Part 92
"Have a seat." Kevin had calmed down to some extent, but not enough to wipe the anger from his face.
The remaining three watched him pace the length of the room. Finally, Nick spoke.
"Kevin, I-"
"Save it Nick. I’m not mad at *you*." Wearily, he wiped a hand over his face.
Nick was astounded. "You're not?"
He sighed. "No, obviously something else has happened or you wouldn't have gone off like that."
"Something else … you mean you know?" Nick was in shock.
"Know WHAT? Will somebody tell me what's going on?" Brian looked from one to the next, looking for some sort of explanation for what had just happened.
"It's AJ," Howie spoke up. "Brian, he's out of control."
"That's putting it mildly," Nick snorted. "And how you can sit there and defend him-"
"That's my choice, Nick. Mine and Sarah's and –"
"Damnit D, he raped your wife! How can you stick up for him?"
"Nick-" interrupted Kevin.
"He WHAT?" Brian exclaimed.
"Nick, hold off a minute, will you?" Kevin shouted. Silence fell over the room and he breathed deeply. "Brian doesn't know any of this."
"I think it's about time somebody filled me in, don't you?" Brian said softly.
Howie proceeded to explain the events in Nashville, leaving out almost nothing. Brian sat in mute shock as Nick listened with downcast eyes, still thinking about what could have happened to Becca.
"Nick, what happened this afternoon?" Kevin asked, putting his hand on Nick's shoulder.
"AJ hit on Bec during sound check. He was pretty graphic, Kev, told her all kinds of shit about stuff he'd like to do with her …" His eyes teared up and he had to stop.
"He was drunk, Kevin," Howie added. "I was there, and I left them alone for a few minutes, but then I saw where he was going with it and I stepped in. I'm like Nick, at first I thought maybe he was just fooling around, but Becca started getting scared. I saw her try to pull away but he wouldn't let her go." He stopped as Nick began to sniffle audibly. "Nick, she's ok, I wasn't gonna let anything happen to her."
"I know, but-"
"Something has to be done," Brian said. "He can't go on like this," he said and paused. "WE can't go on like this. We've seen it coming and tried to ignore it, but he's just getting worse."
"He has to want to stop," Howie said.
"That may be, but he needs to know how we all feel. Look," Brian said, "we don't have to gang up on him, but he needs to hear that we love him and want him to get help. Obviously, what we've tried so far hasn’t been enough."
"I can't talk to him, Rok, I just can't. I'm too close to this one." Nick shook his head in denial knowing there was no way he could face AJ right now.
Kevin thought long and hard before answering. "I'll talk to him tomorrow, alone. There's a crew from MTV coming to get some footage, I'll work it in sometime in the morning."
"He's gotta be straight for that, Kev," Howie cautioned.
"He will be. I'll keep him busy and security will make sure he doesn't get out before then."
Nick shifted in his seat, wincing as he bumped his hand. "Damn …" he muttered.
"Nick?" Kevin seemed to suddenly notice the ice pack on his hand.
Howie spoke up. "He needs to get that x-rayed, Kev. Bec and Sarah think it's broken."
"Why not." Kevin sighed, just one more thing to add to the growing list of mishaps for this weekend. "I'll get Billy to get you somewhere and get it looked at."
A subdued threesome headed toward their rooms, thankful the day was almost over.
"I need to walk Bec back to the room," Nick told Billy, who'd been hovering ever since he'd pulled him off AJ.
"I'll have a car waiting for you. Meet me down by the elevators." Mumbling something into his walkie-talkie, he walked briskly down the hall to make arrangements.
"Bec-" Nick called out, stopping short as Sarah put her finger to her lips and nodded toward the couch. It was Bec's turn to be sound asleep, it had been a big day. "Damn, I hate to wake her."
"Leave her here," Howie said. "You can get her when you come back."
Nick shook his head. "I hate to be selfish, but I could be gone for hours and when I get back I just want her in my bed where I can crawl in with her." He sighed in exhaustion. He was still weighing his options when Kevin appeared in the doorway.
"You're still here?" Looking over Nick's shoulder at Becca and then at Nick's wrist, he realized the dilemma. "You got your keycard?" he asked.
"Yeah, why?" Nick answered.
"Go open your door, I'll be right there." Striding to the couch, he picked up Becca's sleeping form and followed Nick down the hall to their room. Gently he placed her on the bed as Nick pulled an extra blanket out of the closet and covered her.
"Let me get Sarah-" Nick began.
"I'll stay. You go on and get yourself taken care of."
"Kev-"
"Go on, Nick. Besides, I owe you both one for being an ass at D's wedding." Kevin grinned. "Get your butt outta here and hurry back, because if she wakes up, I draw the line at snuggling with your wife."