Chapter 9: Don't Want You Back

Nick

"How could this happen?" I was shocked by the news. And yet I wasn't. Somehow, I had already known that AJ would be in serious trouble.
"You don't sound too surprised, Nick." Kevin looked at me. I stared at him in the eye.
"I have a feeling that I know who did it." I looked around at the group that had gathered in Howie's dressing room. There was one of us missing.
"What do you mean you know who did it?" Howie jumped out of the chair that he had been sitting in.
"Well, I'm not going to accuse this person, but I do need to confront them." I paused. "And I want you guys to come with me."
"We have to make this fast because we're supposed to practice for tonight's show in twenty minutes." Kevin opened the door and I walked out.
"I promise it won't be that long." I led the way to Brian's dressing room.
Knock, knock, knock!
Brian answered the door nonchalantly. "Hey, guys! Ready for the big show?"
"You obviously haven't heard, have you?" I questioned with an edge in my voice. "Or maybe you don't need to be told to understand."
Brian's smile fell right off of his face and was replaced by a confused look. "Whaddya mean?"
"You know exactly what I mean." I crossed my arms and glared at him. I have never been so mad at Brian. I seriously felt like punching him.
"No, Nick, I don't." He returned my glare.
"Come on, guys." Kevin said, stepping between us. "How about we sit down?"
We reluctantly followed Kevin into the room and sat down.
"Now, Nicky," Kevin said, his tone remaining even. "Start at the beginning."
I took a deep breath and looked around the room. Brian sat staring at me, confused and angry, Kevin sat expressionless, and Howie sat looking as if everything had gone over his head.
"Well, Brian," I said, trying to sound calm. "Remember when you came in my room after you had just come back from the doctor's office and had just found out that it was AJ's baby?"
"Yeah, so..."
"Well, remember how you said how much you hated AJ?" Brian nodded. "And remember how you said you wanted him to die and how you said you could just choke him and then throw him in the river to drown?" Brian glared at me. "And remember how you told me not to try to make you come to your senses and then you said that you went out for a drive?"
I heard both Kevin and Howie gasp.
"What does all of this have to do with anything except you losing my trust?" Brian was still glaring at me.
"Well, last night, AJ was found unconscious laying on the road. The hospital said that he was in a hit and run and that he was in critical condition." My throat tightened at the thought of AJ suffering like that. "His leg was mangled and he was nearly killed."
Brian's face was ghost-white. He had lost all of the color in his face and lips. He looked at all of us sitting there facing him with surprised eyes. None of us had thought that Brok could do something like this.
"You guys think that I did it?" Brian's voice came out shaky. "I would never do that, no matter how mad I was!" His head was swiveling back and forth, looking at all of us. "You really think that I would try and kill AJ?"
No one said anything. No one moved.
"You all are out of your minds!" Brian got up and started for the door.
"Brian, you can't just walk out on us." Howie grabbed his arm. "Try to defend yourself. Who else would do it?"
Brian looked disgusted that even Howie thought that he did it. He pulled his arm away from Howie and backed out of the room slowly, walking backwards. He looked bewildered.
"We have to call off the show tonight," Kevin said when Brian had left the room. "We can't put on a show without AJ. That would be a disappointment to our fans."
We nodded in agreement. We had to wait until AJ was completely healed and ready to start touring again.
"I'll go and tell management the whole ordeal." Howie got up from where he was sitting and also left the room.
"I know that I was never close to AJ, but this is still a huge shock and really scary." Kevin looked so out of it. I could see tears forming in his eyes.
"I know," I sat in the chair, stiff with shock. "What are we gonna do about Brian?"
"I have no clue." Kevin shook his head. "I really don't know."

Chapter 10
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