Once Justin had Danielle safely out of Joey's room and in the hallway he turned to her. "Danielle? Where is Nick?" Justin asked her.

"What?" Danielle said, slightly snapping out of the trance her body placed her in. "Nick? Oh my God, Nick." She immediately burst into tears again.

"Dani? Baby, listen to me. . . where is Nick?" he asked again.

"He had a show tonight, he was going to meet me back here," she replied, her mind wandering.

"I know, but he's not back yet?" Justin asked.

"I. . . I. . . don't know," she answered and continued to sob.

"Imma get you to your room, where is your key? Which room?" Justin asked.

"My key? It's. . . it's. . ." she began to cry harder. "I. . . don't. . . don't. . . know where it is, Jus."

"Shit," Justin muttered. It must be in Joey's room. "Shit!"

Justin could hear voices coming down the hallway and knew he had to get Danielle out of there. I'll take her to my room, at least no one will see her like this. Before Justin could get her out of the hallway he recognized the voices behind him. AJ!

Justin whipped around to see AJ and Sarah near the end of the hallway. They hadn't even noticed him and Danielle in the hallway. "Dani? AJ and Sarah are down there, they are gonna help us," Justin told her.

"No, Justin! No! I don't want them to see me," Danielle tried to argue, but Justin wasn't hearing any of it. He was already starting to drag her back down the hall towards them.

"AJ!" Justin yelled.

AJ and Sarah both turned their attention from entering their room to down the hall where they saw Justin and Danielle.

"What the hell?" AJ said under his breath.

"Alex, that's Danielle!" Sarah burst breaking into a sprint towards them.

"What the HELL?" AJ exclaimed following her. "Justin? What is going on?"

Danielle immediately wrapped her arms around Sarah when she reached her and she let Sarah hug her in a tight, comforting hug. "Dani? Honey, what happened? What happened?"

AJ grabbed Justin, "What the hell happened?"

Justin threw AJ's hand off his jacket, "Can we please get her out of the hallway? Where the hell is Nick?"

"He's down in the hotel bar, having a drink with Howie. I'm only gonna ask you this one more time, Justin. What the fuck happened?" AJ demanded.

Justin lowered his voice and gave AJ a solemn look, "It was Joey."

"Oh shit," AJ replied, his voice showing hints of defeat. "I'll go get Nick."

"No! I'll go get Nick. You and Sarah get her out of this hallway."

"You sure man?" AJ asked.

"Yes!" Justin yelled as he began running toward the elevator.

Justin reached the hotel bar and found Nick sitting at a corner table with Howie. He was out of breath as he reached the table. Nick and Howie looked up at Justin as he approached them. "What the hell do you want?" Nick asked.

"Nick? Man, you gotta come with me," Justin told him.

"What? What's up?" Nick asked.

"Nick! Just come with me, okay?" Justin was clearly impatient and he looked over at Howie for some support.

Howie could see the look in Justin's eyes and knew something must be seriously wrong if Justin was coming to fetch Nick. "Nicky, let's just go, okay?"

"Not until you tell me what the hell you want?" Nick snapped.

Justin lowered his voice, "Nick, it's Danielle. You need to come with me, NOW."

"Nicky, just go man," Howie pushed him.

"Danielle? What's wrong?" Nick shot up out of his seat.

"Not here, just. . ." Justin looked around. "Just. . . come on." He tugged on Nick's arm and led him out of the bar.

As they were walking out and into the elevator with the doors safely closed, Nick piped up. "You better fucking tell me what the hell is going on right now, or . . . or. . ."

"She's hurt, Nick!" Justin yelled. "She was supposed to come and say goodbye to Brit and she never showed. I heard yelling. . ."

"Get to the point!" Nick snapped.

"It was Joey! He did something to her!" Justin snapped back.

Nick's face immediately went red and his anger silenced him from speaking. His hands began to ball into fists and his nostrils flared from trying to control his breathing through his nose. He clenched his teeth and looked up at Justin, his eyes now glaring with anger.

"She's with AJ and Sarah right now," Justin offered calmly. "Stay cool man."

The elevator doors opened to their floor and they headed immediately for AJ's room.

AJ and Sarah sat Danielle down on the bed in their suite and Sarah ran to soak a towel with water to help clean Danielle up. She brought the towel back and gave it to AJ who started to wipe the dried blood off her face.

"Get some ice in another towel, baby," he told Sarah, "Let's see if we can get some of this swelling down." Sarah nodded and went to get some ice.

Danielle was silent the entire time. Too afraid, too ashamed to tell anyone what really happened with Joey. She knew she looked like a mess and she was already feeling dirty from the looks of pity that they all were giving her. She knew they were concerned, but right now, she just didn't want anyone seeing her. Especially Nick.

"Danielle?" AJ spoke softly. "Dani? Do you want to tell me what happened?"

She shook her head.

"Did Joey do this to you?" he asked.

She paused for a moment before answering. She kept looking at the ground as AJ wiped the cold towel over her face. She nodded slowly, still looking at the ground, but feeling the tears form once again in her eyes.

AJ instinctively wrapped his arms around her and held her gently. "Shhhhhh, it's okay, baby. You're gonna be okay."

She allowed him to hold onto her for a moment, but all of the sudden felt extremely uncomfortable. She squirmed out of his hug and grabbed the towel out of his hands and buried her face in it.

Sarah returned with some ice wrapped in a towel and handed it to AJ.

"He's not gonna get away with this, Danielle," AJ spoke softly to her. Sarah placed her hand on AJ's shoulder and watched Danielle cry into the towel. She didn't know what to say.

AJ looked up at Sarah and then placed his hand on Danielle's back and rubbed it gently. "No one. NO ONE hurts one of ours."

Danielle heard AJ say those words and couldn't believe what he just said. She slowly lifted her head up to look at him. She could feel her eyes swelling and her vision was blurred from tears and the pressure around her eyes.

"What?" she whispered, looking at AJ in confusion.

"No one hurts one of ours, Dani. You are one of us, you should know that," he said softly.

Sarah brought her hand up to her mouth, knowing how much what AJ just said meant to Danielle.

Danielle didn't know what to say, she just stared at AJ and whispered, "Thank you."

She let AJ place the ice towel against her mouth, "Do you want to tell us what happened?"

She shook her head, "No. I just. . . want. . . to take a shower." She got up slowly and looked around the room as if she didn't know where she was. "Can I use your shower?"

AJ and Sarah looked at each other not knowing what they should do. "Yeah, of course." AJ told her. She started walking toward the bathroom. Sarah followed her, stopping her before she could enter the bathroom.

"Dani? Justin went to get Nick. Don't you want to wait for Nick?" Sarah asked.

Danielle's eyes flashed with fear and she spoke quickly, "No! I just want to take a shower!"

"But, Dani," Sarah began.

Danielle looked up at Sarah and spoke softly, "I don't want him to see me like this."

There was a moment of silence between them when another voice spoke.

"Too late."

Danielle closed her eyes slowly. It was Nick. He was there. And the last thing she wanted to do was face him.

Nick walked behind her, and placed his hands on her shoulders. She immediately tensed up upon feeling his touch. "Baby?" he whispered. She looked down at the ground and shook her head.

"Baby, look at me," he whispered. He slowly turned her around and she continued to look at the ground. He took one of his hands from her shoulder and placed it under her chin.

"I don't want you to see me, Nick," she whispered through her sobs.

"It's okay, babygirl," he whispered. He tilted her head up. She continued to squeeze her eyes closed and when she felt her face was looking at him she slowly opened her eyes.

"Oh my God," he slowly gasped in a whisper. He placed both of his hands on the sides of her face. He examined her face. Her lip and her eye were swollen and bruised. He gingerly traced his hand down her neck where there was a pressure bruise around the base of her neck. "Baby?"

She pulled his hands off of her face and turned away from him again, and continued crying. He immediately put his arms around her shoulders from behind and kissed her head. She held onto his forearms and leaned her head back into his chest.

"What did he do to you, Dani?" he whispered into her hair.

She shook her head, "I don't want to talk about it. I just want to take a shower."

"That's okay, baby. You can, you can," he reassured her.

"Now, Nick," she said firmly.

He turned her around again and let go of her gently and tentatively answered, "Okay. . .okay."

She began to walk away from him and he grabbed her hand, making her jump a bit. "Dani? I love you."

She looked up at him and slowly pulled her hand out of his hold and just nodded and walked away into the bathroom. She quietly shut the bathroom door and he heard the lock.

Immediately, the anger began to consume him. He stood there for a moment as AJ, Justin, Howie and Sarah stood by watching him. Nick squeezed his eyes shut tight and bit his bottom lip. His back was still to the others as he finally spoke. "Did he do that to her?"

When no one answered, he whipped around and hit the wall. "I said, did he DO that to her!"

Sarah jumped when Nick hit the wall and AJ pulled her into his arms. The group was still speechless and wide-eyed. Nick's eyes darted between the four of them and rested on Justin. "Justin? Did he?"

Justin nodded his head, to which Nick immediately went charging past them. "Where the hell is he?"

"Whoa whoa whoa!" AJ yelled running after him, stopping him before he got out the door. "You're not going after him."

"AJ? If I have to bang on every fucking door in this hotel to find that son of a bitch, I will do it!" Nick yelled. "Justin? YOU know where he is!"

"Nick! Don't do it man!" AJ yelled.

"Nick, let it go right now," Justin said trying to calm him.

"I'm gonna go knocking on doors," Nick began. "Justin! Show me. Now!"

Justin threw his hands up in defeat and headed for the door, he looked back at AJ and Howie, "I think at least one of you should come with me."

Sarah threw AJ at them, "Go! Howie, you should go too." If anything, the three of them could try to keep the situation under control. "I'll stay with Danielle."

Nick went charging out the room and the other boys ran after him. Justin showed Nick where Joey's room was and Nick immediately started banging on the door. AJ whispered to Howie, "Go find Billy, get him here. Fast." Howie nodded and ran back down the hall.

Joey peeked through the peephole and saw Nick on the other side. This was a perfect opportunity to rub into Nick how Danielle gave in to her love for him. He opened the door and as soon as it was unlatched Nick threw his foot onto the door and burst the door wide open. The force of the door stumbled Joey back a couple feet, which allowed Nick an upper hand to grab onto Joey. "You mother fucker!" Nick yelled throwing Joey against the wall.

Joey grabbed back onto Nick and shoved him off. "Back off Carter!"

"The fuck I will!" Nick answered and charged him again. Justin and AJ immediately ran in between the two of them, holding Nick back. "Let me go!"

"You can't take it can you?" Joey taunted. "You can't stand that she still loves me, can you?"

"Are you kidding me?" Nick said, still struggling to get past Justin and AJ. "Did you SEE what you did to her? DID YOU LOOK AT HER?"

"I didn't do anything! She came here on her own free will!" Joey yelled back. "I gave her what she wanted!"

"Nick, be cool man," AJ said holding onto him.

"What she wanted?" Nick yelled, the meaning of that statement not quite setting in.

"That's right! It hurts doesn't it?" Joey yelled. "Hurts to know she made love to ME tonight don't it?"

It was clear now. Justin and AJ looked at each other, clearly stunned by what Joey just said. And it was clear now to Nick too. The force of that statement shocked him limp. Howie and Billy came running into the room to see the group stunned silent.

"Oh my God," Nick said, his face white as a ghost.

"Nick?" Howie said. "Nick?"

Nick slowly stepped back locking eyes with Joey, seeing the look of conquer on his face. "That's right, Carter. Shouldn't leave her alone, she might stray."

"You sick bastard," Nick said moving his gaze from Joey to the ground, shaking his head. Suddenly, the hatred began to build in Nick once again, and before anyone was ready, he lunged once again at Joey.

"I'm gonna kill you!" Nick yelled throwing Joey to the ground. He was able to get a few good punches onto Joey's face, before Billy grabbed Nick and pulled him off. "How could you DO THAT to her?" he yelled.

"Come on, Nick! This is done here!" Billy yelled at Nick dragging him away.

Joey yelled back at Nick as Billy was taking him out the door, "I told you Carter! She'll always be mine!"

The group of men stood out in the hallway outside Joey's door. Billy was still hanging onto Nick when he suddenly burst into tears. "Let me go, Billy."

"Are you cool, man?" Billy asked.

"Yeah," he cried. "Just let me go."

He let go of Nick and he went over to the wall and pressed his hands against the hallway. He leaned the top of his head against the wall and let the tears flow. The others stood and watched Nick cry. Not knowing what to say or do. Nick turned around slowly and slid his back down the wall holding his head in his hands.

Oh dear God, why? He thought. Everything started coming together. And the reality of what happened tonight was hitting him. How could he have left her alone? He should have made her come to the show with him. He should have gone right to the room when they got back. He had been in the bar for a half-hour before Justin came and got him. The reality was unbearable to him. But now it was clear and he didn't know if he wanted to believe it. Joey didn't just beat Danielle up. He raped her.

Chapter 22
Chapter 20
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