Chapter 25

"Morning, baby."

Tara's eyes fluttered open slowly, and she smiled when she saw Nick watching her closely, his face an inch from hers. "Morning, Nicky."

"Sleep well?"

"Through the night," she replied softly, staring into his blue eyes. "Something I don't think either of us has done in a while."

"You snore," Nick remarked, placing a kiss on her forehead.

Tara laughed, and batted his face away. "I do not!"

"You do too," he grabbed her hands and held them tight. "It's cute."

"Anyway, how would you know that I snore? Weren't you sleeping?" Tara challenged. When Nick didn't reply, she frowned, "Nick?"

"Couldn't sleep," he mumbled, dropping her hands and rolling over onto his back.

"But, Nicky…."

"I liked watching you sleep," Nick said coyly. "Even if you do snore."

"I do not snore!!" Tara sat up in bed and looked down at Nick, running a hand through his hair. "You're pale, and all puffy," she said softly, one finger tracing the bags under his eyes. "You really need your sleep."

He shrugged, and turned his face away, "sleeping isn't so easy anymore."

"You could have woken me up, I would have helped you get to sleep."

"How?" Nick looked into her eyes, his expression doubtful. "When I sleep, I remember things I don't want to think about."

"Warm milk?" Tara offered helpfully.

"Doesn't stop me from dreaming." Nick said regretfully. He rolled his eyes when the phone began to ring, and sat up, reaching across the bed to pick it up. "Hello?" He let out a soft gasp, and stared at Tara, his eyes wide. "Ok. We'll be right there."

"What?" Tara asked the second the phone was back on the hook, fearing the worst. "What happened?"

Nick stood up before answering, taking a deep breath. "We need to get to Kevin's room."

"Why?" Tara followed him out of the room, her eyes widening when she saw him throw on a t-shirt and walk to the door. "Nick? Pants?"

Nick shrugged, and opened the door. "We need to get to Kevin's."

"What happened?" Tara asked again, grabbing a pair of pants off of the floor and pulling them on as she hopped through the door.

"Someone tried to run Kristen off the road last night. She's in the hospital," Nick answered sadly.

"Oh, god."

Brian answered the door as soon as they knocked, waving them in with a solemn expression. "He's not doing so good," he said softly, gesturing to Kevin, who was huddled on the couch with his face in his hands.

"Kevin, I'm so sorry," Tara offered, shaken to the bone at the sight of him so distraught. Kevin was always strong, always in control, but right now he looked small and fragile. Not at all what she'd ever expected to see.

"How is she, Kev?" Nick asked, sitting down next to Kevin and slinging an arm across his shoulders.

"Broken ribs, concussion," Kevin replied weakly. "Doctor says she's lucky. Could have been killed."

"Thank god she wasn't," Brian whispered, shaking his head slowly.

"He said he wasn't happy with his failure to kill her before, he said he was going to try again," Kevin continued, his green eyes bright. "Goddamn him, why doesn't he just hurt ME! Why does he have to go after my wife??"

"The idea is to torture us," Howie said sadly. "I think he knew hurting YOU wouldn't have much effect. Hurting Kristen…"

"That fucking bastard," Kevin interrupted, his lower lip trembling. "My wife has nothing to do with him."

"Neither does Howie, AJ, or Brian," Nick added, fighting tears himself. "We did this, Kev, you realize that?"

Kevin stared at Nick for a moment, before shrugging off his arm and standing up. "Yes, I realize that, thanks Nick," he said harshly, glaring at the blonde. "My wife's in the hospital because of a relationship I had years ago. I didn't exactly need the reminder."

"I'm just saying…"

"I know what you're saying, Nick, and you can stop it!"

"We don't know for sure this is him, Kevin," Brian argued, looking at his cousin.

"Yes we do," AJ said from the corner of the room, where he was sitting with a laptop on his lap. "He's got pictures."

"Of Kristen?" Kevin's face paled, and he ran to AJ, bending down to look at the screen. "Oh god," he turned away the second the images registered on his mind.

"Of Kristen," AJ said sadly. "These must have been taken before the police and ambulance got there."

"At least we'll be in Florida this weekend, Kevin, you can see her then?" Nick said helpfully.

Kevin shook his head slowly, "no. Kristen's getting out of Florida the minute she gets out of that hospital. Brian, Leighanne should go too. Anyone we care about should get FAR away from anywhere anyone could guess they'd be."

Nick's face turned green, and he sat up straight on the couch, staring at Kevin. "What do you mean, anywhere anyone could guess they'd be?"

"I mean if this guy knows we care about them, and knows where they'll be, that makes them a target."

"Don't say that," Nick said quickly, followed by a shake of his head. "No, don't say that, Kevin, don't."

"Why not?"

"Oh, Nicky," Brian breathed, his eyes wide. "This guy has never said a thing, I'm sure you don't have to worry…"

"Worry about what?" Tara asked, staring at Nick in concern. Something had him terrified all of a sudden, that much she could tell.

"Aaron, my brother," Nick said softly, staring at the floor in front of him. "God, the whole world knows where Aaron's going to be for the next two months. He's touring. Aaron, my sisters, my mother, my father…they're all there."

Tara gasped, "oh, Nick."

"Get him to cancel the tour, Nick," Kevin said firmly.

"I can't, my mom would never let him…"

"DO IT, Nick," Kevin interrupted. "Ask you mom if she wants what happened to you to happen to Aaron. Then she'll cancel."

Nick's blue eyes filled with tears as he looked at Kevin. "You don't think…"

"I don't know anything anymore, Nick, he nearly killed my wife last night."

"He can't hurt my brother!"

"Then get him to cancel his tour, or this guy just might."

*************************************************************************

It was a very long, and tiresome day for everyone. The press work the guys were used to doing on tour had taken a very gruesome turn as of late, with reporters asking Nick question after question about his rape, and when they would discover he was unwilling to talk very much about it, they would ask about their "stalker," as they'd chosen to call the person inflicting such terror on them. They had known the press would do this, of course, but had realized, quite correctly, that it would be unable to pretend nothing was going on. Not with Nick, and now Kevin, near tears on a regular basis. It was pretty obvious.

The group gathered in Kevin's room after the night's show, each trying to make light of the day, and their concert, which had been mediocre at best. Nobody's mind was on the show. And, well, the fans weren't thinking much about the music either, as Nick quickly pointed out.

"Do you see the way they look at me?" Nick asked the group as he threw himself down on the couch, curling up into a ball. "Normally I get charged by the fans when I walk through the lobby. Can you believe I miss it?"

"They're just worried about you, Nicky," Howie said lightly. He had seen it as they'd returned from the night's concert, and had been stunned. The fans had run to the van as it had pulled up to the hotel, and then BACKED AWAY when they saw Nick emerge. As if they were afraid of him, almost.

"What do they think, if I sign their autograph or take a picture with them they're gonna catch something from me?" Nick asked angrily.

"Howie's right, Nick," Tara said softly, sitting down next to him and placing a hand on his knee. "They just don't know how to act around you, they're concerned."

"I liked it a lot more when they didn't give a shit about me, and only wanted their autograph," he muttered, shaking his head. "What kind of fans are they…"

"They're doing it to all of us," Brian said with a sigh, taking a seat across from Nick. "It's all of these articles about how someone's out to kill us, they're just scared."

"Putting on a half-assed show isn't helping much either," AJ grumbled.

"Bone, don't start," Kevin warned, glaring at him. "Not tonight."

"Well, if we'd canceled the tour…"

"We've been through that."

"All I'm saying is…"

"I KNOW what you're saying, and can it."

"Yes, Kevin. You always know best, Kevin," AJ said sarcastically.

"Did I say that?"

"I'm sure you meant it."

"Stop it, you two," Howie interrupted their bickering. "Yes, tonight's show was less than perfect, but we're going through a lot of shit right now, and the fans understand that."

"So that's why they're looking at me like I'm from another planet," Nick rolled his eyes.

"How many of them have ever dealt with rape before, Nick? You're opening their eyes up to something they probably never thought about before," Howie explained.

"Well, ya know, I never thought about it much either," Nick shot back, his eyes narrowing. "And now it seems I just can't forget it."

"I think we all just need a good night's sleep," Brian said loudly, looking around the room. "Especially you, and you," he singled out Nick and Kevin.

"I think we need to find the asshole who's been doing this and put him behind bars," AJ argued. "Or just rip his head off."

"Palmer says she's getting closer," Howie offered helpfully. "Someone got a partial plate on Kristen's car, and she says she already has two solid suspects."

"Who?" Tara asked, her eyes widening when Howie didn't reply. "Howie? WHO?"

"Your friends," he said softly, biting his lip. "Tara, come on, it makes sense…"

"Why, because Andy's gay and Tommy's using his middle name? That's bullshit," she spat out angrily. "They're not blondes, for the record, and trust me, if Andy had slept with either of you two before, he would have mentioned it to me. He can't wait to meet you next week."

"Next week?" Brian asked.

"LA. He has backstage passes."

"Great, so we get to meet someone who could be the one doing all this shit to us. Lovely," AJ groaned.

"Don't you start it too, if you're going to suspect every gay man around I could give you a pretty long list."

"He knew about you, Tara, isn't that where this came from?"

Tara sighed, "yes, but…"

"But nothing, he's a suspect. Hair color can change, just look at mine."

"So, ANYWAY," Kevin said, raising an eyebrow. "Nick. Did you talk to your mother about Aaron?"

Nick nodded slowly, "yes."

"And?"

"I knew what was going to happen, I told you she wouldn't cancel," Nick said sadly. "His tour's still happening."

"Even when you told her…"

"She said it was all my fault anyway," Nick's eyes filled with tears, and he bit his lip, not wanting to cry, yet again, in front of all of his friends. "She said it wouldn't happen to Aaron, because he's smarter than I am."

"Where does she get the nerve," Kevin hissed, his mouth dropping open in surprise. "You don't believe that, do you?"

Nick shrugged sadly, before standing up and sniffling. "Aaron IS smarter than me. I don't know."

"Nick…"

"I'm gonna go to bed," he said quickly, looking down at Tara. "Coming, babe?"

"Yeah," Tara stood up and took his hand, squeezing it tight. "Kevin's right, you know, your mother had no right to say that to you."

"I don't care about my mom, Tara, I care about Aaron," Nick said. "If this guy touches him, I…I…" he shuddered, and shook his head. "I don't want to think about it."

"If it helps to know, Nick, I do think Aaron's going to be just fine," Kevin said softly.

"Why?"

"Because he's already targeted a person you care about."

"What?" Nick looked at Kevin, his eyes narrowing. "Explain?"

"Well, I think my mom's ok, because he's already gone after Kristen, you know? It's Kristen I need to watch out for."

"So…."

"So Aaron should be ok."

"Because?"

"He's already targeted Tara."

"Oh."

Tara added softly, "yeah. Oh."

***

ß Back | Next à