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Annie’s heart was pounding. Sweat was pouring off her body and she felt like she could fill up buckets with her sweat. She would try and scream, but nothing came out.
“Alright motherfucker, it’s time for you to die,” Paul said to Nick who was sitting in a chair with his hands tied behind him and his mouth gagged. Annie was tied to another chair facing Nick, and all she could do was look at him and know that he was so scared and it was all her fault. In her mind she was screaming, ‘I’m so sorry Nick. I never meant for this to happen.’ But she couldn’t say anything. Paul walked over to Nick and smacked him in the face hard. Nick gave a muffled whimper, but sat straight faced. Paul pulled a knife from out of his back pocket of his pants and began toying with it. He waved it in front of Annie, letting the gleam of the knife make a bright spot on her forehead.
“Anns, this little knifey here is gonna gut your beloved Nicky-poo like a goddamn fish,” Paul said menacingly. Annie started whimpering and begging and pleading through sobs for Paul not to hurt Nick.
“Kill me Paul. I’m the one you really want!” Paul wouldn’t hear her.
“Nope Anns, I bought this especially for this asshole right here,” he grinned. Paul turned back to Nick who just kept staring at Annie, and looked at him.
“So, you thought you could take the woman I love and make her yours, did you?” questioned Paul. Nick wouldn’t move or try and make any noise.
“You gonna answer me punk?” Nick said nothing.
“HEY DUMB SHIT! ANSWER ME!” Paul screamed. He punched Nick in the face again, but still Nick said nothing.
“Alright asshole,” Paul yelled. He grabbed the butt end of the knife
and jammed it directly into Nick’s abdomen…
Annie was woken up by Nick shaking her awake.
“Annie! Annie! Wake up!”Nick was shaking Annie by the shoulders. Annie was bathed in sweat and felt lost. Her heart was pounding so hard she thought it might explode at any moment.
“Ann? Are you okay?” Nick asked. Annie just stared at Nick. She didn’t say anything to him.
“Hon? What happened?” asked Nick. Annie said nothing but laid back down on the bed with Nick’s arms around her. She rolled over onto her side and Nick spooned her and started running his hands through her sweat soaked hair.
“It
was just a dream, however bad it may have been Ann,” he whispered in Annie’s
ear. She fell asleep feeling safe in Nick’s arms.
Later that day Nick and his roommate Ryan were in the laundry room washing their clothes like they did every week. Both were quiet, Nick didn’t really know how to explain this morning to Ryan and Ryan was pissed off he’d been woken up the way he had. He was getting tired of Annie there all the time. Her stuff was everywhere in their room and she was constantly crying. Ryan was a nice guy and thought Annie was a sweet girl, but this was HIS room and she was infringing on HIS privacy.
“You know Nick, I have a problem with Annie bein’ in our room so damn much,” Ryan blurted out as he put some detergent into the washing machine. Nick looked up from his magazine and said,
“What?” Nick was surprised.
“Annie’s always there man!" Ryan said flustered. Nick put down his magazine and said,
“Yeah, well, I want her with me.” Nick got up from his seat and stood facing Ryan.
“If you had a problem with this, why didn’t you say anything before man?” Nick questioned.
“Well, dude, I didn’t know she was takin’ up permanent residence in our room,” Ryan stated matter of factly. Nick could feel himself getting upset and he didn’t want to do that. He knew Ryan needed an explanation, but he wasn’t about to tell him all that had happened.
“Look man, just a little while longer,” Nick stated. Ryan rolled his eyes.
“Fuck that Carter, either she leaves or I do!” Ryan yelled. Nick stared at Ryan.
“What the hell, Ryan? She needs my help, can’t you understand that?” Nick was furious by now.
“It seems she’s always needing your help. All she ever does is cry and whine until you get back,” Ryan retorted. Nick backed away from Ryan because he knew he was going to hit him.
“Carter! You know I’m right man. She’s a whiny bitch!”
“What did you just say Ryan?” Nick screamed at his roommate. Nick was about to punch him when Ryan grabbed his arm, stopping him.
“Dude, what the hell are you doing?” Ryan said excitedly and surprisedly. Nick stood there in front of Ryan and just stared in disbelief.
“Don’t ever say that about Annie again,” Nick said grimly.
“What’s happening to you?” Ryan asked. Nick just looked at Ryan as if he didn’t know what he meant.
“Nick, you never hang with any of us anymore. You ALWAYS miss basketball practice. The coach said you are so damn close to losing your scholarship it isn’t even funny.” Nick hadn’ t even thought about his scholarship. He’d been so wrapped up in Annie’s mess, he had forgotten about his own.
“Don’t let some girl fuck everything up for you Carter,” Ryan said. Nick looked at Ryan and said,
“She’s not just some girl Ryan. You don’t know the whole story.” Ryan rolled his eyes and said,
“She’s just a girl; a girl with a lot of problems! She’s screwing up everything for you man!”
“Drop it alright!” yelled Nick.
“No, I won’t drop it Carter! I’ve known you for a long time and I’ve never seen you act so stupid over a girl before!” Nick’s anger was rising once again.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about so shut the hell up, alright?!”
“What’s
so damn special about her Nick? Does she screw well, or what?”
This sent Nick over the edge. He grabbed Ryan by the collar and slammed him up against the wall.
“I’M FUCKING IN LOVE WITH HER! DON’T YOU GET THAT?!” Nick let go of Ryan, picked up his laundry basket and left. Ryan stood in the laundry room bewildered and not knowing if he’d lost his friend for good.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Brooke paid the cab driver and stepped onto the beautiful grounds of the UCLA campus just off of Sunset boulevard, but instead of being able to enjoy the warm California sun and the snow free ground, she rushed off in search of Annie's dorm, not sure where to start.
"Dammit if I was smart I would have told the cab to drop me off at the dorm." She swore to herself as she went in search of a map or any kind of help to find where she was going. She took off the sweater she was wearing and tied it around her waist, she couldn't believe how hot it was for February. All the buildings looked the same to her, they were all old and tall, and the campus was huge, even bigger than the UK campus, although she wasn't sure exactly how big that was. She walked for a few minutes before finding herself in front of yet another huge building who's name didn't ring familiar. Finally Brooke stopped the next person she saw walking towards her, an older guy, who looked kind of like a professor would.
"Excuse me, but do you know where I could find Hedrick Hall?" She pleaded, and the man was very helpful, quickly directing her down DeNeve drive.
"It's the third big building on the right." The man yelled as he walked to wherever she was going. Brooke waved a hand in thanks and bounded in the direction that he had pointed out, walking a good fifteen minutes before standing before the tall building she was looking for. She opened the front door and walked in, not able to get through a second one without a key. Brooke hunted the house directory for Annie's name, running her finger along the list of over a thousand residents in the dorm.
"Whitten, Whitten, Whitten." She repeated aloud as she searched the w's for Annie. "Dammit where is she?" Brooke fumed.
"Are you looking for Annie Whitten?" A girl asked as she came in the front door.
"Yes I am." Brooke said excitedly.
"She's my neighbor, although I haven't seen much of her lately. She's in room 336, that's on the third floor, come on in, she might be home."
"Thank you so much." Brooke said as she rushed inside and dashed up the stairs to the third floor, counting her way down the hall until she reached the room.
"336." She said looking at the number on the door, and knocking on it immediately. Brooke waited impatiently for someone to answer, finally the door opened and standing there with a smile was someone she only assumed was Taylor.
"Yes."
"Hi, um is Annie here?" She questioned, looking over Taylor's shoulder into the room, hoping she'd see her.
"Um, no she's not," said Taylor, in an annoyingly chipper voice, God Anns was right, she thought. "Actually, she hasn't been here for a while. She's been staying at a friend's dorm," she said, looking into the room herself to see what Brooke was looking at.
"Well did she give an address? I really have to find her, it's important." Brooke told Taylor, already annoyed at her overly happy behavior.
"Um, you know, I don't think she did. Um, I know his name is Nick..." Taylor bit her lip and her eyes began shifting around, "Nick Carter, I think..." she said. "I know he's in the directory," Taylor replied. Brooke was getting annoyed,
"Look, I've come a long way and I don't have time to search a directory I don't have, does she have his address here somewhere? Please Taylor it's important." Brooke was getting annoyed, she just wanted to find Annie, and she could tell Taylor was getting annoyed at her behavior.
"Hmm," she said as she began eyeing the room. "Well, she might have something here..." Taylor said as she began rumpling through Annie's desk. Brooke walked in behind her and scanned Annie's room as Taylor searched for something, picking up a photo of her and Annie at camp that sat on a shelf next to the door. Brooke smiled at the picture, two happy brunette's big cheshire grins on both their faces as they stood, arms wrapped around each other, surrounded by trees in the woods, wearing those god awful bright yellow Wyatt t-shirts. Brooke remembered that day so vividly, the last day of camp, before everything had happened with Paul. That's Annie in this picture, she thought, one day I'll see that smile again, she hoped, almost beginning to cry as Taylor turned around triumphant.
"Here," she said and handed a piece of paper to Brooke, the name Nick written on it, along with a phone number. Brooke set the picture back down on the shelf and took the paper from Taylor's hand.
"Thanks."
"No problem. I hope ya find her. I'm pretty sure she's staying there," Taylor said in her same happy voice. Brooke turned to leave but stopped,
"Wait, I'm going to leave a note or something in case she comes back." Brooke walked into the room and straight to the desk she assumed was Annie's jotting down a quick note and handing it to Taylor.
"Give this to her." Taylor mumbled something and set the note on Annie's bed as Brooke left the room without saying goodbye. She hurriedly made her way downstairs where she had seen pay phones on her way in, hunting her pockets for a quarter and dialing Nick's number. She looked at her watch as the phone rang, thinking she had to call Kevin when she had the chance. Finally the phone picked up, a guy answered.
"Nick?" She asked.
"No this is Ryan, Nick's not here."
"How about Annie, is she there?"
"No."
"Do you know where I can find either of them?"
"I don't know where she is, don't really care, but Nick's playing basketball."
"Do you know where? I really have to find him."
"Yeah probably the Wooden Center."
"The Wooden Center?"
"Yeah."
"I don't know where that is." She sighed.
"Where are you right now?"
"I'm at Hedrick Hall." She stated, glad he was finally doing more to help her.
"Okay leave there, go down the street until you hit Young, if you hit Sunset you went the wrong way, when you get to Young, cut across the grass by the stadium and the building on the other side of the field is Wood. Got it?"
"Yeah thanks." She said hanging up, and beginning yet another trek across campus. I feel like I'm on a scavenger hunt, she sighed to herself, strapping on her backpack and walking back down the street, making her way as fast as possible across the grass to the building in front of her. It was nearly half an hour when she finally found the basketball courts, and the four guys who were inside playing.
"Jesus, how am I going to know which one is Nick." Finally fed up with the wild goose chase she seemed to be on, Brooke set her book bag down and called across the gym.
"Nick, I'm looking for Nick Carter, is he here?" She bellowed, all the guys stopping in their tracks, the ball bouncing away slowly. A tall blond guy approached her, finally she was getting somewhere.
"Sorry doll, he just left."
"SON OF A FUCKING BITCH!" She yelled at no one in particular, the blond guy who had given her the info backing up in mock fright, still unsure that the burst of anger had come from the small girl in front of him.
"Chill doll, he's across the hall in the shower. Geez, what did he do, get you pregnant?" He laughed trying to make a joke, but Brooke had begun walking away as he spoke, in no mood to chit chat with a stranger. The guy was telling the truth, the showers were right across the hall, and Brooke carefully stuck her head in, seeing how many people were there. She couldn't see anyone so she walked in, not really caring if someone was there or not, as the door shut behind her another tall blond guy walked out of the shower a small white towel wrapped snugly around his hips. The water dripped from his hair and down his body, and Brooke could do nothing but stare an eyebrow raised in interest. He finally noticed her standing there and jumped back in fright, almost losing the towel he had wrapped around him. Too bad, Brooke smiled to herself, then got back to what she came here for.
"Nick?" She can see the crimson blush that has come over him, and he finally gets out his response, still taken aback that this girl has just walked into the showers.
"Um, yeah, that's me."
"It's about time, I'm looking for Annie." She blurts out.
"Why are you looking for Annie?"
"Because she's my best friend and she's in trouble, is that a good enough reason?" She shot back at him, why can't I get an answer from anyone, I just want to find Annie, her mind screamed. His eyes got wide and he walked towards her.
"You're Brooke." He smiled at her and extended his hand out to shake hers, she happily took it and he surprised her by pulling her in for a hug, whispering into her ear. "Thank you for coming." He pulled away, quickly apologizing when he noticed he had gotten her wet,
"Sorry." He mumbled.
"It's okay, water never hurt anyone, it was water right. You did shower already?" She smiled.
"Yeah it's water." He laughed.
"I'm gonna wait outside for you to change Nick, we have to talk."
"Okay, gimme like five minutes." He said in a serious tone as Brooke stepped out of the room, pacing back and forth in the hall until he emerged.
"So do you know where Annie is? Is she okay?" Brooke asked the second her opened the door.
"Annie's with me but she's not doing very well honestly..."
"Do you know where she is, cause she isn't at your place."
"She actually went to class today. I told her she had to go."
"When's her class over?" Nick thought for a moment,
"Um, I think 5:15" Brooke looked at her watch, it was 4:30
"Can we go somewhere and talk until she's out of class"
"yeah sure." He replied
"Can we go somewhere to eat, I'm starving."
"Yeah,
ummm...I'm pretty hungry myself." Nick began walking to the front
doors of the gym, hanging a right as they got outside and walking back
the way Brooke had come. Neither of them spoke much as they walked
across the grass, both of them in seemingly pensive states.
They sat down at a small table in the corner of the campus diner, Brooke picking at the onion rings she had ordered, not really as hungry as she thought. Brooke didn't feel very comfortable around Nick, he was a virtual stranger to her, and she knew he knew more about Annie than he had let on in the walk to the campus restaurant.
"So how is Paul Back in the picture?" She blurted out, Nick almost choking on the french fry he had in his mouth. He took a deep breath, and Brooke sensed he was dreading the moment they actually had to talk.
"Okay, well this all started on New years eve, Annie and I went to a party at a friend of hers. I think her name was..." He paused a moment, racking his brain for her name. "her name was Leslie. There were a lot of people there that Ann knew from school and I remember she said you would have gotten excited because there was a lot of people there from Camp, I guess."
"About Paul?" She reiterated, he was long winded, but she thought it was sweet the way he called her Ann.
"Sorry, well Paul was there. I guess she saw him and then came to find me and said we had to leave. Anyway, as we were leaving, Paul started talking to her, she didn't say much to him, but was pretty upset when we left."
"That's it, Annie has ignored me for a month because she saw Paul at a party?" Brooke didn't understand, that wasn't like Annie at all.
"Brooke, he set off something in her that night and he hasn't let her forget it since," Nick said cryptically, Brooke was still confused.
"There has to be more than that Nick, What happened?" She said forcefully, but still keeping her voice low. What are you hiding Nick? She thought
"Nothing happened at the party. Like I said, he just started talking to her. He asked her how she was doing and what she was doing there. Nothing happened there though. After we left the party, I took her to the beach cuz she said she didn't wanna go home. We fell asleep on the beach, and then the next day she stopped talking to me. I'm still not sure why she did that."
"Nick I don't mean to be rude, I know I don't know you that well, but would you stop avoiding the subject and just tell me what happened. Annie didn't avoid me for a month because she ran into Paul at a party, something happened, you know what it was and I need to know." Brooke yelled. She could see Nick was getting pissed, he didn't want to tell her anything, but Brooke didn't care.
"Brooke, I don't think I can do that. Annie doesn't trust many people and I'm sorry, but I don't wanna be another one she can't trust. All I'll say is that it was bad. I'm sorry, but I'm not saying anymore." Brooke bit her tongue and turned her head to avoid yelling at him, she could feel the tears welling in her eyes, nothing had gone right since she had boarded that plane, and she was regretting coming to California. Brooke returned to her food, a scowl on her face as she ate.
"So why did you write Nick? If she won't talk to me, and won't tell me anything what makes you think my being here will make a fucking difference?" Brooke eventually spit at him, she was feeling rather bitter towards the guy sitting across from her.
"Because no one knows her like you do Brooke, she misses you I know she does. If you were here, maybe I don't know. I can't do this by myself Brooke, it's killing me, I'm watching her fade away. I don't know how to help her, and I don't think I ever did."
"You can't do this by yourself Nick, but how the hell can I help if you won't tell me what's going on!" She grumbled.
"Maybe once she sees that you aren't so far away, she'll open up to you Brooke."
"Nick let me ask you this. What do you know about Annie and Paul, about what went on with them in the years they were together?"
"Um, well...I know he hurt her and I know he used to hit her."
"Well a lot more than that happened Nick, you don't even know half the person Annie used to be, and you weren't there when all that shit happened Nick I was, I was there for Annie's bruises, Annie's tears and everything." She could see Nick was pissed at her, but she didn't care, she was going to press him until he told her what she needed to know.
"And you weren't there for Annie the last time Brooke, I WAS!" Nick yelled. Brooke couldn't take any more and stood up from the table,
"That was a cheap shot Nick, I would have been there if I could have." She practically cried, throwing the rest of her food in the garbage can and walking out the door of the building. Brooke fumed as she made her way down the paved sidewalks in the direction she assumed Annie's dorm was, hoping Annie would go there, she didn't know where Nick lived. She couldn't be around Nick if he wasn't going to help her, she might as well just wait for Annie by herself. It was just after five o'clock she noticed as she glanced at her watch. Nick caught up with her, but she kept walking, afraid she'd say something mean to him, regardless of anything, he was still Annie's friend and she wasn't going to insult him.
"Look Brooke I'm sorry, if we work together, maybe we can help Annie." He sighed when she kept walking and finally grabbed the back of her book bag, stopping her in her tracks.
"Look, help for Annie is all I'm looking for. I don't know if we can help her, but damnit, we need to try! I don't understand why anyone would do what Paul did to Annie. I'm a guy, obviously," he smiled a little, and Brooke couldn't help but smile too, "and I would never hit a woman, let alone hit Annie. I don't understand how someone who is supposedly "in love" with someone could hit and rape them. I would never do that. I COULD NEVER do that," Brooke thought about his words carefully, hit and rape standing out in her mind.
"Did Paul rape Annie?" She shot at him, and she could see the look that came over his face.
"I have to let Annie tell you what happened Brooke."
"Jesus Nick, this is too important for you to fuck with me, and talk about Annie trusting you. I need to know, did that bastard rape her?" Nick shushed her, she was yelling almost at the top of her lungs.
"Brooke, I...."
"Nick, if you care one iota about Annie, you'll tell me everything you know."
Her words cut into him like a knife, of course Nick cared about Annie, more than he ever imagined, but he didn't have the right to tell Brooke what happened, it wasn't his story to tell. He was angry she kept pressing him and that he had already let too much slip out.
"Her life is at stake here Nick, and I need to know did he rape her?" Brooke said, the tears finally rolling down her cheeks. He was silent for awhile, looking at the grass around his feet.
"No." He finally muttered.
"Then please tell me what happened. Please Nick" She begged. He didn't want to tell her anything, but gave in.
"Okay Brooke, I'll tell you, but not here. Come on, it's just a short walk to my place." He motioned his head for her to follow, and Brooke breathed a sigh, finally she was getting somewhere. Her arms were folded across her chest as she walked, and he began the story on the way.
"After New Year's Annie wouldn't talk to me. I didn't know what I had done or anything, but I figured I'd let her have some space. I figured it had something to do with Paul, and I wasn't gonna confront her about it." They had reached his dorm and he opened the door to let her in, Nick continuing as they got in a small elevator.
"Anyway, so, one day I was driving around, I hadn't talked to Ann in a few days and I realized I had driven to Annie's house, force of habit I guess. But I stopped and got out, even though I knew she didn't really want to see me." He took a breath as the reached his door, Nick peered in to see if his roommate was there, he wasn't.
"The door to her house was open so I walked inside. Well, the reason I went inside in the first place was because I heard a weird noise from inside the house, and it kinda freaked me, like it wasn't a normal house sound." Nick motioned for Brooke to have a seat and she did, plopping down on a bed and setting her book bag to the side. "So I walked in and I heard her scream. It scared the shit out of me, Brooke. I ran to her door and tried to get in, but it was locked. I didn't know what the fuck was happening. I couldn't get in and all I could hear from her was screaming." The worst thoughts were going through Brooke's head,
"She kept screaming "No Paul, No!" Finally, I kicked in the door, and there was Paul, on top of Annie," he broke off. Nick was choked up but now really needed to finish the story. "He was forcing himself onto her, and everything in me just wanted to kill him. I pulled him off of her, we fought and I finally got his ass out of the house," he said. "He beat her up pretty bad. Her mouth was bleeding and she had some bruises, but she never talked about it. I'm not even sure how he got in. All I know is that he got in, and took Annie away." he said sadly. "Is that good enough for you?" Nick said bitterly.
Brooke sat silent on the bed, just staring through Nick, she wanted to know, she asked to know, but she wished to hell she didn't know.