"Are you all ready yet?" Kevin asked, yelling up the stairs. The girls were still getting ready, while the guys were sitting at the bottom of the stairs waiting.
"If you don't want us to look like a bunch of whores then hold on!" A voice called down.
"She doesn't hold anything back, does she?" Howie asked AJ with a laugh.
"Terri…is interesting. But I love her." AJ sighed smiling.
"I think it rubbed off on Amber…she's almost as bad." Kevin chuckled.
"I think they rubbed off on each other, then on the rest of them." Nick stated, leaning against the wall.
"We're ready!" Lexi called down. She was the first to walk down the stairs; she was wearing a short, dark blue dress that had tank-top style straps. Her long dark hair was pulled back on the sides into a small ponytail. Nick whistled as she walked over to him, and set his arms around her. Becca was the next to walk down, she wore a pale green dress with lilac flowers that was much like Lexi's, only peasant style. Her hair was back in a bun.
"You look beautiful!" Brian exclaimed and bent down to give her a kiss.
"Thank you." She replied with a smile. The next one down was Terri, who was wearing a spaghetti strap, form fitting silver dress that ended at her ankles. Her hair was down and parted in the middle, as usual. AJ's eye's popped out of their sockets and all he could say was wow!
"Roll your tongue back into your mouth." Terri whispered in his ear, then kissed him lightly. Amber was coming down now in a teal dress that was peasant style at the top, with a high waist and fell all the way to her ankles, with her hair down and curled.
"The word 'beautiful' does you no justice." Kevin told her with a smile as he took her hands and kissed her.
"Always have to show off with your catchy phrases." Nick teased.
"Where is my date?" Howie asked, anxious to see Erin.
"She's coming." Becca replied, "Hold your horses."
Then Erin appeared at the top of the stairs with a burgundy below the knee dress that was almost like a halter-top, tying at the back of her neck. It showed off her figure perfectly, and her hair was down and parted on the side.
"Wow, you look gorgeous." He told her, barely able to control himself as he kissed her.
"Thank you." She beamed.
"Shall we be off?" AJ asked, looking around as everyone nodded.
"Would you like to dance?" AJ asked Terri with a smile and his hand outstretched.
"Yes." She replied, taking his hand. AJ led her to an empty space on the floor and faced her, his eyes burning into hers. He took her hands and placed them around his neck, then placed his own hands around her waist, bringing her closer to him. For minutes they just stood in silence, looking into each other's eyes and swaying to the music.
"How corny is this?" Terri thought to her self, "Hell, I don't care." She thought and gently set her head on his shoulder.
"Awe, look at Kevin and Amber!" AJ exclaimed, pointing to where the two were nuzzling noses and softly kissing each other's lips.
"Awe." Terri cooed, admiring her best friend, "They look so cute! And look at Nick and Lexi dancing!" She exclaimed, repositioning her glance. The two were looking into each other's eyes and smiling, much like AJ and Terri had done only minutes ago. They didn't see Brian, Becca, Howie or Erin out on the floor so they directed their attention to the table. Howie had just bowed to Erin and asked for a dance. Erin giggled and took his hand with a smile. Becca and Brian were still at the table, but they were drinking a milk shake together.
"I didn't even know they had milkshakes in a place like this." Terri laughed; this was a ritzy place she had to admit.
"If you have a blender, ice cream and milk you have a milkshake." AJ told her sarcastically.
"Hey, shut up. It's my birthday, you're supposed to be nice." Terri pouted with her bottom lip jutted out and frowning. AJ laughed and pulled her closer.
"You are the only person I know that does that and wins with me." He told her and kissed her lips softly. Suddenly, the kiss was broken by an arm, which spun Terri around quickly.
"You bitch! You ruined my life!" The tall, stout man told her. His gaze was cruel, and he looked as though he hadn't had sleep in several days.
"Andy?" Terri gasped in shock; she could barely believe it.
"Yes, it's me! You and you friends will pay for this, just watch your back!" He yelled and stormed off. By this time a small crowd had formed around the two and as Andy walked off, Terri stood there and tears began to form in her now wide eyes. AJ rushed to her and took her in his arms.
"Shh, baby. He can't hurt you, I'm here, don't worry. Nothing is going to happened." AJ whispered softly to her, trying to calm her down.
"What happened?" Brian, who was the first one there asked.
"Andy just told her that she and the girls are going to pay for ruining his life." AJ told him softly, keeping Terri tightly against him.
"Oh my God." Becca gasped, Brian also taking her into his arms. "How did he know we were going to be here? Oh my God…"
"Don't worry…nothing is going to happen." Brian told her, his thoughts bouncing all around.
"What happened?!" Lexi and Nick asked as the rest of the group huddled around the table, where Terri and Becca where crying softly in AJ and Brian's arms. Brian told them quietly what had gone on, and all of the girls were in a state of shock, disbelief, and terror.
"He's not going to do anything, don't worry." Kevin told Amber softly.
"Kevin, you don't understand! The drug tycoons are sly and know what they are doing!" Amber replied hysterically, but it was the truth, even if the guys didn't know it.
"So what are we going to do?" Howie asked from the reclining chair. All of the guys had sent the girls to bed to rest while they stayed down stairs "watching the game."
"We first have to call Shannon and Heather, let them know what is going on." AJ said firmly.
"We'll do that first thing tomorrow." Brian replied, they would call now, but they didn't have her home number.
"We have to get them police protection." Kevin told them.
"I don't think the police protection will be enough if what the girls say is true, about Kim dying and all." Nick commented, "But what if they were to disappear, somewhere where Shannon, and the rest of us will know of. No one else." Nick suggested his voice getting quiet.
"Like in Sister Act, or something?" Brian asked, chuckling.
"Exactly, only not to a church, some house out in the country or something." Nick replied, %100 serious.
"My God, Nick! You may have a good idea!" AJ exclaimed, "What about Nick's family's old place in California! They moved out, right?"
"Yeah. They are in Tampa again." Nick replied.
"That's perfect!" Howie exclaimed, "It's in the mountains, away from people, we only know where it is…"
"But guys, what are we gonna do? Stay there with them?" Brian asked skeptically.
"We can't stay, we have to go back to the studio in two weeks." Kevin replied, his voice low and disappointed.
"But we can visit." Howie replied, "They will just have to be by themselves for a while."
"Terri?" AJ called softly into the room as he walked in. The light by the bed was still on, but she looked asleep. AJ approached the bed and smiled at how adorable she looked. Her long brown hair spilled across the cream colored pillow like chocolate sauce, and her face looked so angelic. "You awake babe?" AJ asked to make sure.
"No." She replied, her eyes fluttering open to look at him. "Get in bed, I wanna cuddle." She whined. AJ gladly got ready for bed then climbed in, Terri immediately set her head on his chest. "Are their horses at Nick's place in California?" She asked.
"What…?"
"I heard you, all of us did. We were on the stairs listening." Terri replied, looking up at AJ. "I love you, AJ. I appreciate what you are doing, but running away won't solve anything." She sighed.
"But you'll be safe there." AJ replied, stroking her cheek with his thumb.
"No we won't." She replied, grabbing a pen and paper from the nightstand and scribbling something down. She handed it to AJ.
'The house is bugged. How do you think Andy knew where we were going. Plus, remember when that guys came to check the fire alarm system about two weeks ago? Well, no one was home when he did so, (why I don't know) and our alarm system was fine.' AJ read, then also scribbled down something. 'Then we can use it to our advantage, let him think that is where we are going. We can really go to Key West.' He gave the paper back to Terri. She read it, and then took the pen. 'Where?' She asked. 'I know Jimmy Buffet, he said if I wanted to stay sometime to come on down.' He wrote with a smile. She read it and smiled too. 'Perfect.'
Chapter 7
Chapter 9
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