Disclaimer: Here I am again, sitting in front of another black Word document, waiting for inspiration to come along. Little pictures of Backstreet Boys dancing in my head. But yet, I don't know them, and I don't own them. And I don't know anyone they know. This is all fiction of course. This D-O-E-S-N-O-T deal with the killing/suicide of AJ MCLEAN! LET'S GET THAT STRAIGHT NOW! Any Backstreet Boys fan knows that AJ's real name is Alexander James ~underlines James 5 times for Nifty~ McLean. Yes, it says he killed himself but, he staged it, boo, I told you the truth, kill me now. But I have to have something to think about before I go to sleep so, this is real to me, just another world I can get lost in till it comes to an end. silverwings4ever@hotmail.com if you want to contact me, http://www.angelfire.com/music2/slipupwizshs/index.html if you want more stories or pictures of the characters or just about anything my little mind can come up with.
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And I Swear - Chapter 3
Tom looked around the small apartment. It was homey, cozy even. As soon as he had seen James he knew he had come to the right place. He had gotten a tip that AJ had bought a car and driven south, possibly passed the border. But when his car crashed, and he'd ended up on the bar, slightly awake, he'd known that AJ McLean was standing over him.
When Howie Dorough had approached him 5 years ago to find AJ McLean, he thought the chances of actually finding him alive were slim to none, but the more he researched, the more information he discovered. Howie was paying him good money to bring back AJ, dead or alive. Now he was stuck in this town with AJ, who was calling himself James, and didn't know how long it would take to convince him to come home. He had a few broken ribs, so he knew he wouldn't be able to move for a while, and with AJ...er...James waiting on him hand and foot basically, he was bound to get information on him.
Tom heard footsteps coming from the direction of the bathroom and closed his eyes, as if asleep. He heard the footsteps stop close to the bed, a bottle of pills put down on the side table, and the footsteps leading off into the opposite direction of the bathroom. Tom opened his eyes and looked around the room again. He reached for the bottle of pills and the glass of water James had supplied him with. Gulping down the pills he wondered what he was going to do for the remainder of his stay here. He could barely move, let alone get any information on AJ from other people. Tom heard laughter coming from the front door to the apartment and tried to look out the door. He wondered what was going on in the front of the bar.
~ With AJ/James
The more James thought about it, the more he knew that he couldn't let that guy Tom stay in the back of his place. James ushered people out of the bar, it was closing time and he needed to clean up the place before inventory and bed. Shane, druker' than ever was slung around his shoulders as he walked down the street to the general store where his family lived. He dropped Shane off on the doorstep and knocked on the door. James saw a light on in the back and stepped away from the door, picking Shane up again.
Shane's mother, Debbie, the local beautician opened the door in her robe.
"Oh, my" Debbie said and opened the door wider.
"He got drunk again, I thought it best to bring him to you." James said and put Shane on the check out counter. Shane was 22, and found his best way to deal with problems was to drink. James was disappointed in Shane, he had known him for a while now and seemed like a bright kid, smart witted, when he wasn't drinking. He should have gone to college, but most of the people in this town didn't have the money for a good education.
"Why thank you again, James. I don't know what we would do if you didn't bring him home every night." Debbie said and smiled. "We rely on you to much, we really should do something about his problem."
"Well, first get him to admit that he drinks to much, I can do a lot from there, I should know, I've been there."
"You, James? I don't believe it." Debbie said.
"Well, it was a long time ago, but yeah, I have had my share of drinks, finally put myself in a rehab center to get better, and it worked, my job wasn't failing because of my drinking, I'm still trying to figure out why." James said.
"What did you do before you came to our small town, James?" Debbie asked, interested.
James turned toward the door, "I'll see you tomorrow Debbie," James said and left.
James walked down the main street of the small town and stared interestedly at his cowboy boots. He softly started singing Anywhere for You' and walked up the steps toward his bar. Pushing the door open he looked around the dim bar, a lot of work before I can go to sleep.' James thought and started clearing off tables and stacking chairs upside down on tables. He looked at the clock, 12:10, he was a little behind schedule, but that was okay, he didn't have to be anywhere vitally important.
Humming to himself, James pulled the blinds down in the front windows of the bar. He pulled the long-sleeved shirt over his head and headed for the bathrooms. This was the only part James hated about owning the bar, the clean up. James grabbed the cleaning supplies from the closet and walked into the men's bathroom. Once satisfied that the men's bathroom was clean he headed toward the women's bathroom. Doing the same in there he gathered the trash out of both bathrooms and headed for the bar. Gathering all the trash, he put it into one huge bag and tied it off. Walking outside, with the bag in hand he walked to the side of the bar and dumped the bag into a huge dumpster.
"James?" a voice said from the shadows.
James jumped, he was shirtless. This wasn't good, no one in town knew about his many tattoos.
"James, do you think I could spend the night here? My umm... dad... he..." the voice trailed off.
James looked off into the shadows, "Amy?" James asked, unsure of who it was.
"Yeah, do you think..."
James cut her off, "What did he do?"
Amy stepped into the light, closer to James.
James gasped, "Oh my god," James said. He looked into Amy's eyes and saw what he'd done to her.
Just as James said that, Amy passed out. James caught her before she got to the ground and picked her up into his arms.
"Poor girl," James muttered and walked to the front of the bar. He pushed the door open with his back and gently got Amy inside. He began to walk to the back of the bar, but stopped. He put Amy on the bar and put his black long-sleeved shirt back on. James picked Amy back up and continued to the back of the bar. When he got to the back he noticed that Tom was awake.
"Hey James, what took so..." Tom stopped. "Oh, God, what happened to her?"
"Found her when I was taking out the trash." James said and put her on the other couch.
Tom looked at the girl. "What's her name?" Tom yelled to James, who was in the bathroom getting First Aid supplies.
"Amy"
Tom looked the Amy over. Her clothes were barely on her, her face was swollen, nose bleeding, and she was bleeding from the hairline. Her neck was bruised, probably because her father's hands had been around it. Her shoulders were bleeding. What he could make out from behind the shirt, she was scratched, whipped maybe, and her bra was gone. Her shorts were in shreds and he could see that her underwear wasn't there. Her legs were bleeding, with deep cuts. She had no shoes on and the bottoms of her feet were scared. Amy had to be no older than 15.
James came back out of the bathroom and bedroom with a big T-shirt and boxers, and a first aid kit.
James looked at Amy again. Where to start?' he wondered, the feet.' He said to himself and lifted her legs, and sat beneath them. James started cleaning off her feet with soap and water, applying neosporin and Band-Aids when needed. James checked to make sure that nothing was broken on her feet and legs, then moved on to her calves. Her ankles were twisted, maybe sprained. He wiped the dried blood off her legs and continued to bandage Amy up. James skipped her thighs and private area and went on to her stomach. James lifted her legs and sat on the floor on his knees. He cut her shirt off, what was left of it anyway, and carefully put her in the T-shirt he'd brought from his bedroom. He pulled the T-shirt up and cleaned off her stomach and sides, Then her arms, and carefully her neck and face. He brought an ice pack from the fridge and put it around her neck softly. He pulled her hair back and secured it with a rubber band, then cleaned the cut at the top of her head.
James stood up. He could feel Tom's eyes on him. He turned to Tom. "I'm gonna' go get Doc Riley, try and calm her if she wakes up, I'll be back in a second. James walked out the door.
James walked down the dark main street and stopped at Doc Riley's clinic. He pounded on the door and waited. 5 minutes later he pounded again and finally a light shone on in the back of the clinic. Doc Riley came to the door and looked up out at James.
"What's wrong?" Riley asked.
"It's Amy, I found her behind the Bar, she's been beaten and raped. I did as much as I could without you but I think you should take a look at her." James said.
"I'll get my kit." Riley said and closed the door.
10 minutes later James and Doc Riley were in James' apartment checking on Amy.
"She's in bad condition," Doc Riley said softly.
"Who did that to her?" Tom asked.
"Her father," Both Riley and James said together.
Doc Riley stood up from her place beside Amy and sat on the other couch across from Tom. "We're a small town, Tom. We don't have any social services or rape centers like they do in bigger towns and cities, we're lucky if we get anyone new in town." Riley sighed. "This town is all gossip, tomorrow everyone will look at Amy and know what happened, but not speak it allowed, it's sad, really sad. James has kept Amy here more nights then I'd like to remember. And because James takes her in, it's always been said that James is the one who rapes her. She's only a child still, but that doesn't matter in a town like this. It's all inbread."
"But, should somebody do something?" Tom said.
"Yeah, someone should, but who? Tom consider yourself lucky that Harry and them found you, otherwise, you'd probably come to somewhere where you didn't know where you are without any clue of where to go, there's no signs, no paved roads, nothing. James doesn't take in many outsiders, neither does the Bed and Breakfast, so be glad you are where you are, and not on the road somewhere without food or water." Riley said and stood up.
Doc Riley turned to James. "Now you have two patients, James."
James hugged Riley, then kissed her on the cheek, "I don't know what to do." James said and laughed.
Riley pulled away from the hug, "I'll let myself out." She said and left.
James turned to Tom, "you should get some sleep, you must be tired."
"Yeah, I'm a little sleepy." Tom said and looked James in the eyes.
James stared at Tom for a moment, trying to ignore the attraction he could between them. James broke the stare and grabbed a blanket off the back of the couch Amy was occupying, then laid it over her softly, trying no to wake her.
James stood up straight again and looked at Tom. "I get up early every morning, I'll try not to wake you, I have to help Maddy with her kids and Jake with branding, I'll be back by 4, at the latest. Amy will wake up probably around 10, she knows where everything is and will help you when you explain why you are here. Take your pills, get plenty of sleep, and if possible, eat something, Amy, though she is only 15, is a great cook, you name it, it's probably out front in the bar. I'll see you tomorrow night. Goodnight." James said and walked off toward his room, silently closing the door behind him.
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Hey again, ahhh another chapter, how refreashing! I have chapter 4 ready to be put up, and Just Another Day will be updated before the week is out. For those who know I had some technical difficulties with the story, thanks for being patient while I tracked down the story. My website is posted at the top ^ but I'll post it again.
Pictures of characters, more stories, or more info in general:
http://www.angelfire.com/music2/slipupwizshs/index.html
Comments, praises, death threats, tomatoes to:
silverwings4ever@hotmail.com
I'd like to be hearing for ya'll soon, Later --