Guilt wasn't the word for it. In all honesty, JC didn't think the right word existed. He felt like crap, and that night, when all the parties and get-togethers were over with, and he was all alone in his somewhat modest home on the outskirts of Orlando, his doorbell ran. Since sleeping had seemed damn near impossible, he was camping out in the living room, and whoever it was at the door, didn't have to wait too long.
Of course, he wondered who it could be, but on Christmas Eve, so late at night, he was just too tired to care very much. He opened the door, and blinked at the vision that lay before him.
His heart seemed to be in his throat and in his stomach at the same time, making him nauseous. "Carrie?" he said her name, but it came out in a squeak.
She had a teary smile on her face, and when she reached out, and took his hand in her own, he wanted to cry.
"I'm sorry," was all that he got out in a choked back sob.
"You're sorry?" she asked, obviously confused as she pushed further back into the house. "For what? I'M the one who should be sorry. JC, this might be our most important Christmas together, and what do I do? I run away from you like some scared, little kid. I handled this situation very immaturely and I'm sorry." She placed both palms on his chest, and pushed him to a sitting position on the couch.
He tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but it didn't work. "What situation?"
"That's what we need to talk about," she said in all seriousness before falling down next to him, and putting her face in her hands. "God, how selfish must I have been to walk away, and leave you here to spend this time alone."
"Christmas time?"
"No... I mean, yes, but it's not only that. JC, there's something you need to know, and I should have told you before... when I first found out."
Now, he was getting scared. "Found out what?" he asked breathlessly.
She took his hand again and stared right into his eyes.
He gulped.
"JC, I'm pregnant."
And that was when he knew exactly how much trouble he'd gotten himself into. There was no way he could have told Carrie about his one night stand with some girl he'd met in a bar. His reaction to the news, in Carrie's opinion, hadn't been the one he knew she'd hoped for, but he tried to play it cool. When Carrie was finally fast asleep next to him on the couch, JC lay awake. He felt like he should be one of those rotten boyfriends on Sally Jesse Rafeal or Jenny Jones with bad clothes, straggly hair, and an untrimmed beard. It would only be complete with audience boos when he stepped out onto the stage.
"How could you cheat on your pregnant girlfriend?" they'd ask as they shook their fists at him.
Well, he hadn't KNOWN she was pregnant at the time, but that was NO excuse. He thought more about how awful he was. The next question was, could he live with himself if he never said a word to anyone about Emily? Probably not... but there was no way he could break Carrie's heart. That, by far, outweighed the guilt, so he decided to keep quiet.
For six whole months, Justin watched JC's every move. The man was acting strangely, there was no doubt about it. He still wondered about what had happened that one night before JC had been late to the studio. Numerous times, he'd brought it up, but obviously, it wasn't a subject that JC wanted to talk about. He'd always just change the subject.
Justin decided to do a little digging on his own, but came up with nothing... until JC went on to visit Carrie's family and gave Justin the keys to his house.
He was supposed to be house sitting, and luckily for Justin, JC was one of those guys who never threw anything away. He'd let things be until he was having company over and then he'd spend all day cleaning. But, it was also a pain. His room was a disaster, and when Justin walked inside, he didn't know where to start.
Something had happened that night, and Justin had a feeling that JC hadn't been a very good boy. Being Carrie's good friend, he felt the need to liberate the truth.
He pulled a drawer open in JC's desk and found a bunch of papers... and a ring box. He knew that JC wasn't the type of man to wear jewelry, and his suspicions were confirmed when he opened the box.
A diamond ring... for Carrie. A LARGE diamond ring for Carrie. It became obvious that JC was serious about the relationship.
Justin put the ring back into the drawer and picked up the papers. He began flipping through them.
Nothing.
But, when he looked back into the drawer, he saw a stack of receipts. A lot of them were for baby stuff, but others were for an inground pool, sauna, hot tub, lawn care, and a new car... BMW, no less.
Where was all of this stuff? JC certainly did not have a pool in his backyard, or a BMW in his garage. The last receipt was for the ring, and a chord struck in Justin's mind. JC didn't buy all this stuff for himself, he bought it for Carrie. Yes, JC had money, but Justin knew that for a fact that he didn't have THAT much money. Most of the money they made went right back into group promotions, and tour equipment. It was a sacrifice all five of them knew about... so, where had JC come up with all that money?
He knew the receipts onto JC's bed and picked up the phone off his night stand to call someone who knew more about money than he did. Something wrong was happening, and he had to get to the bottom of it.
"Lance, it's me," he said into the phone. "I've got a couple of questions for you. You got some time?"
Chapter 4
Not A Day Goes By
JC {Fiction}
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I'll Never Stop {Fiction}
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