Lou Pearlman sat in a restaurant with his assistant manager Johnny Wright, discussing the plans for the next concert. Pushing his plate aside, Pearlman spread out sheets of papers. He pulled a crumpled red handkerchief from his back pocket and mopped the sweat that had beaded across his broad forehead.
"Carter has put my tit in a wringer with this," the obese manager growled as he shuffled through the papers.
"Well, it wasn't something that Nick could have planned," Johnny defended.
Pearlman slammed a chubby fist down on the table, causing the dishes to clatter and some of the other diners to look in their direction. "Bullshit! He makes a big deal out of nothing!"
"Frankly, I don't think you could fake an appendicitis attack," the other manager whispered.
"Well he probably knew this was coming a long time ago and just never did anything about it," Pearlman growled.
Wright just shook his head, unsure if he could persuade the manager to change his mind. "Okay, so what are the plans then? We could post phone those tour stops and reschedule them at a later date."
"Nonsense! We will just have to have the others fill in for Carter. Time is money and we can't go and cancel concerts and refund tickets. That would be ludicrous!"
"But have the others perform for Nick? You know that he has the higher fan base than the others......you know, blonde kid.....blue eyes and stuff."
"We'll just have to satisfy them with impromtu telecasts with the boy like we did the last time. Another live feed from his sick bed."
Johnny shook his head. "I don't really think that's such a good idea, I mean you blind sided the poor kid when you had the media in there. For chrissake Lou, he's had surgery and really isn't feeling the greatest."
Pearlman stacked the papers together. "He's under contract and he has to do what I say.......his mommy signed the dotted line giving me complete control."
"But what you're talking about----"
"Is okay and you'll keep thinking that if you know what's good for you," Pearlman interrupted the black manager with a hiss.
Johnny gestured to the manager's cell phone on the table. "Have you called back Dorough to see what he wanted?"
Lou rolled his eyes. "I doubt it was anything important.....he was probably out of hair gel or something insignificant and had his panties in a bunch."
"I think you should call him back anyway."
"If it was that important he'll call again."
"Have you heard from Mrs. Carter lately?"
Pearlman groaned. "Yeah she left a voice mail on my cell phone."
The black manager stared at Pearlman waiting for more information. After a few moments of silence he was rewarded with the man meeting his stare.
"What?"
"So what did she say when you called her back?"
"I haven't called her back."
Johnny's eyes widened in shock. "You haven't called her back? My God man, you should have called her back the moment you listened to your message."
"I was a little busy and with the time differences and such it hasn't been a good time to return her call."
"Well don't you think you should call her back?"
Pearlman mopped the sweat off his face once again. "I'll call her back when I get back to my room."
Johnny pushed the cell phone toward Pearlman. "How about you call her right now?"
The manager grabbed the phone and promptly tucked into his front shirt pocket. "I said I'll call the woman when I get back to my room."
Not trusting Lou's words, Johnny leveled a hard glare back. "You better because I will find out later if you didn't."
"Listen here, you of all people do not have the right to talk to me that way or even order me around. You're as insignificant to me as a mosquito and I'd squash you just as soon look at you! You are indebted to me and you better keep your mouth shut if you want to keep your house or your pretty little family. Just one word from your mouth and I'll talk!" Pearlman ended the conversation as he pushed his bulky frame away from the table, quickly adding. "Meet me up in my room in an hour."
Wright watched in silence as the manager left the restaurant. He felt helpless in the entire situation once Pearlman had practically pointed out that he literally held his balls in his hands. Lou Pearlman had enough dirt on him to bury him six feet under if he wanted and Johnny was scared of what Lou could do to him if he crossed the line. He knew what the man was doing to those boys was wrong but he had no other choice but to follow the orders of the older man and keep his mouth shut. Sighing, he tossed his napkin on top of the table and made his way back to his own room.
"I'm getting my turn with that fat bastard first!" AJ declared once they had left Nick's room.
Howie grabbed the rebel's shoulder. "Stand in line because I'm going to have a few choice words with him myself!"
AJ slowed his pace. "A few choice words? What the fuck good is that gonna do? Are you going to have a pissing match next to see who can pee the farthest? I swear D....."
"Well I know I'd like to ask Lou a few questions myself," Brian said as he and Kevin flanked AJ and Howie as they walked down the hall. It wasn't until the four men stepped on the elevator did the eldest member of the group speak.
"No one is going to say jack to Pearlman....I'm doing the talking and it would be best that you keep your butts in your hotel room where they belong. I need to have a sit down talk with him one on one. I've been keeping tabs on all the fuck ups that Pearlman has done over the past couple of months and according to my attorney, we have a good case going."
"What the fuck!?" AJ spat.
Kevin's glare bore down on the rebel. "Did you just hear what I said? You are not to go near Pearlman! You of all people will make this far worse than what it already is!" With that, once outside of the hospital, the elder Kentuckian hailed a taxi and they headed back to the hotel, the rest of the guys afraid to utter a word, almost certain they would rile Kevin's anger up more that it already was.
As Louis J. Pearlman shuffled into his hotel suite, the first thing he did was untuck his shirt from his pants. As he tossed the paperwork onto his bed, he reached into his front pocket and pulled out his cell phone. Setting the phone ontop of the king sized bed, the wet bar caught his eyes. Licking his lips, he decided that a stiff drink was in order before he even thought about placing a call back to that Carter woman.
Pulling the stopper out of the bottle of scotch, Pearlman placed three large ice cubes into the stout glass and then poured the honey colored liquor over the ice. Taking a large gulp, his bliss was short lived when his hotel phone started ringing. "Christ," the obese manager uttered as he waddled over toward the night stand. "Yeah?" he growled into the phone.
"Lou?"
Hearing the woman's voice on the receiver made the manager shudder inwardly for a brief moment. Taking another quick drink from his glass, he quickly regained his normal unflappable composure. "Jane.....I was just getting ready to call you---"
"I left several messages for you at the front desk," Jane Carter interrupted.
"..Yes, I know you have, it's just that I've been busy with the boys," Pearlman lied.
"You could have called me right back, I know that my Nicky has had surgery," Jane continued. She wasn't as easlily distracted as Denise McLean had been, Pearlman decided.
Lou cleared his throat and then let out a casual chuckle. "Yes, I know...that Nick was one sick young man but he is on the road to recovery..."
"But I've tried calling my baby and the hospital won't put my calls through!" Jane stated angrily.
"Yes, that was my doin' Mrs. Carter," Pearlman offered.
"But he's my son, I don't understand why you told them I couldn't speak to my own son!"
"Nick needs his rest and with him being over here Mrs. Carter," he started out, chuckling once again, "you don't realize how popular your son is, the people that try calling the hospital pretending to be you is unreal."
"Oh?" Jane's voice started to sound more soothed and Pearlman smiled.
"Why yes Jane, people are fighting to get to Nick and the people in England can get pretty wild...you know how those foreigners are. They all want to be Jane Carter."
"Well I suppose that's true," Jane cooed. "So how is my Nicky doing?"
"Your boy is doing wonderful ma'am. Would you like me to have him call you when I go up to see him today?"
Jane sighed, "If you could I'd really appreciate it."
"No problem, I'll try to arrange it so it won't be too late in the evening for you."
The older woman smiled. "You are always so thoughtful."
"Well after all you put me in charge of your son and I only want to do what's best for the young man," Pearlman smiled in his voice as he looked down at his glass of scotch.
"Thank you. I will look forward to hearing from Nick soon."
"And you will," Pearlman promised. "Talk to you soon Jane." With that being said, Pearlman abruptly ended the phone conversation. Draining the glass of the scotch, Pearlman grunted as he stood up. "Damn I am good..."
His state of being pleased with himself was shortlived when a loud knock was heard on his door.
"OPEN UP LOU....WE NEED TO TALK!"
Lou sighed as he made his way toward the door. "Hold your horses!" Pearlman barely had the door open when Kevin Richardson pried his way into the hotel room. "Richardson, you didn't have to stand out in the hall and yell like a maniac!" the obese manager chastized.
"Cut with bullshit! We need to talk about the shit you're doing to Nick," Kevin said as he locked eyes with the older man.