An hour later, they were sitting around a large table in a private room they'd reserved at one of their favorite restaurants to celebrate Alex being back. When the waitress came to take their order, he was surprised to hear not one of them order alcohol.

After she left, he said, "You guys didn't have to do that, you know. You could of had a drink."

Howie reached over and squeezed his shoulder. "It's our way of showing you our support. We don't need to drink around you. We don't want to."

"Yeah, and backstage is now a dry area and all the after-parties we go to as a group will be too." Nick piped in, grabbing his third appetizer from the middle of the table.

Brian added, "And all your party buddies on the crew have been replaced."

Alex looked from one to the other, speechless. They had done all that for him. He'd been so worried about being on the road, about the parties, about all his buddies pressuring him, but they'd fixed it all. "Guys, I don't know what to say. Thank you. You didn't have to do all that."

Brian nodded. "Of course we did, Aje, we want you to succeed. I talked to your therapist about it before you were released and she mentioned how hard this was going to be for you. It's hard enough for an alcoholic to recover under normal circumstances, but you have to deal with so much more. So much pressure. We just wanted to do what we could to take some of that pressure off."

Pausing to grab an appetizer for himself before Nick ate them all up, he glanced in Kevin's direction and said, "Kev, tell him what you did."

Kevin looked down at the drink the waitress had just brought, for some reason feeling nervous. He'd taken a lot of liberties with his part in the whole thing and just hoped Alex wouldn't be mad about it. "I gutted and remodeled your tour bus." He looked up at Alex whose eyes were suddenly huge.

"You what?" Alex asked, his mind racing as he tried to figure out why he'd do something like that.

"Uh, yeah. I had it gutted and refitted with a little recording studio in the back. It's soundproofed and filled with all the latest equipment. Thought maybe it would give you something to do after the concerts, you know, instead of partying, when you're on that high you always get on."

When Alex just stared at him, not saying a word, he rushed on, "If you don't like the idea, don't worry, you can have my bus until we get you a new one. I just thought, well, I don't know what I thought. I should have asked you first. Sorry."

Alex finally found his voice. "Kevin, God, don't be sorry. Thank you so much. I don't even know what to say. That's the most thoughtful thing anyone's done for me in a long, long time. Of course I like the idea, I love it! I thought I'd be stuck reading books and watching movies for the rest of the tour. This is so much better. These last few weeks I've had so many ideas for songs and now I'll be able to get it all out and maybe finish that other one I started on your bus before rehab." Kevin didn't have a recording studio, but he did have a keyboard with lots of recording equipment on it.

Kevin nodded, relaxing in his chair, thankful he was ok with what he'd done. "That's what gave me the idea. That's an awesome song Alex. I want it on our next CD. I thought maybe you could finish it if you had your own traveling studio."

Alex sat there for a minute, choked up, staring at Kevin, then got up and circled the table to stand in front of him. Kevin stood and they hugged for the second time that day.

"Thanks," was all Alex could manage.

Kevin hugged him back, telling him he was welcome. Again they forgot the rest of the guys were there and just stood there for a minute hugging, loving being in the other's arms.

Nick tried to ignore the surge of jealousy that again shot through him at the sight of the two of them hugging. He had no right, he told himself again. Alex wasn't his. Finally though, he couldn't take it anymore and interrupted with a not-so-subtle clearing of his throat.

"Uh guys, this is sweet and all, but could ya break it up? You're gonna start rumors."

Everyone laughed, knowing he was joking. Alex and Kevin pulled apart, pretending they were amused too. Alex snuck a glance at Kevin who looked at him at the same moment. He could have sworn he'd seen something there in those green eyes, something intense, but as quickly as it crossed his features it was gone and Alex was left wondering if he'd imagined it.

When dinner was done, they all sat around talking for a while, enjoying being together as friends. It hadn't been that way for a while now. Eventually though, Brian announced he had to leave and get back to Leighanne which meant Howie had to go too, since they'd come together. They all said their good-byes and then it was just Alex, Kevin and Nick left sitting at the table. A minute later, Nick's cell phone went off and he grabbed it from his pocket.

"Nick here." He answered.

"What? Aaron? You're where? Here? No shit!"

A short pause, then, "Tonight? No, I can't. Alex just got back, and..."

Alex interrupted him. "Nicky, go. I know you want to visit with your brother too. It's all right. Brian and Howie left already anyway."

"Just a sec bro," Nick said into his phone. Covering it with his hand, he looked at Alex and said, "But I'm you're ride."

Kevin spoke up. "Alex is right. Go. I'll give him a ride home."

He watched as a look passed between Alex and Nick. Alex nodded his head and Nick nodded back and went back to his conversation. Kevin wondered what that was all about.

Nick's voice interrupted his thoughts as he started talking to Aaron again. "All set, buddy, I'm on my way. Where are you staying?"

After Nick clicked the phone off, he stood and looked at Alex. "Thanks. I know I just spent a bunch of time with him on his tour while you were away, but with our tour starting back up in a couple days, who knows when I'll see him next."

Alex nodded. "No problem, now go."

Nick's face lit in a smile the way it always did at the prospect of spending time with his brother. On his way out, he turned back and called over his shoulder, "And thanks Kev for giving him a ride home!"

"Get out of here!" Kevin lightheartedly called back in response.

That left Alex and Kevin alone. Kevin wasn't ready to see the evening end though and wracked his brain to think of something plausible to do to keep Alex from going home. "Hey Bone, if you're up for it, I could show the bus to you. I've got the keys."

Alex's eyes lit up. "That'd be great. Just give me a second to call Sara and tell her I'll be a little late."

"Sara? So, you guys are still together?" Kevin tried desperately to ignore the burning pain in his gut.

Alex shook his head. "No, but she doesn't know it yet. I'm going to break it off, I just haven't seen her yet."

"You mean she wasn't there when you got home last night?" Kevin was surprised. Alex had already told them about how he and Sara's relationship had started and that Sara had developed feelings for him that he didn't return. Well, he'd told Nick, Howie and Brian and Brian in turn had called and told Kevin.

"I wouldn't know. I wasn't there. I stayed with Nick last night." Alex stopped short as thoughts of what he and Nick had done flooded his head and he felt suddenly uncomfortable.

"You stayed with Nick?" Kevin again tried to ignore the jealous clench in his stomach.

He'd noticed the glances between Alex and Nick all afternoon and evening. He'd just been hoping he was wrong. Now he knew he wasn't as he watched Alex fidget in his seat. So, it was true. He had moved on. He'd moved right on to Nick.

Alex went on, oblivious to the fact that Kevin had figured out something had happened between them and was anything but happy about it. "Yeah. I wasn't ready to face her. Didn't even call her until today in the car on the way here.

"Oh. Well while you call her, I'll take care of the bill and meet you out front." Kevin said in a curt voice.

Alex sat staring at him, a confused look on his face. Kevin seemed…mad all of a sudden. He didn't understand why. He'd thought he'd be happy he was kicking Sara out of his life. He'd sure as hell bugged him enough about her over the month and a half before he'd went into rehab. As Kevin got up and walked away, Alex shrugged it off as typical Kevin moodiness and grabbed his cell out of his pocket to call Sara.

Minutes later, they were headed down the road in Kevin's car, Alex wondering at the older man's behavior. The only thing that he could come up with was that it must have something to do with him worrying that he was still in love with him. He decided to talk to him on the bus. Get all the cards out on the table. Tell him what he was sure Kevin wanted to hear. That he was over him and everything was all right.

As they pulled into the parking lot of the building the busses were housed in, Kevin cut the engine and got out without a word, heading toward the building to unlock it. After he had the door unlocked, he turned back to Alex, feeling bad for the way he was acting. He had no right to be upset about Alex and Nick being together. Alex had every right to be happy and if Nick made him happy, Kevin would just have to deal with that.

That resolved in his head, his eyes softened as he watched Alex approach with that swagger of his. Yep, swagger was the word to describe it. Rarely had he ever seen Alex 'walk' anywhere. It was hard to describe really, swagger was probably the closest word. Whatever it was, Kevin liked it.

Smiling, he asked him, "Ready?"

Alex nodded, further confused. Now Kevin was in a good mood again? "Yep, give me the tour."

Kevin opened the door and they stepped inside, looking around until they located Alex's bus. Walking over to it, Kevin unlocked that door and stepped inside, flipping on the lights. Alex stepped in after him and looked around. It wasn't so different up front, but there were subtle changes, like the color of the carpet and walls and the kitchenette was designed a bit different.

"The real changes are through that door." Kevin said, pointing.

Alex walked over and opened it, his jaw dropping. The bathroom door was immediately to his left and the closet door on his right, making for a mini-hall. Past that there was a huge bed attached to one wall and taking up most of the space. There was just enough room to skirt around the bed to the other side, where another door stood, closed.

Kevin stood behind him, so close he could almost feel him. Alex closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath trying desperately to get his hormones under control.

Kevin stuck his arm out over his shoulder and pointed to the door. "Your studio's on the other side of that door."

Alex nodded, not trusting his voice at the moment and headed over. Opening the door, his stomach leapt and he felt like a kid in a candy store. Kevin hadn't been kidding when he said it was outfitted with all the latest equipment. There was a top of the line keyboard, a mixing center, a couple of guitars, a couple of microphones with the spit screens, a sound effects machine and that was just the most obvious things. It was amazing.

"Damn, Kev, I don't know what to say. You really went all out. This is awesome. Thank you so much."

"I'm glad you like it."

And he was. He leaned in the doorway, arms across his chest, ankles crossed, watching Alex go from one thing to another, picking things up, touching the things he couldn't. His face was lit up in a smile, the way he must have looked when he was a kid walking into the living room at Christmas to find all his presents under the tree. A huge smile was painted across his own face. Alex was so happy and at the moment, he was the cause of it. He loved that feeling.

Alex finally looked up from all his fiddling and returned the smile he saw on his face. He watched closely as an emotion he couldn't pinpoint flickered through his green eyes, disappearing as quickly as it came. Alex stopped what he was doing and motioned back toward the bedroom.

"Kevin, can we talk for a minute?"

Kevin straightened, his heart doing flip-flops in his chest. "Uh, sure Bone, what about?"

"Let's go sit first."

Kevin nodded and turned back to the bedroom. Sitting down on the bed, he waited until Alex sat too, a short distance away.

Alex cleared his throat, looking straight into Kevin's eyes. "Since we're alone, I thought it might be a good time to talk about what happened between us in Boston."


Chapter Four
MAKING AMENDS, MENDING LOVE Contents