“Hey…” Nick jumped at the sound of Brian’s voice. For the past fifteen minutes, ever since Kate ran out of the room, he’d been staring out the living room window, thinking about what she had said. Could Lanie have really done this? Sure she didn’t like the fact that Aidan always came first and she really despised Katelin. But was she really capable of something like this? Nick didn’t want to believe so.
“Where’s Kate?” Brian asked, now standing at the window with Nick, both of them staring outside.
“She ran out of here a little while ago,” Nick answered, turning towards his friend. “I don’t know, Rok. Do you think she could be right?”
Brian took a deep breath, shrugging his shoulders. “I don’t know, Nick. I mean, it does make sense. How else would Lanie have known? No one outside of the people in this house and your parents have any idea.”
“I know…but…God..Lanie?” Nick shook his head in disbelief. “When did she turn into such a hateful person? There was a time in my life when I never thought I’d make it through the day. I mean…you remember…I was so screwed up without…without her…and then along came Lanie and she got my ass back together.”
Brian nodded, remembering. When Katelin had left him three years ago, Nick had been a disaster. He was drinking so much and he was just so out of control. They had been in New York recording some stuff for Black and Blue and the night before they were supposed to fly home, there had been a huge blow out at the studio. Nick had been screwing up for the past two weeks and none of them, even Brian, could deal with it anymore. This time Nick was late. Very late. For the third day in a row because, once again, he was standing outside of the Taylor’s apartment building on Park Avenue. Earlier in the week, he had tried to get upstairs so he could talk to her but the doorman instantly recognized him and wouldn’t let him pass. So, instead, Nick just waited and waited and waited. But she never came out.
Later that night, after he fought with the guys at the studio, he went out without anyone. Not even his bodyguard. Brian stayed up for hours that night, just waiting for Nick to return. The next day, just as Brian was about to send out a search party, he got a phone call. It was Nick, telling him to get on that flight back to Florida. That he was okay and he would join them in LA in two weeks. Two weeks later, Nick met the rest of the guys in Los Angeles and he wasn’t alone. He had brought someone that no one had ever seen before. Lanie. Everyone was skeptical at first, thinking Nick was just rebounding. Even though they didn’t know her, they still didn’t think she deserved to be Nick’s rebound girl. But they both assured everyone that they were just friends. And that’s how they stayed for almost a year, when they no longer could deny that there was something more going on between them. But then Katelin came back into the picture. Hearing that her father had died changed something in Nick. Suddenly no one was stopping him from seeing her. But it had been almost three years. Did he really want to drudge all of that up again? He had been happy with Lanie and he didn’t want to do anything to upset that. But seeing her again, even with the anger he had about the whole Aidan situation, even he couldn’t deny how he felt. It was strange. Lanie and Nick had been together longer than Katelin and Nick had even known each other. But there was just something about her that Nick couldn’t resist. Brian guessed that it must have just been that they were soulmates. He never used to believe in something so cheesy. He loved Ang more than anything in the world and wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of his life with her but Nick and Katelin literally defined the word “soulmates.” Never had he seen two people so drawn to each other as the two of them. As much as they tried to fight it, they belonged together. Soulmates.
***** ***** ***** ****** ***** *****
“Why don’t you just go talk to her?” Kevin turned his head quickly at the sound of Adrienne’s voice, who was suddenly beside him. “I mean, you’ve been staring at her forever now.”
He shook his head. “Adrienne, baby, no. I was just lost in thought. I wasn’t really looking at her.”
She let him take her hand and pull her up against his body as they both stared out at the Gulf. “Are you sure you want to do this, Kevin? I mean, I know I want to but I can’t get involved with someone who’s in love with someone else. I won’t do that to myself…”
Kevin spun her around, staring straight into Adrienne’s eyes. “Yes. I was in love with Brooke. And yes, some part of me still loves Brooke and that will probably never go away. Just like part of you will always love Mike.”
Adrienne bit her lip and turned her head away to look back towards the water. He was right. You can’t just turn emotions on and off like that. Of course, she still loved Mike. She always would. But she couldn’t always dwell on the past. She needed to move forward. And Kevin may very well be her future.
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
“You go talk to her,” Brian was already walking back towards the kitchen. “I’ll go tell them to start checking Lanie out.” Nick nodded and disappeared up the stairs. Brian entered the kitchen and saw AJ and Howie talking to the detectives. “Anything?” he asked.
AJ shook his head. “Not yet. They have a vague description of the guy and the car. But that’s it. We’re not even sure it’s Aidan. It could just be some father taking his son for a Slurpee for all we know.”
“They’re thinking it’s time that maybe Nicky release a statement,” Howie spoke up. He knew that trying to get Nick to go on camera and plead for the return of his son was going to be a long shot. But they were running out of ideas.
The detective walked over towards the guys. “Do you think Mr. Carter or Miss Taylor would be willing ot release a statement? With his fame, more people would be sure to listen.”
Brian nodded. “We’ll talk to him.” He paused, glancing around the room. HE personally always liked the girl. He thought that she was good for Nick. Of course that was before she tried to get Aidan taken away. He still wasn’t sure about this. “We know of someone else you may want to look into.” AJ and Howie both looked at him as if to say ‘who?’ “Melena Roberts. She was Nick’s girlfriend. She somehow knew that Aidan had been kidnapped and we’re not sure how she knew that.”
Detective Rogers nodded his head, already pulling his cell phone out. “We’ll get right on it.”
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
Nick quietly crept into his bedroom, where he knew Katelin would be. She was curled up on his bed, on top of the covers, sound asleep. He tiptoed over to the bed and climbed in next to her, wrapping his arms around her waist. For what felt like an eternity, he laid there and stared at the back of her head. She was breathing steadily, a clear sign that she was sleeping. Nick sighed and kissed the top of her head.
At the feel of someone behind her, Katelin’s eyes fluttered open and she looked down in confusion at the arms around her waist. “Nick?” she mumbled, sleepily. She rolled over and found his blue eyes staring at her. “What’s wrong?”
He shook his head. “Nothing. I mean…there’s no news.”
“Oh,” she continued staring at him, wondering what the hell was going through his mind.
“I told Brian everything you said,” he began. “He’s downstairs now having the detectives check her out.”
“Thank you,” she whispered. “It’s not because I don’t like her, Nick. I swear. Something just isn’t right.”
“I know,” he replied, just as quietly. “I didn’t want to believe that she would do something like that. But it doesn’t make sense.”
A few more minutes of silence and Nick thought that maybe she had fallen back asleep. But then he felt a tingling sensation run throughout his whole body. She was kissing him. Little tiny pecks on his neck. Running over his Adam’s Apple. His arms unconsciously tightened around her and he drew her closer to him, his head falling back to give her better access. “What are you doing?”
“Shh…” she whispered. Her hands found his way to his waist and underneath his t-shirt. She pulled it up and Nick leaned up so she could pull it over his head. He rolled over on to his back and pulled her on top of him. Her lips were everywhere. Much as his hands were. Her tank top joined his t-shirt on the floor. And then he felt it. At first he didn’t think much of it. Until he felt it again. Her tears landing on his chest. His hand stopped moving and he pulled back to look at her. “Stop, Kate.”
She shook her head. “No. God, Nick, you know you want this as much as I do.”
He pushed her off of him. “Not like this I don’t.”
Katelin jumped off of the bed and grabbed her tank top, pulling it on. “Jesus, Nick…You can’t keep doing this to me! I mean…”
Nick jumped up and grabbed her around the waist. “Stop it. You know that’s not what this is about. You’re a mess, Kate. You’re reaching out for something…anything to hold on to right now. And it’s not fair. Not to me and not to you.”
“I just want him back,” she whimpered.
He gently kissed the back of her head. “Me too.”
****** ****** ***** ***** ***** *****
“Jack,” one of the officers approached the Detective that was talking with AJ and Kevin.
“Did you pick her up?” Detective Rogers asked, turning away from his conversation.
The young officer shook his head. “She wasn’t there.”
“Well what are you doing back here?” the detective questioned. “Wait for her to get back home.”
“I mean she was gone gone,” he replied. “As in her room at that house was entirely cleaned out. One of the other girls went with us and let her in.”
“Who?” Kevin asked.
“I did,” Brooke appeared in the doorway. “It’s true. She just cleaned everything out and is gone. Her keys were left on the counter.”
“Shit,” AJ breathed. “It’s got to be her then. She figured out that we were on to something over here and she bailed. Damnit!”
“What’s going on?” Nick asked, entering the kitchen, Katelin trailing behind him.
“Lanie’s gone,” Kevin answered. “Her stuff at the beach house has been completely cleared out and she’s just gone.”
“We’re trying to track her car down now,” the Detective explained. “She couldn’t have gotten that far.”
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
“Where are you?”
“Entering Louisiana.”
“Already?”
“Yeah. Where are you?”
“Getting the hell out of Florida. They’re on to you. And I think they might be on to me too.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m leaving. I have no idea what.” She looked in her rearview mirror. “Shit.”
“What?”
“Police are behind me,” She noticed the lights start flashing. “Fuck!”
“Damnit Lanie! If I see any clue that you gave me up, I swear to God. This damned kid…You won’t even know what hit you.”