| Chapter 23 Over the next few days, Nick's torment increased. Jered and Ephah had stopped leaving, staying with him all the time now. As Nick would go through his daily routine, they would whisper to him, knock him off balance while he was dancing, anything to rattle him. And it was working. Tara would give him encouraging looks, but she knew they were there and couldn't directly help Nick. She prayed for him constantly though. Neither she or Nick told the guys what was going on, thinking it would be best not to. If they knew Nick was being hounded 24/7 they would try something to bring him some relief, no matter what they had promised in the past. The guys were sitting in on another of Stephen's meetings. They had tonight's show, then off for two days before they hit Las Vegas. Nick was acting like he was paying attention to what Stephen had to say, but he was really trying to ignore Jered who was taunting him. "Why do you listen to that little mouse anyway?" Jered asked. Nick took a deep breath and shifted his weight in the chair. "Does he really know what he's talking about?" Jered said. "Shut up," Nick mumbled under his breath. Kevin, who was sitting next to him, looked over, "Huh?" Nick shook his head, "Nothing, sorry." "Nick, pay attention, this is important," Stephen said. Nick looked up, seeing everyone staring at him, "Sorry." "The stage tonight is a little shorter than the normal one, so you guys are gonna have to adjust where you are. We need to do a complete show this afternoon before the doors open so we're all comfortable with it," Stephen said. Everyone groaned. "Stephen, I think we can all handle it without the full rehearsal," Kevin said. Stephen shook his head, "No, we're doing it. I can't have one of you falling off the front of the stage tonight." Jered laughed in Nicks ear, "No can't have that now can we?" Nick straightened up in his seat, "Are we done?" Stephen glared at him for interrupting him, "No Nick we are not done yet." Nick sighed and sat back in his chair. He wanted to leave, wanted to get somewhere he could let Jered have it. He looked over at the light switch and smiled. Stephen was in the middle of another safety with the fans reminder when the lights went out. "What the..." he said. "Are we done now?" Nick asked, in the dark. "I guess, meet back here in an hour for rehearsal," Stephen called to the guys who were already heading out the door. Brian walked up to Nick, "Thanks man, I was falling asleep in there." Nick smiled, "No problem." "You know, hubby there might have problems tonight," Jered whispered. Nick stopped in his tracts, a frightened expression on his face. Brian turned around and looked at him, "You OK?" Nick looked at him, "Leave me alone." Brian was confused by Nick's sudden change in demeanor, "What's wrong?" "Nothing, just leave me alone," Nick said, turning and almost running down the hall. The rest of the guys came over. "What was that about?" Kevin asked. "I have no idea," Brian said, "But I'm gonna asked Tara about it. Something hasn't been right for the last couple of days, and I'm gonna find out what it is." "We'll go with ya," A.J. said. And with that, the four headed to the dressing room to talk to Tara. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nick rounded the corner and found a small room to duck into. He closed the door and turned on the lights. Jered appeared in front of him. "Listen you ass, you can do whatever you want to me, but you leave the rest of the guys out of it! Or I swear I'll kill you myself," Nick yelled. "Aww, come now. You know you can't touch me, and I can do anything I want to," Jered teased. Nick glared at him. "So where's your other half?" he asked. "He had other things to do," Jered said, smiling. "I'm shocked you let him out of your site," Nick said. "And what is that suppose to mean?" Jered asked. Nick shrugged, "Just that you two seem to be joined at the hip. I was wondering if after Tara you switched sides on who you liked, that's all." Jered glared at him, "I would be careful if I were you." Nick was grinning ear to ear, he had rattled Jered with his comment, and he knew it. "I'm just saying, that's what it looks like. I'd be careful, other's might notice it to," Nick teased. Jered walked towards him, taking him by the shirt and slamming him against the door. Nick laughed at him, "Is that all you got?" Jered kneed him in the groin and punched him in the back of the head as he fell to the floor. "Don't start something you can't finish," Jered said. Nick was preparing for the fight of his life when someone knocked on the door. "Nick, are you in there?" Roy, one of the guys body guards, asked. Jered disappeared as Roy came through the door, finding Nick on his hands and knees. "Man, what happened?" he asked, helping Nick up and looking around for any signs of danger. "Nothing man, I'm fine," Nick said, pushing away from the large man and brushing himself off. Roy looked at him, "You sure? What happened anyway?" Nick smiled at him, "I just have some demons I have to deal with. I'm fine really." Roy watched as Nick walked out of the room and down the hall. He knew the kid was on medicine for panic attacks, but didn't realize the problem was so big. He decided to find Stephen and tell him what he'd seen, for the kid's own good. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tara was sitting on the couch in the dressing room when the guys came in. She looked up, "Hey, meeting over already?" "Yeah, thanks to Nick," Brian said. Tara noticed Nick wasn't with them, "What happened?" "He turned the lights off, so we could leave," A.J. said. "Oh," she said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Honey, what's going on with him? He's acting really weird," Brian asked. Tara looked down, debating on wether to answer the question. "Please tell us," Kevin asked. "Yeah, we love him too. We want to know what's going on," Howie said. "Guys, I really can't...." she started. "Go ahead and tell them," Nick said, coming through the door and collapsing into the nearest chair. Tara looked at him, seeing the tired expression on his face. "Fine, I'll tell them," Nick said, "Jered and Ephah are with me all the time now. They won't let up, constantly taunting me. I'm so tired of it, I just want it to stop." "How long has this been going on?" Kevin asked. "Couple of days now," Nick said, closing his eyes and leaning back in the chair. "God Nick, why didn't you tell us?" A.J. asked. "Cause telling you would do nothing but make you worry," he answered. "But we could help you," Howie said. Nick shook his head, "No you can't. No one can." "That's not true," Brian said, "God can. We could've been praying for you all this time." Nick smiled at his friend, "I know, and I know that you guys have been praying for me, a lot. Thanks for that." "Nick, where are they now?" Tara asked, not feeling them. "I'm not sure. Jered was with me up until a few minutes ago. Ephah hasn't been here all day," Nick said, "I kinda pissed Jered off and he left." "What did you do?" Brian asked. "I accused him of being gay. He slammed me against the wall and punched me, but Roy came in and he left," Nick said. "Nick, you have to be careful. You've never seen Jered really angry yet. Trust me, you don't want to either," Tara said. Nick looked at her in horror, "You've got to be kidding? All those times he's beat the hell out of me, he wasn't really angry?" She shook her head, "No. He was enjoying that. You never want to see him angry." Stephen walked in the door and looked over at Nick. "Can I have a word with you?" he said. Nick looked up at him, "Stephen, I'm really not in the mood to..." "Now!" Stephen said, causing everyone in the room to jump, including Nick. Nick got up out of his chair and followed the smaller man out into the hall. They walked down the hall a ways, and went into a smaller room with a desk and two chairs in it. "Have a seat," Stephen instructed. Nick sat down, looking at him. "You aren't taking your medicine are you?" Stephen asked. "Of course I am, you watch me do it," Nick said. "No, you're not. This entire tour you've been lying to me, haven't you?" Stephen said. "Where is this coming from?" Nick asked, completely confused as to what brought this on. "Roy just told me how he found you a few minutes ago. You want to tell me what's going on?" Stephen said. Nick looked down at the floor. "Nick, if you don't talk to me, I swear I'll have you carted out of here in a straight jacket. I'll commit you and make you see a shrink until whatever this is, is solved," Stephen threatened. Nick looked up at him in horror, "You can't do that." "Oh yes I can. It's called involuntary commitment, and anyone can do it," he said, "Now spill." "Alright, I'm still having the attacks. Lately they are getting worse. I've been doing my best to keep it together, but sometimes it's just to hard," Nick said. Stephen looked at him, studying his body language, and his facial expressions. "Not buying it," he said. Nick looked at him, "What?" "Your story, I don't buy it. Something else is going on, and you better tell me what it is," he said. "You really want to know?" Nick asked. "Yes Nick, now tell me," Stephen said. "OK, but you asked for it," Nick said, getting up and locking the door. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An hour later the guys were waiting on stage to start rehearsal. Nick and Stephen hadn't showed up yet, and they were starting to wonder what was going on. Just then Nick came up on stage, with his arm around Stephen's shoulders. "Hey guys," Brian said. "Stephen, what's wrong?" Kevin asked, seeing that he had no color in his face, and looked like he was in shock. "Oh he's fine," Nick said, looking down at him, "Aren't you?" Stephen nodded. "And you won't tell anyone what I said, right?" Nick asked. "No, never," Stephen whispered. Nick let the smaller man go, and he backed away from him. Stephen said nothing, but went to his spot in the seats to watch the rehearsal. "What was that about?" A.J. asked. "He wanted to know what was going on, so I told him," Nick said, "He's kinda in shock." "You what?!" Kevin said, completely horrified. Nick held his hands up, "I had to, he wasn't buying the panic attack story anymore, and he was gonna have me committed!" "He what?" Brian said, looking out at Stephen. "Guys, it's really OK. After I told him, he really thought I was nuts, so I proved it to him. He won't tell, I know it," Nick said. "How did you prove it?" A.J. asked. "I pulled my sword and cut his arm, then I healed him. Trust me, he won't tell," Nick said. All the guys looked at Nick, then down to Stephen. They knew it must have been frightening for the man, but none of them could stifle their laughter. "Oh, just to have seen the look on his face," Howie said. "It was priceless," Nick said, with a grin. "It's a wonder he didn't wet himself," A.J. laughed. That elicited even more laughter from the group. "Um guys, if your done. We need to get to rehearsing," Stephen called. "Sorry," Kevin said, straightening the rest of the guys up, so they could start. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jered sat waiting for Ephah to come back. He was fuming over Nick's taunts, and was thinking of some creative way to make him pay for it. Ephah appeared in the room, pulling him from his thoughts. "So, they in?" Jered asked. Ephah smiled, "Of course. With an offer like that how could they refuse?" "So when?" Jered asked, impatiently. "Last show. They already had it planned, and us helping them is just the icing on the cake," Ephah gloated. "Good. I'm tired of angel boy squirming out of our hands. I can't wait til we get him away from her. If she's not there to help him, he'll lose faith, and then he's ours," Jered said, a smile forming on his face. Chapter 24 |