"Hey!" Someone from the doorway yelled. Mark turned around, allowing Kerri to struggle from his grip. Christina stood in the door, shocked.
"Christina, run!" Kerri yelled scrambling towards the door. Mark didn't react quickly enough and soon he was chasing the two girls down the halls of the hotel.
"Help! Someone help us!" Kerri called as they ran through the lobby of the hotel. Christina stumbled and fell to the ground, she looked back and noticed Mark was almost to them. "Quick," Kerri said, pulling Christina to her feet. "Outside." They ran and pushed open the doors.
"Taxi!" Kerri cried out, waving her arms frantically. The cab pulled over and the two girls jumped in, right as Mark made his way outside. "Go, now!" The taxi driver gave her a strange look, but hit the gas. Mark hit the window of the cab as it pulled away. Kerri and Christina looked back, breathing hard.
"What was that about?" Christina said, once she caught her breath.
"That was Mark, my ex-boyfriend I told you about." Kerri sighed. "What are we going to do? All are stuff is at the hotel, and we are supposed to be leaving tomorrow, but we can't go back."
"It's ok, we can just call Jess, or someone else at the hotel, and have them pick us up somewhere and bring our things." Christina reasoned. The two girls asked the driver to take them to the nearest motel. A short while later they were checked into a room.
"I'll call our room and see if Jess is there." Kerri said making her way to the phone. The phone range a few times before Jess picked up.
"Kerri?" Jess's voice sounded shaky as she answered.
"Yes, whats wrong?" Kerri asked, the voice that answered her was not Jess's.
"Hello again Kerri. I guess I dated you long enough to know how you are. I figured you would call, so I headed back and found your little friend here. I was hoping to find your boy toy, but she will do. If you don't want her to get hurt, be back here in the hotel lobby in half an hour, alone." With that, Mark hung up the phone.
Kerri slammed down the phone. "Stay here Christina, I have to go do something." She walked out of the room and went to find another taxi. A few minutes later, Kerri was back at the hotel. She found Mark standing there, with Jess, and the gun.
"I'm here Mark, now leave Jess alone." Kerri said softly, staring him in the eyes. He returned her steady gaze and kept his tight grip on Jess.
"You hurt me, bad. It's my turn now, and I won't stop until everyone you have ever cared about is hurt. Or have you hurt them already, your very good at that. You stabbed your boyfriend in the back, and you leave your best friend behind, like a piece of trash. Admit it Kerri, you don't care about anyone but yourself! What about Nick, your new obsession, how long until you get tired of him? Maybe I'll leave him to you, I'm sure you can hurt him more than I ever could." Mark said, pulling closer to her with every word.
"Mark, I never meant to hurt you." Kerri said, disgusted with herslef for saying that. She knew she had not hurt anything but his pride. After all the time he had hurt her physically, and played games with her heart and head.
"I don't want to hear it Kerri. I just hope that Nick will hurt you as much as I you hurt me. Only after I hurt you first, of course. I could hurt him real bad too." He smiled, amused at the thought.
Kerri glanced over his shoulder. "Not as much as he could hurt you." She paused then yelled, "Jess duck, now!" Mark turned around to face Nick, as he swung his fist out, hitting Mark square in the jaw. Jess slid away from the two guys and hurried over to Kerri. Mark, filled with anger, struck back at Nick. Kerri ran to the hall where the rest of the Boys' rooms were. She pounded on the doors until all four guys had come out.
"What's going on?" Aj mumbled. The others falling in behind him and waiting for Kerri to answer.
"Nick needs help, quick!" Kerri said, then took back off down the hall motioning for them to follow. They soon back it to the lobby and the four guys made their way over to help their band mate. Kevin and Howie pulled Mark away, and held him there. Aj and Brian found a phone to call the police, then returned to where the others were. Christina had shown up by the time they got back.
"I called Nick right after you left Kerri. I had heard what Mark said on the phone and I knew he would do something to you." Christina told her. Kerri walked over and hunged her, Christina had saved her life by calling Nick.
"I wouldn't get all cozy just yet!" A voice called from the corner. Jason emerged from the shadows, pointing a loaded gun at them.
"Jason, buddy!" Mark called happily.
"Shut up! You never did listen to me in the first place. I guess you never noticed how much I liked Kerri when you asked her out. I even told you onec, but you ignored me. Then you treated her like crap. I would have treated her like gold! One day you almost get what's comin' to you, but wouldn't have it. Then you expected that I would just drop everything to come stalk her for you, and I did, shame on me. I was giving the threats to the wrong person, it was YOU I hated. All along I hated you, and didn't realize it 'til now. It's MY time, it's MY chance to get even. Now it's time for you to die." Jason yelled.
A loud bang of a gun exploded. Everyone stood deathly still, and watched Mark. Mark looked shocked, but was not hurt. They all turned their eyes on Jason, who had slumped to the floor.
"It's alright everyone, this is the police." A man in uniform called out. A few more officers followed him into the building. They took Jason to an ambulance then led Mark away in a police car. A large group of people had gathered around the Backstreet Boys and the three girls by this time. The opening act and other dancers were soon around them asking questions. Kerri explained everything the best she possibly could. Everyone stared at her in disbelief as the heard the terrible story.
In a few hours they were all on another plane headed to DC. Everyone let Nick and Kerri alone during the flight. The two didn't say a word, they just sat there together, and let the silence comfort them. Nick reached over and took Kerri's hand. She looked up at him, feeling that she had finally found something good in life. He slipped a ring from his finger and placed it in her hand. Kerri curled her fingers around it, and felt the warmth of the ring. She smiled, knowing that Nick would never leave her, and she didn't plan on leaving him either. Kerri had finally found something real.