Chapter 44:
Morning Discussion
Brian quickly opened the door to his hotel
room, startling Xavier who had his master entry card suspended in mid-air,
ready to swipe access into the young singer’s room. A small smirk of
satisfaction crossed Brian’s mouth, glad to catch Xavier off-guard, even more
pleased that the bodyguard had not been able to use his brutal yank-out-of-bed
technique on him. Brian reached out, closing his door with the one swift pull.
He eyed Xavier curtly, looking him up and down.
"Ready?" he questioned, not
waiting for an answer as he walked rapidly down the hall. Xavier stood there
for a moment, his face unreadable. He broke into a jog to catch up to Brian’s
quickly retreating form. A slow smile of satisfaction spread across the
bodyguard’s face, happy with they young singer’s insolence. Not that he would
tolerate his lip, but it made the game so much more interesting when his
adversary showed some backbone. Altering today’s exercise plan, he grinned
wickedly at what he had in store for the disrespectful Backstreet Boy.
* * * * * *
Two blue eyes, followed by a tousled head
of blond hair peeked out carefully into the hallway, quickly scanning the area
for signs of life. Finding none, Nick sighed with relief, happy that Brian and
Xavier had finally left. It seemed like he had waited forever for them,
listening with his ear pressed to his door for the two to pass. Now that they
had gone he could dare to venture out safely. He quickly tip-toed over to
Howie’s room, rapping once sharply on his door, shivering slightly and wishing
he had remembered to wear something warmer. Howie opened his door and let the
youngest shaking member in, rolling his eyes at Nick’s choice of scant
sleepwear.
"Couldn’t you have changed before you
came over?"
"Yeah, sure, and if I got caught by
Bri or X, how would I explain being fully dressed at this hour?" Nick
rubbed his bare arms, going over to grab the blanket that was thrown over the
side of Howie’s bed. "Shit! What time is it, anyway?"
Howie looked at his watch. "
Nick shook his head in amazement.
"Damn. Brian must be insane to get up that early and go exercising,
especially with X."
Howie nodded in agreement, relaxing on the
side of his unmade bed as he grabbed the courtesy phone. He made two quick
calls and a few moments later, a tired Kevin, dressed in dark blue boxers and a
t-shirt walked in, trailed by a very disheveled AJ, barefoot and dressed in a
pair of rumpled cargo pants.
Nick grinned at AJ, smirking. "Hey, I
didn’t know you could sleep in those too!"
AJ eyed him sourly, ignoring the remark.
"Did you order us breakfast?" he asked crawling into Howie’s bed and
flinging the covers over his head, burrowing in.
Nick reached for the phone, stopped by a
very determined Kevin. "I’ll do it," he ordered. "Last time, you
ordered Fruit Loops for all of us."
"So?’" replied Nick, offended.
"You ate them, didn’t you?" He sat down on the bed, rising quickly to
sit down on the adjoining bed after a thoroughly pissed AJ yelled at him to
stop sitting on his feet.
"Jeez, grumpy, grumpy. I’m the
one who had to get up earlier than any of you. And by the way, I think you guys
cheated," complained Nick, referring to the way he was
"elected."
"Can we help it if you fall for it everytime?" replied Howie. Nick heard AJ snicker under
the sheets and grabbed a heavy phone book, flinging it in the direction of the
large lump situated under Howie’s covers.
"Ow, damn it!" yelled AJ,
flinging back the sheets to glare at Nick.
"Guys..," said Kevin softly.
"We don’t have time for this. We need to talk."
"He’s right," agreed AJ, waiting
for Nick to turn his attention towards Kevin before throwing a perfect pitch,
smacking Nick square in the face with a hard-tossed pillow.
Howie and Kevin sighed, looking at each
other for support. Howie deftly grabbed the pillow away from Nick’s hand before
anymore mayhem occurred; Kevin giving AJ a warning glance to stop the
horseplay.
"Okay, Bone, you called this meeting
about Brian; so go ahead, explain what’s going on with him."
"Me? Brian’s your cousin; you should
know more than me!"
Kevin gave him an amazed look, his dark
eye-brows raised high. "How the hell would I know? Just because we’re
related, doesn’t mean I can read his mind!" He turned to Nick, who was
figuring a way to get back at AJ. "You’re his best friend, you hang out
with him more than we do. If anyone, you should know."
Nick opened his mouth to protest, then
closed it. "Well, I don’t," he stated flatly. "He’s not the Bri
I know. I can’t explain why he’s acting so weird. What the hell was up with all
that jumping around with the audience last night? He never does
that."
AJ rubbed his face wearily, agreeing,
mentally playing back the night before. Brian had raced around below the stage,
touching and grabbing the fans’ outreached hands, coming too close for the
comfort of the bodyguards who were trying valiantly to keep him safe.
"Fuck if I know. That’s you’re specialty," he commented to Nick.
"Yeah, well he pretty much too over
the whole damn show, including some of my stuff."
Kevin and AJ nodded. They had both
noticed, watching with surprise and then anger as Brian had cut into all their
routines, interrupting and disrupting the concert with none of the clowning on
stage he was so predictable for. Had the guys not put up with his antics, the
show could have turned ugly. During breaks in the show, Howie and AJ had both
confronted Brian, yelling their displeasure while Brian calmly sipped at a
water bottle, giving little or no response before running back on stage again.
Howie sighed audibly, walking over to
sprawl into a chair next to Kevin. He ran a hand over his unshaven face, giving
the four a concerned look. "Well whatever is going on with Brian, we had
better find out. I’ve tried to sort some things out, but none of them make any
sense."
AJ sat up from under the covers,
interested. "What things, D?"
Howie jumped up from his chair, pacing
back and forth. "Okay, we all know Brian has been acting pretty strange
lately…"
"I’ll say…" cut in Nick
sarcastically, but shut up when the other three glared at his interruption.
"…the thing we need to know is
why," continued Howie. He waved to all three. "Think. When was the
first time we noticed it?"
Kevin shrugged. "Dunno. Was it the
day after that intruder? He seemed pretty shook up."
Nick agreed. "Yeah, the intruder,
those threats. Do you think that’s what is causing it?"
"I think it’s that asshole,
Xavier."
All three turned towards AJ, surprised at
the vehemence in his voice. Howie shook his head. "I don’t think so.
Xavier came weeks before and Brian seemed fine. Kevin’s right. It started after
those threats, that intruder. Something must have happened, something that we
don’t know about that is making Bri act so weird."
"You think Brian is hiding something
from us?" questioned Kevin, worried about the possibility.
"Maybe," agreed Howie.
"It’s hard to say. It seems like we never get a minute alone with him.
Xavier always seems to be around."
AJ jumped from his bed, agitated.
"See? That’s exactly why I think it’s Xavier! I’ve never liked that prick,
even from the start."
Nick shook his head, trying to sort things
out. "Wait a minute. I know you and X don’t get along, but think about it.
Why Xavier? I mean, he saved Brian’s ass with that intruder; hell, he helped us
all at the radio station. If Brian didn’t want him, or X was causing trouble,
all Frick would have to do is fire him."
"True," commented Howie.
AJ threw his hands up in protest. "I
still think its Xavier. What else could it be?"
Kevin bit his lip, not wanting to think
about another possible cause, but knew it needed to be discussed. "Maybe
it’s something medical. Look at him, at this health kick he’s been on. Could he
have found something out at his stay in the hosiptal?"
All three turned to Nick for an
explanation. Nick opened his eyes wide in surprise, his hands outspread in
defense. "Hey, don’t look at me! He seemed fine, anxious to get out, but
okay. The doctor gave him some pain medication for his back but that’s it. If
Bri found out anything, he sure is keeping it a good secret. And why would he
anyway? Rok was always pretty outspoken with us about his heart problems."
AJ sighed in exasperation. "It’s
Xavier, I tell you. Why won’t anybody listen?"
"Bone! We are listening. It’s
just that there are too many possibilities here to point at just one!"
Kevin, Nick, and AJ sat in silence as they watched Howie paced the floor some
more, quietly eyeing each other. "Okay," Howie finally said. "We
know that something is wrong with Brian, right?" He waited for their nods
before continuing. "And we know that whatever it is, Brian won’t
explain." More nods. "So, here’s what I suggest. We need to tackle
this from every side. Kevin, you and Nick see if you can find anything
medically wrong with Brian. Ask questions, but be discreet. I’ll take the
threats and intruder; find out what’s happening in that area. AJ, you can have
Xavier." Howie returned the smirk that his friend threw his way. "If
you're so positive X is the reason, you get to find out why."
"Gee, thanks, D."
"Hey, that’s what friends are
for," joked Howie. His smiled slowly faded away. "And if we’re
Brian’s friends I suggest we start finding some answers out fast before…"
he left the sentence hanging, noticing the questioning looks from the three.
"…before he’s not our friend anymore," he finished solemnly.
***
