I gave you all the love I got...I gave you more than I could give...I gave you love...I gave you all that I have inside And you took my love...You took my love...I keep crying...I keep crying...I keep trying for you...There's nothing like you and I baby...This is no ordinary love...No ordinary love...This is no ordinary love...No ordinary love -- Sade
Chapter -- 3
by
JT Poole and
Nicole Brown
Who the hell is this at this time of morning? Don't they know that when it's dark outside, people are still sleeping? Oh this better be an emergency or I'm going to introduce my foot to someone's ass. It's not even daylight outside and Chris chose not to get his ass up, leaving me to get up alone to handle this. Please don't let this be Kate or Justin and his friends. If so, I don't know what I'm liable do. We don't need no more drama in this house. So help me God, if I have to, I'm going to pop caps in some asses to keep the sanity around here.
"Daddy what's going on?" Skye asks, standing in the doorway of his room, rubbing his eyes as I passed by him, walking down the stairs.
"Just go back to bed Skye, try to get some more sleep," I tell him, wishing Chris was up to get him back into bed while I'm getting the door.
"Daddy I can't sleep, the door won't stop," he says as I was getting angrier by the minute at the person at the door.
"Skye just go back to bed," I shout out as I get to the door and swing it open to see that Rider and Blake are standing there and Blake was bleeding all over the door mat. "Oh my God! What's going on you guys? Why is there blood on my porch?"
"JT we don't have time for this. We need to come inside and quick. Where's Chris?" Rider asks as I help him get Blake inside and over to the sofa.
"What happened to him Rider? Why is Blake bleeding like that?" I ask him as he pulls Blake's shirt open quickly and reveals a stab wound on his side.
"He didn't come home last night. I called his cell and I even called the youth center and I was told that he had already gone home," Rider tells me as I start pacing a little bit. "Between the time he left the youth center and now, someone attacked him."
"Attacked him? Where?" I ask him as Rider stands up now and walks over to the hall closet and took out a towel.
"I don't know if we can call it an attack, but I know Blake was mugged because his wallet is missing and some of his other things," Rider tells me, pointing at Blake's backpack.
"I'm a little bit lost here. What are you two doing here? Why aren't you at a hospital or something?" I ask him as Blake groans and winces in pain as Rider tried to clean up the area around the wound.
"We're here because I just found him and he was right down the street from here," he tells me. "It's cold outside and I didn't want either of us catching pneumonia or something."
"Blake what happened to you?" I ask him, kneeling down next to him as he held his eyes closed tightly as a few tears escaped the corners. "Come on Blake, talk to me here."
"I was l-leaving t-the center when...owww...this person jumped on t-top of me and...and started hitting me," Blake says as I watched him. "I tried to fight him off, but it was like he knew what I was going to do before I even did it. When I tried to get up to get away, he stabbed me in the side."
"Oh God. We need to call the police. They need to find this guy," I tell him as he just shakes his head.
"They're not going to do anything about this. To them, it'll be just another gay bashing and you know it JT. When they ask where I was when this happened, they're going to put two and two together and push this silently under the rug like they do everything else that happens to gays in this damn town," he tells me as I held his hand as Rider continued working with the wound.
"The police still need to have a report of this. If this person does it again, maybe they can establish a pattern or something," I say, standing up now as I hear someone coming down the stairs.
"Baby is everything alright?" Chris asks me as he sees Rider and Blake and rushes the rest of the way downstairs. "What's going on? What happened to him?"
"He was stabbed baby," I say as he looks at me and then back at Rider.
"Why are you sitting here? Why aren't you at the hospital?" Chris asks him, getting a little bit giddy. "He needs medical attention."
"You guys were the closest, so we came on here," Rider says, rushing into the bathroom.
"I'm calling an ambulance," Chris says, picking up the phone and dialing numbers, probably 911.
"No don't," Blake weakly says as Rider comes back into the room.
"Why in the hell not Blake? You need medical attention and what Rider is doing isn't going to cut it," Chris tells him as he turns around.
"No Chris, I don't want to go to the hospital," Blake says, sitting up weakly now. "I'll go to the doctor when it's time."
"You need the hospital now," Chris tells him as he walked out of the room into the kitchen to talk on the phone.
"JT stop him, I don't want to go to the hospital. I won't go!" Blake shouts, wincing in pain as he lay back on the sofa.
"Blake I agree with Chris, you need medical attention. You can't wait until later to see your doctor," I tell him as I stood over him.
"Baby he's right," Rider says, a few tears falling out of his eyes. "You need to get this looked at as soon as possible."
"Baby, I w--won't go through that again," Blake says as I looked at Rider, not knowing what he didn't want to go through again.
"I know baby, but I'm sure it won't. We need to get you some medical attention like JT says," Rider says, smoothing Blake's hair back as he cried. "Baby, everything is going to be alright."
"The ambulance is on it's way," Chris says as he walks over and wraps his arms around me. "I want to know what happened here."
"Someone attacked him sometime last night or this morning and from what I can make out of it, they were close to here, so they came here," I tell him as Chris looked at Blake and Rider for some confirmation.
"This happened to you down at the center?" Chris asks, looking back at me, worry in his eyes, since Blake volunteers at the same center the boys go to.
"Yeah," Blake was able to say as we could hear sirens approaching the house.
"You stay here, I'm going up to the boys," Chris tells me as he kisses me and walks back up the stairs as the sirens were louder now.
I don't know why the fuck I ever agreed to come to a meeting today. When Lance called the other day and said that Johnny wanted to meet with us, I was thinking it would be later on in the afternoon or something like the meetings always used to be. Boy was I fucking wrong. Lance called me a little after me and JT got the boys off for school and informed me that today was the day and that Johnny would only be available before eleven. I was mad as hell, to say the least. With all the stuff that happened with Blake and Rider this morning, I'm tired as hell. I'm still tired now; I barely had the energy to drag my ass in here now.
All of us are gathered around in Johnny's office just sitting around, waiting for him to finish up on the phone. It seems he's talking about someone about an overseas show or something. Since I've been sitting here, I've heard him say something about international exchange and policy. I don't know what the call is about, but I wish he'd hurry the hell up. I rather be at home or with my baby right now. I know JT is just as tired as I am. He was up longer than me and he went to sleep late last night. I'm sure sleep is calling him like a bandit right now.
"Good morning guys. I'm glad to see that all of you could make it," Johnny says as he gets up and walks around his desk to shake all of our hands.
"What are we doing here Johnny?" Justin asks, sitting up on the couch now.
"Give me a moment Justin and I'll get into that. Do any of you want anything to drink or something?" Johnny asks, walking over to the door and opening it.
"I just wanna know why we're here. I have other things to do," Justin says as JC pokes him in the side. "Owww man, I'm not in the mood for no shit. We need to hurry this along."
"Justin calm down," Lance tells him, shaking his head as Justin just glared at him and then at me as he looked down at his hands.
"Juju, just be cool man. It'll be over in a bit," JC says to him as he wrapped his arms around Justin's shoulder and whispered something else in his ear, and it almost looked like he was kissing or nibbling.
"Alright, I might as well get on with things," Johnny says, going back to his desk and sitting down.
"Finally, it's about time," Justin says, huffing as JC started patting his leg, stopped and then started rubbing.
Okay I don't know what's going on, but it seems to me that Justin and JC have a little something going on. I know in the past I asked the both of them if they were gay and they both would swear up and down that they weren't, but with I'm witnessing now is bringing those questions back again.
"The reason for this meeting today is for you guys to handle some of your contractual obligations to Jive and to me. The company needs for you guys to fulfill some of the items left undone on your contracts and this needs to be done as soon as possible," Johnny says, looking at JC and Justin like he was ready to beat the hell out of them.
"What do you mean by `contractual obligations'?" Lance asked, standing up now. "We've fulfilled everything in our contracts Johnny."
"No you haven't," Johnny says, opening a folder and pulling out a few pages of something.
"What haven't we done?" I ask him, standing up now.
"Well there's the matter of some international appearances, some concert tour stops and you guys either have to record a new album or do a tour to support the compilation album you just released," Johnny says as he opens another folder and pulls another piece of paper out.
"Why in the hell would we do a tour for the greatest hits album man?" Justin asks, hopping out now. "The fans have heard those songs already, why would we have a concert to promote those songs?"
"Justin calm down," Lance says as JC stands up this time.
I don't think this meeting was such a good idea now. When I was told about this, I thought it had something to do with a charity, but Johnny's going on and on about things we haven't done as «N Sync. This is all starting to get on my nerves. With the way we all parted ways, I don't think us performing again as «N Sync is going to actually work, and the way that vein in Justin's forehead is throbbing, I think he's about to explode.
"Well if you don't do that, the only option you have is to record a new album," Johnny tells us as Justin's eyes almost popped out of his head. "You guys are still under contract and you have to do these things or Jive is going to sue each of you."
"What the fuck!" Justin shouts now. "There's got to be something else we can do."
"Justin, hush!" I shout, getting a little bit upset about this bullshit myself.
I hope Johnny doesn't think we're actually going to work as a group again. He knows that me, Lance and Joey don't want to have anything work related to do with JC and Justin after what went down in 2002. Both of them made it pretty clear that they wanted nothing to do with «N Sync after they started their solo careers.
"I'm not going to hush damnit! I have a career already! I'm not going to just sit here and join you guys again. I'm trying to keep my career, not run it into the ground. «N Sync is dead Johnny, let it stay that way!"
"I agree with him Johnny," JC says, frowning.
"Well I don't agree with either of you," Johnny says, pressing a button on the phone. "Jennie, could you have the guys bring in the bags please?"
~Sure Johnny.~
"Bags of what?" Justin asks as he turns around just as three guys came into the room carrying bags.
"I kinda figured you guys were going to act this way. I need to show you that you as a group still have fans. You two might have gone solo, but «N Sync is still big," Johnny says, walking over to the bags and opening the first one. "This is you guys' fan mail. Some of this is from here in the US and the rest is from other countries that you've visited before."
"What does that have to do with anything Johnny?" Justin asks, standing with his hands on his hips.
"Look, I'm not up for the attitude Justin, you need to zip it and listen," Johnny says, turning around with a letter and his hand. "I know you guys parted on bad terms, but you need to squash that shit. As of today, you guys are booked on a five day tour through Japan."
"We're what?!" Justin screams out and turns around quickly to look at Johnny.
"That's what I said, you guys are going on tour in Japan and it's going to last five days," Johnny says as I just stood there watching him, wondering when this joyous event was supposed to fucking take place.
"Five days? Are you fucking crazy?" Justin asks, holding his face in his hands now.
"No I'm not crazy, but you are. If there's one more outburst out of you, I'm having you escorted out of here and we'll make plans without you," Johnny says, walking back over to the desk. "As I was saying, you guys are booked on a five day tour through Japan, starting on December 19th and ending on December 24th."
"Wait a minute Johnny, that's the holiday's man!" I shout this time, walking over to his desk. "Some of us might want to stay with our families during that time."
"You'll be able to be with your families," Johnny says, glaring at me with that damn shit eating grin on his face that I so wanted to wipe off with my fist. "It might be the holidays, but you guys will be back in time for Christmas."
"That's not the fucking point man," I say as he glares at me again, like he was ready to have me escorted out.
"Like I've said, you guys will be in Japan for five days. I have already made all the arrangements for everything. On your last day there, you'll be performing a charity benefit to raise money for some cause over there. Your Japanese fans will be very happy that you all decided to come during the holidays," Johnny tells us, opening another folder now.
"This is fucking wrong man," I say, slamming my fist down on his desk. "You can't just expect us to put our lives on hold for something you orchestrated Johnny."
"Either you do it or Jive sues you and sues you for just about everything you got," Johnny says as I spin around, ready to pounce on him when Lance grabs me in a hurry and pulls me back away from the desk.
"Fuck Jive!" I say as Johnny stands up and motions for me to leave his office. "Fuck you too Johnny! I'm not fucking leaving my family for you or Jive! You might want to boss them around, but you're not going to boss me around! I'm not fucking scared of you!"
"Chris, don't make me call security and have you dragged from this building," Johnny says as Lance follows me to the door.
"I agree with Chris for once!" Justin shouts, walking towards the door behind me.
"Shut up Justin!" Johnny shouts this time as he stops walking and turns around.
"No you shut the fuck up, ole bitch ass fool! And another thing, you acted like a pussy ass bitch going behind our backs the way you did. Only a bitch would set up some shit that we didn't fucking agree to like that!" Justin shouts, snapping his fingers like he was Shanaynay.
Watching Justin just now, I could swear the boy got some sugar in his tank. I don't care what he or anyone says, the boy is gay and he just needs to walk through that big ole swinging door. No ordinary straight guy in his right mind would stand there with his hands on his hips and snap his fingers in that around the world type shit he just did while talking. I don't know who he thinks he's foolin', but the boy sweet.
The look on Johnny's face at that moment could possibly melt glass. If the man had powers like Cyclops of the X-Men, then Justin would have been dead by now. Johnny looked so mad, that he walked around his desk, stood in front of Justin and just looked at him. Getting scared there for a second, I made a move to grab Justin, but JC beat me to him and jumped between him and Johnny.
"I don't know what's going through your mind right now, but I think you might need to calm the fuck down and go back to your desk. I'll admit that I'm not happy with what you've done, but we all need to just take a breather and deal with this a little bit later when we've all had time to calm down and think," JC explains as he held Justin and Justin held him. Talk about strange, this is getting more vexing by the second.
"Juju calm down," JC says to him softly. "Don't get yourself upset over this. It's going to be okay."
"Ah is there something going on between you two?" Johnny asks, interrupting the two of them as he stood behind his desk, watching them as we all were.
"Fuck you," Justin says, running past me out of the room with tears running down his face.
Lawd I don't think this day is going to get any better for me. First Blake gets hurt and refuses to go to the hospital. Next, Skye almost cried his little heart out. It seems he has a problem with leaving me and JT to go to school. For some reason, he thinks that if he lets us out of his sight, something will happen to us and we'll disappear or something. Now after all of that, I'm tired as hell and stuck here at Jive in a meeting that is ending badly. I bet before the end of this day, I'll probably beat the shit outta somebody and possibly end up in jail.
"Come on guys, let's just go and think about this," I say as the others look at me and then at each other and walk towards the door, leaving Johnny standing behind his desk with his mouth open.
I can't believe he pulled that shit on us. That shit wasn't right and he knew that. Hell he probably knew that when he was making them fucking plans. I vowed I would never let something like this happen to me again and here I am being bamboozled by Johnny. This is some stupid shit Lou would've done when we were with him. I just can't believe Johnny did this to us. He probably did this to get back at me for the way I left things. He was so happy when he thought I was going to let him manage my solo project when everything was set and ready to go. His attitude changed when mom and her company stepped in to take over things. I guess this is his revenge for me taking that away from him.
When I left «N Sync to pursue my solo career, Johnny said that my album would count towards our fulfillment of the contract with Jive. I don't know why he's telling us this now and that if we don't do it, Jive is going to sue us. This is blackmail and I'm not going to let him get away...
"Justin, are you okay? You haven't said anything since we've got here," Josh asks me as he placed his hand over mine under the table.
"I'm fine Josh, just doing some thinking," I tell him, looking down at his hand on top of mine as he smiles at me and I kindly move my hand away.
"Juju I wish you'd stop hiding and tell them," he says, leaning closer to me now. "They're your friends just like I am. I'm going to tell them about me and stop pretending. I'm sure by now they know that I'm not bisexual. Hell I haven't slept with a woman since the late nineties."
"Well I'm not you Josh," I tell him, getting up from the table now as he grabs my hand and pulls me back down. "Quit it Josh."
"No Juju, I'm not going to stop. You need to stop hiding and get it off your chest," he says as I turn around in a hurry and smack him on instinct.
"Justin what the hell is your problem?" Chris asks me, rushing around the table to Josh's side to see if he was alright. "What the hell has gotten into you?"
"I-I'm sorry Josh," I say as he sat there looking at me in shock, a few tears falling from his eyes. "I didn't mean to do it. I'm so sorry Josh."
"It doesn't matter Justin," he says, calling me Justin for the first time the whole day. "Whatever you all decide, I'll agree with it. I'll catch you all later."
"Josh, please," I say as he just walked out of the restaurant as Chris, Joey and Lance all looked at me.
"What's going on Justin?" Chris asks me first as I just stood there looking like the deer that got caught in the headlights out on highway 21. "Is there something going on between you two?"
"NO! There's nothing going on between us," I say, a little bit too excitedly. "We've never done anything."
"Oh God, you two fucked," Chris says, standing up and walking back around the table to his seat. "I knew something was there."
"Shut up," I say to him, freaking out inside that he had figured that out.
"Justin, are you gay?" Chris asks me point blank, looking me dead in the eye.
"I'm not going to answer that," I say, turning away from the table to leave too.
If I'd known this day was going to turn out like this, I would've thought twice about us having this meeting with Johnny. I was under the impression that things would be happy and go in our favor, but that was a joke. I don't know what has gotten into Johnny, but he knows better. I don't know why he did this to us. I don't want to leave Nicole right now, but if Jive is going to sue us over our contracts, I might not have a choice in the matter.
"So putting those two aside for right now, what are we going to do?" I ask, looking at Chris then Joey. "If we don't do this, Jive will sue us and we'll be turning our backs on the fans."
"We wouldn't be turning our backs on the fans," Chris says, turning around in his chair. "No one told Johnny to do that shit. All we have to do is release a press release or something saying that someone made those arrangements without our permission or knowledge, which he did that."
"He did that, but still...can each of us afford to pay Jive for whatever they sue us for?" Joey asks, sipping his drink.
"I don't know if we could," I answer him, knowing that in cases like this, Jive could sue is for any amount of things and wipe us all out.
"That's what's stopping me from grabbing Johnny and beating his ass and telling him to stick that trip where the sun doesn't shine," Chris says, taking a bite of a French fry. "Is there a way around this Scoop?"
"I don't think there is Chris," I tell him, looking through copies of the contracts I had on file for all of us. Things would be different if we had time to get our lawyers to look this stuff over, but it could possibly take weeks or months for them to go through all of this and find a loophole."
"Oh well, I guess we're stuck going to Japan," Joey says, taking a bite of his burger this time.
"Yep, right now that's our only decision. If we don't, they'll sue and we could all end up bankrupt," I say, not believing I was actually saying this shit.
"Well I guess it's settled then, we're off to Japan," Chris says, frowning. "JT and Nicole are going to hit the roof when they find out about this."
"Yeah I know," I say, taking another sip of my drink as I wiped my mouth and got ready to go. "Oh well, we need to go face the music."
"Yep," Chris says, finishing off his drink and placing the glass back on the table.
Calgon, take me the hell away! I've been in this studio working with Johnny's latest find, a girl group called Syrens, since seven o'clock this morning, and I promise you I'm about to kill somebody! Araceli is almost okay, but Elisa and Mindy need a serious injection of something close to rhythm... and Mindy's ass is Black! Girl couldn't keep the beat if you beat it into her. I know Johnny has complete faith in me because I pretty much worked a miracle with Lance, but come on now! I am not that darned good people!
Lord, give me strength, I thought as I went to the small stereo system and stopped the music again.
"Ari, that was really good,' I complimented the dark haired Latina, who smiled in gratitude. I grinned back briefly before turning to the others. "Mindy, you're looking down at your feet and loosing the count. Remember what I told you: look out into the crowd and dance for them. Elisa, try controlling your arm movements a little more, okay? You don't wanna be onstage and smack the hell out of somebody in front of a sold out crowd. See like this."
I ran through the steps again, slowing it down so that they could see how I controlled every movement of my body without looking down. I was halfway through the routine when I heard the door open but I was so caught up in the music that I ignored the room's two newcomers until I realized that nobody was paying me any attention anymore. The three of them stood slightly behind me and off to the side, giggling and tittering as they watched whoever was by the door.
"Guys, come on," I begged, pausing the music. "How are you ever gonna get this routine unless you pay attention!"
"We're sorry, Mrs. Bass," Araceli stated, her eyes firmly glued behind me. I turned around ready to tell whoever it was the hell off for interrupting my rehearsal until I saw that it was my husband and Chris.
"Hey Groom," I called cheerfully, kissing him quickly and hugging Chris before turning back to the girls. "Seeing as how you all aren't gettin' any work done... Araceli Gomez, Mindy James and Elisa Tate, this is my husband Lance Bass and his friend Chris Kirkpatrick, formerly and I guess currently of «NSync. Guys, these are the ladies of Syrens."
As hands were being shaken all around, I felt more than saw Lance's eyes on me. I looked over at him, smiling until I noticed how angry he seemed. I gazed at him quizzically, taking his hand and, after excusing ourselves from the girls, we went over to a quiet corner, leaving Chris alone to answer the million questions the girls seemed to have for him.
"Baby what's wrong?" I asked wrapping my arms around his waist. He didn't say anything at first, just looked into my eyes. "Lance... what's wrong?"
"I just love looking at you is all," he replied, kissing me softly. "What time are you getting out of here tonight?"
"I should be done about 5:30 or so... why?" I asked suspiciously, afraid now that something major was happening. "Jamie please, you're scaring me now. What's wrong?"
"Johnny's making us go on a five day tour of Japan the week before Christmas," he explained as gently as he knew how, but something in my face must have given away how sad I was. "Come on babe, it's only for five days, and we should be home before Christmas."
"But it's still Christmas Jamie," I said, bottom lip trembling as I fought to maintain my composure. He hugged me tight, resting his forehead against my shoulder. "How could he do this?"
"He claims that it's the record company and not him," he replied, looking into my eyes again. "Nikki what's wrong? It's not like this is the first time this has happened. We've been apart for holidays before... why the tears now?"
"I don't know," I murmured, wiping my eyes and smiling crookedly. "It's probably just the holidays and stuff. Plus I can't get two of these girls to dance worth shit. They're even worse than you used to be before we started working together every day."
"Damn, that bad huh?" Lance asked, grinning when I frowned. "It's okay babe. I know I don't dance very well... but you gotta admit, I do have some hellified rhythm in bed."
"Lance!" I exclaimed, dark red color staining my cheeks as I thought about the veracity of that statement. The good Lord knows he might not be Justin Timberlake onstage, but he could beat Justin's ass in bed any day. "You're right though. You might not be as good as Justin on stage, but damn can you work it like a pro off stage."
"You think so, huh?" he asked in that voice that drove me insane. His voice could melt me like butter on a hot plate, and he knew it too.
Damned sexy voice havin' man, I thought as I moaned softly, trying to keep my voice down.
I leaned into him, burying my face in his neck so I could give him something to think about while he waited for me. Nobody could see that I was also sucking his Adam's apple, which had the desired effect on him. He pulled me against him, eyes almost glowing as he caught my bottom lip and sucked. I was so caught up in the moment that throats clearing behind me almost went unnoticed as my husband and I teased each other, but I broke away reluctantly.
"What?" I asked irritably, stealing kisses from the husband. When I heard giggling behind me, I turned in his arms to face Chris and the girls, blushing furiously at the silly grins they were all wearing. "We're newlyweds people... cut us some slack here."
"Uh huh, sure ya are lady," Chris retorted, snickering when Jamie seemed reluctant to let me go. "Come on Lansten let's leave the ladies to their work. Ladies, it was a pleasure meeting you. Good luck with the album and tour."
"Thanks Mr.--Chris," the three of them said in unison, earning an eye roll from me and a snicker from James, who might I add was still firmly planted behind me. That could be because he's sporting a hard on hard enough to cut glass, but oh well. He should have known better than to start something he couldn't finish here. I turned back to face him again, pecking him on his cheek.
"You gonna be okay?" I asked, grimacing at the look in his eyes. That look meant I was in trouble when I got home. "I'm sorry baby... I didn't mean to do it."
"Too late missus," he stated, eyes lingering on my mouth before traveling farther south.
Damn, I thought with a wicked grin. He's gonna blow my spine out tonight--just like I like it!
"You need to come home with me right now, Mrs. Bass," he whispered in the Voice. Body responded on command, and I was grabbing my bag while simultaneously pulling Lance out of the room at warp speed.
"You guys are dismissed for the day," I shouted back over my shoulder, pausing at the door to look back at the girls. "Make sure you go over those steps tonight because that's what we're working on for the rest of the week. Be here in the morning on time so we can get in a few extra hours of practice. I'll see ya'll in the a.m... Good night all!"
By the time we made it outside, Mindy and Elisa were already in their street clothes and I'm guessing Araceli wasn't far behind. However, my mind wasn't on Syrens, «NSync, or anything else but the chance to go be alone with my husband so I could show him just how... appreciative I was of his lack of rhythm.
TO BE CONTINUED...
I don't know any of the members of «N SYNC, Backstreet Boys or any other celebrities mentioned. I don't know anything about their sexual orientation or the orientation of any other celebrities in this story (even though I wish some of them were gay). This story is fiction and you shouldn't take it for anything else but that. This is for entertainment value only folks.