Kevin rolled over and glanced at the clock. It was already ten thirty in the morning. He had to be at rehearsal in an hour. He was dreading the day. Rehearsal was going to run late that night. He knew it. Just because Fatima had let them have the morning off. He also hadn’t spoken to his fiancee in days. Something about that thought was just wrong. When you love someone enough to want to marry them, shouldn’t you talk to them more than once or twice every few weeks?
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“Ang?” Brian asked from his spot at the kitchen table. “Can you hand me the paper?”
Ang picked up the morning’s paper and tossed it at Brian, still sipping on her coffee. “So, how many much longer do you think we’ll have rehearsals? Think Fatima will give us a break this tour? Let us have at least a week off before we leave?”
Brian laughed. “Yeah right. I highly doubt that.” He flipped through the paper, looking for the Arts and Entertainment section. He was curious to see what, if any, comments were being made about their upcoming tour. “So, haven’t heard much about the threats lately? Anything new with that?”
“Funny,” Ang commented. “Kate asked me about that the other day at lunch. And no, I haven’t had anything in about three weeks. Hopefully, whoever it was, finally gave up.”
“Yeah,” Brian agreed, glancing back down at the paper. His eyes grew wide as he saw the front page of the A&E section. “Holy shit. This can’t be true.”
“What?” Ang made her way over to Brian, leaning over his shoulder and reading the headline.
’Nsyncer J.C. married in Las Vegas ceremony.’ Underneath the picture was J.C. coming out of a Las Vegas Chapel with his new wife, who was none other than Backstreet Boy Kevin Richardson’s fiancee, Brooke Alexander. “Oh my god…what the hell?”
“Aw shit,” Brian whispered, almost to himself. “I wonder if Kevin’s seen this.”
“I didn’t even realize that he and Brooke had broken it off,” Ang wondered, plopping herself down in the chair next to Brian.
“They hadn’t,” Brian responded. “At least as far as I knew.” Brian was cut off by the phone ringing. He stood up and grabbed the cordless off of the counter. “Hello?”
“Holy shit.” He heard from the other line. “Did you see the fucking paper?”
“I just saw it,” Brian replied to Nick. “Kevin’s going to be rip-shit.”
“When the hell did they break up?” Nick questioned, glancing back down at the head line and shaking his head. “I guess I’ve been too preoccupied with my own life to even realize it. Don’t I feel like an ass.”
“Don’t” Brian laughed. “Believe me, it’s not your fault. Kevin didn’t tell any of us. I had absolutely no idea.”
“Hey,” Katelin said, walking into the kitchen, Aidan on her hip. “Who’s on the phone?”
Nick held up his hand to silence her. “I can’t believe it. I didn’t know Brooke could be so cold. Jesus, at least wait a little bit.”
“I don’t know, Nicky,” Brian sighed. “But that’s my other line. Probably AJ. I’ll see you at rehearsal.”
“Later Bri.” Nick hung up the phone and threw the paper at Katelin. “Check that out.”
Kate set Aidan down and glanced at the headline on the paper that Nick had given to her. “Whoa.”
“Tell me about it,” Nick commented. “So, what are you up to, today?”
“I was going to take Aidan to lunch with Jay,” she replied, pouring herself a glass of lemonade, not noticing the look of plain disgust that crossed Nick’s face. “What about you? Rehearsal?”
“Yeah.” Nick sat down at the table and thumbed through the rest of the paper, occasionally stealing a glance at the girl who had, at one time, had such a tight hold on his heart. “I’ll probably stay over at Lanie’s tonight.”
“Oh,” Katelin said, softly, trying desperately to ignore the pain in her heart at his announcement. She was trying to move on. She really was. And she was sure she was making progress with Jay. He was perfect for her. He was fun. He was always incredibly sweet to her. He got along great with Aidan. And he didn’t think, for one second, that the situation that she was living in was at all threatening to their relationship. Unlike Nick’s girlfriend. Jay had every reason to behave like Lanie. But, yet, he perfectly understood his place in Katelin’s life. And he didn’t try to change it. But there was still something about Nick. You can’t turn off such strong feelings that you have for a person like that. Feelings that you’ve had for over three years. They just don’t go away.
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“Chris,” Christine’s secretary buzzed into her office. “Your sister’s holding on line one. Says it’s an emergency.”
“Howie, I gotta go,” Christine said, before abruptly hanging up her phone. She pressed the line one button to switch calls. “Melis? Everything okay?”
Melissa’s hiccup could be heard in response. “Chris? It…it’s mom. I don’t know what happened. She…she’s in the hospital.”
Christine’s eyes grew wide. “What? Why? What the hell are you talking about, Melissa? What’s wrong with her?”
“I don’t know,” Melissa sobbed. “She just collapsed. You…you just need t..to… get here as soon as possible. Please.”
“Of course, Melis,” Christine replied, already tossing things into her briefcase. “I’ll be on the next flight. I promise. Call my cell as soon as you hear anything, okay?”
“I will,” Melissa answered, before hanging up the phone.
“Emily,” Christine barked to her secretary as she ran out of her office. “Get me a flight from Orlando to New York as soon as possible. I need to get home.”
“Got it,” Emily answered, picking up her phone. “I’ll call your cell with the details.”
Christine was out the door of her office and running through the parking garage to her car as she called Howie, explaining in the details. He begged her to let him come with her but she adamantly refused. He had rehearsal, a tour to get ready for. He had priorities. Christine promised she would still be there when this whole thing with her mother was cleared up. He didn’t need to come with her. She needed to do this by herself.
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Brooke rolled over, groaning from the horrible, horrible pain in her head. She flung her arm across the bed, but, instead of coming into contact with the cold bed sheets, she hit a male chest. “Oh Jesus,” she breathed. “Not again.”
“What?” J.C. groaned. “Brooke?” He rolled over and looked at her through squinted eyes. Before rubbing his hand over his eyes. “Aw shit.”
“We’ve really got to stop drinking around each other,” Brooke commented, sitting up and pulling the sheet with her. “Shit.”
“Seriously…” J.C. began before he was interrupted by a banging on the door.
“Open up!” They heard Lance and Justin yelling from outside. “J.C., we know you’re in there. Open the damn door.’
“I’m coming,” J.C. groaned, throwing his boxers on and stumbling over to the door. He flung it open and glared at his bandmates. “What the hell is your problem?”
“This.” Lance thrust the paper in J.C.’s face. “What the hell, man? Are you fucking crazy?”
“What are you talking about?” J.C. grabbed the paper and skimmed over the headlines, his eyes growing wide. “Oh shit.”
“What’s going on?” Brooke called from the bedroom, after she had quickly thrown a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. The three guys walked all the way into the room. She noticed the looks on Justin and Lance’s faces. They did not look happy at all. “What’s with the looks?”
“It seems as if we got married last night, Brooke,” J.C. explained, slowly.
“WHAT?!” she exclaimed. “You’re kidding, right?” The guys didn’t say anything, confirming what she had heard. Her eyes welled up with tears and she was powerless to stop them from spilling over. “Please tell me your kidding. Oh shit. Shit shit shit.”
“I’m really sorry, Brooke,” J.C. stepped towards her, reaching out to her. She stepped back quickly. “No. Just…no, J.C.”
Justin looked around and noticed a piece of paper sitting on the nightstand. He picked it up and it confirmed everything. “It’s true, guys. Look.”
J.C. grabbed the document and read it over, shaking his head. “I don’t know what to say, Brooke.”
“Don’t say anything.” She began walking towards the door. “I…I need to go… I need to call Kevin. Shit.” Before any of them could say anything, she had slammed the door in their faces, running the short distance from J.C.’s room to her own.
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“Coming!” Katelin called, gathering Aidan in her arms and running towards the door. She threw it open to find Jeff, Nick’s attorney, standing on the front step. “Hey Jeff. What can I do for you?”
“Can I come in?” Katelin moved out of the way and let the lawyer into the house. “Is Nick here? It’s really important.”
“No,” Katelin replied, leading him into the kitchen. “He’s actually in Orlando with Lanie. You need me to call him?”
“Yeah.” Jeff sat down at the table and rubbed his eyes, tiredly. “I have some news and, believe me, it’s not good news. Not by any means. You both need to hear it.”
“Oh god,” Katelin breathed. “What’s going on? They’re not taking custody away, are they?”
“Just get Nick here, Kate,” Jeff repeated. “I’ll tell you when he’s here.”
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Christine threw the last of her belongings into her suitcase and quickly zipped it up. She was going to have to haul some serious ass if she was going to make it to the airport in time to catch her flight. She grabbed her cell phone and tossed it in her purse, before dragging her suitcase out of the apartment and down to her car.
As soon as Christine had locked her apartment door, the phone inside started ringing. It rang four times before the answering machine picked it up. “Hey this is Christine. Leave a message.”
“Hi Chris, honey. It’s mom. Just calling to see how you’re doing. I’m assuming you’re still at work so I’ll talk to you later. It’s nothing important. Give me a call when you get home. Bye honey. I love you.”