Evil Intentions
By: Jenna
AJ McLean slowly slid down the brick wall of the old warehouse building on the
back street in New Orleans. The taste of blood filled his mouth, he slowly ran
his tongue across his teeth for a quick inventory. This was just another
typical bar fight. AJ was sick and tired of being called a boy band wuss one
time too many as far as he was concerned.
Leaning against the wall, AJ stared into the sky, thinking about where his life
had gone and where it was leading. He glanced at the alley and laughed quietly
to himself about his circumstances.
“Dead end,” AJ mumbled as he slowly got up to his feet. He picked up the
smashed tan cowboy hat and brushed it off and tried his best to re-form it
before placing it back on his head.
AJ ducked into the crowds of people that lined the French Quarter, partying and
spilling drinks as they tried their best from falling over ontop of one
another. Finding a side street that wasn’t crowded, he hailed a cab and
directed the driver to go back to the hotel where his bandmates stayed.
Nick Carter was resting back in his bed, intensely playing Quarterback Club
2001 on his N64. He glanced up from his game when he heard the door click open.
“Bone, god you look for shit! Where have you been?”
“Out,” AJ mumbled a hurried reply.
“Out where?” Nick persisted.
AJ threw a pair of boxers and a white wife beater onto the bed. “Just out,
leave it at that, okay?”
Nick flinched at the tone of AJ’s voice. “Good time then?”
“Nick! For crying out loud! Can you just keep your nose out of my life?”
AJ didn’t wait for an answer, he slammed the bathroom door behind him.
Nick shrugged his shoulders and settled back into the bed again, focusing his
attention back onto the game.
AJ looked at his face in the mirror. “God, I do look like shit,” he mumbled to
himself. Taking off his trademark sunglasses revealed a bruised cheek and a
lightly blackend left eye. His lower lip had been split and dried blood was on
his chin. He went to the shower and turned it on to the highest temperature his
body could withstand and started to undress, the steam clouding the mirror,
obscuring his face from view.
########
“Hey AJ! We’ve done this step millions of times, what’s the problem this
morning?” Kevin asked as he clamped a hand on AJ’s shoulder.
AJ winced as the pain radiated down towards his elbow. “Just a little under the
weather,” he replied in a raspy voice.
Kevin pulled AJ’s glasses down, his eyebrows furrowed into a frown when he saw
the black eye. “Uh-huh, I see. I take it you lost?”
“Whatever, Kev,” AJ spat back as he walked away over towards the table that was
lined up with water bottles.
AJ leaned against the table as he watched Nick and Howie going over a dance
step that Nick was having difficulty mastering. He shook his head and turned on
his heel and walked over to his duffel bag. He pulled out a bottle of Advil and
shook out three brown tablets. “I’m taking ten,” he called out as he headed for
the green room.
No one answered his remark, he closed the door cutting off the sounds of the
band playing the keyboard. AJ gulped down the water with the pills and settled
back onto the brown leather couch, placing his hat over his face.
“AJ?”
“Go away,” AJ mumbled sharply.
“AJ?” the voice persisted.
AJ reached up and tipped his hat back, exposing his eyes. He glanced over
towards where the sound was coming from expecting to see a teenybopper that was
trying to bother him. “What the hell do you want, can’t you see I’m rest---” He
stopped quickly from his reprimand when he saw the female figure standing
before him, a perfect body and beautiful eyes. AJ sat up on the couch.
“Hi AJ, my name is April,” the woman stated.
There was something about her voice that drove AJ crazy. His body heated up
with passion and a strong desire to get to know her better.
“I want to do something for you,” she began.
“God, like you read my mind,” AJ exclaimed, thinking this was too good to be
true.
April laughed. “First things first. I know you’ve been unhappy with the way your
life has been heading with the boyband image.”
AJ nodded his reply he didn’t trust his voice thinking it would crack with all
the feelings that were stirring in his body.
“I can change all that for you if you want me to,” April continued. “Would you
like me to do that for you?”
“But how?” AJ asked quietly.
“You would only have to sign this little contract here and I could give you the
respect you desire. You would, of course, have to continue for a little while
with the boyband but I could give you a solo career,” April replied as she held
out a piece of white parchment paper with flowing handwriting on it.
AJ eyed the paper in her hand wearily. He hated contracts and he knew that he
needed to contact his attorney before he signed anything.
“You can’t involve anyone AJ, it would have to be our little secret, just you
and me,” April stated.
“You can read my mind?” AJ asked.
April laughed. “I can read your mind, Brian’s, Howies, Kevin’s and Nick’s,
which I might add his is the easiest to read.”
AJ laughed nervously. “So what do you get out of this?”
“I get you,” April replied, holding a feathered quill pen in her hand.
Thinking only for a moment, his thoughts clouded by the thoughts of getting
this perfect woman to himself, AJ snatched the pen from her hand and quickly
scrawled Alexander J. McLean on the paper.
Looking at the signature, a slight smile spread across April’s face. She bent
down towards AJ and kissed him softly on the lips, more of a teasing type of a
kiss. AJ reached up to pull her down onto the couch next to him but she managed
to break free.
“Sorry AJ, first things first, I need to file this paper with my boss and then
we’ll get started with our little deal, understand?”
Defeated, AJ nodded. He wanted everything to start quickly but it seemed that
April preferred to move slowly. A lopsided grin appeared on his face, ‘A girl
that moves slow, I suppose I could like that for a change, it’s a little
different, but what the hell,’ he thought to himself.
“You are the sick one, aren’t you AJ,” April teasingly reprimanded.
“Damn, I forgot you could read minds,” AJ quickly apologized.
April softly laughed. “Just don’t forget it either.” She quickly kissed him on
the cheek and let herself out of the green room, walking past Nick Carter who
just stood and stared after her with his mouth hanging open.
~*~*~*~*~
Several months had passed since AJ signed the contract with April. She was
becoming his constant companion and his bandmates slowly accepted her into
their circle without question.
AJ sat on the couch with his left arm draped around April’s shoulder. The two
were constantly acting like young hormonal teens, barely able to keep their
hands off of one another when they were together in public.
“Ya know, that is a little bit gross guys,” Nick sighed.
“What is?” AJ asked, his lips still pressed against April’s.
“Get a room, would ya?”
“Oh, poor little Nicky can’t handle seeing someone with a girlfriend? See it
goes like this....you meet someone.....you actually start a conversation with
her.....and POOF.....you start dating!” AJ replied sarcastically.
“I’m not jealous AJ, just a little grossed out by your open display of
affection,” Nick replied.
Just as AJ was prepared to reply, he was interrupted by his personal assistant
holding a legal folder. “Mr. McLean, I have some more contracts for you to sign
for the Johnny No Name tour,” Cathy stated as she held the folder out for AJ to
take.
AJ smiled as he took the folder from her. “See Nicky, if you get both feet wet,
anything can happen. I predict in a few more months Backstreet will be ancient
history and you will be unemployed. I, on the other hand will be busy with my
solo career and living life high on the hog.”
“So the rumors are true, AJ?” Kevin looked up from his sheet music.
“You bet your sweet ass they are. As soon as this is a done deal, me and April
here are gonna take off and start our own little group, right babe?”
The four band members stared at AJ and April. This was something completely new
to them. April giggled as AJ tickled her neck with his mouth. Nick appeared to
look grossed out and Brian embarrassed.
“AJ I think you’re making a big mistake here, just slow down a bit, okay?”
Kevin pleaded. He opened his mouth to continue his sentance, but an erie glow
in April’s eyes caused him to stop, taking a breath sharply in.
Kevin closed his eyes and then opened them noticing the glow had disappeared
from April's eyes. He blinked several more times trying to figure out if what
he had seen had been his imagination.
"Weird..." Kevin mumbled under his breath not intending for anyone to
hear.
"What's weird Kev?" Brian asked giving his cousin a puzzled look.
"Hmm? Oh...nothing, Brian, nothing."
~*~*~*~*~
"Hello Orlando! I'm Johnny No Name and I'm here to perform for my good
friend AJ, you all know AJ, right?" AJ said receiving applause and cheers
from the audience. He looked out at the small crowd of teenage girls and then
said "You all know AJ's nickname is Bone so how about we start by singing
AJ's favorite song, I'm sure you all know this song." The music to
"Bad to the Bone" started and AJ began singing. A few girls in the
back started laughing at AJ's attempt to perform solo.
"I think we know why his nickname is Bone, he's a bonehead." One girl
said. All the girls laughed at the comment.
"Well this concert certainly was a waste of money, lets go." Another
girl said as they all started to leave the concert.
After the concert AJ sat backstage with April looking over sale's records for
all of his Johnny No Name concerts. He hadn't managed to sell out even a single
show. After he had left the Backstreet Boys their success had doubled, but he
was having no success with his solo career.
"April I thought you said if I signed that contract you'd give me
everything I wanted." AJ said eyeing the sales records and looking up at
April.
"And I am AJ, this is what you wanted a solo career. I never said you'd be
successful at it." She said smiling.
"I want out of the contract then." He told April.
"Sorry Alex that isn't possible, once you sign the contract it can never
be broken." She said in a voice so calm it sent chills through AJ. She
smiled at him and got up to leave the room.
"Wait a minute! What do you mean it can't be broken? Contracts are made to
be broken! And I want out of this one! Now!" AJ yelled as he grabbed her
arm and turned her to face him.
"I'm sorry AJ, but maybe you should have read the contract before
signing." Suddenly she pulled out a copy of the contract from nowhere.
"What the hell? How did you do that?" AJ questioned her.
"My little secret AJ, now look here." April said pointing to the fine
print at the bottom of the paper. AJ read the small disclaimer at the bottom
stating that he was bound to the contract for all eternity.
"Dammit!" AJ yelled, "There has got to be a way out of this
contract and I am going to find it!"
April rolled the contract back up and it disappeared from her hand just as
quickly as it had appeared. All the while she kept a smile on her face watching
as AJ walked back and forth across the room.
"Wait a minute! According to that contract you still have to give me
anything I want, right?" AJ asked.
"That's right AJ. But you should be careful what you ask for." She
said still smiling. Her calm voice was starting to irritate AJ to no end.
AJ sat on a couch at one end of the room thinking to himself 'I could just ask
for success since I already have the solo thing going on now.' April's smile
grew bigger knowing what AJ was thinking and knowing exactly how to give him
the success he wanted.
"Alright, I know what I want April. I want success, since you didn't give
it to me before, I want it now." He said standing up.
"Then success is what you will get Alex." With that April disappeared
from the room.
AJ finally fell asleep on the couch when April didn’t return after an hour. He
didn’t have any way of getting ahold of her so he had no choice, but to wait.
He tried to call Howie and then Nick, but there was no answer from either of them.
He didn’t think anything of it until he couldn’t reach Brian or Kevin either.
He didn’t really have an important reason for getting ahold of them, but he
thought it was strange that he couldn’t reach them anyway. Hell, like I give
a shit anyway. Who needs ‘em?” He thought to himself. His thoughts kept
drifting back to April. There was something about her. It was almost as if she
had a sense of danger about her. It was something that he kind of liked,
but it also scared him a little.
To get his mind off of her until
she came back, he flipped on his television. News filled the screen and he
almost flipped the channel until something caught his attention. A reporter
stood about 20 feet away from what looked like a horrible automobile accident.
The car looked familiar to AJ. It was a yellow BMW. It was in flames and the
entire front and left side was totaled.
“We still don’t have any details
on which members survived the accident. No cause has yet been determined.
Witnesses say that without warning, the hood burst into flames and the driver,
not identified as of yet, lost control of the vehicle. They crashed head on
into a light pole and then skidded into the median, finally hitting the cement
wall...We have just learned of one casualty...”
AJ felt sick. It couldn’t be. Oh
god, it couldn’t be.
“But it is.” Came that calm,
chilling voice. April materialized behind AJ and laid a hand on his shoulder.
“I gave you their success.”
AJ
turned back to the television to see the reporter announce the latest news from
the accident.
"The driver of the vehicle has died. No name has been released as of
yet, we will update you as soon as we have more information on the
accident."
AJ grabbed the remote and turned the TV off sending the remote hurdling towards
the opposite end of the room.
"How will killing them give me success April? How?!" AJ yelled. AJ
buried his face in his hands and began to cry. April smiled to herself before
approaching AJ.
"I thought you wanted success, that's what I'm giving you." She said
standing in front of him.
"I never said I wanted them dead!" He said glaring at April.
"Well it's too late to think about that, now isn't it AJ?" April
laughed.
"How can you be so cold?" AJ questioned giving her a hateful glance.
"It's what I do best." She grinned.
"I want them back! I want you to bring them back!" AJ yelled.
"Hmm...I'll have to think about that." April responded. AJ stood up
from the couch and walked to where April was standing. He grabbed her by the
shoulders.
"I said, I want them back!" He calmly said, with anger in his eyes,
his face inches from hers. April suddenly disappeared from AJ's grasp and from
the room.
"Dammit!" AJ yelled. Knowing there was nothing he could do until
April returned he sat down on the couch once again after turning the television
on. To his surprise there were no reporters talking about the accident. He
flipped through the channels aimlessly until deciding on MTV. He rested his
head against the back of the couch letting a few tears fall from his eyes as he
thought about what had happened to his friends because of him. Soon he fell
into a fitful sleep.
A few hours later AJ awoke to find himself sitting on a couch in a hotel room.
He got up off of the couch and walked into another room to find two beds, one
occupied by Howie. AJ then remembered what had happened, the wishes, the
accident, April...How could he be here with Howie? Howie and the guys had been
in the car accident, Howie couldn't be here.
"You broke the contract." AJ spun around to find April standing in
the doorway behind him.
"What?" He asked.
"You broke the contract, it's all over." April said walking towards
him.
"How?" AJ asked puzzled.
"Remember when you said you wanted the guys back?" She questioned.
"Yeah, I remember. What does that have to do with anything?" AJ asked
looking at a sleeping Howie and then back to April.
"You asked for something that wasn't for you. You didn't make a selfish
demand. That voids the contract." April stated.
"So you mean everything is back to normal?" AJ asked.
"Everything is as if you never met me. None of your friends will remember
me, and I will not be back again. Good-bye AJ." with the April disappeared
from sight.
"Good-bye April." AJ said climbing into the unused bed. Before
drifting off to sleep he hoped what April had said was true, that no one would
remember her, especially him.
The End
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