Early the next morning AJ called the Ramada Inn and was directed to Anita’s room, the phone rang and rang until finally a soft voice answered “He…llo”

“Anita? Did I wake you?”

Anita sniffled “No…AJ…I haven’t slept…listen I can’t stay here anymore and last night I went with a friend to a club and they…” she broke into sobs.

“Antia…what happened? You can tell me.” he paused waiting but all he could hear was Anita in a fit of cries “Howard!” he whispered over to Howie who was slumped over the sofa, in a light slumber.

“Huh? What? I’m awake” he looked around disoriented “What man?” he forced his eyes open.

AJ covered the receiver with his hand “Anita is in some kind of trouble, something happened to her last night. She’s crying! What do we do?”

Howard looked at the calendar “We are on our way to New York…why don’t we just fly her out there?” he shrugged, knowing the idea wasn’t bad, or good.

AJ sighed and talked into the receiver “Anita I’m going to book a flight for you…I’ll call you back with the details and we will figure out where you can stay. Ok?”

“Ok…” silence filled the line “Thanks.” she hung up the phone.

AJ turned to Howie as the phone clicked “Man, we have surely screwed up this time. She sounded horrible, what could have happened to her?”

Howie shrugged “I don’t know, but brace yourself cause the question is…what the hell is going to happen to us, when we show up with Anita. What will Brian say I mean he has his own bus, but what about Nick? He’ll have a fit and where the hell is she going to sleep?”

“Uh…I’ll give her my bunk. I’ll sleep on the sofa.” AJ sunk into the sofa next to Howie, as they watched Nick storm into the bus, ignoring their presence. “We should get some boxing classes too.” he forced a smile “Cause he can throw a punch”

Anita sat in the tub, the spew of the shower hitting her aching body. She knew there were bruises everywhere, she could feel her face swelled up and one of her eyes had to be black. Even if she didn’t want to think about last night, the flashes of the events kept flooding her mind.

She cringed as she remembered the coke that she had been forced to sniff, how it had numbed her instantly. The faces that came and went from her vision, there were about four of them, it was all coming back to her, it hadn’t just been Vince. It was four of them. Vince, Derek and two other men. All four taking turns with her. After her long bath, she changed into her jeans and a pink tunic and waited for AJ’s phone call.

Nick smiled at the brunette that stood a couple of feet away from him, she giggled and batted her eyelids flirtatiously “So how about we meet tonight” he wrote something down on paper “We are staying at this hotel…I share a suite, but I have my own room.” he winked and walked away, meeting up with Brian, AJ and Howie.

“Nick do you always have to invite random girls to the rooms. One day they are going to jack us for all we have and it’s going to be your fault.” Howie huffed.

Brian drilled his temples “Forget that…your going to catch something…ugh! You don’t even know…”

Nick rolled his eyes “Please…who knows anything these days…” he glared at Howie and AJ and walked away.

“Uh Brian there is a dilemma that we wanted to make you aware of…” Howie nudged AJ to finish.

“Right…” AJ cleared his throat “Uh…well you remember hearing about Anita…well we helped her stay in Hollywood…” he stuck a cigarette in his mouth as he looked over at Howie for some help.

“Oh…yeah so AJ and I heard that she is in some trouble and since it’s our fault that Nick broke up with her and something has happened to her, we invited her to stay on the bus with us.” he winced waiting for Brian to explode.

“Well I’m ok with it, but I’m not on the same bus. Shouldn’t you actually be talking to Nick about it, since he was the one affected by what you two did?” Brian raised an eyebrow.

“Oh man Brian we thought you would help us out with this…” Brian nodded as AJ puffed on his cigarette. “Well in that case we are going to wait till she gets here…she should be here around five” he threw the butt on the floor and squashed it with his foot, letting out the last of the smoke in his mouth.

Anita played with her fingers, she was nervous it had been a little over three weeks that she hadn’t seen Nick. What would he do? Would he even except the fact that his friend and band mates were helping her out? Her leg moved persistently in one place as she began to buckle her seat belt, the plane was finally landing.

A little later, she held the small bag over her shoulders as she looked around for the familiar faces, the nerves getting the best of her. She wiped down her clammy hands on her jeans and her face brightened at the sight of two men standing waving over at her.

“AJ…Howie!” she exclaimed embracing them both at the same time “I’m glad to see you guys…I…this is…thanks…” her eyes weld up as she stammered with her words.

“We are glad to see you, we are glad that your ok!” Howie blushed at the kiss on his cheek.

AJ and Anita stared at each other for a second “So…your going to tell me what happened later right?” he didn’t want to bring on the tears, but he was anxious to know what all the crying over the phone was about.

Anita just nodded “Yes…so does everyone know that I’m here…” she questioned as they all strolled out of the airport and hopped into the limo.

“Uh not really…we are staying at a hotel right now. So your safe for the time being, but we have to mention it to him later, cause we are all on the same bus.” AJ sat back on his seat, worried about the drama that would soon unfold.

Nick tried to concentrate on the half naked girl on his bed, as she slid her hands over his shoulders and down his chest “Is something the matter?” she questioned him, kissing his lips lightly.

He sighed heavily, lately he couldn’t stop thinking about her. Anita. Where had she gone? Was she back home? Dancing or being normal like she swore she was? He jumped at the girls hands on his manhood. “Uh give me a second I’m going to get some water. Do you want anything?”

She smiled “Yes! SEX!” she huffed crossing her arms impatiently as she watched him exit the room.

AJ was happy to see Anita smiling, he was thinking she would be in tears the whole way to the hotel. He watched her intently as her mouth moved and her teeth showed with each smile. The guilt rose in the pit of his stomach again, like someone had punched him, then smiled remembering how she had called them pigs the first day she saw them. They waited for the elevator as she continued to ramble on.

“So I got a job as a waitress…” she laughed and then placed her hand on his shoulder “Oh and Samuel L Jackson gave me a hundred dollar tip…it was awesome. Then I met…I met Tara…” she swallowed hard, the memories of the awful night flooding her mind. “Anyways how about you guys? How have the shows been?”

The guys looked at each other as they entered the elevator. “Hum…the shows are always great! We are just tired and ready to head on home.”

“Oh yeah…I might be a father soon. I’m still waiting and I think it hasn’t settled in yet!” Howie smiled happily. “Wait I hadn’t even told you I was married. I am…her name is Leigh, she knows about you and she scolded me.”

“I had no idea you were married Howie!” she giggled “She’s a lucky woman!”

Howie swiped the key card and the door opened, all three shuffled into the hotel room. Anita’s eyes opened wide at the overly large room “Uh it looks like an apartment.” she continued her exploring and her eyes froze and the color drained from her face, the bag slipped out of her hand slowly.

Nick choked on the water in his mouth as his eyes fixated on a pair of familiar eyes, he wanted to smile. His heart was pounding with joy, “A…nita” he whispered, fighting the urge to run over to her and wrap his arms around her. Then reality settled in and the anger returned in flushes of heat through his body and he walked over to the threesome that still stood frozen. “What the hell is she doing here?” he snapped.

“Uh…she was in some trouble Nick and we thought that she could come with us for the rest of the tour.” Howie explained.

Anita looked down at the ground, her face was flushed with embarrassment “I can leave if you wish.” she whispered, unable to look him in the eyes. She had noticed he was half dressed and didn’t want to stare.

AJ huffed “Don’t be a dick Nick.”

“Fine…do whatever you please. Just stay out of my way.” he muttered.

His bedroom door swung open and there stood the brunette in almost nothing, no sign of discomfort with all the bodies in the room. “Nick I’m waiting” she whined.

“I’m coming” Anita let her eyes meet with Nick’s again. “Well…duty calls.” he said mockingly taking the girl in his arms and closing the door.

Anita let out a gasp “This might not be as easy as I thought.” Howie and AJ just looked at each other, feeling bad for Anita.