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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.