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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.