Date: Sun, 28 Jul 2002 14:00:37 +0100 (BST)
From: Jezebel <eh_oh_po@yahoo.com>
Subject: Set Adrift Chapter 2

Title: Set Adrift Part 2
Author: Jezebel the Temptress
Feedback: eh_oh_po@yahoo.com

Disclaimers: This story is fiction and it is not intended to imply anything
about the true sexuality of the celebrities mentioned or any personal
knowledge about their private lives. If you are underage for your area or
if it is illegal for you to look at this why not go somewhere else, if you
don't like the thought of two men together in a loving, sexual way this
isn't for you either.

Summary: Nick finds out that one small act can have severe repercussions
for a long time to come. Who would have thought that one kiss could cause
so much pain?

Notes: This is my first story to the archive, I've written a little before
but no real slash in this arena.

The dates might be a little messed up but I wanted this to fit into a
specific timeline and all of the major events will still happen, just in a
shorter space of time.

Check out the following stories by the authors that inspire me:
On the Streets (BSB - Kevin)
Under Management (Nsync - Lance)
Brian and Me (BSB)
JC's Hitchhiker (Nsync)
Double Take (BSB)
My New Life (Nsync)
Also check out www.authorclive.com -- it's a great collection of a lot of
fab boyband fiction.

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Nick felt a weight lifted from his shoulders when he decided that he was
going to have Sully no matter what it took. All he had to do was wait out
the interviews, publicity shoots and appearances until he could have some
time alone with the other man. Then it would be time to make his move and
set into action the chain of events that would move Alex Sullivan from AJ's
bed and into his.

Nick's oppurtunity came a few days later. Sully was in their suite watching
reruns of some nineties sitcom on the televistion and waiting for AJ to
finish up on some phone interview that he had to give for a teen magazine
that had voted him their favourite pop bad boy. Nick had decided a few
nights before that the direct method was best, something about catching
your prey unawares that he had seen on the Discovery Channel.

"Hi." Nick said, using the tone of seduction that he had practised in
Europe, the one that made him come across as a virginal schoolboy ith the
carnal knowledge of the Kama Sutra, a dichotomy of innocence and raw sexual
energy.

"Hey Nicky." Sully replied, completely ignoring the flirtation of the
younger boy and aiming for an easy going greeting. "AJ is in an interview
at the moment but I can give him a message if you want."

"Actually it was you that I wanted." Nick said, allowing the double
entendre to be noticed but not blushing as he said it.

Sully tried hard not to laugh at Nick's obvious attempt to use seduction as
a way of getting what he wanted, he just wasn't sure what it was that he
had to give the boy. He was hardly the person to ask advice of and he did
not have anything worth any money to give the kid.

"What can I do for you Nicky?" Sully asked, again using the boy's nickname,
the one that Alex used when he was teasing Nick about how young he was and
hoping that the other man would get the message that flirting would not
work because he was not attracted to young men.

Nick did not answer this time, instead he leaned forward and kissed Sully,
trying to use the surprise to his advantage and pushing at the other man's
lips with his tongue as if seeking entry to deepen the kiss. It did not
take the older man long to respond, not with a return of the kiss but
rather by pushing Nick away and putting a hand out to stop the younger
man's attempt to lean in for a second attack.

"Wow." Nick said as he licked his lips, tasting the other man still
there. It was an audible sigh of satisfaction with the word said with a
degree of awe, as if the seventeen year old had never been kissed before.

"What was that?" Sully asked, as soon as he found his voice after the soft
but searching kiss. He was not sure if he was angry or just disbelieving,
he was definitely not sure what had happened here.

"I kissed you." Nick said, almost as if he was telling himself so that he
could believe it instead of answering Sully's question. This really did
anger the other man this time. He reddened visually and stood to have a go
at Nick. The younger man would not allow this and felt a little indignant
that Sully had the guile to get angry at him. "Don't tell me you didn't
like it, I know that you've been with AJ. I saw you together. I know that
you're gay and that you like guys like that."

"What Alex and I do, or don't do, is none of your damn business. And
whether I liked it or not is irrelevant. Nick, you're underage and I'm not
interested. Not only could I get into trouble for that kiss but it could
ruin my friendship with Alex if he found out about it." Sully said, trying
not to concentrate too much on the fact that he had enjoyed the kiss and
telling himself that it was a natural reaction for someone in his position
to have.

Nick was good looking and it had been a while since Sully had gotten
some. He consoled himself with the fact that it was more like the trained
response of a Pavlovian dog than anything else, he wasn't a horny teenager
anymore but it still affected him when he had not been laid in so long. It
was after all difficult to get any when your best friend and man you were
in love with had decided to go straight and you came home from a double
shift at work smelling of fried food and sweat. Even with his relative
inexperience he knew that working part time at McDonald's was not conducive
with a good sex life.

Nick pouted because he had not expected to be rejected. Sully wondered if
that ever really worked, it was certainly not helping his cause in this
instance because it just acted as a reminder that Nick was younger than
Alex or Sully and that he was obviously not as mature as they were or as
mature as he was trying to make him believe he was.

"Nick. I don't know what this was all in aid of or what you hoped to
achieve with it but there are other ways to deal with the mixed feelings or
signals that you might have inside you." Sully said, suddenly feeling old
as he remembered the talk like this that he had gotten from a few of his
older gay friends. "If you think you're gay or…"

"I'm *not* Gay." Nick interupted Sully's flow rather too abruptly and the
older man saw just how confused the boy was, or at least that he was going
through some changes and was not sure how to cope with them. Sully
remembered that confusion but knew that the only way for Nick to deal with
it as in his own time. He certainly was not the person to help Nick work
out his confusions.

"Okay." Sully said, wishing that he could help the boy through it but not
knowing exactly how to help and that it would ruin any future chances with
AJ if he tried. "But this doesn't happen again and it would be best if you
don't tell anyone, at least until you're sure about all of this in your
head."

"I won't" Nick said solemnly,for a moment Sully thought he was going to
have to counsel the boy through this anyway, from the look on his face Nick
was about to cry. But something was going on in that blonde head and a
moment later the sobriety turned to something else. Nick's face changed and
he broke out into a grin.

"It will be our secret." He said earnestly.

Sully opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted again by Nick, this
time a Nick that headed out to his own room, pausing only as his hand
reached the door and he turned to say something else.

"It'll be our secret that you want me as much as I want you and that next
time I'll do more than kiss you." Nick said before flinging open the door
to his room and leaving Sully alone with his thoughts, the ones that he
knew would trouble him.

So far the visit had been a wash out, with the boys working harder than
Sully or Alex had expected and him not getting much of a visit. When he
looked up Sully was shocked to see that he was not actually alone in the
room. The stranger looked from Sully to the door that Nick had just gone
through and smiled. Sully knew that he was in trouble.


-------------------


Lou Pearlman was always looking for a way to distant his boys from trouble,
they were his cash cow at the moment and would give him the money that he
needed to build the next best thing. He knew that every band had a shelf
life of between five and ten years, he had two good years from the
Backstreet Boys already but he was already, unbeknownst to them, grooming
their replacements. Recently though AJ McLean had started being trouble,
the boy had discovered his voice and was especially annoying when it came
to visits from his friends, specifically the one that sat in front of him
now. Lou smiled like a cat that had gotten the canary because he finally
had a way to get rid of this influence from the other man's life. He also
knew that if he crushed the independence of AJ then it was most likely that
Nick and Howie would also crumble. He had control of the Kentucky boys,
they were too polite to say no, if he could just control the rebel then the
others would acquiesce too, if nothing else because he would have power
over a majority of them.

"Mr. Pearlman, I…" Sully began but Lou held up a hand. Silencing the
protest and not really wanting to hear some whinging about it not being
what it looked like and him not being a faggot that was messing with his
profits. To Lou time was money and he did not have time to listen to this
one whinge about life.

"Now listen to me and listen well because what I am about to say is for
your own good as much as for my boys. Nick Carter is underaged, if I were
to report what you just did then you would find yourself in prison and
being someone else's bitch faster than you could call a lawyer, even if you
have one on speed dial." Lou said, stopping only to breath and take some
much needed oxygen into his overworked lungs.

"I told him no." Sully argued but this only gained him a laugh from the
large, fat and balding man. It was not the first time that he had such
reasoning and he was sure that it would not be the last but he had ways of
dealing with boys like this, he had crushed more people than this boy had
eaten hot meals.

"Do you think that matters? Do you think it matters that it was only a
kiss? By the time the papers get a hold of it you will look like a
paedophile. But I don't want that type of negativity for one of my boys so
I'll give you a deal." Lou said a small smile breaking across his face.

"What kind of deal?" Sully asked suspiciously.

"The kind that means that you leave the tour tonight and have no further
contact with any of the Backstreet Boys." Lou said. "That way you will
never have been close enough to Nick Carter to abuse him again."

Sully hated the words that the fat man used, he was a key manipulator and
was very good at his job, there was little Sully could do except agree,
even though it would break his heart to leave Alex. The last thing that
either of them needed was him going to jail for corrupting a minor.

"Let me say goodbye at least…" Sully said, almost pleading. "I need to
tell Alex something."

"Leave him a note and don't mention Nick at all. Just tell him that you
can't deal with his fame and that you don't like the man he is becoming."
Lou said. "That is the sort of thing that he's probably already thinking
about and besides, it's not like he has time for you anyway. When his
career really begins to take off don't fool yourself that he will care
where you are or who you are with."

Sully wanted to disagree but it was partly true, they had barely spoken in
months and he even more rarely saw the man that was supposed to be his best
friend. He did not hold it against Alex that this was the type of career he
had chosen and he was proud that he was doing so well but Lou seemed to
know that if he used a few select phrases that Alex would believe what it
said. It almost made Sully shudder as he wondered how many other people Lou
Pearlman had blackmailed, how many other families he had split up in the
name of his own profits. But after tonight this would not be Sully's world
and he could only hope that when Alex came out of this he came out of it
unscathed.

"What about when he's at home? We live very close to each other, we grew up
together." Sully said, he knew that it would be even harder for AJ not to
see him once they were both back in Florida. They shared the same
neighbourhood, the same friends and their families regularly socialised,
even if he left the tour and never came back he would still see AJ and
judging by the friendships that had blossomed in the band that would also
bring him into contact with other Backstreet Boys.

"Okay, I'll write you a cheque for $10,000. You could go to college
somewhere or maybe get a place in New York or one of the bigger
cities. Start your life elsewhere." Lou said, taking out a cheque book and
a gold plated pen.

"My only condition is that I want you gone tonight and I'll have the
lawyers draw up a contract for you to sign, no contact whatsoever with any
band members." Lou paused before adding a codicil. "Make that no contact
with anyone related to the Backstreet Boys, Transcontinental or anyone
else. That way I will know you are staying away from us all."

Sully looked down at his hands for a moment, wondering if he could really
do this but he supposed it was the type of sacrifice he would have to
make. It was after all the type of sacrifice that Alex was making every day
to get his career off the ground and Sully making one would not make much
difference. Maybe one day when it was all over he would see Alex again and
be able to explain and maybe in time he could get over his love for Alex
and find another lover; one that would return his feelings in full and one
who was not so committed to his career.

"Okay." Sully said defeatedly, his shoulders hunched and his head bowed. He
knew when he had been beaten. Before going off to pack his bags he took one
last look around his room and found some note paper to write a letter. It
wasn't much but at least he could leave something of him behind, even if it
was lies he hoped that they would be lies that would give Alex some
comfort.

Sully knew when it was time to cash in your chips and count the losses, he
knew that it was an expensive defeat but this was the easiest way out and
for once it really was the time to take the easy way out.

Maybe one day Alex would understand.

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To Be Continued.

Please let me know what you think, good, bad or indifferent to
eh_oh_po@yahoo.com

I was a little nervous about how this would be received.  Thanks to the few
who sent feedback.

Jez