Chapter 12:
The Escape
"Come on," urged Xavier as he
motioned them to run to his SUV. Fear gave flight to the five as they raced
toward the Excursion, AJ and Nick vaulting effortlessly over a low hedge in
pursuit of freedom. Pointing his keyless entry at the SUV, Xavier hopped in and
quickly started the engine, barely giving the Backstreet Boys time to jump in
themselves before backing out.
"Damn!" cried AJ, looking toward
the studio. "I’m gonna kill that asshole, Felix!"
Xavier rammed the SUV into first gear,
squealing the tires as he began to race out of the parking lot. Suddenly he hit
his brakes and all five guys were thrown forward, causing them to shout in
surprise.
"Hang on," he warned them
grimly, then slammed into reverse, and hit the accelerator.
"What the hell..." screamed
Kevin as he saw Xavier’s Excursion fly backwards, its massive rear bumper
crashing ruthlessly into a red convertible. The sickening sound of metal
against metal assailed their ears and they all turned to look at the crumpled
mass behind them. Xavier kicked his SUV into gear and raced down the street, as
Brian, his head still twisted to survey the damage, saw figures spilling out
from the front of the station, in search of the long-gone singers.
Shocked, Brian met the faces of his
friends who were equally stunned. Sitting in the front seat with Xavier, the
young singer turned to stare at him.
"What in God’s name did you do that
for?"
Xavier flashed him a wide grin. "That
was the DJ’s car."
Shaken, it took a few moments before
Xavier’s reply began to sink in. Nick and AJ began howling with laughter and
the others joined in.
"Oh man!" cried Howie.
"This is too much!"
"Xavier, you are da bomb!"
crowed AJ.
Brian leaned over to give Xavier a playful
punch on the shoulder. "Awesome! You’re one hell of a bodyguard. I love
ya, man!"
Xavier reacted to the last sentence, and
turned to give Brian a startled glance, but Brian missed it as he reached over
the seat to high-five Kevin in delight. Xavier drove on, his mind racing with
Brian’s compliment.
Nick slapped Brian’s hand also, then
turned to slug Aj good-naturedly in his arm.
"Ow, dammit,
Nick!"
"Sorry, Bone." Nick inspected AJ
then the others with a critical eye. "Man, you guys got nailed. Look at
yourselves!"
This prompted everyone to immediately
survey the damage. Kevin pointed out the scratches on Brian’s neck and shoulder
where his shirt had been ripped open. Nick discovered a few red marks and a
small but nasty bruise beginning to color on his cheekbone. Kevin, being the
tallest, survived facially intact, but his clothes had suffered rips and tears,
and his watch was missing. Howie had more than a few strands of hair painfully
yanked out and the beginning of a swollen bottom lip. "I think someone
pinched by butt," he complained, feeling a welt on his backside.
AJ snorted. "Hey guys, Howie got to
first base!"
Howie took a swipe at him but missed and
Nick laughed.
"Say AJ, where’s your hat?"
AJ swore as he realized it was missing.
"Shit! That was my favorite hat!"
"Don’t worry," drawled Kevin.
"I’m sure you’ll find it for sale soon on E-Bay!"
"Your chain is gone too,"
informed Brian.
"Fuck!"
Howie shook his head in sympathy then
relaxed back into the leather seating, sighing.
"So, just what exactly happened back
there? I thought I heard that Felix was a pretty decent DJ."
"Obviously you heard wrong, D,"
replied AJ dryly.
Howie shrugged. "And I thought Howard
Stern was weird. Felix makes him look good!"
Brian spoke up, interested. "I
thought you guys hated that interview." He and Nick had missed it due to
prior commitments.
AJ looked at Brain. "At least Howard
Stern liked us. Felix is just plain psychotic. Man, I hate being set up!"
Kevin took a deep breath and exhaled.
"Whatever. We are never, ever going to do anymore radio interviews again,
okay guys?"
"But what if they have really cute
girls? That’s okay, right?" asked Nick hopefully and Kevin shook his head
in exasperation.
"Oh, I don’t know..." trailed
off AJ. "I thought the red-headed guy was pretty cute, but he liked Howie.
Damn." This time Howie didn’t miss and slugged AJ.
"Kevin’s right. I don’t want anymore
surprise fans," agreed Brian.
Howie nodded and then heaved a sigh.
"I need a drink."
Xavier smiled. "It’s a little early
for that guys, how about I stop off at the next convenience store for some soft
drinks?"
The Backstreet Boys agreed and Xavier
pulled into the store as they gave their requests. It took just a few minutes
before he returned, handing out the cold glass bottles of Coke, ice tea, and
water to eager hands. He jumped back into the Excursion, merged onto the
freeway and set a course for the arena, where they were scheduled to practice.
Kevin took a long sip of his water, not realizing till now just how thirsty he
was.
"Nothing like crazed gay fans running
after you to make you dehydrated."
Nick agreed and chugged deeply from his
glass bottle. AJ saw Brian smile devilishly as Nick downed his drink.
"Hey Nick, let’s see if you remember
how to "deep throat" it!"
Nick choked, then spewed the contents over
AJ who was howling at Brian’s joke. Nick swore a blue streak at his friend in
between coughing and hacking as the rest laughed at Brian’s perfect timing.
Xavier leaned over to the glove box,
pulled out some tissues and tossed them to a grateful Nick in the back seat.
"You guys are pretty anti-gay, aren’t you?" he questioned.
An uncomfortable silence followed and
Kevin realized how they must look to the bodyguard. "Xavier..." he
began, then faltered, at a loss as to how to explain.
Brian spoke up. "It’s like this.
We’re not anti-gay. We understand that we have a large gay following; a lot
other bands do too. To be perfectly honest, all of us are straight and having
gay men mob us isn’t exactly on our top ten list of fun things. Straight or
gay, fans can be dangerous in the wrong situation. So we joke, to relieve the
tension, but we’re not against homosexuals."
The boys agreed, verbalizing their
support.
"It’s just us being us. We tend to
joke when we’re edgy. We can get a little crude," Nick admitted.
Xavier nodded. "A toast then,"
he declared suddenly, holding up his own bottle of water like a sword, trying
to mimic a knight of the round table. "To me, Xavier Delgado, bodyguard to
the Backstreet Boys, death to all who would seek to harm the chastity of these
fine virgin young men!"
"Chastity! Virgin!" screamed all
five, relieved and delighted to see the aloof bodyguard displaying a sense of
humor.
"Hey, you don’t have to protect me
from nothing!" boasted AJ. "My sword is my shield!"
"You wish," shot back Howie.
Xavier turned to look at Brian, who was
grinning at him. The blond singer gave him a thumb’s up signal. "Welcome
to the group."
***
