Mr. and Mrs. Carter: Anywhere for You

Chapter 14

April 14, 1997 Tampa Florida
NICK'S POV
"And she screamed?" AJ looks confused.

I nod. "I didn't even grab her arm that hard." Kevin sighs.

"It doesn't matter Nick, remember what type of childhood she had. You probably scared her."

"It doesn't matter anymore." My voice tightens. "She doesn't care for me anymore. She said it herself." I bury my face in my hands. I feel Howie's hand on my back.

"Don't say that Nick, there's still hope."

I look up, angry.

"No Howie! There's not. It's over." I reburied my face in my hands.

"I wonder if she had a dream..." Brian trails off.

"What?" I look back up. Brian seems to be deep in thought.

"People are always saying they have these dreams when they're in a coma. Like some sort of message." Brian looks at Kevin.

"But don't they always forget it or something?" AJ asks.

"Not always." Brian's eyes are sparkling.

"Guys, those things don't exist." I roll my eyes.

"Yes they do Nick. It happened to a friend of mine." Howie thinks back.

I sigh. "Okay, if these so called dreams really happen in a coma, how do they help me?"

"I'm not sure." Brian admits. "Maybe you can talk to Lili or something."

Tears burned. "She doesn't want to see me."

"I'm sure she doesn't mean it Nick." Kevin puts an arm around me.

"She did Kevin, you should have seen her face. She hates me." I bury my face in Kevin's chest, ashamed. Kevin brushes my hair back. He's more like a dad to me than my own dad is.

"Would you take her back, if she somehow remembered everything?" AJ asks, softly.

"Of course I would. But it's not gonna happen." I get up. "Guys, can we not talk about it anymore?"

Kevin sighs. "Okay."

"Okay, if we're moving on to a new topic, how do we get rid of Lou?" Brian asks.

"I don't know, Brian." Howie sighs. "I still can't believe he really took money from us." Kevin's eyes look sad and dark. Out of all of us, he was probably the closest to Lou. Lou had been like a second father to Kevin.

"Maybe he has an explanation." he suggested, wiping his hands on his pants.

Brian shook his head. "No Kevin, Lou cheated us. Trust me, it hurts to do this too, but we have to sue him." Howie and AJ stare with their mouths open at Brian.

"What? We can't sue him! There's no way we would win!" AJ protests.

"We're nothing but five guys with some money versus a powerful millionaire man!" Howie added. I looked at Brian.

He looked determined.

"I don't give a shit how much power he has. What he's doing isn't right." Brian said firmly. "And I'm going to sue him, with or without you guys." I hesitated. But I made my decision. Lou was wrong.

"I'm with Brian." I stood with Brian. AJ nodded with us. Then Howie. Finally, we all looked at Kevin. He was staring at his shoes.

"Kevin? You in?" Brian asked. Kevin didn't answer. For a moment I thought he would say no. But he raised his head and his pale blue green eyes were bright with emotion.