Chapter 20
Ashley got up and looked at the clock. It was 10 past 10 in the morning. She hadn't gotten much sleep, becuase that last phone call kept haunting her memories. Finally at about 3, she had managed to fall asleep without waking up. She silently thanked the lord for her having the day off, and rolled out of bed.
After taking her showed, she decided to go to meet Justin early. She threw on some cargo pants, and a plane white t-shirt and hopped in her truck.
She arrived at the Jive Studios about 20 minutes later. She walked in the front door and went to the desk.
"Hi...I'm looking for Justin Timberlake, or Wade..." She said politely. The woman behing the desk looked at her.
"And who might you be?" She said with an unplesant whine to her voice.
"Ashley Richardson, I'm here for a meeting." The woman looked over sheets of papaer in front of her and then picked up the phone.
"Mike, Yes...A Miss Richardson...mmhmmm, oh! OK..." The woman looked back at Ashley and smiled. "There waiting for you in room 7. Down that hall way."
"Thanks." Ashley said taking off down the hall way. As she neared an open door she heard voices, one of them sent chills corsing down her spine, but she didn't stop to find out who it was, she just kept walking. She neared the door that had a black number 7 on the frame and knocked quickly. She heard the muffled 'come in' and she opened the door.
Justin looked up as the door opened and smiled as Ashley stepped in. He got up out of his chair and went over to her, giving her a quick hug.
"You're early." He said, a worried expression growing across his face.
"My classes were cancled for today, so I decided to come early...I can leave if you want..." She said, playing with him.
"No! It's fine, we can get done faster and out of here earlyer." He said, pulling out a chair for her and sitting down next to her. Ashley looked around the room and notice that Chris, Joey and Wade were there, along with Mike, Justin's body guard. But no Lance or JC.
"Where's Lance?" She asked.
"He's keeping JC occupied with a dance he doesn't know." Chris said with a smirk. Ashley shook her head in understanding, and the conversation about JC's party began.
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Ashley walked outside with the guys. They had made all the plans for the party and now had the rest of the day off. She was walking next to Chris and Justin was on her other side, she was thinking to herself when Chris leaned in and looked at her.
"What?" She said breaking out of her trance.
"I was just looking....is that a hickey?!" He said with shock.
"N..n..no." She stuttered covering her neck.
"Oh!! Ashley's got a hickey! Hey Justin, Joey, look at this!" He said pulling his friends over.
Joey and Justin walked over to see what Chris was raving about and Joey let out a whistle, causing Ashley to turn and even deeper shade of red. She looked at Justin with fire in her eyes and said to him. "You suck!" Chris looked between the two, noticing Ashley's embarrassment and Justin's lack of comfort with the situation, a light bulb went off in his head.
"Oh my God! Justin gave Ashley the hickey! Man this is good stuff!" He said with excitement. Justin pushed his friend and wrapped his arms around Ashley's shoulder. He whispered something into her ear causing her to smile, but then she turned back to him.
"You still suck..." She said, but with not as much venom as before. Everyone laughed and the subject was dropped. Ashley glanced around the carefully manicured lawn and saw someone standing by a tree watching them. When he saw Ashley looking at him, he disappeared behind the tree. Justin felt Ashley shutter and he hugged her tighter.
"Are you ok?" His voice filled with concern.
"huh? yea, ya...I'm fine, really. Let's get out of here." She said trying her best to smile and act as if nothing were bothering her. Justin shrugged and walked her to her truck.
"Are you going back to your house?" He asked standing at her window.
"Yea, I think so...wanna come?" She hopped he would say yes, becuase she didn't feel safe alone anymore.
"yea, I'll meet you there. I'm just gonna grab my car." He leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek, thn ran to his own car.
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Ashley walked up the steps to her appartment, leaving the door open becuase Justin would be there any second. She walked to her answering machine the light flashing. She looked around then pressed play.
"Ashley...I watched you today, you looked really close with Justin and his friends. Is he there now? I bet he is.....you always were a slut. Does he know about what you did? You really chould tell him, he deserves to know. If you don't tell him...Well, Don't worry, I'll take care of that, just make sure to say good bye to your friends..." Ashley hit the delete button in hopes that Justin wouldn't hear. She jumped when a voice behind her spoke.
"What was that?" Justin said, his voice a mix of fear and anger.
"I...don't know." Ashley told him, her eyes welling with tears.
"Ash...were you going to tell me you were being stalked?" He said walking to her, wrapping his arms around her. She sobbed into his chest, tears soaking his shirt.
"They started yesterday. I thought the first one was nothing, but then he called...I don't know who it is Justin. I'm so scared..." She said, her wods muffled by Justin's shirt. He pulled her back and wipped the tears from her eyes with his thumb.
"You should have told me. Ash, you should stay here anymore. Come to my house for the rest of the day, I'll take you to your mother's later, but I think we should talk." He said, leading her to her room. "Grab some clothes." He picked up her bag, and walked to her dresser. Ashley followed and put in some clothes. Tears still running down her face. Just then, the phone rang. Ashley jumped and staggered back. Justin grabbed her and led her to the bed, then he picked up the phone.
"Hello?" He said, his tone hard. Ashley watched his face turn from anger to relief in a matter of seconds. "Yes hold on please...Ashley, it's your mother." He said softly handing her the phone.
"Mommy?" Ashley asked, her voice still shaky.
"Ashley? What's wrong? Are you ok?" A motherly tone that Ashley was very used to came over the line. Ashley cleared her throat and gained her composure.
"I'm fine mom...really....yes, I'm going to Justin's for a while, then I wanted to come stay with you....i know, yes.....we'll talk later...I love you too...bye." She hung up the phone and looked at Justin. "Let's go." She grabbed her bag in one hand and Justin's hand in the other and they walked out the door headed to Justin's house. All the while they were being watched by someone standing in the shadows.
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Justin handed Ashley a water and sat next to her on his couch.
"OK, time to talk. What was that guy talking about?" He starred at Ashley, compasion in his eyes.
"I'm not sure who it is...but, I think....i think it's Rick..." She answered softly.
"Rick...?" Justin asked, a but lost.
"My old boyfried, the one that....that raped me. I didn't tell you the whole story..." She swallowed hard. Justin moved closer and took her hand.
"This is where I become your best friend. I'm here Ash, and I'm not leaving, so please, tell me what happened."
"Well...After Rick left me...I...called my daddy. I...I asked him to pick me up, and told him what was wrong...he..he got really mad and went to look for Rick...." She sighed, trying to hold back the tears. "When I heard that my dad was killed I knew what happened...I was talking to someone at the scene of the accident and he told me that it wasn't an accident. He said my dad had been murdered and then put into the car and run into a tree to make it look like an accident. Rick had stabbed my father." She said quietly.
"Didn't the police see that? Why wasn't he arrested?" Justin asked, still not getting it.
"Rick's father was head of the police department. He covered the whole thing up...."
"That bastard! I'm gonna..." Ashley held up her hand.
"I became pregnant because of Rick, and I thretened to press rape charges. I didn't tell anyone about the baby, besides Rick and one night he came to talk to me. He wanted to make a deal so I would stay quiet, not knowing I knew about my father. I confronted him and we got into a fight. I ended up having a miscarrage, and I was going to sue Rick. Becuase he knew he would be caught, he killed himself. He wrote a letter to his father and it told of everything that happened. He said in the letter he wanted to come clean and he confessed to everything. His father burned the letter becuase it convicted him too..." She stopped to take a drink, Justin gave her a hug but she pulled away and continued.
"This all happened at home, in New Hampshire, and that's why we moved. But before we left, I got a call from Rick's father. He vowed to avenge his son's death, and he said he'd find a way to get me..." She burst out in tears and fell into Justin's arms. He kissed the top of her head and stroaked her hair.
"Shhh, it's OK Ash. I'll protect you, I promise. We'll find out who it is, and you'll be fine...I promise." Justin told her, and he hoped he sounded more convincing than he felt at the moment.
Chapter 21
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