"What happened?" McKenzie asked.
"Brian you're bleeding," Shayla exclaimed running to him and examining his hand that she noticed had blood on it.
"Relax baby, it's not my blood," Brian grumbled. He walked to the bar sink and began running cold water over his swollen hand.
Shayla grabbed a towel and got some ice and wrapped his hand up and they sat down on the bed.
"Uh hello," McKenzie interrupted waving her hands. "What happened? Did you hit him?" she asked worried but glad at the same time.
"Hit him? I freakin dropped the s.o.b." Brian told them hastily. They looked at him in shock. If Brian had dropped Nick, first of all he was really, really pissed. Secondly, Nick must have really done something awful and third, must be hurt because Nick pretty much towered over Brian.
When Brian had come back he didn't shut the door all the way. AJ was coming to their room to meet for dinner, but wanted to get there early to talk to Shayla about a gift for Kimmy, who was coming in 2 days, so he just came on in since the door was open.
"Oh Shay, Shay! Hey baby girl, I need you to......" he stopped mid sentence seeing Brian and Shayla and McKenzie all sitting on the bed and Shayla and Mckenzie crying and Brian with his face beet red with anger.
"Whoa, what the heck is going on? What's wrong? Rok, you look like you're ready to kill somebody," AJ said sitting between Shayla and Mckenzie. "Why are you two crying?" he asked putting an arm around each of them. McKenzie began sobbing with her face in her hands.
"What happened is Nick is being a total fucking prick!" Shayla snapped.
AJ turned his head to look at her shocked by her choice of words and harshness of her tone. He'd never heard her cuss before. Not like that anyway. "Nice talk babe. Do you kiss him with that mouth?" he asked nodding to Brian. He put both arms around McKenzie and held her.
"She's right," Brian told AJ. "He's out of control and what he did to McKenzie is inexcusable."
Now AJ was concerned. "What did he do? And what's wrong with your hand man?"
"I punched him in the face," Brian said examining his hand again.
"What the heck is going on?" AJ demanded getting upset.
"It's that stupid plan with Brent and Mandy," McKenzie told AJ. "He's going to continue it when we get home even though he promised he wouldn't and he doesn't care how I feel about it or what I have to say about it. He's being really cruel and mean to me. We had an awful fight and I think we're breaking up."
"Well that doesn't sound like that can be all that's going on if everyone is this upset," AJ said looking at Brian. He could tell from how upset Brian was that something really awful had happened.
"He was really saying some awful things to her," Shayla told AJ.
"Like what?" AJ asked.
"He's telling her not to tell him what to do, that he's going to do whatever he wants with this plan, he called her a spoiled brat, and said if she wanted to break up with her because of it then she could just fucking go," Brian said. That last part was the first Shayla and McKenzie had heard about it. McKenzie was now more upset.
"He's really being nasty about it. He got right in her face and yelled at her and everything and was just really mean about the whole thing," Shayla said.
"So he and I had words about it and I punched him," Brian said.
"Wow, how long has this been going on?" AJ asked.
"Just today. Ever since he talked to Brent this morning," McKenzie said. "I think he's doing more than he's saying with Mandy. I get the feeling there's more going on than he's telling me."
"Sounds like something's going on," Brian said. There was a knock at the door. They all looked at each other and Shayla got up to answer it.
"Hey Kevin, what's up?" Shayla said letting him in.
"Hey Kev," Brian said as Kevin came in. He walked over and got more ice for his hand.
"Hey guys, where we goin for dinner? I'm starving," Kevin said sitting on the sofa. "By the way, I saw Nick in the hallway. He said to go on without him." At that moment he noticed McKenzie had been crying and the tension in the room.
"That's probably just as well, he doesn't come," Brian said.
"Is something going on? What's with your hand?" Kevin asked seeing Brian wrap it in ice.
"Nick is being an ass to McKenzie and I had to punch him," Brian told Kevin.
"What? What happened?" Kevin asked.
They filled him in on the story. Kevin couldn't believe what Nick had done. Howie came in and they had to go through it all again. By now everyone was mad at Nick and felt bad for McKenzie.
"I'm not really hungry now. You guys can go ahead and go," McKenzie said.
"Kenzie you have to eat. Just come with us. You'll feel better once you get out," Shayla said.
"Yeah, we can go out after dinner and we'll have some fun," AJ said. Everyone nodded in agreement.
"I'm really not in the mood to go out," McKenzie said. "I think I'm gonna make some calls and see about going home tomorrow. I really don't wanna stay here anymore now."
"Why don't you wait and see. Maybe he'll come to his senses and you guys can work this out," AJ said.
"I don't think so AJ. I think it's over," McKenzie said.
"Well come to dinner at least and maybe you'll feel better," Kevin said.
"Yeah you have to eat," Howie told her.
"Alright but I don't wanna go out after," McKenzie agreed.
"Ok we don't have to. And you can stay here with us tonight ok," Shayla said hugging her sister.
They got their things and left to go to dinner, leaving Nick at the hotel alone. McKenzie was determined to go home and made that clear throughout dinner, so Brian and Shayla agreed to make the arrangements when they got back to the hotel. Shayla decided to go back with McKenzie and be with her. Brian didn't want her to leave but understood. They still had 2 weeks left in Sweden and he didn't want to be without her. This made him even more angry with Nick.
*The Next Day*
"Are you sure you're ok with me going home?" Shayla asked Brian. They were at the airport waiting to board the plane.
"Yeah, I know you need to go with McKenzie. I wish you didn't have to go. I wish you both didn't have to go, but I understand. I'm going to miss you though," Brian said embracing her and giving her a kiss.
"I'm going to miss you too, but I need to go with her. She's really hurt over this," Shayla said.
"I know, I heard her crying all night," Brian said looking over at McKenzie who was sitting in the chairs crying again. Brian gave Shayla another kiss as they began announcing their flight.
"Oh baby, I'm gonna miss you so much," Shayla said as tears came to her eyes. She really didn't want to leave him.
"I'll miss you too. I love you. Take care of Kenzie," Brian said kissing her goodbye.
"I love you too," Shayla said. "I'll call you when we get home."
"Ok baby. Now go on before you make me cry too," Brian said swatting her on the butt.
"Ok see you soon," she said turning to walk away.
"Every night in my dreams," Brian said flashing his killer smile. Shayla blew him a kiss and boarded the plane making a mental note to kick Nick's ass for this.
It was a long plane ride home and McKenzie cried most of the way. They finally made it home and after getting McKenzie settled, Shayla went and picked up the dogs from AJ's mom's and brought them home. Jen had called and had heard from Kevin about what happened and was on her way over.
Jen arrived around 9:00pm with some movies and junk food and they ordered a pizza. They did their best to cheer McKenzie up but she was still too upset and went to bed early.
"Ya think she's gonna be ok?" Jen asked.
"Yeah, she'll be alright. It's just gonna take some time. She was really in love with him ya know. And it was basically her first real love," Shayla said.
"I can't believe him. Don't you find it strange that he would just give it up so easy like that with as much as he loved her? I mean, he pretty much chose Mandy over her. That doesn't make any sense," Jen said.
"I know. I've been wondering that myself. He's such an ass. I am so angry with him right now. We'll have to wait and see. Maybe when he realizes she's serious about breaking up with him, he'll change his mind," Shayla said.
"I can't believe Brian hit him. They've been best friends forever. How's Brian doing?" asked Jen.
"He's pretty upset. They have been friends for so long and are like brothers. But Brian's not going to let him treat her like this so he's torn being in the middle. I talked to him when we got home. He said Nick's not talking to him. No one's really happy with Nick and not talking to him, so things aren't going very well with the recording," Shayla told Jen.
"Oh man, I bet things are just awful with them trying to get all that done and they're so pressed for time," Jen said.
"Yep, I'm sure it's not easy for them. I wish he'd change his mind or at least talk to Brian and tell him what's really going on," said Shayla.
"Well maybe he will now that she's left him," Jen told her.
*Meanwhile In Sweden*
The guys were done recording for the day and were in the hotel restaurant eating dinner. They were all still pretty upset with Nick and hadn't said much to him. Brian hated what was happening. He hated being angry with Nick. They'd been best friends for so long, he wished Nick would open up to him and tell him what was going on.
Kevin had watched Nick and Brian all through dinner. The tension between them just kept growing. He could see they each wanted to say something to each other but their pride was getting in the way.
"So Nick, how are you holding up since McKenzie left?" Kevin asked.
"I'm fine," Nick said without looking at him.
"You sure?" Kevin asked.
"Yeah I'm sure," Nick said. "It's for the best. It probably wouldn't have worked out anyway. It's probably better for me to single with the new album coming out and the tour and everything anyway."
"So I guess since you and McKenzie aren't together anymore you won't be needing to do that plan thing with Mandy anymore huh?" AJ asked.
"No I'm still doing that. And now I'll be able to do whatever's necessary to get to the truth, now that I don't have to answer to or worry about McKenzie," Nick said.
"I don't get it? Why would you need to keep doing that if you're not with her anymore. You don't have a reason to protect her anymore," AJ said.
"Well I still care about her. I'll always care and I don't wanna see her being hurt or sued by Mandy for something she didn't do. Plus, Shayla's still involved, so I'm doing it to help her too," Nick said.
"Shayla doesn't want your help. She doesn't want you to do this either," Brian said getting angry hearing the things Nick was saying.
"Well wouldn't she rather have her name cleared and prove Mandy's lying?" Nick asked.
"We've decided that if Mandy still goes through with the lawsuit once she finds out you're no longer with Mckenzie, then we're just going to settle with her. We'll just pay her off and get rid of it," Brian said.
"Why would you do that? I thought Shayla refused to settle before. Why would she do it now?" Nick asked raising his voice.
"Because unlike some people, she doesn't want to hurt McKenzie, so she's willing to do whatever is necessary to protect her," Brian said through gritted teeth.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Nick shouted. "I'm just trying to protect her too and doing whatever is necessary."
"What do you think it means? And you're just thinking about yourself. You don't care about McKenzie," Brian shouted back.
"Guys come on," Howie said. "You're going to have to stop this fighting. We have a lot of work to be done and this is getting in the way. Can't you just call a truce and just agree you're each going to handle this situation with Mandy in your own way?"
Brian and Nick looked at each other. Nick took his napkin from his lap, wadded it up and threw it on the table and left.
"You're going to have to let it go buddy," Kevin told Brian. "We can't force him to see what he's doing is wrong."
"I just don't understand why he can't see how much damage he's doing," Brian said.
"He see's it man. Trust me, he see's it," AJ said.
"Yeah well, I'm not so sure," Brian said. "I'm gonna go call Shayla," he said leaving.
"God I hope they get this out of their systems soon. I hate trying to record when someone's mad at someone and we don't have much time to get this shit done," AJ said throwing down his napkin and leaving the table.
Kevin and Howie looked at each other and sighed. They got up and left to go back to their rooms.
*Nick's Room*
Nick lay on the bed staring at the ceiling thinking about what he was doing. He wanted to talk to McKenzie so badly. He wanted to hold her, and kiss her and touch her. He missed her terribly and felt horrible for doing this to her and hurting her. And it was only going to get worse before it could get better. He rolled over to look at the clock. It was time to call her. He picked up the phone and dialed the number.
The phone was answered after the 3rd ring. "Hello," she said into the phone.
"Hey Mandy, what's up?" Nick asked taking a deep breath and doing what he felt he had to do.