CHAPTER 2

It was one o' clock in the afternoon. The meeting had been scheduled for eleven AM and all interested parties had been assembled around a conference table at Jive records - all except one, that is. Kevin Richardson had not shown. There was no answer at his house in Orlando or the one in Lexington. No one answered his cell phone. He hadn't notified anyone of his intentions and so they sat while two executive assistants scurried around trying to locate him.

AJ wandered over to the office windows and looked out over the parking lot. It looked to him like Kevin would be a no show. The Backstreet Boys would be going on sabbatical. AJ had been shocked when he had seen Kevin and Tristan on Christmas Eve. He had heard from Brian and Nick what their conditions were but he hadn't been prepared for what he saw when they walked into the dining room that night. Kevin had looked wild to him although Brian had commented that he looked better than when he had seen him last. Tristan had reminded AJ of those paintings on velvet of the large eyed children. She had lost a foot of hair and seemed thin. He had heard about the incident with the scissors and had tried to catch a glimpse of the damage but Kevin had kept his hand clamped around Tristan's wrist the entire time AJ was there, as if she might fly away if he let her loose. How much improvement could there have been in three weeks? It was still probably much too soon but the label had started to get antsy. The world had already gone two and a half months with no Backstreet Boys.

No one knew that AJ had been the client that had threatened Mike on behalf of the rest of the group. He had always been suspicious of Mike's obsession with Kevin and Tristan and had accidentally come upon information regarding 'Reputations' magazine and it's connections with the manager of an unnamed, high profile musical group. AJ was really grasping at straws when he took a chance and confronted Mike with his suspicions, which he presented as fact. His suspicions had been confirmed when Mike had no defense. The bastard hadn't even tried to deny AJ's allegations. He didn't know exactly what Mike had done or how, but he began to remember other incidents that seemed to be aimed specifically at Kevin and his relationship with Tristan - in particular a web site that created problems. The other guys weren't really sure what had made Mike leave. AJ would have liked to see his ass hanging in the public square but he was justifiably fearful that if Kevin really knew how much Mike had interfered in his life there might be serious trouble. He didn't want to see Kevin in jail or worse.

AJ looked over at his three bandmates. They had refused to even open the folders with the prepared tour, promo and recording proposals in them until Kevin came. They were standing united. AJ smiled - Kevin would be proud.

"He's got ten minutes!" one of the labels executives shouted, breaking the silence and scaring the shit out of Brian who spilled his bottle of water across the table.

Nick laughed and shot a rubberband through the air. Even Howie was starting to fidget. If it hadn't been for him, they would have been out of here an hour ago. The dull peacemaker had successfully negotiated for more time but now it seemed that even that would run out. Then they would all be waiting by the phone for calls from management either praising the label for it's patience or cursing it because it had decided to sue.

AJ's eyes drifted back to the parking lot and rested on the black SUV that had been parked there for one and a half hours. It looked like Kevin's truck and as he took a drag on his cigarette, he found himself wishing it were. His wish came true because as he stared out at the truck, the driver's door opened and he saw Kevin get out. Even if AJ hadn't recognized him physically, the blue Kentucky baseball cap was a giveaway.

"Jesus! He's here!" AJ squealed pointing out of the window.

The other three jumped up from their chairs and hurried over to take a look. It was him alright. They were relieved to see his long stride and even from ten floors up, they could see him carrying himself with confidence. Nick laughed out loud and turned to face the execs.

"He's a comin' and it looks like he's carryin' a great big can of 'whoop ass', gentlemen! Hope all those papers are in order!"

They all laughed at Nick's comment. AJ didn't tell them that Kevin had been sitting in his truck for the last ninety minutes before he decided to join them.

They all returned to their seats and watched the double doors that opened into the conference room. After several minutes had passed, both doors suddenly swung open and there stood Kevin. He glanced towards his bandmates, nodded and took the empty seat beside Brian. Everyone opened the folders in front of them and the meeting began. It was all pretty standard stuff. A few changes were made in the proposed itinerary, the most significant being a severe cut in tour time, from ten weeks to six. Papers in the back of the folder listed everyone who would be associated with the tour and promotions along with a brief job description and salary.

Nick flipped through the pages uninterested. He had picked up his pen and started doodling on the employee list when a name jumped out at him and grabbed his attention. He nudged AJ and pointed. There, listed under 'performance participants' was the name Lily Shafer - dancer. Nick and AJ looked at each other and then over at Kevin who was discussing the new album.

"Do you think this is a typo?" Nick whispered to AJ. He looked panicked.

"Shit...it has to be!" AJ whispered back.

Everyone was aware of what had happened at the hotel in New York. Between Tristan beating on Kevin, Kevin yelling for her to come back, Lily's screaming and, of course, Nick pounding the shit out of Kevin, every door on the hall had opened to see what was going on. That night had been the real beginning of what they thought might be the end. AJ wrote a note on the corner of the page and tore it off, handing it to Howie to pass along to Brian.

The execs were rambling on now and Kevin felt a disturbance in the room. He looked over at Nick who was staring at him with a strange expression on his face - not fear exactly, but close. AJ was handing something to Howie and waving his hands, indicating that whatever it was should go to Brian. Howie handed the paper to Brian, shrugging his shoulders and Brian unfolded it, glancing at Nick curiously. He read the note and started flipping pages to the back of his folder.

"What?" Kevin whispered to his cousin.

Brian held up a finger as he checked the page mentioned in the note. His eyes grew wide and he looked back to AJ and Nick who were staring at him, awaiting his reaction.

"What's wrong?" Kevin asked again.

The executives grew quiet when they realized they were speaking to a deaf audience.

"Are we boring you?" one of them said sarcastically.

Their new manager, Jack, glanced up at the group.

"One second, please." Brian pleaded.

Brian passed the note on to Kevin, who studied the paper, puzzled and started to flip through the pages. He stopped and looked at the list on page two. His eyes wandered down the page of names until he reached the bottom. There he saw the name 'Lily Shafer' listed as a principle dancer. Kevin's head began to spin a little. Surely this was a mistake. He glanced at his bandmates who, with the exception of Howie, were watching him expectantly. His face began to feel warm and he knew he was turning red.

Jack was also watching Kevin.

"Anything wrong, Kev?" he asked. Up until now, everything had gone fairly well.

Kevin was trying very hard to remain calm, even if he didn't feel it. "Yeah, Jack. I'd say there's something wrong."

The execs groaned inwardly. They had a pretty good idea of what had upset Kevin. They knew a screaming match was coming.

Kevin continued. "Page two of the employee list - performance participants-bottom of the page. Please tell me this is a typo."

Howie began flipping furiously to the page and stopped when he got to the bottom of page two.

"Oh fuck...." he sighed loudly.

The execs didn't even have to flip. They knew whose name was on the bottom of the page.

"It's no typo. She has a year long contract. It's iron clad."

"Then buy her out!" Kevin slammed his folder onto the table. "I'll pay myself, just to get her off this tour!" His voice was rising to the danger level.

Rick, Jive's principle lawyer, jumped into the fray.

"We tried to, Kevin. She refused to be bought."

"That's a change..." Nick commented.

"Get rid of her!" Kevin demanded angrily. His fists were clenched and he pounded them on the table to emphasize his insistence.

Rick was trying to be patient, but he was as bull headed as Kevin was.

"No can do, Kevin. She already has a battery of lawyers...."

"Fuck the lawyers!" Kevin screamed jumping up from his chair.

Rick could no longer be diplomatic.

"No, Kev! Fuck you! Miss Shafer got some good advice somewhere down the road. If we even try to fire her, she has an excellent case for sexual harassment. She's going to sue the shit out of you, BSB, Inc and Jive Records and, frankly, we won't have a leg to stand on! In addition, all the little sordid details of your...liaison....will become public knowledge. Maybe you don't care about that, but what about Miss Mallory?"

Kevin paled visibly and flopped back down in the chair. Rick continued.

"I know these guys she's retained, Kevin! Not only will they pick apart every detail of what happened in New York, but they'll travel down memory lane to Stockholm, as well. But it won't stop there! They'll find plenty of witnesses who'll be happy to testify about Miss Mallory's subsequent miscarriage and confinement to a psychiatric hospital. And let's not forget her self inflicted injury."

Kevin was dazed. They already knew everything. Of course, it was their job to. He looked to Jack who sat staring at him and shaking his head.

"Well, shit!" AJ piped up. "We'll just forget the tour and take some time off! Her contract is up in September, right? We could write and produce one hell of an album in eight months!" The others at the table nodded in agreement.

"Don't be stupid!" Rick countered. "Then we'llhave to sue. You'll lose your five album, sixty mil deal, your name and your label! You'll spend your time and your money in court while your fan base withers away. By the time this would be over, Jive would have saved sixty million bucks and you'd be bankrupt and older. Meanwhile, the pretenders to the throne would be doing all they could to gobble up your substantial piece of the pie and one of them would. And even when it's all over, even if you win the case -which is highly unlikely- all the personal crap would still be spilled out for the world to see and judge. The psychotic pianist mistreated by the cheating pop star! This isn't personal, boys, it's business. You have contracts. Let's face it - Lily Shafer would only be a minor annoyance if Kevin Richardson hadn't fucked her. She has a legitimate case for harassment based on that fact alone."

Kevin couldn't speak. He rubbed his hand across his mouth, trying to find some solution to this perverted melodrama. All this because I didn't keep my God damned dick zipped.... "Let me see what I can find out." Jack said, trying to be soothing. He turned to Rick. "No one is trying to screw the label or get out of a contract. It's business for you, but personal for them. Surely this mountain of a problem can be shrunk back to molehill size..."

Nick felt compelled to speak and he didn't mince words. " I can't believe that one bitch like that could create this mess!" He threw his folder down on the table in disgust.

Rick shook his head and smiled grimly. "She didn't do this by herself." he said nodding towards Kevin. "Hell hath no fury, Nick...."