Survivor
Chapter 8
“Do what?”
"Make love to me.”
Nick disentangled himself from Bailey. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t thought of it, although maybe not so much as making love to her as having sex. He just assumed he’d be the one to initiate it.
“Nick?” Bailey asked softly, her blue eyes shining. “Don’t you want to?”
“No. Yes. No. I don’t know.”
She looked at him, her pretty face a mask of confusion.
“I don’t understand,” she said.
He sighed heavily. “I don’t either.”
Bailey walked to him again, pressing her body suggestively against his. She let her hands roam to his ass, groping him slightly. He groaned, feeling the familiar stirrings his groin. Bailey noticed as well.
“You want to,” she whispered. “It’s OK, because I do too.”
She wiggled her body, grinding her hips to his. It was too much...the stress of the past few days, the sheer exhaustion from their ordeal, the pain of his arm. Each of these things clouded his mind and thoughts. Somehow, the only thing that came through was the fact that there was a beautiful, warm body who wanted him. He needed something and this was it. Without a further thought, he wrapped his good arm around her, kissing her roughly. She returned the kiss, a little hesitantly at first, the growing bolder. She gives wet, open mouth kisses, Nick thought, running his hand over her back and around to her front, groping her breast. Bailey protested a little at his manhandling, but he didn’t hear her.
Forcefully taking her hand, Nick placed it on his raging erection. She tensed slightly at the enormity of it, not having planned on that. It seemed like a good idea when she asked him. He had been so sweet and caring and she thought it was what he had wanted to ask her before. Bailey took a sharp breath at the feel of his cold hand on her skin. His hand was now under her warm sweater, making its way to unhook her bra. Before she could push his hand away, he had deftly unfastened it. He’s quicker than some of the frat boys I date, she thought, smiling slightly.
“What?” He whispered, breathing hard from kissing her.
“Nothing,” she told him.
“Mmm, Bailey,” he moaned as she caressed him through his pants. “Why don’t you unzip them?”
“OK.”
Bailey did as he requested, reaching her hand in to touch his warm body. He gave a little squeal as her cold hand touched him.
“Sorry.”
“Stop,” he suddenly said.
She looked up into his eyes. There was a look in them she had never seen before.
“Am I doing it wrong?”
“No. I am.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Fix your clothes,” he told her, as he clumsily attempted to put his own back to normal.
“But Nick,” she began.
“It’s not right, Bailey. Come sit by the fire with me.”
He flopped in a seat from the plane, trying to find some way to comfortable arrange himself. He laughed self-consciously as she joined him.
“What’s wrong with me?” She asked, her lower lip trembling.
“Absolutely nothing, sweetheart. I’m the person who has something wrong. There are so many reasons why we should, but there are even more why we shouldn’t. Bailey, you don’t know me that well. I don’t have anything on me to use. And if I did, it’d probably be frozen by now. As much as I want you, it’s just not right. You deserve to be made love to in some place better than in the mountains. Well, maybe a nice warm chalet in the mountains with a roaring fire, chilled champagne, and a big, soft bed. But not in a campsite. I mean, look around.”
Bailey looked down at her sweater, picking off imaginary fuzzballs. She couldn’t believe that she had been turned down by Nick Carter. The way she understood it, he’d bang anything in a tight skirt who a great rack. Not to brag, but she had been told she did. Nick was still rambling on. She heard him, but wasn’t paying attention to the words he was saying.
“Will you accept that as a possibility?”
“What?” She asked, looking up at him.
“I said, when we get out of here, if you still want to, we can while we’re on my boat. And if you don’t, you can just enjoy my company. I think that’s a fair deal, don’t you?”
Bailey laughed. “Yeah, I guess so. You know, I don’t know if I really wanted to actually make love. I think I was just frustrated. I mean, I can’t do anything right. I’ve probably hindered you from being rescued.”
“Huh? Oh, no, Bailey. You being here has kept Kevin from killing me. You’ve caught us fish to eat and you’ve helped my arm. Just don’t tell anyone about that Midol,” he reminded her, grinning.
“I told you, I won’t. Nick, I’m worried about Kevin.”
“He’ll be all right. He gets testy with everyone. That’s just him,” Nick told her, wincing as a sudden pain shot through his arm. “Damn. If we could just get out of the cold, I believe the pain might ease some. I can’t believe the cold hasn’t numbed it, though.”
“You don’t want it to be numbed. That’s a bad thing. I’m not talking about him being snappy. He’s got this bad cough now. I think he’s caught a cold from falling in the river the other day. And with us out here, it could turn into pneumonia.”
“Do you really think so?” Nick asked, turning to look at the tent, hearing Kevin’s chest-rattling cough. “I hope not. Don’t you need antibiotics for that?”
“Yeah. A good hospital stay would really be in order, with intensive therapy.”
“How do you know so much about that?”
Bailey explained how she became fascinated with nursing when her mother was sick. That was all she dreamed of, going into the medical field. They were so nice to her when her mother was in the hospital.
“I’ve already told you this, though. Don’t you remember?”
“Yeah, I do now. It’s been so long now, everything is just running together. Also, I just like hearing you talk. Why did you go into interior design instead of medicine?”
“Daddy. He didn’t really think it was a good idea for the daughter of Bob Townsend to be cleaning vomit or any of the other vile things nurses do.”
“But what if you had decided to go into nursing?”
“Then more than likely I wouldn’t be here right now.”
****************************************
Howie, Brian, AJ, and Bob Townsend were still in the ranger’s office, demanding to go on the search expedition.
“I’ve told you too many times, gentlemen. There is no way I can let you on the helicopters. Why can’t you just understand that?”
“Why can’t you just understand that you aren’t doing enough to find my friends?” AJ asked, getting right in the man’s face.
“Back off, son. You are about to spend a night in the county bed and breakfast if you don’t get in your place.”
“AJ,” Howie said, gently pulling him away. “Getting thrown in jail is not the way to handle this.”
“Why haven’t you been searching this afternoon?” Brian asked quietly. “The wind died down well over three hours ago. There’s not much daylight left.”
“If you need more money, I’ve got that,” Bob Townsend said, taking out his wallet and checkbook. “You just tell me. I’ve got cash and I can get more. Would you like to have a sizeable donation? All we want is for you to at least attempt to find them. This has taken too damn long.”
“Hey, Boss,” a young ranger called, sticking his head through the door. “Got a call about some smoke from up in the mountains. We’re heading out now.”
AJ, Howie, Brian, and Bob looked at each other. Without a single word, all four men jumped up and went after the young man.
“We’re going,” AJ said, daring the pilot to disagree.
“Whatever,” he said, climbing into the pilot’s seat. “Whoa. All of you can’t ride in this one chopper. I’ll get another one to go up in a few minutes. Who’s riding with me?”
“I will,” Bob announced, climbing into the passenger
seat. “You take the next one.”
“Brian, you should stay here,” Howie told him. “One of us needs to be here in case....”
“Yeah, I understand,” he nodded.
Five minutes later, AJ and Howie were strapped into the second rescue helicopter as it took off. AJ motioned to see if Howie could hear him. Howie gave him a thumbs up.
“This is not my favorite means of transportation,” he shouted into his headset. “Loud and bumpy is not for me.”
The two chatted back and forth, trying to keep each other calm. Bob began talking with them from the other chopper. The pilot listened, his heart breaking as they talked of finding their friends and family.
“I guess the sergeant didn’t tell you the reason we haven’t been looking that much, has he?”
“No,” Howie said, leaning forward.
“I really hate to be the one to break the news to you, but with the weather conditions we’ve had lately, there is virtually no way they could have survived after the first night. We haven’t been able to pick up the signal from the
plane. That’s not a good thing. I’m afraid whatever we do find won’t be until after the spring thaw and then it will
be remains picked over by the animals.”
Howie sat back, suddenly feeling very sick. AJ turned his face away, tears streaming down. This was not what he wanted to hear.
*****************************
“And as of late this afternoon, there is still no word on the location or condition of Kevin Richardson and Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys whose plane went down nearly five days ago in the mountains between Vale and Aspen, Colorado. There has also been no official word from the other three Backstreet Boys, who, as we understand it, are in Vale, awaiting some sort of word. We have recently learned that Bob Townsend, owner of Townsend Adverting, Inc., of Tennessee, has arrived in Vale. His daughter, 21 year old University of Tennessee student Bailey Brooks Townsend was on the plane as well. We honestly hope to have some good news before soon, but as the hours go on, the possibility of finding any survivors diminishes. Tomorrow, we’ll have reactions from other performers about the situation. Back to you in the MTV studios.”
*****************************
“Shit, what was that?” AJ asked, holding tightly to his seat.
“An updraft,” the pilot told him, struggling to keep the helicopter in it’s flight pattern. “That’s the main reason you weren’t allowed out here before now. When the wind kicks up, it can take a chopper like this down in a matter of seconds. I’m going to take us back in. There’s just too much snow blowing around right now to even be able to see the tree tops, let alone anyone on the ground.”
“Shit,” AJ muttered again as the helicopter turned around to head back to the ranger station.
*****************************
“Hey! Hey! We’re down here!” Bailey yelled, jumping up and down, waving her arms wildly. “We’re here!”
“They can’t hear you,” Nick told her, frustrated. “They didn’t even see us. Why did they wait until it started snowing again?”
“But don’t you understand?” She said, smiling broadly. “If they’re looking, it means that Daddy is still on the job. He won’t let anything happen to me. I told you he’d come for me, Nick.”
Nick rubbed his shoulder and arm, trying to get some warmth in it. It was hurting more now than it did before. At that moment, he was so tired of hearing how great Daddy was and that he was going to save them all. If he was so perfect, what the hell was he doing letting his only daughter travel to Colorado when she should have been at home with him?
“Are you all right?” She asked, suddenly noticing his pained expression.
“Yeah,” he gasped. “Maybe I can tell if we’re going to have bad weather. My arm hurts like a motherfucker.”
“Nick,” she admonished.
“Well, it does. I’m sorry, but I’m not in the mood for pleasantries now. Let’s go back to camp and get in the tent. It’s too cold.”
They trudged slowly through the clearing made by the plane when it crashed. They could hear Kevin coughing as they approached the tent.
“I wish there was some sort of medicine in the first-aid kit,” Bailey said, grimacing at the sound. “Other than aspirin, that is.”
“Yeah, me, too,” Nick agreed, opening the flap for her to enter.
She lay down beside Kevin, pulling the blanket back over him. Nick took his place on the other side of Bailey. He placed his hand on her hip, snuggling close.
“No funny business this time,” he promised, closing his eyes, waiting for the pain to end.
Nearly three hours later, Bailey awoke to the sounds of Kevin talking. She first thought he and Nick were awake, conversing in hushed tones. After raising up slightly, she saw that Nick was still sound asleep. That doesn’t make any sense, she thought, turning to see who Kevin was talking to. Seeing no one, she placed a hand on him, deciding he must be dreaming. He felt hot to the touch. Bailey sat completely up, pushing back his sweaty hair from his face. He obviously had a fever. She pressed her lips to his forehead, as her mother had done to her as a child. He was scorching and he continued to mumble something she couldn't make out. Alarmed, she realized he was delirious from his fever.
“Nick!” She said, shaking him.
“Hunh?”
“Nick, wake up! It’s Kevin! He’s burning up. We’ve got to do something!”
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