Part 310
Sarah woke suddenly and realized she was still on the couch where she’d been watching a movie. Howie was obviously not back. Besides still being on the couch, there was no blanket over her, which she knew he would have done for her. She looked at her watch and realized it was almost one in the morning.
‘Maybe he patched things up with Nick,’ she thought. ‘I wish I knew where he was.’
Getting up, she went to the door and looked out in the hall. Spotting Billy talking to Carlos and Raoul, she asked sleepily, "Hey, guys, have you seen Howie?"
The three men looked at each other and Carlos asked, "Didn’t he come up with Tommy?"
"I don’t know," said Sarah. "He’s not in here."
Billy said, "I didn’t see him and I’ve been out here all night. Sorry, Sarah."
"I take it Nick’s not with Becca."
"Uh…NO, and if he’s smart, he won’t try either," said Billy flatly.
Raoul didn’t like the fact that Howie hadn’t come back with Tommy or at least called Sarah to tell her where he was going. He knew that things had been tense over the last week and this was NOT characteristic of Howie. "Sarah, do you want me to go look for him?"
"No, I’ll go. Stay here with Jesse, please."
Billy was a little concerned about Sarah going down alone even if it was late. "Sarah, let Carlos go with you if you aren’t gonna take Raoul. I don’t want you going alone."
Sarah shook her head, "I’m not gonna go alone. I’m gonna call Alex."
Sarah had a good idea where Howie was and she wanted AJ to go with her. They both had experience dealing with him when he was drunk.
Going back into the room, Sarah closed the door and leaned against it. ‘God, Howie…what happened tonight?’
Picking up the phone, Sarah quickly dialed AJ’s room and listened to it ringing.
A groggy voice picked up, "Yeah."
"Alex…I need you."
AJ sat up quickly hearing the panic in Sarah’s voice and knew it had to do with Howie. "I’ll be there in a minute, Sarah."
Kevin and AJ were sharing a room and as AJ was dressing by the light of the bathroom, Kevin asked sleepily, "What’s up, ‘Bone’?"
"Something’s wrong with Howie and Sarah. She just called and sounded worried."
"Need me to go too?"
"Nah…go back to sleep. You and Brian are gonna have to do the day shift with Nick and Becca and Howie and Sarah."
Kevin chuckled before rolling over and going back to sleep.
Sarah met AJ at the door. "Alex, Howie hasn’t come back."
"What do you mean he hasn’t come back? When I left him, he was going to do something for the foundation and then come up here."
"Alex, there wasn’t anything he needed to do with the foundation. What happened at the interviews?"
"Come on, let’s go find him and I’ll tell you about it."
Closing the door quietly behind her, Sarah followed AJ to the elevators. On the way down, he explained what had happened between Nick and Howie and Sarah shook her head. No wonder he hadn’t come back. She knew he felt like he’d disappointed her and couldn’t face her. She just hoped he’d gone for a walk rather than to the bar.
Stepping off the elevator, AJ asked, "Where do you want to look first?"
Sighing, Sarah asked, "Do you really have to ask that?"
AJ pulled Sarah into a protective embrace. "He’ll be okay, ‘Tigger’."
"I know. This is just one huge fuckin’ ass mess…and what if the press gets hold of all this?"
"They won’t. Come on."
The two headed to the bar where sure enough, it was obvious that Howie was there. In the corner, there was a huge crowd of women and Howie was in the middle. Sarah’s grip on AJ’s hand tightened.
Making their way to the group, several of the women spotted Sarah and AJ. Recognizing them immediately, they made a hasty retreat not wanting a confrontation with Sarah. That only left a few women, one of which was doing an erotic lap dance for Howie.
AJ spotted the empty bottles on the table and looked at Howie. He was clearly wasted; his eyes were half shut and he was barely responding to the girl shaking her tits in his face. There was another girl standing behind Howie with her hands reaching around him and caressing his chest as she kissed his neck.
Sarah cleared her throat and said, "Excuse me."
The one dancing didn’t turn around as she said, "Get your own man, honey. This one is taken."
"Yeah…and I have a marriage license that says he’s MINE! Now get your DAMN hands off him," said Sarah in a soft but menacing tone.
The two girls now turned to see Sarah standing there with AJ and they quickly backed away.
Despite his inebriation, Howie still recognized Sarah’s voice and slurred, "Angel?"
Moving to him, Sarah said, "Yeah, D…it’s me."
The tears began as Howie pulled her into his lap. "El Angel…yo’ve lo enroscó arriba tan malo! Nicky ganó’discurso T a mí…mi hermano pequeño. El dios…él me odia."
"Shhh, D. Slow down. I can’t understand you when you speak Spanish so fast," soothed Sarah.
"I tried to apologize to Nick…. and he wouldn’t listen to me. I’ve screwed up REALLY bad this time," Howie cried.
"It’ll work out, D. I promise," replied Sarah. "AJ and I are going to get you back up to our room."
AJ spoke, "I’m gonna go take care of the bar tab, Sarah."
Sarah nodded to acknowledge him as she continued to hold Howie who was now sobbing. She ran her fingers through his hair talking softly to him trying to calm him.
From out of nowhere came an evil laugh. "Well, well, well…if it isn’t the High and Mighty Pop Princess. What’s the matter, Sarah? Couldn’t you keep Howie in your bed?"
Sarah looked up but didn’t recognize the girl standing in front of her. "Who are you and should I know you?"
"I’m the one who made sure all these women with Howie tonight FUCKED him…oh, they had the time of their lives too. He really is insatiable."
From behind the woman came Raoul’s booming voice, "Candy, get the hell out of here!"
The woman spun around to face him. Suddenly terrified, the woman he’d called Candy began to tremble as she asked, "Where did you come from? I thought Tommy was Howie’s bodyguard."
"He is…I’m Sarah’s bodyguard. Now, I’ll say it again…Get the HELL out of here. There’s a restraining order that says you’re not suppose to be within 50 yards of me!"
Regaining her confidence, Candy eyed Sarah. "Sweetie, you should know, Howie here is one of the BIGGEST bed-hoppers in the whole Backstreet camp. He’s been screwing Lisa from day one, he screwed me, Claudia, and I could name a dozen others. And the reason he had Tammy fired was because she wouldn’t do him."
Sarah was fighting the tears of anger as she held on to Howie. "You’re a lying slut," she whispered, anger spilling out in her words.
Raoul took Candy by the arm and said, "GET OUT!!"
AJ had returned and put his hand on Sarah’s back. "Come on, Sarah. I’ll help you get him upstairs."
Sarah stood but Howie had passed out and there was no way she could carry him. Fortunately, Carlos and Marcus were with Raoul and they got Howie between them and carried him out of the bar with AJ putting his arm around Sarah and following them.
As the elevator doors closed, Sarah asked, "How did you know her?"
Raoul had joined them and said, "She’s my ex-wife and Tammy’s sister. Don’t believe a word she said."
"Why not? He’s certainly had TIME to have slept with them!"
"You don’t REALLY believe that," said AJ.
Regretfully, Sarah said, "I don’t know. He’s definitely acting out of character."
"Not really and you know it. You’ve seen him like this before, Sarah…when he was hurting."
The elevator reached their floor and the group moved to Howie’s room where Billy helped them get the door open. Raoul and Marcus took Howie into the bedroom and then returned to find AJ and Sarah sitting on the couch.
Raoul put his hand on Sarah’s shoulder. "Sarah, my ex-wife is nothing more than a trouble maker and a lying one at that. Please, don’t believe her."
AJ had Sarah’s hand. "Sarah, Howie’s hurting because he knows he’s made some mistakes and he’s scared but he loves you and you know it. If you truly want proof that Howie didn’t sleep with anyone, then look at the bar tab. They time stamp it so they can monitor customers’ alcohol consumption. He got the first bottle just fifteen minutes after the interviews were done. Then he talked to Nick and me. There’s NO WAY he could have been with ANY of them."
Sarah looked at the tab that AJ handed her and saw that he was right. Guilt for even considering Howie would do something like that flooded and she began to cry.
Pulling her into his embrace, AJ motioned for Raoul and Marcus to leave. "She’ll be okay, guys. I’ll stay here with her."
"Are you sure?" asked Raoul.
"I’m positive. Go on and get some sleep. They’re gonna need you to watch Jesse tomorrow."
Raoul leaned over and gave Sarah a kiss on top of her head. "’Nite, Sarah."
Alone, AJ rubbed her back and talked softly to her. "It’s going to be okay, Sarah. He’s hurting really bad right now and he’s going to need you in the morning."
"I can’t believe that I even thought he would do something like that."
Trying to make Sarah smile, AJ said, "Did you get a look at the tab and see how much he had to drink?"
"There’s NO WAY in hell Howie could drink $500 worth of liquor."
"No, I expect the women charged quite a bit to his bill but those two bottles of tequila are HIS and he’s going to be a hurtin’ puppy in the morning."
"Serves him right," sniffled Sarah.
"Go on to bed and I’ll see you in the morning, ‘Tigger’."
"Are you gonna sleep here or what?"
"Do you want me to?"
"There’s no need. I can handle Howie from here. Thank you, Alex….AGAIN."
"Hey, we’re family and families stick together," said AJ giving her a kiss. "I’ll see you at breakfast."
Sarah walked AJ to the door and then locked it behind him. Turning off the light, Sarah went to the bedroom where Howie snored softly. She stood in the doorway watching him and her heart was breaking knowing the heartache he was going through. She slipped out of her clothes, turned off the light, and slipped into bed. Thankfully, Marcus and Raoul had already undressed him down to his boxers so she didn’t have to worry with his clothes.
Snuggling next to Howie, a natural instinct on his part made him move closer to her and she wrapped her arms around him. Kissing him on the forehead, she whispered, "It’s my turn to be there for you."