CJ was sitting up by the driver, trying  very hard not to cry. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see who it belonged to. She saw Kevin. She smiled weakly at him.

"Don't even try that J-Bird. It's not going to work on me. I know something is wrong. Talk to me."

CJ sat there and thought about the options. On the one hand, if she told Kevin, he could get mad at Nick. Then that could be as bad, or worse than if Adam had flown out to them. On the other hand, if she didn't tell him, he might think it was just him, that she and the rest of them were keeping secrets form him. She didn't want that either. 

She stood up and flung her arms around Kevin, crying into his shoulder. "Oh Kevy. I'll tell you, but you can't tell the others. OK" Promise me this stays between us."

"Sure thing J-Bird. You know you can trust me. You want to go somewhere more private to talk?"

CJ nodded. "We can go to my room. It's the most private place I know, as long as I lock the door."

Once they were locked in her room, she took a deep breath and began telling Kevin everything about the last week, only omitting the part of sleeping with Nick. Kevin listened without saying anything. Just nodding to let her know he was still paying attention.

"Anyway, yesterday I told him we should just stay friends. But I was just kissing him, and I wanted to keep kissing him. It felt so great, but I can't do it. I can't put myself out there just to have another Stacy. When I saw them, I felt like I was losing someone again. I can't... I just can't do it." CJ started crying into her hands. 

Kevin sat down next to her and hugged her tight, like a good big brother should. "I get it now. Now I get why you had to yell at Adam. Adam's very protective of you, possibly more than we are. Oh J-Bird, I'm so sorry. If it helps any, I can tell he likes you a lot. He's not pulling his normal 'oh she's so hot' routine around you. But I completely understand your feelings of distrust."

CJ cried harder into Kevin's shoulder. He sat there, rubbing her back until she was calm enough to talk to him again. "Why am I so invested in him Kevy? It makes no sense. I'm usually so careful not to get too attached. But with Nick it just happened. I didn't even realize it until I couldn't stop it."

Kevin gently stroked her hair. "I don't know what to say about how it happened. But maybe, just maybe it happened because it's time to start letting go of Carrot. You know, start moving on with your life. Try dating a guy and not wondering if he's Carrot. Maybe not Nick, maybe someone else. Or Maybe you could try again with Nick."

CJ shook her head. "Not Nick, not now. But maybe you're right. Though, it'll be hard to do while on the road with you... Well, the other guys."

"I know J-Bird. I'm not saying you jump on the dating ship. But rather, stay open to the idea of it. How about that?"

CJ nodded again, then pulled away from Kevin. "Ok Kevy."

Kevin kissed her forehead and wiped away her tears. "Ok, well the family and I will be headed home after the concert tonight. We should be arriving at the venue in a couple hours. So why don't you go spend some time with Kristin and Mason while you can. You know, get your mind off things."

CJ nodded and hugged Kevin again before heading out the door.

"Oh, CJ?"

CJ stopped and looked at Kevin.

"It'll be our little secret, I promise."

CJ grinned at her eldest bother. "Thanks Kevy." She went out the doorway and went to find Kristin and Mason.

AJ walked in and sat next to Kevin. Kevin smiled at AJ. "You know something about all this, don't you Alex?"

AJ nodded.

"I need this figured out before I leave. So spill!"

AJ smirked. "I have Nick's side of the events, and I think I know why J's so weird about the whole thing."

Kevin sat up taller, making himself intimidating. "Tell me now Alex!"

"Ok Kev, chill," AJ said before telling him everything from the night of pool game.

Nick sat up in his bed. He couldn't sleep. So he got out his laptop and started surfing YouTube. He found some of CJ's video and watched them. "Wow, look at her go. No wonder she's been getting attention." He found a video of CJ singing 'New York State of Mind' by Billy Joel. "She looks so young," he said. He looked at the video description. "She was singing like that at 10 years old?"

"Pretty good huh?"

Nick jumped and turned around to find Kevin leaning against the door. "Oh, hey Kev. You know, for all the stuff you've told me about CJ, I sure don't know a lot about her. I never knew she could sing like that at 10."

Kevin shrugged and nodded. "Yea, well we don't like talking about her a whole lot. Since she wasn't in the spotlight, we wanted her to have a normal life. Quite honestly, we all thought she'd be a lot more known by now. We offered to help her out a couple times, but she turned us down. She told us if she was going to make it she didn't want to use our fame to boost her career, she wanted to do it on her own. We thought that was great and backed off. About 6 months ago she started posting those videos up, and now look at her!"

Nick smiled and nodded.

"Listen Nick, since you're up I was wondering if I could talk to you for a bit."

"Kevin man, I'm sorry I upset CJ. I'll keep my hands off her, I promise," Nick said nervously.

Kevin laughed. "It sounds like you've had quite a bit of practice saying that. But that's not what I want to talk about."

"Really," Nick asked very surprised. "Then what about?"

"You," Kevin said. "You're acting more upset than CJ is. I mean yea, she's been crying, but you hide away from everyone when you get really upset. And here you are, hiding in your room playing on your laptop, avoiding the world. So what's going on in that head of yours?"

Nick lowered his eyes. He didn't know CJ'd been crying.. "Not a lot."

Kevin lightly smacked Nick on the back of his head. "Boy, don't try to pull that shit with me. I know you better than that, you know I do. I'll whoop it outta ya if I have to."

"Yea well.... It's habit by now. Sorry." Nick half smirked. "I guess.... It's just.... Man, your sister has my head all up in knots. I fucked up bug time. I couldn't cope, then I got stupid. Now she doesn't..." Nick sighed.

"So basically you're telling me you actually have feelings for my sister. And instead of acknowledging them and doing what you should, you turned chicken and ran away. Now you're regretting it."

Nick nodded. "Pretty much. Now she's in my head, she's stuck there. I can't concentrate on anything else. But she just wants to be friends."

Kevin nodded, listening. "Is there anything else Nicky?"

"Not really."

"Is there anything I can do to help," Kevin asked.

"Do you know how to get a woman out of your brain," Nick asked.

"Sorry. That's one thing I never learned how to do. But then again, I ended up marrying the one woman who never left my mind so..." Kevin smiled.

Nick sighed. "Then no, not really." He went back to watching videos of CJ.

"We'll be at the venue in about an hour. Make sure you're ready," Kevin said before leaving Nick's room.

Nick found a video titled 'CJ Sings The Backstreet Boys'. Nick clicked on it and listened to her sing "Don't Wanna Lose You Know", and started singing along, harmonizing with her.

"That's it, I'm not gonna push her anymore. I'll give her what she wants and earn her trust back. Then maybe she'll see..."