Title: Set Adrift - Second Chances Author: Jezebel the Temptress Feedback: eh_oh_po@yahoo.com
Disclaimers: This is fiction. Ben and Sully are figments of my imagination and The Backstreet Boys are strangers to me and not gay. This has not truth to it. This is for adults only, that's over 18 or 21, depending on your country.
Nick hadn't said a lot after they returned from their shopping trip, it seemed that whatever it was that had him returning to Orlando early was playing heavily on his mind. Ben didn't object because he had a lot of thinking of his own to do. He really wasn't sure if Nick was ready to come out to his overbearing mother or if this was the right time to do it. He wanted to be there for Nick but he really didn't want to put any undue pressure on his lover. The problem was that Nick seemed intent on doing this and he knew that when Nick had made his mind up to do something it was hard to change his mind.
The pair of them did not talk much beyond niceties as they packed to go to the airport and Nick arranged flights back to Orlando.
It was not until they were waiting in the VIP lounge for the flight that would take Nick home and Ben on his first trip to Orlando that either felt the need to speak.
"So, how are we going to play this?" Ben asked, trying to sound casual despite the rampant feelings of inadequacy and panic that were racing through him. What if he wasn't good enough for Nick in his family's eyes? "Am I the new best friend, or the old friend that you wanted to look up?"
Nick frowned.
"You're my lover." Nick said in a harsh whisper. Despite the fact that they were in a secluded area there was no need to broadcast the news to anyone that might be listening - Nick was not ashamed of their love but there was no point subjecting Ben to that kinds of publicity before they were ready. Their love was still so new and fragile that he didn't want to inflict it to that kind of scrutiny.
"Yeah, but you don't want people to know that." Ben said softly.
"I'm not ashamed of you." Nick replied, a little louder this time. "I don't want you to feel as if you're some dirty little secret in my life that I can't share with my family."
"But they don't know?" Ben asked. "That you're gay, I mean."
"Well, it's not one of the secrets that my Mom revealed in her tell all book if that's what you mean." Nick said humourlessly.
Ben didn't really understand the implication.
"There is no real love lost between my Mom and me, I still love her because she's my Mom, but she has long since given up the hope that I'll be the perfect son that she's always wanted. She moved on to Aaron as soon as he had learned to sing and we were both okay with that. I don't think it will matter much to her what I do as long as I don't mess with the reputation of the family or my brother's career."
"Nick, don't underestimate family." Ben said. "Your Mom must love you or she wouldn't have encouraged you to do this." He gestured with his hand, indicating the VIP lounge and all that must have come with it.
"You know, when I was five my kindergarten teacher asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up, I told her that I wanted to be a truck driver but that I was going to be a star." Nick said, his smile fading slightly as if this was something he was used to feeling. As if resigned to his fate. "Somewhere along the line her dreams for her children became our own. BJ is the only one that never bought into the family business spiel."
"BJ?" Ben asked, realising that he actually knew very little about Nick's family.
"Yeah, my sister." Nick said, his face changing from a scowl to a small smile. "You'll like her - she reminds me a lot of you, doesn't take any crap from anyone."
Ben smiled.
"That's me."
"And you'll love the twins, they're just getting to that age where they've lost the innocence of childhood but haven't quite become as jaded as teenagers." Nick said, and he continued telling Ben about his family, Ben not caring that they still hadn't spoken much about Nick's plan to come out. Ben did notice however that there was not a lot of mention of his mother, he didn't comment. His lover was happy as he spoke of his siblings and for now that was all that mattered.
There was plenty of time to deal with the less happy conversations when they got to Orlando.
AJ was woken from a great dream of screwing Sully on the beach by the shrill ring of his phone. For ease he had the phone next to his bed, but he forgot that the ringer wasn't turned off and now he cursed as he tried to reach for the phone without waking the man that was wrapped around him.
"'S it?" Sully asked slightly, Alex cursed as he realised two things: the ringing had stopped, and Sully had obviously answered the phone.
"Nick?" Sleepy Sully asked.
"Tell him to shove his phone up his ass." Alex said as he tried to wake enough to be of use.
Sully frowned, still half asleep and grumbled something that sounded like goodnight into the phone before holding out the phone to his lover. Alex smiled slightly at that and took the phone.
"Nick, this had better be good." Alex said moving from the bed so that Sully could return to sleep. "I don't know what time it is where you are but it's the middle of the night here."
"It's 6 am." Nick said, Alex looked at his clock and frowned. It was 6 am there too, funny, he had thought that there was a different time zone for New York. "I'm home." Nick added.
"Oh." Alex said. "Why are you calling?"
"AJ, you really ought to check your messages." Nick answered disappointedly. "You've probably got a couple of messages from Kevin to listen to."
"We were out." AJ replied.
"Well, you need to come in this morning. The Firm are going mad and if Denise finds out about this you won't hear the end of it." Nick said. "Bring Sully with you, this affects him too."
"What 'affects him'?" Alex asked, still trying to shed the last vestiges of sleep. He blinked a few times to clear the last of the sleep from his eyes and then turned back to the bed, wondering what it was that had come along to ruin his relationship with Sully now. It felt as if they just couldn't catch a break.
"AJ, I don't want to worry you, but someone saw the pair of you out and is threatening to out you to the presses unless we agree to their terms."
"Shit." Alex swore. "Does Kevin have any leads on who it is?"
"That's the worst part." Nick added. "It's Lou."
"Fuck, Fuck, Fuck." Alex said, throwing the phone away in anger.
Sully woke with a start.
"Alex, what is it?" He asked, all thoughts of getting back to sleep leaving his mind completely as the adrenaline took over and he was wide awake. Part of him was worried about Alex and he wanted to know what it was that had his lover reacting with violence.
"That fucking bastard." Alex shrieked, stepping over the now broken phone to pull on his pants. "Why can't he just leave us alone?"
"Is it your dad?" Sully asked, remembering a time when the man had caused this level of emotion in Alex. He didn't know anyone else that could earn this level of hatred.
"No." Alex said, his voice so hollow it made Sully pale. "It's Lou Pearlman."
Sully's blood ran cold as he wondered if anyone else could cause such a reaction in him. The last time he had met with Lou he had lost his entire life, now he wondered what the man wanted to take - because if there was one thing that he knew about Lou it was that he did nothing but take things and ruin people's lives.
"He knows about us." Alex said.
"What does he want to do with that information?" Sully asked.
"I don't know, he wants to meet with us." Alex said.
"And if we don't?" Sully asked, because the last thing he wanted was to be anywhere near that spiteful little troll.
"Then he'll go public about our relationship." Alex said.
Sully knew enough to know that if Lou spread the news they wouldn't just be lovers, they would be portrayed in such a bad light that no one would ever speak to either of them again. If they ever came out it would be under their terms and not in that way.
"Nick wants us to go in to the Firm this morning and go to a meeting with the others to sort this out." Alex continued, knowing that they had no choice and that the sooner they got to the office the sooner they would know the real state of play.
"I need to make a call." Sully said certainly as he left the room.
Alex felt his heart enter his throat as he wondered if Sully would leave him again. He brought so much trouble into his friend's life and now Sully must be questioning if this was really worth it, surely there was someone else out there that had less baggage and attachments than Alex himself. There was someone else out there that would love Sully in ways he never could, he knew that because there had already been one such man. Maybe this was someone's way of telling them that they shouldn't be together.
God, he thought to himself as he pulled on his shirt from the night before and again carefully dodged the broken phone, I really need a drink.
To Be Continued.
Note: Y'all didn't think that Lou had just given up, did you? wicked smile.
More soon :)