I closed the door to Nick’s room quietly and walked further on down the hallway to my office.. Once settled inside I let myself become overwhelmed with everything that had happened in the past few days.
So much had changed.
We had been through so much, and yet there was still so much to deal with… I had to be the strong one, the one unaffected by everything so I could help Nick deal with it. I tried to soften the blows that came so it would be easier on Nick; I was ready to breakdown though.
I though back to the night we left. I have never seen Nick that scared, that upset. I hated Alex for everything he had put Nick through. No one deserves to suffer like that, especially alone.
I remember how scared Nick was when he told me everything Alex had ever done to him. He cried for two hours in my arms reliving every nightmare that Alex had thrown at him. I wanted to kill Alex. I wanted Alex to pay for the hell he had put Nick through. I sat there for the longest him, just holding Nick, trying to figure out a way to keep Nick away from Alex.
There had to be a way. Then I remembered a cottage I had bought. I had bough the cottage once when we were on break. Everything in my house reminded me of Nick, I had pictures of his angelic face everywhere and I couldn’t stand to be in the house, Every time I turned around I felt nothing but loneliness knowing I could never have him.
So I left and found the deserted cottage deep in the woodlands of Kentucky. No one knew of my secret haven. It was mine and mine alone. It was the perfect place to take Nick though; no one would know how to get a hold of us. We would be completely isolated from the rest of the guys. It was what Nick needed right now. He needed the seclusion that only the cottage could provide.
I told him to quickly pack his things and we would leave. I left the room and went back to mine to make some phone calls. I called the airport and got us the soonest flight to Kentucky. I called my mother and gave her directions to the cottage and asked her to stock it with groceries and get it ready for us to live in it.
After all of that I called Brian and management and told them Nick and I were leaving. They agreed to it and I packed my things to leave. I was so angry. I’ve never been that angry with one person in my whole life. I was seeing red, I was ready to go after Alex, but he came to me.
When I saw him pinning Nick against that wall I snapped. All it took was seeing Nick that helpless against him. I pulled Alex off of Nick and proceeded to beat him up. I could have done a lot worse to Alex, and I would’ve but I seen how scared and upset Nick was and I left him on the floor and went to leave with Nick. I told him we were going to Kentucky to stay for a while and he got his stuff together.
It was crazy after we let the hotel. We had to rush to get to the airport on time, and I was trying to calm Nick down in the process. Once we were on the plane things calmed down. Nick curled up beside me and stared out the window, while I made more phone calls. I called my mom again to make sure she got to the cottage all right.. I called and got rental car at the airport in Kentucky so we would have a way to get to the cottage.
Once all the phone calls were made I opened my arms and Nick crawled into them. I held him tightly against me the whole time. We touched down in Kentucky a couple hours later. We gathered our things and got into our rental car.
Nick slept the entire way to the cottage. He woke up just as I was pulling into the driveway. I remember the light in his eyes as he realized Alex couldn’t get to him anymore, that he really was safe.
We carried all our stuff inside and settled into the cottage. My mom had already left. She left a note demanding that we call her later and tell her the reason for our stay at the cottage. I showed Nick the rooms upstairs. He chose the green one next to mine and I told him to get some sleep. I had then went and got my room in order.
The first few nights we stayed in the cottage Nick refused to sleep alone. It was bittersweet I guess. I loved being with him. I wanted nothing more than to be with him always, but I also knew the reason that we were living together now.
Nick had hinted around that he didn’t want to go back, but he’d never said for sure. That up in the air for now.