Part 576

Even though they loved performing, all five guys felt an overwhelming sense of relief as they made their way off stage. The tour, for the most part, was over and they would have some much-needed time off. Sure, they had all the guest appearances and they weren’t headed home until the end of October but to them, it was still a break. Making it twice as nice was the fact that they each had the woman they loved to spend the time with them.

While the guys had been finishing the encore, Sarah was with Raoul making arrangements to get Kryss and her friends backstage and to the wrap party. Howie spotted her with her back to him and he quietly made his way to her.

Slipping his arms around her waist, he placed a moist kiss on her neck and whispered in her ear, "My sexy angel."

Sarah turned her head just enough. "Hey you," she greeted as their lips met.

Raoul shook his head and smiled. "Sarah, I’m going to take care of that matter for you."

Breaking apart, Sarah answered, "Thanks, Raoul."

As Raoul headed out, Howie asked, "What matter is that, ‘Angel’? I kinda figured you’d be done with your pranks."

Sarah turned in his arms putting her hands on his chest. "You goof! I’m DONE with the pranks. For your information, Sweet D, Raoul is going to get Kryss and her friends to go with us to the wrap party."

"That’s more like my angel," winked Howie. "I knew she was in there somewhere."

"Ahahahha," sneered Sarah. "You’re so funny…..NOT!"

Howie laughed, "I thought so. So, Mrs. Dorough, where are my party clothes?"

Having anyone call her Mrs. Dorough always made Sarah turn to mush. Sighing dreamily, she ran her fingers through his damp curls. "They’re in your dressing room."

Howie ran his finger down her nose. "What am I gonna do with you?"

"Love me!"

"Uh huh," smiled Howie with his finger under her chin and kissing her sweetly. "With all my heart. Gonna come help me get ready?"

As Howie asked, Bob, the security guard, passed by and Sarah’s mood changed drastically. Her eyes followed the big man as she said, "Not THIS time…I have something to do right now."

As Sarah pulled out of Howie’s arms, Kevin, Lynne, Nick and Becca joined them and Nick cracked, "What ‘cha done to piss Sarah off?"

"Nothing," answered Howie confused. He watched as Sarah passed AJ headed after Bob.

"Hey, ‘Tig’, who you stalking?" When Sarah didn’t answer, AJ looked at Howie. "What’s she pissed about?"

"I have NO clue. Bec, do you know what’s up?"

"No idea, Howie."

"Well, whoever it is…they’re about to be chewed up and spit out," said AJ. "I’ve seen that look in her eyes before…the night she chewed Kevin’s ass."

Seeing Sarah grab Bob by the arm, Becca said, "Um, Howie, maybe you’d better go rescue Bob. I’ve seen that look before too and you ended up having to buy a new television."

"Shit!" mumbled Howie as he pushed past everyone.

The small group followed Howie, curious to know what Sarah was so ticked about.

"Look lady! NO ONE grabs me like that!" barked Bob.

"And NO ONE treats the Boys’ fans the way you did and keeps their job! Where’s the teddy bear my husband gave you?" Sarah barked back.

"I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!"

Howie stepped in, "Sarah, what’s going on?"

"Ask HIM!" spit Sarah glaring at Bob.

"I asked you," insisted Howie not letting her temper get to him.

"Remember the teddy bear Kryss gave you?"

"Yeah, I handed it to you to give to my wife," answered Howie looking at Bob. Then turning to Sarah, "Where is it?"

"Ask HIM! I haven’t seen it since just before you went across the cat walk."

"Well?"

Bob shrunk under the entire groups’ gaze. "Uh…I…Uh, well, I’m not sure."

"Why aren’t you sure?" pressed Kevin. "Why didn’t you give it to Sarah?"

"I…couldn’t find her."

"BULLSH…."

Howie cut her off. "Sarah!" he said sternly.

Sarah backed down but looked at Howie. "He’s lying, Howie! He knew exactly where I was. The entire security staff knew where I was so they could keep an eye on me."

"Just calm down and we’ll take care of this." Seeing Raoul returning with Kryss, he said, "Why don’t you go show Kryss and her friends around?"

"NO! You’re NOT pushing me out of this so you can just smooth it over."

"Fine, but you’re gonna get a hold on your temper." Turning back to Bob, Howie said, "How hard is it to find my wife? There aren’t THAT many pregnant women running around with all access and she stands out in a crowd."

AJ mumbled, "She IS the crowd!" earning a wicked glare from Sarah.

Realizing there wasn’t any way out of this, Bob stiffened, setting himself in the defensive mode. "Fine, I never tried to find her and I threw the damned thing down the tunnel."

"Why?" asked Nick astounded that one of their security would be that cold.

"I don’t have time for all this teeny bopper shit! I have a job to do…protect you five, not look for wives to give teddy bears and love notes to for safe keeping."

"Look, I know your job is tough," said Howie. "But when WE hand something to one of you, we expect it to make it back to us unless we tell you otherwise."

"You can’t be pissing off our fans either," spoke up AJ.

"Without our fans, we wouldn’t have a job and neither would you," said Brian.

Sarah threw her hands up in frustration. "This asshole acts as if he’s God’s gift to your security and you’re gonna pat him on the back, tell him you understand how tough his job is, and send him on his way with a damn warning! You SHOULD fire him."

"Look you hormonal bit…"

"That’s ENOUGH!" barked Kevin. "You will NOT speak to Sarah or ANY of the women in that way. Sarah, we can’t fire everyone who pisses you off."

"Hmpf, if that were the case, the only Backstreet Boy would be Brian," mumbled Sarah.

By now, Kryss and her friends were standing with Raoul who spoke up, "Kevin, back off Sarah. I’ve warned Bob about his over-eagerness to keep fans away from you five and Sarah DID try to be polite when she overheard him yelling at her friends. He climbed down her throat."

Kryss nodded her head in agreement. "She was trying to be nice."

Howie said, "Look, everyone’s tired. Let’s just let it drop. Bob, I’d appreciate it if you’d find that bear and bring it to me."

"Okay."

Howie turned back to look at Sarah. "YOU owe him an apology," he said softly but firmly. "He was wrong but so were you."

Sarah looked into his eyes and melted. She could tell he knew the whole truth and she knew he was right. Looking over his shoulder, Sarah said, "I apologize for my behavior. You were just doing your job."

"Apology accepted," replied Bob coolly. Then to Howie, "I’m gonna go find that bear for you, Mr. Dorough."

"Thank you." Not breaking his eye contact with Sarah, Howie said, "Guys, I’m gonna take Sarah to my dressing room to talk…alone. We’ll meet you here to go to the wrap party."

All of them chorused their acknowledgement and Howie took Sarah’s hand leading her to his dressing room. Sarah’s attention was now completely on the fact that they had to fly to New York on a commercial flight and he had to find some way to get her distracted again or she’d NEVER make it. He knew she understood and appreciated all that security did for them so this blow up was just her way of letting her nerves out on someone other than one of their close friends or a fan.

Kryss stood in complete shock over what had just happened…or what she THOUGHT had just happened. "Why didn’t y’all make that asshole apologize to Sarah? Why didn’t Howie defend her?"

"He did," said Becca knowing exactly what was going on with her best friend. "Let it go, Kryss because it wasn’t what it appeared to be."

"You’ve GOT to be joking?! Sarah apologized for DEFENDING ME!"

AJ spoke up, "Kryss, just let it go. Becca’s right. It wasn’t what it appeared to be and we’ll make sure things are worked out…later. Howie has a bigger issue to deal with right now than one of our security guards being a jerk."

Kryss was clearly confused. "I don’t get it."

"In a nut shell, Sarah hasn’t flown on a commercial flight since the 9/11 tragedy and we have a flight out of here at 2 AM," explained Kevin. "Raoul, why don’t you escort these ladies to the wrap party and show them to our table? We’ll all join you as soon as we get changed."

With that, the group broke apart to get ready for the party and the flight to New York.

Part 577       Index