chapter nineLauren had obviously not seen him. That was good. The quicker they left and the less she knew, the better. The last thing he wanted was a jagged, fucked-up trip up Memory Lane.
"I'm beat," AJ said to Lauren.
"It's only 11:45! Where your stamina?" she teased.
"I dunno, but I'm ready to go home." AJ kept one eye on Nick. He had already made his way to the bar.
Lauren frowned. Alex's face had paled. He kept looking somewhere behind her. "You don't look so hot, babe. You okay?"
"I'm fine. Just tired. C'mon." He took her hand and made his way to the exit. He prayed Nick wouldn't see them. They were almost to the door and then it happened.
"Yo, Bone!" he called from behind them.
AJ's head snapped and looked at Lauren. She had heard the voice and had stiffened. Shit.
Nick clamped a hand on AJ's shoulder. "Hey Bone. Long time no see, eh?"
"Yeah, right."
"You by yourself?"
Lauren turned around and faced AJ and Nick. All the color had drained out of her face. Her jaw was set in place and her eyes were locked angrily on AJ. She looked like Death herself.
Nick looked up and saw Lauren. His face had soon paled too. His grin fell into a frown. Suddenly everything seemed to stop. Nick's breath was stuck in his lungs. No one moved for the longest time.
Then she did move. Lauren grabbed AJ's arm roughly and said, "I want to go home now." It sounded more like a command than a statement.
AJ started to say, "Lauren ---"
"Now," she repeated, finally putting her glare upon Nick. She dragged AJ out of the club and they silently walked to his car. She said nothing, but AJ could tell she was really upset.
AJ kept his eyes on the road, hoping Lauren would calm down. She was going to explode, he knew it. He prayed for a mysterious case of lockjaw for her or something.
"What the fuck happened back there?" she asked, quite tamely.
"Lauren, I can explain ---"
She interrupted him, "Why the hell was he there?"
"It was a coincidence, I swear. I had no idea he was there."
"So you weren't tired. You lied to me."
"Lauren, I didn't want to cause any problems."
"Well, bravo! You did wonderful!"
"Listen," he told her, growing impatient, "I was just trying to avoid any kind of confrontation. I know you guys didn't end in the greatest terms. I wasn't trying to purposely deceive you, I wanted to protect you."
"I would've been fine," she said. "I'm not a little girl anymore. I can handle him myself."
"Lauren, you're being too sensitive ---"
"Will you shut up?" she shouted. "I'm a fucking adult now. If Nick Carter decides to dump me, that's my problem, okay? So how I deal with it is my damned business, not the world's! That's why I went away. I was tired of sympathy from you and Brian and Howie!"
"You went away because of us?"
"I wanted to get away from everyone and their fucking sappy support."
AJ frowned and looked at her. "We were doing what we could do, Lauren. We wanted to help, but if you can't appreciate that then ---"
He never finished his sentence. A sickening crunch of metal interrupted AJ. He hadn't seen the Jeep as it turned the corner. The last thing AJ remembered was hearing Lauren scream.