This is my first attepmt at a story like this, so please let me know what you think so far.

Prologue

Amber’s pace quickened as she heard footsteps close behind her. A brisk winter wind blew as she wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to keep warm. She heard the footsteps getting closer and she walked even more quickly. She could have killed her mom for having her go to the store so late just to get stamps, half a dozen eggs and a package of chili seasoning. Amber hated the dark and hated even more that she was alone, walking home. The grocery store was walking distance from her house…a little over half a mile, to be exact. With that fact in mind, her mother hadn’t let her use the car.

Amber shivered, feeling unsafe in the familiar surroundings. Her heart pounded in her chest, for she knew that somebody was following her. Or was it her mind playing tricks on her because she was afraid?

Rounding the corner, Amber entered the alleyway that would end and lead her to her house. The long, dark alleyway that she despised so much. It was always littered, with garbage bins for the companies that were there to dispose of their waste. Her mind always conjured up creative things when she walked down the alley. She was always weary, thinking that somebody was hiding on the other side of one of the large garbage bins. In her eight years of using the alley though, nothing had ever happened. She was nineteen how, and that fact still didn’t make Amber trust it though. She felt helpless during the daylight hours, let alone feeling the danger of it when it was completely dark. The only light was a dim one clear on the other side of the alley. It wasn’t much though.

Amber found herself quickening her pace even more. Along with her, the other set of feet pounding against the pavement seemed to as well. Whoever it was definitely wasn’t making their presence unknown. She found that odd. If it were an attacker, wouldn’t they try to be a bit more quiet? Amber wasn’t sure. She had never been in this situation before. Amber wondered if it was one of her friends, purposely trying to get a good scare out of her. But would they really do something this cruel just for laughs the next day?

Soon, Amber could swear that the footsteps were gaining on her. Thank god that she was almost home. Amber estimated about a quarter mile. She could make it…she knew it. Taking in a deep breath, Amber breathed in the frigid air. Her throat was beginning to become sore from the coldness of the air. Her face stung from the numbness that was taking over, if that made any sense. Amber couldn’t wait to be in the warmth of her home. It wouldn’t be long now. She could almost taste the cup of steaming hot cocoa that she was going to make for her self, finished off with a glob of whipped cream…

Suddenly, Amber tripped, causing her to stumble. Her heart caught in her throat, but she got her balance back, and picked up her pace again, but not quick enough. A hand grabbed her from behind, causing her to drop the grocery’s. Amber shrieked before the hand went over her mouth. Amber knew now that she wasn’t being paranoid. This was for real. Amber tried to yell again, but the hand was clamped too tightly to her mouth for her to get out any pleas for help. The smell of old leather filled her nostrils. The texture was rough with age. This definitely wasn’t the works of a cruel joke from one of her friends.

“Don’t try to escape,” A low voice growled, “And don’t make any sound,” he added as a warning.

Amber just nodded, afraid to protest her attacker. Tears filled her eyes, fear taking over her body. Why was this happening to her? Finally, the hand was removed from her mouth, and she could breath easily again. Amber took in a deep breath. The fresh air felt good, cold as it might be. Figuring if she just did what the man wanted without a fight, he would leave her alone. She would do anything, just to return home safely. The man, as soon as his hand was off of her mouth, grabbed her arm. He jerked her roughly, dragging her behind him to the side of one of the trash bins.

“Don’t scream,” he warned.

Amber’s eyes filled with fright as she just nodded. What was he going to do with her? She felt as if she could have a heart attack from the immense fear that was overcoming her. This was nothing like she had ever felt before.

Amber chocked on a sob as she felt her winter coat being taken off of her and next, the fabric of her shirt tearing off of her body. A light snow had begun to fall, and she shivered, understanding what was happening now. Soon, she was completely exposed. The man roughly shoved her to the ground before unzipping his pants and taking them off, crawling on top of her.

“Please…don’t…” Amber whimpered.

“Shut up,” the man snarled, slapping her across the face.

Amber wished that the alley wasn’t so dark, so she could get a glimpse of her attacker. He was smart though. He knew that in his chosen place, nobody would find them. Amber And she wouldn’t be able to make out his features. Amber closed her eyes, waiting for fate to take its course. The man violently inserted himself into her, fucking her as if she were a rag-doll. Amber’s body hit the pavement over and over again, her head slamming against it. She was becoming so weak…she could feel herself beginning to lose consiousness. She couldn’t though. She had to stay awake. Paralyzed by fear, Amber did nothing to stop the man. She couldn’t scream, she couldn’t move. All she could do was let him do as he pleased with her. Amber suddenly found her voice, and she tried to yell, but the hand went back over her mouth.

“Try that again, and you’ll be sorry.”

And then, she got another blow to her face. His hands wrapped around her arms so tightly, Amber thought that they might fall off. Was that possible? Amber sniffled, wanting to yell, but she was afraid by his warning. She wanted to make it home safely after he left. When would that be? The man continued to jerk her body violently as he got pleasure out of using her for his own sexual needs and desires. Pain began to shoot throughout her body and she felt as if her insides were being ripped apart. Amber felt something warm, and she was sure that she was bleeding.

Finally, she could feel the pressure of the man’s body on hers letting up, and he was standing above her. Amber breathed a sigh of relief, and without opening her eyes, she could hear him putting his pants back on. The nightmare was over. The rape was done. She didn’t make any attempt to get up, and even if she wanted to, she wasn’t sure if she could. Her whole body ached so badly. She hurt so much. Amber wondered if her legs would support her to get home. Her mom would be worrying about her by now…but why wasn’t she coming to find her?

“You know what I have to do now,” the voice lowly stated, causing Amber to jump, “So you don’t go to the police.”

Amber wasn’t sure. But she knew when she heard a soft clicking sound. Her life flashed before her eyes and she hoped that her parents knew how much she loved them. She wished that she could tell them one last time. She wished that she could tell them that this wasn’t her fault and she hadn’t wanted anything to do with it. Less than a second later, a shot blasted through the night air at her. Amber could honestly say that she felt no pain, but she knew that she’d been shot. Her body had prepared herself for the blow. Her chest heaved as she found it harder and harder to breath. Amber winced as another bullet went through her chest. Before Amber heard footsteps as the intruder ran away, she felt something being placed over her body in attempt to cover her. A frightened tear fell down her cheek.

“Help me,” she wheezed, but it came out a whisper. She was becoming so weak. The sky was starting to spin around her, and she struggled to keep her eyes open now. Amber sobbed lightly, wondering what would become of her. The temperature was continuing to drop. She wondered if she was ever found, if it would be alive. Her eyes shut unwillingly, and she jerked them open again, her throat closing up on her. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to fight it any longer. Again, Amber thought of her parents. She couldn’t imagine what this would do to them. She was their only child. Amber was giving up, and those were her last thoughts before warmth enveloped her, and peace surrounded her. Then, everything finally went black.

Chapter One

“Wow, it’s crazy out there,” Brian stated.

He looked out of the dark tinted window and at the crowd of fans that were surrounding the Backstreet Boys bus. They were lining the streets, some attempting to run after them, others even trying to jump on to the bus and cling to it.

“How did they find us?” A.J. asked as more of a rhetorical question, “How did they know we’d be passing through here?”

“They always find us,” Brian answered with a sigh, “What I don’t get is it’s almost eleven. Don’t they have school or something in the morning?"

Brian knew that they all loved their fans, but they were late as it was for a meeting, and the mob of screaming girls was just slowing them down by jumping in to the bus’s path. If it weren’t for them being in such a rush, he was almost sure that they would have stopped for a little while to sign autographs and even take pictures. Brian could see out of the front window that there was a clear opening in the street. As if their driver, Malcolm, had read his mind, he sped up, flying past the fans at a speed that would be impossible to catch up with. He turned a corner sharply, and then another, slowly turning down what looked to be an alley. Brian raised an eyebrow. They’d lost the fans…he knew that much was for sure. So why were they heading down this spooky dark place? The high beams of the bus barely lit the place, and they couldn’t have been driving any more than five miles an hour.

“Come on,” Nick muttered to himself, totally oblivious to what was going on, “Just a little bit more.”

Brian looked over at his friend, chuckling lightly. Nick was always playing Nintendo, and whenever he was playing, it was if the world had stopped otherwise around him.

“Nick, the world won’t end if your little car doesn’t pass the finish line a full minute ahead of everyone else,” A.J told him.

Nick stuck his middle finger up at A.J with one hand after he’d come in first place by thirteen and a half seconds. Less than a minute later, another race had started, only this time, he was lagging behind in fifth place. After a fight, Nick’s little yellow Porch was ahead of the other sporty cars.

“Yes,” he shouted triumphantly, proud of his accomplishment.

Suddenly though, the bus jerked to a stop without warning. Although they’d been driving extremely slow, it was enough to knock Nick’s car off course right before the finish line, causing him to come in last place.

“Damnit,” Nick cursed, shutting off the Nintendo, “What was that for?”

“There’s something blocking our path,” Malcolm called back.

“So go around it,” Nick stated.

“I can’t, not enough room,” Malcolm informed them, “and it’s too big to go over. Think some of you guy’s can help me move it?”

The five Boys’ all looked at one another nervously. None of them knew what to think of this ordeal, and the spookiness of the alley wasn’t helping calm their nerves much. None of them wanted to get out of the safeness of their bus. Finally, Kevin, A.J. and Nick all got up, moving to the front of the bus to help out Malcolm. They hopped off, one by one, walking over to the “lump” that was blocking the already narrow path. They all saw that whatever it was, newspapers were covering it in attempt to hide it. Malcolm, A.J. and Kevin, with the light of the headlights from their bus, both saw what appeared to be the top of a head sticking out of the thin paper. Nick though, obviously wasn’t paying attention to details.

“Is it a person?” Nick asked, hiding behind Kevin slightly and peeking over his shoulder.

“No, Nick,” Kevin muttered, his heart pounding in his chest, “It’s a buffalo.”

Nick’s eyes widened in amusement, “Really? It must be a baby one then. It’s so small.”

Neither Kevin nor A.J. said anything in response to Nick’s idiotic comment. This was no time for stupid comments.

“What’s a buffalo doing here?” Nick asked.

He still got no answer as Kevin cautiously walked towards what was so obviously a person. Bending down, he gently folded the newspapers off of the body, and gasped at what he saw. Suddenly, Kevin felt as if he were going to throw up. The young girl looked to be in her late teens, maybe early twenties. She was completely nude, and there were bruises all over her body from where she’d been battered, he was guessing. And then there were the gun shot wounds. Kevin stumbled backwards, unable to look at the sight any longer.

“Kev, what’s wrong,” A.J. asked, walking closer to the body. His eyes widened. As he drew in a shaky breath, he muttered, “Holy shit.”

Malcolm had turned a pasty shade of white. There was blood everywhere. It was all over the girl’s body, the newspaper, the pavement around her. The blood had obviously dried up, freezing from the coldness of the night.

“What’s wrong with everyone?” Nick asked.

He walked past everybody, his curiosity getting the better of him. He stopped short thought at what he saw. Nick himself took in a shaky breath. It was the most horrific thing that he’d ever seen. The image was so vivid, so gory. It was something that he thought he might see in a horror movie, or even some sort of drama, but not in real life. Nick backed away a little. The images were too much for him to handle, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the ghostly image lying before them.

“It’s not a buffalo,” was all he could think of to say, and it came out in nearly a whisper.

Nobody said anything for a few long seconds. Nick’s comment wasn’t exactly fitting the setting. In fact, it was almost as if he were trying to make light of it. Kevin knew though, that not even Nick would try to joke about something like this.

“No shit, Nick,” Kevin eventually answered, annoyed, running a hand through his thick, dark hair. All he could think of was what they were going to do. He wasn’t sure who to call, or what to say. He was guessing, by the looks of her, that she was a victim of rape. The question was, how long had she been there? It could have been a few days, maybe hours. It was hard to tell.

“Is…is she alive?” Nick asked, his voice quavering slightly.

Nobody moved. Nobody wanted to be the one to see if she was or not. It was a morbid task to take care of. What if she wasn’t? Kevin knew that no matter what, they couldn’t just leave the scene of what had obviously been a crime. They would have to call somebody, whether or not she was alive. A.J. gulped, staring at Kevin expectantly. Nick’s eyes were wide with fear and Malcolm had his back turned away. With a sigh, Kevin closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath, hoping that it would make him strong enough to check the girl’s pulse. He took four steps forward and bent down, still on his feet with his knees bent. At first, Kevin gently took the bruised wrist, placing his thumb on the underside. He shut his eyes, praying for a signal of life still in the small body. He was about to give up, not feeling anything, but something made him stop and double check. He waited a few seconds, but sure enough, there was a faint pulse. Kevin quickly put the back of his right hand up to her mouth, which was hanging ajar slightly. Kevin felt the weakest breath coming from her, but at least it was something. With his heart pounding in his chest, wildly beating with excitement, fear and nervousness, he looked to the bus.

“Brian,” he called, his voice soft and weak. Kevin swallowed, and then yelled again, “BRIAN.”

Brian appeared in the doorway of the large bus seconds later. He seemed to be annoyed with his cousin.

“What?” he asked, “What’s the holdup?”

Kevin ignored Brian’s impatiens, “Call for an ambulance,” he ordered.

“Wha?” Brian asked in confusion, beginning to get off of the bus completely to see what was going on.

“Call an ambulance, NOW,” Kevin barked, “Tell them we’ve found a rape victim that’s been shot.”

Brian froze, his eyes widening significantly from shock. He caught Kevin’s glare though, which caused him to snap out of his daze, scurrying back on to the bus. Kevin looked behind him at Nick and A.J. They were just standing there, staring at the scene, Nick feeling as if he were in a crime show made for TV, like CSI, or COPS.

“Is…is there anything we can do?” A.J. stuttered.

Kevin nodded, “See if you can find her clothing…anything.” He demanded, although his voice wasn’t mean.

A.J. and Nick nodded, searching the ground for any articles of clothing that may have belonged to the girl. They figured that if there were anything, it would be near by. Nick bent down about ten feet from Kevin, picking up a thin, soft sweater, or what used to be one. He choked on a sob as he examined the tattered and torn rag. Whatever had happened to her had obviously been violent.

“Kev, I found something,” Nick said, holding up the sweater.

Kevin looked up, and about flipped, “Nick,” he yelled, “Drop it now,”

Nick jumped a little, dropping the sweater. It fell to the ground. Nick had confusion written all over his face.

“I thought you said to look…”

“I said look,” Kevin informed him, “Not touch. If your fingerprints are on it, you’ll be a suspect.”

Nick’s eyes widened. He didn’t want to be tried for rape and attempted murder. He hadn’t meant anything by bringing the sweater to Kevin. He had just been trying to help him.

“The police will take care of it,” Kevin muttered, checking the girls pulse again. It was still there, but seemed to be weaker than it had before. Kevin looked skyward, doing a quick prayer that she would live. Kevin took off his jacket, laying it over top her exposed body, hoping that it would keep in some of her body heat, unless it was too late for that.

“Kev,” Brian called, “They’re on their way,”

Kevin nodded, acknowledging that he had heart Brian. Kevin told Nick and A.J. to get back on the bus to wait. Nick immediately ran to the bus, eager to get warm. A.J. was more hesitant, but decided that Kevin knew what he was talking about. Malcolm had since returned to the heated vehicle. Kevin decided that the others should stay warm until help arrived. Only one was needed to wait with the girl who was barely clinging to life. Besides, the more of them that were outside, the less access the paramedics would have to the girl. They needed all of the room that they could get. Kevin swallowed, hoping that they would be able to find the alley. It was pretty well hidden, and Kevin knew that they had found it by chance, just trying to escape fans. He thought that maybe they’d been led there though, by fate, to help the girl. Kevin knew if they hadn’t driven by, nobody else would have for a long while, dooming the girl to an untimely death.

Again, Kevin checked her pulse. He had a harder time finding it this time around, and his heart fell to his feet, but then he felt it. Breathing a sigh of relief, Kevin composed himself. There was no doubt about it though: the young woman was slowly slipping away.

When Kevin heard the distant sound of sirens, he held his breath for the longest moment, hoping that they were on their way to the alley. The sound was getting closer, and he felt his heart was going to beat its way out of his chest from anxiety. Kevin saw the flashing lights of what appeared to be police cars and an ambulance coming down the alley opposite the way their bus had. They slowly turned the corner, and Kevin let out a shaky breath as they found their way over to them. Help had arrived.

Thanks to AJsSweetie, Stephanie, SweetAngelicAngel and Anita for reviewing. This next chapter is for you! Can't wait to hear what ya'll think!!!

Chapter Two

Kevin closed his eyes, the vivid images of what had occurred replaying in his head in full color once more. He could see every detail as if it were right before his eyes again. Once the ambulance had pulled up, the paramedics had jumped out of the emergency vehicle to see how much trauma had been done to the girl so that they could take the right precautions in moving her and treating her. Meanwhile, the police had questioned him and the Boys, giving them the third degree, treating them as if they had been the criminals themselves. The police had even gone as far as to fingerprint them all…something that and angered Kevin, but he knew that they all had to cooperate of they didn’t want any more suspicion directed towards them.

“When did you find her?” an Officer asked

“About ten minutes ago, maybe less,” Kevin answered.

“Was it in this condition?”

“Yeah,” Kevin answered, “Pretty much… she had newspapers covering her before though.”

“Anybody else on the bus?” another Officer asked

Kevin stood up so that he was eye level with the law enforcers. He saw that their names were Officer Mendel and Officer Starks. Kevin nodded in response to their question.

“Yes, five others,” he told them.

“Go get them,” Officer Sparks demanded, “We need to ask some questions.”

Kevin looked at him strangely before doing as told. They didn’t know anything, so why were they all going to be treated as if they did? Why were the Officers acting as if they had something to do with the violent rape. He knew that none of them would ever even think about doing something so horrible. It had made them all physically sick just to look at the girl.

“Hey, guys,” Kevin said, sticking his head around the corner of the bus, “The police need to speak with all of us.”

The five men on the bus stared at Kevin blankly. Not one of them budged.

“Why?” Nick was the first to speak

Kevin shrugged, “Just, come on…or they’ll think we’re hiding something.”

The Boys’ plus Malcolm slowly stood up, making their way to the front of the bus. One by one, all five of them stepped off, walking over to the officer.

“Good evening,” Officer Stark greeted them sternly

They all muttered their ‘hello’s’ and ‘what’s up’s’
“Now, we just need to ask a few questions,” Officer Mendel told them all.

The guys nodded, wondering what this was all about. None of them knew anything. Howie and Brian, for the first time, saw the girl when they looked around the officers to see what the paramedics were doing. They both paled a little, quickly taking their gaze off of her. Kevin shivered, drawing in a deep breath and wrapping his arms around himself. The air had grown colder, or so it seemed.

“Were all of you here when she was found?”

“Yeah,” A.J. answered, “We were trying to escape fans. We were late for a meeting, and thought that this would take us there more quickly…and then…”

Both Officers jotted something down in their notepad. A.J. glared at them, wondering why they were.

“What made you decide to take this alley?” Officer Starks asked.

“I was just trying to get away from the fans as soon as I could. There was an opening, and I took advantage of it,” Malcolm spoke up, deciding this question was best to be answered by him, “ To be honest, I didn’t even realize where I was headed. I stopped when I saw her blocking the path…I thought that it was just…I don’t know what, but not a person.”

“Mmm-hmm,” Officer Malcolm muttered softly, as he wrote down more.

“You said that you were on your way to a meeting?” Officer Starks asked, and when the guys all nodded, he said, “Kind of late for a meeting, don’t you think?”

Kevin was becoming annoyed. What kind of question was that? It seemed that they were blaming them for this.

“Listen,” he nearly shouted, “Eleven at night was the only time we could fit a meeting in to our schedule. I don’t know what you’re trying to get at, but we didn’t have anything to do with this.”

Both Officers looked at one another, speaking with their eyes before closing their notepads.

“That’s all for now,” Officer Starks let them know, “We’re going to fingerprint all of you before you leave.”

Kevin rolled his eyes, as the Officer Mendel went to his car to grab an inkpad and what was obviously paper just for prints, for there was a box for each finger.

“Just place your finger tips in the ink and put them in the right box,” he demanded of them.

They guys all did what they were told, Kevin feeling like a filthy criminal, even though he knew he wasn’t. Wasn’t it obvious that they hadn’t done anything? Kevin felt like calling the Officers pigs, but thought better of it. That wouldn’t exactly get him or the rest of the Boys on their good side.

“We’re about to take the girl to the hospital,” one of the paramedics stated, “Anybody going with us?”

All of the Boys looked at one another, and then Kevin replied with, “We’ll meet you there. ”

The paramedic nodded, giving them directions to the hospital in which they were taking the girl to, then jumped in to the ambulance and backing up before speeding down the road, the siren wailing throughout the night air.

“We just need a phone number to contact you,” Officer Mendel told them, and Kevin wrote it down for him, “Okay, you’re free to leave. We will need to ask more questions later on.”

The Boys all ran back to their bus. Kevin knew what was coming next. They were waiting until they pulled through to begin investigating the area until more qualified officers, specially trained for that arrived…

“Hey, Kevin,”

Kevin shook his head, his thoughts distracted, looking over to where the voice had come from, seeing Brian. It took him a second to recognize his surroundings, but eventually did. They were in the waiting room of the Emergency Room. They’d been told to wait there until the girl was transferred elsewhere and that they would be informed as to where to go to wait. Him and the Boys had all decided to go to the hospital, and wait to see if the girl was going to be okay. They all knew that if they just left, they would regret it. Calling management, Kevin told them that they wouldn’t be making the meeting, ignoring the irate shouts of the angry man on the phone, screaming of how late they were, and irresponsible for canceling at the last minute. He didn’t care. They had more important things to do than some stupid meeting.

“Huh?” he asked, realizing that he’d been replaying the scene again in his head. He couldn’t seem to shake it away.

“Aje and I are going to run down to the café to get some coffee for everyone. You want some?”

Kevin’s thoughts strayed away again, Brian’s questing going in one ear, and getting lost somewhere in his head. Kevin wondered what was taking so long. It had been about three hours. He wondered if the girls’ family had been contacted, and if they would even be informed of anything, or if they’d been waiting for nothing.

“Kev,” Brian almost shouted, trying to get his cousin’s attention. He could tell by the look in his eyes that he’d lost him.

“What?” Kevin asked, then remembered the question, “Oh, right, um, sure. Regular, if they have it.”

“Okay,” he said, “We’ll be back in a little bit.”

Kevin watched as A.J. and Brian walked away. He noticed that Nick was asleep, snoring softly, his heat tilted to one side. Kevin smiled lightly. Nick never had been one to stay awake if he was tired. Leave it to Nick to fall asleep in the middle of something Kevin would call a crisis.

“Slow night in the ER, huh?” Howie asked, trying to make conversation as well as break the silence.

Kevin looked around. Howie was right. The ER was slow…very slow, in fact. There were only about four other people scattered randomly around the large area. He looked at Howie, how as lounging in one of the chairs, slouching drastically.

“Yeah.” Kevin replied, “Lucky for the ER nurses.”

Howie laughed, “Yeah…everybody needs a good slow night once in awhile. This is ours…” his voice trailed off.

Kevin couldn’t disagree. That probably would be their only slow night for at least another month or so.

“Freaky thing tonight though,” Howie stated, breaking the silence.

Kevin was thankful for that. He hated the eerie silence that was in hospitals. It made him shudder. Being in hospitals had always brought him and his family nothing but grief and sadness.

“Yeah,” Kevin replied, “Hopefully we found her before…before hypothermia set in. Hopefully she’ll live…”

Howie could hear fear in his voice. He didn’t blame him. They’d both lost somebody really close to them. Even if they didn’t know the nameless girl, it didn’t mean that they did not care. Howie didn’t know what to say, and was glad that he didn’t have to when he saw Brian and A.J. walking towards them, struggling to carry seven cups of coffee.

“Dang, these are so hot, and Bone-head here dropped half of his,” Brian laughed, “We went back and bought more…extras, in case he dropped them again.”

Howie chucked, getting up to take some of the cups from A.J., handing one to Kevin and setting one next to Nick, even though he knew it would be long past cold by the time the blonde woke up.

“Thanks,” A.J. said, sitting down, wondering what he was going to do with the two extra cups. Malcolm was in the bus out in the parking lot, most likely getting some sleep. He had said that he would just wait for them out there, insisting that he would be fine. He knew that none of them would want to leave the building and go out in the freezing weather and that Malcolm had heat. They were getting a lovely cold breeze every time the sliding glass doors opened and shut.

“Any word yet?” Brian asked, taking a sip of the steaming hot liquid.

Kevin shook his head, the images again taking over his head, but this time, it wasn’t of their conversation with the police. It was the images of the girl that were coming to mind. Kevin couldn’t believe that somebody would do such a thing to someone that they didn’t even know…or did she know him? Either way, it was sick and took a completely deranged mind to think of doing such a thing. Kevin hoped that there wasn’t any permanent damage done to her. Brian damage was the only thing hat stuck out in his mind.

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A.J. awoke to somebody loudly clearing their throat. Opening his eye slowly, he saw a doctor standing before him. Sitting up, A.J. looked around. The other four were still sleeping, sifting slightly in their sleep.

“Hey, guys,” he whispered, getting no response, then said more loudly, “Guys.”

“I don’t want a bath,” Nick muttered in his sleep, rolling over and sighing, “Just one more game…”

A.J. rolled his eyes. Nick always had the tendency to talk in his sleep and say moronic things. Normally, he found it hysterical, but not that night. He realized that it was the middle of the night, but a doctor was finally there. He didn’t care if he awoke them from a peaceful sleep.

“Guys,” A.J. nearly yelled.

Four pairs of eyes suddenly opened, staring at A.J…or more like glaring at him.

“What do you want?” Howie muttered, annoyed, “We’re trying to sleep, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“Look up,” A.J. said, feeling bad for keeping the doctor waiting. He shot him an apologetic look.

The Boys all looked upward, noticing the doctor for the first time. They all sat straight up, hoping that the news was going to be good.

“You are here for Amber, correct?” he asked

All five men looked at one another in confusion. Kevin sighed, thinking that he had the wrong people.

“The rape victim,” the doctor said, making himself clearer.

“Oh, yes,” Howie said, is voice still filled with sleep, and then asked out of curiosity, “How did you know it was us that were here for, um, Amber?”

“The paramedics said that some Backstreet Boys would be coming in for her,” he smirked, and Howie decided to let his tone and look slide past him, “I’m Doctor Jones, for future reference. Amber awoke a little while ago. She is confused and doesn’t remember what happened yet. She will by morning though. She has a slight concussion, and suffered from some cuts and bruises. Her body temperaturer was extremely low when she was brought in, but with heat blankets, it has come up some. Some tests are being done to make sure that she hasn’t caught anything. The results will be in shortly, two days at the most.”

“Thank you for letting us know,” Kevin said, “Can we see her?”

“Yes,” Dr, Jones said, “Not yet though. By mid morning though. She is rather lucky that you found her. She was on the verge of suffering from minor frostbite and would have died if she had been left out in the cold for another hour or so.”

Howie and Kevin both shuddered at the thought of that, the others staring, taken off guard. They had definitely shown up at the right time. They had saved a life, by chance of showing up in a strange place at the right time completely by mistake.

“Is her family coming?” Brian asked, finding it odd that her family hadn’t shown up yet. If he had a daughter, and this had happened to her, he would have been there so fast that the doctors wouldn’t have time to think before he showed up.

“Ah, yes, about that,” Dr. Jones said, “Something has happened with that. There are some things that I need to talk to you about, since you are the ones who have come for her.”

He paused, and the Boys wondered just what he had meant by that as they looked at him expectantly to continue and clue them in.

Special thanks to AJsSweetie, Anastacia, Anita and SweetAngelicAngel for reviewing!!!

Chapter Three

The Boys continued to stare at the doctor, waiting for him to answer the question in full. His delay of response was causing Brian to wonder just what was going on.

“When is her family coming,” he asked, and then thought of a better question, “Do they even know yet?”

Dr. Jones nodded, his facial expression showing no emotion, “They know,” he paused as if the next part was hard to say aloud in words. Brian didn’t understand this. He had always figured that doctors were used to things of this nature. Dr. Jones took a deep breath once more before continuing, “They refuse to come down. They said that Amber got herself in to this and that she’s old enough to take care of herself. They also stated that she could do just that when released. I informed them that you guys had found her and were here, asking for their consent to release her status to you. They said that they did not care, and hung up.” He stated, as if reading their minds of why they were being told everything about the girl.

Brian gasped at the harshness of the words which had been spoken by Amber’s own parents. The others appeared to be equally taken aback by the information. How could anybody with a beating heart do such a thing? Brian normally wasn’t one to judge people or think badly of them, but he figured that Amber’s parents must have ice running through their veins. The fact disgusted him. After a long moment, Kevin was the first of them to speak.

“You mean, they’re disowning their own daughter?” he asked, wondering if he was correctly understanding the situation.

“More or less,” Dr. Jones replied, confirming what the Boys had already thought to be true, “The sad thing is, Miss Harris will need all the support she can get over the next months and she won’t be getting that from those who matter most.”

With that last remark lingering in the air, Dr. Jones walked away, leaving the Boys with a lot to think about. None of them knew what to say. None of them could imagine not having their parents being there for them at a time like this. Then again, none of them could imagine being in a situation like the one Amber was facing either.

“You know, he proves a good point,” A.J. finally said after a long silence between them, “She needs somebody there for her…other than nurses and doctors. Where is she going to get that?”

Nobody responded, not knowing what to do or say. The thought of Amber not having anybody stuck in all of their minds. Kevin felt sorry for her. He could only imagine how frightened she would be when she woke up and recalled what had happened to her…and then to be told her parents didn’t want anything to do with her any longer to add on to it. Nobody deserved that and it angered Kevin that the two adults were acting like Amber had asked to be raped. Kevin didn’t know why this was getting to him so much. He had never even met Amber, so why did he care so much. Kevin looked at the faces of his friends, his brothers, and could tell that they were thinking the exact same thing about themselves.

“Hey, um, guys,” Kevin said, speaking aloud a thought that had come to his mind, “I know we’ve never met her…she never has met us, but, since she has nowhere to go, do you maybe want to offer to her going with us? She’ll be safe at least, and will have a roof over her head.”

The other four looked at one another, obviously considering the idea and putting great thought in to it. Kevin knew that it would be a big step for them to invite a complete stranger to go with him, but he would hold himself personally responsible if they didn’t at least try.

“I think that’s a good idea,” Nick stated with a soft smile.

“Me too,” Brian agreed, “If she wants to. We can’t force her…”

“But we can try,” Howie put in, “Trying won’t hurt.”

“Yeah,” A.J. piped up, “Especially since those people,” A.J. began, referring to Amber’s parents, spatting the word as if it had a bad taste, “are being such fucking idiots.”

Kevin smiled, happy that they had all agreed. Leaning his head back, Kevin closed his eyes. It was still early in to the night. There would be a long wait before they could pay the girl they had saved a visit. Kevin tried to get comfortable in the extremely uncomfortable chair that he was sitting in. Hearing a rustling noise, he opened one eye, seeing A.J. walking away. He wondered where he was going, but was too tired to ask, so shut his eye again, determined to try and get some sleep before morning and before it was time to visit.

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A.J. looked up when he heard movement coming from a few feet across from him. He saw that Brian was just coming out of his sleep. A.J. was the only one out of the five who hadn’t fallen in to a deep slumber and had been desperate for somebody to talk to. He was bored and wanted to share with someone what he’d found. Before Brian had the chance to fall back into his dreaming state, A.J. spoke.

“Hey, Bri, check out what this says here,” he said, talking quietly to make sure that he didn’t wake the other three men who were still fast asleep.

Brian looked over at A.J. He was pointing to something out of some sort of brochure or flyer.

“What’s that?” he asked, walking over to A.J. to see what he wanted him to look at. Whatever it was, it seemed to be intriguing the man.

“When I took a walk earlier, I ran across some pamphlets for just about everything…I found one on rape victims. It tells what to expect, the kinds of things that they’ll be going through, how to be there for them…the right and wrong things to say and do…everything.”

This seemed to strike an interest in Brian, as he started reading over the information that was written in it himself.

“I thought it might help us all be prepared for what to expect with Amber when we get to meet her later on.”

“Good idea,” Brian said, “I’m sure it will help us all out.”

A.J. agreed, happy that he’d stumbled upon the information. He’d learned so much already. A.J. hoped that the others would be as in to finding out more about this as he was. He knew that he couldn’t be the only one to know what he was doing. Four against one would not work out. Four people not knowing what to do would influence the girl in a negative way…overpowering the one who was well informed.

“It says here that at first, she’ll be in denial, and act like nothing is wrong.” Brian said, surprised, “How can anybody be in denial about something like that? I…I don’t get it.”

A.J. shrugged, not knowing how either. All he could think of was that Amber would be trying to block things out, acting like it never happened…but would only be able to keep up that act for so long. Once she came to grasp what had happened to her…

“We’re really in for a challenge,” A.J. muttered aloud with that thought in mind, “I hope we’re up to it. I hope we can do this.”

“We can,” Brian said with confidence, “There’s five of us…something is bound to go right, dontcha think?”

A.J. grinned, “Yeah, you’re right. And with Kev over there,” he shot a quick glance at the slightly older man, “He’ll make sure that we do everything perfectly.”

Brian couldn’t argue. He knew that Kevin would make sure that when it came to being there for Amber, everything would be followed to at T from the pamphlet. They would all try, but Kevin was most likely to succeed. For once, Brian thought that Kevin’s fatherly attribute might come in handy for the better, instead of getting on peoples last nerves.

A.J. scanned over the information, telling himself he would read it more carefully later. He just wanted to get a general idea at that moment. One thing in particular made him stop though, and he took in a sharp breath.

“Woah,” A.J. gasped, “Shit…hopefully we won’t be having to deal with this.”

“What?” Brian asked, trying to find what A.J. was talking about.

“Suicide attempts,” he stated, taking his eyes off of the writing in the small book, “It won’t come till a little later, but I honestly don’t know how I would deal with that sort of thing. That’s deep…it’s something that will be beyond our control. If she’s gonna try, she will no matter what.”

“Me either,” Brian stated, referring to A.J. saying that he was hoping that they could handle it, “If it comes up though, we need to do our best to try to um…wow…I have no idea what I’m saying.”

A.J. ignored the last part of Brian’s response, reading off something else that he had found.

“It also says rape victims experience severe depression,” Brian read aloud, “Mood swings, runs away…” Brian stopped at that. The last part worried him. A.J. was right. They definitely would have their work cut out for them over the next months. Brian wondered how old Amber was, “Nightmares are common, as well as flash backs, and obsessive compulsive behaviors…like checking locks repeatedly, and not wanting to be alone, also not trusting men though.”

Brian looked up, and his eyes met A.J’s as worried looks came over their faces. This was definitely something that could come as a barrier of them trying to help Amber. If she built a wall, it would take a long time to break it down.

“If she doesn’t trust men, and fears them,” A.J. began, “This definitely is going to complicate things.”

“We’ll just have to do our best,” Brian stated with a sigh, “Again, just take what we have and use it to our advantage…it might be difficult, but maybe we can convince her that we are harmless.”

A.J. snorted, suddenly having a bad feeling about this. If Amber wasn’t going to trust the male population, what would convince her to let five complete strangers, who happened to be of that species, take care of her?

“Well, four of us are harmless, at least,” Brian looked at A.J. strangely, wondering what that comment had meant, “Nick’s a big kid. Sure, he doesn’t mean anything by it, but he might scare her shitless.”

Brian chuckled lightly. He would have to make a point to warn Nick to be on his best behavior for a while. Then again, Kevin probably had already given Nick the same talk, and if not, intended to.

As if knowing that they were in Brian’s thoughts, Nick and Kevin both came out of their sleep within seconds of one another. The sun was just beginning to come up, the glare from it shining through the spotless window of the sliding doors causing Kevin to squint for a few seconds.

“What’s going on,” he asked with a yawn.

“Just doing some research,” A.J. said, reading more in to the pamphlet. The more he knew now, the better off he would be later on. Maybe if he remembered everything well enough, he could teach the others what he had learned, and they wouldn’t have to read it for themselves.

“I’m hungry,” Nick whined.

Kevin rolled his eyes, not even going to put up with Nick bickering about his growling stomach. He already knew that it would be a long enough day without his complaining and rambling.

“I’m going to go with Nicky here to the cafeteria,” Kevin stated, getting up, “We’ll be back in a little bit.”

Nick got up too, slightly wobbly since he had just woken up, but he quickly regained his balance. Kevin started to lead the way to which he thought the cafeteria might be in, but Dr. Jones stepped in to his path.

“I’m surprised to see that you are still here,” he stated in monotone, “Figured since you are so popular, you wouldn’t want to wait around.”

His comment angered Brian, and the voice woke up Howie. Brian didn’t like his superior tone. The man definitely thought that he was better than everyone else around him. Even if he did try to hide it, he wasn’t fooling Brian.”

“We wouldn’t just leave,” he said, trying not to get too worked up.

Dr. Jones shrugged, “You may see Amber now, but I must prepare you. She is a bit distraught, as she has just learned that her parents aren’t going to be with her any longer. She knows she has visitors though. Try to be gentle and patient with her.”

A.J. rolled his eyes, holding up the pamphlet and waving it in front of the Doctor’s eyes, “Know this. Been reading up on it.” He stated irritably, “Just lead us to her already…please.” A.J said the last word sarcastically.

“Very well. Follow me.”

The Boys all stood up, followed the doctor to the elevator to go to Amber’s room. Making an attempt not to be nervous, each of them was trying to prepare themselves the best they could for what they were about to face and what might come with it.

Chapter Four

The ride up the elevator was in silence. Nick shifted uncomfortable from one foot to another, feeling Dr. Jones’s gaze on him. A.J. and Brian were glaring at the professional, both having an intense disliking towards him and his holier-than-thou attitude. Kevin had one thought in particular in his mind, not knowing whether or not he should ask it. He wanted an answer, and the question he wanted to blurt out wasn’t exactly leaving his thoughts. Figuring he had nothing to lose, Kevin decided to ask while he still had the chance.

“Dr, um, Jones,” Kevin began, “Amber was shot in the chest, right?” he asked, wondering if what he’d seen back in the alley many hours before had just been an illusion.

“Yes, that’s correct,” Dr. Jones replied, taking his eyes off of Nick and looking to Kevin, “Why do you ask?”

“Wouldn’t that have killed her?” Kevin asked.

“Not necessarily,” Dr. Jones answered as the doors to the elevator opened. He stepped out and the Boys followed him, “The bullets missed all of Amber’s major organs. We’ve removed one of them. The other is still lodged in her chest. If we attempted to remove it, more damage would have been done than just leaving it there.”

“Isn’t that still dangerous?” Brian questioned, not being able to picture having a foreign object in his body, used to try to kill him. The thought made him shudder.

“It isn’t doing any harm being there,” Dr. Jones replied, but the Boys didn’t look convinced, “There is a young woman who goes around the nation speaking to high school and college students of her experience of being raped and shot five times. Three of the bullets have not been removed…one is lodged in her skull, the other two in her lungs. She is doing perfectly fine today and leading a normal and healthy life.”

Kevin stopped for a second, amazed and facinated by the information. He hadn’t had a clue that one could live under such conditions. He soon realized that he was lagging behind the others as he picked up his pace to catch up.

After a few turns down several different hallways, and passing several nurses and other doctors walking at a fast pace, breezing past them in about every direction, Dr. Jones stopped at a closed doorway.

“This is Amber’s room,” he informed them, “Before you go in, there are a few things I need to go over with you.”

Nick snorted and A.J. rolled his eyes. This man really was acting as if they were dumb and knew nothing. Uneducated. A.J. decided that the best thing that any of them could do was go along with it. Even if they tired to inform him that they weren’t entirely in the dark, he wouldn’t listen anyways. A.J. could tell that that was just the kind of man he was.

“And what would that be?” A.J. asked out loud, crossing his arms over his chest and giving the doctor a skeptical look, as if he were testing him to tell him something new that he may learn from.

“For one, it might be a bit overwhelming for her if all of you go in at once,” Dr. Jones stated, “Beings she doesn’t know any of you.”

Dr. Jones could see the incredulous looks cast in his direction from all five Boys. Sure, they wanted to do what was best for Amber, but they felt it would be odd of they went in separately.

“Do as you please though,” Dr. Jones said, “Remember, her whole family doesn’t want anything to do with her. She is in denial at this point…about everything. Don’t say anything that will upset her.”

“No shit,” A.J said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, “Like we would intentionally try to upset her.”

“She doesn’t need the attitude,” Dr. Jones warned, “If you don’t drop it, then you won’t be permitted to see her.”

“I just have this attitude when it comes to you,” A.J. spat.

Dr. Jones ignored the comment, letting it roll right off of his shoulders as if he were used to people saying that sort of thing to him all of the time. A.J. figured that he probably was.

“How long until the denial wears off…and she…Amber realized what happened to her?” Kevin asked, so that they would be better prepared for when it did happen.

“Couple of days up to around ten days,” Dr. Jones replied, “It varies with each individual. Are you ready to go in?”

The five Boys all looked at each other, suddenly wondering if they were ready to face Amber. With a shaky breath, Howie was the one to answer for all of them.

“Yeah, I think so,”

Dr. Jones gave one curt nod before slowly opening the door, holding it for them to enter. The Boys slowly walked in to the room, surprised when the doctor didn’t go in with them. Instead, he let the door click shut, leaving them alone with the victim of a violent crime that they happened to stumble upon.

Amber appeared to be sleeping, but for the first time, they could all really see what she looked like, and each of them found her to be attractive. Despite it being winter, Amber had a glowing light brown tan, giving them the clue that she most likely went to tanning beds. Her hair was a cross between light brown and dark blonde, which fell in soft, layered curls around her face and spilling over her shoulders.

But then there were the bruises that were in rings around her thing arms from where the perpetrators hands had wrapped around them so tightly. There was a hand mark visible on her face, telling them that she’d been slapped. They could only imagine the kind of physical damage that had been done to the rest of her body. All five of them stood there, just staring, none of them knowing what to do. They were face to face with the girl that they had saved…the girl that, if given the chance, they would be caring for. Nothing had prepared them for what she would look like, or her physical condition. For the first time, they understood just what they were getting themselves in to, but none of them regretted it. If anything, it made them want to help her more.

“Jeez…wow…” A.J. said, his voice coming out just above a whisper.

“God, that poor thing,” Nick muttered.

For the first time, he could not think of something completely off the wall to say or try to make humor of the situation, not that he even wanted to. He was completely serious, and at loss of words.

Tears had filled Brian’s eyes at the sight of the stranger. He hadn’t expected to be affected like this, but being face to face with her made the ordeal all the more real. Wiping his eyes, Brian knew that he had to compose himself so that when Amber woke up, she see him upset, sending her into early emotions that needn’t come before their time. As if on cue, Amber turned her head towards them, opening her eyes. She stared at them for a long moment before struggling to sit up.

“I…I heard voices,” she said softly, “I thought you would be my parents.”

Startled, none of the guys knew what to say or do. The situation was awkward and each of them was nervous. They knew though, that they could not continue to stand there like mute fools.

“Sorry to disappoint you,” Brian answered with a soft smile and light laugh.

Amber returned the smile sadly and shrugged, turning her head for a second to look out the window and out at the city below them, “They’ll be here,”

The Boys looked at one another, their eyes questioning what they were going to say. None of them wanted to discourage her by saying the wrong thing, knowing she would remember everything soon enough.They didn't want to falsly encourage her either though.

Amber turned back to the Boys then, her eyes lighting up in recognition, as if noticing just who was in the room with her for the first time, “I know who you are.” Then her brow furrowed in confusion, “What are you doing here though?”

Again, none of them had an answer that came easy to them. There really was no explanation of why they were there, besides the truth. Coming up with an alternative excuse was hard. A.J. elbowed Kevin, hoping he would be the one to come up with something and save all of them, as he so often did. For once though, Kevin couldn’t think of anything.

“Um, just in the area,” Howie blurted, “Decided to visit some patients.” He shrugged as if it were nothing, staying surprisingly composed.

“Yeah, just like the good ole days,” Brian grinned his charming smile, “Like we did way back.”

The guys all laughed, lightening up a little. A.J. had to admit that Howie’s cover was a good one…until they had to tell Amber the truth. That might be sooner than they all thought, as Nick spoke.

“So, what are you here for?” he asked, and then realized he’d screwed up by the death glares he was getting from all around him.

“The doctors tell me that I was raped,” Amber said, “But that couldn’t have happened to me. They must have me confused with someone else…they have to,” she paused, “I’m thinking a car accident or something. I don’t remember though.”

Amber spoke as if it were a normal thing to be landed in the hospital. She seemed totally unaffected. A.J. supposed that was what denial did to a person…made them calm and completely normal. He was just thankful that Nick’s moment of idiocy hadn’t struck something. The thing was, Amber’s calmness was almost scary. He was afraid to see what she would be like after she realized that everything she was denying was actually for real. For about the millionth time, A.J. realized that they had a lot of work that would be cut out for them and they would have to have a lot of patients, understanding, and caring towards the girl.

“How are you feeling?” Kevin asked, figuring that it was an innocent enough question for anybody who was in the hospital.

Again, Amber shrugged, “Sore all over. I don’t feel too good either. The doctors have been poking at me with needles and stuff for tests.”

“I’m sorry,” Brian offered, knowing exactly how that felt, “Hopefully they…”

Suddenly, the door burst open, cutting Brian off as three police men walked in to the room. Everyone looked at one of them, the officers staring back evenly, eyeing each one of them individually.

“Which one of you is Nickolas Carter?” the noticeably heavier of the three asked.

Nick nervously stepped forward, “That would be me.” He answered him, then snickered a little, being his nervy self and asking, “Have a doughnut lately?”

“We’re going to have to ask you to come with us,” the officer said, ignoring the typical cop stereotypical joke that had been delivered by the blonde.

Worry came over Nick’s face as the others just looked confused and bewildered. Nick took a few steps back, distancing himself from the three large men.

“Officer, what’s going on?” Kevin asked, his tone firm and direct, ready to take Nick’s defense.

“We’ll explain it on the way down to the police station.”

Fear filled Nick’s eyes as he didn’t know why they were after him. The other two men walked towards Nick, one of them swiftly grabbing him as the other handcuffed him. Nick tried to struggle out of their grasp as they tried to lead him out of the door.

“What did I do?” Nick cried out, confusion written all over his face, “I…what’s going on?” Nick continued to ask as he was drug further and further away from Amber’s room, his band mates close behind, telling Amber they would be back soon, then shouting out their own questions and protests. The officers still weren’t answering, but all five Boys were determined to get some and get to the bottom of why they were taking Nick if it was the last thing that they did. Before they knew it, they were outside of the hospital and headed towards a police car.

“I didn’t do anything,” Nick yelled as he was thrown in to the back of the car.

Before the other four Boys could stop the officers, the car was gone. Running to their bus as fast as they could, Kevin told Malcolm to follow the patrol car. They had to catch up with it and find out why they had taken Nick.

Thanks again to Anita, Anastacia, SweetAngelicAngel, Stephanie and AJsSweetie for reviewing!!!!!!

Chapter Five

Kevin flew through the door of the Police Station with is fists clenched so tightly, that his knuckles were white. His teeth were gritted together so hard, his jaw was beginning to ache. His anger had continued to grow during the entire ride there from the hospital and he was ready to explode. Walking quickly towards the three officers, Kevin boldly put his hand firmly on the one’s shoulder who wasn’t holding on to Nick, spinning him around roughly to face him. The officer swiftly placed a hand on his gun, just in case he needed to put it to use. Kevin rolled his eyes. He could tell that the many was about to say something regarding his actions, but Kevin didn’t give him the opportunity to.

“What the fuck is going on?” he shouted, his eyes filled with enraged fury.

“Calm down, sir,” the officer stated, reculantly taking his hand off of his gun, deciding that if Kevin was going to hurt him, he would have already done so. His voice had come out calm, but stern, although Kevin could tell that the officer was already starting to lose his patients, as was he.

“No, I will not calm down,” Kevin yelled, irate that he would even suggest such a thing, “You barge in to Amber’s room while we re visiting with her, handcuff Nick and force him to go with you without so much as a simple explanation, then expect me to calm down?” Kevin laughed bitterly, and then said again, “No, I will not calm down. I want a valid excuse for all of this…this idiocy.”

“Kev does prove a good point,” A.J. spoke up, and Kevin jumped slightly, startled. He’d forgotten that three of his band mates were behind him, “I do believe we deserve to know what is going on,” his tone was harsh.

The others nodded in agreement, determined to get some answers, and as long as Kevin was there, the officers wouldn’t be getting away without giving them one. The one officer looked to the other two who still had a firm grip on each side of Nick, t hen turned back to Kevin and sighed a little over dramatically.

“Your friend’s fingerprints were found on the victims clothing,” he stated simply.

Kevin’s eyes grew wide, his mouth twisting into an expression of pure anger. The vein on the side of his neck started to noticeable bulge out. He heard gasps of disbelief form behind him, but did not know who they had come from. He never would forget the look on Nick’s face though at that moment. It was one of fear and helplessness, mixed with hurt and disbelief that he was being accused of something so horrible.

“I didn’t…” Nick cried out, but was interrupted by Kevin. He tried to pull away from the two strong men, but they jerked him back, tightening their grip even more.

“Are you saying that you think Nick ra…raped Amber?” Kevin asked incredulously, barely able to get the sickening word out.

“Precicely,” the officer answered, acting as if the Boys already knew this.

“Are you fucking crazy,” Kevin exploded

“Nick would never hurt a fly,” Brian stated, jumping in to defend his best friend, “Let alone a person.”

“Kev,” Nick pleaded softly, his voice coming out weak, “Help me…please.”

Kevin saw tears in Nick’s eyes, making him even more determined than before to make sure his friend was freed right then and they all left the station together.

“The only reason his fingerprints are on her clothes is because Nick found them and was bringing them to me…he didn’t know,” Kevin explained, as if he were pointing out this obvious, his voice cold.

Nick nodded roughly, confirming this as if it would somehow help him.

“We still need to hold him here until this is proven true, and we he have more evidence that points away from him,” one of the men holding Nick stated.

Kevin let out a low growl, trying to take in a few deep breaths to compose himself so that he did not completely lose his cool, “Did you even check to see if his prints were actually on Amber?”

The look on their faces told Kevin that they hadn’t matched up that bit of evidence yet, that would clearly state that Nick was innocent.

“We’ll get back to you as soon as we know anything,” the officer stated, and they all turned around, dragging Nick through a thick, wooden door, which needed a code to access.
"Nick didn't do anything," Kevin yelled, at one last attempt, "He's innocent, you pathetic bastards."
It was too late though. The door was already closing and they weren't turning back. Kevin could have sworn that he heard Nick sobbing. Letting out a shaky breath, Kevin turned around to face the others.

“They won’t listen,” he stated, shaking his head in disgust, “All we can do now is wait and let them make idiots of themselves.”

The others scowled, but they felt that they had done all that they could to point the officers’ fingers away from Nick, and nothing had worked. Kevin was right. All that they could do now was wait, even though that would be the hardest things any of them had ever done, considering one of their best friends was being thrown in prison over a crime that he did not commit

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Kevin sat in far back the corner of the bus, his arms crossed over his chest. He’d drawn curtains to over the windows, so that no light could come in. He was almost completely in the dark. The more that Kevin thought about it, the more angry he became with not the officers, but Nick, that he’d gotten in to this situation. While the others had gone back up to visit with Amber again, he had decided to spend some time alone, retreating to the bus. Kevin wondered if the girl would suspect something was up since they would be around a lot for the next few days, until she was released, which Kevin hoped was going to be after Nick was out of prison, that way, they would have more time for Amber to come to realize what had happened to her and suggest their generous offer to her. With the thoughts of Nick, Kevin rolled his eyes, picking up the first thing he saw and chucking it towards the front of the bus, it hitting the windshield with a loud THWACK.

“Watch it back there,” laughed Malcolm from up front, “Almost got me.”

“Sorry,” Kevin called back, but he didn't mean it, and he knew that his voice indicated that.

Kevin scowled, then cursed under his breath. He wondered if anybody had even noticed the change for the worst in his mood over the last hour. Kevin kept hearing Nick’s cries for help, yet he couldn’t do a thing to help. For one of the first times, Kevin had been unsuccessful at that. It angered him, and he found the accusations ridiculous, but what could he do?

Kevin closed his eyes and sighed when he felt a cold breeze floating to the back of the bus, then felt it shaking, knowing that the other three had returned from their visit. He wished that they had stayed a little longer, for he just wanted to be alone, but he couldn’t stop them from coming back.

“Shit, it’s cold out there,” A.J. stated, “I swear, the temperature keeps dropping.”

“Watch your mouth, Aje,” Brian laughed.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” A.J. cursed, just to get on the older man’s nerves,

They were all laughing though.

"Dude, I think my hands and ears are frostbitten". A.J. stated.

His comment was ignored though. Raising an eyebrow at the darkness of the bus, Howie opened the curtains, letting light pour in to the area. Kevin squinted, his eyes not used to the brightness. The three continued to joke around, which annoyed Kevin. Did they not remember what had happened a couple of hours earlier and where Nick was at that exact moment? Suddenly, A.J. stopped laughing, noticing Kevin for the first time. Soon after, the others voices died down as well as they all stared at Kevin.

“Whatcha doing way back here, cuz?” Brian asked.

“Getting away,” Kevin stated with a scowl, “How’s Amber?”

A.J. shrugged, “Doing good. She wondered where you and Nicky were. Had to make up some excuse. She was tired though, so we left.”

Kevin gave a short nod in response. He wasn’t in the mood to keep a conversation going. No such luck though, because obviously, his three friends did.

“What crawled up your ass and died?” A.J. asked, plopping down next to Kevin.

Kevin could not believe that he had just been asked that. Maybe they really didn’t remember that Nick was in a jail cell, alone and probably scared for his life.

“Just pissed at Nick,” Kevin stated, slouching down even further, something he normally didn’t do unless he was really agitated.

"What?" Brian asked in bewilderment

“Kev, it wasn’t Nick’s fault,” Howie stated, taking a seat across from Kevin and A.J, “Those cops were pricks.”

Kevin didn’t say anything. He just stared blankly ahead of him. He knew that his attitude sucked, but under the circumstances, he figured it was aloud to for just this once. The guys looked at him, expecting him to say something.

“What?” Kevin asked, getting extremely annoyed with their stares.

“It’s not Nicky’s fault,” Brian reminded him, repeating what Howie had just said.

“Yes, it is,” Kevin muttered.

The three Boys all looked at one another, wondering if they had heard Kevin correctly. He couldn’t have possibly said that it was Nick’s fault, could he? Kevin would never accuse Nick of something so harsh, would he?

“Excuse me?” A.J. asked, hoping that Kevin would repeat himself.

Kevin said nothing for a long moment, giving the other guys the indication that he wasn’t going to answer, so when he did, they were all surprised.

“I said, yes, it is Nick’s fault,” Kevin loudly stated, his voice almost a shout, “I can’t believe that he would be so dumb as to actually touch evidence. Look where it’s got him now? He’s still the naive kid that I first met over a decade ago.”

Brian drew back in shock at Kevin’s anger. He didn’t understand how he could be this way. It was almost as if Kevin was blaming Nick for the whole rape, even though he knew it wasn’t that at all.

“Nick had it coming to him,” Kevin then said, his voice softer, almost as if he were talking to himself, “I hate to say it, but he should have known better than to actually touch something that could be traced back to him, making him look guilty. He had it coming.” Then Kevin’s voice rose, “God, how could he have been so damn stupid?”

“Kev, true, he should have known,” A.J said, then paused before saying thoughtfully, “Anybody should have. It’s quite obvious…but he’s going to need our support until those officers find out that they have falsely accused him. Just imagine what he is going through in that prison.”

“I can bet you that what Amber is going through is ten times worse,” Brian then stated in reference to what A.J. had just said.

“Yeah, and if Amber hears what Nick is being accused of…” Howie’s voice trailed off. He didn’t even want to think of how that would complicate things. Amber was in her denial state, but since nobody knew who her real attacker was, what else would she think besides the first thing she heard? She would, of course, believe that it was true, making her fear all of them, which could cause their good intentions, which they really wanted to do, be a lot harder to fulfil

Nobody said a thing, Kevin taking all of their input in to account. He had to admit that they were on to something, but didn’t want to admit out loud that he was being a jerk towards one of his best friends.

“The press better not get a hold of any of this,” Kevin grumbled, “It’s none of their damn business, and that’s all we need to worry about is that the public things that Nick actually raped a girl, and then we’re going to take care of her?” he shook his head, not even wanting to know what would result in that, if such a thing happened.

Worried looks came over the others faces as well. This was just one thing more added to their growing list of things to stress over. Suddenly, one thing, being finding a dying girl, and saving her, offering to take her under their care, was turning in to so much more. Whatever happened, weather it was when Amber was grasping reality, or proving that Nick was innocent, and the complications that would come with it, for some reason, they felt that all they had to worry about wasn’t nearly over.

A/N: Sorry it's taken me so long to update. This past week, I had my final exams and have been studying for them! They are over now, and I am on a break for a month, so it should be easier for me to work on updating more quickly. Thanks for being patient, and I can't wait to hear what you think of Chapter 6!!! Thanks to AjsSweety, SweetAngelicAngel, Anastacia, Anita, Stephanie and sta for reviewing Chapter 5! *smiles*

Chapter Six

The next couple of days went by quickly. Amber was held in the hospital for extra observation due to the fact that she still thought that her family would show up for her. Dr. Jones thought that if she came out of her denial state away from the hospital, that she would try to harm herself in some form once realizing she had nobody but the Boys, who she didn’t even know. He thought it best for her case to stay where she was until she knew what had happened to her, and knew what was going on.

The Boys visited every day for a little while, excluding Nick, who was still being held in prison. None of them knew what the hold up was, and it was infuriating them all. They all knew that Nick hadn’t done anything wrong, so didn’t know why he was being treated like he had. Kevin still had a chip on his shoulder about the whole thing, not even stopping to think of the fact that anybody could have done what Nick had. He just assumed that since Nick tended to lack common sense, that he was the only one who would do such a thing, destroying a piece of evidence that could have been used to find the real criminal of the case.

The real rapist still hadn’t been caught, but another rape had occurred two cities away, the rapist again, getting away. The police weren’t linking the two together, saying that they weren’t related. Kevin, on the other hand, believed that they were, as did the rest of the Boys who knew of it. Nobody knew who he was though, which was a scary thought. Somebody was roaming the streets, harming these young girls, scaring them for life without even thinking of what he was doing to them or the consequences he would face if ever caught. It sickened the Boys, Kevin wanting to get his hands on the man and strangle him for doing such a thing. It was because of what he was doing in general, for he didn’t know any of the girls except for Amber. Even her, he wasn’t on a personal enough level to want to hurt the man for her sake alone.

Sitting alone in the hall outside of Amber’s room, Kevin thought about all of the events that had happened in the last couple of days. Him and the Boys had yet to visit Nick in the place in which he was being held hostage by the idiots of policemen. He figured that they owed their blonde friend a visit, even if he was still mad at the boy. Kevin decide to suggest it to A.J, Howie and Brian later on. They were still in Amber’s room. Kevin needed a rest after lack of sleep, retreating to the hall after a good fifteen minutes to do so, or try to at least.

“You okay?”

Kevin looked up to see Brian standing above him. Sliding down the wall, he sat next to his cousin. He looked concerned, something that Kevin was used to the past few days. He didn’t blame him either. Kevin would be the first to admit that he was acting strangely. It was due to a lot of things. First of all, what they had seen days earlier. Secondly, Nick, enough said. They’d had to cancel everything, from shows to meetings to photo shoots because of the member who would be missing…and hiding from the press was a challenge in itself. He’d told management that Nick was extremely ill with the flu, not wanting to explain what was really going on. He had a lot on his mind, and it was stressing him out.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” Kevin answered, “Just not getting enough sleep lately.”

That was the truth. Kevin couldn’t wait to get back to his regular schedule. As hectic as it may be, at least it was set in stone, and he had a certain time to catch up on his rest. He wasn’t very used to planning his own days, or having things come up at hours where he normally would be in bed, or shooting for a video at god awful hours. No, this was definitely something he wasn’t used to, nor did he ever think he would be again. It had been his lifestyle for over a decade and wasn’t something that could easily be turned around again.

“How’s Amber doing?” Kevin asked, embarrassed to admit he hadn’t really been paying much attention to what was going on while he had been in the room.

“Honestly, I think she’s beginning to come out of denial,” Brian answered, “Not completely, but she’s normally really positive and…um…perky. Now, she’s kind of glum and down on things.”

Kevin tensed slightly. He was dreading her coming out of her denial state. That meant that she would become withdrawn and try to avoid them. Now, she trusted them. When she realized what had happened to her, he knew that she probably wouldn’t. Kevin knew that rightfully, the girl was old enough to be on her own. The thing was, she had nowhere to stay, probably no job, no money, nothing. Kevin and the Boys had talked it over, and decided that for her best interest, she should probably go with them whether she wanted to or not. It had bee three days, and her parents still hadn’t come. The chances of them changing their minds were dwindling down to slim to none. The fact upset the Boys, but it was the harshness of reality sometimes.

“We knew this would happen when we decided to be there for her,” Brian reminded him, “We could have just left her here without another word to anyone after the cops arrived in the alley.”

“Yeah, I know,” Kevin replied, sighing, then he stood up, “We’re doing the right thing.” Kevin paused for a minute as his shorter cousin stood up too, “What do we say we go and visit Nick today?”

Brian’s eyes bugged out of his head at the suggestion, “Did you just say that?” he asked in his southern drawl, “You, who is so mad at Nick you are blaming him for being there in the first place?”

Kevin chuckled, “Yeah, I guess I am. Poor kid, though. I guess I haven’t exactly been fair to him, and we do owe it to him, as dumb as he may be sometimes. We should go today, just so he doesn’t feel neglected.”

Brian shrugged, “Sure,” he stated, “Let’s go see Amber for a few more minutes and we’ll head over.”

The two walked in to Amber’s room to hear her mentioning her parents again, not coming to visit her.

“They’ll come,” A.J. stated with a forced smile as Howie jabbed him in the back with his elbow. A.J. jerked a little, startled by the gesture as Brian and Kevin walked up to them others.

“No,” Amber replied, “They won’t. They never will. I was dumb to think that they would.”

Tears glistened in her eyes, and she lowered her head to hide them. A.J. looked to Kevin for help, but not even he had answers for this one. There was no point in falsely telling her things that they knew would not happen. He decided now was the time to bring mention of their good intentions to her. She already was coming to grips that her family wasn’t there for her. The worst was still yet to come though.

“We’re here for you,” Kevin offered a small smile of encouragement, “I know right now that doesn’t help, when you’re still upset, but at least you’ll have some place to go.”

“How do I know if I can trust you though?” Amber asked, eyeing them up and down like she doubted their motives.

“Learn to,” Howie answered simply, jumping in, “Give us a chance, and we’ll prove that you can count on us.”

Amber hesitated. Even though she still wasn’t admitting that she was raped, trying her best to block out the thought, she wasn’t sure what to do. Something in the back of her mind was telling her that all men were bad, and here were five of them wanting to take her under their care. She was nothing but skeptical of the situation.

“I don’t know,” she said, “Let me think about it for a little while.”

“Not too long,” Brian drawled, “You’re being released in a day or two.”

Amber nodded, still not looking up at them. She knew that they were staring at her, and she didn’t want to catch their gaze.

“Well, see you tomorrow,” Howie said slowly, almost as if he were having second thoughts about leaving for the day. He hated to do so when she was obviously upset about something, but he knew that they did not want to crowd her, and she needed her space, so that was what they were going to give her for the time being.

“Bye,” Kevin called before they all filed out of the door.

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Nick sat in the corner of his jail cell, his head in between his knees, his arms over top, to block out any light that could get in. He was all alone, in his very own cell, and none of his friends had come to see how he was, which really upset him. They were supposed to be there for each other, no matter what. They had been for the other Boys who’d gone through rough points in their lives.

Nick drew in a ragged breath. Nothing made sense about all of this. The officers were dicking around, taking their time about doing things, leaving Nick in a place where he did not belong. He still could not believe that he was being accused of such a thing. Nick could not help but wonder if his band members, brothers, and also friends left without him, continuing on with their daily obligations and priorities. He felt to be forgotten, as if he had never existed in any of their lives. Nick wondered if he was going to be left there for the rest of his life, to die even. The thought scared him half to death. He wanted to be free again, going about his life as if this had never happened. One thing for sure was that he’d never tell his mother. She would have a cow.

“Carter,”

At the sound of his name, Nick looked up, his thoughts distracted, to see an officer he hadn’t noticed around before. Standing up, Nick slowly walked to the metal bars.

“Yeah,” he asked, half-heartedly.

“You have visitors,”

Nick’s heart leapt at the sound of those words. Somebody had actually cared enough to come and see him. He figured that it was probably Aaron and someone else. He didn’t care who, as long as he saw a familiar, friendly face inside of the wretched place where he was being kept, cooped up like some sort of animal.

“Do you wish to see them?” the officer asked

Nick nodded, “Yes, please,” he asked, “Send them back.”

The officer disappeared then, and less than a minute later, four men that he recognized very well took her place before his eyes. Nick was thrilled to see them, but acted like he was less than that. He rolled his eyes instead, deciding to act mad for a little while.

“So,” Nick said, “You finally decide to come.”

The guys looked to one another, knowing that there was nothing that they could say for taking so long to get there. There was no excuse, for they had been a full twenty minutes away the entire time.

“We’re sorry,” Brian offered with a light smile, hoping that he’d find forgiveness in his best friend.

Nick tried not to smile, but a huge goofy grin broke out on his face. He couldn’t stay mad at the guys for long. They were family to him, and the point was, they were there now. That was all that mattered to him.

“Did you come to bail me out of here,” Nick asked, his eyes full of hope.

“Um, don’t think that’ll be happening,” Howie answered, “Don’t worry though. They’ll figure out that they were wrong, and let you go.’

Nick stuck out his lip in a pout. He wanted out right then. The place was horrible, filthy, and the air was stuffy, making it almost impossible for him to breath. The appearance was drab, in a dark grey color…the walls, the floor, the ceiling, everything around him was grey. It was boring and depressing, setting him in en even worse mood than he was already in to begin with.

“Anyways, how’s Amber?” Nick asked, wondering if they were still even bothering with the girl, or if they’d decided against their first good intentions.

“Fine,” Brian answered, “She’s…um…we think that she is starting to accept what happened. In a few days…I don’t know what she’ll be like. One thing’s for sure though…we’ll all have to prepare ourselves to stay strong and patient with her.” Howie spoke as if the girl had already made up her mind to take their offer.

Nick laughed at that. He hoped that they could stay patient, for her sake, and was pretty sure that they could if they set their mind on it to be sympathetic.

“Well, I’m glad to hear that so far, everything is going good,” and then Nick frowned, “I want out of here so badly. I didn’t do anything wrong. Why don’t they believe me?”

The guys all shrugged, not sure why they were doing this. The only thing that any of them could think of was that they were just taking every precaution possible, even if that did involve suspecting the least likely candidate just because of a simple, stupid mistake made by him. Kevin told him these thoughts, even though it wouldn’t change anything or make it better.

“Well, it really sucks,” Nick answered.

As if on cue, the Boys all turned their heads hearing a door clicking shut. They saw an officer walking towards them. Nick’s heart hammered in his chest, wondering what they were going to say to him.

“Mr. Carter,” Nick noticed it was one of the officers that had thrown him in to the cell days before. He’d learned his name, but hadn’t made the effort to remember it. He didn’t care to, “You’re being released. There is no longer need to hold you here any longer.”

The thick, iron-gate was unlocked. The officer unlatched it, swinging it open. Nick took no time to bolt from the cell as the gate was being held open for him. For the first time in days, he was standing right next to his friends, nothing separating them. It felt so good to be free, and not encaged.

“So, why are you releasing Nick?” Kevin asked, and then smirked, “Find that his fingerprints didn’t match the one’s on Amber after all.”

The Boys all looked at the man expectantly, waiting to see what kind of excuse he would come up with. The officer paused before speaking. There was no easy way to say this, but he opened his mouth, saying it anyways, not even worrying about the effects that it would have on the older man, or any of the others, “No, Nick’s didn’t match. But yours did."

Here's another chapter today to make up for my delay last week! Enjoy and review!!!

Chapter Seven

Kevin stared at the officer blankly before breaking in to hysteric laughter. It was the dumbest thing he’d ever heard. His fingerprints had been found on Amber? That was a good one. He continued to laugh psychotically, finding this hilarious because the officers were obviously not exactly doing their job correctly. It sounded to him like they were pointing fingers at them just to let in a couple of laughs themselves, by scaring the innocent. The Boys stated at Kevin, worried about their friend, ignoring the accusations that had just been thrust his way. Kevin’s state was beginning to scare them, and they were unsure of what to think. After a couple of minutes, his laughter died down enough for him to speak out loud.

“What did you say?” he asked the man to repeat.

“I said that your prints were found on Amber,”

Kevin’s eyes widened, his laughter dying completely. His breaths grew heavy, and suddenly, the words didn’t seem funny the second time around. In fact, they were quite angering, and that was just what Kevin was becoming.

“Now that is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” Kevin stated, “What the hell do you mean, that…you really expect me to believe this?” he fumbled with his words a little.

“We double checked what was on file, and they matched what was left on Miss. Harris,” the officer stated.

“Where, may I ask, did you find them?” Kevin demanded the answer from them. If he paused, Kevin was determined that it meant that he was making things up.

“I can’t tell you that, sir,” the officer stated, “It’s confidential.”

“What do you mean, it’s confidential,” Kevin asked, “Don’t you put that kind of shit in the papers when reporting things like this? And even if you didn’t, it’s my fucking life you’re screwing with here.”

“On her wrists and arms, around her shoulder area and on her mouth,” the officer replied without any hesitation.

Kevin laughed bitterly, “Okay, first of all, to explain her shoulders…I was taking the papers off of her to see what was underneath of them. As for her wrists and mouth, I was checking her pulse.”

“I’m sorry, but we can’t just let this go,” the officer replied, “Until we know for sure.”

Kevin was about to say something, but Brian pulled the man backwards before he took a swing at the cop who was obviously undereducated.

“You were wrong about Nick,” A.J. stated, “You’re wrong about this too, and you’ll feel pretty stupid when you find that out.”

“Yeah,” Howie jumped in, “And besides that, how much sense does it make that Nick’s prints were on the clothing, but not Amber herself, but Kevin’s were…but his weren’t on her clothes?”

The officer actually looked dumbfounded for a moment, but quickly shook the look away, replacing it with a stern, gruff look.

“I’m sorry, but we have no choice but to hold him,”

“Isn’t there anything that can be done so that he can leave with us?” Brian asked, not about to let his cousin be brought down.

“The only thing that I can think of,” the officer stated, “To prove that he is innocent, is a semen sample…to match with what was found on Amber.”

Kevin’s eyes shot open in disbelief at the suggestion. He jerked his body away from his cousin, ready to speak his mind. His cheeks flushed in embarrassment at the suggestion, and Kevin was waiting to hear snickers from his friends, finding it funny. He didn’t hear anything though, realizing that they were there for him, and wouldn’t make jokes about it.

“I will not do such a thing,” Kevin yelled in refusal, “I…I can’t believe that you would expect me to do something like that. It’s humiliating.”

“Very well,” the officer replied, “But proving that you are innocent, if you are,” the man smirked, “Will take several days longer.”

“Kev…I think that you should,” Nick whispered

Kevin crossed his arms over his chest, standing his ground. He wasn’t about to lose his pride by sinking so low as to fulfill the police mans request. It was degrading to him and he wasn’t about to feel shame.

“Kevin,” Brian muttered, whispering in his ear, “It would be a good idea if you did. By refusing, you’re just giving the man even more reason to suspect that you did it.”

These words made Kevin think. His cousin made a good point. He was portraying guilty behaviors just for the sake of saving his pride. Kevin wondered if he should just swallow it and give them the test that they were asking for. It sure would make him appear a lot less suspicious.

“How long do the results take to get in?” Kevin asked

“Between three to five business days,” the officer answered.

Kevin thought about it for a little longer. He honestly didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of doing the test, and he knew that for those three to five days, he would be switching places with Nick. He would be anyways, but the process would take less time if he just cooperated with what the officer wanted.

“Fine,” Kevin finally grumbled, “Just take the test…do what you have to. Just…just get the damned process over with. But just so you know, I’m not happy about this. Just so you know, if any of this gets out into the public…any mention of it at all, I’m suing your asses off.”

“Come with me,” the officer ordered, ignoring Kevin’s threat. He wondered if the man had even heard him. If not, the officer was out of luck.

Kevin followed the man, as his four best friends gave him supportive pats on the back as he passed them. Kevin hoped that this would lay the guilt off of the Boys all together. In just a few days, he would be out, laughing in the faces of the people who were being ignorant and prejudiced towards them. Kevin could hardly wait.

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“Poor Kev,” A.J. sighed, slumping against a chair as he watched Amber sleep.

It was later that night, and they had decided to go back to Amber’s room, since Malcolm had taken off for the evening with their bus. It was late into the evening, but none of them could sleep.

“I can’t believe that they are putting him through all of that,” Brian commented, “It’s almost like…like they’re trying to grab on to any little thing that they can…hoping to find one of us guilty…and ruin the band.”

Each of the guys took this thought into great consideration. It was entirely possible that that was the case, but they didn’t have evidence to prove it for sure. Things were crazy, that was for sure. What none of them still understood though, was that Nick had been accused of the rape, and then let go, taking Kevin in then for it. Why hadn’t they found the supposed “evidence” on both of them at the same time. Howie was skeptical of this method of how things were being done. He had no say in things though, nor did the rest of them. The cops were asses, and had their heads tucked so far up their butts, that they wouldn’t even take anything other than what they thought themselves into even mild consideration.

“I want to give them a piece of my mind,” Nick stated, acting like a tough guy, which they all knew he wasn’t. The guys chuckled, sending Nick into defensive mode, “What, I would?”

“Sure, Nicky.” A.J. stated, rolling his eyes, “Because you could do just so much damage.”

Brian and Howie both laughed half-heartedly at A.J’s sarcasm, not really in the mood to be cheerful. Nick just crossed his arms, pouting at being poked fun at once again. It always seemed that he was the butt of everyone’s jokes, no matter what the situation.

“I can’t imagine Kev-o in a prison cell though,” Nick laughed, “He’s all, tidy and clean…and that thing…is definitely not. I could barely stand it.”

This caused small smiles to form on the others faces. Nick was right. Kevin was probably complaining about the area being unsanitary and anything else along those lines.

“Nothing seems the same without him here though,” Howie observed, “He’s kind of the one who, well, does everything for us…or, I don’t know…but do you know what I am trying to say?”

The others nodded, glancing at Amber as they heard a slight stirring, just on time to see her eyes fluttering open.

“You guys sure are hanging around a lot for just visiting around,” she mentioned softly, her voice slightly disoriented from her rest.

None of the guys knew what to say to that. She was definitely catching on to something now. Their delayed response got them questioning looks cast their way from the girl.

“I want a shower or bath,” Amber blurted out of nowhere, throwing the former subject behind, forgetting it all together, “I feel like I haven’t had one in months.”

“Didn’t you just…um, get one earlier today…and yesterday…and the day before that?” Brian asked, with a slight blush creeping up on his cheeks at the subject.

Amber nodded, “Yes, but I want another one,” she looked down at her body in disgust, “I just can’t seem to feel clean.”

A.J bit his bottom lip nervously. This was definitely one of the signs he had read about in the pamphlet he’d gotten a hold on the night of the whole nightmare; the whole not feeling clean and wanting excessive bathing. Did this mean that she knew what happened to her? It sure didn’t seem like it, or else, he figured, she would be freaking out with them even in the room with her. They weren’t somebody that she knew well, so she would have no reason to trust them. A.J. figured that by the next day, she would most definitely be completely aware of what had gone on nights before. She was already showing slight signs of it.

“So, where’s the other one?” Amber asked as the four that were there stood up and started walking towards here. She recoiled back a little bit, looking frightened by them, “Don’t come any closer, please.”

By that comment, A.J. definitely thought that she would be putting restraining orders against them by morning. The time that they were dreading to come was nearing, and they’d had days to prepare for it. Suddenly though, A.J. didn’t feel so confident that they could pull off letting her know that they meant her no harm, and just wanted to be there for her.

“Kevin…he, um…he had to leave for a few days. He’s being accused of something that he didn’t do.” Howie answered her question.

“What does whoever think that he did?” Amber asked, eyeing the Boys wearily, making sure that they didn’t come any closer to her.

“It’s nothing,” Brian answered quickly, “Don’t worry about it.”

The guys all smiled at her, hoping to look convincing. Amber looked skeptical, making the Boys think that their trying to hide the reason Kevin was missing was a mistake. It sounded like she was suspecting what had happened, and believing the untrue. This was definitely not what they needed.

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to go back to sleep now,” Amber said, stifling a yawn as her eyes grew droopy.

“Oh, yeah, of course,” Nick replied, smiling at her, “Get your sleep.”

Amber rolled over on to her side so that she was facing the window. The Boys took their hint to leave, so they walked out of the room, deciding to hit the cafeteria for a couple of hours. By the day, it was becoming harder and harder to talk to the girl, and they all could see it. What worried them was how difficult it would be once she was one-hundred percent accepting and knowing that the rape had really happened to her. They knew it wouldn’t be good, and time was running out for them to completely figure out how they were going to handle it.

Where have all my reviewers gone? lol...only have 1 of them still reviewing since after Chapter 6 *sniffles* THANKS ANITA!!! And thanks to AJsSweetie and Stephanie also for reviewing 6! *smiles* Anyways, hope ya'll come back and read & review 6, 7 & 8!

Chapter Eight

Kevin sat in the darkness of his jail cell, staring off into space. There were no windows, so he had no perception of whether it were daytime or night. He had no knowing of what time it was. All he knew was that the minutes were dragging by at an impossibly slow rate. He now knew what Nick had gone through, and felt bad for ever even blaming him for anything. Nick hadn’t known that helping look for certain clues or evidence would land him in the place, just as Kevin hadn’t known that doing something as simple as checking for a pulse would. Kevin thought that it had been necessary, but obviously turned out to be yet another thing to be left alone for the police to handle.

Kevin stifled a silent sob of fear. He was used to always being so together and with things. It was completely unlike him to land himself in a prison, and would definitely look bad on his permanent record, which had been clean and clear up until that point in his life. Kevin hated to admit it, but he was afraid. He’d heard a fight ealier between two men in a cell a few down from his own, giving him the sense of feeling unsafe, making him wonder if some of the rumors were true. Even though he was alone, he still wondered if anybody besides the prison guards could reach him. A few more tears fell down his cheeks, so he hung his head low to make sure that nobody that may be passing by was seeing. They would get a real riot out of that.

The semen test that Kevin had endured was the single most humiliating experience of his life. It had made him feel filthy and guilty of something he’d never had any part of in the first place. Kevin, for a second, wanted to turn back and refuse to give them the test, but decided quickly against it. He wanted to be out of the place as quickly as he could, and if temporary embarrassment was what it cost, then he was, by all means, willing to do anything to shorten his stay.

Kevin wondered how Amber was, and if she was out of the hospital yet. He picked his head up, about to whip his cell phone out and dial Brian’s cell number, but quickly discovered and remembered that the small phone had been confiscated from him while he was staying there. Kevin rolled his eyes, hoping that they would return it once he was released, knowing that he would be.

Bored, with absolutely nothing to do, Kevin thought of how he was going to react when he was told that the semen test didn’t match what was left on Amber. He had half a notion to try and get the officers fired from the station. They were obviously trained in the little hick town, and they were the best the station could do. He decided against it though. Revenge was no way to solve problems, as tempting as it was. Kevin figured he would just give them a piece of his mind and be done with it, hoping that his words didn’t land him right back into the cell. A small smile escaped his lips as he laughed bitterly at what he planned on saying. It wasn’t exactly flattering, but Kevin didn’t really care. He had enough anger riled up inside of him to take out an entire army. It wasn’t like him to be spiteful like this, but after all of the embarrassment and accusations that they’d put him and Nick though, affecting the rest of the band as well with it all, he figured that there was a first time for everything.

With a sigh, Kevin stood up and walked over to the excuse that they called a bed, laying down on the uncomfortable mattress. It was so worn and used, it was sagging drastically in the middle. Kevin knew that he’d have back problems in the morning from it…or later that day. He sure wished that he knew what time it was, but was tired, so decided to sleep anyways. It would take up a few hours, making time go by a little quicker, and he would be that much closer to getting out and getting on with his life, picking up from where he’d left off.

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“Are you ready to go?” Brian asked as Amber timidly got out of her bed, wearing a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt that the Boys had bought her to wear out of the hospital. She had nothing else, considering the clothes she had been wearing were tattered rags now, being used to try and track down her real attacker, and her parents hadn’t even had the decency to drop off any of her belongings.

It was the day after Kevin had been imprisoned, and Amber was finally able to leave the hospital after five whole days. Dr. Jones had stated that she had to leave, for she was taking up room that ill patients could be using when it was unnecessary for her to be held any longer. His cruel comments had angered the Boys, but they let it go, figuring that he was right. Most rape victims, Dr. Jones had told them, were only held for a day, two at the most, unless injured as to where they needed to stay longer. Amber had been one of those, due to the gunshot wounds, but was doing fine now…for the most part.

In response to Brian’s question, Amber just nodded her head, too afraid to speak. She’d known the guys for five days how, and had been fine with them, slowly becoming more and more withdrawn, but suddenly, that morning, she felt a strange sense of being completely unsafe around them. She had, however, agreed to take their offer up, because she had nowhere else to go, and would feel even more vulnerable and unsafe living on the streets with nobody. Either way, it seemed to her to be a lose-lose situation for her. Amber wanted to be back home in her own bed, with her family close by. That wouldn’t happen though, and the thought brought fresh tears to her eyes.

“Come on then,” Howie smiled lightly, “The bus is waiting.”

He gently walked up to her, putting an arm around her shoulder to guide her gently, but she immediately tensed, beginning to shake. Jerking away violently, Howie knew that he’d made a bad move, which had made her feel violated.

Walking ahead with the other guys, Amber slowly followed them, lagging behind ten feet or so…a distance she considered to be safe. She walked with her arms stiffly at her sides, watching everyone around her wearily. Amber did not trust anybody, and half expected to be attacked by any random person passing. She had to keep her guard up, for her own safety.

Looking behind them to make sure that Amber was still there and keeping up, Brian smiled warmly at her. Amber stiffened even more, walking mechanically, as if she were a robot. She wondered what the smile meant, automatically thinking that Brian wanted to harm her.

Leading her to their bus, the doors opened, and Malcolm greeted them all as the four Boys hustled onto it, into the warmth of it. Amber froze though, not advancing onto it, backing up a few steps. Images from the rape swarmed back to her head, in the dark, hidden alley. The bus was a small, confined place, perfect for anybody getting away with injuring her, and nobody ever finding out. She choked on a sob as panic overcame her. Like a deer caught in the headlights, she looked for a place to run, but was paralyzed by fear, not able to move.

“No,” she whispered, her body now trembling. Amber squeezed her eyes shut, hoping to disappear.

Suddenly, A.J. appeared in the doorway.

“Come on,” he urged, “It’s warm up here.”

Amber hesitated. She was cold, shivering against her will to prove to A.J. that she really was. Even if she wanted to deny it, she couldn’t, which, to her, was going against her odds.

Slowly, Amber went up the first step of the bus, pausing before taking the last four. If worst came to worst, she figured she could always kick and scream for help, or something. Amber wasn’t sure what, but she definitely felt anxiety with every step she took. The warmth of the bus felt good to her though, and from the inside, it looked like a cozy, extremely small apartment, with beds along one side, a couch off on another with a TV in front of it, and a mini kitchen.

“You don’t have to be afraid of us,” Brian offered, “We’re not going to hurt you.”

Amber stood, uncomfortable, unsure of what to do. The bus lurched forward though, causing he to lose her balance, tumbling to the ground. She quickly picked herself up though, afraid that if she were already down, one of the Boys would try to take advantage of her. Her breathing was heavy, and they could all tell that the girl wasn’t at all comfortable being around them. She hadn’t spoken any words to them since the night before. That was the last time she’d said anything at all…the last time she tried to ignore the truth.

“You can sit,” A.J. said, and Amber chose a seat as far away as she could from the others.

“Kevin is still not around,” Howie mentioned, “Won’t be for another couple of days, we’re guessing. We’re probably going to get a hotel to stay at until then. Would you like your own room or share with somebody.”

He wasn’t sure, beings she might not feel safe being alone, but then again, she wasn’t exactly trusting them either.

“My own,” Amber softly replied.

The guys smiled at her softly. They’d all wanted to go and see how Kevin was doing, but didn’t want to bring Amber into the whole prison scene. That would make questions arise. Amber didn’t need to know why Kevin was being held, or that he was there at all. It would make her feel all the more insecure around them. They knew that Kevin would be upset, but also understand why they had not come. He would call when he needed to be picked up.

Amber was tired, but as too overcome by fear to try to sleep. She wanted a shower, and couldn’t wait to be in her hotel room, where she could wash for hours. She still felt dirty, like she’d rolled over in a mud puddle. She tried to keep from yawning the yawn that was threatening to come, but it won out.

“Why don’t you get some rest,” Nick suggested, catching the yawn and how exhausted she actually looked.

“I can’t,” Amber whispered, “Bad things can happen when I’m asleep.”

The guys all looked at one another, startled. That was the most she’d spoken at once since the night before. Maybe they were actually getting somewhere with her.

“Bad things, like what?” A.J. asked, curious by what she meant.

“People can hurt me,” she choked out, “Please don’t hurt me.”

“We’re not going to hurt you,” Brain said with a light laugh.

He hadn’t thought that any of them appeared intimidating…well, Kevin maybe did sometimes, but he wasn’t there right then. Then again, to a girl who’d just been raped, he figured that anybody would look intimidating to her.

“You can’t trust us,” Howie put in, “We’re here to help.”

They couldn’t stress enough to her how well their intentions actually were. Amber still looked skeptical though, but she lay down anyways, her eyes slowly closing. She rolled herself up into a protective ball, and within minutes, the Boys knew that she was asleep.

“This may be harder than we thought,” Brian whispered, making sure that he did not awaken her, “And it’s only day one.”

The others nodded in agreement. Amber was definitely terrified that they were out to hurt her more than she already was.

“Should we get her a counselor or something to talk to?” A.J. asked, “I mean, suggest it to her at least.”

“I don’t know,” Howie responded after a long pause, “She might feel too overwhelmed, having six new, unfamiliar people around…she’s already stuck with five.”

“Well, she does have all of us,” Nick stated, “I mean, we’re not like, professionally Psychoiatrists, but it is better than nothing.”

“Psychologist, Nick…or Psychiatrist…not Psychoiatrist.”

“I knew that,” Nick said sheepishly.

“Blondie does make a good point though,” Brian stated, “We definitely aren’t trained, professional Psychiatrists, but maybe that’s best anyways. I mean, they can get kind of pushy and demanding. Amber doesn’t need that.”

“No shit, they’re demanding,” A.J. muttered, more to himself than to the others, “Insensitive assholes.”

The four Boys looked over at the sleeping girl. She was already distancing herself from everything and everybody. For some reason though, they all knew that it would get worse yet. They hated to admit it, but they needed Kevin there. He would help out a lot in this situation, for he always had answered and knew what to do, especially when it came to the more serious of things. As Amber stirred restlessly in her sleep, letting out a frightened moan, they could only hope that the setback with Kevin being in prison would not take much longer, because they were running out of plans to keep Amber feeling safe and content, and obviously didn’t have the right things to say.

Hey everyone...first off, just wanted to thank Anita, AJsSweety and Ayleen for reviewing the last chapter. Second of all, if it isn't too much trouble, please let me know how I am doing. My reviews have gone down a lot since I didn't review for a week after December 5 because of exams, and I am not sure if this is being read any longer. I'm not sure if anyone is interested, and it is discouraging me from writing. So, please review. It would mean so much to me . Thanks.

Chapter Nine

“Well, now what?” Howie asked, trying to keep his voice low and the annoyance out of it, “It’s the beginning of December, and all of the hotels are booked solid, for Christmas parties and such that all of the big companies are holding.”

The other three guys let out low, exasperated sights. Their last attempt at finding a place to stay in had failed, and they were out of ideas. Even the sleazy motels were booked, which they weren’t too crazy about looking in to in the first place. They didn’t want to venture too far from where Kevin was, although, even if they had, the Boys were all sure that those places would be full as well.

“Um…we could just stay on the bus,” Nick suggested, “I mean, we live on it anyways some nights.”

“Yeah, but for two whole days?” A.J. asked, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s below freezing outside. We can’t leave the damned thing running all of the time just for heat.”

“Aje is right,” Brian said, then let out a disgusted growl, “We had reservations for a hotel tonight, but since we didn’t check in…because of all of this, they gave our rooms to someone else who’d showed up and needed a place. I swear, they’ll do anything to make sure that their hotel is booked and making money.”

They all frowned, noticing Amber still sound asleep. Howie wasn’t sure if she would like the idea of spending a couple of days with them all, not having a moment to herself. The idea of a hotel and getting Amber her own room was so she would feel safe and have her space. That idea went right out the window though. If none of this had happened, Howie was sure that they would be going about their plans, lounging out in a hotel deluxe suite. But he also knew that none of them regretted helping the girl. The minor consequences of saving someones life was just a temporary setback. It was nothing that couldn’t be fixed in one way or another. All they had to do was think of a solution, and if worst came to worst, they just do Nick’s idea, which wasn’t too bad to begin with.

“Well, what do ya’ll wanna do?” Brian drawled, “Head on over to the next town, or just stay here.”

“I don’t really give a fuck,” A.J. stated grumpily, his mood taking a definite turn around, “I’m tired and just want to figure it out so I can get some sleep.”

The others nodded in agreement, thankful that A.J. was blunt enough to speak his mind aloud, talking for all of them without realizing it. His mood was definitely sour though, and if it stayed that way, the Boys all knew that they would be in a bad mood by the next morning.

“Well, sleeping in a nice, cozy, warm, comfortable…” Nick began.

“Nick,” A.J. warned, hoping he would quit.

“Hotel bed would be…” Nick continued, completely ignoring A.J.

“Okay Nick,” A.J. spat, lashing out at the blonde, cutting him off, “Shut the hell up. We get the picture.”

“You don’t have to be such a grump,” Nick said, backing away slightly from the angered man. He eyed him up and down, wondering who he thought he was to just yell at him for speaking aloud his thoughts, “Jeez.”

“Yeah, well, because of your moronicness and lack of brain cell use, touching Amber’s clothes back in the alley, Kevin is in prison now. Because of you, we’re going to be stuck sleeping in a fucking bus,” A.J. shouted at Nick.

Nick snorted, crossing his arms over his chest and turning away. One thing he knew for sure was that A.J. was being completely unfair towards him. In his own opinion, none of this was anybody’s fault. It was a freak thing that had happened to him and now Kevin. Nick was also a little hurt at A.J’s brutal words. He made him sound like a two year old. Nick would be the first to admit he had a lack of using his common sense, but that did not mean he liked it to be rubbed in his face.

Howie cringed, looking over at Amber to make sure that the screaming match wasn’t awakening her. He was pleased to see that it wasn’t, but knew that if it kept up, she eventually would be awakened.

“Guys,” Howie stated wearily, “Please, don’t fight. Not tonight. Amber doesn’t need this kind of…hostile environment right now. If you haven’t noticed, she’s petrified of us to begin with. You’re bickering will just make things worse.”

“He started it,” A.J. and Nick both said at the same time, keeping their backs turned from one another.

“Real mature, guys,” Brian said with a shake of his head, “This is what happens when you live with other men and don’t ever get a break from them. Fighting over stupid, little things that don’t even matter.”

“Shut up, Rok,” A.J. grumbled, throwing a pillow roughly at the man, “Nobody asked you for your opinion.”

Brian caught the pillow with one hand as it flew though the air, rolling his eyes as he set it out of reach from A.J. If given the right chance, he was sure that the Boy would beat him over the head with it.

Leaning back, Brian put his head on his own pillow. He supposed that the decision had been made to just stick things out and stay on their tour bus for the night. That is how it appeared, anyways. Howie and Nick were already closing their eyes, shifting into a comfortable position for sleep. A.J. was still pouting, arms crossed, glaring out the window as Malcolm looked for a good place to park the bus for the night. Brian shook his head, deciding to just ignore him. He would sleep off his anger, and by morning, would be back to normal. It was just an interesting and unusual night for all of them, plus not having Kevin around was obviously putting a strain on all of them. He wasn’t sure why none of them were using the bunks built on the one side of the bus in the clear back, except for Amber, but as he thought this, he still made no attempt to move over to them himself.

“Can I have my fucking pillow back now?” A.J. asked, or more demanded, and Brian tossed it back to him, “Thanks.” A.J. muttered, shoving it behind his head. Brian wasn’t sure if he really meant it or not.

Slouching down, Brian closed his eyes too, wondering what kind of insane things the next day had in store for them. He could only hope that they would get the call from Kevin telling them to pick him up, and then they could be on their way to wherever they were supposed to go from there. They had a lot of things to make up, and not nearly enough time to do it.

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Nick awoke to the sound of soft groaning. He stared ahead of him for a minute, trying to get his eyes to adjust to the dark. His back was sore, and he knew that it was from the awkward sleeping position he had found himself in upon awakening.

Once Nick could make out faint images around him, he saw that the others were still sound asleep, Brian snoring softly. Nick tried to stifle a laugh, forcing himself to resist from pinching his nose or something along those lines.

Hearing the moans again, Nick shook his head, wondering what it was, then noticed Amber in the back of the bus, thrashing in her sleep. Standing up, Nick made his way to the back of the bus, hoping that he wasn’t making a mistake by nearing her. He felt she needed help though, and he was awake and there to try and offer it to her.

The closer that Nick got, he could barely make out Amber talking in her sleep. She was muttering things as she jerked violently from side to side. Nick wondered if she were having a nightmare, but he remembered that he had learned somewhere that if you were in a dreaming state, that you were practically paralyzed in your sleep.

“Please, go away,” he heard her murmur, and even in her sleep, she sounded frightened.

Nick reached out to try to awaken the girl from the bad dream, but refrained, wondering what the result in that would be. He didn’t want to scare her even more, or make things worse. But the more she looked troubled, the more convinced Nick was that waking her would be for the best. Reaching out, he touched her shoulder, feeling that she was sweating beneath the sweatshirt.

“Amber,” he whispered, gently shaking her, “Amber.”

“Please don’t hurt me,” Amber said loudly, almost in a scream.

Nick jumped back, startled by her loud outburst. He was about to apologize, but realized that she was still asleep. With his heart pounding in his chest, Nick breathed a sigh of relief.

“Get off of me…go away,” Amber cried out, “Leave me alone.”

Nick felt so bad for the girl, wondering what she was having visions of. Whatever it was was definitely causing her distress and discomfort. His eyes, now well adjusted to the darkness, could see the look of pain and fear etched upon her features.

“Amber,” Nick attempted again, bending down close to her ear.

“No,” Amber shrieked, “NOOOO.”

Nick winced, looking behind him. The others were still asleep, although he wasn’t sure how they were sleeping through her panic attacks. Nick wished that he could make the nightmare go away so that the girl could have a peaceful rest. He had a feeling that this was the first of many nights that would be like this. He didn’t mind…he understood. It was just the fact that he knew the nightmares could not be healthy for Amber.

“Amber, wake up,” Nick tried again

“NOOOOOOO,” Amber screamed at the top of her lungs, making Nick question if he still had hearing in his one ear.

Amber’s eyes flew open as she reached up, wrapping her arms around Nick’s neck and pulling him down roughly as A.J. and Brian rushed back to see what was going on. She was panting heavily, choking on sobs.

“Nick,” Brian accused, grabbing his arm and pulling him away from Amber, “What the hell are you doing to her.”

“Nothing,” Nick defended himself, “I…I heard her in her sleep…I wanted to make sure that she was okay.”

A.J. looked at the girl, who was now sitting up, clutching her blanket against her, shaking half to death in fear. Nick saw that it was obvious he had caused more damage than good, and two of his friends thought that he had tried to hurt her. This was the thanks he got for doing a good deed.

“Nick, just leave her be,” A.J. growled, “My god, how dense could you possibly be.” He shook his head in disgust, “Sometimes, I swear, I wonder if you have a working brain behind that skull of yours. You’re not supposed to force her, dumbass. You’re supposed to let her come to you if she wants anything.”

Nick wanted to say something, but refrained from it. His words would do him no good. Only he knew what his real intentions had been. Nick figured it shouldn’t matter if the others believed him or not. In their eyes, he was naďve and hadn’t a clue as to what he was doing. In his own, he knew that he did.

“Just, go back up front Nick,” Brian said, letting out an irritated breath with his best friend, “We’ll take it from here.”

Nick looked at his friends sadly, and then at Amber. Tears threatened his eyes from feeling unwanted.

“I’m sorry, Amber,” he said softy before getting up and walking back to the front of the bus.

Nick could hear the other two talking to her softly, and less than a minute later, they joined him back up front. Both were eyeing him in disbelief, as if he had just tried to make a move on her or take advantage of her in one way or another in her most vulnerable state.

“Nick, just leave her alone,” Brian finally said, closing his eyes, hoping that he would be able to get back to sleep. Brian yawned, then said, “If it happens again, just stay up here and let things be.”

“Whatever,” Nick grumbled.

He watched as A.J lay back down and close his eyes as well. Looking down at his glow in the dark watch, Nick saw that it was just past 2:00 am. He thought about what Brian had demanded of him, but knew that if Amber had another nightmare, he wouldn’t follow the instructions. Brian wasn’t his boss. No matter what, he was going to try to help her and make a difference in her learning to trust them if it was the last thing that he did.

Thanks to Anita, Ayleen and AjsSweetie for reviewing Chapter Nine and thanks to Jamelet for reviewing Chapters 1-9. Can't wait to hear what you think of 10!

Chapter Ten

“Richardson,”

Kevin head snapped up at the sound of his name, or last name rather. That’s all everybody in the place was known by; their last name being barked out whenever they were wanted or being spoken to.

Slightly groggy, Kevin realized that he must have been woken up by the obnoxious, loud voice. God, he wished he knew what time it was, better yet, what day. He wanted out of the building; out of the cage that he was being kept it. Kevin felt that this was an inhumane punishment for anybody, even those who really had done something to land themselves there. Kevin felt that there had to be a better way to deal with criminals. Locking them up in a filthy, dark, dingy jail cell wasn’t the way to do it.

“Richardson,” the voice yelled again when Kevin failed to reply after the first calling.

“What,” Kevin called back, annoyed, standing up and advancing towards the gated door way.

The voice sounded like nails against a blackboard to his ears, only worse. More like knives and forks scraping back and forth on a piece of China dishwear. He winced at the noise, wanting the person to just go away. No such luck though. The footsteps grew closer and closer, pounding against the cold cement floor. Kevin let out a low growl, muttering a few choice things under his breath.

Finally, after a few long, agonizing minutes, or what seemed to be minutes, a prison guard came in to view, unclipping a ring full of dozens of keys from his pants. Fumbling around with them for a minute, he drew one specific one up, unlocking the door to the cell. Kevin looked at the man in confusion as the caged door was slid wide open. Kevin stood inside of the cell though, wondering what was going on. It sure would be nice if people told him anything around there.

“You’re free to go,” the guard informed Kevin.


“Huh?” Kevin asked, feeling like Nick must ninety-nine percent of the time. If his mind was as in tact as it normally was, he was sure that he would have a much easier time understanding what was going on. Plus, it didn’t help that he was still slightly disoriented from his sleep.

“The semen test came back…it doesn’t match up. You’re free to leave.”

Kevin couldn’t help but smirk as he walked out of the cell. His moment had come to tell these idiots what he thought as he breezed past the guard.

“I could have told you that a long time ago,” Kevin stated, not looking back as he led himself out of the place and in to the front lobby area, if that’s what you would call it. The guard followed closely behind him.

“Can never be too careful,” he replied simply, “I just hope that we find the real rapist.”

Kevin snorted. At the rate that these imbeciles were going, the real criminal would never be caught. In fact, he was probably half way around the country by now. He could only hope that he sick man would be caught in his act somewhere around the world, and that the policemen, wherever that was, were more intelligent than they were in that city.

“Did you honestly think that me or Nick really did it though?” Kevin asked incredulously, “Seriously now…we’re all harmless.”

The guard shrugged, and Kevin could tell that he didn’t know that they weren’t capable of rape. Rolling his eyes, Kevin pushed through the door, finally in the lobby. Sun poured through the large windows, causing Kevin to squint. It had been so long since he had seen the light of day, or had it?

“What day is it?” Kevin asked, spinning around to face the guard.

‘Thursday,”

Kevin’s eyes widened as he choked back his surprise. He’d been in the place for four days. He couldn’t believe that he had, in all reality, been so long, yet, it seemed to be much longer. Time had drug by at a snails pace, making it seem so much longer. Therefore, Kevin wasn’t sure if he was more shocked that it had only been four days, or that he was surprised that it had been as long as four days.

“Do you have a way back to your friends?”

“I’m going to have to call to be picked up,” Kevin informed the man, who just nodded in response. Kevin rolled his eyes. Even the prison guards were dense, “Which would be mighty helpful if I could have my cell phone back to make the call.”

Kevin’s voice dripped in sarcasm, which he hoped didn’t land him another few days in the place. It kind of hurt him to know that none of his friends had come to see him, but figured he deserved it after none of them had gone in for Nick. Plus, he decided, they might actually have a good excuse for it.

“Right, your fancy little cell phone,” the guard replied with a snort.

He walked up to a desk, which a young woman was behind, whispering something in her ear. The woman nodded her head, opening a drawer and bringing out his phone and handing it to the man. He then thanked her, returning to Kevin, extending his hand to return his phone. Kevin took it instantly.

“Normally, we don’t return personal belongings and such,”

“Gee, how kind of you,” Kevin replied shortly, walking out of the front doors. He considered telling the employees of the place the rest of what he thought of them and their tactics, but decided against it. He just wanted to leave. He could not wait to get a hold of his friends and leave the place behind. He hadn’t showered in four days, nor changed clothes. Kevin wanted to take a hot, steaming back with tons of soap and get in to something clean. He could swear that he smelled his own B.O., which completely disgusted him.

Flipping the phone open, Kevin decided to give his cousin’s phone a ring to inform him that he could leave. Dialing the number, Kevin brought the phone to his ear, listening to it ring six times before being answered.

“Yo, Kaos speakin’. Who dis?”

Kevin rolled his eyes, wondering how in the world Nick had gotten Brian’s cell in his hands.

“Nick, is Brian there?” Kevin asked shortly, not wanting to play games at that moment. He wasn’t in the mood and knew that if the blonde boy persisted with his annoying behavior, he’d blow up on him.

“Yo, Kev, that you bro?” Nick asked, and Kevin rolled his eyes at Nick trying to sound like a punk.

“Yes,” Kevin replied, becoming agitated, then asked again, “Is Brian there. I need to talk to him. It’s urgent.” That ought to hurry Nick up.

“Nah, he’s on the…hey…ouch, that was my head,” Nick cried out, then heard laughter as someone in the background yelled, “Give me my phone, retard.”

Kevin shook his head. Leave it to Nick to mess with things that weren’t his. Things obviously were out of hand without him around. Kevin could not wait to be back, but was afraid to see how disastrous things were. He half expected the bus to be trashed beyond recognition. He could hear the two men wrestling in the background, and then the phone dropping as there were shouts from Brian and laugher from Nick, and he could swear that A.J. was in the background laughing as well. Kevin yawned in boredom, wondering if he would become noticed again, or if the phone would remain on the ground of the bus for lord knew how long, unnoticed until the battery died and he was left without a way to reach them...and then remembered he had three other shots in the event of if that did happen.

“Hello,” came Brian’s voice after another minute or two. He sounded tired and like he was ready to murder the blonde child wannabe

“Hey Rok,”

“Kev,” Brian sounded startled, “Wow, um, wasn’t expecting you to call so soon. What’s up?”

“Not much,” Kevin said, “I was released today. Could you guys come and pick me up?”

“Yeah, yeah, sure,” Brian replied, “Where ya at?”

Kevin rolled his eyes again, something he was becoming quite skilled at from the past week.. Brian was obviously developing his best friends brain power. This was just what he needed,

“Same place Nicky was at.” Kevin informed him, “I’ll be waiting out front.”

“Oh, okay,” Brian said, “We’ll be right there.’

Kevin hung up the phone without another word. Sliding down the side of the building to sit and wait, a cold breeze blew against Kevin, but it felt good to him. Just from looking outside, with the sun shining bright, one would think that it would be warm. Upon stepping outside though, they were in for a big shock, litteraly.

Kevin closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of being a freed man again. He couldn’t wait to see his friends again, and wondered how Amber was doing. He cringed then, wondering how much he had actually missed. In a matter of minutes, he would find out.

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“The wheels on the bus go round and round,” Nick sang out.

Howie, Brian and A.J. all let out groans as Nick embellished in singing the childish song. It was his second time singing it, which was a major improvement from the ‘Song That Never Ends’ but it was still getting on their nerves.

“Nick,” A.J. warned.

“Round and round, round and round,” Nick continued, dancing a little in his sleep.

“Nickolas…” A.J. tried again through gritted teeth. The song was now stuck in his own head. He’d better sleep with one eye open tonight. A.J thought.

Howie and Brian were taking a different approach than A.J. was. Their plan was to ignore the blonde, hoping that he would quit after awhile of not being paid any attention to. So far, their plan was not working. It was better than overreacting like A.J. was, and they’d tried to tell him to just ignore the boy, but he refused. It was pretty sad though, when they couldn’t even go on a twenty-five minute ride without the youngest Boy becoming bored and restless.

“The wheels on the bus go round and round,”

“NICK,” A.J. yelled, “For the love of God, take your Ritalin and shut the hell up.”

Nick looked at A.J. innocently, sealing his lips shut. He suppressed a smile that he could feel coming, knowing that if he showed his signs of pleasure, it would only make the man even more angry. A.J. sighed, happy that Nick had had finally closed his mouth. Looking out the window, A.J, watched the scenery go by. All was completely silent, and A.J. was enjoying it, closing his eyes and taking it in. He was surprised that all of their commotion hadn’t awaken Amber, who was asleep again…either that, in the back, shaking in horror at how they were acting.

“All through the town,” Nick finished his song, coiling back when A.J’s head whipped around, glaring at him. He grinned at A.J, but the man wasn’t impressed.

“I swear, you have the attention span of a gnat,” A.J. told the blonde, “Freakin’ ADHD,” he then muttered under his breath.

Nick pouted, wounded by his comment, “I just wanted to make the trip go faster. It’s boring.”

“Nick, sweetie,” A.J. seethed, “It’s not that long of a ride that you have to bounce around and sing like a kindergartener.”

Nick slumped down in his seat, hearing Amber in the back moaning again. It had been two and a half days since he’d tried to help her and gotten harped at for it. He’d wanted to advance to the back of the bus each time he heard her, but was stopped. This time was no different.

“Just leave her alone, Nick,” Brian warned, “It’s her way of dealing with the pain.”

“It ain’t healthy,” Nick grumbled so that nobody could understand him.

A few minutes later, the bus rolled into the parking lot of the building that Nick was too familiar with. They all saw Kevin getting up off of the ground, running to the bus, which doors were open and awaking his arrival. Second after, Kevin was in the back with everyone, who were giving him hugs. They had missed him. After their big reunion, all five sat down. Kevin was glad to be back with his brothers. He even missed their bickering. If he’d only known what they had all done the whole time he had been gone, then he definitely wouldn’t be thinking that.

“How is Amber doing?” was the first thing he asked.

The Boys all looked to one another, wondering what they were going to tell Kevin. It wasn’t exactly the best of news that they could bring.

“Well, she was released from the hospital,” Brian began, as he watched Kevin’s eyebrows raise, “She’s in the back sleeping.”

“Nick just about scared her shitless though,” A.J said.

“I did not,” Nick whined

Kevin shook his head, “Tell me about it later, kay?” he whispered to Nick, taking the blonde by surprise, then he said to everyone, “What…does she know that she was raped yet?”

The four all nodded their heads quickly. There was no denying that she did know. Kevin heard her moaning in the back suddenly, giving them questioning looks.

“Nightmares,” Howie explained.

Kevin nodded understandingly. He wasn’t much in the talking mood at the moment. All he wanted was to relax comfortably.

“So, how did you handle prison?” Brian asked his cousin with a light chuckle.

“I don’t wanna talk about it,” Kevin answered, still ashamed that he’d been in the place. That was over with now, another chapter of his life gone. Now would begin a new one of trying to help Amber. He had missed a lot over the last few days and was in for a big surprise.

(A/N- In the next chapter, i'll start getting more in to Amber's feelings...i realize I haven't done much of that, so, it will be added starting in 11 now! Thanks for reading!!!)

Thanks to Anita, AJsSweety and Ayleen for reviewing chapter ten!!!. I can't wait to hear what ya'll think of 11.

Chapter Eleven

Amber jerked awake violently after another of her nightmares. It had seemed to be so real. A faceless man lunged at her in every vision, tearing her clothing off, but every time, he violated her in a different way. In one, he’d killed her before taking on his sickening act. In another, she’d been at the mall with her friends, when suddenly, they all disappeared and she was alone in a parking garage, where she was drug off to an old car, and raped in the backseat. They were all different in some way, but all the same. In the nightmares, she could actually feel everything, hear everything, smell everything. It was almost a reality. She didn’t feel safe anywhere, which scared her. She felt that she had nobody to run to when in need. She was alone.

Amber sat up in the bunk and scooted back against the wall shaking a little as she peered out the small, narrow doorway and watched the five men goofing off twenty feet in front of her. The blonde boy and tattooed guy with the piercings did nothing but fight. She’d heard them earlier as the blonde was singing. The blonde, she could tell, was the goofball of the group, always looking for ways to have fun and irritate the others without intention. The other seemed to have something on his mind causing him to lash out at him. She had a feeling that he normally wouldn’t be so angry if his mind was cleared of the burden that he was stuck with thinking about for the time being. As for the others…they seemed pretty laid back, except for the oldest one. She observed the newcomer, who’d disappeared for a few days, to be the one to look over all of them. She could tell, just by their actions as she watched them, that he was much respected and looked up to. She had to admit that all five of them were all good looking. What she still didn’t understand was why they were being so good to her. They were famous, she was nothing. Especially now, after what had happened to her. She was greatful for them even giving her a place to stay in her time of need, even if she didn’t want to be near them. She couldn’t trust anyone of the male population. They were all capable of the same thing now, in her mind. If given the opportunity, they would all jump at the chance to do the same thing that the unknown man had done to her.

Amber watched as the oldest, dark haired man closed his eyes, letting out a troubled sigh, and the others closed their eyes too, soon after…all except for the blonde. He was busy playing some sort of football game with a game console.

Amber wondered what time it was. It seemed to early for them to be going to sleep, then again, she slept ninety percent of the time so she wouldn’t have to think about things. When she slept, she couldn’t be depressed. Either way, Amber guessed that something had worn them out. The oldest, she hadn’t a clue…the others, she had a feeling, had something to do with the blonde haired boy.

She observed as the blonde turned off the game, looking around him before standing up and advancing towards her. Amber sucked in her breath, wondering why he had waited until the others were asleep before going for her. Her mind was screaming that he wanted to hurt her, without the others knowing. Amber wanted to run, but couldn’t. She was frozen in place as the boy stood three feet in front of her eyes. He just stared at her for a minute as she recoiled backwards even further.

“Hi,” Nick said with a small wave, offering her a smile.

She looked at him in curiosity. He seemed harmless enough, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. The shyest could also be the most dangerous. The blonde, to her, seemed the quite type around those he did not know very well, despite his personality around the other men.

“I, um, I just wanted to see how you were doing since the others are asleep…since I’m supposedly not aloud to check up on you.”

Nick took another step forward, and Amber backed up even more, her back pressing firmly against the wall. She shielded herself with her blanket, covering all but her eyes. Nick backed up a little, holding a hand up, showing her that he meant her no harm.

“Okay, okay…I’ll keep my distance,” he laughed lightly and could see Amber’s tensed shoulders relax a little bit, “I’m sorry if I scared you the other night.” Nick offered, “I didn’t mean to…was just trying to help, ya know?”

Amber continued to stare at him, wondering what the Boy wanted. He appeared to just want to talk, but she didn’t think that it was as simple as that. It couldn’t be that simple. Maybe he was moving slow? She wasn’t sure, but wasn’t taking any chances on letting him come closer.

“I’m fine,” Amber whispered, startling Nick that she’d spoken. He smiled inwardly to himself. At least he was getting somewhere.

“So,” Nick asked, wanting to talk and get to know her a little bit while he had the chance, “How old are you?”

Amber didn’t say anything for a moment, shifting her gaze away from Nick. Nick bit his lip, hoping he hadn’t made her uncomfortable by his innocent question. He knew that he had to be careful with what he said and did. He had to be gentle with the woman, who was in a fragile state. He knew that he had to take extra precautions with Amber until she was better. Had he overstepped his boundaries already?

“I’m nineteen,” Amber finally said quietly.

Nick just nodded, trying to think of something else to ask her. He didn’t know when the next chance he would get would be. Nick felt that the others acting as if she weren’t there though, saying that they needed to wait for her to come to them, was not good for the girl. He was making a point on doing things his way.

“Um…so, are you…um, are you a fan of ours?” Nick asked, curious to know if she listened to their music or not. He didn’t want to sound big-headed by his question either though, and feared that he may have by the strange look he got from Amber.

Amber shook her head, “No…honestly, never really listened to any BSB stuff,” she answered softly, opening up a little bit. She figured that if the blonde was going to hurt her, that he would have done so already, “I’ve heard of you, but, not really my type of music.”

“That’s cool,” Nick answered with a smile, figuring she probably didn’t know their names either then, “I’m Nick, by the way.”

Amber didn’t say anything, still a little weary of him and his motives. He was definitely more forward than the others, then again, she was becoming lonely without anybody to speak with. Trusting or not, she enjoyed the company.

“The guy we picked up earlier…that’s Kevin. The one I always fight with,” Nick grinned at that remark, and Amber could tell that he purposely picked fights just to get laughs in. Typical immature male, “That one is A.J…we call him Aje sometimes though. The two shorter guys…the darker haired one is Howie, the other is Brian.” Nick paused, wondering if she was catching any of it. She had a far away look in her eyes, “Well, if you ever need anything, just call for any one of us. We’re all friendly and all. We won’t hurt you, just remember that.”

Nick glanced nervously behind him to make sure that the others were still sleeping. He would be in big trouble with them if they caught him so called ‘pestering’ Amber. He turned back to the girl and smiled warmly.

“I’m going to go back up front now,” he informed her, “If you need anything, you know where to find us. I’ll try to come back and talk to you again soon.”

Amber said nothing as Nick hesitated for a moment before turning and leaving. Amber sat still for a moment, stunned that Nick hadn’t tried to violate her in any way. He had given her the distance she needed while speaking with her. He seemed nice enough to her, but it was till too soon to let her guard down around him, and know that he could be trusted. He could always try something the next time that he spoke with her. Maybe he wanted to gain her trust, only to attack her. All of these thoughts ran through Amber’s mind. Then there were the other four. She was terrified of them, for she found their actions odd, not wanting to approach her. The same thoughts kept running through Amber’s head. Everything had changed for her in the past week. She wondered when things would start to get better and if they would ever be the same again. Amber let out a stifled sob, wanting her old life back again. She wanted to turn back time, and have everything back the way it used to be. Unfortunate for her though, that was impossible and she was left with the scars, both physical and mental, that would remind her of what had happened for the rest of her life.

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Kevin opened is eyes and sat up, looking around him before breathing a huge sigh of relief at the familiar surroundings. He’d been afraid that when he woke up, he would be back in the jail cell, being freed all a dream.

Kevin noticed that the others were still sleeping, Nick was bouncing a small rubber ball on the ground in boredom.

“Hey, Nick,” Kevin stated, happy that Nick was awake. He’d wanted to talk to the boy about two things. One being his experience over the past few days, since Nick could relate well to that. The second was why the guys thought that he’d tried to harm Amber. Kevin knew this wasn’t true, but wanted Nick’s side of the story anyways.

Nick jumped, startled, the ball rolling across the bus and out of sight.

“Hey, Kev,” Nick said, then looked around nervously before asking, “What did I do?”

Kevin laughed, “Nothing,” he replied, “Just wanted to talk.”

“Oh,” Nick replied, looking down before asking again worriedly, “What did I do? The only time you want to talk is when I did something.”

“I swear Nick, You did nothing wrong.”

Nick relaxed a little bit, believing that Kevin honestly wasn’t there to scold him on something he had done.

“I just wanted to know exactly what you did to make the others think that you scared Amber.”

“See, I knew I did something wrong,” Nick shot out, not even giving the man the chance to say anything more.

“Nick,” Kevin tried to stay calm, “I’m not here to yell at you. God, I’m not that horrible of a person. Maybe I’ll be on your side. Just give me a chance here. Jeez.”

“I highly doubt you’ll be on my side,” Nick muttered under his breath, crossing his arms and drawing one knee up, his eyes narrowing, “I’m just a dumb blonde who has no clue what he’s talking about.”

Kevin rolled his eyes. The blonde definitely had a knack for making things difficult, and at the worst times yet.

“Just tell me,” Kevin said, “Maybe if I agree with you, I can talk to the others and get them to lay off of your sorry ass.”

Nick looked over at Kevin and saw him grinning. Nick let a small smile escape his lips. Kevin had changed in some way since being locked up. Nick couldn’t place a finger on it, but knew that he was different. More sarcastic for one, but also a little more light hearted about things. Kevin looked at Nick expectantly to tell what happened, and Nick took a deep breath and spoke.

“I was woken up by Amber. She was moaning in her sleep, ya know? So, I go closer and hear she is saying things…like, she having nightmares about the rape…I guess that is what it was anyways. So, I try to wake her up. I mean, it can’t be good for her to be doing that. She start screaming in her sleep then, then jerks awake. That is when the others appear behind me, and they think I tried to make a move on her. But I wasn’t. I swear. I just wanted to help. They told me to stay away and leave her alone. I promise you though, I would never do anything like that. I just wanted to help, ya know?” Nick finished off, taking in a deep breath of air and letting it out. He’d spoken so rapidly, he was hoping that Kevin had caught it all.

Kevin sat, staring thoughtfully for a moment. If what Nick said was true, then the others were being unfair to him. Nick’s intentions were good. He knew that Nick would never hurt Amber, and told him so.

“Ignore them,” Kevin told Nick, “If you feel what you did was right, then try to help her if it happens again.”

Nick nodded, knowing that it would. It had every night, after all. Nick thanked Kevin for being on his side, for once. Kevin patted Nick on the back. The boy may still be a kid at heart, but he was growing up in some aspects too.

Then came the second part of what Kevin wanted to talk to Nick about; the prison experience. Kevin opened his mouth to begin, but quickly decided against it. He wasn’t in the mood to talk about it yet. It wasn’t exactly something he was proud of, even if Nick had been though the same thing.

“Was there anything else?” Nick asked, catching on to Kevin’s hesitation.

“Nah, that’s all,” Kevin lied with a smile.

“Kev,” Nick stated, “Just so you know, you smell really bad.”

Nick plugged his nose to prove his point and Kevin just playfully smacked him over the head. Leave it to Nick, after a serious conversation, to end it with something completely off the wall. Some things never changed, then some things did. He had a feeling that with taking on the new responsibility, his own life would be one of them.

Thanks to Stephanie, Ayleen, AJsSweety, Anastacia and Anita for reviewing the last chapter!

Chapter Twelve

“So where are we off to next?” Nick asked, causing a round of eyes rolling at his expected cluelessness.

“You have an itinerary to tell you these things,” Brian pointed out, putting Nick on the spot, “Why don’t you pull it out and look.”

The four Boys looked at Nick, waiting for an answer, which they knew would be entertaining. A slight blush arose on Nick’s face. Something always happened to his, in one way or another.

“I needed a place to spit my gum…it was the only thing I could find.” He said sheepishly.

A.J. sucked in a breath and let it out noisily in irritation. Nick didn’t know what was with his attitude lately, but it seemed that every move Nick made set the man off in one way or another. It was almost as if he had something else on his mind, causing him to take his frustrations out on everyone.

“We,” Kevin stated, “Considering we missed a good week, a little more maybe,” he paused, taking out his own itinerary, scanning it over, “We’re due to be in New Jersey. We’re still in Ohio now…so, we’ll probably be there in six or eight hours, depending.”

Nick silently thanked Kevin. Along with A.J’s change for the worse, Kevin had changed for the better. His newly laid back nature and calmness was something Nick was sure that they were all enjoying.

“I hate Ohio,” Nick muttered, “There is nothing here but cows and corn fields, ya know?”

Brian chuckled. This was true. Other than some well-known malls and entertainment venues, there really wasn’t much else to do. He felt sorry for the residents of the state, knowing that he himself would never want to live there.

“It’s not that bad,” Kevin stated, “I’ve been to worse…” his voice trailed off, thinking of the experience they’d had in a certain state a few west from Ohio. It had smelled like cow manure the whole way through, and really was absolutely nothing but crop fields, with the occasional motel every fifty miles or so. Malcolm had grown tired, needing a break, so they all decided to stop for the night. The one they’d chosen to stay in was filthy. In the room he’d been in with Howie and A.J, the sheets hadn’t been changed, with stains of lord knows what on them. Nick and Brian’s room had appearantly not been any better, if not worse. He knew for a fact that they’d all slept on top of the bed spread, getting up as early as they could to vacate the place as quickly as possible. Kevin shuddered at the memory of the experience. They’d learned a lesson to never stop in that state again…for anything…other than performing, of course.

Suddenly, Amber appeared, standing in the small doorway of the room. The guys heads all turned one by one to watch her as she timidly made her way over to them, keeping a ten foot distance barrier between them.

“Could I please have something to drink?” she asked in almost a whisper, and Howie could tell that she was still afraid of them, “I’m really thirsty.”

Brian hopped up and smiled, thinking that his plan had worked on ignoring her until she came to them.

“Sure,” he drawled, walking over to the fridge and opening it for her to take her pick of about twenty different beverages, “Do you want something to eat too? We have mac n cheese, soup, sandwiches, Nick has a stash of junk food under the counter…”

“Just water is fine,” Amber said, slowly taking a bottle of Aquafina cautiously.

“Are you sure?” Brian pushed.

“I’m fine,” she answered.

“Just a little something?”

Amber grabbed an apple, just to shut the man up before quickly walking back to the back of the bus to the bunk to hide away again.

Brian’s shoulders slumped as he slowly walked back towards the others, plopping back down on the couch.

“Well, at least she made an appearance,” he stated, thinking that that was a good sign at least in itself, “It’s more than we’ve gotten before this. Maybe she’s progressing and getting better.”

“First of all, the girl has to eat and drink something,” A.J. noted saracastically, “Before she dehydrates and starves to death. Secondly, I am pretty sure it takes more than a fucking week to get over a rape. Think about it, Rok.”

Brian shrugged, finding truth in both of A.J’s points.

“I hate to say it,” Kevin stated, going against what his cousin thought, “But your approach isn’t working. It’s making her think that we don’t care.”

Brian didn’t say anything for a moment, somewhat hurt that his own cousin could side with Nick of all people. It didn’t make since, and he wondered if Nick had bribed Kevin to go along with him. He saw out of the corner of his eye Kevin staring at him expecting a response of some sort.

“Hounding her won’t help either,” Brian replied stubbornly, crossing his arms over his chest.

“It’s not hounding,” Kevin replied, “It’s simply slowly letting her know that she can trust us and are there for her.”

Brian rolled his eyes. One thing was for sure; ever since the incident with Amber, the guys were much more subtle to irritating each other. He felt like their bond wasn’t as close and they argued about every little thing. They had to watch what they said and did, or try to at least. Their lives were being changed around, and he wasn’t so sure he felt it was worth it, as harsh at it sounded.

“Whatever,” Brian wanted, taking on the roll of seeming to be a spoiled, selfish brat.

“You can ignore her, and wait for her to come to you, if that works,” Kevin finally said, “You’re a grown man, you can make your own choices. However, so is Nick. He isn’t thirteen any longer. He is twenty-three, and it’s time we start treating him like an adult. If he wants to help her the way he tried to the other night, don’t give him shit about it. Same goes for the rest of us.”

Brian looked at Kevin in confusion, wondering what had gotten in to the man. Normally, it was tradition to give Nick slack and hell for acting like a child. It’s what they expected of him, so it was how they treated him, in a joking way, of course. He was definitely confused by the change.

“Prison pussy whipped you,” Brian muttered, saying something that just days ago, he wouldn’t have even thought of speaking aloud.

“No, Brian,” Kevin said calmly, not wanting to overreact and scare Amber even further, “It’s made me in to a more rational person.”

Kevin shot Nick an apologetic look, for they were speaking as if he weren’t even near them. Nick just shrugged, thanking Kevin again, mouthing the words, for defending him. It felt good to have someone on his side for once. He was going to prove to Brian, and maybe Howie and A.J. too, that he knew what he was doing for once in his life.

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Nick was awakened to the sound of soft, distant groaning again. He sat up, rubbing his eyes, letting them adjust to the darkness again. He figured they would be at their next destination in approximately one hour. It was just past midnight, and all around him was silent.

Standing up, Nick noticed Kevin sitting with eyes wide opened. He jumped, startled at the sight of another being awake.

“How can they sleep through all of that?” Nick whispered, pointing to the bunks.

“Earplugs,” Kevin told him, “I found them a few hours ago.”

Anger flared up in Nick. He wondered why the others had agreed to give Amber a place to stay, offering to help her, if they didn’t intend to at all. Nick looked at the others though, kind of afraid to advance to the back to awaken the girl from her nightmare.

“Go,” Kevin urged, reading Nick’s thoughts, “She needs someone.”

Nick smiled before slowly making his way to the back once more. A slight worry arose in his mind that maybe he was being a pain in the ass towards her, but he didn’t turn back as he heard the sleep talking begin.

As Nick approached Amber, he wondered if this would become a tradition that would be an every night thing for weeks, months or even years. Not that he would mind if it was. Shaking her gently to wake her up from her troubled sleep, Nick hoped that she wouldn’t freak out this time.

“Leave me alone,”

Nick stepped back, wondering if she was actually conscious, but realized that she was still asleep.

“Wake up,” Nick tried again, nudging her shoulder gently

Amber let out a blood curdling scream as her eyes flew open and she shot up breathing heavily. Nick jumped back, unsure of how she would react to him being there before her eyes. He wondered how she would react to him being the first thing that she saw upon awakening. Him, Nick, a man. One of the species she did not trust. Just as predicted, Amber saw Nick, backing up slightly between her choked sobs of fright.

“It’s okay,” Nick said, “It’s just me…Nick.” He added

Nick carefully took one step forward, trying to advance in his status with her. Even if she trusted him being two steps closer than before, it was an improvement. When Amber didn’t shrink back, Nick took another slow, careful step towards her, pausing to make sure that she was okay. Amber still didn’t cower into her shell. She just stared at him, tears streaming down her face. Nick decided it was safe for him to go the last couple of feet, so he did so, sitting down next to her. Neither said anything for a while. They just stared at one another. Nick wanted the girl to trust him more than anything, and he was pretty sure that he was gaining points with her on that.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Nick asked her softly, finally breaking the silence.

Amber froze. She didn’t reply for a while, and for a second, he was afraid he’d overstepped his boundaries. He feared he was asking her these things too soon. Amber started to shake again.

“It’s all too real,” she whispered finally.

“What is?” Nick asked her, “What’s too real?”

Again, Amber paused. The memories of her night visions surrounded her again. It was too much for her to handle. Tears fell harder, softly plopping on to the sheets of the bed.

“Talking about it might help,” Nick offered, “It won’t do any good keeping it all inside.”

Amber knew that Nick proved a good point. Keeping everything she was feeling all bottled up was causing her to go insane.

“The nightmares…” her voice wavered a bit and she stopped speaking.

“Do you want to tell me about them?”

Amber bit her lip and shook her head slowly, more tears falling. Talking about them would bring back vivid memories of the real thing.

“I’m so afraid, Nick,” Amber said softly.

Nick began to reach out, but drew his hand back, wondering if that would freak the timid, vulnerable girl out. He paused before reaching out again to gently pull Amber into a comforting hug. Amber willingly accepted, burying her face into Nick’s masculine shoulder and sobbed.

“Everything will be okay,” Nick whispered, “Everything’s gonna be fine.”

Meanwhile, Brian watched in the distance as Nick spoke with Amber, and she actually spoke back. Nick was right, and he felt bad for making his best friend out to be a total spazz. Maybe Nick really had matured and grown up in some aspects. More than he, or the rest of them, gave him credit for. Brian sighed, turning away. He knew one thing for sure; he had a lot of apologizing to do, convincing Nick that he really was sorry for being unfair toward him and saying some of the harsh things that he had. Brian hoped that he was forgiven.

Sorry that it took me a little while to update. With the holidays around the past week, I haven't been home much at all. Here is Chapter Thirteen though, so enjoy! THANKS to AJsSweety, Anita, Ayleen, Sta, Stephanie and frackandbonechick for reviewing 12. Can't wait to hear what everyone thinks of this one!!!

Chapter Thirteen

“Hey Nick,” Brian called out, sprinting down the narrow hall of the hotel to catch up with his friend, “Can I talk with you for a moment?”

Nick stopped and turned around, looking at his best friend in curiosity. It was two days later. They were staying in Maine for a couple of days for an interview and a meeting, and Brian still had yet to talk to the blonde haired boy about the way he’d been treating him. Brian knew that he owed Nick an apology, and not just any apology. Nick deserved a huge one, which came from the bottom of Brian’s heart. Brian needed time to think of the right words to say that would make him sound the most sincere.

“Sure, Rok, wuzzup?” Nick answered with a grin.

Brian’s treating him like the worlds biggest moron was appearantly the furthest thing from his mind. Brian felt almost bad to bring it up and remind his friend, but he knew that times would come where he made fun of the Boy in the future. Plus, he felt he should commend Nick on his sensitivity and what a great job he was doing with getting Amber to open up. It was more than the others could say. For the first time that he could remember, Nick was right about something.

“Not a lot,” Brian answered, swallowing. He wondered if he was losing his nerve to actually bring up what was on his mind, “Just chillin’, ya know.”

“Yup, I’m just heading back to the room to relax n’ shit.”

Brian chuckled. Every chance Nick got, he was relaxing, lounging out in his hotel room, raiding the much over priced mini bar. For example, a small jar of macadamia nuts was twelve dollars. Nick always found a way to charge up the bill of the room to an amount way higher that it should have been...and he always ended up paying up for his extra luxuries out of his own pocket. Beings he and Nick shared a room, Brian tried to stop him. It never worked though, and Brian always ended up helping him in his guilty crime.

“Sounds good to me,” Brian replied as they continued to walk towards their suite, “That interview today was awful. I mean, we had to lie out of our butts just to make sure that nobody found out that you and Kev were locked away,” he started laughing at the thought of it, “And then to hide that we’re taking care of an orphaned rape victim? Jeesh the whole thing was a lie. We’re going to hell for this.” the man joked.

Nick shook his head and laughed. He was right though...there was so much that they were hiding, to protect themselves from the paparazzi, press, tabloids, and other sources that would produce bullshit stories on them. They also had to protect Amber as well. There was no saying what would happen if her photos started showing up on the news, in magazine covers, or if her name was mentioned. Her rapist might try and find her. Beings she was with the Boys, it wouldn’t be hard at all to trace her and try to hurt her once more.

“Anyways,” Brian said, wanting to change the subject to the whole point of why they were talking, “There was something else I was wanting to talk to you about.”

“Oh?” Nick asked as he slid his room key card in to the slot on the door, waiting for it to activate and unlock the door and let them inside, “What about?”

The two walked in to the room. Nick turned on a light, hating the darkness that was there every time he entered the room after a long day out. It seemed almost unwelcoming, in some sort of sense. He couldn’t explain it.

Pulling his wallet out of his hind pocket, Nick tossed it down on to the dresser. Plopping down on to the bed, Nick lay down, rolling over on to his side. Brian sat on the other bed. Nick was getting way to comfortable, but maybe it was a good thing. He was, after all, about to tell Nick he was sorry for making him out to be an idiotic moron. That wasn’t exactly a compliment.
“Yeah, um...well, you see,” Brian stumbled over his words, “I just kind of wanted to apologize...for, um...treating you so, um...bad lately and being such a...jerk.”

Nick looked at Brian, tilting his head to one side in confusion. He wasn’t sure what his friend had meant by his apologies. Had he missed something? Sure, his friend had been moody for the past week, but Nick had assumed he had been taking it out on everyone.

“It’s okay,” he finally replied, “Um...what do you mean?”

Brian laughed at Nick’s cluelessness.

“Well... this is hard for me to admit that I was wrong,” Brian began, “But, um...your approach for helping Amber was right...and I treated you really bad saying it was wrong, and said some things that I shouldn’t have...pretty much indicating that you were dumb,” Brian got right to the point, “I was wrong.”

Nick didn’t say anything for a moment. To be honest, he’d forgotten about that, for Brian had been decent again towards him for a couple of days now. But since the reminder was back, Nick had to admit that he had been kind of upset by Brian treating him like everything he did was incorrect and something of what a child would do or think.

“I didn’t remember that until now,” Nick admitted.

Brian cursed under his breath, wondering why he hadn’t thought of that before. Nick’s short attention span always allowed him to forget things almost instantly.

“I ain’t pissed at you or anything,” Nick told the man, who’d developed lines of worry etched in to his forehead, “I mean, yeah, at the time, I was insulted and hurt. It sucks always having people think that you know nothing, and thinking that you have nothing intelligent to say, and are always in the way but no hard feelings.”

“I’m sorry,” Brian apologized again, “The other day, when I saw you actually connecting with Amber...talking to her, when the rest of us couldn’t get anywhere with her...it made me realize that the young teenager I met almost eleven years ago really was twenty three now, and had some common sense in him.”

Nick laughed at that last comment. This was true. Yes, he was still a big kid at heart in many ways, but in others, he wasn’t. He was glad that finally, somebody was figuring this out about him. He was sorry though, that it had to be under these circumstances.

“I was just doing what I thought was right,” Nick stated, “Taking a chance, not knowing how it would turn out. It just turned out that my idea is working.”

Brian lay down on his own king sized bed. He rested his hands behind his head, staring up at the pasty white ceiling.

“Well, all that matters is that she is opening up a little bit,”

Nick sighed. He was beginning to feel a slight sensation of guilt for being the only one she spoke to. Nick would definitely say that she did not trust him yet, but it was getting there. He wanted her to be able to talk to the others too though.

“How about next time, you or one of the others try and talk to her,” Nick finally suggested, “So she has more than one of us to talk to...ya know?”

Brian didn’t speak for a long moment. He liked the idea, and knew that Nick’s offer, even though the others had every right to talk to her, was generous.

“I wouldn’t know what to say,” Brian admitted, “What do you say to a girl who is teerrified of you and has been raped?”

“Just ask her if she needs anything, ask if she wants to talk about things. Offer to be there for her. She’ll talk after a time or two. You just have to be patient.”

Brian stared at Nick, surprised at how much he actually knew about how to deal with this. When Brian had thought that Nick was being too pushy, he had been wrong...very wrong. Nick wasn’t pushing at all. He was, in a sense, letting Amber come to him, speaking with words instead of ignoring her.

“I might just do that,” Brian grinned, then said, “She sure was fast to get in to her own room.. As soon as we have her the key, she fled.”

Nick laughed lightly, knowing that the behavior was to be expected. She was finally free, to a certain extent, and not cooped up on a bus with them all.

“She normally has the nightmares every night, so, next time we’re on the bus is probably the next chance you’ll have to try and help.”

Brian nodded. He tried to think of the right things to say to Amber when he was given the right chance. He still hadn’t a clue, but he had a couple of days to figure it out, and Nick’s ideas gave him some insight on what he could say.

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A.J. glared at Nick from afar as he watched Nick make his way over to the table in the far corner, which Amber had chosen to sit at in the hotel restaurant the next morning during breakfast. Nick sat down across from the girl and he saw him speaking. Although he couldn’t hear what it had been, Amber gave a small, light smile in response to it. A.J scowled, not understanding how Nick was advancing quicker than the rest of them. He was the goof up of the group. He was the one expected to make mistakes and screw things up, and yet somehow, he was progressing in getting the girl to open up.

Jabbing his fork violently in to his pancakes, A.J subconsciously cut his knife in to the stack of five, ripping them apart in to shreads as he watched them talk. It appeared that Nick was doing most of the talking, big surprise (sarcasm), but Amber was getting in a sentence or two every now and then. He loved Nick like a brother, but he hated him for being right. He hated him for getting Amber to trust him quicker than he, himself had gotten the chance to.

A.J. looked at Amber and observed her. Her hair was a gorgeous color of honey blonde. It flowed softly down her back in small ringlets. Her eyebrows were high, perfectly shaped, and spaced perfectly apart. Her eyes were a blue color, like the ocean. He’d observed this trait when they’d visited her in the hospital. Her nose was small and cute, like a button. It arched slightly at the top, giving it its own unique shape. Her lips weren’t thin, but A.J. wouldn’t describe them as being full either. They were just...perfect. Her figure was slender and petite, with curve that any woman would kill for. A.J. found himself very attracted to her. He wondered if she would ever speak to him with as much ease as she talked to Nick with.

“Gonna eat your breakfast or kill it all over again?” Brian joked, causing A.J. to look over at him blankly, distracted from his thoughts. Brian pointed to his plate. A.J. looked down, seeing that his pancakes were butchered and had soaked up all of the syrup he’d poured over them, causing them to become soggy and unappetizing. His bacon was chopped into fine little pieces that were fit for a salad and his scrambled eggs were mixed in to the rest of his meal. A small blush arose as he realized he’d mutilated his breakfast. The others sat around, chuckling, trying to hid the amusement on their faces.

‘Just not very hungry I guess,” A.J. lied as his stomach let out a low growl. He was pretty sure the others had heard it.

“You sure did look determined,” Howie joked, “You were just staring off, doing your own little thing.”

The others laughed and A.J. ignored it. Soon, he was staring off again. He figured that it was probably a good thing that their server had cleared his plate out of his way. There was no saying what else he would have done to it without realizing. He glared at Nick, thinking of the things he wanted to do to the blonde. It irked him when Nick was right...especially over really big things. He figured it was because it was on really rare occasion that he was.

The other three looked at him, catching on to where his gaze was. He had something in his eyes that they’d never seen before. Something that looked like hate, intense disliking. Wanting to harm. His eyes, they could tell, were directly on Nick. Kevin knew that he had to stop the glare before something happened.

“AJ,” he called out, “Yo, gotta talk or ignore us all.” he waved a hand in front of the man’s face. A.J blinked a few times, realizing he’d spaced again.

“How does Nick rate?” A.J. asked, “I mean, gawd, how does he get her to talk to him? It really sucks.”

The others looked at one another. They hadn’t been expecting that answer, but it would definitely explain his sour attitude over the past couple of weeks.

“Is somebody jealous?” Howie sang out jokingly.

“So what if I am?” A.J. challenged, “Yes, I would love to be able to have Amber converse with me like...that,” he thrust his hand in Nick’s direction.

“She will with time,” Brian responded with confidence., “Just will take a little longer than it did for Nickers.”

A.J. snorted, looking back towards Nick and Amber, only this time, his eyes were laid upon the girl. His eyes softened to a look of adoration. He couldn’t deny that he was attracted to her...and falling for her quickly.

“Does somebody have a crush?” Brian teased, catching the look and reading it to a T.

A.J. turned a shade of crimson, ‘Maybe I do,” he defended himself, hoping not to catch too much grief from his friends.

“Awww, how sweet,” Howie joked, “A.J. is crushin on Amber.”

Brian snickered in response. Kevin, on the other hand had a look of concern written on his handsome features.

“Aje,” he finally spoke, biting on his lip for a second, “I understand that you may like her, but, she doesn’t need to be hit on right now. I honestly don’t think that it’s a good idea if you try to pursue a relationship with her beyond friendship.”

A.J’s face fell, and Kevin felt bad for discouraging him. He knew A.J. though. He was a major flirt. If he came off as intimidating to girls who felt secure around men, he couldn’t imagine what it would do to Amber. Most likely send her in to an even harder shell to crack.

“Yeah, yeah,” A.J grumbled, “I know...I should get over it now and move on.”

“It would be for the best....for now, anyways,” Kevin stated, hating seeing his friend become discouraged.

A.J. sighed. Go figure, when he is finally over Sarah, the first girl he likes is afraid of him. He rolled his eyes at the sad irony of the situation. He knew that he could be a good boyfriend to Amber. It was just a matter of breaking the ice between them and getting her to say the first few words to him. The question was, when would that happen and the better question being IF?

Chapter Fourteen

“Since you missed the meeting scheduled in Ohio a couple of weeks ago...” Mr. Armani’s began, as the Boys sat down at the large oak table in the conference room that they’d been told to meet at, which was in their hotel. It was later that day, and A.J. still had a chip on his shoulder towards Nick, “We have a lot more to discuss here."

The Boys all rolled their eyes, grumbling their annoyances under their breath. They hated meetings, especially with Mr. Armani, the short, balding man who occasionally called meetings for them to attend when he knew that they would be in New England. He was fairly new to their management team, within the past two years. They all secretly thought that his goal was to torture them.

“First line of business,” Mr. Armani spoke again, taking no time to begin, “I think that it is only fair to explain why you were not present for the meeting two weeks ago.”

He crossed his legs, folding his hands neatly, placing them upon his knees. He had a smug look on his face, waiting for their excuse. Waiting for them to not have one.

“We called to inform Mr. Carr that we would not be able to make it,” Kevin told Mr. Armani, “It wasn’t possible.”

“Oh?” he challenged, letting go of his professional image and taking on more of an immature role, “Care to explain?”

Kevin just stared at the man sitting before him for a long moment. He disliked him, which was hard not to see. Kevin tried hard though not to show his on his facial expressions what he thought of the guy. He knew that if Mr. Armani caught on, things would not end well.

“Visiting a friend in the hospital,” he finally replied, “Who was in an accident that same night. I think we all know which was at the top of our priorities.”

The others nodded in agreement. Amber, to them, was much more important than some meeting that they had been called upon at a late hour. There was no way that they’d even thought about leaving her to die just so they could make something that they hadn’t wanted to go to in the first place.

“I see,” Mr Armani replied dryly, his eyes narrowing at Kevin, “You always do all of the talking. The others have mouths too.”

Kevin did his best not to roll his eyes at that comment. This man did nothing but pick at everything. It was rather annoying, in Kevin’s opinion. It a lot of the meetings, Kevin did most of the talking. It was something that just sort of always ended up happening. Especially when they met with him. The man was so critical of everything, that everyone was afraid of screwing up in something that they said, so they tried not to speak at all. So nobody said anything, waiting for the man to continue. After a long pause, waiting for them to say something, and getting the hint that they weren’t going to, Mr. Armani finally spoke again.

“Are you still planning on making a special appearance at the Holiday Concert Special in New York City on the twenty-fourth...five days, to be exact. Or are you going to find something more important then too at the last minute and be a no show?”

Kevin closed his eyes and took a few breaths. He wondered what they had done to have to put up with this man. He wondered if he was like this with everyone under the management team, or just the Boys.

“We’re going to attend,” Kevin stated through gritted teeth, “We want to be there, and we will be. Got it?”

Mr. Armani got a smug look on his face again. Out of the corner of his eye, Kevin saw Nick shift uncomfortably in his seat. Brian was fidgeting and Howie’s eyes kept randomly shifting back and forth nervously. A.J. just glared. Kevin had a feeling that as soon as they were freed from the room, A.J. would definitely be spouting off his thoughts.

“Don’t worry,” A.J seethed, speaking for the first time, “We’re going to make our appearance. It’s something that means a lot to us to perform at.”

Mr. Armani just gave a curt nod, as if he didn’t believe them. The boys were all thinking the same thing along the lines of proving the man wrong. A.J. especially wanted to prove him wrong. His attitude lately was doing the opposite of what everybody thought.

“Is that all for today?” Howie asked Mr. Armani, speaking up.

“No, actually, there is one more thing that I would like to talk with you about,”

Brian and Nick both drew in breaths, holding them. Nothing good ever came from those words. It always meant bad news. They waited for him to say what he was planning on, but it never came. Instead, something else did that shocked them.

“Ah, nevermind,” he said, “I’ll ask later on, once I know more about it.”

All five Boys got up from their seats so quickly, their heavy chairs almost tipped over. Pushing them in, they all fled from the room without another word to Mr. Armani. Springing as quickly as they could to the stairwell, to escape the man before he decided to call them back, they all jogged up all twenty-five stories to their floor, using their special key to access the door to the private level that they were staying on. Out of breath, the five Boys walked down the long, narrow hallway towards their rooms.

“Damn, how was that idiot hired,” A.J. asked, breathing heavily from his mini workout, “He’s a complete ass hole.”

The others laughed, agreeing as they wiped the small sweat that had broken out off of their foreheads.

“I have no clue, Aje,” Kevin replied with a sigh, “How he was chosen to join the management team is way beyond me and my understanding.”

“We should probably rehearse what songs we are performing sometime tonight or tomorrow,” Kevin suggested, changing the subject to something slightly different, “Just so we have it all down and are in sync with one another, not singing the songs in different ways.”

Groans came from the other members, but it wasn’t a bad idea, considering the concert special was going to have an overwhelming audience plus be on live TV.

“Sure, tomorrow afternoon sounds like a good time,” Brian grinned, “On the bus. So, um...what are our songs that we’re doing again?” he asked with a slight blush. It was, after all, normally Nick who asked the things that they should already have known.

Kevin rolled his eyes at Brian’s first comment, but didn’t argue. The bus was probably just about as good a place as they could find on such short notice.

“O’ Holy Night and We Three Kings,” Kevin told him in response to his question.

Brian nodded in response, hoping he could remember them this time, before everybody went their separate ways, going in to their rooms to rest for the remainder of their day. They had yet another long one on the road ahead of them.

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Amber sighed as lay down on her stomach on the bed, propping herself up a little with the support of her elbows. She flipped on the TV, trying to find something good to watch as she thought of what had happened earlier that morning. The Boys had come by, trying to get her to open up her door all morning, calling her phone to get a hold of her and after giving up on everything else, yelling through the door, trying to get a response out of her, asking her if she was even there. Amber still did not reply, staying as far as she could from the door, pressing her body against the wall in fear. After having nothing else work, they’d finally slid a note through the door. After Amber was sure that they’d left, she had cautiously walked over to retrieve the note. Unfolding it, she read it carefully, word for word, wondering what they had wanted.

Amber
Goodmorning. Hope you slept well and are doing okay. Haven’t seen you since breakfast yesterday morning. We have a meeting this morning downstairs. We are unsure of how long it will last...no more than half an hour, tops. If you need anything, we’ll be in the Presidential Room. If you don’t, we hope you come out later on. If we don’t see you, we’re leaving tomorrow morning at 9.
The Boys (Kev, Bri, Aje, Nick and Howie)

Amber picked the note up from next to her, reading it again. She raised an eyebrow, scrunching her face up in concentration, not knowing what to think She knew that they seemed sincere enough, but in her mind, all men were still evil and no good, including them. No matter how good their intentions were, she was still a little weary of them. The only one she was even close to trusting was Nick, and she was still even a little afraid of him. She’d not even spoken to the others yet, and wondered if she ever would. Amber wasn’t even sure if she would want to. The one...she thought it was A.J. always seemed to be in a bad mood, and rough. His appearance as a little on the wild side, and she had caught him staring at her a couple of times in ways she did not like so well. It had really freaked her out. She was afraid he might hurt her if given the chance. Brian seemed to be mad a lot of the time...at Nick. As for the others...she didn’t know what to think of them. Howie rarely spoke and Kevin always seemed to be taking care of business type stuff.

After staring at the writing for a big longer, Amber folded the note, dropping it to the floor. Tuning her attention back to what was on the TV, Amber noticed that it was a romance movie. Not in the mood to watch love scenes from a movie, she turned the channel. It was a music station playing a rap video with acted out violence in it. When an image of a girl being violently assaulted came on, Amber quickly turned the channel again. She’d experienced too much of that lately...violence. She could relate to the fear that was etched on the girls face in the video. It didn’t matter if she were experiencing real life fear and the girl was just acting. She could relate, either way.

Clicking the remote to move on to the next channel, it was a movie where a boy was in the hospital. Amber frowned. Was everything that was on going to remind her of her experience in one way or another? She decided that it would, choosing not to try anything more. With a sigh, Amber turned off the television, tossing the remote aside. She felt as if her life were deteriorating. With every day that passed, she became more and more aware of her surroundings, and more on guard. With every day that passed, she became more tense and more afraid of the outside world. All she wanted to do was sleep, to escape the thoughts and reality of what had happened to her. Then again, she didn’t want to sleep. She wanted to be awake to be aware of what was happening around her. She wanted to be able to at least try to have control of bad things happening to her. Either way, there was a negative side to it. So depending on her mood, she either slept or forced herself to stay awake. Another thing that bothered her was that she still always felt dirty. She showered three times a day, morning, afternoon and night. Every day she got to, at least. Nothing seemed to wash away the filth that she felt though. No matter how much soap she used, how rough she scrubbed, she still couldn’t seem to feel clean. She felt violated, and was beginning to think of all of the things she could have done to prevent this unforseen thing from happening to her. She was always afraid that her assaulter would return for her. He hadn’t yet, but that did not mean that it was impossible. Unlikely maybe, but not impossible.

Amber closed her eyes, trying to shake out the thoughts from her head. She was becoming more and more depressed with every day that passed, wanting to be alone. Nick was the only one she wanted to talk to, and she was beginning to even want to tell him to leave her be. She wanted to shut herself away, hide from the world. She wanted to feel safe. Amber was beginning to wonder why she had lived. She’d been shot...she wanted to know why she hadn’t died, kind of beginning to wish that she had. Then she wouldn’t have to deal with this emotional roller coaster. A few tears began to trickle out of her eyes at the thought of thinking she would have been better off not living. Turning around, Amber burried her face in her pillow as she started to cry harder. She was so confused with everything, and each day brought on worse thoughts and feelings. She had so many questions to ask, but unfortunately, nobody knew the answers to them.

Thanks to Ayleen, Anita, Anastacia, Stephanie, frackandbonechick and Jamelet for reviewing chapter 14. Enjoy 15 and cant wait to hear what ya'll think!

Chapter Fifteen

“On the road, once again,” Brian sighed as he leaned back in his seat, “I can’t wait until Christmas...we’ll get to all go home for a week...sleep in our own beds, visit our families...” his voice trailed off, thinking of how nice it would be to be back home, doing normal, everyday things that didn’t involve every aspect of his life being set up for him.

“Bri,” A.J. warned, “Shut up. That’s still four days away. It’s torture thinking of that shit when there is still so much to do before we actually get there.”

Brian chuckled at his ability to irritate A.J. He did prove a good point though. There was so much planned out for them to do in the short four day time span, that their small break seemed to be centuries away. They all knew that from here on out, time would go slow, and once their break hit, it would fly by. Brian hoped that the break would calm everyone’s nerves and refresh them so that when they came back, nobody would be grouchy and lashing his anger out on the others with ever sentence that anybody spoke. Yes, Brian hoped that the break would release some of the tension that each of them was holding, and had a feeling that it would.

“I wonder how the show thingy is going to go,” Nick stated aloud, sleepily, it being more of a rhetorical question than anything, yet he still awaited an answer.

“Dunno,” Brian shrugged, “We haven’t done one of these in so long...damn. It should go nicely though. I think it might be kind of fun.”

Nobody said anything. They were all tired, not getting much sleep the night before. Nick had gone to check up on Amber, ready to knock, but stopped short when he heard her heart-breaking sobs. He knew then that she was in there, and wanted to be alone. He’d spent the night, sitting in bed thinking about how he wished he could make things better for her. Now, his lack of sleep was catching up with him, and he could barely keep his eyes open. As much as he tried to stay awake, the heavy feeling kept causing them to droop, and Nick would doze off for a few seconds before jerking back awake after realizing subconsiously that he wasn’t doing a good job of staying awake.
“Is Amber asleep back there?” Kevin asked

Nick nodded, “She was the last time that I checked...about twenty minutes ago.”

A.J. scowled. He still hated the fact that Nick had such a close connection with Amber. He wanted the same bond. He wanted her to be able to talk to him, to trust him. A.J. would be the first to admit that he was jealous of the blonde.

“She sleeps all the time,” A.J. muttered, not seeming to be very understanding about the ordeal. Sure, he had read the pamphlets that he’d found. He knew that this type of behavior was to be expected, and he understood it too. He was just upset that Nick was the one that she was turning to. He was upset that Nick had been right, and the rest of them had been wrong.

Nobody responded to his comment, finding it to be ridiculous and somewhat selfish of him to state. Brian turned his head and looked out the window of the bus. He definitely couldn’t wait to be back home with his wife, Leighanne, and Baylee, fairly new son. He missed them both. Only a few more days and he could see them, and be with them for an entire week. He anticipated that day, wanting to kick himself in the butt for torturing himself like this by thinking of it. He always did this, and every time, it just caused time to go slower and slower.

His thoughts were cut off by a soft moaning coming from the back. Looking around, nobody moved, not even Nick. He wondered why, giving him a quizzical look when the boy looked in his direction. Nick was always wanting to help her out, rushing to her side the second he heard a troubled peep come from her mouth. A.J. just rolled his eyes before closing them, figuring that Nick would be tripping over himself to get to Amber within a matter of seconds. He didn’t want to see it. It sickened him to watch Nick with the girl that he was crushing on. The girl that he could give anything to be able to date and prove to her that she could trust him.

“Remember our deal back in Maine?” Nick asked, watching Brian’s face become confused, scrunching up in concentration as he thought about the deal. Nick finally just told him, “That next time she had a nightmare, I’d let someone else have a chance to try and get her to talk to them. It’s someone else’s turn this time.”

A.J’s eyes flew open at that statement. Nick was actually going to let someone else have the chance to console the girl that they all cared for? Still, nobody moved. A.J. didn’t want to seem overly eager, so he stayed put too, but on the edge of his seat.

“Um, okay...great,” Brian stated, then looked around, “Anybody want to go, or should I this time?” he offered.

Still, nobody moved. By this time, A.J. was bouncing on the edge of his seat. Time was slipping by them, and Amber’s moans were turning into soft screams and mumbled words of fright. A.J. couldn’t take it any longer.

“I’ll go,” he said, hopping up and making his way towards where Amber lay sleeping. The others watched him go, amused smiles on their faces. It had only been a matter of time before he tried to talk to the young girl.

“That was a generous thing for you to do,” Kevin said to Nick with a smile.

Nick shrugged, “Yeah, well...if she’s going to be touring around with us, then she needs to be able to talk to all of us. I figured now is better than later on.”

Kevin smiled, giving Nick a pat on the back. He found it commendable that Nick was giving other the chance to try and win Amber’s trust. Nick had a special gift of getting Amber to open up. That much was for sure. Kevin hoped that eventually, the others would have the same chance of trying to help the girl. He could tell that she needed as many people to care for her as she could get during these next few months. A.J. starting to try and talk to her was a start in widening her options of people she could count on.

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A.J. crept quietly up to Amber, careful not to startle her in case she woke up as he advanced towards her. She continued to call out in her sleep, her cries and pleas breaking A.J’s heart. She kept chanting the same things as every other time, begging to be left alone, for whoever to not hurt her. A.J. hoped that she would let him reach out to help. Sitting down softly on the edge of her bed, A.J. gently nudged the girl, hoping to wake her from her nightmare.

“Amber,” he whispered softly, “Wake up, sweetie.”

“Mmmm,” she groaned, “No, go...please...please don’t.” she cried out, getting louder with each word. She thrashed violently, wacking A.J. in the head with her fingertips. He did not care though.

“It’s ok,” A.J. soothed, hoping that she would awaken, “Wake up...”

He took her shoulder gently in his hand, shaking her lightly. She fell still for a moment, becoming quiet. A.J. breathed a sigh of relief, guessing that the nightmares had stopped. Suddenly though, she sat up, her eyes wide open with fright. She started to go towards A.J, and he opened his arms to embrace her, comfort her. But Amber stopped short. She stared at him for a long moment before coiling backwards. He wasn’t who she thought that he was. A hurt expression by her rejection came over A.J’s handsome features, but then remembered she’d reacted to Nick in the same way the first few times, deciding not to take offense to her actions quite yet.

“It’s A.J,” he said quietly, “I...I wanted to see how you were doing.”

He reached out to her, but she pulled back further, out of his reach. He heard her whimpering quietly. He hated that.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” A.J. told her, “I promise. I’m harmless.”

Amber just looked at him cautiously. She didn’t say anything. She didn’t see how a man who was always lashing out and biting the heads off of his so called ‘friends’ could be harmless. She wanted to laugh bitterly at the thought, but couldn’t. She was frozen in fear, waiting for him to lose his temper with her too for not cooperating with him and talking. Amber bit her lip, her heart pounding in her chest so hard that she could hear it...so hard that she felt at any given moment, it would pound its way out of her chest. Her chest throbbed in pain as she felt as if it were closing in on her. She was afraid...afraid of a man who was offering her nothing but friendship.

“Can I do anything for you?” A.J. finally asked after getting no other response from her for a long while, “Do anything for you? Just ask...” his voice trailed off. He tried to reach out again, and she shifted her body away from him, covering her body with the blanket, “If you want anything, let me know.” he said again.

Amber didn’t reply for a moment. She knew what she wanted, but didn’t want to anger the man that sat before her. She didn’t want to say anything that would make him hurt her. She closed her eyes, and a vision of him slapping her, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her violently like a rag doll over her request came to her head. She quickly opened her eyes again, ridding of the images. Taking in a shaky breath, she knew she had to ask. It would make her feel better. The first time she said it was so quietly, that A.J. had to ask her to say it again. She hesitated, but when she finally did reply, it wasn’t at all what he had expected her to say.

“I want Nick,” she spoke up, still soft, but audible this time at least.

A.J. drew back in shock. A wave of emotion swarmed over him. Jealousy, anger, sadness. It all struck, but he knew that he couldn’t hold Amber at fault for that. He tried to tell her that he was there for her too, but she insisted to have Nick there. So with one quick nod, A.J. got up and left, walking out, his head held low. The others looked at him, wondering why he looked so glum, for when he had left, he was bouncing in excitement. A.J. didn’t say anything for awhile. He had to swallow his pride to speak up and admit that he had not been wanted.

“She’s asking for you, Nick,” he finally said, sitting down, slouching and crossing his arms. His tone wasn’t harsh, but hurt rather.

“Oh?” Nick asked, surprised, then seeing the unwanted, defeated expression on his friends face made him feel bad, “I’m sorry, J.”

A.J looked up and saw that he actually meant it. He shrugged, “Oh well...maybe another time, right?”

“Sure thing,” Nick said with confidence before getting up and moving towards where Amber slept. He saw her sitting against the wall, looking like a frightened child, which wasn’t too far from the truth. He sat down, and she willingly accepted the hug he was offering her, “You okay?” he asked her after they parted. A look of concern filled his eyes.

Amber shook her head, “I had another nightmare,” she stated, making her seem like a ten year old rather than a nineteen year old woman.

“What was this one about?” Nick asked.

Amber usually told him that she didn’t want to talk about it, for it would make it all the more real. Nick always offered her the option to tell him though. He was sure that this time would be no different than the others. He was wrong.

“I was in the hospital,” she whispered, her eyes wide as she recalled what had happened in her night vision, “I was alone...when a man walked in...wearing a mask. He...he was wearing a doctors lab coat, so I thought that he was only there...to help. But then....he....he....oh god, Nick.” she choked out, not able to finish, but he knew what she was going to say. Amber grabbed hold of the fabric of Nick’s shirt, bunching it up in her fists, clinging to it, sobbing in to his shoulder. Nick put an arm around her, trying to calm her down to the best of his ability.

“It’s okay,” he whispered, “It isn’t real...nobody will ever hurt you again. I swear upon my life that nobody will ever hurt you in that way again.”

Amber let go of Nick, pulling away from him. She looked in to his eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks, “You don’t know that.” she quietly said, “You don’t know that...and you have no control over it.”

“It won’t happen if I have anything to do with it. I won’t let you get hurt.”

Amber sighed dramatically. Her shoulders slumped. She looked down, her gaze adverted towards the mattress.

“I miss my family,” Amber stated sadly, “I miss my family so much.”

Nick didn’t know how to respond. The had given the doctors their cell numbers in case her parents changed their minds and wanted to have their daughter back after all. No call had ever came in though. It being just short of three weeks later though, and they figured it probably would not happen. Nick wanted to tell her that it would be okay, and that they would come for her. But he knew that it would most likely be a lie. So instead of giving her false assurance, Nick said the only other thing that came to his mind.
“I’m sorry,”

Amber looked up and forced a small smile, shrugging, “It’s life, I guess. I mean, my mother sent me out late. I was sexually abused on the way home. They disown me. I made a great friend in the process though I hope that they catch the sick fuck who did this though.”

“They will,” Nick assured her without hesitation, knowing that one day, the man would be caught, “Believe me, he will be caught one of these days.”

“I hope so,” she sighed, sinking into another depressed state. Amber would give anything to be happy again and smile, for real. Not forced, but actually smile freely, naturally. She wondered if it would ever happen.

“Nick,” she asked after a small few minute pause, “Can I ask you something? Something that has been on my mind for awhile now?”

“Of course,” Nick stated, “Anything you want to know.”

Amber took in a deep breath, knowing that it really wasn’t any of her business, but needing to know the answer to her question, for some reason yearning to know.

“Why did Kevin disappear for a few days?” she finally asked, causing Nick to go speechless.

Thanks to Anita, AJsSweety, Ayleen, Anastacia, Stephanie and frackandbonechick for reviewing chapter 15. I can't wait to hear what you think of 16!!! Enjoy!

Chapter Sixteen

“How ironic is this,” Howie stated with a small, confused laugh, running a hand through his short, brown curls as they watched Nick talk with Amber once again, “Nick, the one we all think of as a goof and, well, having no common sense, is the only one she will even talk to, and trust. Something is kind of wrong with this picture.”

“I tried to get her to open up to me too,” A.J. defended himself, “She was scared shitless of me and sent me away...it is ironic though. Who would have thought that Nick, of all people, would win a rape victims trust. I would have thought he would have scared her away, acting like...well, Nick, if anything, to be completely honest.” he rolled his eyes, still not believing it, even though he was seeing it at that exact moment.

“I’m actually very happy for him,” Kevin stated with a proud grin, “He needs this to boost his ego a little. I mean, we all know that he was kind of depressed for a while about always thinking he was a screw up. None of us have helped much, by teasing him all of the time, or scowling over his mess-ups. Maybe this will give him a little confidence, knowing that he is needed. And this...this is a really big thing here. Maybe if Nick sees how much he is helping Amber, he will screw up less with the other little things. Does that make sense?”

The others thought for a moment, taking in what he’d said before slowly nodding, knowing that Kevin made a good point. Nick was already sounding smarter and acting up less, and it had been less than a month. Sure, he added a little liveliness to everything, and made everyone laugh, but there was a time to clown around and a time to be serious. Maybe, in the light of this serious situation they’d all taken upon themselves to try to fix for Amber as much as they could, Nick would learn the difference. It seemed to be working already, but it was too soon to tell. All they knew was that Amber was changing all of them for the better, some quicker than others. It was obvious though that she was having an effect on all of them.

“I’m happy for him,” Brian spoke up, “Sure, she might only want to talk to him right now, but that’s better for her than nothing, don’t ya think? With time, I honestly think that all of us will be talking to Amber. It just might take awhile.”

The others nodded again, including A.J. He was still getting over his wounded ego of being turned away by her, but he wasn’t mad at Nick any longer. Nick had let him try to help with Amber. It wasn’t Nick’s fault that Amber wouldn’t accept it. He just wished that Amber would give him a chance. He was so attracted to her, and if he couldn’t prove that he could be trusted as just a friend, how would he be able to possible be a candidate for a future boyfriend? He knew that he shouldn’t be thinking of a romantic future with her, but he couldn’t help it. A.J. was bummed. As much as he wanted to date her, he wanted to help Amber even more. Neither was happening though. He was confused, and at this rate, nothing would ever happen. At this rate, Nick would be the only one she would ever talk to and communicate with about her fears, problems and thoughts. A.J. put his face in his hands in misery, thinking of a plan to get Amber to talk to him too. He hoped that when he thought of one, that it worked.

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Nick continued to just stare at Amber, not knowing what to say in response to her question. Her eyes were full of question, waiting for him to answer her. The truth was though, he did not know how to answer. For a week and a half, the Boys had all tried as hard as they could to keep from Amber that Kevin had been in prison, accused of raping her, something that the Boys all knew was ridiculous. Amber, however, did not know this. They knew that she would react badly to that, weather it be true or not. Now, she was asking about it, and Nick knew that he could not possibly lie to her about it. It would be wrong of him. She asked, and she deserved an honest, truthful answer. But Nick was still frozen, speechless, not able to respond to her simple question of curiosity.

“Nick,” Amber said again, “Did you hear me? I asked you why Kevin disappeared for a few days. You guys were so secretive about it, making sure I didn’t know. I just am wondering why he was gone.”

Nick gulped, his eyes wide. He didn’t know why he was so nervous about answering. It wasn’t as if she were asking about his being taken by the police, and right in front of her yet. Nick figured that the only explanation of his fear of answering was because it might damage how she viewed Kevin. It might make her fear him over something that had never happened with him. He didn’t want that to happen, but as she continued to look at him, expecting an answer. He knew he had to tell her what she was waiting to hear. Taking a deep breath, Nick prepared himself for the worst of how her reaction may be, hoping he was raising his blood pressure for nothing.
“Before I start, it doesn’t mean anything, okay?” Nick started, pausing briefly

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Amber said, turning her head to the ground, looking worried suddenly, wondering if she actually wanted to have him answer her.

“I don’t think you’re going to like the answer,” Nick muttered under his breath, causing Amber’s head to shoot back up, looking at him

“What was that?” she asked

“Nothing,” Nick stated immediately, taking a deep breath, “The reason Kev disappeared is, well...he was in...prison...the police tried to accuse him of, um...your r...ra...rape.” Nick stuttered, spitting out the last few words. He watched as her face went blank, then turned to confusion, and then fear. He knew that she wasn’t going to take this well

“Wha...what?” Amber asked, hoping that she had heard Nick wrong, but knowing very well that she hadn’t.

“Kevin...he was accused of your...um, incident,” Nick stated, not able to say the horrific word again, then saw Amber’s eyes fill with fear, “He didn’t do anything though. It was all a misunderstanding. If he did it, he wouldn’t be here right now, with us.”

His statement didn’t calm Amber much, and didn’t seem to convince her that it was nothing to worry about. Amber was silent for a moment, trying to comprehend the fact that she was in the same bus, touring with a man who had been accused of violating her.

“Wh..why did they think that?” she asked, curious as to the reason the man that she was practically living with had been accused of violating her.

Nick swallowed. Her questions were not good. He didn’t know how she would react to why Kevin had been accused. Nick wished that he could avoid answering. What had happened, although none of it true, didn’t sound good.

“Um, Kevin’s fingerprints were found on you,” Nick started, knowing he had began his sentence in a very bad way when Amber gasped, making a sort of choking sound out of fear. Nick cringed, hoping that it wasn’t too late to fix his mistake. Closing his eyes, Nick took in a deep breath and decided to try, “When we found you...he was checking your pulse and seeing if you were breathing. That’s the only reason he was taken. None of us would ever hurt you...you should give the others a chance...not just me.”
“But if he was in prison...for that...please don’t let him near me...please,” Amber’s eyes pleaded with Nick to fulfill her wish, but he shook his head.
“I can’t do that. If...if I told Kev that he had to stay away from you, it would hurt him a lot..especially when he did nothing.” Then Nick’s eyes brightened at one important fact that he had failed to leave out earlier, “The...the semen test that was done..it didn’t match up with what was on you. He was let out, because they’d blamed him for nothing.”

Nick could swear that he saw Amber relax a little bit. She still didn’t look totally convinced, but he could tell that she was considering his suggestion of giving the other Boys a chance.

“I’m not ready yet,” Amber stated softly, “To talk to the others..I just...I have to be careful. Please, you don’t have to tell him to stay away from me...but please don’t make me go near him...not yet, until I am one-hundred percent sure. The only reason I’m giving you a chance...well...you proved to me that you just want to help.”

Nick smiled, at her compliment towards him, agreeing to her proposal about the Kevin issue, knowing that in time, she would find that he really didn’t do anything and things would be fine. Nick started to think of his own encounter with the police and being in prison. He was happy that Amber didn’t know about that. It very well could ruin the friendship that they had formed. Amber must have read the troubled look that he had though, from the curious expression on her own face.

“What is it?” she asked, question in her blue eyes.

Nick froze, knowing that he should clear his guilty conscience by telling her his secret too. He had, after all, told her about Kevin. It would be wrong of him to hide himself knowing that he had been in the same predicament. As much as Nick wanted to hold on to the bond they’d developed slowly over the weeks, and hide what had happened to him he knew that the right thing to do would be to come clean and admit, taking the chance to Amber not speaking to him ever again either.

“Um...do you remember how, that one time, I was taken by the police. You were in the hospital still.”

Amber looked thoughtful for a moment while trying to remember before nodding, “Yeah...I do. What was that all about?”

“Same thing as with Kevin...” his voice trailed off, preparing for her to tell him to get out of her sight and to leave her alone, “I’ll leave if you want me to.”

Nick started to stand up to leave before Amber told him to, but she grabbed hold of his shirt sleeve, pulling him back down, smiling softly at him.

“I know that you would never do anything like that to me...or anyone. The police made a mistake.” Amber told him

Nick was surprised by her reaction. He’d expected it to be the same as her reaction to Kevin. It made no sense, but he decided not to argue with her. Nick knew that he could only wait until she was ready to admit to herself that the others were harmless, and that he wasn’t the only male that was not bad.

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“Wow, this is going to be huge,” Howie said, letting out a low whistle.

Their bus pulled in to the venue where the Christmas special was taking place. The day had finally arrived. A large crowd had already formed around the stage, and there was many more fans to come yet. The bus rolled around to behind the stage, so that the Boys plus Amber could exit safely. Nick had convinced Amber to come up to the front with the rest of them. She had tried to refuse, but after Nick told her that she could just sit there, and didn’t have to speak, she reculantly agreed. Not surprisingly, to Nick, she sat as far from Kevin as she possibly could. Now, she sat, staring out the window, her eyes wide in fear.

“We,’re not going out there...are we Nick?” she asked, making sure that she specifically directed her question towards the Carter. He could see anxiety in her eyes about being out with a large group of people. Up until that point, she’d had the privacy of only having to deal with five people, maximum. She wasn’t ready to be thrust out into such a large group so suddenly. She needed to work her way up gradually.

Nick chuckled, putting a protective arm around Amber’s shoulder, drawing her in close, “Don’t worry,” he stated, “We have to go out there, but we won’t let anything happen to you. Promise.” he gave her a big, goofy grin and Amber smiled, and Nick added, “You’ll be backstage with all of the performers and stuff. You won’t be in the crowd. Everything will be fine.”

The bus pulled to a stop and the doors opened. One by one, the Boys stood up, ready to exit and take the backstage area and get ready for their performance. Nick stayed behind though when noticing that Amber wasn’t budging.
“I...I can’t go out there,” she cried out, “There’s so many people...what if...if he is there, and tried to get to me again.”

“I doubt he is...we are hundreds of miles away from where it happened,” Amber looked skeptical, “It’s going to be fine,” Nick assured her, “And I know that it means a lot to us for you to see us perform...even if it isn’t your type of music.” he finished off with a wink.

Amber gave a slow, shaky smile as she stood up, deciding to take Nick’s word for it and trust that everything would be okay. Amber knew that once the New Year was over, she’d have to get used to this kind of thing...and get used to the kind of music that the Boys sang. She was embarrassed that she was going with them, yet had never heard a song that they’d sung. She’d never had any interest in hearing them...until now. She knew that the Boys were popular, deciding that it was time she give their music style a chance. Weather or not she liked the music was beyond her control.

Making her way to the front of the bus, Nick followed her, down the stairs and to the outside. Amber immediately felt her chest closing up as anxiety came over her. She whipped around, knowing that she couldn’t handle this, ready to bolt back on to the safety of the bus, but the doors had already closed behind her and it was rolling away. Amber squeezed her eyes shut as her body began to tremble. Hot tears streamed down her cheeks. She sniffled, standing still, frozen in to place. She couldn’t do this...not yet. She couldn’t be exposed like this...not so soon.

“No...no...no,” she kept chanting, keeping her eyes shut tight, to block out the horrible images that she may see before her if she opened them.

“Amber,” Nick called, and she opened her eyes, knowing that he must have been trying to get her attention for quite some time by the expression on his handsome face, “Are you okay?” When Amber did nothing but stare ahead of her, he asked, “You had a panic attack, didn’t you?” Amber nodded, biting her bottom lip to keep from crying any more, “The doctor warned us that this would happen...but since you were kind of fine until now....well, I thought maybe you wouldn’t suffer from those.”

“I want to go back on the bus,” Amber whispered as people buzzed past them in every direction, getting ready for the show. She stiffened even more, petrified of every being that went by her. She had to be on guard. She couldn’t let them hurt her.

“Amber,” Nick said kindly, pulling her in to his arms, feeling her tightened muscles relax a little bit in his light embrace, “I’m going to be right here the entire time. I won’t let anything bad happen.” he assured her, pulling out of their grip and staring in to her eyes, letting the frightened girl see the sincerity in his own.

Amber said nothing for a moment, knowing that Nick wouldn’t let anybody hurt her. She knew that he really would be right there next to her, except for the five minutes that they would be out on stage, and would protect her from any harm. The muffled, yet loud sound of a voice introducing the event and the first act came over the system. Amber took a deep breath, ready to reply.

“Okay,” she finally said, causing Nick to smile.

“Let’s go catch up with the others,” he said, taking her hand in his and leading her up to the actual back stage area, “We go on fourth...so it will come up pretty quickly.”

The two walked together up some steps and to the back of the stage just as Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson took stage to perform a duet of Dreaming of a White Christmas. They sang it beautifully, and Amber smiled at their talent and how well their voices blended together.

“Hey, glad you decided to join us,” Kevin joked as Nick and Amber strided up to the rest of the group.

Amber tensed, going behind Nick to hide and Kevin gave Nick a funny look by her reaction. Nick just shrugged saying, “We had a small...issue. All taken care of now.”

“Ah,” Kevin replied, “I see.”

Nick and Jessica sang their second song of Jingle Bells, and then they were done, the crowd cheered and applauded widely for them as the second performer took stage, singing what they had prepared for.

“Wow,” Amber breathed, “They’re all so incredibly good...” her voice trailed off as she stared in awe, glad that she hadn’t gone back to the bus and missed the event.

“Yeah, they’re all really good,” Nick agreed, then joked around by adding, “I hope that you can say the same about us...since it’s not your thing and all.”

Amber rolled her eyes as she elbowed Nick in the gut. The second band ran off stage and a group she recognized as N SYNC ran on. They sang two songs from their Christmas album...Christmas Time and Kiss Me at Midnight.

“Why are they singing about New Years?” Amber asked in reference to their second selection of songs, “We haven’t even had Christmas yet.”

The Boys all tried to stiffle laughs at her obvious dissing of the other vocal groups selection of songs. Brian secretly agreed with her, but wasn’t going to admit it out loud. It would be disrespectful, and he, nor the other Boys, wanted to be that towards anybody else, if it could be helped.

Too soon, N SYNC was done, and the Backstreet Boys were up. Amber tensed, knowing that the next minutes for her would be extremely torturous to her, for she’d be left alone.

“You going to be okay?” Nick asked her

Amber nodded, knowing that weather she would be or not, this could not be changed. Nick took her hand, taking her to a part of the back stage where she could watch them the entire time, but remain hidden from the audience before joining the others as they started a capella of O Holy Night. Amber was astounded at how phenomenal they all sounded. She didn’t know how she’d gone all this time not giving them a chance. She was so wrapped up in watching them that she didn’t even notice someone come up behind her.

“Hey babe,”

Amber whipped around, seeing one of the dark-haired members of N SYNC standing before her. She gulped, not knowing what to do. All she could think was that Nick had promised she’d be fine...and go figure, the few minutes that they were away, she was being approached. Amber was convinced that this man had been watching her for some time, waiting for the right moment to come up to her. He had found it...her being most vulnerable.

“Listening to those Backstreet Gays?” he chuckled, “They are so lame.”

“I...I like them,” Amber defended them, “They’re talented and great people.” She added, knowing that even though she hadn’t conversed with four of the men, that they probably really were good people.

The man laughed, and Amber didn’t know why. She just wished that her friends would hurry, but the first song wasn’t even complete yet.

“I’m J.C.” he introduced.

Amber tried to ignore him, turning her attention back to Nick and the others on stage, knowing that he would give up if she didn’t acknowledge him.

“And your name is...”

Amber didn’t reply, fear creeping up in her body. She hated this. She hated being alone, and didn’t trust anybody whom she didn’t know.

“I’m talking to you,” J.C. said, slight anger in his voice as he grabbed her shoulder and spun her around to face him, “What’s your name, princess?”

“Amber,” she replied softly, hoping that this would give him the satisfaction he was looking for, and he would leave her be. She knew, however, that it would be too much to ask, and that wouldn’t be happening.

“How would you like to go out with me,” J.C. asked

Amber shook her head, not trusting her voice. If he heard fear, he would not let her alone. It would only cause him to pester her more.

“Think you’re too good?” he asked, eying her up and down and licking his lips, “You sure are gorgeous. I’d like to be in you tonight...what do you say?”

Amber choked in disgust and out of fear at his comment, and excuse of a pickup line. This couldn’t be happening to her...not again.

“I don’t...I don’t think so,” Amber whispered, praying for the Boys performance to end soon and for them to rescue her. She was so paralyzed by fear that she couldn’t even hear their performance any longer. All she could hear was J.C’s seething voice and the sound of her hammering heart.

“Why not, babe,” J.C. asked, reaching out to touch her, but Amber drew back, “You’re a prude little bitch, aren’t ya?” he sneered.

Amber stood still, “Leave me alone,” she warned.

J.C. laughed, “I don’t think so. You’re too good of a catch to let go without a fight.”

He stood, staring at her for a moment before lunging at her, grabbing her and pulling her to him. Amber let out a frightened shriek as others all around just stared, not offering a helping hand. J.C. gripped her roughly to ensure she could not move in his tight grasp, pulling her up to him to try and kiss her. Amber fought with all of her might, leaning back to make things harder on him.

“Nooooo,” she screamed, “Get away....leave me alone...don’t touch me...” she cried out, but nothing was working and she was losing her fight as the sleazy man pulled her in. His face was so close to hers that she could feel his hot breath against her face. He was getting closer, and she shut her eyes to block it out. Everything was happening so fast. But when Amber felt his grip suddenly loosen, and they she was freed all together, she opened her eyes.

‘Get the fuck away from her,” Nick yelled.

Amber looked around, and then down, seeing J.C on the ground, holding his mouth. She knew then that Nick had thrown a rather powerful punch at him. J.C picked himself up from the ground as Nick reached out with one arm, pulling Amber in to his side. She willingly accepted, furrowing her face into his side.

“Why, man. You don’t own the little bitch,” he seethed.

“No,” Nick agreed, “But she wants nothing to do with you, so respect her and leave her alone.” Nick warned.

J.C. was about to argue, but instead decided against it, “Forget it....the whore isn’t worth it...especially if she’s with you.”

He walked away and Nick noticed for the first time just how hard Amber was sobbing.

“I’m so sorry,” he apologized, “I never thought that anybody would do something like that...I’m sorry.”

“It...it’s okay....Not your fault.” Amber sobbed out

Nick pulled her into a full embrace, letting the shaken girl cry in to him. The rest of the Boys joined them, looking at Amber sympathetically. They, too, had seen the entire thing. A.J. stood, hating the person who had intentionally tried to violate Amber. His fists were clenched at his sides, trying hard to contain his anger and not go after J.C and deck him.

“Is she okay?” Brian asked softly.

Nick shrugged, knowing that she probably wasn’t. He knew that she wouldn’t want to stick around, and he didn’t blame her. The Boys had done their performance. Their part of the evening was complete. They had no real reason to stay, and they all knew, silently reading in each others eyes the same mutual agreement.

“Let’s get out of here,” Nick said, being the first to state what they were all thinking aloud.

Without arguement, they all walked across the stage and to their bus, which was waiting for them with all of the others. Nick helped Amber on to the bus, and in to bed, feeling her shaking still in his arms. He sighed, a silent tear for Amber streaking his face, hoping that this one night wouldn’t ruin all of the progress she had achieved. He hoped that she would be okay.

Thanks to Stephanie, AjsSweety, Tori D, frackandbonechick, Anita, and Ayleen for reviewing chapter 16. Also, Thanks to SweetAngelicAngel for reviewing chapters 6, 8 , 11 and 14. I can't wait to hear what ya'll think of 17!

Chapter Seventeen

Amber sighed as she glanced out of the window of the large jet that was taking her to Florida. It was late Christmas Eve. Just hours before, been almost violated by the sickening man. On the ride to the airport, the Boys had asked her who she wanted to go home with for the Holidays, knowing that she couldn’t be left alone. Without surprise, she’d chosen Nick, no hesitation given. What should have been a great night for all, knowing they were off for a week and going to their homes, turned in to a somber one. A.J. was thinking of what he would like to do to J.C. during the next confrontation with him at an event. The more he thought about it, the more he knew that he wasn’t going to let the pig get away without any damage done to him.

Amber sighed, feeling worse than she had before. She had finally felt like she was getting better and opening up, and then J.C. had tried to attack her, sending her back a few steps again. A few silent, frightened tears slid down her cheeks, her shoulders started to shake as she could no longer control her fear. She was sinking in to a deeper depression with each new day. This wouldn’t help. It would only make things worse for her.

“You okay?” Nick asked, concerned, taking her small, delicate hand in his larger one and squeezing it comfortingly.

Amber nodded, “Yeah...” she said, her voice trailing off before asking, “Do you think your family will be mad at you for bringing me home for Christmas? I mean...it is kind of a family holiday.”

Nick shook his head, “Nah, of course not. It’s just going to be me, my brothers and sisters. And don’t ya know...you are family to me now.”

“Are your parents...did they die?” she asked, her eyes wide with question, wondering why his mother and father wouldn’t be there, completely ignoring his sweet compliment towards her.

Nick laughed, “No...they’re um...fighting, trying to put us all in the middle of it. So, instead of taking sides, me and my sibs are all just getting together at my place.”

“Oh,” was all Amber said, and then another worry came over her, “How many brothers do you have?”

“Just one...Aaron...he’s sixteen,” he looked at Amber and saw the petrification in her face, knowing that she was worrying about this, “Don’t worry...he’s harmless. A normal sixteen year old boy with raging hormones...but he won’t hurt ya. Honestly, if you give him the chance, he is just like me, in many ways.”

Amber relaxed a little, knowing that if Aaron was the spitting image, looks wise and personality, that she would be just fine.

“What are your sisters names?” she asked.

“There’s Leslie, Angel...who is Aaron’s twin, and B.J...she’s the oldest.” Nick answered with a grin, “They’re all pretty cool. I think you’ll get along great.”

Amber smiled, relieved that for the first time in weeks, she would be spending time with some other girls. She knew that it was something which she needed. She couldn’t spend her life around only men. So the fact that Nick had three sisters made her very happy. She knew that during the next week, or however long they were at his house, that she would be spending the majority of her time hanging out with them...no intention of insulting Nick by her choice. She’d grown to trust him...the only male she did trust, but she did. He was a great friend to her, and she would even go as far as to say she had grown to love him. Not in a romantic way...just in a friendship way. Amber could honestly say that even if she did ever get over the rape and try to date, she couldn’t ever see Nick in that way. One would think that since he was the first male to prove his genuine kindness, that he would be the one she would want to try a relationship with, but it wasn’t the case for her. It was hard to explain, but Nick wasn’t the kind of guy she could see herself with, and she was pretty sure that he felt the same way about her. Their relationship was strictly best friendship. Amber thought again of how nice it would be to have female bonding time. There was nothing like getting together with girls to go shopping, gossip about boys and other things. But then a new worry hit her.

“I hope that your sisters like me,” she said, biting her lip nervously, “I mean...what if they ignore me and I’m all alone?”

Nick laughed again, “Quit worrying so much, cutie. They’ll love you...I explained the situation to them a few days ago...and they are looking forward to meeting ya.”

Amber tensed again, not knowing how to react to his family knowing of her rape. To her, it was a private, personal matter. Had the Boys not stumbled across her in her condition, she didn’t think that she’d have let anybody know. Now she knew that she would worry about his sisters and Aaron treating her like a freak over something she’d had no control over. But rape was one of those things were most people didn’t know how to act around the victim. Nick must have read the unsureness on her face by the next thing that he said.

“I’m sorry, but I felt that they should know...since you’re kind of insecure,” Nick began, then knew that he’d wounded the girl by using that selection of words, “I mean...well, you’re very cautious around new people. I felt that they should know why...so they don’t think that you’re stuck up or something,” Nick explained, knowing that he was only digging himself a deeper hole with each
word spoken, “I’m going to shut my big mouth now.”

Amber grinned, knowing that the blonde hadn’t intended to insult her. She looked back out the window, wondering how long the flight would last. She couldn’t wait to be back on land, feeling safe and sound in the comfort of Nick’s home...her new home for the next week. The thought of home brought tears to Amber’s eyes. She wished that she was in Ohio with her family, but she was unwanted by them. Christmas was a time for family, and the closest thing that she had was Nick, and once given the others a chance, A.J., Brian, Howie and Kevin too. She just hoped that they wouldn’t get sick of her and betray her, leaving her as well, for if they did, she would have absolutely no one. She would be completely alone.

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A.J. sighed and closed his eyes as his plane took off, taking him back home. This was the day he’d anticipated for so long. He was free. So why wasn’t he happier? He had a feeling that it had a lot to do with J.C. God, he hated the man. Although A.J. had yet to speak to Amber since her realization of her rape, he still felt the need to be protective of her. He wondered how she was doing at that exact moment. When him and the other Boys had parted at the airport, going their
separate ways, she’d seemed tense and distant.

Crossing his arms over his chest, he took in a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. He hated to fly, especially without the other Boys there to talk to. His best bet was to try and sleep during the flight back to his home. After half an hour though, A.J. gave up on that, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to without the help of a sleeping aide...something he did not have.

Looking out the window of the jet, all he could see was clouds below him passing by. Big, fluffy clouds, darkened by the night. That made his disliking of being in the jet even worse almost. He preferred to be able to see what was below him. Not that it mattered anyways. It was near midnight, meaning it would be pitch black no matter what.

“Hey, A-gay,” a voice sneered, sitting in an empty seat next to him.

A,J squeezed his eyes closed, trying not to lose his temper. He opened his eyes, recognizing the person he despised the most right next to him...J.C. He clenched his jaw, his mouth twisting in to one of complete anger and torment. Everything that had happened a mere four hours earlier came rushing back to his head.

“What the hell do you want?” A.J. seethed in a voice so low that it scared even him. He didn’t even try to defend himself of J.C’s insult. He knew that it wasn’t true, and was above trying to insult the sleazy N SYNC member right back. He wondered though, why J.C. was on the same plane as him. What were the odds? A.J. figured that it was probably a sign that it was his second chance to beat the hell out of him, but he knew that he couldn’t

“Nothing...much. Just wondering what the deal was with that little bitch from earlier that blonde bimbo was trying to defend.”

A.J. pursed his lips together tightly, sucking in a few deep breaths through his nostrils. He had to calm his nerves...he couldn’t lose his temper there while in the air. They would land and kick him off so quickly. He had to get home in time to spend the holidays with his mother and her new husband.

“She’s a friend of ours,” A.J. told him, not feeling the need to go into any further detail about her condition. It was none of the man’s business, “She had a bad experience...that’s all.” was all that he said.

J.C. snorted, “You sure did find a real dud for a friend. What is she, a dyke or something? By her reaction towards me...my god.”

That did it for A.J as a wave of anger came over A.J. Before he had time to blink, he was out of his seat, knocking J.C. in to the isle, ready to attack. Shrieks came from all over the plane from fellow passengers as A.J. continued to throw punches at the man’s face.

“Nobody insults Amber like that,” he shouted, knowing that he would be leaving marks on the man that wouldn’t go away for weeks.

“You are all losers,” J.C. bellowed back, “And that spazz is proof enough.”

J.C. managed to get out from under the irate Backstreet member, rolling on top of him to fight back, having just enough time to get A.J. once, really good in the eye. Two airline attendants ran over to them in a rush, one restraining J.C, the other A.J. A.J was thrown in to his seat while J.C. was drug a few rows back, in hopes to keep them apart..

“When we land in Chicago for layover, you’ll have to find alternative way back home,” the attendant warned him sternly, “Same goes for the man behind you. I advise you start making calls to try and find a way back.”

The woman walked away and A.J. cursed under his breath. He whipped his cell phone out, not caring weather or not he was supposed to be using it or not on the plane. He dialed his mothers number, knowing that she would help him. It rang six times before the machine picked up.

Hello, you’ve reached Denise and Tony. We’re not able to take your call right now, for we’re in Paris for the Holidays. Please leave a message and we’ll get back to you once we return home.

“Fucking great,” A.J. muttered, closing the flip phone, trying to figure out who else he could call. He knew how family oriented the holidays were for Brian and Kevin, so they were out. Sure, they were like brothers to him, and were his real family in his heart, but their parents, grandparents, cousins, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles and siblings might not feel the same way. Howie was his best friend, but again, he would feel odd intruding. That only left one person...Nick. He knew of Nick’s family problems and that there would be no parents there. It was his last and only hope. He quickly opened the phone back up, dialing Nick’s cell number, knowing that Nick would still be on his own flight. He answered after one ring.

“Yo, Frack speakin,”

A.J. rolled his eyes at Nick’s corny opening line, “Hey, Nick. It’s Aje...could you do me a favor?”

“Yo, Bone, what’s up?”

“I, um...was kind of kicked off of my flight.”

This caused a fit of laughter to come from Nick, but it quickly died down as he looked beside him at Amber sleeping.

“What did you do? I have to hear this.”

“J.C. was on the flight...he insulted Amber...we got into a physical fight.”

“Wish I’d have been there. I would have helped, dawg.”

A.J. chuckled, “Yeah, well...I have no place to go for the holidays. I mean, I could go back to my own home, but my mom and Tony are away, and I don’t want to be alone over Christmas...plus, I really don’t have any way to get home. Could I maybe crash at your place?”

Nick cringed, “I don’t know, man. Amber and all....she might not react so well to that. I was hoping she might get better being away from everything.”

“Please,” A.J. begged, hating to stoop to this low level, “I promise I’ll stay out of her way. I won’t cause problems.”

Nick bit his lip, pausing for a moment. He could tell that A.J. was holding his breath, waiting for an answer.

“Aight,” Nick finally answered, “I’ll send James out my private plane to pick you up. Where you gonna be at?”

“Chicago International Airport (A/N: I don’t know if there is such an airport...lol...If not, there is in my story!)

“Okay...he’ll be there in five hours,” Nick said, “And you owe me big for this. Remember though, no pushing Amber.”

“Thank so much,” A.J. said, grateful.

“No prob.” Nick replied, “See ya in the morn....later today.” Nick said.

“Yep, see ya...Frack.”

The two hung up their cell phones. A.J. smiled, happy that he’d found a place to go. As vindictive as he knew his thoughts were, he hoped that J.C. was stuck without anywhere alternative to head off to. The man deserved it for all of the trouble he’d caused. A.J sighed, wondering how he was going to keep his promise to Nick avoid Amber for a whole week. They would have to cross paths at some point. Maybe when they did, by the end of the seven days, she would have two people she could count on and talk to. A.J. could only hope.

Thanks to Anastacia, Jamelet (15-17), SweetAngelicAngel, frackandbonechick, AjsSweety, Anita and Ayleen for reviewing chapter 17. I can't wait to hear what ya'll think of 18!

Chapter Eighteen

“Oh my god, Nick...” Amber gasped as she opened this small rectangular shaped box wider to get a better look at what was inside, “It...it’s gorgeous.”

It was eight in the morning, Christmas morning. Nick had woken Amber up early to give her something special that he had bought for her before picking up his siblings and A.J. arrived in approximately two hours. Amber had slept the rest of the plane ride home, so Nick had carried her in to the house, placing her in one of the guest beds, careful not to disturb her peaceful slumber...until later that morning, and that time had come.

Amber lifted the heart shaped necklace, sparkling diamonds outlining the shape, out of the box, letting it sway back and forth freely as she stared in awe at its beauty. The light caught the diamonds in just the right light. Nick grinned, proud that he’d done something good as tears glistened in her eyes as she looked at it. Nobody had ever done anything so sweet for her, and for the first time in weeks, she was truly happy. But then she frowned as she placed it delicately back inside the velvet box, snapping it shut slowly and handing it back to Nick.

“I can’t accept this,” she told him as he looked at her in confusion. Amber could tell that there was hurt somewhere deep within his baby blue eyes as well, “It...it’s too much. I know it had to have cost a fortune. I can’t take it.”
“But I bought it for you, to show you what a good friend you are to me,” Nick exclaimed, opening the box back up and taking the necklace out, “Turn around.” he instructed. Amber did so, and felt him wrap his arms around her as the necklace fell against her chest as Nick clasped it in the back, keeping it in place.

Amber turned back around once she felt Nick’s arms freed from around her. She looked down at it, gently picking it up with her fingertips.

“Thank you,” she whispered, then bit her lip nervously, “I...I don’t have anything for you in return though.” she told him regretfully.

“Don’t worry about it,” Nick said, “You already gave me the greatest gift of all.”

Amber looked at Nick in total confusion, wondering what she had given to him that was so special. She tried to think, but nothing came to mind.

“You gave me your trust...or, at least I’m getting closer to winning it,” he grinned his famous Carter smile, causing Amber to giggle.

“I trust ya, Nick,” she told him with a slight hesitation, “It took a few weeks, but I know that you won’t hurt me. You’ve proved that by how sweet you’ve been.”

Nick stared at her for a moment before asking, “Do you really trust me, or are you just saying that for my sake?”

Amber was quiet for a moment, not knowing how to anser his question. It was a tough one to know how to respond to, especially when she didn’t know the honest truth herself. Amber took in a deep breath, deciding to answer to the best of her ability without hurting his feelings.

“I trust you...but I’m still not over what happened. I still have anxiety attacks. I’m terrified beyond words of anything unknown...and what happened yesterday didn’t help much.” she added softly, “I know that you won’t hurt me, but I still need to be cautious...around everyone, including you. Just in case...even though I do trust you, for the most part.” she could see Nick’s face fall, “I hope you understand.”she added quickly.

“Yeah...I do,” he answered, forcing a bright smile, “Well, Merry Christmas, Amber,” Nick said, reaching out and giving her a hug. Amber accepted, wrapping her arms around him as well in a warm embrace.

“Merry Christmas, Nick.”

After a few seconds, Nick gently pulled away from Amber, looking at her, studying her intensely. She had changed a lot since they had first found her. The bruises had healed almost completely, from what he could see.

“Let’s go get dressed and pick up my sibs,” Nick stated, “They’ll be waiting...or would you rather stay here? It’s up to you.”

“I’ll go,” Amber was quick to respond, “Definitely not staying alone.”

Nick laughed, “Go change then. Meet ya down here in five minutes.”

“Okay,” Amber stated, standing up, ready to put on some fresh clothes. She started making her way to the stairs before Nick called her back.

“Hey, Amber...” he started off nervously, deciding now was as good of time as any to tell her about A.J, “Um...we’re going to have an extra guest...I just found out last night. Um...A.J. will be here too...later on this morning.”

Nick cringed at the silence, knowing that at any given second, he would have his reaction from her. He knew it was coming...and he was right. Her reaction wasn’t a very positive one either.

“WHAT?” she almost yelled incredulously before fleeing up the stairs

“Well,” Nick stated, running a hand through his blonde hair, “She took it better than I thought she would.”

He stood still for a moment before dashing up the steps two at a time to catch up with Amber to try and explain things. Running down the wide, open hall way and around a circular corner, he caught her just as she was closing the door. Sticking a hand out, Nick forced it back open. Amber didn’t even try to fight it. Instead, she went over to the queen-sized bed, flopping down on it, crossing her arms over her chest protectively. Nick walked over calmly, sitting down next to her, neither speaking for a long moment.

“How could you invite him here?” Amber asked, knowing that she sounded cold, but she didn’t care, “You know that I’m not comfortable around the others yet.”

Tears threatened to fall from her eyes, but she blinked them back, refusing to show that particular emotion. It would do her no good.

“Amber,” Nick said, “Aje had nowhere else to go...” he was about to tell the girl that A.J. had nowhere to go because he’d been defending her on a plane, and got kicked off, but decided that if she was to find that out, then it would have to come from A.J himself, “I made him promise he wouldn’t bother you...or speak to you.”

Amber rolled her eyes, “And you believe him?”

Nick shrugged, “I want to believe him,” Nick stated, then stuck out his lip in a pout, “Please don’t be mad at me. I’m tryin to help everyone. Aje has been a friend of mine for going on eleven years now. He needed me too.”

Amber said nothing for a moment. She didn’t know how things would turn out, but she knew that she didn’t have a choice in the matter anymore. Her one week of what was supposed to be freedom to calm her nerves a little just became a little more complicated.

“Okay...but please don’t let him near me...not yet.” Amber pleaded, giving him a small smile to let him know that she wasn’t upset with him.

Nick grinned, nodding his head. He wanted all six of them to get along, and here he was promising Amber that he would keep both Kevin and A.J away from her. Somehow, by being a friend to Amber, he was turning on his other friends at the same time. Nick wondered when it would all backfire in his face.

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“Hey, Nicky,” A.J. asked as he and Nick played a Playstation 2 game, “Could you do me a favor? A really huge one?”

It was nearing three in the afternoon. After Nick had picked up his siblings, they’d all rushed back to Nick’s house to wait for A.J to arrive while exchanging gifts from one another. As soon as the doorbell had rung though, Amber had fled up the stairs to hide in the safety of her room until she knew that he was gone. Nick had sent his sisters up to keep her company, and all three had willingly gone, leaving Aaron to take turns competing in games between his older brother and A.J. Amber and his sisters had seemed to get along well before A.J’s arrival. He suspected that she was in safe hands at the moment up in her room. He loved his sisters and had, strangely enough, taught them a lot on how to treat people with respect.
“Depends on what that is, dawg,” Nick grinned wickedly as he finished off A.J’s character in the game, “And don’t call me Nicky.”

A.j. snickered, “Okay...okay...well, I know that I promised that I wouldn’t bother Amber..”

“Oh no,” Nick interrupted before A.J. had the chance to continue. He knew exactly where this conversation was going, “Don’t even say it.”

“Hear me out,” A.J. stated, “Could you maybe, like, set up an accidental run-in with her...so I can at least try to get her to talk to me?”

Nick groaned, suddenly regretting having A.J. come for the holidays. He wished he’d left him stranded in Chicago. It wasn’t even a day in to his arrival...hell, not even five hours, and he was already bugging him to set him up with Amber, who was hiding from him at that exact moment.

“Aje,” Nick warned, “You swore to me that you wouldn’t cause any problems while you were here.”

“God, you’re so damned protective of her,” A.J. swore, “How the fuck is she ever going to learn to trust people if you won’t give her the chance to?”

Nick sighed, knowing that A.J proved a really good point. If she refused to speak to anybody else, how would she learn to cope in the real world? The answer was never. Nick didn’t feel like thrusting her into awkward situations was the answer either though, but he decided to listen to A.J’s plan anyways, just to hear what he had to say.

“What do you have in mind?” he asked impatiently.

A.J. smiled triumphantly that he’d won the argument. Now came the hard part of getting Nick to agree to what he thought could definitely work.

“See, we all go to the mall,” A.J. said, “I mean, chicks love to shop..and I love to shop...you don’t so much. So, the three of us go, and you get a phone call, and you have to leave, and we’re alone...she’ll have to talk to me.”

A.J. grinned, obviously thinking that his plan was genius. Nick, on the other hand, was less than thrilled.

“I can’t do that to her,” Nick refused, shaking his head roughly, “She’ll hate me for life for leaving her alone with someone she barely knows. All the trust I gained from her will vanish. I love her like another sister...a best friend. I don't want to hurt her by going against her wishes.”

‘But how will she ever get to know anyone else if you’re always around?” A.J. asked

Nick sighed. Once again, A.J. proved a really good point. Nick hated it when he did that, and now he was stuck in the middle. Nick didn’t want to betray his new friend’s trust, but then again, he would be helping her in the long run by going along with A.J’s plan. Nick shook his head, not knowing what to do.

“We gonna play or what?” Aaron asked, picking up A.J’s controller and looking at Nick.

“Not now, bro,” Nick stated, waving his brother off, keeping his thoughts on what he should do and how he should take care of the situation. Aaron’s shoulders slumped as he sulked, starting up a new game for single players.

“You know deep down that it will be good for her,” A.J. stated.

“You just want to date her,” Nick muttered under his breath, not knowing if that was completely true or not, then said out loud, “Fine, we can do it...but she never knows that it was set up to happen, got it?”

A.J. nodded, “Thanks, Frack...so, when we gonna do this?”

Nick thought for a moment, “Um, how about the day after tomorrow?”

A.J. nodded, looking forward to the day. Nick was hoping that he could get Amber to want to go out with so many people around. The mall was such a public place that she might not be ready for it. Her agreeing may be a challenge. Nick secretly hoped that she would decline, so he wouldn’t have to carry through with the plan. He hoped that after all of this was over, that Amber wouldn’t hate him. That was his number one fear. Nick closed his eyes and shook his head, already regretting to agree with AJ’s little scheme. He couldn’t turn back now though. All he could do was hope for the best to come of it.

Thanks to Ayleen, Tori D, AjsSweety, frackandbonechick, Anastacia, SweetAngelicAngel and Stephanie for reviewing 18. I can't wait to see what you think of 19!!!

Chapter Nineteen

Amber sighed as she flipped over on to her stomach to read her magazine from a different angle. Angel, Leslie and B.J. had all just left her room fifteen minutes prior and she was alone again. She was enjoying the peaceful quietness, taking advantage of it. Nick’s sisters were great, and so friendly, but she liked being alone too some. It was two days after Christmas. Amber couldn’t believe that two days of the non-touring life was gone already. Gosh, how time flew.

“What’s up?”

Amber looked up, seeing Aaron standing in the doorway. She bit her lip nervously. Nick had been right in the sense that his younger brother was just like him, in every way imaginable. He was like a clone of his older brother. She still didn’t feel comfortable around him though.

“Not a lot,” she answered, “You?”

Aaron shrugged, “Bored beyond shitless, ya know. Nick and Aje are blowing me off. Stupid fuckers.” he then muttered.

Amber couldn’t help but laugh. She felt sort of sorry for the young, sixteen year old boy. The whole plane ride there, Nick had raved about how awesome his brother was and how great they got along. He’d stated that he couldn’t wait to see him and they would catch up on what they’d missed over the past months. Ever sense A.J. had showed up though, they had been ignoring him, making Amber wonder if Nick and Aaron were as close as he’d made them out to be.

“I know how you feel,” she stated, deciding to be nice to the young blonde and give him a chance. If her suspicions were true, then Aaron would be just like Nick. She had nothing to worry about, “Your brother’s been ignoring me too.”

Aaron walked further in to the room, looking around cautiously. Amber could feel her body start to tense, but slowly took in a few breaths, letting them out slowly. She knew that everything would be okay. She could feel herself start to loosen up again. She had to trust that Aaron wouldn’t hurt her, and even if he wanted to, he wouldn’t dare with Nick in the same house. Then she wondered if Aaron even know of what had happened to her. Nick told her that he’d informed his sisters, but never said anything about Aaron.

“Um...would you like to go out sometime?” Aaron asked nervously, almost so quiet that Amber couldn’t hear him, but she had. He kept his eyes fixed upon the floor as he ran his fingers along the top of the footrest of her bed, “You seem really nice and are really pretty.” he added, looking up at her slowly.

Amber froze at that moment, not knowing how to answer. Her mind screamed for her to get out of the room and as far away from Aaron as she could. He was trying to get with her, and she didn’t like that at all.

“What do you say?” Aaron asked, his eyes hopeful.

“I...I don’t think so,” Amber stammered, “You’re only sixteen...I’m almost twenty.” She hoped that her excuse was enough to convince Aaron to go after someone else.

“Age doesn’t matter,” he pressed.

“I don’t date,” Amber stated bluntly.

“But...”

Suddenly, Nick walked in to the room. He froze, staring at Aaron for a long moment, his eyes saying that he was less than pleased.

“Aaron, what are you doing in here?” he finally asked

“Talking,” he answered, knowing that if he told Nick he’d been trying to get a date with Amber, that his brother would kick him out of the house for the remainder of his break.

Nick pointed towards the door, “Get out.”

“But I...”

“Out, now,” Nick demanded again, his voice colder this time.

Aaron’s shoulders slumped as he shot Nick a dirty, hateful glare before walking out of the room. Nick took in a deep breath before speaking walking over to Amber and sitting next to her on the large bed.

“I’m sorry about him,” Nick apologized, “He’s at that age where he thinks with his hormones rather than his brain.”

“But isn’t that any guy at any age?” Amber joked, staring at him with wide, innocent eyes

Nick chuckled, “Yeah, I suppose...but the older we get, the less likely we are to speak our thoughts...most of the time.”

“Oh,” Amber stated, “I see. Well, it’s fine. He wasn’t hurting me...just took me by surprise by asking me out and all.”

Nick rolled his eyes, “Should have known he would try to ask you out. He see’s a pretty girl, and automatically think that she’ll swoon over him.” Amber gave Nick an odd look, “Don’t get me wrong...he ain’t self-centered or anything. He just...it’s hard to explain.” Nick rambled, feeling bad for Aaron’s inappropriate actions, “Anyways, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Amber assured him, not about to tell Nick that she had, in fact, been slightly frightened of the boy. She looked at Nick in curiosity, “Was there anything that you wanted in particular?” she asked him.

Nick froze, remembering the reason he’d come to see her. It was to pop the question that could ruin their friendship, compliments of A.J. Nick secretly hoped that she would decline the offer. That way, he could say that he tried, but nothing bad would happen.

“Nick,” Amber said, taking him out of his deep thoughts.

“Oh, um, yeah...A.J. and I are going to the mall later today..around three-ish. I was wondering if you wanted to come with us.”

Amber shook her head, “Nah..I think I’ll pass. I...I don’t want to go out in public yet...not that public, anyways. I’d feel much safer here.”

Nick breathed a discrete sigh of relief before standing up. He’d gotten the ‘no’ that he had wanted. There was no use in asking again, just to make sure, right?

“Okay, well, that’s fine.”

Amber smiled as Nick slowly walked towards the door. He feared that if he ran, Amber might suspect something was up with his intentions. That was one thing he didn’t want, and if she asked, he knew he would spill all. He wanted to keep an honest, open relationship with Amber. He wanted to gain her trust in full.

Just as Nick was stepping out of the door though, Amber called him back. Nick spun around, shooting her his famous Carter grin.

“Yeah?” he asked

“Come to think of it, I think I will go with you,” she stated, “I need more clothes than four outfits. It’ll be a perfect chance to find some other things, ya know?”

Nick tried not to show that he was less than thrilled now. Now he’d have to carry through with things. A.J. had won. Forcing the smile to stay on his face, Nick answered.

“Of course. Glad you decided to join us,” Nick stated, “So, we’re leaving in,” Nick looked down at his watch, “About an hour and a half.”

“Sounds great,” Amber grinned, “Thanks for inviting me.”

“Anytime,” Nick answered before he turned around and headed towards the winding staircase down the long hall. When he knew that Amber was out of earshot, he muttered, “You won’t be thanking me by the end of today.”

Nick shook his head sadly. He’d been so close to getting away home free without hurting or betraying the still frightened girl. He hoped that A.J. was right and his plan worked. He hoped that if it failed, that it wouldn’t ruin everything, for if it did, it could take months to regain what he’d accomplished with Amber.

“Why the fuck did I agree to this,” Nick murmured as he quickly made his way down the staircase. He shook his head in utter disgust with himself. Once again, he’d screwed up. He’d been doing so good too. Nick should have known that it wouldn’t last.

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Kevin sighed as he fell back on to his comfy, leather sofa. Slouching down, he grabbed the remote control, and turned the TV on, hoping to find something decent to watch. Kristen had left the night before for business to do with her modeling in LA. They’d gotten to spend Christmas Day together, and the day after, but that was it. He would be alone now for the remainder of his trip. Five days of loneliness and boredom. Kevin personally couldn’t wait for the break to be over. Then he’d at least have his four best friends to hang around with and talk to. He needed the company. Kevin shook his head in disgust with himself. Normally, he enjoyed being in silence, but this time, it was annoying him and he couldn’t stand it.

“Pathetic,” he muttered, “Look forward to a break, then will it away because I have absolutely nothing to do.”

Kevin wondered what the others were up to. He wondered if Amber was doing okay, coping with being thrust into a house of Nick’s younger siblings. He couldn’t help but chuckle to himself at the thought of five siblings going at one another as Amber sat coiled up in a corner, shaking with horror at the sight. He knew that it wasn’t funny. What was funny though, was how Nick, Aaron and their sisters fought sometimes.
Kevin continued to flip through the channels...all three-hundred and seventy two of them, thanks to satellite TV and digital cable. He rolled his eyes after going through half of them, finding that there was nothing worth watching on. He finally settled on a movie that he was only half way interested in. It was half way in, but so far, he caught on that it was an action/romance. He didn’t know, nor did he really care. His mind was only on how bored and miserable he was. He missed Kristen, and had wanted to go with her on her trip, but knew that it wouldn’t be possible for him to do so. He was just happy that he’d gotten to spend two days with her. It was better than nothing. Who knew when he would have his next chance to see and spend time with his wife.

Kevin’s eyes began to grow heavy. His boredom was hitting an all time low, causing him to drift off in to a sleep. He’d just awoken four hours prior, and here he was, already about to take a nap. This definitely was out of character for her. Soon though, he could no longer keep his eyes open. The sound of the TV became faint and the voices muffled. Just as Kevin was almost into a deep slumber though, the phone rang suddenly, quickly bringing him out of his sleep. Kevin groggily sat up, reaching over to the phone which sat on the oak coffee table beside him. He picked it up, yawning quickly before bringing it to his ear.

“Hello,”

The phone kept ringing. Kevin brought it away from his ear to stare at it in confusion before her realized that his cell was the right one. Quickly replacing the phone back on the receiver, Kevin quickly dug his cell out of his pocket, flipping it open and brining it to his ear. Although nobody had seen his major blonde moment, he felt extremely embarrassed, vowing not to tell a single soul. If anybody found out, they wouldn’t ever let it go.

“Hello,” Kevin said again.

“Hi, is Mr. Richardson there,” came a rather professional voice. Kevin wondered who was bothering him for business meetings this time on his break, realizing he'd rather have nothing to do than be in meetings.

“Him speaking,” Kevin replied.

“This is Officer Graham from the Cleveland Police Department in Ohio. We have some information on the case with Amber Harris.”

Kevin slowly straightened himself, sitting up with interest. He wondered what kind of information they’d found on her. It had been weeks since they’d heard a thing. Kevin had figured that nothing would ever come of it, and although he was still bitter with the station and officers within it, he wanted to know what had happened.

“Yes,” Kevin answered, “I’m listening.”

There was a brief pause before Kevin got his answer, which he had to a admit not even he had been prepared for.

“Amber’s rapist has been found.”

Thanks to Anita for reviewing Chapter 18. Thanks to Ayleen, AJsSweety, Anastacia, SweetAngelicAngel, frackandbonechick, Tori D and Stephanie for reviewing 19. Enjoy 20 and can't wait to hear what ya'll think!!!

Chapter Twenty

Kevin froze in place at that moment. He wasn’t sure if he had even heard the officer correctly. It was, in all reality, the last thing that he’d expected to hear. A million things were running throughout his head, but there was only one question that he was able to speak aloud.

“Wha...what did you say?” Kevin asked, just to double check.

“The man who raped Amber was found.”

Kevin let out a huge breath of relief. He hadn’t noticed before, but having in the back of his mind that Amber’s perpetrator was out running the streets, more than likely harming others, had been stressing him more than he’d admitted to before. This little piece of information made him feel like a huge weight had been lifted off his masculine, strong shoulders.

“How did you find him?” Kevin questioned, feeling he had his every right to find out more about the man, “I mean, it’s been just about three weeks now. I’d have thought he would be half way around the world by now.”

“He was found in Pennsylvania. He was found trying to rape another girl, but luckily, police drove by and caught him. He’s been in prison before, convicted of the same crime. He started the rapes back up though as soon as he got out.”

Kevin shuddered, wondering how anybody could have such a sick and twisted mind as to be a serial-rapist, and it angered him that he’d been released from prison before for the same thing. Kevin knew now that Amber had not been his first. It was a miracle that she hadn’t contracted any STD’s from the man, for who knew if he had caught anything from one of his victims. Then another thought occurred to him.

“How do you know that this is the same person?” Kevin asked, curiosity and slight accusation of giving him false information creeping into his voice.

“Semen sample...he was asked to give one, or forced, rather, and it matched what had been found on Amber.”

Kevin didn’t know how they’d linked the near-raping in Pennsylvania to Amber, but decided not to ask questions. Not like they would have told him anyways though. He figured that the police had their own techniques to knowing what to do in these cases. The man had been caught. What more satisfaction could he ask for? He did, however, have one question that was nagging at his mind, telling him to ask.

“Do you care to tell me what’s being done with this man?” Kevin asked Officer Graham, wondering if they were even going to hold him and punish him for his actions. If not, it would cause major controversy between him and the station. Especially since they’d held both him and Nick each for a few days just for being suspects.

“Well, it’s estimated that he is responsible for approximately fifteen rapes,” Officer Graham informed Kevin. This news made him sick to his stomach, “He’ll be spending a minimum of ten years in prison.”

“Okay,” Kevin replied, smiling in satisfaction, “Thank you...for letting me know.”

Kevin closed the cell phone, letting out a sigh of relief that he’d been holding in for quite some time. Although Amber’s attacker hadn’t been on his mind, it felt great to know that he had been caught and was locked away. Slumping back down in to the sofa, Kevin felt surprisingly relaxed. Amber would be thrilled to hear the news. Maybe it would even ease her mind a little bit. But he knew he’d have to call Nick and have him deliver the information to her. She did, after all, have the right to know. He knew right off that Amber wouldn’t go for him telling her personally. Kevin didn’t think that Amber liked him much, if at all, but he wasn’t sure why. In fact, she seemed more petrified of him than the others. Kevin picked up the phone, starting off by dialing Nick’s number. The sooner he told everyone what he now knew, the better off they’d all be.

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“I can’t believe that we only have four days left after today of our break,” A.J. sighed, but he was grinning, “I could relax like this for months.”

“Yeah...I agree,” Nick replied, veering the car on to the highway towards the mall, “But we have an album to finish recording, and then a tour to start by summer.”

Amber sat in the back seat of the car, listening to the two men talk about the tour and joking around with one another. She sat silently, deciding not to speak or draw attention to herself. She hadn’t been too thrilled on the idea that A.J. was going, but she’d known up front that it was part of the plan all along. She couldn’t help but to have hoped that A.J. would back out though at the last minute, leaving her and Nick to shop alone. No such luck though.

Nick had asked her to sit up front with him, but she’d insisted on sitting in back. She didn’t want to feel A.J’s eyes staring at her from behind during the duration of the car ride to the mall. It wouldn’t exactly help to release tension...it would make things worse...much worse. Amber hoped that Nick wouldn’t ignore her since A.J was joining them. If he treated her anything like he did his own brother while A.J. was around, then she was afraid to know how he would act towards her.

“So, Amber,” Nick spoke as if reading her thoughts, looking back at her through the rear-view mirror, “What kind of stuff are you looking for today.”

Amber shrugged her tiny shoulders, “Clothes...” her voice trailed off, remembering for the first time that she had no money, and would feel horribly bad taking advantage of the Boys if they offered to pay, and she knew that they would...it was coming at any second now...

“Pick out anything you like,” Nick stated, “It’s all on me...and you’re going to need a lot of shit if you’re going around with us and all.”

“I can’t...”Amber started to protest, but was cut off by Nick again.

“Amber, you’re going to let me treat you today, okay?” Nick said, “I want to do this...besides, you said yourself a couple of days ago that you needed it. Don’t even try to deny it now and say you don’t.” he warned.

Amber sighed, knowing that she was going to lose this argument. Nick, she knew, could be stubborn if given the right opportunity to be. This was going to be one of them.

Before Amber knew it, they were pulling into the oversized parking lot of the mammoth sized mall. Her eyes widened in awe, a glazed look overcoming them. It had to be just about the biggest mall she’d ever laid eyes on, and she wondered if every store known to man was inside of it somewhere. Amber knew that there was no way that they would ever get through the entire thing in one day. They’d be lucky if they got through a quarter of it.

“What do ya think,” Nick asked, putting the car in park and turning around to see Amber’s reaction. He laughed when he saw.

“Wow,” was all she could say.

All three of them got out of the car, Nick pressing the remote control on his key chain to lock it up as they all walked towards the main entrance to the mall.

“Try not to lose your car this time, Nick,” A.J. joked around. He was referring to the last time that the two had gone to the mall. Nick had lost his car, and they'd had to sit outside until closing and almost all of the other cars had left the enormous lot. When it was near empty, they'd walked around the entire thing until they saw Nick's car. It had taken at least an hour to circle the outter mall. Even Amber laughed a little bit. She couldn’t imagine losing your car. Then again, from what she’d noticed of Nick, he was slightly accident prone and scatter brained. Not too much though...at least she didn’t think so.

“Bite me, Bone,” Nick cracked, playfully shoving A.J, but his heart patted in his chest at a rate he didn’t think possible. He was nervous of what the outcome of this day would be, but he thought he was doing a good job of hiding that he was up to something, as was A.J. He silently thanked the man for not acting overly happy or giddy.

The three entered the mall, the Boys in their disguises, Amber just looking like herself. Her eyes widened even more at the inside of the mall. It was any girls greatest dream. She wished that Kara, her best friend from Ohio was there to see it. That thought made her frown. Kara was her former best friend. Kara had probably disowned her as well.

“Where to first?” Nick asked, turning to Amber, deciding to let the choice be hers, since she was the guest, for one, and two, he wanted to get on as good of side as possible of Ambers, so that it would make her all the less mad at him once IT happened. The plan of doom.

Amber shrugged, “I don’t know...American Eagle, Gap, Holister, Pac Sun, Buckle...” her voice trailed off, naming off all of her favorite stores.

Nick laughed, “We have all of those, plus stores that probably aren’t in Ohio. And A.J. here is a clothes expert. He can help ya.”

Nick could see Amber tense a little, and he bit his lip, knowing that this whole thing was a mistake. He realized that he didn’t have to fake acting like his cell phone had vibrated in his pant pocket. He could just stick with Amber and A.J. to make sure that she stayed comfortable.

“Okay, lets head to um, Ambercrombie,” Nick stated, naming a store that Amber hadn’t, but figured that she more than likely shopped there too.

The three walked towards the store in silence. Amber felt a awkward around A.J. and was thankful that Nick was there. She had Nick walk in the middle of her and A.J so that she wouldn’t have to be near the man that she feared.

Suddenly though, Nick jumped at the feel of his phone vibrating. He stopped, digging it out of his pocket. Amber and A.J. both stopped as well, looking at his face of confusing. He wasn’t really expecting a phone call at that time. A.J. smiled smugly to himself. The time had come. Nick read the caller ID on the small screen of the phone as it continued to vibrate.

“It’s Kevin,” Nick said, “I’ll um...I’ll be right back.”

“Nick,” Amber cried out, grabbing on to his arm.

“Just one sec, okay,” Nick said, “Meet me at Abercrombie and Fitch, okay?”

He walked away as A.J. shrugged, “Well, let’s go.”

He started walking away slowly, Amber following at a distance that she considered to be safe, behind him. Nick watched as they went as he opened his phone, going over to one of the couches to get out of shoppers way, but he didn’t sit. He knew that this could take awhile. Kevin rarely called on a one week break, unless something huge had happened.

“Hello,” Nick answered.

“Hey, Nick?”

“No, it’s Bob Barker,” Nick joked, naming off the famous host of the game show The Price is Right .

“Nick, shut up,” Kevin ordered.

Nick laughed. He always had the ability to annoy Kevin in one way or another. It never failed. He wouldn’t have it any other way either. He had fun.

“So, what’s brings this lovely phone call?” Nick asked, joking around.

“Um..well, I have some news...good news, I think.” Kevin answered Nick.

“Really?” Nick asked.

Kevin didn’t answer for a moment. He was sure that everybody would be relieved of the information...yet it could also cause some conflict as well. Kevin hoped that it would help to calm Amber down. He hoped that she would open up to all of them now.

“Amber’s rapist was found,” Kevin started, “And is being held in prison.”

Nick fell to the couch on impulse, shocked by the news. He had kind of forgotten that the man was still on the lose. Sure, once in a while he thought about it, but lately, not so much. This definitely caught him by surprise.

“Woah...that’s great,” Nick said.

“I thought so,” Kevin agreed, “Is Amber around to tell her?”

“She’s with A.J” Nick informed him.

“She’s talking to A.J?” Kevin asked, then was about to ask what A.J. was doing with Nick, but Nick started talking before he had the chance to.

“No, when you called, I told her..” Nick’s voice trailed off as he smacked his forehead, “Shit... I wasn’t thinking. We’re at the mall. When you called, I told them I’d meet them at a certain store. It was a plan..but I wasn’t expecting a call.”

“Huh?” Kevin asked.

Nick wasn’t making any sense. He was rambling on and on, Kevin having no clue what he was talking about. He never seemed to anyways.

“I’ll explain later,” Nick said, shaking his head to clear his mind, “Um...that’s great that he was found.”

“Yeah. I’ll explain the details to everyone at once, when we meet back up again.” Kevin promised, not wanting to tell everyone everything separately. That would annoy him greatly.

“Sounds great,” Nick said, “I can’t wait to tell Amber. She’ll be thrilled to know.”

“Okay, well, I’m going to go and call Bri now and tell him.” Kevin said, “See ya in a few days.”

“Yep,” Nick replied.

The two old friend said goodbye. Nick hung up his phone, standing up. He started walking quickly towards the store where he was meeting Amber and A.J at. He had to get to Amber as quickly as possible. He couldn’t wait to tell her the good news. He could almost see her smiling upon receiving the information, feeling safe for the first time in weeks, or so he hoped. Just the thought of the possibilities put a grin on his own face.

Thanks to Ayleen, AjsSweety, Anastacia, Tori D, Stephanie and frackandbonechick for reviewing chapter 20!!! here is 21! Enjoy and I can't wait to hear what you think!!!

Chapter Twenty-One

Once inside the store, Amber right away fled to the girls side, hoping that A.J would separate to the mens side, beginning to browse through the piles of clothes, and racks of jeans. She started picking through the low-cut hip-hugger jeans, looking for a pair in her size seven. She stopped suddenly, freezing. A thought struck her all of a sudden. A thought of what had caused her to be raped in the first place. Had it been her tight fitting clothes, hugging her body snugly? Amber wondered if she should go to the maternity store to find some loose, baggy outfits to hide her form. She drew her hand back from the rack. She didn’t want to appear like a sexual object to men. For the first time, she thought that maybe her appearance had been what caused her to be violated.

“Finding anything that you like?”

Amber spun around quickly, startled. Her heart was pounding in her chest at what seemed to be a million beats per minute. She backed away, the clothing rack limiting her escape route from the man standing in front of her.

“Not yet?” A.J. asked, tilting his head to one side and smiling at her warmly, “Take your time...we have the rest of the afternoon...until the mall closes, if you like.”

Amber just nodded, her breathing slowly returning to a normal state. She gulped, feeling trapped. She could see in A.J’s brown eyes that he had nothing but good intentions. That didn’t help her fear much though. She wanted Nick there, but due to an untimely phone call, he’d stranded her with someone she hardly knew, without even thinking about it. She knew though, that it was through no fault but her own that she didn’t have communication skills between her and any of the other Boys besides Nick. Brian and Howie didn’t seem interested in getting to know her. Nick described it as not wanting to push things. She was petrified beyond belief of Kevin. Could anyone really blame her though? He’d been suspect of her rape. She had not seen the perpetrators face, so she’d no clue who he really was. She couldn’t be too trusting of anybody. A.J was really the only one other than Nick who was trying to make a point of getting to know her, yet she wasn’t letting him.

A.J held up a pair of jeans that looked like they’d be two sizes too big for him. Amber hadn’t noticed before that he had been holding anything. She then noticed that he was holding several pairs of pants and a few shirts.

“I’m going to go to the dressing room and try these on,” he informed her, “If you need anything, just shout through the door.”

Amber nodded, and A.J. smiled kindly at her once more before turning and walking away to be let in to one of the changing rooms. It wasn’t until she was sure that he wasn’t going to come back that she stepped away from the jeans rack. She rubbed the top of her back where it had been pressing into the sharp edge of where the jeans hung. She hadn’t noticed that she was in slight discomfort and pain until then.

Letting out a shaky breath, Amber turned back to the rack, deciding to try out some of the clothes that were in the store. She liked how they looked, and didn’t really want to dress like an old woman. Nick, she knew, would protect her from any harm that came her way.

Taking a couple of different styles of jeans and some tight, cropped off tops, she went to the dressing rooms as well. As she passed by, a door to one of them flew open. She stopped quickly, her breath catching in her throat, as she came inches from being hit in the face from the door. A.J, stepped out, wearing one of the outfits he’d taken in with him. He closed the door to a crack, then noticed Amber standing there.

“Hey,” he greeted, “There aren’t mirrors in the rooms in this store. Ya gotta come out of the room and look on the other side of hte door.” he explained.

“Oh,” she said softly.

“You going to try that on?” he asked.

Amber nodded her head, trying to find her voice to answer with words this once. A.J was being nothing but friendly towards her. It would do her good to talk to more than one person, other than Nick’s sisters. After all, in a few days, they wouldn’t be around any longer. Before she had the chance to answer though, A.J. started to speak again.

“Just go up to the counter, and ask for the door to be unlocked. Some places, they keep the doors locked. This is one of them.”

Amber stared at A.J. for a second as he turned to the mirror to check out the baggy jeans and loose orange long-sleeved shirt.

“That looks good on you,” she nearly whispered, her voice shaking as she spoke for the real first time since she’d come to realize that she had been raped and her trust of men vanished.

A.J. whipped his head towards her, startled as well as shocked. Had he been hearing things? He wasn’t sure, as he hadn’t expected a response other than nods and head shakes. That had been enough for him. It had been a small step forward

“Did you say something?” A.J. asked, just to make sure, so he didn’t miss anything.

Amber nodded, clearing her throat, “I said you look good in that,” she said louder this time.

A.J. smiled at her, trying not to show his shock, “Thanks,” he replied.

“Your welcome,” Amber responded before quickly scurrying away to get an employee to let her in to one of the dressing rooms.

A.J. shook his head, smiling lightly to himself. He was thrilled that he had actually gotten somewhere with Amber, proud of his accomplishment. His plan was working, only he felt slightly guilty for setting Amber up. All he could do was treat Amber with respect and delicately. He hoped that he was working towards slowly winning a small portion of Amber’s trust.

Taking another quick look in the mirror, A.J. shrugged, knowing he would probably end up buying it, for the sole reason that Amber had liked it, even if the ‘preppy’ look normally wasn’t something he went for when it came to shopping for himself. He opened the door, sliding back into the limited space of the dressing room just as Amber followed a young girl back to the room next to his, unlocking the door and letting her inside.

Ten minutes later, Amber had tried on all of the clothes she’d taken in with her. She still felt guilty about having the Boys buy her stuff, but they had insisted, so she decided on a pair of jeans and a few tops. She opened the door, her selections draped over her arm. A.J was already on the other side waiting for her with a pile of clothes in his hands.

“Ready?” he asked her with a patient, soft look in his eyes

Amber nodded as A.J. held out his arms for her to add her stuff to the pile. She carefully did so, almost as if she were afraid that he would lunge at her if she came too close.

“Okay, lets go pay now, and then we’ll wait for Nick outside,” he stated with a friendly grin, “I love shopping.”

Amber slowly smiled back at him, “Me too,” she said softly, then got up the courage to ask, “Won’t Nick want to shop in here?”

A,J shrugged as they stepped in to line to wait to have their things run up. The mall was surprisingly not very crowded for it being right after Christmas.

“I don’t know,” he answered, “Who knows. If he does, we can make fun of him or something while we wait.”

Amber wasn’t sure if she was supposed to laugh or not at that. So she just stared at A.J as if he’d grown an extra head. She felt kind of bad that the Boys teased Nick all of the time. To her, he’d always been nothing but a perfect gentleman. She wondered though if that was just a fake personality that he had to force upon himself, or if he naturally had that side to him.

Amber suddenly thought of something she’d wanted to do, or rather buy. She bit her lip, knowing that this was the perfect opportunity for her to get the list of things that was on her mind, and had been for a little over a week now. Amber took a deep breath, not really wanting to say more to A.J. than she had to, but since Nick was nowhere to be seen, she figured that she really had no other choice.

“Can we go to a music store?” she asked.

A.J looked down at her, and the look in her eyes reminded him of a little child. Despite the fact that a sick man had ripped her innocence away from her, she still had a look of just that in her eyes. She was vulnerable to the world, and he could see that she still feared him. He would do anything to make that fear go away.

“Sure thing,” he answered, moving forward as the woman in front of him left, her shopping backs swinging from her arms. A.J. placed his items up on the counter.

Nothing else was said until the cashier said the total amount of over six-hundred dollars. Amber’s eyes widened in response as A.J. handed over his credit card as if it were pennies. Amber then remembered that to someone like him, it practically was.

Once the transaction was complete, A.J. took the two shopping bags, and Amber followed him out of the store. He led her to a couch right outside, sitting down. Amber hesitantly sat next to him, leaving a good two-foot space between them. She wondered what was taking Nick so long. Sure, A.J. was friendly, but she could only take being alone with someone new for so long. This was definitely pushing that time limit. She felt slightly uncomfortable, shifting every few seconds or so. She didn’t understand how Nick could take half an hour on the phone.

“Probably got lost on the way here,” A.J. chuckled, as if reading Amber’s thoughts, “Even though we come here at least four times a year.”

Amber smiled weakly, wanting her new friend to just hurry up and rescue her from the awkward situation. The silence must have been getting to A.J, for after another five minutes, he started to speak to her.

“So, um...are you excited to start touring with us in the next couple of months?” he asked her, his hes glancing at her sideways for a split second.

“I guess,” Amber answered, “Sounds exciting.”

“It is. It does get tiring, I will admit, and demanding, but I love it.” he answered honestly, “I think that you will too.”

Amber was about to respond, but was glad that she didn’t have to when Nick came towards them, and A.J. stood up. She breathed a sigh of relief.

“Where the fuck were ya, man?” A.J. asked, punching Nick playfully in the arm.

“I got an important phone call,” Nick replied, giving Amber a small smile, who was standing up slowly. His look told her the phone call had something to do with her, “And then I got hungry, so I stopped at the food court...then I um,” Nick coughed as he finished off saying, “Couldn’t find the damn store.”

A.J. laughed, “Only you.”

“Yeah, well, the phone call...it was...I have some really good news,” Nick stated, finally finding the right words to describe he situation, “Amber, I think that you’ll be rather pleased to hear this.”

Amber looked up at Nick, her eyes full of question. She wondered what could be so good that he had to tell her. Nothing in her life was good lately. She was depressed and down on everything, although she tried to hide it. She didn’t want to appear ungrateful to Nick, or even the others.

“What is it?” A.J. asked.

Amber sucked in her breath as Nick slipped past A.J and looked deep into her eyes. He took a deep breath as well, as if he was nervous about what he was going to tell her. The information he held, she feared, was not what she expected to hear.

“The sick bastard that raped you...” he started, as Amber squeezed he eyes shut, remembering the horrific day and details of it all. Details she never wanted to think of again. Tears pooled in her eyes as she was forced to think of it again against her will, “They caught him.”

Thanks to AjsSweety, frackandbonechick, Anastacia, dancinpacer03, Tori D, Sassy, Louise, Jamelet (19-21) and Stephanie for reviewing chapter 21. Can't wait to hear what ya'll think of 22!!! Enjoy! (P.S. Your reviews mean so much to me! Thanks for all of your support!)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Amber just stared at Nick blankly for a moment, her body recoiling slightly away from him, more and more with every second that passed. Nick stared at her, trying to read through her, to get a reaction. The more delayed her reaction was though, the longer he waited and the more fearful she looked, Nick slowly began to realize that he had not gone about telling her the news in the right way. He should have been more gentle. He should have slowly broke the news to her. Instead, he blurted it out without feeling. Without considering Amber’s feelings. He cringed, knowing he had screwed up. He hoped that the traumatized girl didn’t hold this against him as he tried to think of a different, more delicate approach.

Nick bit his lip, trying his hardest to figure out another way to tell Amber, while A.J. stood behind him in slight shock. The way Nick had said it threw him off guard. The blonde hadn’t even said anything to work up to the big news. He tried to think of the right thing to say, the right way to say it, anything. Nothing came to his mind though. Nothing that would come out into spoken words, at least.

Closing his eyes, taking in a few deep breaths, Nick opened them again, finally thinking that he had figured out the right thing to say this time. Amber still stared at him, her form shaking slightly at the reminder of something she was trying so hard to forget about, but not succeeding with that wish and attempt.

“Amber,” Nick tried again, going back and trying to fix his mistake as best he could, “Let’s go sit down for a minute. There’s something that I need to tell you.”

The three ventured over to the couches no more than two feet behind them. They all sat, Nick in the middle. He shifted his body slightly towards Amber, since the topic of conversation mainly contained to her, but not so much that A.J. was left out completely. It was something that would affect everybody, as far as Nick was concerned.
Nick took a deep breath, willing himself to go on, finishing what he’d started as best he could. Amber was staring at him, not speaking, breathing slowly. He couldn’t tell if she was confused or afraid.

“I just got off of the phone with Kevin,” he explained gently, “Something came up, which is why he called me.”

Amber continued to just stare, and he could hear A.J. suck in his breath beside him. Nick knew that neither of them had fully gotten what he’d said before. He realized how abrupt he’d come out and say it. Nick scornfully scolded himself.

Nick, the fuck up, strikes again. He thought to himself, wondering why he couldn’t go without doing something stupid.

“The police station called him with some information containing to what happened to you,” he continued on, waiting a moment for Amber to comprehend that much. When he as sure that she had, he spoke again, “The man who did it was found. He’s in prison right now, and will be for a very long time.” he finished, knowing he’d done much better that time. He waited for a reaction, but disappointment fled over him when he didn’t receive one at all, “That’s great news, don’t you think?” he then asked.

Amber did nothing for a few moments, but then slowly shook her head, “He’ll come after me,” she whispered, “He’ll...he’ll try to find me.”

“No he won’t sweetie,” Nick said, “He’ll be in prison for many years. He can’t hurt you ever again.”

Amber didn’t seem to buy in to that, tears spilling from her already bloodshot eyes. She didn’t know what to think of what she had been told. It had all come about so fast.

“We’re here for you,” A.J. added softly, “All five of us.”

Amber forced a tight smile of thanks in his direction, only she looked past him rather than directly at him. His comment brought up another idea for Nick.

“You won’t have to be afraid of Kevin anymore,” he commented, “Now that they caught the real guy, you can feel safe around him now.”

“No, I can’t,” Amber whispered, “I still can’t. They could have made a mistake.”

Nick was about to protest, but decided against it. With time, he knew, she would see the good in Kevin. Nick looked at her again, seeing how visibly upset she was. He wondered if he should have waited until they were back at his home before telling her.

“Do you want to leave?” he offered, “If you’re to upset to stay here, it’s not a problem with us. We can go back home.”

Amber shook her head, standing up quickly. Nick and A.J. got to their feet seconds later to stand at a more eye-to-eye level with the petite young woman.

“No, I’m fine,” she tried to convince them, wiping the tears from her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt, “Let’s shop.” she said, facing Nick.

Nick looked at A.J. and shrugged as the three of them walked off to find other places to blow money in. Nick sighed, knowing that Amber truly wasn’t fine, but until she was ready to admit it, he couldn’t force her to. He needed to give her the space and time she needed to think about what he had told her minutes before. Nick wondered how long it would take.

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Nick slowly opened the door that had been left open crack and crept in to the room that Amber was staying in. A small lamp that was placed on the night stand by the bed glowed dimly, making Nick believe that the young girl was still awake, reading, or just lying there, merely thinking. It was nearing ten o clock, just two short hours since they’d left the mall; still early in to the night for anybody of their age.

“Hey, Amber,” he called out softly.

He walked further in to the room quietly, walking around the bed to face Amber. Once there, he saw that her eyes were closed, a soft snore coming from her. Once so light that I was hardly audible. There was one good thing about her staying with him. She hadn’t had another nightmare. If she had, Nick knew he would have heard her cries of despair. He smiled at her sleeping form, thinking of how she looked like a perfect angel. He didn’t blame A.J for having a crush on her. With that thought in mind, he recalled his talk that he’d had with his friend minutes prior. He had to commend his friend for treating Amber so generously. He knew A.J. had been truthful when he’d told Nick that he hadn’t been pushy or overbearing. That he had treated her gently and respectfully. How had he known that his friend was being honest? For starters, whenever the man had something to hide, he always went to many measures to avoid conversing about the topic. With this, he’d been more than willing to share his small progress. To A.J, it was the best day ever.

For Amber, however, it was a different story. Nick had thought that she would have been elated to hear that her perpetrator had been caught and was off of the road. Instead though, it had caused her to become more withdrawn. Not as much as when she’d first realized the bitter circumstances, but she had sunk back in to her shell a little bit. Nick wondered when she would start to come out again and make progress like she had been doing so well with. Another thing that had surprised him was that the news hadn’t made her any less afraid of Kevin. If anything, she was more petrified than before of his poor older friend and ‘brother’. He didn’t know why. Nick sighed, wondering what he should tell Kevin, if anything, as he continued to watch Amber sleep peacefully, shifting slightly. He knew that he had to tell the man something. It wasn’t right to keep from him what was causing Amber to stray away from him, more so than the others. Nick honestly didn’t have a clue as to what to tell him though. After all, it wasn’t easy telling one of the people you cared about most that a girl you were taking care of was terrified beyond belief of you because she’d been told that you’d temporarily been suspect for her attack, and she still believed that you had part to do with it. No, that definitely wouldn’t go over well, for a list of reasons.

Nick sighed. The girl had gone through a trying day, that was the only thing he really did know for sure at this moment. First, his younger, raging sack of hormonal brother had hit on her. She’d been tricked in to talking to A.J. and last of all, she’d had something thrust in her face that she obviously hadn’t been ready to hear.

Nick reached over and brushed a strand of her honey colored hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. He stood up straight, ready to leave when something caught his eye, stuffed under the bed most of the way. A portion of it was peeking out from under though. Curiosity got the best of Nick as he bent over, sliding it out from under the bed, picking it up. He recognized it as one of the shopping bag from earlier, the one that Amber had not wanted him nor A.J. to see, or know what she was buying. All she had done was meekly asked for Nick’s credit card, then slowly, self consciously ducked in to a store when the men hadn’t been watching. The two had stayed put, waiting for her return. Sure enough, twenty minutes later, she had come out, the bag rolled under so that the logo of what store she’d been in was not showing. He grinned evilly to himself, knowing that this was that purchase. At first, he thought that it was a gift for the, beginning to shove the bag back under the bed, the way he remembered he’d found it. Then he thought that Amber wouldn’t buy him something with his own money. Not even removing his hand from the bag, he took it back out, knowing that he was invading her privacy. He knew that he was snooping, but his curiosity was getting the better of him as he unrolled the bag. Reaching his hand inside, he pulled out what was obviously a stack of eight CD’s. He went through them quickly, recognizing them all too well. Four were the Boys three US albums plus the greatest hits. The other four were import albums from Holland, two from Germany and one from Australia. Nick shook his head, a slow smile spreading on his lips. He chuckled softly as he placed the albums back in the bag, tucking them under the bed again.

“Not a fan, huh?” he whispered, staring at her innocent face, still laughing a bit, “So much for that one.” he wondered why she had been so secretive and embarrassed to let them kno

Nick stood up, looking at Amber one last time before walking back around the bed and turning the light off. The room slowly grew black, making it so her sleep would be all the more relaxing and peaceful. A soft moan escaped her lips, but it wasn’t one that would start a nightmare. This time, it was one of comfort and of being content for the time being. He didn’t blame her for falling asleep so early. Once again, her day had been exhausting and he would even go as far as to call it stressful. She deserved a long nights rest, with hopes that the next day would be more positive for her.

Before leaving, Nick did a quick, silent thank you for Amber not catching on to the ploy to get her to be with A.J., and for her not turning against him for it. Nick turned around, walking slowly out of the room. The closed the door back to the way it had been when he’d first come by. He had a feeling that if he closed it all the way, if she awoke and saw, the poor young, troubled girl would feel trapped and scared. Claustrophobic.

Nick walked to the staircase, taking the winding steps down to the second floor of the three-story mansion, where his den and game room were. A.J. and Aaron were waiting for him there, probably messing around. They only had four days left of their break. Then he would have to say goodbye to his siblings again for another four or five months, at least. Nick couldn’t help but wonder what the next months would bring. He had a feeling in the pit of his stomach that things would definitely be interesting, to say the least.

Thanks to dancinpacer03, frackandbonechick, Tori D, Anastacia, Stephanie and Jamelet for reviewing 22. Enjoy 23...can't wait to hear what you think!

Chapter Twenty-Three

Amber woke up the next morning feeling better and more refreshed than she had in weeks. She had slept soundly throughout the night, not awakening once, something that was rare for her, even before she’d met the Boys

Sunlight poured through the window down the center, where the curtains met. She squinted, sitting up and stretching her arms over her head, a relaxing sensation overcoming her back and shoulders. Looking to the clock, Amber saw that it was nearly noon and gasped. She’d never slept in that late pre-rape. The past week or so, she had been better about that though, until this morning, and had to wonder if it was because of her busy, and quite eventful day the day before. She shrugged. At least she wasn’t sleeping non stop any longer, staying awake for two hours, max, during the duration of the entire day.

Amber sighed. The news that Nick had fed her the day before was embedded into her mind. It was almost too much for her to handle. One would think that she should feel relieved that the rapist was captured. She wasn’t though. For some reason, she felt less safe and more exposed and vulnerable to anybody who wanted to hurt her. The thing was, she was beginning to put the event behind her, and it was no longer occupying her every thought. All of that had changed and gone backwards again though, and she didn’t like it. She was becoming more depressed by the day, feelings of sadness tugging at her insides. But she kept up on doing her best to hide it, for the most part, not wanting Nick to read between the lines.. But given the new status of her case, she wasn’t sure how much longer she could fake her ‘everything is fine’ front. One of these days, she was terrified that she was going to just break down all together.

Stepping out of bed, Amber walked slowly into the bathroom to wash up for the day and get dressed. She hoped that she could do something with Nick’s sisters for the last few days, until their break was up. Something that would get her mind off of everything that she really didn’t want to be thinking about.

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“Hey, Nick,” Aaron asked as he spooned a large bite of cereal in to his mouth, milk spilling from the corners, “Do you have a thing for Amber.”

Nick nearly choked on his orange juice. He, Aaron, A.J. and his sisters were all at the kitchen table eating a late breakfast. He forced the beverage down his throat as he watched Aaron continue to stare at him in expectancy of an answer, still eating the cereal slobbishly. A.J. was looking down, avoiding meeting Nick’s gaze, his sisters had stopped what they were doing, looking at him along with Aaron, wanting to know what he would say.

“No,” Nick finally responded honestly, “I don’t have a ‘thing’ for Amber. She’s a good friend to me, that’s it.”

Aaron smirked, not believing a word of what was coming out of his older brother’s mouth. He knew Nick ...his brother was attracted to almost any human, in his age range without a dick.

“Sure ya don’t,” Aaron laughed.

Nick rolled his eyes. As alike as him and his brother were, Aaron was still in the middle of his little kid transferring into adult phase. Nick stopped to think about his thoughts for a moment, realizing that he, himself was still stuck in the middle as well.

“Aaron, grow up,” Nick finally stated, “I don’t want to be Ambers boyfriend, or hit on her, or anything along those lines.” he sighed then, “I just want to be there for her and be a really good friend to her.” he looked downward sadly, wondering if he was doing a good job of being a good friend to the girl, who was still struggling on learning to cope with her new life.

“Then can I have her?” Aaron asked hopefully, then added when he saw the death glare that Nick was shooting him, “If you don’t like her in that way, I’ll take her. She’s hot.”

“No,” Nick stated roughly.

“She needs a man,” Aaron said, then grinned, “I can be the man of her dreams.”

“She needs a friend,” Nick shot back, getting angry with his younger brother and his overpowering hormonal urges.

The two brothers continued to argue back and forth about their views on dating Amber. Their words bounced over the table like a ping-pong match. A.J. shook his head, wishing that he could have a chance with Amber. Nick was so protective of her. If he wouldn’t let his own real brother date her, there was no way he would go for A.J. trying to slowly work his way up to asking her out. A.J. knew that Amber wasn’t ready to date though, and he had to respect her, even though he was well past old enough to choose who he wanted to go out with.

The arguing continued to go on, Aaron insisting that he was the perfect suit for Amber, while Nick kept telling him to knock it off, and that no way in hell, under any circumstances, would he ever touch Amber.

“Nick,” Leslie finally interrupted, causing five heads to turn her way, “Did you tell Aaron about Amber?” she asked, knowing that her younger brother more than likely wouldn’t be pestering Nick if he knew the conditions.

Nick shook his head, “No...I didn’t think it mattered, since she’d be doing female bonding,” Nick rolled his eyes at that, “With you three.” he pointed at Leslie, drawing his finger straight across Angel to B.J.

“Tell him,” Leslie demanded of her older brother, “It might help if he knows this.”

“If I know what?” Aaron asked, tilting his head to one side in confusion, “What does everyone else know that I don’t?”

Nick sighed, turning to Aaron. He hoped that the sixteen year old boy was mature enough to handle what he was about to tell him.

“The reason you can’t date Amber is because something happened to her that has made her lack trust in men,” Nick told him, “It took me days for her to even talk to me, weeks for A.J, and the others, not at all.”

Aaron stared at Nick with his mouth hanging open, one eyebrow raised. He hadn’t the slightest clue what Nick was talking about, and wanted to know. He hated being left out. Nick paused, making Aaron’s curiosity even more drawn out. Nick swallowed, forcing himself to go back to the day that he’d first seen Amber. The morbid, unpleasant images all came swarming back to his mind all at once. He started to speak again, telling Aaron the short version of what had happened.

“About three weeks ago,” Nick started, “We...the
Boys and I....we found her in an alley. If we’d been even ten minutes later, or taken a different rout, she probably would have died.”

“I’m not a dumb ass like you,” Aaron said, interrupting his brother, “You don’t have to talk slowly like I am some kind of imbecile.”

“Right,” Nick said, “She was raped and shot.” he blurted out, just getting it over with. It was still once subject that Nick didn’t like to talk about.”

Aaron’s eyes widened in shock at what the girl had been through, immediately feeling bad for hitting on her the day before, and pestering Nick to help set him up with her. He had screwed up, “Shit,” he muttered, “If I knew before...”

“It’s fine,” Nick snapped, the good mood that he’d awakened with diminished.

Silence fell over the table as nobody knew what to say. Aaron’s prior cluelessness had but a strain on everyone’s mood. A.J. pushed his plate, which was still half full, away from him, losing his appetite. He wished that he could mess up the man that had done this to her. He hope that with time, he could develop a friendship with Amber like Nick had, and maybe eventually, gradually, work up to asking her out on a date. His first concern though was getting her to trust him, something that he originally hadn’t wanted to begin their relationship with. Before, he’d wanted to jump right in to something. Not anymore though.

His thoughts were interrupted by Amber walking in to the kitchen, taking an empty seat in between Nick and Leslie. One that Nick had intentionally made sure was left vacant.

“Good morning,” Nick stated, his mood cheering up a little, “Did you sleep well last night?”

Amber nodded


“Are you hungry?” he asked her.

Amber shook her head, “Not right now,” she told him, which was a lie. She was famished. Her stomach hurt from the hunger that she was facing. She hoped that it wouldn’t give her away by grumbling.
Nick shrugged, then grinned at what he had discovered the night before when he’d gone in to check up on her. A.J. got up and left the table, Aaron leaving seconds after. Nick’s sisters started talking quietly amongst themselves

“I saw your little purchase from yesterday,” Nick brought up, stifling a laugh, “Interesting, I must admit.”

Amber’s eyes shot up in his direction, a slight blush arising on her pale cheeks. She bit her lip, as if she’d been caught in the middle of an unforseen act.

“You shouldn’t be going through my stuff,” Amber said softly.

“I bought it though,” Nick grinned impishly, acting extremely childish, “I have every right to know what I spent my money on.”

Amber looked down, realizing that he was right, “I know I said that I don’t like your music style, but you guys are kind of good.”
Nick laughed. She reminded him so much of a little girl right then.

“Don’t be embarrassed,” Nick told her, “It just
surprised me a little, that’s all.”

Amber shrugged. She wouldn’t go as far as to say that she was ashamed to be listening to the Boys music. She figured that it was more along the lines of her originally telling Nick that she had never listened to them before, and now had a sudden interest in what their songs were like.

“So,” Nick asked, breaking her train of thought, “What are the plans for today?”

“Not sure,” Amber told him.

“Would you maybe be interested in going out in the boat?” he asked, “It’s in the upper sixties, which is cool for here, but its warm enough to go out.”

Amber nodded, “Sounds like fun.”

“Great,” Nick grinned, “I’m gonna go ask the others if they want to join us.”

Amber smiled. She hadn’t really been outside in weeks and could almost feel the rays of sun hitting her face already. Maybe this was just what she needed to brighten her mood and outlook on life.

First off, I'd like to mention that I've been nominated for some awards for the Back To Reality Fan Fiction Awards, so that is really exciting! Also, thanks to dancinpacer03, Anastacia, Stephanie, Anita, frackandbonechick and AJsSweety for reviewing 23...here is 24! Enjoy and can't wait to see what you think!!!

Chapter Twenty-Four

Amber laid out on a beach towel on the small sun deck, big enough for two people, possibly three, that was on Nick’s boat. She closed her eyes, soaking in the warm Florida rays of sun. Luckily, Leslie had brought an extra swimsuit. They were about the same size, so she didn’t have a hard time fitting in to it. The only bad thing was that she felt exposed and uncomfortable in the tiny bikini. But beings she wanted to work on a tan since she was so pasty white, Amber knew she would have to suck it up. Besides, she felt okay around Nick, and she knew that Nick wouldn’t let A.J. or Aaron get any ideas. She’d heard him more or less telling them that if they tried to make a pass at her, that he would make them swim back to shore, which was a good ten miles. She had secretly laughed at Nick’s threat, feeling good that he would go through such lengths just to make her feel okay about things.

Suddenly, Leslie was next to Amber. She spread out a beach towel, sitting down. Amber sat up, eager to talk to someone. She liked Nick’s sisters a lot, wishing that they could go with her, Nick and A.J in just three days.

Neither of them said anything for a long moment. They just sat, Leslie looking out at the water longingly. It was obvious that the Carter’s loved the water. After a few moments, Leslie looked to Amber and spoke.

“So, what do you think?” she asked

“Of what?” Amber responded, thinking that the question could go in many different directions.

Leslie laughed at herself, realizing quickly how broad her question had been, “Of Florida, the beach, water...being here.” she spoke, naming off many things.

Amber didn’t answer for a moment. She’d never really taken the time to think of how she liked or didn’t like everything. She’d just accepted it and went with things. She rationed out everything in her mind quickly before answering the question aloud.

“Florida is nice,” she said softly, “Being out here on the water is relaxing. I think it’s what I needed, to get away for a day like this. As for being here, it’s great. You’ve all been so good to me, making me feel like I belong.”

Leslie smiled kindly at Amber, “Yeah, it is relaxing out here, and I know that you’re like family to Nick. He really cares about you,” she looked at her brother, catching him staring in their direction. She waved before turning back to Amber, lowering her voice, “I’ve never really seen Nick act this way over someone, and it’s really made him grow up. He’s normally more immature than Aaron.”

Amber’s mouth dropped, her eyes widening. Leslie laughed at the expression on the girls face. It was priceless.

“I can’t picture him being like that,” she finally said, “He’s done nothing but try to help me from day one, even after I turned him away, he never gave up.”

“Let’s just say that you stepping into his life unexpectently has made him a better person in the long run.”

Amber tried to comprehend what she was being told, not knowing how she could make such an impact on someone’s life. Especially since it was under such horrible circumstances. She shrugged the thought off, knowing that it wouldn’t do her any good to drive herself completely crazy trying to figure it all out.

Leslie looked back over to where Aaron, Nick and A.J. were. B.J. and Angel had stayed back at the house. She caught A.J. in the guilty act of staring over at them. When he noticed Leslie looking at him, he quickly turned his head, blushing slightly as he tried joined into a
conversation with the brothers, playing it off as if he didn’t even know that the girls were there.

“You know,” Leslie stated, looking back to Amber, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that A.J. has a crush on you.”

This made Amber tense up. She’d felt A.J. looking at her before, and caught his gazes, seeing the attraction in his eyes. At the mall, he had been friendly and kind, taking things slow, but the fact that he possibly wanted more than friendship with her terrified her beyond belief. It made her feel like his good intentions were being faked in hopes of getting something from her. Amber sighed, knowing that she wasn’t nearly over what had happened to her, and didn’t know when she would be, if ever. All she knew was that it was taking time...a lot of time.

"Oh?" Amber asked.

'Definitely," Leslie answered.

Amber was silent, not knowing how to take the information. She should have guessed that he did, but was trying to deny it, pushing the reality of it out of her mind

“He seems nice enough,” Amber finally stated, “But seems a little...pushy in a way,” she slowly added, trying to find the right, yet least insulting, words to describe how she perceived the tattooed man who appeared to be a little rough around the edges.

Leslie shrugged, “I guess I can see where you would think that,” she began, “He is known to be the flirt of the group, but believe me, he’s trying to take things slow with you, which is not like him at all. Normally, he doesn’t waste his time on a woman who strays herself away from him.” she paused for a moment, “He’s not so bad though, if you give him a chance. In all actuality, he’s a pretty good guy. Trust me, I’ve known him for ten years.”

Amber didn’t say anything. She didn’t want to say anything bad about the man, for she didn’t know him well enough to do that. Yet she didn’t want to say anything that would maybe get back to him and give him false hope of them maybe forming some kind of relationship. Who knew what the future might bring, but for the moment, it wasn’t the right time for that.

“I’m sorry,” Leslie apologized after three minutes of silence, “I shouldn’t be defending him and making him seem great. I mean, he is, but after what you went through, I’m sure that it is the last thing that you want to hear,” she chuckled, “Hell, it probably sounds like I am trying to fix the two of you up on a date or something.”

Amber couldn’t help but smile at that. She and Leslie related a lot to one another in their interests. They were roughly the same age. Although she’d only known the girl for a few days, she felt like she was the sister that she never had. Being an only child had robbed her of a lot of things, including a sibling that could also be her best friend.

“It’s okay,” she replied with a reassuring smile, “I just hope that one of these days, I can talk to all of the guys.” Amber bit her lip, wanting to ask Leslie about something. It had been on her mind a lot, and she couldn’t bring herself to ask Nick. She was sure that he would sugar coat anything bad in his answer, if there was anything. Leslie, she figures, was her best bet at getting an honest response, “What is Kevin like...I mean, he wouldn’t try to hurt anyone, would he?” she asked finally, worry in her blue eyes was evident.

Leslie’s eyes widened in surprise, “Oh no,” she replied, shaking her head, “He is the sweetest man you would ever meet. He may come off all strict and serious, but he would never hurt anyone,” Leslie stopped, tilting her head to one side, looking at Amber in question, “Why do you ask?”

“Um...he disappeared for awhile, so I asked Nick why. He told me that Kevin was in prison, accused of what happened. He was let out, but I still wasn’t too sure,” she blushed slightly, “I told Nick to try to keep him away from me, so he couldn’t hurt me.”

“You should consider giving him a chance,” Leslie stated, “Knowing him, he’s really hurt by your keeping him away, though he would never admit it.” Leslie laughed, “Male pride thing. Anyways, I can guarantee that he would never hurt you. If anything, you’d probably become closer to him than old blonde boy over there,” she nodded her head towards Nick, “Then we’d have issues with his bruised ego.”

Amber giggled, “Nobody could ever replace Nick’s friendship in my heart,” then her smile faded, “Maybe I shouldn’t have been so cruel towards Kevin before getting to know him.” she bit her lip, “I feel so guilty, and even though I probably wouldn’t be talking to him still, at least I wouldn’t be shunning him and making sure he is kept away.”

Leslie shrugged, “It’s not too late to change your attitude towards him,” she stated, then was quick to defend Amber’s side as well, “I mean, I have no idea how hard what you went through must have been. You can slowly warm up to Kev though.”

Amber was silent, looking to the ground, taking what she said in to deep consideration. If she did slowly warm up to the man, it didn’t mean that she had to speak to him. It just meant that she would quit acting like the ice queen around him.

Amber looked up, seeing A.J. coming towards them. She tensed a little, wondering what he wanted, hoping that he was coming for Leslie. As he approached, Amber felt more and more insecure as she slowly wrapped the beach towel around her body to cover herself.

“May I please speak to Amber,” he asked Leslie.

She looked to Amber nervously, knowing that the poor girl would not like the idea, but also knew that she, along with Nick, were also on board. A.J. would behave, but she was still hesitant with her response to the man.

“Sure,” she slowly replied, standing up. She turned to Amber, looking down, “I’ll talk to you later,” she stated, then turned to A.J, pulling him down and whispering in his ear, “You better behave yourself, Bone.” she finished off, using his nickname.

“I will,” A.J. defended himself, putting his hands up in front of him and taking a small step backwards, “Jeez.”

Leslie gave him one last warning look before walking past him towards her brothers. A.J. slowly sat down next to Amber. She adverted her gaze away from him, neither of them speaking for a moment. A.J. sensed her fear. She didn’t try to hide it.

“So, um, how are you doing?” A.J. finally asked after not being able to take the uncomfortable silence between them.

“Okay, I guess,” Amber said, turning hr head away, using as little words as she possibly could in her response, yet one that was still satisfying.

There was another silence. Amber took in to mind what Leslie had told her about A.J. being a pretty good guy. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, taking in his perfectly sculpted abs, and lean body. She couldn’t help but think of how good he looked, but quickly scolded herself. She was still slightly afraid of him.

“Did you have fun yesterday?” A.J. asked.

Amber just nodded, keeping her gaze in front of her, away from A.J. She couldn’t believe that after their talk, Leslie would leave her alone with him.

A.J. was about to say something else, but out of nowhere, a few raindrops fell upon Ambers head. She looked up, seeing that the few clouds that had been in the sky had darkened a bit as the drops became more frequent. Soon after, a soft clap of thunder came from somewhere in the distance. Amber sighed, not knowing how a perfectly beautiful day could become spoiled so quickly.

“Everyone under the roof,” Nick called, “It’s gonna storm, so we gotta head back.”

A.J. stood up, holding his hand out for Amber to grab on to. She reculantly took hold of it as he helped her up, quickly pulling back and scurrying to safe cover.

“Surprise you’re bright enough to know to go back before the storm hits,” A.J. joked as he joined everyone else.

“Fuck you, J,” Nick laughed as he started the boat up and turned it around speeding towards the shore. He hoped that they made it back before the weather got worse.

Amber looked behind them as the water rippled from the motor, waves trailing behind the speed of the water craft. She’d had a good day, she had to admit. It felt good to be able to relax. The thing was, she wondered if this would help her long term, or if it would be a one day thing, and her life would go back to how it had been after they arrived back at Nick’s.

Thanks to Anita, Anastacia, dancinpacer03, frackandbonechick, sweetangelicangel and Stephanie for reviewing 24! Here is 25. Can't wait to hear what ya'll think, and a hint...something big happens in the next chapter after this one!

Chapter Twenty-Five

The day that Amber, Nick and A.J. all left to meet the other Boys in Dallas to begin the last three week round of concerts was a sad one for Amber and had arrived all to fast for her own personal liking. She wasn’t ready to leave the safety Nick’s cozy home. She wasn’t ready to leave his sisters, the three new friends she had made for a short amount of time. She had adapted to not being around a lot of people ninety percent of the time and had gotten used to living in a real place again. A real home, with a family. This thought caused Amber to sigh. She hadn’t thought of her family in a couple of weeks, trying to will them out of her mind for abandoning her. But on the occasion that she did think of them, she missed them, despite what they had done. The thing was, she didn’t think she would ever want to talk to them again, given the small change that they would come around. They had hurt her. Nothing could ever take that back.

All of the shows post Christmas were taking place in warmer states, since outdoor venues held a lot more people, and outdoor concerts were only possible in nicer whether. In three weeks, once the tour was over, Amber wasn’t sure what would happen. All she knew of was that there would be talks of beginning to record for a new album after a few months. What would happen to her, she did not know. She wasn’t sure of Nick, or possibly even any of the other four Boys, would want her around. She was too afraid to bring it up to Nick too, for fear that he would say that she was on her own after the tour was over. For fear that he would be sick of her, and couldn’t wait to rid of her.

Amber let out a long sigh as she turned her head and looked out of the window of the plane. Only another hour until they were due to land and reunite with the others. Amber could honestly say she didn’t know what to expect, for she’d made a vow that her New Years resolution would be to give the other Boys a chance, even if that meant opening up to them as slowly as humanly possible.

That brought back a new thought to Amber’s mind. On New Years Eve, they had celebrated with pizza, a dip made of chili, cheese and salsa heated and mixed up with tortilla chips and a few bottles of sparkling grape juice. Amber had been surprised that the two legal men hadn’t gotten any of the real stuff, hoping that they were holding back on her behalf.

“You okay?” a voice asked, sensing that something was bothering the girl.

Amber looked next to her seeing A.J. She recoiled slightly towards the window, wondering when he had gotten to be next to her. When they’d taken off, the seat had been empty, the two men behind her, giving her the space they’d predicted that she needed.

“Um, yeah,” she choked out, “I’m fine.”

Despite their very few encounters over the week, she was still slightly uncomfortable around him. She then remembered her resolution. It was January first. The perfect opportunity to start right off before it got too far in to the year and with no progress or attempt to even try. She looked behind her at Nick, who was asleep. She figured without him to watch over her and help her out, it would make talking to A.J. easier.

“You sure,” A.J. asked, concern evident in his eyes, “You look like something is bothering you.” he paused for a moment before adding, “If you need to talk, I’m here.”

Amber paused, looking out of the window again for a moment before answering. She wanted to deny that something was troubling her, but figured getting it out might make her feel better. She did not, however, want Nick to know, for he worried about her. She didn’t want him to worry more. Maybe opening up to A.J. would give her another friend. She discretely shrugged. What could it hurt. She didn’t really have anything to lose. She turned back to A.J, who was still looking at her patiently, waiting for her to answer him.

“I um, I’m not happy,” she admitted, “I’m scared and feel alone.”

A.J. was silent for a moment, not really knowing how to respond to her confession. He hadn’t really expected her to be so open with him. He hadn’t really expected her to say much of anything. She had been though, and he couldn’t help but wonder why or what to say. He didn’t even know if she was searching for some sort of advice.

“That’s..erm, that’s understandable,” A.J. offered with a kind smile, “You know that Nick, I and the other guys are all here for you if you ever need to talk though, right?” Amber nodded, “You seem withdrawn, but not unhappy though.” A.J. added, noting his observations of her attitude and way about things.

“I...I’m depressed,” she said, “I feel like my life is over.”

“Have you talked to Nick about it?” A.J. asked, knowing that Nick was the first person she would run to with her thoughts and feelings.

Amber shook her head, “Oh, no,” she said, “I don’t want Nick to know. He...he’s so protective and all. I don’t want to worry him.”

A.J. chuckled, “Why are you telling me then?” he asked, wondering why the chance in her demeanor around him, “I mean, you seem to trust Nick. If you can’t tell him, then why do you feel that you can tell someone else?”

Amber shrugged. How was she to tell him that he wasn’t so bad after all? That she was giving him a chance because she’d slowly gotten to know him a little over the week and decided that she could talk to him a little bit, in a different way than with Nick? She couldn’t help but think that A.J. had been trying way to hard to get her to open up to him, but it had worked. Besides, she needed more than one person to communicate with while touring around. That brought her thoughts back to her New Years resolution and the progress she’d made with A.J.

One down, three to go. Amber thought with a small sigh.

Half hour later, the small jet touched down on the ground as the group got up and walked to the exit of the plane, walking down the terminal in to the airport. Beings their plane was half hour behind the others, Brian, Howie and Kevin were already waiting for them, along with their security at the almost abandoned waiting area. All that was there were a few middle aged couples and senior citizens. As early as it was in the morning, relief was evident in the Boys eyes that there were no screaming young girls around.

Nick and A.J. walked quickly over to their three friends, immediately beginning to catch up on what had happened over the break to each of them. Amber slowly walked behind them, staying back timidly. Being around the others was already making her have second thoughts on her intentions on getting to know them all.

The guys all talked and laughed amongst one another for a long while. It was as if they were oblivious to Amber behind them. It was almost like Nick and A.J. had forgotten she had come with them, the others forgetting her existence altogether. She felt excluded, not knowing why she really cared for she normally liked it when she was not noticed or had attention drawn to her. Kevin, who was facing her the entire time suddenly looked past the Boys in front of him and right at her as if noticing her for the first time. He smiled at her, staying where he was.

“Hey Amber,” he greeted, “How are you doing?”

Amber froze, intense fear overcoming her before remembering what Leslie had told her. She had said that Kevin was probably the Boy with the softest, kindest heart out of all five men. She slowly relaxed before responding.

“Okay,”

If Kevin was surprised at her suddenly talking to him for the first time in weeks, he did not show it. He acted as if it wasn’t a big thing at all.

“Did you have a good break?” he asked her.

Amber took in a deep breath, willing herself to answer. She had to keep telling herself that Kevin would not hurt her. That none of them would. She looked up from the ground and saw that all of the Boys were staring at. She felt somewhat self-conscious but figured that she would have to get over that. She was, after all, going to be pretty much living with them for a long time more than likely.

“Yes,” she answered, “It was fun.”

“Ready to start touring for a little while?” he asked her

Amber nodded.

“I think you’ll like it. The first show it tomorrow night.” he said before looking down at his watch, “Well, we’d better get going. The bus is supposed to be here to get us in ten minutes at the side exit, since that is the easiest way out.”
The group started walking together in search of the correct exit to find their bus. Amber had a feeling that the next few weeks of her life would be an experience like nothing she’d ever done before. She would even say that nothing she had ever done before would come close, including being on a traveling cheerleading team for a summer during her sophomore year in high school.

On their way to the bus, the group was stopped only four times to pictures and autographs and after twenty minutes, they finally found where they were supposed to be. Quickly getting on to the bus, they were taken to their hotel. Amber was personally kind of excited about going to her first Backstreet Boys concert the next night, wondering if they sounded as good singing their songs in person as they did on the CD.

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The next night rolled around before any of them had time to blink, it seemed. Before they knew it, the Boys and Amber were at the venue where they’d be performing at. Amber’s eyes widened at the sight of how many people were already at the venue upon their arrival. She had to say that it was more than what was at the Christmas concert just a week before. She shook slightly, fearing going out in the open. The last time she’d gone backstage, she’d been violated to some extent by J.C. The memory of that lingered in her mind, making it so that she wasn’t so sure that she’d have been better off staying at the hotel. The thing was, they were leaving for the next city after the show, not going back to their prior place of slumber.

Amber sighed as she sat in a small corner by herself as the Boys all hustled to get ready to take the stage. She watched them, wishing that Nick, or she would even go as far as to say A.J, would pay attention to her. Then again, everybody was so in to their own thing that noone was acknowledging her. She figured as long as she stayed where she was, she wouldn’t be noticed and bothered.

Amber watched everyone buzz around some more, closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath. Sometimes she thought that she was getting better and learning to cope in her new world and with the gender she was most afraid of, since she lived with five of them. Then other times, she knew that she wasn’t progressing as much as she would have liked, for she still had yet to talk to Howie and Brian and the thought of speaking to them put knots in her stomach.

“You hangin’ in there?” Nick asked, coming up beside her.

Amber looked up and nodded as he crouched down to her level. “Nobody will try to hurt me, like J.C did, will they?” she asked him, the words coming from her mouth before she really had time to think about what she was saying.

Nick laughed lightly, taking her hand in his in a friendly manor, “No, nobody will do what that asshole did.” Nick told her, his eyes telling her that he was sincere, “Everyone on the crew is great. The warm up band is cool too, but they’re going to be gone in a few. No worries.”

He offered her a convincing smile, or what he hoped to be one. Amber smiled tightly back at him, feeling slightly embarrassed for acting how she was.

“Ya going to be okay while we’re out there?” he asked her just as Kevin was calling for him, yelling something about him getting his ass over to where the rest of them were. He was obviously ignoring his eldest friend.

“Yes,” Amber told him, “It’s just for a little while. I’ll be okay.”

Nick leaned in and hugged her quickly before hopping up to his feet and jogging off to join the other four Boys. Amber could hear screams coming from the other side of the stage. She had the urge to get up and peek around the curtain that separated the two sides, but decided against it. She knew that if she saw how many people were there, it would send her into a panic. That’s how it always went. She had an attack when she least expected it, but it always happened in public places.

Minutes later, she heard the sound of music filling her ears loudly as the Boys ran out on to stage. The screams and shrieks became louder, more intense, and Amber was amazed that so much sound could be produced by the people in the audience.

Once the singing started, Amber had to say that she was right away addicted to their sound. She couldn’t believe that they’d been a group for almost eleven years and she was just now experiencing a taste of their sounds. She couldn’t believe that she’d gone with the majority of the girls from her school, saying that they were ‘teeny-pop’ music and for groupies. Their talent was phenomenal and she knew that touring with them would never get old, assuming she’d have the chance to tour with them for years and years on end. They sounded incredible on album, but in person, it was like nothing she had ever experienced before, and she meant that in a good way.

The songs went by quickly, each one new to Amber’s ears. She personally liked the upbeat songs best, but the slower ones were sweet as well as harmonious to her. They sounded different in person. The songs seemed more personal and like they had more heart and soul put in to them live. Amber wished that she could see the energy that they produced while dancing, but knew that it would have to wait for another time. This was her first show, and was not ready to be out in the open. Little did she know, she would get more attention once she was ready to be seen than she was really comfortable with and ready to take in at once.

Thanks to Anita, dancinpacer03, stephanie, frackandbonechick, Anastacia and Sta for reviewing 25. Enjoy 26 and I can't wait to hear what everyone thinks! lol.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Amber groaned inwardly to herself after picking up yet another semi-thick magazine from the small stack on her king-sized hotel bed with her picture on the cover before tossing it aside on the floor to the pile of others.

Ever since word about her suddenly being with the Backstreet Boys had gotten around and people started to notice her, which had pretty much been the night of the first show, the Boys and sometimes she, had been interviewed by multiple magazines. One thing was the same though when it came to each one. Her picture appeared on the cover along with the Boys, the photograph in bright colors and standing out amongst the others, or so it seemed.

Amber was not happy in the least that her experience, traumatic as it had been, was being made in to a story. It was out in the open now, her personal life out and exposed for the whole world to read about. The fact that her photo was on the cover and inside the pages of just about ever big-name magazine frightened her, for it meant that her rapist was more likely to trace her now. The fact that he was in prison caused her no comfort, for prisoners escaped on occasion.

Although their attempt had not worked, the Boys had tried to argue against each and every interview, wanting to protect their new friends privacy. Their management and publicist, on the other hand, had thought the interviews to be a good idea, saying it would be good for their reputation. After much arguing, saying that Amber would not be comfortable with it, the higher-ups had won in the end. The Boys had apologized profusely to her, but it still did not change things.

Reaching beside her to move on to the next magazine, she realized that her pile had already been gone through and there were none left for her to choose from. She hadn’t even opened one. With a sigh, she scooted on her stomach to the edge of the bed to peer over the edge to the ground at ten pictures of herself staring up at her, strewn across the floor. There was YM, US, Seventeen, Rolling Stone, People and Teen People, to name a few. All interviews had been done in a three day span, causing all of them no free time and little or no sleep. By the beginning of the next week, that day, the issues had been distributed to stores, sitting on the shelves. In a matter of days, everyone would recognize her on the streets.

There was only a little under a week and a half left for the tour. Amber was both excited and sad that it was almost over. She was excited for the fact that she’d no longer be out in the open for all to see. With every show, more and more people had begun to noticed her, wondering who she was, some acting as if she did not belong, others just staring in curiosity. The sadness came in to play though because she loved hearing the Boys sing. She also found always being on the move exhilarating and somewhat thrilling. She loved seeing new places all the time. To be honest, the only part of touring around that she thoroughly disliked was having the constant cameras shoved in her fact. Therefore, her emitions were mixed when it came to the tour ending.

Amber knew that in the past eleven days, she’d improved quite significantly on her social status with the Boys. She spoked with A.J. on a regular basis now, although she still didn’t trust him as much as she did Nick. She found through observation that Kevin really was kind -hearted and was extremely patient when it came to her opening up. He never got irritated and frustrated with her. Because of this, she would sometimes exchange a few words with him, slowly becoming more comfortable when around him. Then there was Howie and Brian. She hadn’t really said more to them then “Hi,” and “Fine,” when asked how she was doing. She knew that she couldn’t keep up on being afraid forever, but the rape had only been a month ago. She figured that it was only natural for her to still be afraid, and even though she had not had a panic attack recently, she knew for a fact that there would be more to come with time.

Amber rolled over on to her back, letting her head hang upside down off of the edge of the bed. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

“Come in,” Amber called, hoping that it was either Nick or A.J.

“I would if I had a key to your room,” came Nick’s distinctive voice.

“Oh,” Amber muttered, embarrassed that for a moment, she had forgotten where they were. She flipped back over, getting to her feet too quickly. She swayed back and forth for a moment from her head-rush before quickly walking to the door to open it and let Nick in.

“Hey,” he grinned, walking into the room without an invitation. He knew he didn’t need one. He advanced further in to the room as Amber let the door close behind them and followed him in to the room. Amber stopped when she saw Nick staring at the magazines littering the floor. He let out a low whistle before saying, “Damn, where did you get all of these?”

He bent down to pick one up, examining the cover, “How...why...when...how are these out already?” Nick stuttered, “I mean, we just did the damned interviews last week.”

Amber shrugged, “I got them down at the gift shop this morning while I was looking around,” she told him, “But I couldn’t bring myself to read the articles or interviews.”

Nick looked completely disgusted, “I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t read anything in here either. It’s ridiculous that we had to do these against all of our will anyways. It’s all bull shit.”

He carelessly, and somewhat roughly, threw the magazine down as if it was boiling hot to the touch, the pages bending and folding from the force that it hit the ground with, skidding across the floor and under the bed partway.

“Anyways,” Nick started, letting his fingers trail against the dresser top before moving to the bed and sitting down. He looked up at Amber.

“Was there anything you needed,” Amber asked, wincing because her tone came out impatient and somewhat harsh, two things she hadn’t intended to imply. She was glad for the visit from Nick. It helped to get her mind off of things. Especially the most recent of events.

“Yes, actually there was,” Nick replied, not taking offence to her tone, either that not noticing it at all. Either way, Amber was glad, “The tour is ending soon, and, well, I was just wondering if you knew what you were going to do after it was over.”

He was avoiding her gaze, and Amber wondered why he was so nervous, but found it to be cute. However, his question had caught her off guard, and it was all she could do to not have any sarcasm in her answer. His question she found to be odd, for he should know that she had nowhere to go. She wondered if he was hinting that she was no longer welcome to be with them after the next ten days. It seemed to be what he was implying.

“I don’t really know,” she answered, “I don’t really know anybody that I could stay with or go to. So, no, I guess I don’t know what I’m doing, but I can figure it out.”

“That’s good..I mean, the guys and I all want you to know that you’re welcome to stay with any one of us. Brian and Kevin are both married, and have wives they’ll be going back to..Leighanne and Kristen. They thought maybe you and their wives would get along, if you wanted to try that out for awhile, at least.”

Amber bit her lip. Kevin and Brian’s offers were well intentioned, and she thought that just maybe she would get along good with Leighanne and Kristen, but would feel odd going off with either of them for two reasons. The first one was that she hardly spoke to them. The second was she didn’t want to feel like an intrusion to either relationship, butting in where she did not belong.

“Nah,” she replied, “That’s okay. I get along with your sisters really well, and they’re more my age...plus I won’t be overstepping my boundaries on someone’s marriage.”

Nick chuckled at that, “You wouldn’t be anyways. They offered, Amber.” he sighed, “A.J. would love to have you stay with him.”

“He’s nice and all, but he’s trying way too hard to get me to open up to him,” Amber stated, causing Nick to break out into a fit of hyena laughter, “Seriously. If it hadn’t been for him always trying to get me to talk to him, I probably would have much sooner.

Nick shrugged, “It’s your choice. What about Howie?”

“Haven’t talked to him at all hardly,” Amber stated, “Plus, he doesn’t seem to want me around. He hasn’t made a point to talk.”

Nick shook his head, “There’s no winning with you girl. Aje tries too hard, Howie doesn’t try enough. Dude...” his voice trailed off as Amber slapped him jokingly, “Howie is just giving you your space. He doesn’t want to pry or make you feel forced or rushed.”

Amber just shrugged, “Either way.”

“You’re welcome to stay with me again,” Nick offered, “I don’t know how often the sibs will be around, but we’re pretty good friends, right?”

Amber nodded, “I consider you like, a big brother and best friend.”

Nick laughed, “Same goes, lil sis,” he joked, “So you’re coming with me?” he asked, just to make sure that he was getting the information correctly.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Amber smiled, happy that her main stressor was off of her back now, “How long are breaks after tours normally?” she then asked.

“Depends...sometimes months, sometimes year or so, sometimes a few weeks before we’re back and recording again...or it could be. Hasn’t been for us.”

Amber was about to reply when the phone suddenly rang, causing her to jump. She looked at Nick with eyes wide in fright. She hadn’t a clue who would be calling her. Only one thing came to mind, as she tried to find her voice as the phone continued to ring.

“Could you please get it?” she asked pleadingly, “What if it’s him...” she added, referring to the man who had stolen her innocence and caused her vulnerability.”

Nick gave her a kind, sympathetic smile as he reached over and grabbed the phone, bringing it to his ear.

“Hello?” he asked.

“Hi, is Amber there?” came a woman’s voice that Nick didn’t recognize at all.

“Can I ask who’s calling, please,” Nick was sure to put emphasis on the last word.

“None of your business. Just put her on the phone.”

Nick’s eyes widened at the rudeness of the lady as he hesitantly took the phone from his ear and held it out to Amber, who recoiled in terror.

“It’s some woman,” he informed her with a shrug, “Probably another reporter. If it is, just hang up on her. Whoever it is needs to get the stick out of her ass and put her rotten attitude in check.” he shook his head in annoyance.

Amber took the phone with shaking hands, closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath. She knew that it had been too good to be true for her to go this long without an episode that cause her to become shaken. She brought it to her ear slowly.

“Yes?” she asked into the phone, her voice
almost a complete whisper.

“Amber, is that you sweetie?” a chipper voice asked.

Amber’s stomach churned at the sound of the voice. It was one that she knew all to well. One she would have been perfectly happy with never hearing again in her entire being.

“Yes,” she answered in monotone, “What do you want, mother?”

“To see how you are.” she asked with false cheerfulness. Her tone told Amber that she wanted something, and it was definitely not to take back the hurtful things that she had done.

“How did you find me?” she asked the first question that came to mind.

“I knew you were with that little boy band,”

“Vocal group,” Amber corrected cooly, remembering how Kevin had said he hated with people referred to them as a boy band.

“Yes, whatever,” her mother stated, “I saw your picture on some magazine covers this morning at the grocery store. I about choked. I did some research and found the hotel you were at, and found you.”

“Joy,” Amber muttered with a scowl. Her mother had always been smart. She should have known right off what the woman had done to find a way to contact her.

“I was hoping you and your new friends would like to come here and visit with me.”

“What do you want?”

“Nothing,” Mrs. Harris said all too quickly.

“That’s bullshit,” Amber spat, “Why did you abandon me a month ago then?” she questioned, feeling bold and putting the woman on the spot.

“It was...it...you being raped just shocked us, is all,” the woman answered.

“You had a week to get to the hospital and see me,” Amber said, “A week is plenty of time. Now you want something from me. You know what? Rot in hell.”

“Amber,” Mrs. Harris gasped, flabbergasted, “Is that any way to speak to your mother now?”

“You’re not my mother,” she spoke with no remorse, “Not anymore. Now leave me the hell alone, forever. I have a better life now...without you.”

Amber hung up the phone without waiting for a reply. She was visibly shaken, but not because she missed her mother and wanted to go back, but because she couldn’t believe the nerve of the woman.

“Are you okay?” Nick asked, causing her to jump. She had forgotten that he was there, “Who was it?”

“My mom,” she replied simply, “Stupid, evil bitch.”

Nick held out his arms, sensing that Amber needed a hug. She willingly fell in to them, burying her head in to his shoulder and crying as he rocked her and whispered words of comfort to her. Amber hated what her life had become. She hated her parents for disowning her, and wanted nothing to do with them. What they had done was beyond forgivable. Everything that had happened in the past month was suddenly swarming back upon her. She thought her life was finally getting back on track, but it was drifting off again. She was becoming more depressed, and didn’t know how much more she could take. Nothing was the same, and after that night, she wasn’t sure if anything ever would be again for her.

Thanks to Anita, frackandbonechick, AJsSweety, dancinpacer03, Anastacia and Jamelet for reviewing chapter 27. Enjoy 28. I can't wait to hear what everyone thinks!

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Amber sighed as she wrote out her thoughts in a blank notebook she’d bought at the drugstore a block away from the hotel. She’d had Nick walk with her there, but wait for her at the front of the store while she purchased what she needed to get. Her thoughts were all a jumble, and she had a hard time speaking them aloud, but scribbling the words down on paper made her thoughts make a lot more sense. It was unraveling her thoughts, making her express things she’d never known she’d felt until she re-read her words on the lined paper.

Tapping her pen lightly on the pad of paper, she thought of what else she could write. She felt the need to get everything down on paper from the past month that night. She had to, for she was on a role. Plus, she wanted a complete book of her thoughts, feelings, fears, emotions. She wanted everyone to know how she felt. The book was more of an explanation to he Boys of what she could not tell them in words rather than a diary or journal kept for her own private thoughts only. She wanted them to know everything. Especially Kevin, Howie and Brian, since they were the ones she was least comfortable with and the three Boys who knew the least of her. This way, all five of them would be on the same page as the others.
Amber wished that she could have been stronger through all of this. But every time she thought that things were getting better, another obstacle stepped in her way, blocking her path to recovery. Because of that, it made her trying to get over the incident all the harder and nearly impossible. She hoped that Nick wouldn’t hate her for doing what she felt was necessary. She loved Nick like a brother and hoped that he would understand, or at least understand after time. She didn’t want to hurt any of them, for they had been so kind to her over the past month.

Amber wrote down the last of her thoughts, which had taken up a grand total of five hours of her time and over twenty pages of writing. When she was done, she flipped to the front of the notebook to a letter she had written so that it would be the first thing that was seen and read when the Boys found the book of writing.

Getting up, she walked over to the entertainment center that the TV was sitting on, placing the notebook on top of it. With a deep breath, Amber closed her eyes. She opened them and calmly walked out of the room and in to the bedroom. She sat on the bed and grabbed her purse, opening it and pulling out a small brown bag. Opening it, she pulled out a bottle of sleeping pills that she had bought at the drugstore along with the notebook. She peeled off the plastic ring that surrounded the lid, then uncapped the bottle. She took out the cotton swab that was at the top of most bottles of pills, tossing it aside, pouring a handful of the pills into her palm. The bottle contained seventy-five pills. She was guessing that she held at least half of them in her hand. Taking a bottle of water from the night stand that she’d placed there ahead of time to be prepared, she poured half of the pills into her mouth with tears starting to fall out of her eyes. An eerie sense of calmness came over her that somewhat scared her. Amber didn’t think that she should be this calm, but figured it would make it easier. She’d endured enough pain in the past month. The sooner she did this, the sooner the pain would be gone. It was time, in her mind, for her to be in peace once more. With a gulp of water, she swallowed the pills, pouring the rest in to her mouth and washing them down. Amber squeezed her eyes shut, laying down on the bed near the edge. She wondered if half the bottle would be enough, having no regrets for what she had done. She begun to choke on her sobs, knowing that in a matter of hours, she would no longer be existing. There was no turning back time now, and she was fine with that. All she could do was lye there and wait.

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“Hey, have you seen Amber?” Nick asked Brian and Howie, barging into the lounge that they were watching TV in.

He stationed himself behind the ivory leather couch tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for an answer from his two friends.

“Nope,” Howie replied, “Why would we know where she is? She hides from us, remember?” he added.

“Yeah,” Brian added, turning around to face Nick, “You’d know better than we would. You or A.J.” he scowled.

Nick sighed. He didn’t know where she was, and could tell that the two men before him weren’t going to be much of a help. Brian, it seemed, was becoming bitter about Amber not opening up to him quite as quickly as him and A.J...or even Kevin, for that matter. Brian and Howie were both not getting much of a response from Amber.

“Aje doesn’t know either, and neither does Kev,” Nick explained, “Well, if you hear from her, let me know.” he grumbled, his voice troubled.

“Don’t you have a spare key to her room?” Howie brought up, “I could have sworn that you did.”

Nick nodded, “Yes, but I want to respect her privacy. I’ve been knocking on the door, but she doesn’t answer.”

“Probably asleep,” Brian responded, turning his attention back to the movie, “Don’t worry about it. Try again in a few hours or so.”

“Don’t you even care that something could be wrong?” Nick growled, “This is not like her at all. She always answers for me.”

“Of course Nick,” Howie replied, “But nothing is wrong. If there was, we would have been informed by now, don’t you think? Maybe she just wants to be left alone right now and is sick of you bugging her half out of her mind.”

Nick rolled his eyes, “Thanks for the help guys,” he muttered unkindly before walking out of the room. He had hoped that his friends would have offered him some advice, or at least words of consolation. He hadn’t received either though. Nick found it odd that Amber didn’t open the door when he knocked. Asleep or not, she always answered. This time, she wasn’t. He had to wonder if she had snuck off somewhere. Maybe gone down to the pool. Nick immediately exited that thought from his mind. She was paranoid about the Boys seeing her in a swimsuit. There was no way she would expose herself to complete strangers.

“Hey Nick,” Kevin greeted, walking past the solemn man, stopping in the middle of the hall, “You find Amber yet?” he asked
Nick shook his head, “No. Not yet.” his shoulders slumped as he looked towards the ground. He didn’t want Kevin to see that he was worried, and his eyes would give that away.

“I’m sure everything is fine,” he told Nick, giving him a pat on the back, “Don’t forget, we have to leave for a meeting in an hour, then we have a show at eight.”

“How could I forget,” Nick muttered as Kevin strode past him to get to his own room. Nick sighed, going in to his own room, which was conjoined with Kevin’s. He wished he knew something, anything. Then a sudden thought struck him. What if Amber had decided to go back with her mother after all? True, she’d seemed less than thrilled when the woman had called two days prior, but what if she’d changed her mind? Nick knew that back in the beginning, Amber had missed her parents very much. He paced pack and forth across the decently sized suite. The more he thought of it, the more the wondered if that is what she did. The thought put his stomach in knots. But wouldn’t she have left a note? Anything for them to see that said she had left.

Nick immediately flew from his room and across the hall to Ambers. He knocked loudly, banging on the door.

“Amber,” he called, then yelled her name more loudly.

He waited for a good two minutes still getting no response. He dug his hand into the pocket of his jeans, grabbing her room key. Fumbling with it, he finally slid it in to the door. He turned the handle and walked inside.

“Amber,” he called out, searching for her. She was nowhere to be seen, but her suitcases were till in the room. Nick knew that Amber would not leave without her belongings, so she had to still be in the hotel at least. The question was where?

Nick searched the room, the bathroom, the small living room area, even the balcony, but still could not find his friend. His heart thudded in his chest as he began to panic. Nick never knew he could feel so strongly about a person in five short weeks, but he had grown close to Amber, taking her in when she needed somebody. He needed her too, in different ways. It wasn’t like Amber to disappear without telling him, or A.J. at least. Something had to be wrong.

Nick continued to search for Amber, slowly about to give up hope. He could not find her anywhere. He was on his way out of the living room of her suite when a notebook on the small entertainment center caught his eye. He dove for it so quickly, he was surprised he didn’t ram his head into the dresser. Heart thudding in his chest, Nick, with trembling fingers, picked up the notebook. He hoped that it said where Amber had disappeared to. As his eyes quickly but carefully scanned over the letter, what he read, he was not nearly prepared for.

Nick, A.J, Kevin, Howie and Brian
I just wanted to thank you all for being so great to me in the time that I knew you. You took me in when I needed a place to stay, without even knowing me. You will never know how much I appreciate it, and I am sorry that I didn’t say it enough in person to your face. I’m also sorry that I never really took the time to get to know all of you. It is one thing that I do regret. A.J. and Nick...especially you, Nick, thanks for being so good with me and patient. You were such great friends to me. Nick, tell your sisters and Aaron that I had a great time over Christmas with them. Kevin, I’m sorry I was so cold towards you and didn’t open up to you sooner. You would have been an amazing friend to confide in. Howie and Brian...all I can say to you is I am sorry for not giving you more of a chance. I guess what I am saying, or trying to get at, is that I could not take anymore pain. I’ve been depressed for a while now, since the rape happened and I came to accept it. I just hid it so you wouldn’t have any extra burdens to worry about in your life, as I knew that you had plenty of your own, let alone mine to add to it. I can’t carry on anymore though. Things keep coming up, bringing back memories that I’d rather not think about, so after today, I won’t have to. Behind this letter is a complete journal of everything I thought and went though. Maybe it will help you understand better. Please don’t hate me for this. It is what I want. Just know that, if it helps. I love you all and thanks again for everything.
Amber

Nick could swear that he had stopped breathing had while he read the letter. The letter that appeared to be telling the Boys that she had ended her life. His heart hammered in his chest. His whole body was shaking out of control. All he could think was that Amber couldn’t and wouldn’t go as far as to kill herself. He knew that she was still upset over some things, but he though that having him to talk to was enough to help her. He had thought that she was doing good and was strong enough to carry on. This was the very last thing that he would have expected. The notebook dropped from Nick’s hands as he turned around and fled from the room, wondering where Amber was. The sooner he found her, the better her chances would be of being found alive. He didn’t know what he would do if she wasn’t found alive. She was an important part of his life. It would be like he was losing a sister. That thought made him move even quicker, if that was possible, although it seemed time was going in slow motion.

“Amber,” he shouted at the top of his lungs, tears of fear coming down his face. His voice was unstable, “Amber, where are you.” he called again, “Please, Amber. Answer me.”

He rounded the suite three times without finding her and was about to exit the bedroom to look elsewhere in the hotel when something caught his eye. He turned around and slowly walked towards what he thought he saw. He was afraid of what he might find. Sure enough, it was Amber lying on her stomach in the small, narrow crevice between the bed and the wall.

“Oh, God no,” he whispered fearfully, his breath catching in his throat as he begun to choke on his sobs.

As he moved closer to Amber, he noticed a medium-sized bottle of what appeared to be a sleeping aide of some sort lying on the bed with the cap off. He didn’t take the time to see if the bottle was empty or not, knowing that it would be using time that he did not have, as he immediately pushed the bed away from the wall further, dropping to his knees quickly and heavily. His movements were swift and quick, adrenaline rushing through his body at a speed he’d only seen in the movies. All he knew was that he’d never been so afraid in his life as he was right then. He gently but quickly turned Amber over on to her back, hoping that she had only decided to take enough to put her to sleep for a couple of hours. Her skin was cool to the touch though, her body feeling lifeless in his arms, which put Nick’s stomach in even greater turmoil. Once on her back, Nick got a good look at her face. She was pale, her lips had a bluish cast to them. Her eyes were closed to all but small slits. It appeared her eyes were rolled into the back of her head. Nick just screamed.

A/N: A couple of things before the chapter. First,, if you have not read 27 or don't think you have, READ IT! lol. 28 will make a lot more sense if you do...trust me.

Second, I am so sorry that it took me so long to update! I got a new job, which I was in training for many days and not home a lot, on top of class. Hopefully, everyone will still read the lastest chapter, which is finally done!

Third, Thanks to dancinpacer, frackandbonechick, anita and anastacia for reviewing 27. Means a lot to me. Hope you enjoy and as always, can't wait to hear what you think!!!

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The Boys all sat in the small, too brightly lit ER waiting room in the hospital waiting for word on Amber.

Nick’s screams from finding Amber had gotten the attention of the other four guys as well as their body guards. Seconds later, he was in the hall to get help from someone, surprised to find them all already searching for him. Everyone started asking questions in a rush, at first thinking that Nick himself had been injured. Nick couldn’t speak though. All he could do was shake and point into Amber’s room, following them in, directing them with a still pointing finger to where she lay. When they saw her, the others seemed to be just as shocked as Nick had been, although they didn’t scream as he had. A.J. took one look at her before stumbling backwards into a corner, whimpering softly. Kevin barked for Howie or Brian to call for an ambulance, while he checked to see if she was breathing. She was, but her breaths were far apart and labored. The ambulance got there twenty minutes later. That’s the last thing Nick remembered. Next thing he knew, he was sitting there in the waiting room. He had lost track of all space and time.

It had been three hours since they had arrived at the hospital, and hadn’t heard anything yet. Nick felt sick to his stomach. The way that Amber had looked continued to haunt his thoughts. Kevin had found that she was breathing, sure. But the fact of the matter was, she looked like she was barely clinging to life. Five weeks ago, they’d found her in the same state, only it had been right after her rape. This time, it had been because she tried to kill herself because of her inner thoughts of the rape torturing her. Nick didn’t think he could handle waiting again. Waiting and not knowing Amber had been rough. Now that he was close to her, it was torture.

The letter hadn’t been read by anybody but Nick. Her words consumed his thoughts. He hated to think that she’d been in so much pain on the inside. Nick wondered how he could have been so blind, dumb and naive as to think that she was fine. All of them had been dumb. They should have known that something was up, but they hadn’t. All Nick knew was that he wanted to make this up to Amber. He hoped that he would have the chance to. He also knew that the only way he would be reading the journal was if Amber couldn’t tell them all in person what she was thinking. He wanted to hear it from her rather than read it. It would mean more that way. Nick knew that she would be crying, and he wanted to cry with her, the way a big ‘brother’ should.

A.J. himself was having his own thoughts about seeing Amber in her state. He had always respected her for being so strong through her whole traumatic experience. She had always seemed to be trying to move on with her life, and even when she got down, it appeared that it hadn’t affected her much and was moving on in a mature way. He, along with the others, had been fooled though. A.J. knew he would have done anything to prevent her overdosing on sleeping pills had he seen this incident coming. Now, more than ever, if she survived, A.J. wanted to be there for her and take care of her.

Kevin sat looking towards the ground, his elbows rested on his knees, his face in his hands. He felt horrible. He hated hospitals but knew he had to suck up his intense disliking and feelings of discomfort to be there for Amber. He looked up, knowing that the thing that had been on his mind should be let known. He cleared this throat to get the attention of the other four Boys. Once he did, he spoke aloud the thing that he knew should have been taken into more serious consideration sooner.

“Guys, I um...I think that we should get Amber a counselor now,” he spoke softly, cringing at the sound of the words out loud. They sounded cruel and unforgiving to him. He felt as if he were going against Amber, “Erm, I mean..if she...um...if she recovers.”

There was silence for a few minutes. Nobody spoke, wanting to admit that Kevin was right. They had been stupid to not get her a therapist in the first place to help her deal with her problems.

“I think you’re right,” A.J. nearly whispered, “We...we should have. Then maybe this wouldn’t have happened.”

“No,” Nick shouted, jumping up from his seat, sick of hearing them talk about Amber as if she were insane, “She didn’t need a fucking therapist. She doesn’t. She doesn’t need to feel cornered about her issues. She’s fine.”

“Nick, calm down,” Brian stated softly, “I’m going to have to go with Kev and Aje. It could have been prevented. We should have hired a therapist in the first place, but like idiots, we figured things would be fine and get better on their own with time.”

Nick glared at Brian, his so called best friend. He could not believe what he was hearing. He felt as if nobody was on his side. He didn’t want Amber to feel alone singled out, being thrown into something with a stranger. He didn’t want to even think of the look of desertion on her face and accusatory eyes when she was told what they had...or were planning...on doing. Tears filled his eyes all over again at the thought of it. He didn’t want Amber mad at him, but he also didn’t want to lose her. He was in a tough spot.

“If it weren’t for you ignoring me when I was worried about her, maybe she’d be okay...maybe this wouldn’t have happened.” Nick spate hatefully, “But you or Howie laughed at me and didn’t take me seriously.”

“Nick, how were we to know?” Howie asked, looking up. His eyes showed that he was tired and restless.”

“You didn’t take me seriously though,” Nick yelled, his voice started to shake, “It’s your fault because you kept me from checking. You didn’t even fucking care.”

Brian shook his head, rolling his eyes slightly. He paused for just a second before getting up from his chair.

“I’m going to get a cup of coffee,” he stated, shaking his head in annoyance with Nick’s over-reacting, “Be back in awhile.”

Nick stood still, glaring at Brian with steel eyes. His arms were stiff at his sides, fists clenched tight. He watched Brian start to walk away. The other three were staring at them both, feeling the tension in the room.

Then suddenly out of nowhere, Nick lunged at Brian, tackling him to the ground, knocking over a few chairs. Brian yelped out in shock and in pain. He tried to pick himself up, but Nick was quicker than he, pushing him back to the hard floor. His head hit hard.

“You fucking asshole,” he bellowed, giving Brian a blow to his face, “You’ve never cared about her. You want her to die...you’ve never cared...”

Nick continued to punch Brian, them rolling over several times, running in to things, Brian trying to free himself from Nick’s deadly grasp.

“I do care,” he grunted, feeling his head knock against another chair, “Now get off of me...please, Nick.”

If anything, his please intrigued Nick to fight even harder. Brian refused to fight back, just trying to get away from his violent, provoked friend. It was not working, for Nick had a huge height advantage, and minor strength advantage.
And suddenly, Nick felt two pairs of strong arms lifting him off of Brian, and he was being shoved into a chair. He tried to move, but the hands pushed him back. After a bit of a struggle, he finally gave up, slumping back. He crossed his arms, glaring up at the two figures. They were Kevin and A.J. . Nick rolled his eyes. He should have known. Nick stared past them, watching as Howie helped Brian up. He was shocked to see that a black eye was already accumulating on the man, as well as a bloody nose and mouth. He hid it well though, not wanting to show that he already felt bad.

“I do care about Amber,” Brian stated with a slight lisp, holding his hand to his aching jaw, “Don’t accuse me of not caring. How was I to know that she was going to do this?”

“You knew that it wasn’t like her to answer to us when we called her,” Nick replied, still glaring, “And it delayed everything.”

Brian shook his head, taking a seat as far away from Nick as he could without leaving the group completely. He wished that the doctors would just hurry up and tell them her status. It was taking way too long. It was putting stress on all of them and making them think the very worst had happened. Their delay also told Brian that she was probably alive at least.

Meanwhile, Kevin and A.J. both sat on either side of Nick, each holding one of his arms down to make sure he didn’t lunge at Brian again.

“What the hell was that stunt all about?” Kevin growled, “This is not the time nor place to be attacking people and acting like an immature brat.”

Nick scowled, his arms remained crossed over his chest. His eyes narrowed in Brian’s direction, still feeling that this was his long time best friends fault. He didn’t answer Kevin...refused to answer Kevin. He loathed each and every band member right then. At that moment, the most he thought them as was to be acquaintances, nothing more.

“Answer me, Nickolas,” Kevin seethed through gritted teeth, not wanting to yell and make scene. He was losing his temper quickly though, and it was all that they needed to be kicked out of the hospital all together before getting word on their friend.

Nick turned his head to the right, glaring at Kevin with hateful eyes of cold, dark steel. His face had a clouded over expression. It was also one of boredom, looking at Kevin as if he were stupid and lame for asking such a thing of him.

“Brian may have killed Amber,” Nick grunted, his
voice monotone, but vengeful spite was still thick in his tone, “I’d punch him to brain damage if you’d give me the chance.”

Kevin opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again, deciding quickly against it. He looked over at his cousin, now sitting with three ice packs. He was holding one to his nose and mouth while Howie helped him with one on his eye. He shook his head in disgust, waiting until Brian looked at him before giving him an apologetic look. Brian just shrugged and looked away, feeling terrible. Feeling as if he had lost his best friend over something he had no intentions of turning out as horribly as they had. He wondered if Amber was okay, if there would be any way to make it up to Nick, for his frosty glares were making him feel guilty. If Amber was not okay, he knew that nothing would ever make Nick forgive him, no matter how hard he tried.

Before any of them realized it, a white-coated man was stepping into their line of vision. Nick immediately jumped from his seat, not waiting for him to introduce himself. He knew that the man had to be there in regards to his Amber.

“I’m assuming you’re the five men here for Ms. Harris?” the man asked.

“How is she?” Nick asked, practically in the mans face. The doctor backed up a few steps as the other for Boys joined Nick in standing, waiting to hear her latest prognosis.

“She’s stable but critical,” he started off, “We pumped her stomach...there was at least fifteen times the recommended dose of the sleeping aide in her system. She’s asleep right now, however, in a few days, she should be awake and fair.”

The breaths that all five men had been holding were all let out at once. It was as if all the stress and tension that had been in the room had left out the window.

“Can we see her?” Nick asked, getting close in to the doctors face again.

The man shook his head, “Not until tomorrow at least. She is exhausted and needs her rest without interruptions.”

Nick’s shoulders slumped in defeat and the doctor walked away without another word. Nick knew that he should feel relieved that Amber was alive, but he would not feel satisfied until he saw her in the flesh. He looked behind him. The others had already sat back down. Nick followed their lead, perching himself on the end of his seat. He would not relax or rest until he saw Amber. At this rate, who knew how long that would be.

Thanks to Anita, Anastacia, AjsSweety and dancinpacer03 for reviewing the last chapter. Also, thanks to all of you for bearing with me! I know I have not updated in so long...so much going on! Thanks for sticking with me though. It gives me the motivational push I need to keep going! Cant wait to hear what everyone things of 29! Read and enjoy

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The loud , repetitious beep of a machine slowly awakened Amber from her deep slumber. At first, she’d shifted uncomfortably, trying to will the noise away. When that hadn’t worked, her eyes slowly opened, fluttering a little as they did. It was all she could do just to keep them open. She was so weak. Her vision was blurry, but as she turned her head to the side, Amber saw two masked men in all white standing by her bedside. Amber jolted, startled, before drawing back in absolute fear, memories of her masked, faceless rapist filling her mind. What did these men want from her? They must have sensed her fright, for the taller of the two begun to speak.

“Relax, Amber,” his voice was kind and soothing, “We’re not going to hurt you. We’re good guys...only here to help. You can trust us. We’re just checking your vitals,” her vision was now clear enough to see that his eyes were crinkling around the edges, telling her that he was smiling behind the mask, “It’s good to see that you’re awake finally. You’ve been out for days.”

Amber stared at him in confusion, still wondering where she was exactly. She was still questioning what the man had meant by checking her vitals. And out for days? What did that mean? Had she slept for that long, been missing? She could read in to it from many different perspectives. The mans words were vague and told her little or nothing at all even.

“Your friends are very worried about you,” the other man spoke for the first time, “They haven’t been able to see you yet, but haven’t left the hospital since you were brought in five days ago.”

Amber just stared at him, trembling under his stare. She felt so exposed and wondered who the men were. She wondered if they’d taken advantage of her during her five days of sleep. She also wondered why she was in a hospital. She made a point to ask the Boys when she got to see them, which brought her to her next question. She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. It was as if her voice were trapped within her body.

The two men packed up their tools and walked out of the room without another word. Amber was wondering how she was to ask when she could see her friends. She couldn’t even speak. All she knew was that she was lying on a bed that was hard as a rock in a room that could use a little heat, her stomach feeling as if someone had dropped a brick on it. The doctors hadn’t given her any explanation of anything. She was in the dark.

Opening her mouth, Amber tried to made a noise, a noise of any sort, just so she was assured that her voice was okay. That she still had it and not turned into a mute. Nothing came out, and that scared her beyond belief. She had no recalling of anything that had happened in the days prior to that moment. She didn’t know what was going on and wanted Nick there with her. She wanted him there to tell her that everything would be alright and have the reassurance that he was still there for her, to support her. A few tears fell down Amber’s cheeks, but no sound would still surface. Her tears were silent and unknown to the world as well as her emotional pain and turmoil.

She brought a hand to her mouth to cover the frown that she knew was on it, the twisted expression of torture, but her hand jerked back when she felt something that wasn’t normal. Slowly, almost afraid, she took her hand back up, shaking slightly. She then felt it more definitely. It was a thin tube of some sort emerging from her mouth. She wondered what it was for as sweat beaded her forehead in nervousness. She felt as if something were prickling her skin. She couldn’t remember anything and had many questions in her head that she was dying to ask and receive answers to. She wished that she had a voice to speak, because without one, she was nothing.
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Nick slowly, quietly and cautiously neared Amber’s hospital room, peeking in through the crack that the door was opened to. He saw that she was sleeping and was suddenly nervous about going in to see her for the first time in a week. He halted to a stop, his breath catching in his throat. He didn’t know if he could go the rest of the way in. He didn’t know if he could face her, feeling guilty and that all of this was his fault. Feeling that if he’d seen the signs more clearly, he could have done something to prevent it from happening. The others were hoovering over him, being blocked off by his lack of motivation to move. Finally, Kevin spoke, giving Nick a gentle shove forward.

“Go,” he hissed in a whisper, “We haven’t seen her in a week, dildo. Now isn’t the time to slow things up.”

Nick gulped and forced himself to take a few steps forward into her room, the others anxiously scurried past him to see the sick girl who they’d befriended, or tried to befriend, just a month ago. Nick stood back at first, praying that Amber did not put him at blame for any of this, although he felt that he deserved it for sure. He slowly took one step forward, stopped to pause, then took another step and another until he was right behind the others, peering nervously over their shoulders. Her eyes were still closed, her complexion a pasty white color. He felt silent tears forming in his eyes by the looks of her. He felt so responsible for not protecting the girl with his life. He’d promised he’d never let anything bad happen to her, yet he had not been there when she’d needed someone, resulting in her trying to harm herself.

“Be gentle with her when she wakes up,” a voice came from behind them all.

The five Boys spun around at the sound of the voice, which had startled them. There stood a doctor with his arms folded across his chest. His eyes were kind but his expression said that he was not joking around and meant business.

“She doesn’t seem to realize what happened and seems fearful. I don’t know if she’ll open up to you right away or not. Just be gentle with her and don’t ask or do too much at once.”

Nick stared at the man as if he were a complete idiot. Common sense said not to overwhelm Amber at first, or at all. The others said nothing, although Nick felt it was safe to bet that they were all thinking pretty much the exact same thing.

“Why would we be anything but gentle?” Kevin asked, trying to keep the irritation out of his tone and his voice soft, “She’s been through hell and back. She doesn’t need us lecturing her now.”

“It’s good to hear that you realize that,” the doctor replied, “I’ll leave you be with her for awhile now. Just remember what I said.”

Each of the Boys turned back to Amber, listening as the doctors footsteps got further and further away as he left the area. None of them spoke, not knowing quite what to say. It was different and hard, to say the least, seeing Amber lying there in a hospital bed again. Her bedside was filled with flowers that each of the had made sure were delivered each and every day since they could not be with her. Nick had to wonder if she’d even noticed, or if she’d been asleep all this time.

“Um...I...” Brian stuttered, worried that if he said the wrong thing, Nick would lunge at him again without warning. He wanted to choose his words carefully, “She looks okay...I mean, like she’s going to make a full recovery.”

“It’s not how she looks, I don’t think, ” Kevin. stated, “It’s how badly the O.D. messed her up on the inside.”

“The doctors said she would be fine though,” Nick reminded them, “That she’d be tired at first, but after awhile, she’d be okay.”

They all looked around at one another, not wanting to bring up the subject of a counselor. They’d found one that they felt would be suitable for her and hired her right away. It had been hard to admit that they’d been wrong from the beginning, but at least they were taking the next steps to helping Amber out correctly. Nick still was not keen on the ides, but he’d gone along with it anyways, knowing that the others were probably right.

The continued to watch Amber. Nick made his way closer to her bedside, kneeling down beside her and taking one of her small, frail hands in one of his large, masculine ones. He rubbed it, silently urging his little princess to awaken. The others neared, standing directly beside her, wanting to be within eyesight for her when she woke up. They all wanted it to be assured that they were there for her through everything and that she had their support to help her get better.

“Ya know, its funny,” Nick whispered, keeping his eyes locked on Amber, “Amber has only been in our lives for shortly over a month, yet I can’t remember how life was without her in it. I’m so used to her being here now.” his voice started to shake, choking him up a little at the next part, “When I thought that we’d lost her to his...I...I couldn’t imagine going on without her.”

The other stood solemnly, not saying a word. The truth was, the other four Boys didn’t know how they would cope had Amber died as well. She was very much a part of their lives now. Nick’s confession had gotten them all to think about things that they hadn’t allowed themselves to before. As corny and unrealistic as it may have sounded, they’d grown quite attached to her in the little time they’d known the girl.

Suddenly, Amber’s eyelids began to flutter, her hand quivering a little in Nick’s grasp. Her small motions caught the attention of all five guys, for she hadn’t moved since they’d arrived almost twenty-five minutes ago.

“Look, she’s waking up,” Kevin stated, causing them all to draw closer yet, if that were possible, hoovering over her bed.

Her eyes continued to flutter, her body shifting the tiniest bit and then finally, Nick was staring in to her blue eyes. She took in a deep breath, or large sigh, continuing to stare. Nick could tell that she was in a pretty great deal of pain. The room became so silent right then as the Boys all held in their breaths, their hearts hammering in their chests. Nick was the first to break the silence that had overcome the room.

“Hi, honey,” he said softly, smiling a small smile at her, “How are you feeling?”

Amber shrugged, the motion almost not even there. Her body was weak still from lying in the bed for a week. She still wasn’t sure what had gone on. All she knew was that she was trapped in the hospital. She was slightly surprised to wake up to five familiar faces standing by her. She would have thought that they’d have left her behind due to their hectic, busy lifestyles. But there they were, waiting for her, there for her. She knew that she had made five true friends, feeling bad for doubting them.

“You had us all so worried,” Brian stated, “We haven’t left here once.” he waited for a minute before saying, “Do you know how lucky you are to be alive?”

Amber said nothing, now knowing how to reply to the question. Why was she lucky to be alive? Her brain felt fried and she had no remembrance as to what happened.

“Why would you go and do something like that?” Nick asked suddenly, ignoring the doctors warnings, needing to have an answer as he leaned in and hugged Amber, feeling tears of relief forming in his eyes. She didn’t answer and he asked, “Answer me, please...”

Amber was about to protest that she couldn’t, bringing her hand to her lips to prove her point, but found that the tube that had emerged from her throat before was now gone. She opened her mouth to speak, nothing coming out at first, for her throat was dry and scratchy, as well as very sore. Her next attempt at speaking was more successful than the first, a little sound coming out, although it was barely audible...a whisper.

“Wha...what happened to me?” she asked weakly, the simple motive of talking taking quite a bit of effort from her.

The five Boys all looked around at one another, nervousness apparent in each of them. Her question was obviously one which was hard to answer, but she needed to know. She waited silently, patiently, for one of them to respond.

“Don’t you remember?” Howie finally asked, and Amber fearfully shook her head, still slightly afraid of the Latino man whom was speaking to her. That much hadn’t changed. Not yet, anyways.

“Um,” Nick stated, looking back into the girls eyes, “Honey...last week...you...you tried to kill yourself. You swallowed a bunch of pills.” he spoke, trying to put things as delicately as he possibly could.

Amber didn’t look surprised by this information. In fact, Nick telling her what had happened seemed to trigger her memory. She closed her eyes, a tear streaming down her face.

“I’m sorry,” she wept, “I...I...” she couldn’t finish her sentence. She just squeezed her eyes shut, letting the tears flow freely as they were meant to.

“We’re here for you, you know that, right Amber?” Kevin asked, “No matter what, you can come to any of us with anything.”

Amber said nothing, but it was evident by the look on her face that she understood. She was still afraid though. Part of her still wished that she hadn’t lived. It would make thing so much easier in her mind, for everyone. Not just her, but the Boys to, for they’d no longer have to worry about her.

“We love you,” Nick stated bluntly, saying the words for the first time.

“Love...you too, Nick,” Amber whispered.

There was silence for a few moments again. Nobody knew what to say, afraid of upsetting the fragile girl. They were afraid of overwhelming her too quickly too soon. Finally, A.J. spoke for the first time.

“Guys, do you think I could have a minute alone with her?”

Kevin, Howie and Brian all agreed, saying goodbye and stepping outside of the room. Nick, however, stayed behind, hesitant. It looked as if he gripped Amber’s hand even tighter, as if he let go, she would vanish.

“Nick, please..I need to talk to her,” A.J. asked, his voice showing slight signs of urgency.

Nick looked back as his friend then to Amber, who’s eyes showed no signs of what she wanted. Nick sighed.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” he told her softly, kissing her forehead. He got up and walked out of the room, looking back one last time before disappearing. Amber looked up at A.J. Her eyes were filled with sadness.

“Hi,” A.J. stated lamely.

Amber forced a smile, adverting her gaze away from him. Neither spoke. Amber, although had made significant progress around him, still felt most comfortable around Nick. A.J. positioned himself where Nick had stood, taking Amber’s hand comfortingly in his. He liked the way her hand fit in his. Perfectly. Finally, A.J. spoke, his voice slightly off.

“Why would you do such a thing?” he asked her, proving that he cared and was hurt just by his tone.

Amber didn’t reply right away. She reached up under her hospital gown, touching the still fleshy, fresh scars on her from the gun shot wounds a month prior. They were a constant reminder of what had happened to her. She took in a deep breath, collecting her thought quickly before speaking from her heart.

“I...the rape and all. It’s been so...hard on me. Then my mom calling me after abandoning me. She...she just called...because of...me being with you. Plus my sudden...recognition. It...all happened too...fast. I’m afraid...to live.” she gasped, choking on tears of grief, “Nobody understands me.”

A.J. sighed, feeling sorry for the poor girl. She was right. So much had been piled on to her too quickly. He felt sorry that he, nor the others, had seen signs that she wasn’t doing as well as they’d led themselves to believe. Their ignorance had almost cost them a dear friend. A.J. took in a deep breath, about to admit something to the girl that he’d hoped would never have to come up. He had a feeling though, that it would win him her trust and also a stronger bond between them.

“You’re wrong though, Amber,” A.J. stated, “I do understand what you’re feeling...the depression and everything piling up. I know.”

Amber looked at him strangely, wondering what he had meant.

“How do you know?” she asked him, her tears subsiding somewhat.

A.J. closed his eyes, conjuring up enough courage to bring up a part of his past he wished he could forget and put behind him. Amber stared up at him, curiosity getting the better of her of what he was going to tell her.

“Because, a few years ago, I was extremely depressed over events going on in my life. We have one thing in common. Although you over dosed intentionally because of your problems, a few years ago, I turned to drugs to escape my own and even though it was not purposely, had an O.D. as well.”

Epilogue

Amber smiled brightly at the Boys and waved as she exited the small conference room at the hotel, making her way over to them. She’d just finished up with yet another one of her counseling sessions, which took place every Monday and Thursday in the mornings at whatever hotel they were staying at, and if not at a hotel, on the road in their bus. Her counselors name was Cindy Lucas, a woman in her mid twenties who was friendly and patient with Amber. At first, she’d been hesitant about the sessions, but quickly warmed up to the idea, giving in and going along with them.

It was a little over two months later. She’d stayed in the hospital for another two days after the Boys had first been let in to see her. Nick’s siblings had all come out as well for a quick visit, showing she had more people who cared than she had thought. The Boys had to reschedule the shows that they’d missed in the almost two weeks they’d been absent. The last of the shows was for that night.

Amber had been put on medication on top of the counseling to reduce her risk of the panic attacks she’d experienced every now and then. She had to admit that it was helping, for she’d only experienced one since she’d been out of the hospital. Everything was helping.

“Hey, kiddo,” Brian grinned at her, holding his arms open in a warm greeting, “How’d things go today?”

Amber walked in to his arms, meeting him in a large hug. Within the past two months, Amber had become a lot closer to each of the other guys as well. She’d especially opened up to the idea of giving Howie and Brian a fair chance, and was glad that she had. They were great guys. All five of them were. She didn’t know how she hadn’t seen it before. The only possibly thing she could think of was that she had not allowed herself to. Cindy had helped her to break the barrier she’d built against them. What had helped tremendously was the fact that they’d all been there for her through everything. Her rape, her troubled life, her fear of them, her suicide attempt. Through it all, they’d been there to offer a helping hand. In the end, she’d seen it clearly. Amber pulled away gently from the embrace with Brian.

“Great,” she replied cheerfully, “She really has helped me out so much. It’s unbelievable how much better I feel about things.”

And that was the honest truth too. She was no longer afraid to live and had gotten past many obstacles which had left her stuck and stranded. She was learning to trust the male gender again slowly. She already had five down. There was a world of them to go though. Amber realized that she could not be petrified of every male she came in sight of. She could be cautious, but needed to realize that she couldn’t think that they were all bad. She was slowly beginning to see that.

“Do I get a hug too?” Howie joked, his face showing seriousness with his bottom lip stuck out in a pout, his eyes giving away his joking attitude.

Amber laughed, “Of course, D,” she giggled, advancing to Howie, giving him a large hug.

She pulled away, still smiling. Her eyes had a certain light to them that had not been there before. Her complexion had gained color and her attitude towards life had definitely improved. She loved to love living again.

“So, what’s up for today?” Amber asked the Boys.

“Well, lil sis,” Nick stated, draping an arm around her shoulder, “We have our last show today for the year.”

Amber’s face fell. She’d finally accepted all of the Boys, and it was almost time to take off in separate directions for months.

“Don’t worry...during breaks, we all get together a few times. Anyways, we still got today.” Nick told her in attempt to cheer her up again.

Amber smiled up at him, “Sounds perfect,” she stated.

Her mind then wandered back to the first time she’d ever seen the Boys. It was when she was waking up from the rape, not admitting to herself that it had happened. They’d been there though, taking her in through the hard, seemingly impossible time in her life, life five angels. Even when she’d been scared that she couldn’t go on, telling herself that she couldn’t, they’d never given up on her. Here she was, almost four months later, and they were still there to protect her. Amber sighed a happy, content sigh. Her life was finally getting back on track.
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The Boys hustled around backstage getting ready to take the stage. Amber grinned as she saw A.J. making his way towards her.

“Hey baby,” A.J. seductively said.

“Hey,” she whispered back, walking in to his arms. She stood up on tip toes to kiss him passionately softly on the lips, “Good luck tonight.”

A.J. looked in to Amber’s eyes, thanking her with them. She couldn’t be happier. Her and A.J. had been dating for a little over three weeks. He’d slowly earned her complete and total friendship, and soon, an attraction had formed that was mutual. It had all happened pretty quickly after A.J. had told Amber about his past problem, spilling the whole story. Amber had been shocked, but learned that she really wasn’t alone after all. She’d found someone to confide in who would understand her better than anyone else in that aspect. His intentions had worked at gaining her trust. Not so long after, A.J. had asked her out on a date and a relationship had blossomed from there. All of the guys could see it coming from a mile away and were happy for the two of them. They were proud of Amber for giving A.J. a chance. The couple was taking things slow, which was what Amber needed. A.J. realized that. But they were together, and that was all that mattered to him, other than her being okay.

Even though they were together, they knew that it was too soon for her to live with A.J. during the off-touring season. She was still going to go with Nick, and A.J would come and visit every other weekend to see her. They figured that it would be the best that way, until their relationship was stronger and they knew one another better.

“C’mon, Aje...lets move. Time to get out there,” Kevin stated, breezing past A.J. and Amber with Brian and Howie directly behind him. Nick was last, stopping for a split second to stare at the two, a lopsided grin on his face.

“You’d better not hurt my lil’ sister,” Nick warned A.J, but he was smiling. He knew that A.J. wouldn’t. In fact, he felt that they were the perfect match for one another.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” A.J. assured Nick.

Nick patted A.J. on the back and took off after the rest of them. A.J. turned back to Amber, kissing her once more.

“See you after the show?” A.J. asked

“Of course,” Amber replied.

She smiled as he ran off after the others to join them. Sometimes, when A.J. touched her, she still tensed a little, the reminder of the rape coming back, but relaxed quickly, knowing that he would never hurt her. She was slowly becoming better little by little. She knew that within no time, she would feel one-hundred percent comfortable with A.J. All she could to was take her life and the steps to a full recovery one step at a time, and that was exactly what she intended on doing.

A/N- I just wanted to thank everyone who read my story, especially those who reviewed. Your words of encouragement kept me going. I am sorry it took so long to finish up the last few chapters. Life has been hectic here, but I finished! lol. I can't wait to hear what everyone thought of the ending...or if you haven't reviewed before, maybe what you thought overall. Either way, thanks to everyone! I appriciate all of your support throughout my writing this!