getting back on the road to promote their new CD, which had just been released two months earlier, in late September.  The CD had done tremendously well so far, and it looked like the Backstreet Boys were truly back.

 

AJ grabbed a bottled water and a towel from his sport bag and wiped his sweaty face.  He twisted open the cap on the water and drank half of it in one long gulp.  He looked up as the doors to the studio they practiced in opened, and Bianca walked in.

 

“Bean!” he cried happily, jumping up and hurrying over to her.  He outstretched his arms as if to give her a hug.

 

Bianca squealed and pushed him away.  “Ew, get your sweaty, stinky ass away from me!”

 

“Aw, c’mere, baby, don’t you want a hug?” AJ teased, playfully lunging at her.  Bianca darted away from his grasp, giggling.

 

“Dude, you have way too much energy, Bone,” Howie said, shaking his head tiredly.  Sprawled out on the floor on their backs, the other three Boys grunted in agreement.

 

AJ smiled and sank back down onto the floor, pulling Bianca down with him.  “So, how was work?” he asked.

 

She shrugged and answered, “It was fine.”

 

“You all packed for tomorrow?” he asked her.  “We’re leaving bright and early for Miami.”

 

“Yup, I’m all set,” she replied.  “I can’t wait.”  She grinned excitedly at him.

 

AJ returned her smile, excited as well.  This was Bianca’s first time touring with them (he hadn’t met her until shortly after the last tour), and he couldn’t wait.  It was going to be so wonderful having her with him for the next few months. 

 

“At least someone’s prepared,” Howie said.  “Knowing Krystle, she’ll be up half the night packing all her stuff.”

 

Bianca groaned inwardly, remembering that Krystle was coming along with Howie.  Oh well, at least each of the guys gets their own bus.  I won’t have to see her too much hopefully, she told herself.

 

“Y’all ready to get going again?” asked Fatima, clapping her hands to get their attention.

 

Sighing, AJ dragged himself up.  “Almost done,” he told Bianca, who sat back eagerly to watch him.  She had already watched several of the Boys’ rehearsals, and she knew she’d be seeing all their shows from the front row, but she never grew tired of watching them, especially AJ, perform.  She had been a Backstreet Boys fan since before she had met AJ, and even though she had been dating him for almost a year now, she still couldn’t believe it sometimes. 

 

This is one of those times, Bianca thought, grinning as the music to “Get Another Boyfriend” started up, and the five guys started their choreography, singing softly along to the music as they danced.  She felt like the luckiest girl in the world, having AJ as a boyfriend. 

 

But unfortunately, her luck would not last forever, and being AJ’s girlfriend would soon become more of a curse than a blessing.

 

***

 

 

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