Chapter 16: Evil Lurks Around Every Corner
I woke that morning to find the bed next to
me empty. I could smell the sweet aroma of Irish coffee
downstairs. I crawled out of bed and put on my robe. As I opened
my door I heard voices downstairs.
"God would you get off of it!" I heard Nick yell.
"Nick, why won't you listen to me?" I heard Jane say,
trying to speak quietly. "I'm not having this discussion. I
have a huge day ahead of me that begins in oh about a half hour.
I'm outta here," he replied.
Nick came up the stairs quickly. I rushed back to the bed and
began to pretend that I had just gotten up and put on my
bathrobe.
"Well look who's up," he sweetly said as he came to my
side of the bed and kissed me.
"Listen Kate, we both have a lot to do today. So I'll just
meet you at the venue this afternoon, okay?" he asked,
taking off his tank top and heading for the bathroom.
I nodded. I wondered what they had been arguing about, but
dismissed it as a usual parent/child fight. Just because Nick was
famous didn't mean he and his mom didn't have disagreements.
~AN HOUR LATER~
I emerged from our room dressed with my materials in hand. Nick
had long since left for interviews, rehearsals and just some time
with the crew. No one seemed to be home when I left the house.
The first place I went was to Kaylee's hotel to give her a piece
of my mind.
~TWENTY MINUTES LATER~
I beat rapidly on Kaylee's door with my fist. Anger was building
inside of me with every pound.
"What the hell do you want?" She quipped as she opened
the door. Her hair was a mess, her pajamas still on and she was
squinting. "My head is pounding enough without YOU making it
worse," she muttered.
"Oh save it," I firmly replied, pushing the door open
and letting myself in.
"Hey! Who said you could come in?" she childishly
asked.
"ME. Now sit down Kaylee," I instructed as I sat down
in a chair. She rolled her eyes and slammed the door shut.
"If you're here to give me a lecture, one is not
needed," she sighed, rubbing her head. She plopped down on
the messed up bed.
"You were way out of line last night Kaylee. Way out of
line. The things you said were horrible, rude, and just plain
immature. You're giving our paper a bad name," I replied,
setting my bag down on the floor.
"Oh shut up Kate, you know it's true," she spat.
"No, you want to think it's true because you'd like to see
nothing better than to see me get fired. Well it's not going to
happen and I know it just burns your prissy little ass to see me
succeed, but too bad," I growled.
She giggled to herself as if what I said was somewhat hysterical.
It infuriated me more, but I didn't budge from my firm position.
She couldn't know she was getting to me.
"Come on, just tell me is he a good fuck?" she giggled
after she asked.
"Is that all men are to you? A good fuck?" I yelled.
"No, but I do think that fucking a Backstreet Boy would be a
highlight of my career, so is it yours?"
"I'm not playing your game Kaylee," I murmured.
"So is it true then? You can't answer. It's true, you're
fucking him to get a promotion! You already got your first out of
state coverage, you've come far in one week," she spat.
"And so you think that's because I 'fuck a Backstreet Boy',
you don't actually think that could be because I'm a damned good
writer?"
"No," she chuckled.
"Kaylee, what Nick and I do is OUR business. And when we're
together professionally it is handled professionally."
"Really? So why that public display of affection last night
when you were questioning them about their girlfriends? 'Oh I
love you Nicky-poo, kiss, kiss, kiss,'" she taunted.
"I'm sure Amanda wants to hear just how 'professional' you
are," she said matter-of-factly.
"You're a lost cause," I muttered, standing up.
She glared at me.
"In case you forgot we have to be at the venue at noon to
cover everything. There is only two of us, so be on time," I
ordered, walking down the corridor to the door.
"Are you ordering me around? Have you forgotten I'm your
boss?" She asked with disgust.
"No, but I'd like to," I said with a smirk as I slammed
the door behind me.
~NOON~
My cab arrived at Orlando Arena at noon. I tipped the guy and
headed inside. I flashed my press pass as well as the pass the
Boys had given me. Luckily one that Kaylee did not have. Yeah so,
I had connections, but not because of why Kaylee said. They
wanted me to have a way to get away from her and the Into The
Millennium pass was all I needed.
I stood at the top of the lower level. The seats were all empty
and stage hands were running about with wires and lights trying
to perfect everything. The dancers were stretching and each
practicing different routines. I admired their dancers for a
while. All were out of costume, sporting just regular 'ol sweat
pants, tank tops and T-shirts. Suddenly Brian and Kevin came out
on stage, holding a wireless mike in their right hands. Brian
played with his ear pieces a bit and before I knew it Howie, A.J.
and Nick all were on stage with them. I sat down in the last seat
as they spoke into their mike's.
"Check, check, B-ROOOOK," Brian jokingly yelled into
the mike.
I giggled to myself. He was so silly.
Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder.
I looked up to see Felicia, Brian's girlfriend.
"Hey!" She said, taking the seat next to me.
"Hey, sorry I didn't get to talk much to you last
night..." I started.
"It's okay, you didn't have the best night," she
replied, referring to Kaylee's outburst at the dinner table.
"Yeah, tell me about it," I joked.
She was a pretty girl. About my age, maybe a year younger. She
had beautiful dark brown hair and eyes that matched. Her figure
was perfect as she stood right about Brian's height, maybe a bit
shorter. Her smile was stunning and her personality bubbly.
"Kaylee has some major problems. I'd like to rip her a new
one. But she's your boss, I understand," Felicia teased with
an evil gleam in her eyes. I giggled.
"Boss or no boss you do whatever you want to her," I
teased, but I was only half teasing.
"Nick really digs you," she replied, setting her purse
on the ground. I smiled at her. Before I could open my mouth the
mike checks had ended and the music to "Larger Than
Life" began to play.
"Should we take a front row seat?" Felicia asked.
"Certainly my lady," I said as we stood up, looped our
arms through one another's and went down to about the fifth row.
"They seem to be starting the concert half way
through," Felicia said into my ear so I could hear her over
the loud music.
Nick came to our side as Brian followed him. Nick stared down at
me as I gave him a sweet smile. Brian walked up to him as they
both sang into the mike's and smacked him in the head lightly.
They both broke out into a fit of laughter as they tried to
perform whilst getting into their dancing formations.
We both laughed long and hard.
The boys continued to rehearse, going over some songs three or
more times. I took out my notebook and took notes for my story.
"Oh God, alert, alert, bitch on wheels has arrived,"
Felicia said, looking up. Kaylee came strolling in and stood near
us. Her evil eyes gleamed up at the Boys.
"She's the fucking devil I tell you," Felicia began to
tease as she gave herself horns on her head to imitate Kaylee. I
couldn't help but laugh. Kaylee turned around and glared at me.
Phil stood next to her, testing the camera angles, trying to see
which position during the actual show would be perfect for the
story we were working on.
~ONE HOUR BEFORE SHOW TIME~
I had just finished doing interviews with several of the
Backstreet Dancers and several members of the Backstreet Band.
Kaylee had been there through all of the interviews, spitting out
some questions herself. Most of the time she sat and looked
through my interview notes from the previous day. Highlighting
and choosing what she wanted to stay in the paper. She still had
my tapes to listen to. I could give her credit for one thing, she
was a good journalist. When it came down to editing most of the
time she was fair no matter if it was my work or someone else's.
I stood backstage with Felicia looking through my pages of notes.
"Hey baby," Nick said, approaching us. He was in
costume and his ear pieces dangled from his neck.
"Hey you, great rehearsal," I replied before he laid a
long kiss on my lips.
"Hey Felicia, Brian's on his way in here," Nick
informed her.
"Kaitlyn!" Kaylee screeched coming around the corner.
"What?" I asked dryly.
"I need your tape recorder to review some of the interviews,
do you have it and the tapes?" She asked, holding her hand
out. Nick stared down at her dumbly.
"What!?" she quipped at him. He shrugged and shot a
look at Felicia who stood behind Kaylee mocking her prissy
gestures.
I reached in my bag and handed her the recorder and set of five
tapes.
"Thank you, I'll have these back to you tomorrow
morning," she replied, storming off down the hall.
Brian snuck up on Felicia and laid a long passionate kiss on her
lips. Nick put his arms around my waist.
"Awww, look at the lovebirds Katie," he teased.
"Yeah yeah," Brian mumbled between kisses.
"Sorry to interrupt people, but we have a photo shoot and
fans to meet," Kevin informingly replied as he passed us.
"I'll see you after the show Kate. Will you be
watching?" He asked like a child.
"Of course, I wouldn't miss it," I replied as he kissed
me quickly and ran off.
~TWENTY MINUTES TO SHOW TIME~
The crowd began to get anxious as the screams and shrills of
thousands of girls at Orlando Arena broke out every few minutes.
Felicia and I found a quiet place in the dressing room to sit and
chat. I had to be present for the concert so I could write a
final review
. We sat chatting.
"You and Nick serious?" She asked, sipping on some
coffee that was provided for the tour group.
"I guess," I said with a girlish smile.
~AT THE SAME TIME~
Kaylee peered around the corner. People were walking about all
around accept where Kate and Felicia were.
Her ears perked up and listened closely.
"Perfect," she replied, hitting record on the tape
player and pushing it into the room a bit further.
~AT THE SAME TIME~
"Brian's really religious, he wants to wait 'till he's
married," she shyly replied. I smiled up at her.
"I'm not usually that fast of a person. I mean I don't move
that fast. But Nick...he's just an amazing guy. I don't care that
he's famous or that every girl wants him, it doesn't bother me at
all. I respect his job and his fans and what he does for the fans
is amazing. Kaylee keeps ranting on saying "you're just
fucking him for a piece of news," but she's so full of shit.
There's a connection between him and I and I'm falling head over
heals for him. It's so surreal sometimes, like almost too good to
be true when I wake up in his arms...
"Sorry for all of that, I just, I haven't talked to anyone
but Nick about how I feel and Brian and Nick are best friends, so
I'm sure you've had your share of being around Nick," I
apologetically replied.
"FIVE MINUTES TO SHOW TIME!!!" a voice called down the
hall.
"Oh! We better get out there!" I yelled, laughing like
a school girl whose heart was so full of love.
"Let's go!" Felicia shrieked as we ran out of the room
and out to the corridor where the boys were getting prepared to
go out on stage.
"Where's Kaylee?" I thought, looking around. She's
suppose to be here reporting.
"Good luck Baby," I said to Nick as he hugged me.
"B-S-B- what time is it?!?!?!?!" They all yelled with
their hands all in a pile together with their dancers.
"IT'S TIME FOR SHOW TIME! IT'S TIME TO KICK SOME BACKSTREET
ASS!" They all yelled while laughing and then headed out on
stage. Nick winked at me just as he ran out.
"Well shall we go get our seats?" I asked Felicia. She
nodded with a smile.
~AT THE SAME TIME~
"Now you're good at voice analyzing right?" Kaylee
whispered to the large dark man backstage.
"I run sound for thousands of shows ma'am, not to mention I
work for some small recording studios here in Orlando," his
deep voice replied.
"Good, take this tape and this piece of paper. On the
recorder all of these words that are on the paper are recorded. I
want you to take these words on this paper and dub them in the
order on the paper. No mess ups. It has to be perfect, sounding
real, no breaks in the recording. Can you do it?" Kaylee
asked, looking around nervously.
"Can I do it? For a price."
"Here, no more or no less. I need the tape by midnight
tonight," she replied, handing the man an envelope filled
with money.
He nodded.
"Meet me at this hotel, room 442. Knock three times, don't
let anyone see you," she whispered as she slipped away and
out to the arena; everyone was cheering oblivious to the lives
Kaylee was about to ruin, especially Kate.