Part 524
Kevin’s bus arrived at the arena first and together, Kevin and Sarah made their way inside. Kevin had his arm draped around Sarah’s shoulder as they talked in depth about her set. They were oblivious to the tightened security and to the portly, grim-faced man standing by the green room door.
"Well, well, if it isn’t the radiant Mrs. Dorough. I’m surprised to see you here without the doting father-to-be. But, this certainly supports my theory." Seeing Kevin and Sarah weren’t going to take the bait, he continued, "That Kevin or AJ fathered your babies. Are you even sure which one it is?"
Raoul, Carlos, and several other security personal swarmed around Sarah and Kevin as the Boy’s attorneys and Steve stepped out.
"Mr. Pearlman, would you please step inside?" requested Dave, his tone leaving no room for Lou to refuse.
With Lou gone, Steve asked, "Are you okay?"
"Ugggg….can I say just how much I DESPISE that man?!"
Steve chuckled, "As much as you despise me?"
"No, NOT even close! You are just cold and ruthless…Pearlman is loathsome, swarmy, slimy, sleazy, obnoxious…I could go on but you get my point."
"Yeah, I do." Taking her hand, Steve squeezed it as he said, "I promise, I’ll take care of everything."
"Thanks, Steve." Sarah smiled warmly. This whole day was totally blowing her mind with regards to Steve but she certainly liked the changes.
Kevin hadn’t let go of Sarah the whole time and when Steve was gone, he hugged her closer. "I’m impressed."
"By what?"
"How well you maintained your cool. Howie’s rubbing off on you," teased Kevin. "In more ways than one," he added rubbing her belly.
"You are so funny….NOT!" she smirked pushing his hand away. "No sense letting the prick get to me."
‘Mook’ appeared out of nowhere. "Hey, ‘Shorty’! Ready to get to work?"
"Always! I’ll be there in a minute."
"Whoa! ‘Mook’, I need you and Sarah to do me a favor," said Kevin.
"Sure, name it."
"I don’t want Nick worried about Becca facing Pearlman so you two need to keep her busy until we get done."
"No problem, mon," said ‘Mook’ in his best Jamaican accent as the others came in the back door. "’Shorty’, I’ll be out on the stage when you’re ready."
"’K’." Sarah spotted them and pulled away from Kevin. Rushing to greet Howie, she practically bowled him over.
Recovering quickly from his surprise, Howie caught Sarah in his arms, "Whoa! It’s only been fifteen minutes, ‘Angel’."
Kevin caught Howie’s eye and nodded towards the green room. Howie nodded he understood and held on to her in a tight embrace knowing that she was doing her best to hold in her emotions.
"Fifteen minutes too long!" she whispered as she leaned her forehead against his lips effectively hiding the tears that stung her eyes.
The others caught on quickly to what was going on and Nick tried to lighten the mood. "Geez, fifteen minutes and they’re practically undressing. I really hate to see what they’re gonna be like when Sarah actually has those babies and they have to go six weeks."
Sarah reached over to smack him, "SHUT UP! It’s YOUR fault, you know…holding Howie up because YOU couldn’t carry your stuff."
"Let’s go, guys," called Kevin. "Dave and the others are waiting."
"I’ll see you later, ‘Angel’," whispered Howie as he lifted her chin with his index finger. "Go do your sound check and try not to drive ‘Mook’ and Chris crazy."
Sarah feigned innocence. "Who? Me?"
"Yes, you," laughed Howie giving her a wink. "Bec, make sure my wife behaves."
AJ shook his head, "What makes you think that Becca isn’t gonna be the instigator of trouble? You know it’s ALWAYS the quiet ones who start it."
"What? ‘Church lady’ INSTIGATE trouble?! You have GOT to be joking," laughed Brian as they made their way towards the green room.
"It could happen," said Becca defensively.
"I know she instigates a LOT of Nick’s troubles," shot Howie.
Nick cut his eyes at him, "Oh that is so NOT funny!"
Everyone laughed and Sarah said, "Come on, Bec. Steam is starting to billow out of Kevy Kev’s ears." Kevin stuck his tongue out at her and she smirked, "I’ve got a couple ideas for that tongue of yours. Too bad Lynne isn’t here to reap the benefits!"
"We’ll be out as soon as we’re done," said Howie giving his wife a kiss.
"Okay, ‘D’. Do you want to go through the song with me or just let them get you during your own sound check?"
"We’ll see how long it takes with this." Squeezing her hand, he smiled, "I love you, ‘Angel’."
"I love you too, ‘D’."
Nick wrapped his arms around Becca and hugged her tight as she whispered, "Hold it together a little longer and it’ll be over."
"I know. I’ll see you in a few." Looking down at his son, he took the infant’s hand in his and said, "You make sure your mom and Aunt Sarah behave, okay?"
The infant gurgled his response and the guys watched as the girls linked arms headed out to do sound checks.
Looking from one to the other, they knew what they were about to face. Putting their hands together in a huddle, they said, "One for all and all for one. Backstreet!" and into the ‘ring’ they went to do battle with the opponent who had threatened their ‘family’.