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“Ah, this is useless,” Nick grumbled, throwing the piece of paper with the lyrics on the ground.

“No no, I like it,” Brian said, stopping the strumming on his guitar. “That line just needs another word, is all.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know.”

“Like I said, useless,” Nick sighed.

“If you would just-”

“No, we can’t!”

Both boys looked up at the harsh sound of Kevin’s voice outside the room. Nick’s fingers curled around the arms of his chair and Brian’s brow furrowed deeply. They looked questioningly at each other, both unaware of the reason of Kevin’s sudden outburst. Then, much quieter, came Howie’s voice.

“Would you keep it down?”

Kevin said something in return, his voice now muffled by the door as he and Howie seemed to have moved out of earshot.

“Well then,” Nick mumbled, laughing nervously. He didn’t usually hear Kevin yell that loud, not at all if they were in a public building. Nick didn’t like yelling people. He bent forward to retrieve the forgotten guitar from the ground, plucking at some of the strings.

“What do you think they’re talking about?” Brian asked him nevertheless.

“Dunno,” Nick grumbled gloomily in response. It was best to not question things nowadays. He just took things as they came, and he did his best to ignore the rest. It had worked for more than a year, it would work now. He’d heard Kevin yell at Howie before, it wasn’t anything new. Nothing interesting to get involved in, surely.

“It’s not about the album again, is it?” Brian mumbled, glancing at the door, unsure.

Nick shrugged, really not in the mood to investigate the argument outside further, “What is it you were saying about the line?”

“I thought you gave up on the song?” Brian smiled, his features relaxing.

“I think it might be salvageable.”

“We need another word in the line, to keep with the rhythm,” Brian continued.

“Yeah, but I like the line as it is.”

“You’re okay with getting the whole song off track?”

“I didn’t say th-”

“Nick, can we talk to you for a minute?” Kevin’s head suddenly appeared around the corner of the doorway.

“I, er,” Nick hesitated, shooting Brian a quick look.

Brian rolled his eyes, slowly getting up from the couch, “Right, I forgot y’all turn into retards when I’m around,” he said, tugging on the dog leash to get Bonnie to move. The dog lazily stretched before getting up and gave Nick a disinterested glance before leaving the room after her owner.

Kevin and Howie both filed in awkwardly before shutting the door. Nick watched the hallway, confused, “Did you have to exclude him?”

“It’s best you know before he does,” Howie said solemnly.

“Know what? What are you guys being all mysterious for?”

“There’s a... situation,” Kevin mumbled uneasily.

“It’s gonna be all over the news soon,” Howie added with a serious expression.

“You look like you have a potato stuck in your throat or something,” Nick sighed. There had been ‘situations’ all over the news about them for the better part of last year, but somehow, Howie and Kevin always felt personally responsible for things getting out.

“Jacob Emmery is dead,” Howie said calmly.

The name made Nick’s blood run cold and he shivered involuntarily. He bit his lip and clenched his fist to keep his hands from shaking. Unbelievable how much of an impact that single name still had on him, “Good,” was the first thing that came to mind.

“They think he was murdered, you know... eliminated,” Kevin gave him a meaningful glance.

“By who?” Nick thought out loud.

“You and him both testified against his brothers in court,” Howie stated and suddenly Nick saw the problem.

“You think this was some kind of vengeance kill?” Nick asked, his voice reaching another octave, “The Emmery brothers are imprisoned, aren’t they?”

“They might have hired someone, the point is,” Howie put a finger up for emphasis, “Jacob screwed them over, and now he’s dead.”

Nick swallowed thickly, grabbing the arms of the chair as a wave of dizziness moved over him, “Do you think he’ll come after me? Or Brian?”

“The police doesn’t think so,” Kevin quickly said, then turned to Howie, “See, this is why I said it’s a bad idea to tell them.”

“But I testified too!” Nick said, his voice shaking, “And Brian... God, Brian probably saw a lot of what he wasn’t supposed to see.”

“Nick, you were their victims, not their brother,” Howie said softly, “The police is getting to the bottom of this, alright?”

“Cause they did such a wonderful job last time,” Nick grumbled, “It took them thirteen weeks to find him, Howard, and it would have taken them a lot longer if they hadn’t gotten the videos.”

“Look, there’s probably nothing to worry about here, we just-”

The door opened and Bonnie ran in, followed by Brian, who looked as angry as Nick felt. “Alright, let’s not pretend that I haven’t heard anything y’all were discussing just now,” He seethed, “Cause you know, as it turns out, these walls are actually pretty thin.”

Kevin closed his eyes and sighed, “What did you hear.”

“I want the truth,” Brian said, looking directly at his cousin, “What videos? How did you guys find me?”