~ Chapter 19 ~
Brian came back into his room and slammed the door. Hard. Hard enough to startle Leighanne who was lying on the bed, eyes closed, music blaring from her newly-purchased discman.
She shut off the discman and sat up, looking at Brian in consternation. "B, what's wrong? What did that door ever do to you?"
Brian walked over to the window. "How was your day? Have fun shopping with Shae?"
Leighanne got up and went to stand behind him. "Yes, I did. Don't change the subject. What's wrong? Why is there steam coming out of your ears?"
Brian made a growling sound. "Everything's wrong! Where do you want me to start?" He was shouting without realizing it.
Leighanne massaged his back. "Calm down. Please. Start at the beginning."
Brian moved away from the window and plopped down on the bed. Leighanne sat beside him, putting an arm around his shoulders. "Everything's gone wrong, Leigh. This was suppose to be a new beginning for the BSB. A new CD, new tour, new management. Nothing's working out like we'd hoped."
Leighanne's eyebrows furrowed in concern. "Kevin?"
Brian seemed surprised that she guessed the root of the problem. "Yea, Kevin. God...I'm at my wit's end with him. You know we had that interview with Bravo this morning, right?" She nodded. "Well we had to postpone it until later because Kevin went missing again. When he finally showed up, almost two hours later, he acted like nothing happened. Like not keeping a committment is something the Backstreet Boys do all the time. AJ questioned him on his whereabouts and he blew his head off. So I decided that I would talk to him alone."
"Oh oh..." Leighanne commented knowingly. "From the look on your face, it didn't go so well."
"It went from bad to worse. If I understand him correctly, he's upset with Nick and I. For being in the hospital last year. For having all the attention focused on us."
"Say what?"
"Leigh, I don't know. Maybe I'm grasping at straws. Dammit! He said that I didn't care about anyone but myself. That I never stopped and asked him how he was coping with everything."
"Did you?" Leighanne asked him gently.
Brian stared at her incredulously. "Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I was the one who had major surgery. I was the one who had to lie on an operating table, not knowing whether I would live or die. Was I suppose to call everyone and ask them how they were dealing with it? Jeez Louise! Kevin was acting funny before I even went into the hospital."
"Brian, I know better than anyone how scared you were. Of course no one expected you to worry about their problems. At least not during that time. But afterwards, during your recovery..you spent a lot of time with Nick and none with him."
"Nick needed me, Leigh. He almost died. He was scared to death that he would lose me."
"So was Kevin," Leighanne added.
"Will you STOP IT!" Brian exclaimed, harsher than he intended.
Leighanne flinched. "I'm just trying to help." Her eyes started tearing.
"You're not helping. You're taking his side. You're my girlfriend. I expect you to support me on this."
"I do support you. But every story has two sides. Yours isn't the only one. I see his side as well."
"You see his need for this insane jealousy?" he fumed.
Leighanne felt anger start to build up inside her. "Brian, it's not jealousy. It's more than that. Someone doesn't start drinking excessively for no apparant reason. Kevin's always been a straight arrow. Something terrible must have happened for him to take to drinking."
"If something did happen, why didn't he talk to one of us? If not me or Nick, than AJ or Howie? Was I suppose to read his mind?"
"You've known him long enough to know when something's not right."
"He said the same thing," Brian murmured. "What about now? How do we help him get past this? He won't talk to me. He can't see reason."
"Drugs will do that to you," Leighanne said. She saw Brian's eyes widen, but continued, "They warp the brain cells." He just stared at her, saying nothing. "You do realize that alcohol isn't the problem here."
Brian nodded slowly. "He said that he stopped drinking."
"Do you honestly believe that he ever drank? There's a difference between being drunk and being stoned. I had a cousin who was a Heroin addict. I know the signs, love. Kevin is on something."
Brian's eyes grew huge. "Heroin?"
Leighanne shook her head. "No, not that. Maybe Cocaine. Or Pot."
"Cocaine?" Brian croaked. "Oh Lord. That's serious stuff. God..." his face crumpled. "This can't be happening. Please tell me this is just some horrible nightmare and I'll wake up tomorrow and Kevin will be Kevin again." His voice broke as a sob escaped his mouth.
Leighanne's heart went out to him. She took him into her arms. "Don't cry baby. We'll ge through this. Somehow, we'll find a way to help Kevin."
"How?" he cried.
"I don't know. But you have to talk to everyone. Let everyone know what's going on. You can't do this alone."
Brian wiped the tears from his face. "You're right. I'll call a meeting for tomorrow morning." He closed his eyes. 'Please Lord. Please get us through this. Don't let Kevin die on me.'
Shae-Lyn was hanging up her new clothes when there was a knock at the door. "Come in!" she sang out.
Loreto came into the room, quietly closing the door. "Hey Miss VIP Shopper. Did you have fun?" She picked up a white satin teddy. "Hmmm...very nice, Shae. Gonna model it for Blondie?"
"Gimme that," she said, yanking it from her friend's hands. "Like I would model this for Nick. I don't want to scare him more than he already is."
Loreto rolled her eyes. "Please. Nick is not scared of you. Have you had a chance to speak to him alone again?"
"The question should be, has he given me a chance. And the answer is no."
"You need to be more assertive. Talk to him like you mean business. Maybe he likes women to do the chasing." She giggled.
"Lo, if you came here to give me advice on my love life, or lack of it, you know where the door is."
"Get a grip." Loreto sat down in an armchair. "Shae, there's somerthing I need to tell you. Something that happened today."
Hearing the seriousness in her friend's tone, Shae sat down. "What happened?"
"I followed Kevin earlier today."
"You did what? Why?"
"I don't have the answer to that. But, Shae, he was meeting with his dealer.",
Shae's eyebrows shot up. "Come again?"
"Yea. He met with his dealer and bought some Coke."
Shae's jaw hit the floor. "He...you mean to tell me that Kevin's a...a..."
"Junkie? Yea, that's about accurate."
"Oh...my...God," Shae said slowly. "I can't believe it."
"Neither would I. But I saw the exchange. That's the worst part."
"There's more?"
"Yea, his dealer saw me." Shae's eyes grew bigger. "He threatened me."
"Oh God! What did you do?"
"Pannicked. Freaked out. Tried to play innocent. He didn't buy it. I told Kevin, Shae. He got mad at me. Told me to stay out of his life. He said I got what I deserved for interferring."
Shae put an arm around her friend. "I'm sorry, sis. What are you going to do now?"
"I don't know Shae. Part of me wants to quit this job, go home , and pretend I never heard the name Backstreet Boys."
"But..."
"But I care about Kevin, Shae. I know he was an ass. But he needs help. I don't want to leave him."
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