Two Months Later

"Good evening and thanks for joining us. The big story in Hollywood is still the mystery of Lucky. Where has she disappeared to? What's going on with her relationship with Kevin Richardson? This and more on this edition of Extra."

Lara sighed as she turned off the television. The last thing she needed was to hear about how miserable Lucky was and how everyone's life was falling apart because of her. She slowly got up and went to put on her sandals. Time for her evening stroll.

"Meez Lucky…Meez Lucky?" Anna called through the big house.

"In here," Lisa called from her seat on the sofa. She was aimlessly flipping channels, trying not to pay attention to the fact that her total withdrawal from social life was plastered all over the television.

"You didn't open your mail," Anna said accusingly.

"Not interested," Lisa replied, her eyes never leaving the television. She kept expecting some kind of whiny apology letter from Lara and/or Kevin, and she wasn't ready to deal with that yet.

"Well, I'll lay it here." Anna carefully placed the stack of mail on the top of the big screen TV. "Good night, Meez Lucky."

"Good night, Anna," Lucky replied, realizing that the only two people who ever called her Lisa were totally out of her life. She flipped off the TV and sighed, deciding to go do her nightly set of laps in the pool. She picked up the stack of mail and idly flipped through it. Her body stiffened as she saw the familiar handwriting on the envelope. She tore the envelope open.

"Lucky, ya dumb bitch, ya sure screwed up now, didn't ya? Ya lost your man, ya lost your assistant, lost it all. And just imagine how you'd feel if the whole world knew that your man was fucking that assistant! Yep…I know…I know all about your precious Kevin and the baby that your buddy Lara is carrying. Of course, guess she's not your buddy now, is she? Anyway, I think this is worth something. Not that it would ruin YOUR career, but it would ruin your precious Backdoor Boy's career, not to mention make you look like a total ass. I see a beginning figure of fifty thousand dollars. How's that sound? I'll contact you some time next week."

"You up for going out?" Nick poked his head into Brian's hotel room.

"Again? This is the fourth night in a row, Frack," Brian said from his comfortable spot on his bed.

"Please…Bri…I don't wanna be alone tonight," Nick pleaded. Brian stared at him.

"Um…sure…want the other guys to come along?"

"Just Howie and AJ. I don't have the patience for Kev tonight. Meet you downstairs in twenty." Nick went back to his room.

Brian sighed as he walked to the shower, wondering for the thousandth time just what the hell was going on. They had finished the press tour as scheduled, but Kevin kept finding reasons for them all to stay in Europe…not that Brian blamed him. He wouldn't want to go home and face everything, either. What he REALLY couldn't understand why Nick and Kevin were at each other's throats ninety percent of the time they were together. They had once been as close as blood brothers…now they were mortal enemies. His phone rang as he was drying his hair. "Yo, this is B-Rok."

"Hey, Cuz, it's Kevin. What are you doing tonight?"

"Um…well…uh…" Brian faltered.

"It's okay. He got to you before I did. That's cool. I'll just go catch a movie or something."

"Kevin, I think we need to talk," Brian said finally.

"We'll talk later."

"No, Kev, NOW. You've been putting this off and I'm…"

"You'll be late. Talk to you later." Kevin hung up. Brian swore, tossing his cellphone to the bed angrily.

"That one's kinda cute," Nick observed, waving his glass in the general direction of a table of girls to their left.

"Which one, Nick? There are four of them?" AJ said with a grin.

"Four? I see seven…no…eight…" Nick slurred.

"I think it's cutoff time for someone," Howie said, placing a hand on Nick's shoulder. Nick shrugged it off.

"Fuck you. I can hold my liquor."

"SURE you can, Nick," AJ said, laughing as Nick almost fell off his chair from the momentum of the shrug. "Which girl is cutest?"

"The brunette, of course," Nick said seriously. "The one with the blue eyes. Blue eyes ALWAYS reel me in…damn blue eyes," he muttered into his glass.

"Rok, you okay?" Howie asked Brian.

"Huh? Oh, yeah…sorry…lost in thought there for a moment." Brian gave him a smile and tried to pull his thoughts away from Kevin and into the present situation.

"Nick, why the hell have you insisted on getting trashed every night for the past four nights?" AJ asked. "You look like shit, man."

"Thank you, AJ. When I want an opinion on fashion and appearance, you are the LAST person I would ask, okay?" Nick snapped. AJ glared at him but said nothing.

"Whoa…Nicky…you'd better just calm down and start to sober up, okay?" Howie asked gently, lightly ruffling Nick's hair.

"Get your fucking hands off me, ya fag!" Nick snarled. Hurt filled Howie's brown eyes, and AJ and Brian could only stare. "Always touching me…only want girls touching me…"

"Nick, he's concerned. We all are. What's going on with you?" Brian asked.

"Baby…fucking baby…like it could be mine…I mean…it COULD be mine…but I doubt it…" Nick continued to ramble. "She WAS a nice piece of ass though…all mine…maybe it IS my baby…don't want it though…don't want any part of it."

"Nick? What the hell are you talking about?" AJ asked in confusion.

"Not my baby…that's for sure…couldn't be…but really NOT Kevin's baby." Nick waved his glass at the waiter who eagerly ran over, enjoying the fat tips Nick had been laying on his tray. "Another. Maybe two."

"He's done," Brian told the waiter, handing the man a tip twice the size of Nick's. "And don't come back to this table again."

"WHAT baby, Nick?" Howie demanded, fearing the answer.

"Lara's baby."

The other men looked at each other. "Lara's baby? Yours?" Brian whispered. "When? How?"

"For a while…yes, I was doing her…often…and good, too." A smirk crossed Nick's face. "Said she loved me…must have been doing her TOO good." Nick laughed alone at his own joke.

"You pretty much told her to fuck off, didn't you?" AJ asked Nick sadly.

"Hell, yeah, I did! I don't want anything to do with the kid. I mean, I'm not ready to be tied down like that. Too much living to do." Nick slurped the last drops from his glass.

"Then why in the world did Kevin say it was HIS?" Brian whispered.

"Because he knew it would ruin us all if she went public about it, saying it was mine."

"Lara wouldn't do that," Howie said sharply.

"Oh, the fuck she wouldn't. She's a woman, isn't she?" Nick said. "Kev must've figured that she would be so shocked by him saying it was his that she wouldn't do anything. Didn't figure she'd run, though."

"Oh, God," Brian said, running his hands through his short hair. He could not begin to imagine how Lara, Lucky and Kevin were feeling in all this. And here was Nick, getting blasted in some tiny pub in England, acting like it was no big deal. "I need to go find Kevin. We need to get him home to America, so he can talk to Lucky."

"Yes, go home. Make everything all better, just like you always do, Frick," Nick said sarcastically. He stood up, weaving on his feet, but quickly hit the floor as a fist came out and slammed into his face.

Home
Hosted Stories
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Eighteen