“Miss Lorden,” Mr. Fitz laughed nervously, obviously never expecting such an explicit sentence of death would erupt from Savannah’s usually humorous and carefree persona. Everyone within the room had immediately grown deathly silent as if every morsel of oxygen had been sucked away by Savannah’s alarmingly poisonous words. Even the doctor had become uncomfortable with what he thought was a pleasant surprise, so he quickly excused himself to attend to other patients along that wing of the hospital. Savannah briefly glanced to each of the five, unable to even produce a quarter of all the animosity she felt for each and every one into a single sentence. It just seemed surreal; they had completely destroyed her life, whether or not they realized such events. Though, it looked as if they were clueless or maybe completely heartless as Mr. Fitz pushed them closer to the bedside. He offered yet another high-pitched, nervous laugh, attempting to soothe the tension of the hospital room. “The Backstreet Boys are extremely sorry for what happened the previous day. They were insistent upon coming down to see you. That’s why they took a trip away from all the promotions and whatnot to the hospital just to make sure that you were okay—”
“Well, I’m not okay. I’m laying in a hospital bed, forbidden to move even an inch in either direction. Not that it matters, because I couldn’t move if I wanted. So, sorry to disappoint the Kings of Pop, but I’m not okay,” Savannah interrupted, tilting her chin downward to avoid the blistering gazes of the five men that caused so much destruction within a moment’s passing. She hadn’t the heart nor the courage to gaze upon the faces she once dreamed of working so closely with. Savannah released a painful breath of remembrance. Her dream of working with them was why Rhiannon had rented the boat for the afternoon – to celebrate Savannah’s audition for the Never Gone 2005 Tour. They had already known that she would achieve one of the best dancing positions, because Fatima, the boys’ choreographer, had looked into Savannah’s techniques several days in advance. Fatima promised that Savannah would work intimately with whichever man suited best with her. A large lump formed in the middle of Savannah’s throat as she brushed away the memories, making it impossible to swallow the revulsion building against her bruised heart.
“Miss Lorden,” Mr. Fitz sighed, pushing the boys forward yet again when her passion died into a sad silence. “I’d like to present Nick Carter, AJ McLean, Brian Littrell, Kevin Richardson, and Howie Dorough. Boys, I’d like to introduce you to Savannah Lorden. She’s—”
“One of the women you almost killed by being such selfish bastards,” Savannah breathed, unable to hold a verbal filter against her vicious thoughts. Though, she found herself startled with the force of her objections, because she never remembered being so cold and cruel. At twenty years of age, Savannah’s personality had crafted into a rare jewel that was prized by all her friends. She was silly and outgoing, always playful and willing to become involved in the craziest of schemes. She had a sarcastic tongue that tucked inside her cheek, but that fire and anger usually stayed subdued. Her sunny personality always shined down and warmed the hearts of many. She loved people and loved to interact. But now it seemed that the depression was adding dark clouds to the mixture, dampening her optimistic attitude into a flood of pessimism. But, no matter how much she hated the change, she couldn’t let them get away with what they did to her much less what they did to Rhiannon.
“We weren’t selfish bastards,” AJ attempted to defend, immediately stepping toward the young woman with a pained smile. AJ hadn’t spoke much about the accident, simply sitting in silence whenever management or the boys mentioned it. Yet, he was the first to speak to Savannah, which startled the others. “Nick was the dumb-ass that thought he could drive while—”
“Shut up, AJ,” Nick hissed in horror, throwing a sharp elbow into AJ’s thin gut.
“Damnit, Nick—”
“Miss Lorden,” Brian was quick to interrupt as Kevin yanked both AJ and Nick backward into the small huddle. He stepped toward the bed to kneel, reaching to vigorously rub her left shoulder with comfort as he forgot all of the doctor’s instructions about Savannah’s highly delicate situation. Only, Brian’s comfort elicited a sharp scream of pure anguish, causing him to fall backward. There was a hideous crunching sound as her shoulder moved without warning from its splint, causing yet another huge bulge to form just beneath the skin. Brian paled with disgust, watching as Savannah just screamed for some type of help. Only, he was horrified to find that she couldn’t move anything to fix the issue. She was paralyzed by the lacerations, bruises, and various breaks, unable to do the littlest of things for herself. Immediately, Savannah started to tremble violent from the large spurts of pain attacking her shoulder like a thick butcher knife stabbing into her fragile flesh.
“What’d I do?!” Brian hollered in dismay.
“Her shoulder’s dislocated, Jackass!” a nurse huffed in sheer disbelief, hurrying into the room at the sound of Savannah’s tortured screams. She instantly pushed Brian away from the bed, hovering over Savannah’s jerking body. Frowning at Savannah’s pained state; she did her best to stabilize the shoulder again. She reached into her pocket to withdraw a needless syringe, shooting several grams of morphine into Savannah’s system. It took only a few minutes for Savannah’s screams to die into soft moans of awful pain. Cursing softly, she gently rubbed her fingertips over Savannah’s clammy brow while turning back to the men, obviously overhearing everything from the hallway.
“Get them out of my room. Please, Tracy, I don’t want to see them anymore. No more visitors unless it’s my Ann,” Savannah heaved, struggling to hold her splinted shoulder with her weakened left side to alleviate the sharp pains. She wanted to shift in the bed to lessen the pain, but the thick traction securing her shattered right leg into a straight position prevented her from doing anything.
“I think it’s time for you to leave,” Tracy commanded.
“Let’s go,” Brian murmured, being the first to rush away from the horrific scene.
Nick swallowed hard, unable to look at Savannah again. “Kevin, let’s just—”
“Hell no! She can’t just kick us out of here.”
“Yes, I can,” Savannah breathed.
“No, I came here to say something!”
“Kevin—”
“Look, Lady, we’re really sorry for what happened. It was a seriously freak accident that none of us can possibly begin to explain. We’re willing to offer you some money for your trouble. Hospital stays are expensive nowadays, but we’re willing to pay. Because, we just want to forget that this ever happened and move on. Will you just take the damn money and stop giving us such a guilt trip?” Kevin boomed as he moved to the front of all his band members, unable to take any more of her truth. His dark emerald eyes narrowed in disgust, hating that she was able to hold such a powerful judgment over their heads like a wet chew toy. She acted as if they were a bundle of the devil’s advocates instead of good-hearted men that had established several successful organizations for those less fortunate. The way her jade eyes narrowed against them like they were decaying pieces of trash made Kevin’s stomach churn with guilt.
“You don’t think that I’m wishing for the same thing?” Savannah spat with hurt, unable to keep the tears from prickling behind her burning eyes. The nurse tried to silence her, but Savannah seethed with rage. She took several deep breaths as the pain dulled into a throbbing ache from Brian’s obvious mistakes. She blinked rapidly to clear the tears forming because of Kevin’s hateful words, refusing to let him see her cry. “But, the difference between you and me is that I can’t forget what you did to Ann and me! It doesn’t matter how many zeros you pile onto the end of that check, because it doesn’t erase what happened! Every time I look at myself, I’m going to see those disgusting scars that you caused because you were too narcissistic to realize that maybe the world doesn’t revolve around you. My entire right leg is completely shattered beneath this blanket and for some reason they’re waiting for the surgery. Until then, I have to have my bleeding leg wrapped in this machine that pulls my bones apart to keep them from shutting off my blood supply. My shoulder was completely dislocated, but I can’t even get that fixed until all the swelling goes down. I have over two hundred stitches in my body from all the broken glass and shit that cut my body underneath the water. I’m lucky I didn’t get a severe infection yet, but anything’s possible at this moment—”
“Savannah,” Tracy tried. “Please just—”
“Not to mention my Ann. Do you realize that you almost killed her, too? She’s laying in an ICU bed right now with no freaking idea where she is or what happened. She can’t even stay awake for more than half an hour in a day! Her entire arm has second degree burns, which are the most painful, but she really wouldn’t know because she’s inches away from slipping into a permanent coma as they try to get all the swelling away from her brain. The fact is, Mr. Richardson, you can’t turn back time no matter how much money is bundled in your bank account. Because, any time Ann and I look into a mirror at the scars, we’re only going to be able to think of your hideous faces and what you did.”
“I said we were sorry—”
“Sorry doesn’t fix what happened, just like money doesn’t fix what happened. We were actually stupid enough to enjoy your music. But, now I see what type of men you really are. Callous snakes that work under the table to make sure that dirt isn’t smeared on their perfect reputations. I’m not planning on pressing charges if that’s what you worried about. So, please, go away from my hospital room knowing that your asses have been saved yet again because of your popularity. But don’t come back – ever.”
“You heard her!” Kevin hissed toward Mr. Fitz, storming out of the room without a second thought.
“Let’s go, Howie,” Mr. Fitz heaved with regret as Nick and Brian fought their way from the threatening room.
“Um… One minute…” Howie trailed, unable to leave when Savannah looked so broken and useless in the bed. He waited for Mr. Fitz to nod with acceptance, cautiously stepping toward the bed holding a woman he had almost ruined. His heart hammered violently against his ribcage as his intestines’ coiled into sharp knots of regret. He went to reach out to touch her, but quickly remembered Brian’s mistake. So, he stepped back to push his hands into his pockets. His mouth sudden dried as a scratchy voice projected, “Miss Lorden?”
“I told you to leave,” Savannah whispered, her voice cracking.
“I just wanted to tell you that I was the one that… I just wanted to…” Howie swallowed the pain building in his heart, dropping his gaze. “I… I was the one that pulled you from the boat—”
“You should have let me drown,” Savannah interrupted before breaking down into painful sobs that Howie would never be able to forget.
“Howie? Hey! We’ve got the pizza inside and if you don’t hurry, Nick’s going to devour your sausage and pepperoni slices!”
“They were best friends, y’know?” Howie murmured, completely changing the subject that AJ had initiated. Howie briefly glanced back to see AJ standing behind him on the dock, just staring at him with confusion. However, Howie really didn’t care. He released yet another painful sigh, turning his gaze back to the glossy magazine he had positioned on his lap. It had taken only three days for the tabloids to uncover the Backstreet Boys’ horrifying mistakes. When Howie was instructed to pick up the soda for their evening at Nick’s home, he had noticed the first magazine blasting the boys’ accident on the front cover.
“Who were best friends?” AJ questioned in confusion.
“Rhiannon Mackenzie Clark and Savannah Grace Lorden,” Howie announced, gazing down to the photographs of the once beautiful women the boys had completely tarnished. It was horrifying to recall Rhiannon and Savannah after gazing at the photographs their families offered to the tabloids for justified purposes. “Apparently, Rhiannon moved to Orlando, Florida with her family during sixth grade. Savannah was a precocious bundle of joy that immediately welcomed the family into her heart. They’ve been best friends ever since that first day of sixth grade. They love each other so much that they insisted on sharing a condo by the beach together.”
“Howie…” AJ trailed with uneasiness, not understanding why Howie was taking this the hardest out of all the boys.
“Rhiannon Clark is twenty one years old and she’s a cosmetologist at the ritzy Charlez Penzone for the best of the best. But, her best work can be seen in the various blockbusters lighting up the screens while her favorite customers walk down the red carpets! Her family describes her as a real sweetheart who absolutely loves romance movies. She’s just downright adorable and absolutely loves a good home cooked meal, but she has to work off all that good food with miles of jogging,” Howie read from the magazine, holding it up slightly so AJ could view the photograph. He thought it was important for them to realize that these women they hurt weren’t just incomplete humans pitched into the nearest hospitals, but beautiful women with what they thought were perfect lives.
“She’s pretty,” AJ murmured, glancing down at the photograph of Rhiannon outside Charlez Penzone. She exuded such a sweet persona as she smiled toward the camera, barely reaching the middle of the logo on the middle of the clean glass window with her small height. But, what she lacked in height she made up for in slender curves, which were accented by the khaki Capri pants adhering to her widening hips and the light blue button-up wrapped around her impressive upper torso. Her long dark curls were swept into a fancy bun as her brown eyes warmed with excitement. But, better yet was a headshot that revealed her beautiful brown eyes to have flecks of dark green pooling within the puddles of darkness.
“Quite a different from the woman in the ICU, huh?” Howie agreed, remembering when they glanced into the ICU. Thankfully, the doctor had forbidden them to enter her room with her unstable condition, allowing them just to peer through the glass walls. She was attached to various tubes as the color drained from her warm caramel face as a rosy hue flamed from her cheeks. She was covered in a damp sweat from the ravaging pneumonia as her chest heaved faintly with each troubled breath. The doctor even had to shave a square shaped piece of hair away from her scalp to insert a monitor to check for her cranial pressures.
“Howie—”
“And then we have Savannah Lorden. She’s the younger of the two girls at just twenty years of age. Her family tells us that she’s their only ‘wild child.’ She has the energy of several men put together and always willing to help others with her heart of gold. She’s also the comedian of the family. But, interesting enough, she’s a popular dancer circulating around the music business’ leading musicians. She was actually scheduled to work on the Backstreet Boys’ new tour, Never Gone, planned to launch in the spring of 2005. Fatima, the boys’ choreographer, told us that Savannah was one of the most talented dancers of this generation and beyond. She was looking forward to pairing the exuberant girl with one of the boys for the most fantastic duo on the tour,” Howie read with a melancholy tone to his voice.
“Are you serious?” AJ breathed with regret, glancing down to the beautiful photograph of the devastated woman they had barged in upon today. She looked like a completely different person standing in the middle of an expensive dance studio. She looked like the perfect image of a dancer with light blonde curls clipped at her shoulders and secured into a graceful braid, accenting her heart-shaped face and even the light splash of light freckles across the bridge of her nose as her jade eyes glittered with a mischievous flare. She was offering a goofy thumb’s-up sign to the photographer, but her body was still poised like a graceful dancer. She was slender from the years of dancing with enticing curves to round out the swell of her breasts and hips. She looked to be every man’s fantasy.
“Tima said that we were going to meet her next week…”
“She’s gorgeous; I wouldn’t have minded dancing with her…”
“But you can’t, J, remember? We broke her leg into so many pieces that she’ll be an entertaining jigsaw puzzle for the surgeons to deal with,” Howie seethed with remorse, unable to block the sound of Savannah’s pitiful sobs. After visiting the hospital, Howie’s concerns had shifted from outward to inward. He actually cared for the woman behind the layers of gauze, knowing he was part to blame for her suffering. She had been so weak and helpless in the starch white hospital bed, covered with thick layers of bruises and lacerations. It was almost impossible to imagine her as the independent woman in the photograph ready to take the music business by a powerful storm. However, it was still a balancing act in his mind. Because, Kevin was right, they did have to protect their own.
“Howie, don’t—”
“Don’t what? Do you realize what we did? Remember when Kevin screwed up his knee? We had heart-attacks because he had to have arthroscopy to fix the torn ligaments. That was just an itty-bitty surgery compared to what Miss Lorden is going to have. Her entire leg is shattered and she was a dancer no less. Do you realize—”
“Howie,” AJ sighed heavily, unable to even begin to answer his plaguing question. “This is insane, okay? We’ve got a lot of planning to do, so you’ve got to keep a straight head! Kevin’s waiting for us inside. Nick managed to pay off the asshole that snapped the photographs of our accident. He’s got all the negatives and stuff inside already. We’re just looking for a place to stash them. Plus, Kevin wants us to work on schedule for the hospital. He thinks we need to keep visiting the girls since the tabloids are obviously just starting to get wind of the accident. He’s afraid that if some jerk got clips of the accident that others might have, too. So, he thinks if we have a few key photographs of us at the hospital leaked to the presses that we might be able to salvage something. Just a few weeks then we can forget about this mess.”
“But they’ll never forget...”
