Chapter 82:
Getting Ready
So intent was Kevin on finishing up the
last of his phone calls that he felt rather than saw Nick leap onto the bed. He
made a mad attempt to keep the papers from scattering everywhere, but failed.
Jotting down the last of the information on the back of his hand, he hung up
the phone, giving Nick a sour look of exasperation as he arose from the edge of
the bed.
"Thanks for nothing, Nick. You coulda
warned me."
"Where's the fun in that?" Nick
said, smiling. Kevin shook his head, amazed by the sudden transformation in
him, gloomy one minute, excited the next.
"What are you? Bipolar?"
"Huh?"
"Never mind."
"So, did you get us a flight?"
Kevin had to grin at that. "Yep. I
used a little of the Backstreet Boy muscle. Got us a charter flight. Ready to
go anytime we are." He motioned for Nick to follow him and they headed
down the hallway, in search of the others. "You know, some days it pays to
be a prick," he bragged.
Nick turned to him wide-eyed, giving him a
sweet, perplexing look. "Since when aren't you?"
Nick whooped in laughter as Kevin took a
swipe at him, racing away like mad, knowing he was going to get his butt
kicked.
* * * * * * *
Sam was still in the same spot when AJ and
Howie returned, talking feverishly on the phone and doing what he did best:
barking orders. Both guys sat down, respectfully giving Sam his space as they
waited for him to finish. Nick and Kevin came careening around the corner and
stopped when the saw the warning slash of Howie's hand telling them to settle
down. Kevin gave one retaliating push at Nick then sat down on the couch. Nick
came over to AJ, crouching down.
"You guys all done?" he
whispered, not wanting to annoy Sam.
AJ nodded. "Yeah. Not a whole hell of
a lot we can do about the banks, but everything else should be taken care of by
the end of today." Nick glanced at Howie, who confirmed the same success.
"Cool. Kev got us a flight out. We
can leave anytime tomorrow."
AJ raised his eyebrows at Kevin,
impressed. "Great. Now all we have to do is wait for Sam."
Sam continued speaking on the phone,
oblivious to the four sets of staring eyes trained directly on him. There was a
pause as he was put on hold and he glanced up. He looked incredulously at the
four. "You're all finished?"
They all nodded, pleased.
"What about a flight?"
They all pointed to Kevin, indicating it
was a done deal.
Astonished, Sam told the caller he would
get back to him later and hung up. "You're talents are going to waste. You
should be in management."
AJ grinned. "Yes, but we get paid soooo much more singing."
* * * * * * *
Brian held onto the neck of the
showerhead, letting it support him as he leaned into the heated spray. He
breathed deeply, trying to suck in as much heat and steam his lungs would
allow. He decided to stay in as long as his trembling legs would support him,
not sure if he could physically make it back to his bed now without help.
Gathering up all his strength he let go of the showerhead, testing his ability
to stay upright. A few seconds later Brian grabbed the neck again, discouraged.
Once more he let go, standing upright just a few seconds longer than the first
try. A savage grin of success crossed his face and he goaded himself on,
willing himself not to sway as he released his hold for the third time. How
long he forced himself to stay upright he had no idea, but knew he would have
to stop when he noticed that the water was losing its warmth. Shutting off the
flow, Brian cautiously dried himself off, breathing in deep gulps of air as he
winced from the pain and shock at seeing his body. Xavier definitely knew what
he was doing, the ugly, raw marks of a closed fist still imprinted on various
parts of him. He dressed slowly, his hand touching a sensitive spot as he
pulled his shirt back on. He felt for the soreness, realizing with a grimace
that it hurt right where his kidney was located. Great. A bruised kidney.
He remembered that Xavier had also touched the spot when he was examining him.
Glad to know that he couldn't see the injury, Brian finished dressing and
exited the bathroom, stopping in surprise. The room had been cleaned, a fresh
bed awaiting him. Xavier sat on his own bed, watching the news, eating what
looked to be some sort of take out.
Xavier put his food down, motioning Brian
to get into his clean bed. The feel of the cool, smooth sheets almost sent
Brian into ecstasy, relishing the fresh smell. He curiously looked at Xavier,
noticing the bodyguard handing a styrofoam cup of soup to him.
"Albondigas
soup. Try it."
Brian took a few tentative sips of the
steaming broth, savoring its exotic flavor, noticing the abundance of rice and
vegetables mixed in. He took a few more hefty swallows, suddenly starved.
Xavier nodded in satisfaction and gave Brian some warm flour tortillas, lightly
coated with butter. Brian wolfed those down too, not being able to remember the
last time he had eaten decent food. He winced in pain, not sure if he was
cramping from the rapid inhalation of food, or whether his painkiller was
starting to lose effect. Xavier noticed Brian's expression and frowned, pulling
out another pill. Brian eyed it secretly, not willing to show the eagerness on
his face when Xavier handed it to him. He returned to finish the last of his
food after swallowing the pill, ignoring the queasy rumbling in his stomach.
A sudden wooziness overcame Brian, his
eyes too heavy to keep open. His vision became blurry and he blinked
questioningly at Xavier. Xavier's eyes gleamed, his mouth curled into a
pleasant smile. "Painkiller and sleeping pill. Amazing what you can
get south of the border." He peeked at his watch, counting. "I'd say
in about three minutes, you'll be sleeping like a log." He glanced up,
noticing that Brian had already closed his eyes, his head turned sideways, already
asleep.
* * * * * * *
Last night's sleep was a definite
improvement over the night before and Howie felt a lot more positive as he
entered AJ's kitchen, looking for something to eat. He found Nick already
there, digging into a bowl of cereal. Mouth full, Nick motioned with his spoon
to the assortment of breakfast fare displayed on the kitchen table, all
certifiably junk food.
"What did you do, buy out the whole
convenience store?"
"Sorta," admitted Nick.
"See anything you like?"
As much as Howie hated to admit it, he
did. He scanned the selection before him, deciding what might be the healthiest
of the lot, when he stopped. "Oooh! Hostess snowballs!" He remembered
eating them when he was a kid. He quickly tore the package open, guiltily
stuffing one of them into his mouth, glancing nervously to see if anyone was
looking.
Nick snorted in laughter, watching Howie
enjoy his guilty pleasure. "Jeez, D, you're acting like you’ve committed
some sort of illegal act!"
Howie licked his fingers, starting in on
the other one. "Umm. Good," was all he mumbled, inspecting what other
sinful treats were there. His eyes opened wide when he saw the Pop-Tarts and
began to open the box. Nick hooted again in laughter.
"What's so damn funny at eight in the
morning?" grouched AJ as he straggled in.
Nick smirked at AJ. "You mean besides
you and your bed head?"
AJ smiled sourly at Nick. "Have you
taken a look at yourself, Zit-boy?" Before Nick could make a suitable
comeback, AJ spoke again, sounding just like Howie. "Oooh!
Snowballs!" He grabbed a package, eagerly ripping it open.
"What?" he muttered irritably,
his mouth full, as he watched Nick and Howie begin to laugh uproariously.
* * * * * * * * *
Brian could sense Xavier's presence, but
in the dark he had no idea what the bodyguard was doing until he felt strong
arms pulling him upright, forcing him out of bed and out of his dreamless
sleep. Brian protested weakly but suddenly understood what Xavier was doing. He
barely made it into the bathroom before he vomited. Xavier held him until the
heaving subsided, then literally carried him back to his bed, the blonde singer
too exhausted to walk the few short steps.
Brian weakly accepted the water Xavier
handed him, frowning slightly as he noticed another pill placed into his hand.
"It may make you sick, but it also
makes things tolerable," advised Xavier. "Take it. If I hear you
gagging in your sleep again, I'll help you."
Reluctantly Brian slipped it into his
mouth and swallowed. He closed his eyes, praying for sleep, praying he would
never wake up, ever.
* * * * * * * *
Kevin walked into the kitchen, staring
incredulously at the amount of torn and scattered wrappers on the kitchen
table. He frowned, eyeing them all suspiciously as the guys gave him a happy
hello.
"Is Nick on his sugar high
again?"
He picked up an empty, sticky wrapper with
the tips of his fingers, carefully looking at it. "Snowballs? Oh my God. I
haven't had one of these in years!" He looked eagerly at the three.
"Got any more?"
* * * * * * * * *
Brian wasn't sure what time it was, nor
did he care. Everything seemed to be blending into one routine of getting up,
going to the bathroom, eating, taking medication, then sleeping again. He loved
the sleeping part, treasuring every minute when he wouldn't have to experience
the pain, the nausea, the weakness. He knew every time he woke up he felt a
little bit better, a little less groggy, but wasn't willing to admit it to
Xavier, who hovered over him like a mother hen. For the umpteenth time that
day, he drifted back into the blissful arms of sleep, still praying it would be
the last time he ever woke up.
* * * * * * * *
Sam was the last one to board the
chartered jet, giving the steward a nod, and headed down the aisle to find an
empty seat. He threw his carry-on into the overhead compartment and sat down
next to Kevin, smiling his approval. "Things are looking good," he
confirmed. "We should be in
Kevin tossed the newspaper he was reading
to the side and reclined a little more comfortably in his seat. "Everyone
able to make it to
Sam picked up Kevin's newspaper and tucked
it under his arm. "Practically. Most are going to make it ahead of us,
some a little later. I've been informed all Backstreet security will be there
right on schedule."
Kevin listened to Sam as he watched AJ,
Nick, and Howie argue about something. "And when exactly is our meeting
with Xavier?" He felt his stomach automatically tighten into knots when he
mentioned the bodyguard's name.
"Later today.
"So this is it."
They looked at each other silently,
understanding the magnitude of those four simple words Kevin spoke, knowing
that in a short time they would finally be able to reach Brian. Sam saw the
twinge of grief in Kevin's eyes before the dark-haired singer closed them, his
jaw set into a firm line. He shook his head sadly, wondering how Kevin held up
in times like these, knowing that a close member of your family was suffering
and you were too far away to do anything about it.
Kevin pushed the very thought Sam was
wondering about out of his mind. He knew that if he didn't, he would be a
nervous wreck once he got off the plane in
* * * * * * * * *
The tantalizing odor of hot food lured
Brian out of his sleep and he opened his eyes to see Xavier standing over him,
a tray in his hands.
"Rise and shine!"
Brian ignored the fake cheerfulness.
"What time is it?" he groaned, stretching. He immediately regretted
doing that as he felt his chest and back constrict with pain.
"Early afternoon," informed
Xavier. "We have a meeting to attend to, remember? Better eat and get your
ass moving. The more you move around the better you'll feel."
Brian seriously doubted that but refrained
from saying so when he saw the determined look on Xavier's face. Whether he
liked it or not, Brian knew Xavier intended to have him up and about. Xavier
set the tray down next to Brian, indicating with a wave of his hand to eat.
Brian looked at the meal before him. Soup. Again. He bit his lip in
frustration. Soup had been fine the first couple of times, in fact he had
welcomed it, but now he was tired of it, tired of the same Mexican soup Xavier
brought to him every time.
Xavier seemed to know what he was thinking
and nodded. "Boring, but good. Besides, it's a lot easier to throw up soup
than it is solid food."
Xavier had him there. The last two times
he ate he had been successful in holding his meal down, but before that,
impossible. He knew, as well as Xavier, that the pain medication he was taking
was making him sick, but nausea over intense pain was the lesser of two evils.
He finished quickly, drinking a large glass of water in hopes of rinsing the
soup’s taste away.
Satisfied that he had completed his meal,
Xavier indicated impatiently for Brian to get up. The young Backstreet Boy
threw him an unpleasant look but nevertheless complied, understanding that if
he didn't do it, Xavier's large hands and fast temper would. Cautiously, but as
quickly as he could, Brian swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood
up, hoping he wouldn't completely keel over. To his surprise and Xavier's
satisfaction he felt no dizziness and no trembling.
"Now comes the hardest part,"
stated Xavier.
Brian glanced up, realizing he had been
staring at his feet. "Hardest?" he repeated.
"Yeah. Walk."
Tentatively Brian took a small step, then
another. Xavier snorted in disgust at Brian's hesitant movements forward.
'Not baby steps! Regular ones. I want to
see if you can walk to the door and back." Brian began to walk over.
"No! Normal steps!" Xavier barked.
Gritting his teeth, Brian walked as normally
as he could over to the door. He turned to see a disagreeable look plastered
over the bodyguard's face. "This is the best that I can do, Xavier,
considering I just got the shit beat outta me!"
A smile of approval instantly replaced the
sour one. "Spunk. I like that. Anger is gonna make you heal quicker."
Brian walked over to the bathroom, his
stride more confident. Maybe Xavier was right, but he wasn't going to let him
know that. "You're full of it," he commented, before slamming the
door shut, ignoring Xavier's pleased laughter.
* * * * * * * *
Nick shook his foot nervously, too uptight
to play any of the games he had carted on board. He couldn't believe they had
two more hours to go, the first two seemed to take forever. Kevin had informed
them early on that he wasn't going to tolerate listening to them squabbling the
whole flight and had effectively cancelled their argument with one threatening
look. Now, Kevin and Howie were both asleep, and AJ was reading some sort of
magazine. Nick glanced over to see what AJ was reading and AJ turned his
shoulder away, successfully blocking Nick from seeing anything. Nick snorted in
disgust.
"It's okay," jeered Nick,
"we all know you like Britney. Come outta the closet, Bone. I wanna read Teen
Beat too."
AJ continued to read, a middle finger
pointing up to the ceiling to explain what he thought of Nick's comment. Kevin
laughed out loud and opened his eyes. Nick turned to him in surprise, pissed
that Kevin had been pretending to sleep.
"Thanks a lot Kevin. Here I've been
trying to be quiet this whole time and you've been faking it. I've been bored
out of my mind!"
"So what did you want me to do? I'm
not going to play any of your stupid games with you."
"Well at least you coulda talked to
me."
"About what?"
"About Brian."
Kevin heard the depressed tone in Nick's
voice and felt a twinge of guilt. AJ peeked over his magazine, concerned,
hearing the same thing Kevin had.
"Okay, Nick, what about Brian?"
Nick leaned back in his seat, staring at
the overhead reading lights. "Well, has anybody thought about what we're
gonna do when we see him?" Nick noticed that Howie had "just woke
up" and rolled his eyes in exasperation, aware that Howie didn't look very
sleepy.
"Hello, D."
"Do?" questioned Howie, ignoring
Nick's sarcasm. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, how do we let Brian know we
know? Xavier is gonna be all over him. How do we get Brian away from Xavier,
safely?"
AJ frowned, lowering his magazine.
"Yeah. We've been so excited about finding Bri that we haven't thought
this thing through."
"Okay, let's figure this out,"
began Kevin. "First time we see Brian will be at the conference, right?
And Xavier will be with him." He paused for a second, thinking.
"Xavier doesn't know that we've found out about him. If Sam's plan is
solid, X should think that this is just an emergency meeting."
"So he shouldn't be suspicious,"
added Nick.
"More like pissed," answered AJ.
"Remember his failed attempts? I don't think he's going to be too happy to
see us."
"Which is why we gotta act like we're
not happy either, that we're still mad at Brian. We need to convince Xavier
that nothing's changed. If X doesn't feel suspicious, we should have more
access to Bri."
Nick sighed and massaged his temples.
"That still doesn't answer my question. What do we do when we get Brian
away from X?"
Kevin stared at Nick. "We convince
him that we know all about it. It shouldn't be too hard."
Nick jumped out of his seat, agitated.
"No! Jesus! You're all missing the point! Xavier didn’t have to
come back! He didn’t have to bring Brian! He wasn't coming back to the
tour in the first place. Think! Why is X coming back?"
AJ saw where Nick was going and felt sick.
"Because Xavier still has something planned for Brian. He's not finished
with his game."
Nick spun on his heel, pointing at AJ.
"Exactly! I was trying to figure out why Xavier was coming back. The only
thing I could figure was that whatever Xavier was trying to do, it didn't work.
I don't think he's coming back because he failed to hurt us, I think
he's coming back because he failed to get what he wanted from Brian."
Kevin groaned. "Shit, Nick, you're
right. And if X didn't get what he wanted, he's gonna try again. Which means,
he still has some kind of hold over Brian. Fear, intimidation, whatever. I'm
not sure we can convince Brian that he'll be okay."
"Why can't we just get a couple of
our bodyguards to grab Xavier, beat the crap outta him, threaten him never to
come back and be done with it?" said Howie. "Then we have Brian, and
no Xavier!"
AJ gave him a severe look and Howie
sighed. "Okay, okay, I know. Wishful thinking."
"We need to get a hold of Brian,
alone. If we can talk to him, find out what kind of pressure Xavier is
threatening him with, then we can figure out how to stop him."
"The key word: if," Nick said
discouragingly.
The other three nodded solemnly, Nick’s
gloomy mood contagious to them all.
* * * * * * * *
Brian tried not to show the excitement he
felt as he rode north to
"Back hurt?"
Brian nodded, curious that Xavier seemed
to know what was the problem. ‘Yeah."
"Does it hurt to take a piss?"
Startled by Xavier’s questioning, Brian
thought for a moment. "I don’t know. I don’t think so. Who can tell with
all the pain medication you’ve been shoving at me?" Brian didn’t like the
way this conversation was going. "Why?" he asked suspiciously.
"No reason."
Brian knew that was a bald face lie but
said nothing and stared out the window, thinking.
* * * * * * * * *
Nick, Howie, Kevin and AJ all piled into
the taxicab, saying goodbye to Sam, who was taking another cab, anxious to get
to the arena as soon as possible. They waited for the driver to place their
luggage in the trunk, feeling the sweat springing to their brow. It was already
warm in
The taxi driver hopped into the driver’s
seat, turning to face them to await instructions. Glancing at his watch for a
moment, AJ nodded. They still had time. "Take us to the nearest bar,"
he ordered. Noticing the curious stares from his friends, AJ explained.
"I think we all need a good stiff
drink to calm our nerves," he announced. "We need to be as calm as
possible if we are going to pull this off."
Kevin agreed. "Let’s go."
* * * * * * * * *
Brian turned his head as the sign flashed
by,
"Ready?" questioned Xavier and
Brian looked at him. Through the whole drive up to
"Ready?" Xavier questioned
again.
"Ready? What do you mean? Of course,
I’m ready," said Brian sarcastically, irritated by Xavier’s simple
question.
"No, I mean really
ready."
Brian froze, hearing the satisfied smirk
in Xavier’s voice. It had been a while, but it all came back with a horrifying
rush. It was the confident, mocking voice, indicating that it was time for a
new game.
"Xavier, please," he heard
himself begging, hating himself for it. "You said all you wanted was to
finish what we started. Then you would be gone, right?" Brian stared hard
at Xavier. "Right?"
Xavier turned to flash him a repulsively
twisted smile. "Depends."
Brian despised his vague replies, but
played along. "Depends. Depends on what?"
"Depends on how good of a boy you’re
going to be."
Brian waited, saying nothing, knowing the
routine by now.
Swinging onto the Broadway off ramp, an
arrow indicating the way to the arena, Xavier finally spoke. "Yes, it
should prove interesting. How well you can behave." Seeing that Brian was
not taking the bait, Xavier fumed in frustration, turning his teasing into an
angrier tone. "Behaving. Reckon you do that, Brian? Huh? Cause if you can’t,
I’m thinking about sticking around for a long time." Brian turned to see
the promise in Xavier’s eyes. "A long, long, time."
* * * * * *
It took more than one drink to settle
their nerves, but Kevin made sure that no one had more than two. They walked
silently down the corridor, led by one of the arena’s security guards. The
guard stopped by a double door, giving the four a bob of his head, then left.
They stared at the closed door for a moment then looked at each other for
reassurance. Out of the four, Nick was the most composed and it surprised
Kevin. He glanced at the youngest Backstreet Boy, his green eyes forming a
question. Nick looked calmly back, his face serene.
"Let’s do it."
AJ and Howie nodded their agreement and
entered the room, their eyes searching for Brian. They found Xavier first,
slouched in a seat, one booted foot planted unceremoniously on the conference
table.
They all quickly dismissed him, trying to
locate the one they were here for. Their eyes finally rested on Brian, who sat
on the opposite side of Xavier, his head bowed, staring fixedly at his hands.
Slowly, little by little, Brian raised his head to meet the eyes of Howie,
Kevin, Nick, and AJ.
***