Chapter 27

Tara found Nick, Kevin, and AJ pounding on the door to Brian's room, screaming for him to open it.

"What's going on?" Howie joined them soon after Tara arrived, his eyes widening at the looks on everyone's faces. "You guys are screaming…"

"You didn't hear Brian?" AJ asked him, before continuing to bang on the door.

"No, I was sleeping," Howie explained. "What'd he do?"

"Screamed. Loud." Kevin frowned, and looked at Howie. "Go to Philly's room, get his key to Brian's."

"Gotcha," Howie took off down the hallway at top speed.

"Brian, open up! Brian!!" Nick's voice cracked as he screamed, and he stepped away from the door, shocked by his own emotion. "Dammit."

"Cuz, come on, just open the damn door," Kevin pleaded, kicking the door with all of his strength. "WHY WON'T YOU FUCKING ANSWER!!"

"Philly's not there," Howie returned, out of breath. "He still hasn't opened?"

"No," Kevin thought for a moment, before turning to Nick. "Go into your room, call to the front desk, tell them we need a key to Brian's room."

"Why me?" Nick argued, glaring at Kevin. "I want to stay…"

"You need to go DO something, now," Kevin said firmly, giving Nick a shove. "Go."

Tara followed Nick into their room, watching as he sat down on the couch and made the call. "He's going to be ok, Nick," she said softly.

Nick stared at her for a moment, before turning away, shaking his head. He spoke quietly into the phone, before hanging it up. "They're on their way."

"Nick…"

Nick held a hand up, and shook his head again. "Don't. Just, don't," he looked at Tara sadly, tears in his eyes.

"But…"

"I said don't," he snapped, and walked out the door, back into the hallway.

"Shit," Tara muttered, following him out.

The group continued to pound on Brian's door for a few minutes, until the hotel manager showed up, key in hand. They watched impatiently as he opened the door, and waved them in.

Kevin was first into the room, charging in and looking around. "Brian? Where are you?"

"Brian," Nick gasped, and backed away from the bedroom door at the sight of his friend.

"Brian, what's going on?" Kevin ran into the bedroom, shooting a glare at Nick for not going in.

Brian was huddled in a ball on the floor of his bedroom, his arms wrapped tight around his knees, rocking back and forth. Tears were streaming down his face, as he slowly raised his head to look at Kevin. "Kev?"

"It's me, Brian, what happened?" Kevin dropped to the floor in front of his cousin, pulling him into a hug. "Tell me."

"It's over there," Brian said weakly, pointing to the other side of the room.

"It?"

AJ pushed past Nick, who was still standing in the doorway of the room, and walked over to the object on the floor, picking it up and examining it. "Oh holy fucking hell," he cursed.

"What is it?" Howie asked, joining them in the room.

AJ held it up for Howie to see, nodding when the other man cursed similarly. "Yeah."

'It' was a warped version of a crucifix, with Brian's Backstreet Boys' action figure nailed to a wooden cross. It had been painted red where the nails went through the plastic, and the head of the figure had been broken, to droop down in an imitation of what most crucifixes looked like.

Kevin looked up, gasping when he registered what AJ was holding. "Fuck," he muttered, returning his attention to his cousin sobbing in his arms. "Brian, it's just an action figure…"

"It's me, Kevin, it's supposed to be me," Brian cried, clutching onto Kevin tight for support. "I can't deal with this anymore, not that, how could someone do this?"

Tara stood outside the room, watching the events inside, as well as Nick, still leaning on the doorpost, tears slowly trickling down his face. She was feeling more and more helpless as the days went on, what could she do other than watch?

"We're gonna stop this Brian, I swear we are," Kevin said consolingly, rubbing his cousin's back.

"We have to, Kevin, this is just wrong," Brian looked up at Nick hiding in the doorway, and his eyes narrowed. "Nicky? Are you ok?"

Nick stared back at Brian for a moment, before shaking his head and running out of the room at top speed.

"Go after him," Kevin told Tara, waving to Nick. "We got things under control here, Brian'll be fine."

Tara chased Nick back into their room, frowning when he stormed into the bedroom and slammed the door. "Nick? Open up."

"You can sleep out there," he called through the door, his voice muffled.

"You can't stay cooped up in there."

"Yes I can, and I will."

Tara tried to open the door of the room, frowning when it refused to budge. "You locked me out!"

"That was the idea of the lock."

"Goddammit, Nick, open the fucking door!" Tara shouted, kicking the door for emphasis.

"NO! Leave me the fuck alone!" He shouted back.

"Shit," Tara cursed, and walked back into the room, sitting down on the couch with her arms crossed over her chest. "Dammit, Nick, you can't do this to me," she muttered, curling up and staring at the locked door. She continued to stare at the door until her eyes began to close on her, and she fell asleep, still wondering when Nick would let her in.

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Tara woke up to the sound of gunfire. She sat up with a start, looking around the room in a panic. "What's going on?" She groaned when she saw Nick sitting in front of the television, Nintendo controller in hand. "Oh."

"Sorry if I woke you up," Nick mumbled, continuing to stare at the television.

"That's ok," Tara rubbed her eyes, and looked at Nick carefully. "Are you ok?"

"Dandy," he threw the controller on the floor and walked into the bedroom, slamming the door behind him.

Tara stared at the closed door, her mouth dropping open in surprise. Ok, what the hell was that?? "Nick," she got up and banged on the door, rolling her eyes when he didn't reply. "NICK!"

"WHAT?" Nick yanked the door open and glared at her through narrowed eyes. "What the fuck do you want?"

"Do you want me to leave?" Tara asked quickly, biting her lip against the tears she could feel forming in her eyes.

"Yes," he said flatly, before slamming the door again.

Tara fought back a sob, and banged on the door again. "NICK!"

"I just said yes!" He shouted as he opened the door. "Now what?"

"My things are in there," she gestured past him into the bedroom.

"I didn't mean permanently," Nick said quickly, frowning at the tears in her eyes. "Why are you crying?"

Tara looked at him in amazement. He really didn't have a clue, did he. "Why? Gee, Nick, why would I be crying," she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Why?" He asked again, his eyes widening when she stormed away from him. "Tara…"

"You know, Nick, I tried real hard not to fall for you. But you just kept pushing, until I did, and now that I genuinely care about you? You just don't seem to give a shit," Tara said angrily, waving him away. "You want me gone, I'm gone."

"Don't leave the tour," Nick insisted, watching her run through the suite. "Tara…"

"I'm not, Nick, not just yet. I just think I need a room of my own," Tara left the room, slamming the door behind her. She headed down the hallway, before stopping, unsure of where to go. She smiled weakly at the security guards sitting outside the hotel room, and continued walking, biting her lip.

"Hey!"

Tara gave a start at the loud voice, and turned around, forcing a smile on to her face. "Jessica."

"Where you headed?"

"Not sure," she ran a hand through her hair. "I'm half asleep, I think I need coffee."

"I was just heading down to get some breakfast, want to join me?" Jessica asked her cheerfully.

Tara shrugged. "Sure." She followed Jessica into the elevator and punched the button for the lobby, before turning to her curiously. "So what were you doing up here? I thought only the guys, and their bodyguards were on this floor?"

"Bodyguards, management, yeah, they're all up here," Jessica nodded.

"So…."

"So I had to talk to Philly about some stuff, that's all," she replied evenly. "I am here WORKING, you know."

"I know that…"

"It's been pretty tough lately, actually," Jessica strode out of the elevator when it stopped, quickly making her way into the hotel restaurant. Once they were seated, she continued, "you know, I always have to post pictures on the website, and write cute little blurbs about what's been going on. This tour, it's been pretty hard to do."

"Why?" Tara asked, her eyes narrowing.

"There hasn't been very much happy stuff happening to report," Jessica explained. "Most of the pictures I've gotten have been unusable, and what on earth am I supposed to report about what's been going on?"

"I can understand that," Tara nodded. "You don't really want to tell them the truth, huh."

"Well, to an extent, I have to, that was what I was talking to Philly about. Nick…they're writing in, asking how he's doing." Jessica looked at Tara closely. "How IS he doing?"

Tara snorted, "oh lovely."

"That bad?"

"Yeah."

"Can't be easy on him, going through all of this so publicly," Jessica said sympathetically. "Not when they're all used to being so private."

"You mentioned that before, that they don't like telling the truth?" Tara said delicately. "They've all seemed pretty open to me, though, I mean, I'm nobody, and they've just brought me in here like this."

"These aren't exactly normal circumstances though. Under normal circumstances, trust me, you would have gotten nowhere near them."

Tara frowned, and bit her lip. "I don't know, they seem like pretty open guys."

Jessica chuckled, and waved to the waitress for coffee. "Sure they are. Tell me, Tara, exactly how much do you know about any of them?"

"Well, I…" Tara started, then stopped, considering the question carefully.

"Not much, right? Know anything about their families? Friends? What they like to do for fun?"

Tara stared at Jess, her eyes wide. "I guess not," she said softly, frowning deeply. She hadn't even known Nick had a brother until he'd mentioned him…

"See? They're very private. Too private, some might say. Paranoid."

"Rightly so."

"With you? They can trust you," Jessica stirred her coffee, before looking up at Tara, a wry smile on her face. "Can't they?"

"Of course!!"

"They still don't. They don't trust anyone," she said firmly. "Nick's the worst of them, it doesn't surprise me at all that he's acting up now."

"What do you mean, the worst?"

"Threaten Nick's secrets, then…ooh…" Jessica chuckled. "He'll do awful things. He's got a temper, you know."

Tara's face fell, and she looked at Jessica, sensing the conversation had moved into another direction. "Pardon?"

"Nick. He has one hell of a temper. Has he hit you yet?"

Tara gasped, and stood up, shaking her head. "I think I'm going to go find him…"

"Tara, I'm just trying to warn you," Jessica said quickly, grabbing her hand. "Don't trust them, it'll only get you hurt."

"I really care about him, Jessica, I'm more worried about him being hurt right now."

"I know from experience here, ok? They've screwed over people they've claimed to have cared about in the past, they won't hesitate to do it to you."

Tara yanked her hand away, her heart pounding in her chest. What the HELL was Jessica talking about? And why was she getting such an awful feeling from this conversation… "I'll see you later, Jess," she said, walking away.

"Tootles, Tara. Watch your back!"

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