“What the hell do you want, Paul?” Christine cried, absolutely terrified now that she saw what he had done with her sister. “Why are you doing this?”
“Well, Melissa, here, knew way too much,” Paul sneered, stepping closer to Christine and her sister. “She knew about my plans to get you back. And she had to be stopped.”
Christine stood up and glared at him. “You’ll never get away with this, Paul. And I will NEVER come back to you. EVER.”
“Well just see about that, now, won’t we?” He smirked, grabbing her arm. “I already have gotten away with it, Chrissy.”
She pulled her arm out of his grasp. “You don’t think that my mother will notice that we’re gone? That Melissa’s boyfriend won’t know? They’re going to start looking for us.”
“I’ll deal with that when the time comes.” Paul grabbed her and shoved her down next to Melissa. “For now it’s just the three of us.”
“Crazy bastard,” Christine mumbled under her breath.
“I’m sorry, Chris,” Melissa whimpered. “I never should’ve called you. But he left me no choice.”
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
“Howie!” AJ called through the closed door. “Open the door, man!” Howie walked through the foyer and pulled his front door open, signaling for AJ to be quiet. “She told me that Melissa called her and told her you were in the hospital. She dropped everything and took the first flight up there.”
“That’s so strange,” Ellen DeMarco comented. “I have no idea why she would say that. I’m fine. Melissa and I were out to lunch right before we ran into…As a matter of fact, that was the last time I had spoken to Melissa….Oh my god…”
“What is it?” Howie questioned.
“Paul,” she simply said. “She left with Paul which is strange in itself because Paul and Melissa have never really gotten along.”
“Shit,” Howie hissed, causing AJ to glance at him with questioning eyes. “I’ll be on the first flight up there, Ellen. We’ll find them.” He hung up the phone and looked at AJ. “Christine and Melissa are missing. We think that Paul has something to do with it.”
“What can I do?” AJ asked.
Howie tossed him the cordless phone. “Call and get me a flight up there. Newark, Laguardia, JFK. I don’t care. I’m gonna go pack.”
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
The Next Morning
“Morning Nicky!” Lanie chirped, as she moved about Nick’s room.
“What time is it?” Nick grumbled.
“Six forty five,” she replied, sitting down on the bed and putting on her shoes. “I have to go to work.”
“Bye,” he mumbled, closing his eyes again. Lanie leaned over and kissed him lightly on the lips. “You sure you don’t want me to come to New York?”
“Positive,” Nick answered, opening his eyes and staring straight into hers. “It just wouldn’t look good, Lane.”
“Fine,” Lanie huffed. She stood up and grabbed her purse. “I’ll see you when you get back, I guess.” Before Nick could utter another word, she stomped out of the room and out of the house.
Nick rolled his eyes and turned over, attempting to go back to sleep. After thirty futil minutes, he decided just to get out of bed and get ready for New York.
Fifteen minutes later, he was showered and dressed and had decided to go wake up Aidan before his crying woke Katelin up. He walked out of his room and made his way down the hall towards his son’s room. He paused outside of Kate’s room and closed his eyes, the memory of what he’d witnessed the night before flooding back to him. He knew he had no right to feel the way he did but he couldn’t help it. She was the mother of his child. He would always love her for that reason. But there was more. Their relationship never ended on their own terms. He firmly believed that they would still be together and very much in love, had they not been ripped apart three years ago. And that’s why the knowledge that she had slept with another man, only one night after she had slept with him, made him feel like his heart was being ripped out of his chest.
Opening his eyes again, Nick noticed that the door to her room was cracked open. He couldn’t resist. He ahd to make sure for himself. He inched forward and slgihlty pushed the door open, revealing Katelin and Jay curled up together, fast asleep. They were facing each other, Jay’s arm wrapped protectively around his girlfriend. The sheet did nothing to hide her naked form and Nick seethed seeing Katelin, HIS Katelin, in bed with another man.
“Daddy?” Nick jumped at the sound of his son’s tiny voice and quickly closed the door to Kate’s room. “Hey. How did you get out of your crib?”
“I climbed!” Aidan grinned.
“Come on, bud.” Nick picked him up and began walking towards the stairs. “Let’s go get some breakfast and let your mom sleep.”
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
Ang rolled over to see Brian staring down at her. “What are you doing?” she asked, sleepily.
“Looking at you.” Brian smiled.
“Why?”
He leaned down and kissed her gently. “Because I love you.”
“I love you, too.” She rolled over and stared at the ceiling. “Do you think we did the right thing?”
“What? Going to the police?”
“Yeah…”
Brian turned her fact to look at him. “Ang, how many times do I have to tell you this? Going to the cops was the right thing to do. It was the only thing we could do. Now please stop worrying. The police will take care of it.”
The phone rang, interrupting them, and Brian reached over to answer it. “Hello?”
“Hey, Bri,” Katelin’s scratchy voice replied.
“Hi Kate.”
“Is Ang awake?” she asked.
“Yeah, she’s right here.” He handed the phone over to his girlfriend.
“Hey Kate,” She greeted. “What’s up?”
“Not much,” Katelin replied. “Just laying here. I need to pack for New York still.”
“What time are you leaving?”
Katelin glanced over at the clock beside her bed. “In, like, three hours.” The were both quiet for a minute. “So,” Katelin began, breaking the silence. “I slept with Jay last night.”
“What?!” Ang exclaimed. “How did that happen? What about Nick? I thought the other night…”
Katelin sighed. “I know. But you know what? I’m happy with Jay. Nick and I just aren’t meant to be.”
“Are you sure this is what you want, Kate?” Ang questioned. “I mean, I’m behind you one hundred percent on whatever you decide. But you and Nick…I mean, you can’t just turn feelings on and off like that.”
“I know what I’m doing, Ang,” Kate reassured her. “I’m happy. I haven’t felt like this in a long time.”
Ang smiled to herself. “I’m happy for you too, Kate. So what was it like?”
“Well…”
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
Adrienne mumbled incoherently to herself as she dragged herself out of bed to answer the persistant knocking at the door to her apartment. She pulled the door open and was not too pleased at who she saw on the other side. “What do you want, Brooke?”
“I didn’t come here to argue with you, Adrienne,” Brooke answered. “It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that you don’t like me.” She pulled an envelope out of her purse. “Can you please give this to Kevin?”
“Brooke, I…”
“Please, Adrienne,” Brooke begged. “Just give it to him.”
Adrienne took it from her. “Alright.” She watched as Brooke began to walk back into the hallway. “Brooke…”
Brooke stopped and slowly turned around, looking at Adrienne with questioning eyes. “You really hurt him you know.”
“I know I did,” Brooke sighed. “You have to believe me. I never wanted to hurt him, Adrienne. Never. I just…I don’t know what happened. I wrote him that letter because I know he doesn’t want to see me and I respect that. But I want him to understand what happened and that I never meant to hurt him. So will you please give it to him.”
“I will, Brooke,” Adrienne smiled slightly. “What are you doing now? Re-joining Nsync?”
Brooke nodded. “Yeah. I need to straighten all of this out with J.C. too.”
“Good luck,” Adrienne wished her.
“Thanks,” Brooke replied. “And Adrienne? Take care of Kevin for me.”
“I will,” Adrienne promised.