I’ll Take That Bet

By: Cindy

“Hey, chick!” Elaina said when I answered the phone.

“Hey! What’s goin’ on?”

“Well, I just talked to Chris and the guys are coming home this weekend so don’t make any plans.”

“Like I have a life when they’re not around.” I retorted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The guys she was referring to were *NSYNC. We had become close friends over the past year. We met them in Howie D’s club, Tabu, here in Orlando a year ago. My gang of friends went out after their concert and knew they frequented Tabu. As luck would have it, they wandered in an hour or so after the show was over. We had gone straight there to get situated before they showed up. We didn’t want to look like “fans” who were waiting to pounce on them. So, we got there quickly and had a few drinks in us when they arrived.

We managed to act our ages. Most of us were older than the guys in the group. Chris had a couple of us beat.

My name is Cindy and I’m 35. Elaina is 29, Regina is 24, and Erin is 30.

***Flashback***

“Ohmigod!” Regina gasped.

“Shit! There they are!” I added.

“Straight up to the VIP section. You think they’ll stay up there all night? I want some fan interaction here!” Elaina squealed.

“Yeah, that ain’t all you want!” Erin told her.

“That ain’t all any of us want.” I grinned evilly.

“Cindy, please don’t try to fuck any of them here on the dance floor.” Regina warned me. I just pouted.

“But…”

“NO! Behave yourself! We need to act ‘normal’.” She did the little quotation thingy with her fingers when she said the word normal.

“I’m anything but ‘normal’, Reg.” I did it back to copy her.

“We know!” They all said in unison.

We were knocked out of our little conversation when we saw Lance on the dance floor with some local hootchie.

“And they’re out of the box!” Elaina announced. “Lemme at ‘em!” We noticed JC and Justin at the bar and Chris wandering around checking out the scenery.

The next thing we knew, Elaina was dancing with Chris. His hands were on her hips and she swayed seductively to the beat. We were cracking up over the look on his face. He was devouring her curves with his eyes. Elaina was very voluptuous and knew how to move. We watched in awe as she reeled him in. Their dancing became more and more erotic and they began to grind into each other. She ran her hands up and down his chest, then up into his spiky hair. He kept licking his lips and whispering to her. We were dying to know what was being said. We’d just have to wait for the scoop later.

“Looks like our friends are getting along well.” A voice next to me said. My head snapped around quickly at the sound of a familiar voice. My green eyes met the most beautiful pair of blue ones.

“Yes, it does.” I managed to say back to him.

“I’m JC.” He said, reaching out a hand to me.

“I know.” I replied, giving him my hand. “I’m Cindy.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Cindy.” When he smiled his eyes danced.

“Pleasure is all mine.” I said.

“Would you like to dance?” He asked me.

“Sure.” He took my hand and intertwined his fingers with mine. I followed him to the dance floor. I was already beginning to sweat.

We danced to several songs. The last one was a slow one and he pulled me close to his body. I felt an attraction to him, but I kept looking over his shoulder at Lance dancing with that same hootchie.

‘Focus on what’s in front of you, dumb ass.’ I told myself. When the song was over, we wandered back to the table.

“You want a drink?” He asked me.

“Please. Amaretto sour.”

“I’ll be right back.” He smiled and I melted a little.

“Sooooooooo?” Erin asked.

“Sooooo, what?” I asked back.

“What’s going on?”

“We danced, he’s sweet.” I said.

“Uh huh.”

“No way! You know him, too!” I heard Lance say.

“Yep, remember that time he was doing the mascot at the basketball game and tried to do the flip with that big ole head on?” Regina was laughing so hard she could hardly speak.

“Yeah.” Lance said.

“Well, that was me that ran down there and picked up the lion head while they carried him off on the stretcher.”

“Stop it! That was you?! That was so damn funny. I mean, I know he got hurt, but it was still funny as hell.”

“Yeah, it was.”

They didn’t know it, but we had all stopped talking and were watching them discuss mutual acquaintances. Lance had found out that Regina grew up in Jackson, where he was from. They hit it off immediately. Since she was into music and wanting to get into the management/promotions side of the business, they talked shop all night long.

JC and I hit it off, too. We danced a little bit more, but mostly spent the entire night just talking. It was obvious they rarely found adults they could have intelligent conversations with. They were all so down to earth and sweet. JC told me about Bobbie, the girl he had been dating for a couple of years. He seemed to really care for her. I had heard rumors about what a bitch she was to him and to fans, but I didn’t mention any of that. They knew we were fans but we respected their space.

Chris’ eyes never left Elaina, even when he was talking to one of us. I can definitely say that was a love connection happening before our very eyes. After that night, they were inseparable.

We all kept in touch and saw the guys whenever they were in town. They also flew us out to stay with them on weekends and when we could get time off. Sometimes we all went and sometimes just a couple of us. The guys just wanted someone from home to visit them as much as possible. They were so bored and lonely on the road.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On one of my many trips to visit the guys, I had the ‘pleasure’ of meeting Bobbie. She immediately treated me like I was the lowest form of pond scum. She turned up her nose and asked JC who I was and why I was there.

“She’s a good friend who came out to see me, Bobbie.” He said sweetly to her.

‘UGH! How can he be with HER?!’ I screamed inside.

“Well, I don’t know what you need a ‘friend’ for when I’m here.” She rubbed up against him and kissed him so hard I thought she’d swallow his whole face. I just turned around and walked to where Lance was sitting.

“Hey, can I hang over here for a while? I just got a taste of the Bobbie venom.”

“Sure, I know what you mean. She is rude as hell to us too, but mostly to any woman she thinks might steal her precious JC.” Lance rolled his eyes as he spoke. I giggled at him. He’s just adorable and sexy at the same time.

“I don’t want to steal Jace, he’s my friend. But I just might have to ‘act’ like I want him just to piss her off. I’m mean like that.” I laughed.

“Oh, just please make sure I’m around to see you in action. I don’t wanna miss that.”

“You got it.” I told him.

***End Flashback***

“Will you call Reg for me? I’ll get with Erin. Anything special you wanna do while they’re here?” Elaina asked me.

“Nope, I just wanna see my men.” I answered. I had not had a date in quite a while, so seeing the guys and going out with them was my one excitement. I had a huge crush on Lance but he didn’t seem interested in me that way. Sometimes he had dates, never anything serious. I had all but given up hope on anything more than friendship with him.

“And I need MY man!” Elaina giggled.

“I don’t need to hear about it. I’m lonely enough. Don’t tell me about life in your perfect world.” I whined.

“Oh, Cindy, just jump him. I’m sure he’d be willing.”

“That’s not what I want. I mean, it is what I want, but not like that.”

“I know. He needs to get his head out of his ass and see what’s right in front of him.”

“Don’t see it happening. Anyway, I’m excited they’re coming. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Alright, girl, hang in there. Bye.”

“Bye.” I replied and hung up the phone. I glanced over at a picture of me, Lance and JC and sighed. ‘Back to work you poor, pitiful thing.’ I scolded myself. I tore my eyes away from the photo and tried to concentrate on work.

I rushed home to get ready for our night out. The guys weren’t going to hit town until later so the girls were meeting for dinner first. We had a great time laughing and cutting up.

“So, you’re looking hot, Cindy. Gonna get you some Lance tonight?” Elaina picked on me.

“Don’t I wish. I’m sure I’ll go home alone once again.” I sighed. I was getting more depressed about my lack of a love life every minute.

After dinner we headed to Tabu. The guys wanted to go there again. They had a great VIP section we could hide in if the crowd got too crazy. We had been there several times with the guys over the last year so the bouncers and security knew us well.

“Hello, Ladies.” Chuck smiled at us. “Is this a girls’ night out?”

“Nope, the guys are coming. Guess they’re not here yet, huh?”

“Not yet. Ya’ll go on up to VIP.”

“Thanks, Sweetie.” I smiled back at him. We headed upstairs and made the group trip to the bathroom to touch up our makeup. When we walked out of the restroom we saw the guys talking to Chuck. He saw us and motioned in our direction. JC turned around and his face lit up when he saw me. He ran across the room and scooped me up in a huge hug. I loved his hugs. He squeezed so tight.

“Jace? Jace?”

“Hmmmm.” He answered while still squeezing.

“Breathing is a good thing.” I choked out.

“Sorry, Hon, I just missed you so much.” He finally let go and I inhaled deeply.

“Whew, thought I was a goner!” I teased him then kissed his cheek sweetly.

“Hey, dance with me.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me through the growing crowd.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Lainie, do we have to stay here with everyone?” Chris whined as he sat in the booth with his head on Elaina’s shoulder.

“Baby, don’t you want to spend time with everybody?”

“I see these morons all day every day. I just want to be ALONE with you.”

“Just a little while longer, okay? I don’t get to see these morons much.” She giggled and he kissed her sweetly.

“Well, okay, but not too long ‘cuz I can’t wait!” He gave her the sexiest look she had ever seen him give and she almost ran for the door right then.

“You can NOT look at me that way in here!” She told him.

“Why? Do I make you horny, baby?” Chris did his excellent Austin Powers impersonation.

“Hell yeah, you do. Okay, that’s it. We’re outta here!” She jumped up and waved at us on the dance floor.

“Figures.” I said to JC.

“What?” He looked up from where his head had been resting on top of my head.

“Chris and Elaina are leaving. Wave bye bye.” I giggled.

“Well, he’s been driving us insane so I’m glad they’re going. He’ll be in a much better mood tomorrow.”

“True. She will be, too. Wish I had such good luck.” I pouted.

“What? You need a man?” He looked surprised.

“Um, YEAH! You know any?” I asked him.

“Yeah, I know a few. But I don’t want you dating any of them.” His eyes took on a brotherly look.

“I don’t wanna date them, just fuck them.” I looked slyly at him.

“Don’t say that! You deserve better than that. I don’t know what’s wrong with Lance. He’s an idiot. I mean, if I wasn’t dating, I mean, if you weren’t my best, I mean, um.”

“It’s okay, Jace, I understand. I’m gonna go sit down.” I left him standing on the dance floor.

Lance was sitting at the table. I sat down and didn’t even look at him. I couldn’t. I didn’t want to chance him seeing how I felt about him in my eyes. I nursed my drink and stared at the crowd bouncing to the beat. I felt a warmth beside me and turned to look. Lance had moved to the seat right next to me. My heart skipped a beat when our eyes met.

“You okay?” He asked.

“I’m fine.” I answered.

“You just looked sad. Don’t be sad.” He pouted at me and I had to laugh.

“I’m okay, Lance. Just tired. I’m glad to see ya’ll though.” I put on my happy face and we made small talk until JC wandered back over to us. He had been caught by some giggling fans.

“Hey, let’s go to my place. I have alcohol and music and we won’t have to yell over all these people.” I nodded and Lance got up to round up what was left of the gang.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Baby?” Elaina said in a sexy voice.

“Yeah?” Chris answered. She ran her hand up his thigh. They were still in the car on the way to his house. She heard his sharp intake of breath when she brushed across his dick. He hardened instantly.

“I don’t think I can wait fifteen more minutes ‘til we get to your house.” She leaned over, licked up his neck and bit his ear lobe, sucking an earring into her mouth.

“Shit, Lainie, I’m driving!”

“Well, I wanna ride.” She undid his pants and pulled them down to reveal his hardness.

“We’re going to have a wreck. At least let me get to a place to stop and UGH!” He groaned when he felt her mouth surround his dick. She felt the car skid to a stop. He pushed the seat back and pulled her off him. He pulled her face to his and kissed her feverishly while unzipping her pants. Elaina broke the kiss and sat back down in the passenger seat to remove her pants. He grabbed her as soon as the pants were discarded and moved her over him. Slowly she slid down onto his cock.

“Chris, oh God.” She moaned as she began to rock back and forth on him.

“Lainie, I missed you soooo much, baby.” Chris kissed her neck, ears, cheeks, then mouth.

“Missed…you…too.” She breathed between kisses and thrusts. Their speed increased and the release came quickly.

“UGH!” Chris moaned as he shot his load up into her. He massaged her clit as he came causing her to scream his name and join him in ecstasy.

“Chris, you are the man!” She kissed him tenderly.

“I know.” He puffed up his chest and grinned at her.

“Now, take me home so we can really get reacquainted.” She climbed off his lap and felt around the floorboard for her pants.

“Yes ma’am.” Chris zipped up and put the car in drive. Before taking his foot off the break he looked over at Elaina. “I love you, Lainie.” He brushed her flushed cheek with the back of his fingers.

“I love you, too, Chris.” She squeezed his fingers and pulled his hand down to rest on her leg.

Lance, Regina, Joey and I went to JC’s house. He turned up the music and got out the booze. We decided to play quarters using tequila shots. I’m not a big drinker so I was really hoping I wouldn’t have to drink many of them. Unfortunately, Joey is excellent at the game and was sitting next to me. Ten minutes into the game and I had already had 4 shots. My face was already getting warm.

“I hope you know I’m sleeping here tonight, Jace.” I said.

“Woohoo, JC!” Joey laughed.

“Shut up, Fatone! I mean, you’re causing me to get drunk. No way I’m driving home.” I said as I punched him in the arm.

“Ow! Okay, okay, I’ll try to miss one every now and then.” He said with a cheesy Joey grin.

“UGH!” I groaned.

~~CLINK~~

“Dammit, Joey!” I screeched at the sound of him sinking another quarter. Joey grabbed my hand and licked the back of it. He reached for the salt and poured it on. I forced myself to drink down another shot and sucked the sour lemon into my mouth. “Is anybody else drinking here besides me?” I slurred.

“Nope!” JC laughed.

“Great. So ya’ll can all remember it when I get naked and dance on this table?”

“Oh, yeah? So when’s that gonna happen cuz I need to leave soon.” Joey said as he looked at his watch.

“YOU can leave now, Joe!”

“Well, I do need to go. I have plans early tomorrow.” Joey said as he got up to leave. “You’re free, Cin.”

“For that I am grateful.” I slumped back in my chair. “Bye, Joe.” I waved sloppily.

JC and Lance walked Joey to the door to say their good-byes.

Ginuwine’s CD began to play. Regina and I jumped up and started dancing around JC’s den to Pony. Then I hear Lance coming back into the room doing the deep “yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah” part of the song and I almost came right there.

When Ginuwine began to sing, so did JC.

“I’m just a bachelor, lookin’ for a partner. Someone who knows how to ride, without even fallin off. Gotta be compatible. Sex me to my limits. Girl, when I break you off, I promise you won’t wanna get off.”

Then we all sang:

“You’re horny, let’s do it, ride it, my pony. My saddle’s waitin’, come and jump on it.”

We continued to dance around then fell onto the couch laughing.

“Well, I’m outta here, too.” Regina stated. Lance looked at me and JC. I was lying on the couch with my head in his lap.

“I’ll walk out with you. I think Cindy is almost out.” I just stared up into his eyes for a few seconds. Wow.

“I’m okay, ya’ll don’t have to go yet.” I yawned.

“Yeah, you’re done, Hon!” Regina said. I got up and hugged her and Lance. God, he smelled good. I breathed in one last deep breath to remember him by. We walked them to the door and then I danced back into the den. The song was almost over.

“You’re in rare form tonight. I need to get you drunk more often.” JC wiggled his eyebrows at me.

“You didn’t get me drunk, Joey did.” I corrected him.

“But do I get to reap the benefits?” He looked deep into my eyes.

“What did you have in mind, Mr. Chasez? Gonna take advantage of a drunk girl?” I batted my eyelashes at him. “You know it’s too bad you have a girlfriend cuz I’m really horny right now.” Funny, I didn’t seem the least bit sorry that accidentally popped out of my mouth.

“Yeah.” Was all he said.

“Why do you stay with her anyway? I mean, she is a total bitch to you most of the time and always one to the rest of us, especially me.”

“She’s jealous of you.”

“Lil ole me?” I over-dramatized.

“Yep, cuz I see you more than I see her and she knows how much I care about you.”

“Awww, so sweet. But she IS a major bitch, Jace.”

“I know, but she gives the best head ever.” He grinned.

“You’re kidding, right?” I rolled my eyes at him.

“No, I’m not. Amazing.”

“Look, I thought guys thought ALL head was amazing so what’s the deal?”

“That’s sooo not true. I’ve had bad head.” He laughed. “And I mean it was bad.”

“Well, I bet you I give better head that Bobbie any day.”

“You think so?” He sat up on the edge of the couch and stared seriously at me.

“I know so. I’ve been told I’m very talented.” I sat back in the chair and crossed my legs.

“So, what do you wanna bet?”

“Seriously?” I eyed him. I could see a bulge forming in his pants. “I guess so. Um, you know what I want.” He just looked at me. “Lance. If I truly give better head than Bitchy, then I want you to set me up a date with Lance. Just me and him, make it a blind date if you have to, but set it up so that I can be alone with him. I have to see what could happen.”

“Can’t you just ask him out? Of all the things you could ask for, you want that?” He whined.

“That’s what I want.”

“Okay, done, but only if you’re better at this.

“Now, what do you want if by some chance I lose?”

“Pretty sure of yourself, aren’t you?” I nodded and smiled. “Um, well, since we’re getting all sexual here, um, there’s something…”

“Spit it out, JC.”

“Um, Bobbie won’t, I mean, I always wanted to try…”

“Anal sex?” I asked. He blushed crimson.

“How’d you know?”

“All guys want to try it. I can’t believe you’ve never done it.”

“I’m not some player you know. I’ve had opportunities for some freaky shit but never tried much. Bobbie won’t play with me.” He pouted.

“Awww, poor deprived baby. At least you’re getting good head regularly.” I dead-panned.

“Haha. So are we all set?”

“Do you accept the terms of the bet?”

“I do. I’ll take that bet, and I’ll win!”

I stood up and walked over to him. I kneeled between his legs, ran a hand up his thigh, and rested it on his ever-growing bulge. He was big, very big. This was gonna be fun. “Now, lie back and enjoy.” I pushed on the center of his chest until he was lying back against the sofa. I unbuttoned his pants and pulled down his zipper. I watched his face as I reached in and freed his cock. He sighed and licked his lips. I could feel myself getting wet already. I slid my hands softly and slowly up and down his velvet soft shaft. He had waited long enough, I thought, so I lowered my mouth to lick across the tip of his head, making sure to drag the tip of my tongue over his opening. He groaned and I smiled.

“Just getting started…” I took just the head into my mouth and sucked lightly on it, swirling my tongue all around. I took my mouth off him again and slowly licked all around every part of his shaft while moving my hand up and down on him. He kept bucking his hips up into my hand trying to hit my mouth. Finally I quit torturing him and filled my mouth completely with him. I began sucking hard and massaging his balls. I had to laugh thinking about a quote from Chris Rock. ‘God bless the girls who suck you like the antidote is in there.’ That’s what I was doing. Sucking him for all I was worth. The noises he was making didn’t sound human. I could tell he was close to the edge so I slid him deeper into my throat and began jacking him off faster. I felt his balls tighten and I braced myself for the flood.

“Shit, Cindy, Oh My God!” His sticky liquid slid down my throat and I continued to milk him. I sucked him until he was completely limp in my mouth. I sat up and looked up at him as I wiped my mouth off. He was just staring at me.

“Well?” I asked triumphantly.

“Oh My God.” He repeated himself.

“Is that good?” I questioned.

“Oh My God.” He said again as he sat up and grabbed my face. He pressed his mouth to mine and invaded me with his tongue. I was caught off guard and almost fell backwards. He caught me and pulled me up into his lap. I was now straddling him and his tongue was halfway down my throat. His hands cupped my ass and massaged it roughly. I managed to pull myself away from him.

“Jace?” I said. He had the wildest, lust-filled look in his eyes. I had never seen this side of him before.

“You win. Hands down. No recount.” He began sucking on my neck and chills ran up my spine.

“So, what are we doing now?” I was trying to keep my head on straight even though I was very drunk and very horny at this point.

“I’m going to repay you for that, if it’s okay with you.” There were those intense eyes again.

“Whatever you want, Jace.”

“I want you, all of you.” He growled and flipped me onto my back on the couch.

JC covered my body with his and kissed me with raw passion. I ran my fingers through his wild, long hair. I had not liked it at first when he started growing it out, but damn, now it was so sexy and felt so silky sliding through my fingers. He pushed up my shirt roughly and broke our kiss to remove it completely from my body. He tweaked my nipples through the satin of my bra and I squirmed below him. Reaching behind my back, he deftly unhooked me with one hand. I smirked at him and he grinned before taking a hard nipple into his mouth.

“God, JC, it’s been so long since anyone touched me.” I sighed.

“That’s unfortunate, but I’m here now, baby.” He said, barely above a whisper. His hand made it’s way down my side, across my stomach, then between my legs. He rubbed me through my jeans and I pressed myself closer to his hand.

“Mmmmm, touch me, Jace.” I begged him. He moved a little lower and feathered kisses on my stomach while he undid my jeans. He inched them down little by little, planting kisses along the way. This went on all the way down one leg until the pants were completely removed. He made his way back up the other leg to my center. I was dying for him to touch me.

“JC…PLEASE!” I whined. He saw the look of need in my eyes and obliged. His velvet tongue ran up my slit and circled my aching clit. I sucked air through my clenched teeth. “Feels…so…good…” I pressed myself closer to his mouth. He added fingers to the equation and I was on the brink of exploding. When he sucked my clit into his warm mouth and bit down it was all over.

“Oh, fuck!” I screamed.

“Mmmmm, sweet.” He said into my wetness. I continued to shake as he lapped at me. My eyes were closed and I didn’t see him remove his shirt. I was trying to catch my breath when I felt him lower himself down on me. When his hot chest touched mine my eyes flew open. He took my mouth with his and slid himself into me in one motion.

“OMGIOD!” I moaned into his mouth. He pounded forcefully into me and I hung on tightly, taking him fully into me with every thrust. He licked across my neck and bit down on my shoulder. “Jace, I’m coming again.” I panted.

“Come for me, I want to feel you come.” He breathed in my ear. That was all it took as another orgasm overtook my body. He slowed his movements, then stopped completely. He was still hard as a rock, just sitting inside me. I looked up at him, puzzled.

“Can we?” He asked. His eyes burning into mine. I nodded and he pulled out of me. He took my hand and pulled me off the couch. I followed as he led me into the bedroom. He sat me on the bed and pushed me back until I was lying down. “I’ll be right back.” He kissed me softly and went into the bathroom.

I had never done this before and was terrified. I guess the tequila loosened me up enough to allow it to happen like this. He came back into the bedroom still fully erect, with a tube of KY in his hand. My stomach was doing flip-flops. I was lying stretched out on my back on the bed.

“Spread your legs.” He ordered me. I got chills from his forcefulness. I also did what I was told. He lowered his mouth to my center and licked it gently. He rolled my hips upward for better access to my ass. I felt a well-lubed finger slide across my opening. I tensed a little, but relaxed as he moved over it again. He slid one finger into me and I tried not to tighten up. The feeling was different, but very erotic. Another finger joined that one. He moved slowly in and out and I was enjoying it immensely. “Are you ready?” He asked.

“Y-yes.” I stuttered.

“Are you sure? We don’t have to.” His concern was evident in his eyes, as was his excitement.

“Do it, Jace.” I told him.

“Turn over. Get on your knees.” I did what he asked. I heard the KY tube open and close and knew he was stroking himself. My insides quivered in anticipation. I felt his tip press against my tight opening. I held my breath as he pushed gently. His head slipped inside and he stopped quickly to make sure I was okay.

“I’m okay, Jace, go ahead.” I felt him slide into me completely. It wasn’t painful. It was different. I had never felt anything like this before. He had stopped again once he was completely inside me. I pulled my ass away from him, needing to feel some movement. He took the hint and began moving slowly in and out of me. The sensation was incredible. He reached around and massaged my clit as he pumped me faster and faster. All I could do was grunt as he slammed into me. I felt another orgasm coming and tightened around him.

“God damn, Cindy, so tight. I’ve gotta come.” He let out a loud groan and slumped onto my back, our skin sticky with sweat. He slid out of me. We fell onto the bed and he spooned me from behind.

No one spoke for a few minutes. I couldn’t believe I had just done that with my best friend. I had no idea what he was thinking. I figured he had gone to sleep since he had not said anything. I turned to look at him and he was just staring at me.

“What?” I asked, frowning.

“Wow.” He answered.

“Yeah, I know.” I smiled and turned my body toward him. He encircled me in his arms and pulled my head to his shoulder. I snuggled against him and sighed. Sleep overtook us quickly.

I woke up and tried to stretch. I felt someone next to me and stopped moving. ‘Shit. Now I remember what happened.’ I thought to myself. I looked over my shoulder slowly and saw JC lying there, sleeping peacefully. He was pressed to my back with an arm around my waist. Our legs were intertwined. I looked over at the alarm clock. It was 7 a.m. ‘I’ve gotta get out of here before he wakes up!’ I slowly lifted his arm by the wrist and placed it on his side. I untangled my legs from his and slid away from him. He stirred and rolled onto his back. The sheet fell down and was barely covering his dick. My breath caught in my throat. He was a beautiful man. ‘No, don’t even go there, stupid. Just get out!’ I screamed at myself.

I gathered up my clothes and went into the bathroom. I looked like hell and my head was pounding. I got dressed and peeked out of the bathroom door. He was still sleeping, thank God. I tip-toed out of the room, then practically ran down the hall. Luckily I knew his alarm code or I couldn’t have gotten out of the house without him. I keyed it in quickly and keyed in the codes to reset when I left. I made it from his house to mine in record time. I threw off my clothes and took 4 Advil while the shower was heating up. I stood under the steaming jets of water, washing away the smell of him. Every time I closed my eyes, I could see him, feel him fucking me. ‘Dammit, why did I have to drink? Everything is fucked now.’ I thought I heard the phone ringing.

“Shit, is he up already? Calling me?” I said out loud. “I can’t talk to you JC. Not now, maybe not ever.”

I got out of the shower and the phone was ringing again. I let the machine pick it up and heard his voice.

“Cindy? You there? Please pick up. Why did you leave? I need to talk to you. Please pick up.” I stood there, dripping on my carpet, looking at the phone. I heard him sigh. “Just call me, okay?” Then he hung up. I unplugged the phone dried my body and hair off quickly. I flung myself onto my bed and curled up under the covers.

I don’t know what time it was when I finally woke back up. My headache was gone. I slipped on some shorts and a tank top and wandered into the kitchen. I was starving. I fixed myself a turkey sandwich and flipped on the TV. It was already on MTV and who is the first person I see when the picture comes into view? JC. Dammit! They were re-running the Making the Tour show. I turned it back off and fell back onto the couch. I closed my eyes and re-lived the night before over and over again.

I was snapped out of my replay by a knock on the door. Oh, God.

“Cindy? Let me in, please. I just want to make sure you’re okay. Please. Just talk to me.” I stayed where I was. Then I heard a key in the door.

“Oh, Fuck!” I jumped up and ran to the door as he was opening it. “Give me my key and go, please, JC.” I held out my hand for it. He looked completely distraught as he tried to get the key off his key chain. Finally he removed it and placed it in my hand. I closed my hand over it and pushed on the door trying to close it.

“Cindy, please! What is going on? Can’t we talk about this?” He pushed on the door and I couldn’t match his strength. I let go of the door and walked away from it. “Cindy? Baby?” I whirled around and attacked him.

“Don’t fucking call me ‘baby’, JC! I’m not your baby. I’m nothing to you and you’re nothing to me, so just GO, okay?!?!?”

“I’ve always called you Baby, you know that. TALK to me.” He said as he grabbed my shoulders and shook me.

“I have nothing to say, JC. I can’t do this now.”

“When, then? When can we talk? You need to tell me how this has effected us.”

“Well, I think that is obvious! We can’t be best friends anymore, can we?” Tears welled up in my eyes.

“You’re still my best friend. More than my best friend.”

“Don’t JC.”

“Don’t what? Say I feel more for you than that?”

“No you don’t. It only happened because we were drunk. I don’t do stuff like that. What we did, I don’t do that, Jace. That wasn’t me. That’s why I don’t drink. I lose control and stupid shit happens.”

“It wasn’t stupid, Cindy. It was incredible.”

“It was a bet, JC. We were drunk. We fucked. End of story. End of friendship.”

“It doesn’t have to be that way. Why are you making it that way?”

“And how is it supposed to be? We’re supposed to just forget it happened and go back to happy, happy friends like we were yesterday before this happened?”

“No, I guess not. We could be more than that.”

“You have a girlfriend. Someone you definitely forgot about last night. You gonna break up with her?”

“I don’t know.”

“That’s what I figured. Anyway, I don’t want to be more than friends with you. My whole ‘bet’ was for Lance, remember? He’s the one I wanted to be fucking last night.” I saw the pain in his eyes. Why was my heart hurting? I turned my back on him again.

“I remember. Look, I’m going now. I just want you to know that I feel more for you than you are willing to believe right now. I wasn’t that drunk last night. Not like you were. I took advantage because I wanted to be with you so bad. It was wrong, and I’m sorry about that. But I am not sorry for what we shared. I want to get past it and move on. Up to you, though. Entirely up to you.”

I heard the door close and knew he was gone. I let out a deep sigh and the tears came.

The gang was supposed to go to Chris’ for a cookout that night. I stayed at home in bed. I never plugged the phone back in, but figured JC would go and tell them I was sick or a bitch or something. I was so disgusted with myself. I hated what I had done and felt like a total slut. I was also very sore, so I was reminded of my deed every time I moved.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chris stood by the grill turning over the ribs and chicken. Elaina was the perfect hostess, flitting around to everyone making sure they were having a great time and didn’t want for anything.

JC walked into the back gate. He didn’t want to be there, but figured it would get his mind off me for a couple of hours.

“Hey, JC. Where’s Cindy?” Elaina asked.

‘Well, maybe I won’t get to forget about her.’ He thought. “She wasn’t feeling very good. She got pretty drunk last night and was hung over today, big time.” He managed a small smile.

“You okay? You look, um, I dunno, something’s not right.” She sized him up.

“I’m fine. A little tired and hung over myself.” He replied.

“Jace! Get over here man, we have a bet we need to settle.” Joey called out to him.

“Not another bet.” He said under his breath.

“What was that, JC?” Elaina questioned.

“Oh, nothing, just always settling bets with those guys.” He covered. He walked over to Joey and Justin. “What’s up, guys? What’s the bet this time?”

“Well, we were just talking about how hot Cindy is and wondering if she’d go out with one of us.” Justin smiled widely.

“What?! NO! Ya’ll leave her alone.”

“Jace, chill out bud. We know she’s your friend, but she’s sexy as hell, and funny, and just plain hot. Which one of us would you bet on?” Joey asked.

“The only thing I’d bet on is that I’ll kick both of your asses if you go near her!” His face was red and the guys looked at him wide-eyed.

“JC, do you have a thing for her?” Justin asked.

“NO! But I know you two and I won’t have her played like that.” His fists were clenched and they knew he meant business.

“Okay, okay. But don’t you think it’s up to her whether she goes out with one of us?” Joey threw in.

“Yeah, but she doesn’t want any of us. She wants Lance. Always has. We sorta had a bet last night and if she won, I was supposed to try and get him to go out with her just once so she could see what would happen.”

“And?” Justin said.

“And she won. Now I have to see if he’ll go out with her.”

“You don’t sound too thrilled about that prospect either.”

“I’m not. He’s a player too. I don’t want her hurt. She’s lonely and has this thing for him. I don’t want him taking advantage of that.”

“JC, you know Lance is a good guy. Better than me and Joe, that’s for sure. Besides, it’s just one date, right? I mean, unless they hit it off.”

“Right. I guess.”

“So what was the bet?” Joey asked.

“Huh?” JC was thrown a curve with that question.

“The bet for Lance. What did you bet and what did you lose out on?”

“I don’t wanna talk about it.” He answered quickly. “I’m going to get something to drink.” He turned quickly and walked into the house. “Shit!” He breathed.

“You okay, JC?” Lance asked him.

“Uh, yeah, man, sorry, I didn’t know anyone was in here.”

“Just getting another beer. You look really stressed.”

“I’m just tired. Listen, I needed to talk to you anyway.” He walked over and sat on the couch. Lance joined him.

“What’s up?” Lance asked, then took a swig of his beer. JC frowned and leaned over, propping his elbows on his knees. “What is it, JC?” Lance was frowning now, too.

“Well…I have a favor to ask, I guess.”

“Whatever you need, you know I’m here for you.”

“I know, but this is a little different than anything I’ve ever needed before.” He smiled weakly and continued. “Cindy and I had a stupid bet last night. If I won, I’d get…well, we won’t go into what I’d get ‘cuz I didn’t win. She won and the deal was that I’d get her a date with you.” He blushed a little, as did Lance.

“She wants to go out with me?” JC nodded.

“Always has.”

“Damn, where have I been?” Lance chuckled. “I guess I always thought of her as a sister, you know, part of the family?”

“Me too. And she’s my best friend. Anyway, she was pretty drunk, but even mentioned it this morning that you were the prize.”

“Dunno if I should be offended by that or not.” Lance looked deep in thought. “I think she’s gorgeous, so it’s no problem. We’ll go out to eat or something, then whatever.” He grinned at JC.

“It’s the ‘whatever’ that concerns me, man. Like I said, she’s my best friend. I don’t want her hurt. I know you can scheme on the ladies. Please just don’t do that to her.”

“JC, how could you think I’d do that to her. She’s always gonna be around. I can’t piss her off, or you for that matter.”

“True.” JC smiled. “She’s an amazing woman, but she’s lonely, and she has this huge crush on you, so don’t take advantage. That’s all I’m gonna say about that.”

“I do know how to be a perfect gentleman, Jace. Don’t worry, she’ll be in good hands.” He smirked at his comment.

“Yeah, it’s those hands I’m worried about, buddy.” JC patted Lance on the back. “Thanks, man. This will mean a lot to her.”

“No problem. Hot date with a beautiful lady. Haven’t had one of those in a while. Hey, why isn’t she here tonight anyway?”

“She didn’t feel good after last night. I think she’s been in bed all day long. She turned her phone off.”

“Oh, I was gonna call her. Guess I’ll wait ‘til tomorrow.” They got up and wandered back outside.

“I’m starving, Chris, what are you doing to the meat?” JC asked him.

“Grilling it to char-broiled perfection.” Chris grinned from ear to ear. He loved having cookouts and the food was always delicious.

“Well, let’s eat it already!” JC was joined by several “yeah’s!”.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I moped around the rest of the weekend and didn’t talk to anyone. Finally, early Sunday afternoon I plugged my phone back in. I swear it rang immediately. I sighed deeply and picked it up.

“Hello?” I said weakly.

“Cindy? You okay, Hon?” Elaina asked, concern filling her voice.

“I’m fine. Was pretty sick yesterday. Please, remind me not to drink ever again. Sorry I missed the cookout. I know it was great, right?”

“Yeah, we had a good time. We missed you. Especially JC. He didn’t seem himself without you there.”

“He’ll get over it.” I said before I thought.

“What happened with you two? Did ya’ll have a fight?”

“Sorta. It’ll be okay, I’m sure. I just didn’t feel good and needed to be away from him for a while.” I wanted so badly to tell her what happened. I needed to get it off my chest but I didn’t want her to think as bad of me as I already did.

“Well, if it’s any consolation, he moped around all night.”

“It isn’t.” I giggled.

“Okay then! So, what are you doing tonight? The guys are flying out in a couple of hours. You wanna do dinner?”

“Sounds good. I need to get out of this house. I’ll come get you around 6:30, k?”

“I’ll be ready. See ya, girlie!”

“Bye.” I hung up and dragged myself out of the bed to shower.

I got dressed and went to pick up Elaina. She was a little sad that Chris was gone for a while, but was in pretty good spirits. We chatted as we drove to the restaurant.

“So, you feeling better now?” She asked me.

“I guess.” I couldn’t hide anything from her. I tried to make like I was fine, but the bad vibes were bleeding through.

“You still won’t tell me what happened, huh?” She pried.

“I really want to talk to you about it, but I’m afraid of how it will make you feel about me. It doesn’t paint me in a very good light.”

“And you think that it will matter to me? Did you fuck Chris?”

“NO!” Her comment freaked me out.

“Did you kill someone?”

“NO!”

“Then nothing could possibly bother me, then.” She smiled.

“God, you’re nuts! I can’t believe you asked me that!” We laughed and I felt better already. She always made me feel better.

We arrived at the restaurant and got seated. We were looking over the menu when I spoke.

“I can’t stand it. I have to tell you what happened. If I don’t, I’m gonna need therapy or something.”

“Okay, spill it. You know I love you. Nothing will change that. Just tell me.” I started to speak and the waitress showed up. I sighed and we looked over the menu quickly to get our orders out of the way. “Geez! I thought she’d never leave!” Elaina giggled.

“Oh, God! Here we go…” I proceeded to tell her about getting drunk, the bet, the blow job, the incredible sex, the guilt, the conversation with JC Saturday morning, all of it.”

“Whew. You weren’t kidding. That’s some story.” She was silent after that and my heart sank.

“You think I’m trash don’t you? A fucking whore?”

“NO! I was just thinking I bet JC is a great fuck.” She grinned.

“Bitch!” I laughed with her. “He is.” I blushed at my comment. “But what do I do now? I can hardly look at him. That’s why I stayed home Saturday night.”

“Do you have feelings for him, Cindy? Because it sure seems like he has them for you. I don’t think he was lying to you. He was really moping around last night.”

“He said he felt more for me, but he’s still with Bobbie. What’s up with that? I’m not going to be the “other” woman. I mean, I am. I did. Once. But not continually.”

“I hear ya.” She agreed. “You still didn’t answer my question. Do you have feelings for him?”

“I don’t know what I’m feeling. I was really drunk and I know I wouldn’t have let it get as far as it did had I been sober. But it felt so good to share that intimacy with someone I was so close to as a friend. I can’t explain it.”

“I have that with Chris, so I know exactly what you mean.” She was smiling and had a distant look on her face. I knew she was thinking of Chris. They were perfect together.

“Why can’t I find what you have? What’s wrong with me? I’ve met so many men since we started hanging with the guys. You’d think one of them would want me.”

“I think one of them does.” I threw a french fry at her. “Well, he does.”

“And he won’t break up with his fucking girlfriend! Geez, where do I find these guys?” We laughed and I felt better, but the depression still lurked beneath the surface.

We finished our dinner and indulged in dessert to drown our sorrows. Elaina was depressed because Chris was gone and she didn’t know when she’d see him again. And me. Well, I’m totally fucked up. I drove her home then headed to my house. I had two messages on my machine. One was from my mother and the other was JC.

“Hey, Cin. I’m just checking in. We’re in Boston. I hope you’re feeling better. I miss you.” Silence. “Well, um, I guess I’ll try to catch you again later. Bye.”

I called my mom back and chatted with her for a while. When I hung up I headed to my room to get ready for bed. Work would come early in the morning. The phone rang again. “Damn, I’ve gotta get Caller ID.” I said aloud to no one. I almost didn’t answer but picked up the phone reluctantly.

“Hello?”

“Cindy?” I didn’t recognize the voice.

“Yeah.”

“Glad I finally got you. Um, this is Lance.” My heart skipped a beat, then began a rhythm I’d never felt before.

“Hey, Lance. Why are you calling me? Is everything okay? Is JC okay?” I was panicking.

“Yeah, oh God, I’m sorry. Everything is fine. I didn’t think about that. You’re not used to getting phone calls from me, are you?”

“N-no, I’m not. I was freaking out here!” I let out a paranoid sounding giggle.

“We’re all fine. We’re in Boston.”

“Yeah, I know. I had a message from Jace. I haven’t actually talked to him, though.” The conversation died. “Um, Lance, why are you calling me?”

“Oh, sorry. I’m tired, and nervous.”

“Nervous?” I questioned.

“Yeah. JC told me about the bet and me and the date and stuff and I was just calling you about it.”

“Oh my God! I’m so embarrassed! Lance, you don’t have to do this. I can’t believe JC actually told you about it. Oh, God!” I sighed. Now my heart was pounding for another reason and I was blushing crimson.

“It’s okay. Don’t be embarrassed. I’m very flattered you want to go out with me.”

“Lance, this is crazy. Just forget we had this conversation, okay? And don’t tell anyone about it. I’d just as soon forget it all if possible.”

“I don’t want to forget it, Cindy. I want to go out with you.”

“You do? No you don’t. You’re just being nice, and I appreciate it and all but…”

“Stop it, okay?! I called to see if you would come to New Orleans in three weeks. We’ll be there rehearsing for the new tour and it’ll be my birthday. Will you be my date for my birthday party? Please?” He sounded so sweet.

“Lance, that’s really sweet, but I don’t know.”

“Why not? You’ve always wanted to go out with me, right?”

“Yeah.” I said in a tiny voice.

“Well then, come to New Orleans. Everyone will be here anyway. Elaina is coming and I think Regina is, too. You know Erin will be here. It’ll be fun.”

“What days? I’ll have to get off work.”

“Woo hoo!” I love it when he does that. I smiled.

“I gotta tell ya, I WILL NOT be drinking on this trip. No more crazy bets.”

“Just one more. I BET you’ll have a great time with me.”

“Conceited much, Mr. Bass?”

“That’s not what I meant! Now I’m embarrassed.”

“Sure you are!” I giggled.

“I meant we’ll have a great time. We always do, don’t we?”

“Yeah, we do.” He was right about that. I was just uncomfortable with the whole “date” concept.

“So anyway, we’ll be there for several days but I think the others are coming on Thursday, May 3^rd. My birthday is the…”

“4^th, I know.” I interrupted him. He chuckled.

“You know when my birthday is? Should I be afraid? Do you know what my favorite color is, too?”

“Very funny. I have no idea. I know all of ya’ll’s birth dates, thank you very much.”

“Well, that makes me feel better, I guess.” He teased.

“Stop making fun of me or there’ll be hell to pay for the birthday boy.”

“You promise?” He goaded me on.

“You better believe it.” I didn’t let up.

“Can’t wait, then.” He was such a flirt and that deep voice was sending shivers up my spine, even from hundreds of miles away. “I’ll call you again before then and send you a plane ticket, too.”

“Okay. I’ll talk to you later then.” I hated to say good-bye to him. I had a warm, tingly feeling all over.

“Goodnight, Cindy. Sweet dreams.” Oh God, he’s killing me here.

“You too, Lance. Goodnight.” I hung up the phone and stood there for a moment. Then I squealed and danced around my room like an idiot.

As soon as I got to work the next morning I called Elaina and told her about my phone call. She squealed with excitement, then brought me back to reality too quick.

“What about JC?” She asked.

“Shit. I haven’t thought about him since I talked to Lance. He’ll be there, probably with Bitchy herself.”

“I don’t think she’s coming. Chris didn’t mention her.”

“Good. I’d rather not deal with her snotty ass either. I’ll just steer clear of JC and concentrate on Lance.”

“Sounds like a plan. Think you can stay away from JC?”

“You are SOOOO bringing me down here!” I told her.

“Just playing Devil’s advocate. You’ve got two men now. Heehee!”

“No I don’t. This is a favor to JC, of all people. That’s why Lance is doing this.”

“Maybe, maybe not. I guess we’ll soon see, won’t we?”

“UGH! Sometimes I hate you!” I laughed.

“I know. I love to irritate you! It’s a gift I have.”

“You are damn good at it. I guess I’ll try to get some work done today. Talk to you later, girl.”

“K, bye.” We hung up.

The next three weeks dragged by. Every second felt like an hour. I was nervous and excited and stressed and emotional. Hormones! I only spoke to JC once in those three weeks. I avoided the phone calls like the plague. I even got the Caller ID box I had been thinking about so I could avoid him better. We made small talk and sounded like strangers trying to find something to say. It was sad, really.

Lance had called me several times and we chatted and joked around. He continued to flirt relentlessly with me. I managed to flirt back as well.

We flew in late Thursday afternoon and took a cab to the hotel. The guys were rehearsing at the Superdome. I was sharing a room with Regina. Of course, Elaina went to Chris’ room. We laid around a while and then freshened up after Lance called me to tell me they’d be back in about an hour. We were all supposed to go out to dinner tonight. My “official” date with Lance was tomorrow.

There was a knock on the door and I jumped up to answer it. I figured it was Lance. It was JC. Our eyes met, then I had to tear mine away. I looked at the floor.

“Hey.” He said, almost whispering.

“Hi.” I replied.

“Can we talk?”

“We’re going to dinner, JC. All of us.”

“After dinner, then? I can’t stand this distance between us.”

“I don’t know.” Before I could say anything else, Lance, Elaina and Chris walked up to JC.

“Hey, hey!” Chris said as he kissed my cheek. He walked into the room to hug Regina.

“Hey, Cin.” Lance said as he hugged me.

“Good to see you, Lance.” I said as I hugged him back.

“Ya’ll ready to go?” He asked.

“Yep, I think so. Reg, you ready, girl?”

“I’m coming, hang on. What did I do with my purse?”

“We’ve been here an hour and she’s already lost stuff!” I picked on her.

“I know, I know. What’s a girl to do?” She batted her huge brown eyes and everyone laughed.

Dinner was great. We had the whole back room of a restaurant and it’s a good thing because we’re a rowdy bunch. I managed to not drink a single alcoholic beverage. No replays tonight. After dinner Elaina and Chris wanted to go to Bourbon Street. I wasn’t up for it. Lance said he needed to do some work for Free Lance. Justin, Joey, Regina, and Erin went with them. I said good-bye to Lance at his door.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Sweetie.” He kissed me on the cheek.

“Oooh, the DATE!” I teased, but I was so nervous.

“Yeah, can’t wait, I mean it!” He raised his eyebrows and smiled.

“Stop it!” I slapped him gently on the arm and walked away waving. “Night.”

“Night.”

I was putting my key card in the door when I heard JC behind me.

“Can we have that talk now?” I dropped the key card.

“Shit, JC! You scared me to death.” We both bent to pick it up and our hands touched as we grabbed for it. I felt a spark and apparently he did too. His eyes shot up to mine. He moved his hand so I could take the key.

“I’m sorry I scared you. Can you come to my room and talk?”

“Why your room?”

“Because Regina might come back and I want us to have some privacy.”

“JC, we’re only going to talk. Maybe we should go down to the bar or something.” Suddenly I didn’t think I could be alone with him.

“No, please. In a room, either room.” I sighed heavily and began walking down the hall toward his room. “Thank you.” I nodded.

Once inside, I put my purse down and turned around to look at him. He was standing there with his hands in his pockets just staring at me.

“What, JC?” I began to panic. He looked so damn good, and so sad, like a little lost puppy.

“I’ve missed you so much, Cindy. How did we let this happen?”

“Alcohol. Does it to me every time.” I tried to be flip to cover how uncomfortable I was.

“Please don’t joke right now. I’m totally serious. I need you in my life however you’ll let me be in it. But I still want more than a friendship with you.”

“Where’s Bobbie fit into this picture, Jace? Am I supposed to share you with her?” I crossed my arms in front of me.

“N-no. It’s just hard, you know, letting someone go when you’ve been together for a long time. I know you don’t like her but she’s a really good person, deep down inside.”

“Must be really deep.” I threw in. He let out a sigh. “Sorry.”

“Can I hug you? I really need to.” I nodded. He walked toward me and took his hands out of his pockets. He wrapped them around me and I snaked my arms around his waist and up his back. I put my head on his chest and nuzzled his neck. He smelled incredible. I breathed in deeply and he squeezed me tighter to him.

He pulled away first and I looked up at him. Big mistake. His eyes captured me. I couldn’t move. Then his lips overtook mine in a soft, slow kiss. I felt as if the floor opened up under us but we didn’t fall. We were floating on air. His tongue slid across my lower lip and I moaned. I parted my lips and sucked his tongue into my mouth. My senses were on overload. I didn’t remember his kisses feeling like this the last time. The alcohol had really clouded my senses. I didn’t think my legs could hold me up much longer. As if he read my thoughts he began walking me backwards toward the bed. When the mattress hit the back of my knees he broke the kiss and slowly laid me down on the comforter. He crawled beside me and laid down next to me. He looked down at me and brushed his fingers across my cheek.

“God, you are beautiful.” He whispered. “I can’t believe these feelings I’m having for you.”

“JC?” He pressed a finger to my lips.

“Don’t say anything, please.” He bent over me and kissed me again. This time there was more urgency and passion in the kiss. I melted into the bed. My hand ran up his arm and caressed the back of his neck. He moaned softly. He pushed a knee between mine and I wrapped one thigh around his. We slowly moved together, trying to get as close to each other as possible. His hand moved to my waist and I tensed a little. He broke the kiss.

“You okay?” He breathed. I couldn’t speak, just nodded my okay.

His lips moved to my neck as his hand slid under my blouse. He ran his fingers lightly over my stomach, never venturing any further up. His touch was driving me crazy. He kissed his way down the center of my chest then lifted the material of my blouse, revealing my stomach to him. He placed feather light kisses across my abdomen and ribs as I writhed beneath him. He unbuttoned the bottom two buttons of my shirt and was working his way upward when there was a knock at the door.

“Fuck!” He whispered. “I’m not expecting anyone, are you?” He frowned.

“No.”

“Maybe they have the wrong door and will go away.” He began kissing my stomach again. Another knock.

“Shit!” He got off the bed. I could see his hardness through his tight jeans and my mouth watered. I sat up and buttoned my blouse just in case. I stood and ran a hand through my hair. I could see the door from where I was standing. He opened it and Bobbie was standing there.

“Holy Christ!” I mumbled under my breath as I turned my back on the door. I didn’t want her to see the expression on my face.

“Bobbie! What are you doing here?”

“Nice welcome, baby! Don’t I get a kiss? Thought I’d surprise you.” She grabbed him and placed a sloppy kiss on his mouth. The same mouth that was about to do some serious damage to MY body. Dammit!

“You did surprise me.” He watched her bounce into the room and looked at me sadly from behind her.

“Oh, hello, Cindy.” She said, in an almost disgusted tone.

“Hello, Bobbie.” I tried not to sound the same way but I think I did. “Well, I guess I’ll get out of here and let ya’ll have some time together.” I raised my eyebrows at JC as I grabbed my purse and headed for the door.

“Bye.” She waved at me over her shoulder. What a bitch!

JC followed me to the door. “I’m sorry.” He said as I opened it.

“So am I, JC. I’m sorry for falling for your shit once again.” I turned and closed the door behind me. Tears began to fall before I could get to my room. I entered it quickly so no one would see me. I threw myself on the bed and cried myself to sleep.

Regina came in at around 3 a.m. and I pretended to be asleep. I didn’t want to talk to anyone. We both slept in that morning. The guys had interviews and photo shoots. Usually I would’ve gone too, but I didn’t want to see anyone until tonight when I had to. Reg just figured I was in one of my moods, I guess. She left me alone.

I had been back and forth on what to get Lance for his birthday. He had everything a man could ever want. If we were ‘dating’ I would’ve just done something incredibly romantic, but we were just friends so I struggled. Then I came up with it. I always had my camera with me, everywhere we all went. I was almost as bad as Joey’s brother, Steve, with his video camera. I decided to go through all my pictures of the gang since we started hanging out. I had reprints made of my favorite pictures and made an 11x14 collage of us. It turned out really good. I painted the frame and little designs around the pictures. I left a spot in the center of the frame for a picture from his party. I would get someone to take one of the entire gang tonight.

I sat on the bed and stared at it. I ran my fingers over a picture of me sitting on JC’s lap, feeding him a slice of pizza. I smiled, remembering that day. We were so happy then. Before all the crap got in the way. I frowned and turned the frame over on the wrapping paper. I hoped Lance would like it. If not, I’d take it back. I loved it!

I took my shower and began to get ready. Regina came in all giggly. I was jealous. ‘I used to be happy.’ I thought to myself.

“Look, you gotta snap outta this funk, chick.” She said to me as she leaned on the bathroom door frame.

“Huh?” I snapped back into reality.

“Stop pouting. I know something is going on with you and JC, but you’ve got a date with Lance Fucking Bass tonight! If that doesn’t make you happy, you’re really Looney Tunes!”

“You’re right!” She was right and I needed to snap out of it. “Okay, from this moment on, this night is sooo gonna rock!” She high fived me and we laughed.

“Now move over ‘cuz I gotsta look good tonight. Gonna win me over some Juju.”

“You want Justin? Cool!” I told her.

“He’s a child, but damn, he’s hot!” She fanned herself at the thought of him. “If nothing else, I’m gonna monopolize him on the dance floor tonight. I need to feel those hips grinding into me.”

“Woohoo!” I added. “Sounds like a plan. I’ll make sure to get lots of pics of that for you.”

“You better. That is if you can tear yourself away from Mr. Bass long enough.”

“I don’t think that’ll be a problem. This is just a bet. He’s only being nice.”

“Someday you’ll have to fill me in on that bet.”

“Maybe. Someday.”

We finished getting ready. We were going to a restaurant/club for the party. We were having dinner, then partying in a private area. There would be a DJ and tons of food and drinks. The guys planned the whole thing and they never did anything half-ass. I chose black leather hip-hugging pants and an extremely tight green blouse to bring out my eyes. Just a small sliver of my stomach showed through. I thought I looked hot! I’d do me! Regina wore leather, too. We fixed each other’s hair just right and were about to sit down and wait. There was a knock on the door.

We walked to the door to be met by Elaina and Chris.

“You guys ready to par-tay?!” Elaina said as Chris danced around her.

“Oh my God. I’m so sorry, Elaina. I didn’t know you’d have to be seen with him again tonight!” I joked.

“Hey! You…WOW!” Chris ogled me and Elaina popped him on the back of the head. “OWWWWW, Baby, I was just…”

“I know what you were doing. Stop it! Let’s go, Reg, the car is waiting.” Chris grabbed her from behind and kissed up her neck. “Oh, don’t try to be nice now, Mr. Kirkpatrick.”

“Baby, I love you.” He licked her ear lobe and she giggled.

“I know, you jerk, and I love you too.” She kissed him over her shoulder. “See you in a few, Cindy.”

“Okay.” I said as I watched them walk down the hall. I was extremely nervous now and having to wait by myself for Lance wasn’t helping. I didn’t see him walk up beside me.

“All this for me?” I heard him say. I jumped at the sound of his voice.

“Oh, God, you scared me!” I looked him up and down. Damn he looked good. He was also wearing leather. ‘Thank God for Lance in leather.’ I thought. He had on a white wife beater under a red unbuttoned shirt. I swallowed hard.

“You didn’t answer me.”

“Um, what was the question?” I forced myself to look into those eyes.

“Is all this for me?” He looked me up and down. “You look amazing.”

“Yeah, it’s all for you.” I blushed as red as his shirt.

“Good. Let’s go.” He smiled and I felt my insides turn to mush. ‘How will I make it through this night?’

“Hang on, I gotta get your present and my camera bag.” I smiled at him.

“You didn’t have to get me anything.”

“Of course, I did, silly.” I walked out the door and closed it behind me.

“What is that?” He tried to take it out of my hands. I popped his hand gently and he looked up at me, stunned.

“Uh uh, no touching! You’ll have to wait ‘til later.” He pouted and I wanted to kiss him so bad. “Stop it with the pouting. How old are you again?”

“I’ll try to be good.” He said in a sweet, innocent voice. God, he was such a player! And it was definitely working. He took my hand in his and intertwined our fingers. My heart skipped a beat. We waited in an uncomfortable silence for the elevator. In the elevator he dropped my hand. I missed his touch as soon as it was gone. When the doors opened in the lobby he placed a hand on the small of my back and led me out of the elevator. There were several fans gathered. Security met us at the elevator and walked with us. The fans were holding up signs wishing Lance a happy birthday. He turned on the charm and spoke to each of them, signing things and smiling for pictures. They always amazed me with their fans. Some of them handed him presents and his arms filled up quickly. He handed some of the items to me. I was still carrying my present for him so we had our hands full. He nodded at the security guard and he stepped in to lead us outside. He motioned for me to get into the car first, then he waved good-bye to the fans before getting in himself.

“Wow, look at all this stuff.” He smiled. “It never ceases to amaze me when they give me gifts. Some of them are so unique and special.” His eyes danced.

“Well, you’re special to them.” He blushed. I wondered if that was an act. Can you make yourself blush? One minute he was a charmer, and the next he was this innocent little boy. The only problem was I didn’t know who the real Lance was.

On the way to the restaurant he opened all his gifts from the fans. There were some precious things there. He seemed sincerely touched by every one of them. I grabbed notes and made sure they stayed with the correct gift. He didn’t make it easy, tearing through them all like a little kid. I didn’t know if he’d want to write them back or not, so my obsessive/compulsive organizational skills took over.

At the restaurant he told Big E, the security guard, to make sure all the gifts got back to his room. We wandered inside and were led to the private room.

Lance and I were the last to arrive in his “party” room. Laughter and loud music filled the air. I glanced around to see who all was there. Many of Lance’s friends from Mississippi were here. He grinned widely when he saw them.

“Will you excuse me for a few minutes? I wanna go say ‘hey’ to them.”

“Of course. It’s your party. This day is for you.” I replied.

“Yeah, but it’s your date.” He smiled at me with such a sexy smile my breath caught in my throat. He walked backwards away from me a few steps, keeping eye contact, before turning around to meet up with his friends.

“Omigod, I saw that look!” Regina came up behind me.

“I can’t breathe.” I panted. Reg chuckled.

“You’re gonna get some tonight, you’re gonna get some tonight.” She chanted.

“Um, NO! Even if he wants to, I can’t go there. Not on the first date!” I feigned shock at her suggestion. We both laughed.

Over her shoulder I saw JC. He was on the dance floor with Bobbie and she was all over him. He didn’t seem to be happy to be there. My heart skipped several beats, something it tended to do in his presence lately. He looked up and caught me staring. I didn’t turn away. I held his gaze until he broke it.

We sat down to eat the elaborately catered meal. It was delicious. Now that we are fat and happy it’s time for the party to begin.

“Dance with me?” Lance asked sweetly.

“Of course.” I put my hand into his and stood up. He led me to the dance floor. We danced to several fast songs, then a slow one began. He placed his hands on my hips and pulled me to him. I looked into his eyes and my whole body became warm.

“All or Nothing” by O-Town was the song. I loved this song. I found it slightly funny that the DJ was playing it at an *NSYNC party.

“I know when he’s been on your mind

That distant look is in your eyes

I thought in time you’d realize

It’s over, over

It’s not the way I choose to live

But something somewhere’s got to give

And sharing this relationship gets older, older.”

“You seem a million miles away. You okay?” Lance asked me.

“Uh, yeah, I’m fine. Sorry. I love this song. I was just listening and thinking.”

“’Bout what?”

“Um…” Before I could answer him JC appeared at our side.

“Hey, can I cut in?” He asked Lance.

“Sure. She’s all yours, but just for a little while.” He winked at me and walked away. I just stood there. JC took my hands and put them on his shoulders. He began to move me slowly to the music. He pulled me so close to him I could feel the heat from his body. I felt his eyes on me but couldn’t make myself look at him. I was looking down, softly singing the song.

“Now and then it seems to me

I’m sharing you in memories.

I feel it in my heart, but I don’t show it, show it.

And then there’s times you look at me

As though I’m all that you can see.

Those times I don’t believe it’s right, I know it, know it.”

“Who is this?” He spoke.

“What?”

“Singing, who is it?”

“O-Town. Don’t say anything. They’re great, and this song is incredible. And right now, it’s exactly what I’m feeling.”

Jacob sang:

“Don’t make me promises,

Baby, you never did know how to keep, never will.

I’ve had the rest of you

Now I want the best of you

It’s time for show and tell.

‘Cuz I want it all, or nothing at all

There’s nowhere left to fall

When you reach the bottom

It’s now or never.

Is it all, or are we just friends?

Is this how it ends with a simple telephone call

You leave me here

With nothing at all…”

“I’ve told you I want to be more than friends, Cindy.”

“JC, I’m not going through this with you again. Look over there at Bobbie. She is seething watching you dance so close to me. Look at her!” I ordered him.

“I don’t want to look at her. I want to look at you.”

“Stop it, JC.” I pulled away from him as soon as the last notes of the song floated by. I walked to my table and took a big swallow of my drink.

“Hey, you sure you’re okay?” Lance was next to me again. “I’m good. JC and I just haven’t been getting along lately.” I smiled at him and changed the subject. “So, are YOU having fun yet?”

“Yes, I am, but I’m ready to open my presents.” He chuckled and rubbed his hands together.

“Alright, alright. Hang on.” I walked over to the DJ and had him announce that it was present time. When the song ended the announcement was made. Everyone gathered around Lance. He was already sitting up in the middle of his gifts. He looked like a kid on Christmas morning. There were about thirty people here so it took a while to open everything.

When he got to my gift I tensed. I hoped he didn’t think it was cheesy or stupid. I’m very sentimental and didn’t know if he was or not. He removed the wrapping paper at a devilishly slow pace, watching me squirm the whole time.

“UGH! Just open it already!” I yelled at him. Everyone laughed but he didn’t speed up at all. Finally he had torn into all of it and looked down at the pictures.

“Oh, man! This is so cool!”

“Let us see it!” Elaina screamed. He kept looking, studying each photo. He smiled and laughed at them. He turned the frame around so that everyone could see.

“Cool! I want one just like it!” Regina said.

“Me too! Your pictures are always so good.” Chris threw in.

“Why is there an empty spot in the center.” Who knew Justin was the brains of this operation?

“I want to get a picture of all of us here tonight for that spot.” I told them.

“Yeah, everybody get over here. Gotta finish my present!” Lance told them.

Everyone squeezed together and I asked the DJ to take a few pictures of us. Lance motioned for me to come to him. I climbed over a couple of people and was going to kneel beside him. He pulled me into his lap and wrapped his arms tightly around me. His chin rested on my shoulder. I smiled a huge smile as the flash went off several times.

We danced and talked and laughed. Of course, I stayed away from the alcohol and JC. I was talking with the girls when Lance walked up to me and pulled me away.

“You ready to get out of here?” He asked.

“You want to leave your party?” I was surprised.

“Well, this is your date, too so I want to spend some time alone with you.” I blushed.

“Lance, you’ve taken this date thing far enough. I’m very happy with how it’s gone. My dream date was a huge success. You can stay with your friends. You never get to see them.”

“They’ll be here all weekend. I’ll hang with them tomorrow night. Tonight, I’m with you.” I think I died at that moment. Did he really just say that to me?

“Um, okay, what are we going to do?” I asked.

“Wanna go for a walk? I know it’s Bourbon Street, and not really romantic or private, but it’s late. Maybe it won’t be too crowded.”

“Romantic? Lance…”

“No! Let’s go. C’mon!” He walked over to the DJ’s table and grabbed the mic. “Hey, everybody. I want to thank you for a wonderful birthday party, especially the guys. Ya’ll do know how to throw a party. And my Mississippi gang, I’m gonna party with ya’ll tomorrow night. Right now, Cindy and I are going to finish our date.” He looked over at me and winked. I wanted to crawl under a table as the cat calls ensued. He put down the mic and hugged everyone in the room before grabbing my hand and leading me out the door.

I heard the music begin again as we exited the room. I was so nervous to be alone with him. We were shadowed by two of his security guys but they hung back pretty far so we were basically alone.

We talked about nothing too important and he thanked me again for the pictures.

“I’m gonna keep that on my bus so I can look at it all the time.” He grinned. But you know what? We need a picture of just you and me to commemorate our first date.” He grinned. I had the camera with me. I called one of the security guys over. He snapped a couple pics of us then moved back away.

“I’m glad you liked it, though. It’s hard to get something for the man who has everything.” I rolled my eyes as I stole from their song.

“I don’t have ‘everything’.” He stared intently at me.

“Well, everything I could get you for your birthday.” I mumbled.

“That’s not true either.” He stopped walking and turned toward me. He ran his tongue over his lower lip and looked from my eyes to my mouth. My pulse quickened. Just as he moved slightly toward me I heard a scream.

“Oh My God It’s LAAAAAAAAANCE!!!!!!! I told you they were here!” The young girls started running toward us.

“Shit!” Lance said under his breath. “You ready to run?”

“Uh, yeah.” He glanced back at the security guys. They nodded and Lance grabbed my hand. He headed down a side street and I ran behind him. ‘Why did I wear heels?’ I thought. We ran to the edge of the buildings and slowed to look back. Security was holding back two of the girls, but the others broke free.

“Never a dull moment with me, baby.” He said as we broke into a run again. He rounded a corner, pulling me behind him. I was thinking he should’ve left me behind. He cut between buildings a couple more times then pulled me into a dark alley. We stood quietly but still heard giggling and footsteps coming at us. He pushed me into a doorway and pressed himself against me.

“Shhhhhh.” He sounded into my ear. We were both breathing heavy from running, me more than him. Of course he’s in excellent shape. We watched the girls run by our alley but he stayed where he was, pressed against me. Once he was satisfied we were alone he looked back at me. It was dark in the alley, but there was enough light for me to see his eyes and face. He licked his lips again and looked to my mouth, then down to my chest. I was still breathing heavy, but now it was because of him. He watched my chest rise and fall then looked up and took my mouth with his. He took my hands and placed them against the door on either side of my head. Our fingers intertwined with each other. I opened my mouth and snaked my tongue out to taste him. He had done the same thing and our tongues touched outside of our mouths. I circled his tongue with mine and he plunged into my mouth completely. He began to move his hands down my naked arms, barely touching them with his fingertips. They continued their journey down my sides to my waist. He reached lower and grabbed the back of one thigh right above my knee and lifted it to his waist. I could feel his hardness against me. He removed his lips from mine and I whimpered at the loss. He went to work on my neck when we heard voices.

“Lance?”

“God dammit!” He groaned. “No fuckin’ privacy at all. I’m sorry.” He put down my leg and touched the side of my face. “I guess we should go back to the hotel.”

“O-okay.” I hoped I could walk. He adjusted himself and I had to smile.

“We’re right here, guys. No harm done.” They were sweating and frowning.

“You had us worried, man. You sure ya’ll are okay?” E said.

“We’re fine.” I said. “Let’s get back to the hotel before they come back, though.” Lance took my hand and we hurried back to the hotel and moved quickly through the lobby. He wasn’t happy so we didn’t stop to talk to any fans. He waved and said he was in a hurry and apologized quickly as we sped by.

Once on our floor he seemed to breathe easier. He walked me to my room and took my keycard from me to open the door.

“Can I come in?” He asked sweetly.

“Um, I don’t really think that’s a good idea.” I told him.

“Oh, okay.” He looked disappointed. I knew he was hurting from what we did earlier.

“Lance, I had a wonderful time tonight. Better than any dream date I could’ve imagined. I thank you for that. And there’s nothing I’d like more than for you to come in here and finish what we started in the alley.”

“But…” He added.

“Yeah, but, this date was my idea, not yours, and you never thought of me this way before. I can’t sleep with you tonight and feel good about myself. I have to see you all the time and it would be weird, ya know?” I was trying to justify my reasons for kicking this beautiful man to the curb.

“I understand and you’re right. I thought of you as a friend, more like a sister, since you were always around. I have always thought you were hot, though.” He smirked. “Now, I’d like to see what could happen. Tonight was wonderful, and the alley, damn, that was amazing.” I blushed. “Can we go out again? Maybe the next time you come visit?”

“That would be great, Lance. Thank you.”

“No, thank you.” He cupped my face in his hands and kissed me so sweetly. When he pulled away he said “Sweet dreams, Cindy. Goodnight.”

“Night.” I breathed.

I fell into the room and leaned against the wall. I decided to take a quick shower since I was sweaty from the dancing and running. Besides, I was dripping wet from what Lance did to me. I let the hot water cascade down my body and sighed deeply. “Damn, I’m an idiot.” I said aloud. “And why am I thinking about JC?”

The rest of the gang continued to party after Lance and I left. Regina had been dancing with Justin for quite a while. Every chance she got, she rubbed her ample chest against his. She knew he was a boob man so she used it to her advantage. When a slow song came on she moved closer to him, pressing herself against his chest. He placed his hands on her back and squeezed tightly.

“Damn, Regina, you’re driving me crazy, girl.” He growled into her ear.

“Oh, really? What am I doing?” She looked innocently into his blue eyes with her huge brown ones.

“You know, teasing me.”

“What if I’m not ‘teasing’?” She continued with the shy look.

“Uh…you mean?” He started. She nodded. His blue eyes became a smoky gray and he licked his lips. “You sure?”

“If you want me, I’m yours, Justin.” He just stared at her for a few seconds then broke into the signature Timberlake smile.

“I want, believe me, I want bad.” He took her hand and headed off the dance floor. She stopped him to tell Erin and Elaina she was leaving. He waved at Chris and Joey. They stood and applauded.

“It’s about time, Regina. He’s wanted this forever.” Chris said.

“What? Are you serious?” She said, shocked.

“It’s true. We’ll discuss that later, okay, let’s get outta here.” Justin said as he dragged her toward the door.

Justin tapped his foot anxiously waiting for the elevator that would lead them to his room. Regina giggled. He looked three years old, waiting for a cookie or present. He smiled down at her and hugged her to him. Once in the elevator he pulled her close and looked deeply into her eyes.

“We don’t have to, you know. I just want to be with you. Chris was right, I always have. I didn’t know you’d be interested. Why did this take us so long?”

“To be honest, I wasn’t interested all this time. Something changed somewhere down the line and I decided today would be a good day to let you know how I was feeling.”

“You let me know, alright!” He smiled and leaned in to kiss her, but the elevator stopped. “C’mon.” He pulled her into the hallway and to his room.

Once inside, an awkwardness overcame them. Justin broke the silence.

“Why does this feel so strange?”

“I don’t know. I guess because we’ve known each other for a while or something.” She told him.

“Maybe that’s it. I know I do want this to happen, though.” He walked toward her.

“Me too, Justin, just go with it.” She said as she placed her hands on his chest. She felt his deep intake of breath when she touched him and it caused her stomach to flip. He was much taller than her and had to bend a good way over to place his lips on hers. He pressed firmly against her lips. She opened them and eagerly licked his lips. Me moaned against her mouth. Justin lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bed.

Regina sat on the bed and Justin stood in front of her. He kneeled and cupped her face in his hands.

“You’re beautiful, Reg.” He kissed her with such passion it took her breath away. His hands moved to her breasts and massaged the nipples to taut peaks through her shirt. She reached down to remove the shirt and he sat back on his heels to watch. She released her breasts from the binding of her bra and he licked his lips as they tumbled free. He moved back onto his knees and place a hand on each bountiful breast and brushed his palms across them slowly.

“Justin, God.” Regina moaned. He leaned in and took one nipple into his mouth and massaged it gently with his tongue. Then he took the other nipple into his mouth as well. No one had ever done that to her before and the dual sensation was earth shattering. “Shit! That feels so good, Justin.” She ran her hands across his short hair, then pulled his head closer to her. She wrapped her legs around his waist and tugged on the back of his shirt. He reluctantly released her tits to remove his shirt, then stood and pushed her gently down onto her back. He removed her shoes then ran a hand up her leather-covered inner thigh. She could see the bulge in his jeans and her insides quivered. He crawled onto the bed beside her and began kissing her mouth and neck while removing her pants. He slid her lace panties down her legs with a slowness Regina found almost painful.

“Hurry, Justin, please. I need you.” She whispered.

“Patience, baby.” He whispered into her ear. He removed his pants and laid next to her.

“Condom, Justin?” She asked.

“Yeah, sorry. He jumped up and dug around in his suitcase until he found what he needed. He turned and smiled at her, holding up the package. She giggled and looked down at his erection, standing at attention. She sat up and ran her fingers up and down his hardness. She took the condom package from him, opened it, and slowly slid it onto his cock. He pushed her back again and crawled on top of her. She pulled her legs up to allow him entrance where she was dying for him to go. He ran a finger across her clit, then down into her center to check her readiness. She thrust her hips up to meet his touch.

“Looks like you’re more than ready for me, baby.”

“Oh, yeah, hurry please.” She grabbed his ass and ground herself up onto him. He didn’t have to be asked twice. His head pushed against her wetness and he slid easily inside. “Oooooh, Justin.” She breathed.

“Baby, so slick for me. You feel so good. So tight and warm.” He whispered as he moved slowly inside her. He continued this slow, torturous pace until she was begging him to speed up.

“Faster, harder, baby.” She growled at him.

“Mmmm, your wish is my command, baby.” He quickened and knew he couldn’t hold out very long at that speed. He placed his thumb on her clit and pressed down on it, moving in a circular motion. He mimicked the circular motion with his hips as well and was driving her to the edge.

“Justin!” She screamed her orgasm. He came shortly after her, screaming her name as well. They lay, spent, in each other’s arms, kissing and whispering words of endearment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was in a deep sleep when I heard a knock. I thought I was dreaming, so I didn’t move. There it was again. I stirred and opened my eyes. I looked at the clock and it was 3 a.m. I figured Regina was drunk and couldn’t find the key or open the door. I went to the door and opened it without looking into the peephole. JC was standing in the hallway.

I sighed deeply. “JC…what do you want?”

“Can I come in and talk to you?”

“We don’t have anything to talk about. I’m going back to bed. You go back to Bobbie.” I started closing the door and he stopped me.

“Cindy, wait, please. Let me in.” He looked so sad. Why do I let him get to me? I moved back and allowed him access to my room. He ran his hand through his hair and entered. I closed the door and took a seat on the sofa. I was wearing a skimpy little nightie and didn’t put anything on over it since I thought it was Regina at the door. I tugged on the hem, trying to lengthen it over my thighs. JC sat on the chair across from me and watched.

“What are you looking at?” I demanded.

“Sorry, you’re just so beautiful, Cindy. Do you want to go put something else on before we talk?”

“NO! I want you to hurry up and say whatever you need to say and get the fuck out of here!”

“Cindy.”

”Don’t ‘Cindy’ me!” I was ready to kill him at this point.

“I’m in love with you, Cindy.” His blue eyes bored into me. I couldn’t speak. “I am. I’ve tried to fight it, but it won’t go away. And we used to be so close. I miss you so bad. We used to talk every day. I want to talk about everything with you. I want to hold you. I want to kiss you. I want to make love to you every night.” A single tear slid down my cheek. “Do you think we can try this thing?”

“I don’t know, JC. There has been too much weirdness, don’t you think?”

“No, not if you love me, too. We can work through anything.” He got up and sat next to me on the couch. I was afraid for him to touch me. I knew I couldn’t resist him. I stared down at my hands. He took a piece of my hair and rolled it between his fingers. Just this simple action caused me to weaken to him.

“JC, please don’t.” I made the mistake of turning to look at him as I spoke. He let go of the strands of hair and touched my cheek. I closed my eyes and pressed my cheek to his hand. Seconds later his lips were on mine. I opened my mouth and his tongue probed every crevice. This now-familiar feeling was taking charge of my entire being. I did love him. I just realized it.

His arms encircled me and I melted into him. I couldn’t get as close as I wanted, so I moved to straddle his lap. When I sat down on him I felt his hardness on my center and moaned into his mouth. His hands were already under my nightie, sliding up and down my naked back. I broke our kiss and pulled the silky fabric over my head. JC immediately went to work on my tits and I ground my crotch down onto his. He slid a hand into my panties and began massaging my clit. I was so close to the edge already. I tore myself away from him and stood up to remove my panties. I was standing before him completely naked. He was still fully clothed. He scooted to the edge of the couch and dipped his tongue in my navel. My knees almost buckled. He lowered his head and lapped at my clit. The knees gave out that time and I groaned in pleasure. I pushed him back against the couch and undid his pants in record speed. I pulled them off him just as fast then resumed my position, straddling him. I didn’t need any more foreplay. I just had to have him inside me.

“In a hurry, baby?” He grunted as I slid down onto him.

“Uh huh. Need you now!” I growled into his ear. I lifted myself and slammed down onto him over and over again. I grabbed the back of the couch for leverage and pounded him with all I had in me.

“Baby, slow down or I’m gonna come.” He panted.

“Come, JC, just take me with you.” He knew what I needed and began massaging my clit again as I bounced on him. “Oh, God!” I yelled as I came. He followed immediately behind me as my wetness squeezed him. I felt his hot semen coat my insides as I continued to slide up and down.

“I love you, Cindy.” He said softly as I slowed down to rest with him still inside me.

“I love you, JC.” I kissed him passionately. Once we caught our breaths I stood and pulled him to his feet. He finished removing his pants that where puddled around his ankles and took off his shirt. I led him to the bed and we laid there in silence, just enjoying each other, until we drifted off to sleep.

I stirred slightly and felt a warmth next to me. I yawned, stretched and squirmed closer to that warmth. Becoming more alert, I realized it was a body beside me. I blinked my eyes open and saw him lying next to me. JC. JC was in my bed. I smiled widely and my heart soared. Finally, happiness has found me. I ran my hand over his chiseled chest and laid my head on his shoulder. I sighed in contentment.

I felt him move next to me. I couldn’t wait until he woke up so I could look into those blue eyes. The sun was just coming up so the room was bathed in just enough morning light to see his beautiful features. I watched as his lashes swept across his cheeks as he awoke. I propped my head on my hand and watched him come to life. It took him forever to fully open his eyes and look at me. He smiled sweetly and rolled onto his side, hugging me closely to him. I wrapped my arms around him and inhaled his scent deeply.

“Mmmmmm-morning.” I moaned.

“Morning. Morning? Oh shit!” He let me go and jumped up and fumbled around for his clothes.

“What’s wrong, baby? It’s early. I know you don’t have to be anywhere this early, come back to bed.” I said seductively.

“I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I gotta get back to my room before Bobbie…”

“Before Bobbie WHAT?”

“Um.” He stopped dressing and looked at the floor.

“JC? Answer me. Before Bobbie what? Before she wakes up and notices you’re not there!!?!??” No response. “You fucking son of a bitch! You didn’t break up with her?!” He sat on the foot of the bed. “You came in here in the middle of the night, told me you loved me, fucked me, and you’re still WITH her?!?!” The silence was deafening.

“Say something you fucking prick!”

“Cindy, I do love you, but..”

“But nothing. Get the fuck out of my room!! I’m through talking to you, I’m through listening to you, but most of all I’m through letting you fuck me! I don’t ever want to see you’re face again!”

He continued to sit on the edge of the bed. I got up and pushed him until he stood.

“Get up! Get out!” He had his pants on. I walked naked through the room picking up his shoes and shirt and threw them at him. He walked to the door with his head hung low.

“Cindy, just give me a chance to explain.”

“Shut up!” I yelled. “Don’t ever say another word to me as long as you live.”

I slammed the door in his face and the hysterics began. I don’t know how I managed to hold it together until he left the room. The flood gates were now open completely. I crawled back into the bed and cried. I don’t think I ever cried so hard or so long in my entire life. Why does this shit always happen to me? Why can’t I be happy? What did I ever do to deserve this? I just want to be loved, is that so much to ask?

I heard the door open. I didn’t open my eyes but could tell it was daylight. I had no idea what time it was.

“Cindy? Why are you still in bed, it’s noon.” Regina asked.

“Hmmmmphhhh.”

“What’s wrong?” I didn’t answer. I felt cool air hit my face and blinked my eyes open. Regina was standing over me. “Oh my God, Cindy! What happened to you? You look like hell!”

“Thanks, my friend.” I growled hoarsely. I rolled over away from her and tried to pull the covers back over my head.

“Cindy, tell me what happened. Was it Lance? Did the date go bad after ya’ll left the party? Your eyes are so puffy. You’ve been crying all night, haven’t you?”

I sighed and began to cry again. “My date with Lance was perfect.” I managed to say between sobs.

“Then what is it, honey? I can’t help if you don’t tell me.” She moved the hair off my wet face.

“You can’t help me. I’m a lost cause. Just forget about me.”

“Now you know I can’t do that and I won’t…ever. Can you at least get up and shower? We need to leave in a couple of hours for the airport.” I felt her get up off the bed and rummage around the room.

“Just go without me. I’ll pay for the room another day. I can’t get up and go outside.”

“Alright, dammit, now you’re scaring me!” She jerked the covers off me and I was lying there naked. “Oh! I’m sorry! Shit!” She threw the covers back over me. I couldn’t help but laugh at her face. She began to giggle, too. “I really am sorry.” She chuckled.

“I know.” I managed to sit up and pulled the covers up under my armpits. “Sorry I didn’t get dressed.” I wiped the wetness off my cheeks.

“What happened?” She got serious again.

I inhaled deeply and began my story. I told her about my walk with Lance on Bourbon Street and the craziness that followed. Our kiss in the alley. Our kisses in the room. Me sending him away without fucking his brains out. I knew she didn’t know anything about the bet with JC. I filled her in on all the gory details. Her eyes were bigger than usual as she sat there, silently listening to me. Then I filled her in on last night with JC and what transpired this morning.

“God, Cindy. I can’t believe JC. What a fucking asshole. I can’t believe I used to obsess over his stupid ass.” She smiled a little, hoping to get a laugh out of me. It didn’t happen. “Sorry.” She said.

“It’s okay. I just need to go away and never see these guys again. I’m too embarrassed at this point to ever be able to hang with them again.”

“None of this is your fault. And nobody knows about it except for JC, right?”

“Well, as far as I know. Who knows what he’s telling everybody.”

“Honestly I haven’t heard anything from anybody. Justin didn’t mention ya’ll at all last night.”

“Hey! Where the hell were you last night anyway?!?!” I sat up straight and glared at her.

“Um…in Justin’s room.” She looked up at me and grinned from ear to ear.

“Woohoo! You got you some Juju after all.”

“Oh, yes I did and damn that boy is something else. The stamina, the hips, the thrusts, oh my!” We giggled.

“So, what’s gonna happen now with ya’ll?” I asked her.

“He says he’s always wanted me. Go figure! I guess we’re officially dating now.” She smiled widely again.

“I’m glad. Somebody should be happy.” I began reverting back into my depression.

“Oooh, don’t leave me again now. Stay with me. Let’s get you up out of that bed and into the shower.” She leaned over and grabbed my arm.

“NO! I’m not going anywhere today.” I slid back down into the bed and pulled a pillow to my chest, hugging it tightly. The tears fell again.

Regina sighed and a tear slid down her cheek. I heard her open the door, then it closed loudly. I wondered where she went but didn’t give it much thought as I was too busy feeling sorry for my dumb self.

I must have dozed off because I woke with a start when I heard the door open and shut again. I looked up expecting to see Regina again but it wasn’t her.

“Lance! What are you doing here? Please leave.” I pulled the covers tightly around me.

“Jesus, Cindy! What happened to you?” I felt the bed move as he sat on the edge. I didn’t answer him. “Cindy? C’mon talk to me. You seemed fine when I left you last night. What’s going on?” I felt him touch my shoulder through the sheets and I pulled away from him. “I’m sorry. I won’t touch you again. Did someone hurt you? Please tell me what happened?”

My body shook with sobs. “Cindy, Regina is so worried about you and now I am, too. What happened after I left last night?”

“You don’t want to know, Lance.” I managed to choke out.

“Tell me. Is it that bad?”

“Yeah, it’s bad. Nobody needs to know anything about me. Just forget about me. Ya’ll won’t have to worry about me any more after today.”

“Now that scares me, Cindy. Don’t talk like that. Nothing can be as bad as that. Why would you want to never see us again?”

“I can’t face anyone. I’ve just gotta go home. But not today. I’m not going anywhere today.”

“That’s fine. Stay here with me and I’ll take care of you. Whatever you need, I’ll get for you.”

His voice was so soothing I almost believed he could help me. Then I came back to reality and knew no one could.

“I don’t need anything you can give me, Lance. Just leave please. And tell Regina to get her stuff out of here and don’t come back. She had no right asking you to come here!” I yelled at him.

“We’re worried.” He said under his breath.

“Just take your fucking worry and go! I don’t need any help.” I was sitting up again and didn’t even realize it. I pulled my knees to my chest and rested my arms and forehead on them.

“Listen, if you plan to never see me again, at least tell me why. I feel like I’m owed that much. I thought we were friends. I thought we had a good time last night. I thought I meant something to you. Didn’t I treat you with respect? Can’t you show me the same courtesy?” He was angry now. I had never heard him raise his voice like that.

“You’re right. You are. I’m not mad at you and this is not your fault. I’m sorry. You have been wonderful to me and I appreciate it, but that doesn’t mean I owe you my deepest secrets.”

“Touche’.” He said. “I don’t want you to disappear. I want to see you again.”

“Why?”

“Because I do. Why is that hard to believe? You’re a wonderful person. I’ve always thought so. You’re beautiful and intelligent and funny and sweet and…”

“Enough already.” I smiled weakly. “And you’re a player. What do you need to play with me for? I don’t need this in my life.”

“I’m not trying to play you.”

“Ha!” I snorted.

“Everybody isn’t out to get you, Cindy.”

“Since when are you an expert on what everybody wants from me, Lance?” I snapped at him. He sighed deeply. “You’re not going to leave until you know all my deep, dark secrets are you?”

“Nope.” He looked at me, his green eyes burning through to my soul. I felt like he could read my thoughts. I got a chill.

“Well, okay then. You want to know everything? Let’s see how bad you want to see me again after hearing this juicy stuff.” I stood up, pulling the sheet tightly around me. I paced around the room.

“Remember that night when the bet happened, I was really drunk when you left, right?” He nodded. “Well, I bet JC that I could blow him better than Bobbie, since he said she was awesome at it. I told him if I won I wanted a date with you, however he had to set it up. If I wasn’t as good as her, I agreed to let him fuck me in the ass. Am I painting a pretty enough picture for you now?”

“Go on.” He said.

“Well, I blew the hell outta him and he said I won, no question. Blowing him made me horny and I wanted to fuck him, so I did. Then I let him do what he wanted to me. How sweet am I now?”

“You were drunk, Cindy. I saw you. I know how drunk you were.” He said softly.

“Yeah, well when I woke up the next morning and saw him lying beside me I ran out of there as fast as I could. That’s why I didn’t go to Chris’ party and why I was so freaked out when you called about the bet and the date. I didn’t talk to JC much after that.”

“I can see why you’d feel a little weird around him.”

“A little? That’s the understatement of the year. The other night when we got back here after dinner, JC met me at my door. He said he wanted to talk in private so we went to his room. He told me he had feelings for me and we started kissing. It would’ve gone further but Bobbie showed up. I took off out of there vowing to never let him get to me again.

“Well, he got to me again. Last night after you left me I showered and went to bed. There was a knock on the door and I figured it was a drunk Reg so I opened it. It was JC. He told me he loved me. I fell for it, hook, line, and sinker and we fucked again.” As I relived it the tears began to fall again. “When we woke up this morning he freaked. He was worried that Bobbie had gotten up and seen he wasn’t there. He said he loved me but he’s still with her. He’s not going to leave her, ever. I know that now.” I sat on the other bed and hung my head. “So, see, that’s why I have to leave here and never come back. I can’t be around him and her. And now, there’s no reason for you to want to be around me. Just forget about me. I’ll be fine. I’ve been through worse in my life and I’ll get by. But I can’t do it around ya’ll.”

“I don’t want you to go away.”

“Did you listen to what I just told you? I’m just a fucking whore!” I screamed.

“No, you’re just in love with someone who doesn’t fucking deserve you!” He yelled back at me, catching me completely off guard. His face was red and his fists were clenched. “I can’t believe he did this to you! I could kill him right now!” It was his turn to pace back and forth.

I was dumbfounded. I just watched him walk the floor. He stopped moving with his back to me. I could see that he was breathing heavily. He spun around and knelt in front of me.

“Look, I know you’re messed up right now. I know you’re in love with someone who is a God damn prick. I wish I could make the hurt go away. I want you to know that this doesn’t change the way I feel about you. I still want to at least be your friend.” I shook my head in disbelief. “I mean it. I hate that this has happened to you but you can’t just stop living because of him.”

“It’s just so hard, Lance. This keeps happening to me. Why is that? I’m not a bad person. I had a few too many drinks one night, that’s all. If you had driven me home, chances are it would’ve been you that night. That’s why I don’t drink. He took advantage of that. He knew I’d do whatever he asked because I told him that’s the kind of drunk I am.”

“I know, baby, I know.” He pulled my head to his shoulder and stroked my hair. “Promise me you won’t disappear from my life.”

“I can’t promise anything right now. I just need to go home and distance myself from all of you for a while. I do need to go home today.” I looked at the clock. “Shit, I have 2 hours to get ready and get to the airport.” Lance stood and helped me to my feet. I clutched at the sheet, willing it not to fall. Lance grinned at me.

“Well, my work here is done for now. My orders were to get you out of the bed and into the shower. Do I need to help you with that?” He smirked.

“Uh, no! I can handle it. You can send my ex-friend, Regina, back over here to get her stuff.”

“Don’t be mad at her. She was so worried about you.”

“I know. I guess I’m blessed to have a few really good friends.”

“You have quite a few. I hope you include me in that group.”

“I do. And thank you. I know what you must be thinking about me, but thanks for not making it noticeable to me.” I kissed him on the cheek and walked to the bathroom.

“I will see you around.”

“Yeah, I’m sure you will. Bye, Lance.” I closed the bathroom door and leaned against it until I heard the outer door open and close.

I climbed into the scalding shower and vowed to wash JC’s memory off my body and out of my mind.

Two months passed and I managed to avoid seeing JC. Unfortunately, that meant I didn’t see the other guys either. I saw the girls because we were always together. Regina and Justin had really gotten close. They were on the phone constantly and she saw him every weekend. He flew her to wherever he was. I think Elaina and Chris will be getting engaged any time now. Lance told me he keeps talking to the guys about it. I don’t think Elaina has a clue so I have to be careful what I say around her.

Yes, I have been talking to Lance quite a bit. He calls me at least once a day to check on me. He has invited me to visit him several times, but I have managed to come up with good excuses as to why I can’t. I’m just not ready to face JC yet. I would love to see Lance and the other guys, but JC…no. I can’t.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey, Mr. Bass!” I answered my phone.

“Hey, Sweetie!” He said back in his sexiest phone voice.

“Oooh, stop it with the 900 number voice!” I teased him.

“Baby, what are you wearing?” He said.

“UGH! Stop it!” I was blushing and beginning to sweat. We had begun this flirtatious banter a few weeks ago. I knew he was just teasing me, but it was all I could do not to beg him to come on home to O-town and fuck me senseless.

“You didn’t answer me.” He sang.

“And I’m not going to.” I sang back to him.

“Damn, okay then. So, how are things today?” He rescinded.

“Pretty good, I guess. Same ole, same ole. Where are ya’ll today?”

“Somewhere in the Midwest, I think.” He chuckled.

“Bless your heart. I wish you could come home for a couple of days.”

“Oh, I am! That’s why I called. We have three days off next week. I’m gonna stop by Mississippi first for a day to check on things and see Mamma and Daddy, then I’m coming to see you!” He sounded so happy.

“Great.” I said.

“Well, if you don’t want me to come see you, I won’t.” Now he sounded disappointed.

“Oh, no! That’s not it. I’m sorry. I’d love to see you. I was just hoping I wouldn’t have to see JC. He still calls here all the time. Glad I have Caller ID. I hope he doesn’t show up here.”

“I hate this. I know you’ve been avoiding coming to see me because of him. I’m not stupid. You give great excuses, but I know that’s what they are. I just keep asking, hoping one day you’ll say yes.”

“Lance, I’m sorry. He just really did a number on me. I’m not ready to see him.”

“I know, Sweetie. Wish I could do something. I do plan on giving you a huge hug when I get there. And a shoulder to cry on if you need one.”

“You’re the greatest. Can’t wait for my hug.” I sat on my couch, twisting my hair between my fingers, thinking about that hug and how great I knew he would smell.

“No, you’re the greatest. Listen, I gotta go. You take care of yourself. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?”

“K, night.”

“Sweet dreams, Sweetie.” He said, in that damn sexy voice again.

“You too.” I managed to say before I heard him hang up.

I talked to Lance every day that week before he came home. JC also called regularly, but I still didn’t pick up the phone. He left several messages and mentioned he’d be home, too. I just know he’s going to show up. I think I need to move. Somewhere he can’t find me.

I went to work the day I expected JC to get home. I didn’t hear from him all day. I decided to stay home that night and just not go to the door if he showed up. He didn’t. Maybe he finally got the picture and was going to leave me alone.

I took the next day off and shopped for a big dinner I wanted to cook for Lance. I cleaned the entire house and jumped in the shower around 4:00. Lance was supposed to be here around 6:00. I was getting ready when I heard the doorbell ring.

“Oh, God! He’s early!” I squealed. My hair wasn’t even dry yet. I threw on my robe and went to the door. I swung it open quickly without looking in the peephole first. JC stood before me. I froze for a second, then tried to slam the door on him. He stuck his foot in and stopped me. He pushed back and I was no match for him. I stepped way back from the door as he entered.

“What do you want, JC?!”

“I need to talk to you. You won’t answer the phone so I came over.” He walked toward me. “Can we please sit down and talk?”

“NO! I have a date to get ready for and I have nothing to say to you. I told you I never wanted to see you again, JC, and I meant every word of it. Please leave.”

“Y-you have a date.” He looked crushed.

“Yes, I do, and it’s none of your fucking business. Now get out before I call the police. I don’t want you here.” I walked to the door and opened it.

“I need to explain…”

“Get out!” I cut him off and reached for the phone. “I’m calling 911. You’re trespassing. You want it to be on the news that you were harassing some chick and she called the police!? Get the fuck out!”

He stood in front of me and I turned the phone on. I hit the 9 as he said, “I love you,” And walked out the door.

I closed and locked the door, then threw the phone across the room. It shattered into a million pieces when it hit the wall. I laid down on the couch and cried hysterically. How could he say he loves me? That prick!

I must have dozed off because I jumped up when I heard the doorbell ring. I knew it would be Lance this time. I got up slowly and ran a hand through my hair. I’m sure I look like hell. I opened the door and was met by his smiling face. It fell as soon as he saw me.

“Oh my God, Cindy, what happened!?” He had a bouquet of flowers in his hand and he dropped them on the porch and walked in. I immediately began crying again and wrapped my arms around his neck tightly. “Sweetie, what is it?”

“J…C.” I sputtered. “H-he was here. I was getting ready and he showed up.” I forced myself to let go of my grip on him and stepped back. Realizing I was still in just a robe and underwear, I pulled the robe tightly around me. “I thought you were early so I opened the door. It was him and I tried to close it but he stuck his foot in.”

“He didn’t hurt you, did he?” We walked over and sat on the couch.

“Not physically, no, of course not. He wouldn’t do that. Just emotionally, as usual.” I sniffed and wiped the wetness from my cheeks. “Anyway, I told him to go, but he wanted to talk. I told him I didn’t want to hear anything he had to say and told him if he didn’t leave I was calling the police. I said I knew he didn’t want to be on the news being arrested for harassing some chick. He still wouldn’t leave so I started dialing. He told me he loved me and walked out the door.” More tears slid down my cheeks.

“Come here, Sweetie.” He said as he pulled me to him. I put my head on his shoulder and he hugged me tight, rubbing my back. I cried for a while, then the tears seemed to dry up.

“Lance, how can he keep telling me he loves me? Why does he do that and then go back to Bobbie? I thought he was my friend.”

“I don’t know what he’s doing but it really pisses me off. You’re wonderful, much more than Bobbie could ever be.”

“Thanks for saying that, but you don’t have to. Apparently I’m never meant to be happy. I’ve got to learn to live with that.”

“That is sooo not true and I never want to hear you say that again!” He wiped a tear from my cheek with his thumb. “JC is fucked up somehow. That’s not your fault.”

“Then why does this always happen to me? It’s not just JC, it’s every man. I’m a freak magnet.”

“Don’t say that! I’m here, and I’m not a freak.”

“But you’re not dating me. It’s different.” I put my head back on his shoulder. “He was my best friend. I miss that.”

“Yeah.” He took my hand in his and placed them together, palm to palm. He ran his finger tips down across my palm to my wrist, then back up to the tips. Electric sparks ran through my hand and up my arm. His fingers moved in between mine, then back out again. “Since the ‘best friend’ job seems to be vacant at the moment, I’d love to be considered for the position.”

I lifted my head off his shoulder and looked at him. “You are so sweet. Thank you for being here for me.” I touched his cheek softly and placed a tender kiss on his lips.

“I wish I could be here more.” He frowned and kissed my forehead.

“You’ve got a job to do. I understand that. I look forward to the sexy phone calls I get every night.” I giggled and he blushed. “Why are you blushing? You’re not shy!” I teased him.

“It’s just different on the phone. Easier.”

“I know.” I smelled something burning and jumped up. “Oh, God! I had a big dinner planned and I blew it! JC blew it! I think the roast is burning.” I yelled back at him as I ran to the kitchen. Smoked filled the room and the smoke alarm went off. Lance turned it off and walked over to me. “Shit! I can’t do anything right!”

“It’s okay. We can go out or order pizza, I don’t care. I just wanted to spend time with you.”

“I can’t go anywhere looking like this and I’m starving. No pizza though, okay? I have that all the time.”

“Chinese, Mexican? We can order pretty much anything.”

“Oooh, Mexican. YUM!” I dug through my junk drawer for the menu. We decided what we wanted and I called them. They didn’t have delivery so Lance had to go pick it up. “I’ll go put some clothes on while you’re gone.”

“Weeeell, if you haaaaaaave to.” He grinned at me. Now it was my turn to blush.

When he left, I ran to my room to fix myself up. He wasn’t gone long, but my transformation into something presentable went well.

“Wow!” He said when he saw me.

“Much better, huh? Must’ve been really scary before to get that kind of reaction.”

“You were beautiful before I left and you’re beautiful now.”

“Stop that!” I blushed again.

“Nope!” He chomped on a tortilla chip and smiled. “Just speakin’ the truth, ma’am.”

We laid the food out on the coffee table and ate sitting on the floor in front of the TV. It was delicious and we enjoyed each other’s company. We watched a movie and I ended up falling asleep with my head in his lap.

I woke up the next morning in my bed. I figured Lance put me there. I didn’t remember anything from somewhere in the middle of the movie. I got up and wandered into the den. There was a folded piece of paper on the coffee table in the midst of the mess from dinner last night.

Cindy

Thanks for a wonderful dinner. I meant what I said about

the ‘best friend’ position. I want it. You’re the best and I

plan to never let you forget it.

You look like an angel when you sleep, so I couldn’t bear

to wake you. Hope you had sweet dreams, Sweetie. I’ll

call you sometime today.

Love,

Lance

I smiled and re-read it several times. I could hear his voice saying the words to me. After eating a little breakfast I showered. It was like I had a new lease on life and was ready to begin it now. The phone rang as I was toweling off. I ran to answer it. I saw that it was Lance’s cell phone.

“Hey!” I panted

“Hey, you’re out of breath. What’s up?”

“I just got out of the shower and was drying off. Had to run to the phone.”

“Damn. Thanks for the visual of you running through your room naked.”

“Oh, God, I’m sorry! I can’t believe I told you that anyway!” I giggled.

“Oh, it’s okay. Now I have something to think about on my long flight.”

“You gonna stop by before you leave?”

“Yeah, I’m on my way now, if that’s okay. And if you’d like, you can still be drying off and naked when I get there.” His sexy southern drawl made me crazy.

“No problem.” I egged him on. “Don’t get a ticket speeding to get here!”

“Ooooh, you’re so gonna get it.” I laughed at him and told him good-bye.

Much to his dismay, I was dry and clothed when he got there.

“Hey, Sweetie.” He hugged me tightly.

“Hey, yourself.”

“You know, you really shouldn’t tease me like you do.”

“Who, me?” I feigned innocence.

“Yeah, you!” He poked me in the ribs and I squealed.

“Don’t do that!”

“Don’t do what?” He poked me again.

“Yes, stop it! I’m way ticklish!” I realized what I said, but couldn’t take it back now.

“That’s good to know.” He got an evil grin on his face and came at me.

“No, Lance!” I ran down the hall and tried to close my bedroom door. He was too fast and managed to tackle me onto the bed. He flipped me over and straddled my hips. He began tickling me and I screamed and pushed on his chest. He grabbed my two wrists in one hand and pulled them over my head. I was defenseless now. He continued to tickle me.

“I’m…gonna…wet…my…pants!” I managed to get out. He just laughed and kept on. Tears poured out of my eyes as I laughed and squealed. “I…can’t…breathe!” He stopped tickling and stared into my eyes. I struggled to catch my breath.

He moved down over me and took my mouth with his. He was gentle and slow as he massaged my lips. He didn’t shave this morning and his upper lip whiskers tickled me. He sucked my bottom lip into his mouth and ran his tongue over it. I moaned and stuck my tongue out to taste him. He tasted so good. The tips of our tongues touched and my body began to burn. I squirmed beneath him trying to release my arms. I needed to touch him. He released me and ran his hand down my arm to my side. He moved from straddling me to lying half on, half off me. I wrapped one leg around his leg and pulled myself closer to him. It was his turn to moan as my thigh brushed against his growing hardness.

My mind began to cloud over. I couldn’t think straight. I let the moment consume me. Lance’s hand moved under my shirt and glided across my ribcage toward my chest. When he covered my breast with his palm a vision of JC entered my head. I froze, then pulled away from him.

Lance looked down at me, his eyes filled with a mixture of concern and lust. “You okay?” He asked.

“I…I’m not ready for this. I can’t, not yet.” I pushed him off me and sat up. I turned to look at him lying on my bed. I could see his still erect cock straining against his tight jeans. “I’m so sorry, Lance. I shouldn’t have let that happen.” Tears stung my eyes, but didn’t fall. I felt the bed shift beside me as he sat up.

“It’s okay. I shouldn’t have kissed you. It’s my fault.” He rubbed my back lightly.

“I was fine, then his face appeared in my head. Why can’t I get him out of there?”

“Because you love him.” He said sadly.

“I hate him!” I stood up and paced the floor.

“You love him and hate him.”

“I don’t want to love him. How long is it going to take to get over this?”

“I dunno, Sweetie, but it’ll happen. I’m here for you for whatever you need while you’re healing. I can’t promise I won’t try to kiss you again, cuz you’re so damn sexy, I can’t help myself. I’ll try to keep my distance until you’re ready. You’ll let me know if you’re ever ready for me, right?”

I stopped pacing and turned toward him. “You really want to be more than friends with me?” He nodded. “I really want that, too, Lance, I do. I wanted this so bad just now but HE showed up.”

“I’ll wait. For as long as you need me to, I’ll wait. I’m crazy about you. You’re all I think about. I could kill him for what he’s done to you. I do think I might kick his bony ass when I see him again.”

“Don’t do that.” I said.

“Why? He deserves it.”

“I know he does, but it won’t solve anything. Besides, you might hurt your beautiful hands. I love these hands.” I took them in mine and kissed both palms.

“These hands love you.” He smiled sweetly at me. I straddled his lap and put his hands on my waist before putting mine around his neck.

“Kiss me again.” I asked. It was the most tender, sweet, sensual kiss I had ever received.

“Mmmmmm, I better go.” He looked at his watch. “Plane leaves in an hour and a half.” I got off his lap and pulled him to his feet. “You gonna be okay?”

“Yeah.” We walked to the front door hand in hand. He pulled me to him again and hugged me. His chin whiskers scratched my neck and caused me to giggle.

“Oooh, something else that tickles. I’ll have to remember that.” I rolled my eyes at him. “I’ll miss you. I want you to think about coming to see me on the road soon. I don’t want to wait long to see you again.”

“Okay. I miss you already.” He cupped my face and kissed me softly again.

“Bye, Sweetie.” He kissed his fingers and touched my lips with them.

“Be careful. Have a safe flight. Call me when you get there.”

“I will.” I watched him drive away then closed the door.

“Damn you, JC. You are not ruining this for me!”

I had dinner that night with Elaina and Regina. I filled them in on my nightmare of a life.

“There’s got to be something deep going on with JC to do this to you. He’s totally changed. I’ve never seen anything like it.” Elaina said.

“Yeah, I can’t believe all this. Justin doesn’t know what his problem is either. He even said he might have to beat it out of him.” Regina added.

“Oh, God.” I put my head in my hands. “Lance said he was gonna kick his bony ass, too.” We all giggled at the thought of them ganging up on JC and beating the shit out of him.

“But it sure sounds like Lance is falling hard for ya, girl.” Elaina smiled broadly.

“He’s perfect.” I sighed. “Why can’t I just let this JC thing go and be with Lance? I want to so bad.”

“Because he fucked with your mind. God, I’m getting in line to kick his scrawny ass, too!” Regina balled her fists up and banged them on the table. We dogged JC the rest of the night and I haven’t laughed so hard in a long time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey, guys.” JC said as he entered the stage for sound check. Nobody acknowledged him. “Guys? What’s goin’ on?” He was stared down by four pairs of dead eyes. “Ya’ll are scaring me.”

“You should be scared you fucking prick!” Lance growled. He walked to the other side of the stage, as far away as he could get from JC.

“What the hell was that?” JC asked the others. Justin got in his face.

“Don’t play dumb with us, Jace. You’ve got a lot of nerve walking around here like your life is perfect after what you’ve done.” He poked him in the chest as he spoke.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about! Tell me what I did!?”

“Clueless as usual.” Chris added. Joey just stood with his arms crossed over his chest and looked hatefully at JC. JC sat on the edge of the stage and thought. “The wheels are turning but nothing’s happening.” Chris turned his back on JC and started warming up his vocal chords.

The light went on in JC’s head. He jumped up and spun around. “This is about Cindy, isn’t it? You all know what happened, don’t you?”

“Give the boy a cookie.” Joey said.

“You guys don’t understand. It’s complicated.”

“No it’s not. You fucking want it both ways. Did you actually think that Cindy would go for being the other woman? Did you think Bobbie would never find out? What WERE you thinking, you son of a bitch?!” It was all Lance could do not to hit him.

“You’re in love with her.” JC realized.

“Yes, I am, but that has nothing to do with this. We’re talking about you.”

“You’re in love with Cindy?” Justin’s mouth dropped open.

“Yes! But she’s so fucked up right now from what HE did to her that she won’t let me in.”

“I love her, too.” JC mumbled.

“What did you say? Don’t fucking say you love her, you have no right!” Lance’s face was red with anger.

“I want to be with her, I just can’t.” JC’s eyes teared up.

“Oh, and why not?” Chris frowned.

“This oughta be good.” Joey added.

“I…um…” he sniffed. “Bobbie and I are…married.”

“What!?!?!!?” Chris yelled.

“Married? What are you talking about?” Justin said.

“We secretly got married two years ago.” JC cried.

“Why secretly? Why didn’t WE know about it? You could’ve told us!” Chris was still yelling.

“She was pregnant. We didn’t want anyone to know right away. We were just hitting it big so we wanted to keep any scandal private.”

“What happened to the baby, Jace?” Justin put his hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“Remember that bad car wreck she had?”

“Yeah, she was in the hospital for like a week.” Justin said.

“She lost the baby. The seatbelt saved her life, but the impact it caused on her stomach…” He couldn’t finish his sentence.

“I’m sorry, Jace, but you should’ve told us.” Chris patted him on the back.

“Okay, so why are you still married if you’re running around on Bobbie?” Lance rejoined the group.

“We haven’t been happy for a long time now. You know how she is. She just spends my money and is a total bitch to everyone. We haven’t even had sex in about 8 months.”

“So divorce the bitch.” Chris ordered him.

“I had no pre-nup. We didn’t know how big this was gonna blow up.” He waved his hands around at their surrounding monolithic stage setup. “I did love her. I never expected to want out. In Florida, they have this equitable property distribution thing. That means basically that everything acquired during the marriage is subject to division. It doesn’t mean that she would get half of everything, but it’s possible. Add to that the fact that I have committed adultery, and it’s almost definite she’d get half. Believe me, I’ve checked on it.”

“Does she know about you and Cindy?” Lance asked.

“No. But, uh, she knows I’ve cheated on her in the past. She caught me with a groupie once.”

“Uh oh. And she threatened to take you to the cleaners, huh?” Chris chuckled. JC looked at him and frowned. “Sorry, man.”

“The thing with Cindy just happened. I didn’t plan it. And I sure didn’t plan to fall in love with her. I have to tell her what’s going on. I’ve tried. I tried yesterday but she threw me out threatening to call the police.”

“It’s always the quiet ones that get into the most crap.” Chris dead-panned.

“So, what do you intend to do now?” Lance questioned, almost afraid to hear the answer.

“I want Cindy. If that means I have to lose half of what I’ve got, then so be it.”

“That’s what I was afraid you’d say.” Lance walked off with his head hung down.

“Listen, the next time we can get Cindy here, I’ll get Elaina to set something up so you can talk to her alone. You really need to clear this up. I don’t know what she’s going to do, but it needs to get fixed.” Chris informed him.

“You’re right. Thanks, man.”

“C’mon, we’ve gotta do the sound check. Fans are getting restless to be let in.” Justin said. He motioned to security to let in the lucky ones who got to sit in on the sound check. Screams began as soon as the doors opened and Justin rolled his eyes. “Here we goooooooo.” He sang.

I was reading the paper one morning and my phone rang. I wasn’t near my Caller ID box, but I opted to answer it anyway.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Sweetie!” Lance said. I could tell he was smiling.

“Hey, Baby, how are you?” I grinned.

“Better now.”

“Awwww, how sweet.” I giggled. “I miss you, too.” Our flirting had increased drastically over the last few weeks.

“Listen, I have a charity thing to go to next week. Will you fly up to Nashville and go with me? It’s very formal. I have to wear a tux.” Lance in a tux. Damn. I snapped back into reality.

“Um…as in be your date?”

“Well, yeah. Is that a problem?” He said it like he was afraid of the answer.

“No.”

“What is it then?”

“I’m just scared to death, that’s all.” I giggled nervously.

“Why, Sweetie? It’s no big deal.”

“It’s not to you, but to me, I’ll be there with you and you’ll be in the spotlight the whole time. I’ll have to be on camera and stuff…” I was rambling.

“You’ll do fine. And hey, they’ll probably want to take your picture more than mine since you’re so much prettier than me.” He chuckled.

“Thanks a lot! Now I’m even more terrified. You think they’ll ask me any questions? I don’t want to have to speak to anyone!” My stomach was in knots already.

“Don’t worry about anything. I’ll make sure you’re not bothered too much. I just want the most beautiful woman in the world on my arm.” My heart melted but I had to pick on him.

“So, who’s going with you?” I giggled again.

“Stop that! I’m talking about you and you know it. So will you come? It’s next Thursday night. Can you take off Thursday and Friday?”

“Shouldn’t be a problem. I haven’t taken any time off in a while. I’ll ask when I get to work this morning.”

“So you’re coming then?” He sounded so excited. “I need to see you so badly.”

“I want to see you, too. I’m sorry about what happened when you were here.”

“I know. But I’ll let you make it up to me if you want to.” He poured on the charm and I melted a little more.

“UGH! Don’t talk to me like that. You make me crazy!”

“No crazier than you make me every time we talk and every time I get to look at you in person.”

“Damn you, don’t get me all worked up over here.” I whined.

“We could have some awesome phone sex right now if you’d like.” His voice was deeper than usual. I knew this was about to get intense.

“I…I…um…” I stuttered.

“Tell me what you’re doing right now, Cindy.” His voice sent chills up my spine.

“I’m talking to you on the phone.” I didn’t think I could do this.

“Well, I’m picturing you lying on your bed in nothing but red lace bra and panties.” My breath caught in my throat.

“And what am I doing, Lance?” I whispered.

“Your hands are running all over your body, touching every part of you.”

“I want your hands touching me. Where are your hands?”

“My hands are on your thighs. I’m running them up and down your legs. They’re so silky smooth. Now I’m tracing the lace patterns on your panties with my fingertips. Your hips are rising gently to meet my fingers. Are you still with me?” It was getting hot in here, I thought to myself.

“Oh, yeah. My fingers are tangled in your spiky blonde hair. I’m pulling you up my body because I need to feel your lips on mine.” I couldn’t believe I was talking to him this way.

“Mmmmm, I love the way your lips feel. I could kiss you all night long. God, I’m dying to feel your tongue touching mine.”

I heard what sounded like someone banging on a door through the phone.

“Shit! Who is it? Hang on, baby.” I heard him fumbling around the room. I giggled because I could just see him stumbling to the door with the painful erection I’m sure he was sporting. I knew I was dripping wet already. “What? Okay, I’ll be down in a minute. Hey? You still with me?”

“I’m here, but I guess you have to go, huh?” Disappointment laced my question.

“Yeah, dammit to hell. They planned a radio thing this morning and didn’t bother to tell us. I’m sorry. I was really enjoying this conversation.”

“Me, too.”

“I’ll call you back as soon as I can be ALONE again. I dunno when that might be.” I could hear the frustration in his voice and I totally sympathized with it.

”I’m going to be late for work as it is. I need to go get ready. I gotta tell you though, I really don’t think I’ll be getting much work done today.”

“And I won’t give a damn about any question they ask me today. I’ll be thinking of you.”

“Try to have a nice day, okay?”

“You too, Sweetie. I’ll talk to you as soon as humanly possible.”

“I’ll be waiting. Bye.”

“Bye, baby.” He said sweetly before hanging up.

I hung up the phone and had to drag my horny self to the bathroom to get ready for work. I dreamed of what it would be like to be with Lance. “I am so going to fuck his brains out next time we see each other. Forget JC. It’s on with Lance the first chance I get.” I told myself.

I called Elaina as soon as I got to work.

“Hey! You have a minute to talk? It’s important!” I begged her.

“Of course! What’s wrong?” Concern filled her voice.

“It’s nothing bad. Calm down, nothing is wrong. I think things are finally gonna be right.”

“God, tell me already!”

“Sorry. Lance invited me to some fancy charity thing in Nashville next week. I’m so excited but scared to death! How do you handle being with Chris in public?”

“Girl, you know me. I’m just myself no matter where I am and who is watching. Chris says it’s one of the things he loves about me.”

“He loves everything about you! Anyway, I’ve been to things with JC, but never an actual ‘date’ thing. I hope nobody bothers me.”

“You’ll do fine. So, what are you wearing? Do we need to go shopping?” Elaina laughed.

“Of course we do! You wanna go tonight after work? What if I can’t find anything decent? This is a snazzy event. He’s got to wear a tux. God, I can’t wait to see him in a tux, Lainie.”

“Oooh, you might not make it out of the hotel room!” She was roaring with laughter now.

“You are nuts. So are you going with me tonight?”

“Yeah, yeah. Meet you at the mall at 6:00?”

“Cool, see ya then!”

We met at the mall as planned and had a blast. I think we tried on every formal dress from one end to the other. Elaina had to try on clothes too. She called Chris and tried to talk him into going so she could have an excuse to dress up. He told her he was not going there, he wanted to come home to her for a nice quiet weekend. That shut her up. He said there would be no parties, no press, no friends, just them. She didn’t get the stupid grin off her face the rest of the night.

I found the ideal dress. It was a deep emerald green, very low cut, very sexy. Elaina said if I didn’t get laid in that dress then Lance was gay. I told her I knew that wasn’t the case. I should’ve gotten drilled by him a long time ago. It definitely wasn’t from his lack of trying, but my own stupidity.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The guys were having dinner before sound check.

“Hey, I need to tell you guys something.” Chris informed them.

“You’re old?” Justin asked with a completely serious look on his face.

“Look, you little shit, I may be old, but I can still take your scrawny ass!” Chris teased. “But seriously, guys…I’m going home this weekend and I’m gonna give this to Elaina.” He held up a box with a huge diamond ring in it.

“Holy shit! Will you look at the size of that thing!” Joey screeched as he tried to take it out of Chris’ hand. Chris jerked his hand away.

“Don’t touch!”

“Give it to me. I wanna see up close.” Joey pouted. Reluctantly Chris handed it over.

“Man, you told us you were thinking about this. When did you decide?” JC questioned.

“I’ve had the ring for a couple of months. When you were talking about your marriage and all the problems it got me thinking. I want to be with her forever, so I better snag her now before somebody else comes along and takes her away.”

“She’s not going anywhere. She adores you.” Lance added.

“Well, this life can get to anyone. I want her to know how much I love her and that I want her to be my wife.” Chris’ eyes teared up a little.

“Don’t cry, man! I can’t take it!” Joey made light of the situation but all the guys were a little misty-eyed.

“An *NSYNC wedding. Cool. Glad it’s not me!” Justin chuckled.

“Who’d marry your stinky ass!” Chris laughed.

“Hey!”

“All joking aside, man, this is great!” JC said. “I wish you all the happiness in the world.”

“We all do.” Lance added. “Elaina is an incredible woman.”

“So is Cindy. I hear she’s going with you to the charity thing next week.” Chris wiggled his eyebrows.

“How’d you know?” Lance was surprised.

“Lainie went shopping with her for a dress. She wanted me to go so she had an excuse to dress up. I told her we were spending the weekend alone with no one else around.”

“But she’ll have a big excuse to dress up pretty soon for a wedding.”

“Yep.”

JC kept quiet, but didn’t like the idea that I was going anywhere to see Lance. If he didn't do something, he was going to lose me forever, probably to Lance.

I was a nervous wreck on my flight to Nashville. I hated flying by myself. I bought a book to read so the time would go by faster. I had to get my mind off my date with Lance that night. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared to go anywhere in my life.

Lance had a car waiting for me when I arrived. The charity even was at the Grand Ole Opry and we were staying at the Opryland Hotel. The place was huge. I had never been there before. I called Lance’s cellphone when I arrived in the lobby.

“Hello?” His sexy voice answered.

“Hey. I’m here in the lobby. Where are you?”

“Hey, baby. I’m in room 1308. If anybody gives you any crap, just tell them the password is ‘Charleston’.

“Charleston?” I wondered aloud.

“Yeah. Just popped into my head. I dunno why.” He chuckled.

“Okay, heading into the elevator. See you in a few.” I turned the phone off as I turned around to press the floor button on the panel. I looked into the crowded lobby and saw JC. He saw me, too, and started walking faster toward the elevator. “Oh, shit!” I pushed the floor button and the door close button repeatedly. Luckily the doors closed before he got close enough to stop them. I leaned against the back of the elevator and closed my eyes. I sighed deeply and shook my head.

I ran into Lance’s security guard when I exited the elevator. He hugged me tightly and pointed me to Lance’s door. I knocked lightly and leaned on the door frame.

“Hey!” Lance said as he opened the door. “What’s wrong?”

“JC is here!” I said through clenched teeth. “Why the fuck is he here?!” Lance grabbed my arm and pulled me into the room.

“What are you talking about?”

“He’s here! I was in the elevator and I saw him in the lobby. He was heading for me and I managed to get the doors to close before he got close enough to stop them. Why would he come here?”

“He knows you’re here with me.”

“How?”

“Chris mentioned it at dinner the other night. He was telling us about your shopping trip and Elaina wanting to come up here.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I’m so sorry. But don’t you think you need to talk to him? Resolve this?”

“Yeah, I do think I need to, but I wasn’t planning on it TODAY!” I was so pissed off. I walked over to him and grabbed his shirt at his waist. “I just wanted to be alone with you, away from everyone.” I looked up into his eyes.

“I wanted that, too. I swear I had no idea he would show up here.” He put his forehead against mine. “I just want us to be together. I’m sick and tired of JC’s constant interruptions.”

“I don’t think he’s going away. What could he possibly think he could say to make me want him now?”

“You really just need to listen to him.”

“Whose side are you on anyway!?” I snapped.

“Ours.” He mumbled.

“You know what he’s going to tell me, don’t you?” He didn’t acknowledge the question at all. “You do! Tell me!”

“You need to hear it from him. I don’t think I should be the one to tell you.”

“UGH! This is so frustrating! It’s like everybody knows what’s going on but me. I want to forget about him. I had hoped you really wanted me and we would get somewhere today…”

“You don’t think I want that?” He looked hurt. “I’m crazy about you.”

“I don’t know what I think, Lance. I’m so fucking confused right now.” There was a knock on the door. “That’s gotta be him.”

“Probably.” He said sadly.

I looked at Lance. My heart ached. “It doesn’t matter what he tells me, I don’t want him. I want you.” I walked over to him and placed a soft kiss on his lips. There was more pounding on the door. “Damn, let’s get this over with.” I walked to the door and opened it.

“Hello, JC.” I stepped aside so he could enter the room. If looks could kill, Lance would be a murderer right now. I saw JC physically cringe when he looked at him.

“Baby, I’ll be in the bedroom if you need me. Ya’ll need to do this alone.” He walked into the other room.

“Cindy, first I want to say…”

“No, JC.” I put a hand up. “Don’t apologize or anything. Just cut to the chase. I want to know what the fuck is going on. Lance knows, I know he does. Probably everybody but me knows what your problem is. Just tell me now and then you can go.” I sat on the couch and stared at the floor.

“Okay. Here goes. Shit. This is so hard.”

“Just say it!” I begged.

“Bobbie and I are married.” My eyes shot up to his. He was visibly holding his breath. I felt like I had been hit by a truck.

“What?!”

“We got married two years ago. She was pregnant. She lost the baby in that car accident I told you about.” He was up and pacing the floor now.

“Why was this a secret? Or at least why was it a secret from me? I’m supposed to be your best friend and you don’t tell me you’re married?” I felt so betrayed. It was as if everything between us had been a lie.

“I don’t know why. When she’s not around, I don’t even think about her being my wife.”

“Well that’s fucking obvious! You go around screwing people behind her back.”

“We sort of have an understanding. If I divorce her, she gets half my shit. It’s always managed to work until now.” He turned to look at me.

“Stop looking at me like that! You have no right.” I stood and turned my back on him.

“I know I’ve really fucked everything up. I am sorry.”

“Don’t even try it! Forget the sex and the lies about caring for me. What about the betrayal of being my best friend and lying to me for a year? Oh, never mind! Don’t even think about giving me an answer to that. Just get out!”

“No, I’m not finished.”

“Well, I am.”

“I filed for divorce yesterday. I don’t care what she wants. If she wants everything I own she can have it. I just want to be free from her. I’m in love with you. I can’t live the lie anymore.” He walked to the door and left the room.

Now I felt like the truck that had hit me just put it in reverse and finished me off.

I stared at the door for a few minutes trying to digest what just happened. I finally snapped out of my thoughts and looked at the bedroom door. I heard Lance talking to someone. I opened the door and he was lying on the bed talking on the phone.

“Momma, I need to go. I’ll call you tomorrow. I love you, too.” He put the phone down and stared intently at me. He didn’t speak. I just stood in the doorway for a minute. Then I walked to the bed and got onto it. I crawled over to him, put my head on his chest and wrapped an arm around him. He immediately wrapped his arms around me. I cried into his chest. He never said anything, just stroked my hair and kept kissing me on top of the head. I had a death grip on his t-shirt like I was afraid he was going somewhere. The tears dried up. I mustered the courage to look at him and propped up on an elbow.

“You okay?” He smoothed my wild hair.

“No. I don’t know if I’ll ever be okay again. What do you do when someone betrays you so badly that you feel you can never trust anyone again?”

“You can’t give up on the entire human race because of one person.”

“Mr. Optimistic.” I smiled weakly at him.

“Yeah. I have to be. I’m around people all the time that just want something from me. They don’t care about me. They just know that I can help them out somehow, whether it’s to sell some magazine or product, take a picture, get an autograph. I feel like a piece of meat most days. Like an animal in a cage.”

“I never really thought about it like that. I can’t imagine what that must feel like.”

“It’s not fun.” It was his turn to smile weakly. “You don’t treat me like that. You never have. That’s why I’m crazy about you.” He touched my cheek softly. His green eyes burned into me.

“Lance, I…”

“Shhhhh, you don’t have to say anything to me. I know you’re going through some really hard shit. I’m not pressuring you at all. I’ll be whatever you want me to be. I just want you to know you’re not alone and that not everybody in this world is going to hurt you. I wouldn’t hurt you for anything in the world. You believe me, don’t you?” I nodded. “Good. Now, if you don’t feel like going tonight, it’s fine. I do have to go, though, because I have to present some award to someone. I don’t even know what I’m doing. But you can stay here and I’ll be back as soon as my part is done.”

“No. I want to go. I want to be with you tonight. Besides, if I stay here alone I’ll just be depressed.”

“Well we can’t have that.”

“What time do we have to go?”

“Um, in like four hours.”

“Good, I have time to take a shower or bath or something. I’m sure I look like hell right now. I need a makeover.” I ran a hand absentmindedly through my hair.

“You do look tired. I’m going to take a shower first, okay? Then I’ll be out of your way and you can take as long as you want to get ready.”

“Cool. Glad to know you know how to stay out of a woman’s way when she’s getting ready for a party!” He sat up and threw his legs over the edge of the bed. I got on my knees behind him and put my arms around his neck. I pressed my chest into his back and hugged him tightly.

I whispered in his ear, “Thank you for taking such good care of me.” I kissed his ear lobe lightly and I felt him shudder.

“Mmmmm, don’t do that!”

“Oh, sorry.” I pulled away from him quickly, thinking I had overstepped my bounds.

“I just meant if you do that to me, I can’t be responsible for my actions.” He turned around and looked at me sexily. I grinned and moved back to him. I kissed his lips lightly and ran my tongue across them.

“What about this?” I snaked my tongue out across them again. “Can I do that?”

“Uuuuh, not if you want me to remain a gentleman.”

“Maybe I want you to be a wild man.” I sat back on my knees and looked at him.

“Please don’t. It’s hard enough to stay away from you as it is, but when you do things like that…”

“Okay, I see how it’s gonna be. No problem. I won’t do that anymore.” I grabbed a pillow and curled up on the bed, hugging it the way I had been hugging him earlier. I knew I was driving him insane. But I also knew I was going to make him mine tonight.

“I…I’m going to take my shower now.” He got up slowly and walked toward the bathroom.

“A cold one, I bet.” I giggled. He just grunted and closed the door behind him.

I must have dozed off while he was in the shower. I was awakened by water droplets hitting my face. I rolled over and Lance was hovering over me shaking his wet head. He was wearing only a towel wrapped around his waist and water glistened on his chest, arms and face. He shook his head again, showering me with wetness.

“Stop it! I’m up now!” He chuckled and crawled onto the bed. He ran his tongue over my lips this time and I sighed at the feeling. He moved to my neck and licked up to my ear and around my ear lobe. He stuck his tongue in my ear and I stopped breathing. He pulled back and looked down at me.

“Two can play this game, Sweetie. The bathroom’s all yours.” He got off the bed and went to get dressed.

“UGH!” I screeched before heading into the bathroom to get ready.

“Hi, Honey, I’m home!” Chris called out as he entered the house. “Lainie? Where are you, baby?” He wandered into the kitchen but she wasn’t there. He ran up the stairs and into the master bedroom. Still no Elaina. “Lainie? Your car’s here. You’re scaring me!” He opened the bathroom door and saw her. She was sitting in their huge garden tub, covered in bubbles, sipping champagne. She grinned slyly at him. “God, you scared me! But, damn, you look tasty!” He began stripping his clothes and almost dove head first into the tub.

“Be careful, crazy man! I don’t want you injured!” She giggled as the water and bubbles sloshed out onto the tile floor. “At least not until you service me. I’m in need of some serious lovin’.”

“Me too, baby, me too.” He took the champagne flute out of her hand and his wet body slid against hers. Their mouths met in heated passion. His lips moved to her neck and she moaned.

“I didn’t think you’d ever get here. The water kept getting cold and I refilled this bitch four times! I’m a prune.”

“A tasty prune.” He said as he licked a nipple and sucked it into his mouth. He slipped two fingers into her and massaged her insides. She reached into the water and stroked his hardening cock.

“Baby, I don’t need any more preparation. I’ve been soaking in here thinking about you for a while now.” He lifted his head and looked into her eyes.

“I love you, Lainie.” He positioned himself and slid slowly into her, reveling in the feeling of being inside her again. “It’s always like the first time again when I’ve been away.” He began to move inside her. The intensity of their feelings for each other swept them away. Before they knew it, they were climaxing together, calling each other’s names. When their breathing slowed, Chris moved to get something out of his jeans.

“What are you doing, baby?”

“Nothing. Can I have some champagne?” Elaina busied herself filling the flutes while Chris settled back into the tub. She turned to him and handed him a glass. They clinked the crystal together and Chris said, “To you and me. Forever.”

She smiled lovingly at him. “Forever, baby.” After taking a sip he took her glass from her and sat them on the edge of the tub. He took her hands in his and got on his knees in the water.

“Elaina, I meant it when I said forever just now. I want us to be together forever. I want a family. I want children…eventually. I know I’m an old man already, but we still have time.” He began fiddling with her fingers and she didn’t know what he was doing under the water. Then the realization hit her. He was sliding a ring onto her finger. She jerked her hand out of the water to look at it, splashing him in the face.

“Ohmigod, Chris!” She squealed.

He sputtered and wiped his face. “Marry me, Lainie. I love you so much.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and cried, “Yes, yes, yes! Baby, I love you, too! I can’t believe you did this! I had no idea!”

“I know. This was perfect. I had a nice dinner planned for tomorrow night, but I couldn’t wait. Thank you for saying ‘yes’. I’ll never make you regret it, ever.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had finished getting my makeup on and fixing my hair. I slipped the slinky dress over my head carefully. As it slid down my curves I had to smile at my reflection in the mirror. ‘If this doesn’t get me laid tonight, nothing will’ I thought as I spun around to view all angles.

I walked confidently out of the bathroom and spotted Lance struggling with his bow tie at the mirror over the dresser. I snuck up behind him quietly and put my hands on his. “Need some help with that?” I asked.

“Geez!” He jumped.

“Sorry.” I smiled at our reflections. “Turn around, let me fix this.” He turned and I grabbed the ends of the tie and began working with it.

“Wow.” He whispered. I looked up at him and he was staring down the front of my dress.

“Hey!” I put a finger under his chin and lifted his head a little. “What do you think you’re looking at?”

“Something incredibly gorgeous.” He said it in such a deep, sexy voice I almost couldn’t take it. I wanted him so bad. I finally took in his whole form.

“Mmmmmm, I could say the same thing about you, sir.” I looked him up and down. I turned my concentration back to his tie so I wouldn’t attack him. He chuckled at me. “What?” I asked.

“I love it when you’re concentrating and you make those cute little faces.”

“Shut up!” I finished with his tie and stood back to admire him. “What a hottie.” I grinned at him.

He put on his tuxedo jacket and turned around. “Ta da.” He said.

“Perfection.” I replied. He blushed.

“Let’s go.” He took my hand and led me out of the room. The security gang was in the hall waiting for us. JC was there, too.

“Shit.” I said under my breath. “Why does he do this?”

“I don’t know, baby.” Lance whispered in my ear. “You okay?”

“I’ll be fine, just don’t leave me.”

“I won’t, don’t worry.” He kissed me on the temple and we all got into the elevator. He never let go of my hand and remained between me and JC at all times.

We stepped out onto the red carpet at the Grand Ole Opry house and the camera flashes were blinding. Lance and JC both turned on the charm and greeted the press. Lance still held my hand. JC was behind us and I tried my best to forget he was there. It wasn’t working. Chris Connelly from MTV motioned Lance over to him.

“Hi, Lance. Who’s this lovely lady with you tonight?” He asked into the microphone, then stuck it into Lance’s face. The camera light shined right into my eyes and I tried not to squint.

“My date.” Lance smiled.

“Can we have her name?” Chris prodded. Lance looked down at me questioningly. I shrugged.

“This is Cindy.”

“Hi, Cindy.”

“Hello, Chris.” I smiled shyly.

“Is this your first event like this with Lance?” He pried.

“Yes, it is. I’m looking forward to it.” I squeezed Lance’s hand and didn’t even realize it. I was scared to death. He released my hand and put his arm around my waist.

“Well, enjoy yourself. Lance, you too, buddy. Hey, there’s JC behind you. Sorry, JC. I didn’t even notice you behind this beautiful woman.” JC moved next to me. He looked down at me and smiled.

“She is beautiful.” He said. I wanted to slap him and have everyone see it on MTV! Lance hugged me tighter to him then told Chris we needed to get inside.

“Alright, guys. Have fun.” We waved good-bye to him and moved slowly down the carpet. I decided to hang back a bit and let Lance and JC speak to the press. This seemed to move us along faster. At one point, though, Lance pulled me up next to him for a picture. JC put his arm around me as well and leaned his head against mine. I was fuming inside, but smiled sweetly for the press.

Once we got inside, I looked up at Lance. “I’m going to kill him!” I said through clenched teeth.

“I hope to God he isn’t sitting by us. I might have to kill him for you.” He frowned.

“Let’s just forget about him.” I sighed heavily. We found our seats and were relieved to see JC was nowhere in sight.

The event was great. We enjoyed ourselves. Lance continued to hold my hand. I was glad he never let go of me. I loved feeling him so close to me. He smelled wonderful. I couldn’t get enough of his scent. I felt like Cinderella at the ball. We went to a huge party at the Opryland Hotel after the event. The food was incredible. I met so many famous people that I couldn’t remember them all. I was in celebrity overload. We didn’t see JC again. I don’t think he showed up for the party, thank God. Maybe he took the hint when Lance wouldn’t even speak to him.

We had been at the party for an hour or so when Lance pulled me off to the side. “Are you ready to leave? I’m tired of smiling at all these people.” He looked so tired.

“Whenever you’re ready.” He held out his arm for me and I slipped my hand through. We stopped to say good-bye to several people, then headed to the other end of the hotel where our room was.

I was beginning to get nervous. I wanted Lance so badly. Even when I saw JC, my feelings for Lance superceded anything I felt for him. I knew then that whatever I had felt for JC was gone. He had killed it.

Lance opened the door to the room and I entered first. I put my purse down and turned around. He was right behind me and startled me. He took my face between his hands and kissed me deeply. I held onto his arms for stability. He broke the kiss and opened his eyes. They were greener than I had ever seen them. They almost glowed.

“I’m sorry. I just have wanted to do that all night long.”

“And I’ve wanted you to.” I moved toward him and he pulled back. “What?” I asked him.

“I don’t know. I’m nervous. Why is that?” He shook his head.

“Hopefully because you want me so bad.” I flirted.

“I do, Cindy. God, I do.”

“I’m right here for you.” I moved toward him again.

“I want you more than anything, but I don’t want to do this right now if you’re not ready.”

“I am ready.” I touched his face and he kissed the palm of my hand.

“I just won’t be able to stand it if we do this tonight, then tomorrow you go to JC.”

“I swear to you that won’t happen. I don’t want him. He makes me sick. Tonight when I saw him, those feelings I used to have for him weren’t there. I promise. I have wanted you forever. What happened with him was a mistake from the start. I don’t care if he’s married, divorced, whatever. It’s not going to happen. I hope he doesn’t continue to follow us around, but it’s not going to change my mind about him or you.”

I kissed his mouth tenderly and gazed into those eyes. “I have fallen in love with you, Cindy.” My insides quivered. “I know that bet is something you’d like to forget, but it brought you to me.”

“That is true. Thank you for being my prize.” I ran my hands around his neck and pulled his face down to me. “Make love to me, Lance. Please.”

We shared a kiss that mingled everything we were both feeling. It was overwhelming. I slid his jacket off. He ran his tongue over the flesh of my neck and shoulder as he fumbled with the zipper of my dress. I finally felt it sliding down with his fingertips following it’s trail down my backbone.

“This dress was absolutely incredible on you. It fit like it was made for your beautiful body.”

“Thank you, but I think it would look even better in a puddle at my feet.” I took a step back and slid the straps off my shoulders. The fabric slid over my breasts causing them to harden. I held onto the dress and let it move slowly down my body. He was mesmerized. My breasts were revealed to him and I watched his reaction. He licked his lips. My stomach was revealed next, then my black panties. I let go of the fabric and it fell to the floor. I stood there in just my panties, thigh high hose, and my heels.

“God help me.” He whispered. He moved toward me and I grabbed the end of his bowtie and pulled. It untied and I began unbuttoning his shirt. When I had a few buttons undone I ran my fingers down his smooth chest. His hands ran down my hips and over my ass. When he felt skin instead of fabric he smirked. I was wearing a thong.

“Couldn’t very well have panty lines in that dress.” I said.

“Course not.” He tickled my ass with his fingertips, then pulled me closer to him. I untucked his shirt and finished unbuttoning it. I touched his stomach and he jumped. He bent his head to claim one of my hardened peaks. As he sucked on me I slid his shirt off. I couldn’t get enough of the feel of his skin. I was also finding it hard to remain standing. I grabbed his head and pulled him off me. He whimpered.

”C’mon. Let’s go to bed.” I walked toward the bedroom and crooked my finger at him to follow me. When I got to the bed I began to remove one of my shoes.

“Leave them on. They’re so sexy.” His voice was raspy with passion.

“Whatever you want.”

“I want you to lay down for me.” I sat on the edge of the bed and grabbed the front of his pants. I ran my hands over the huge bulge in them. He took my hands and moved them away from him. He pushed me back on the bed, my arms over my head. He kissed my mouth softly, then ran his tongue down my throat, between my breats, over my belly, to the top of my panties. I felt the panties slide down to uncover one hipbone. His tongue flicked across it. He did the same to the other hip, then slid the panties down a little further to uncover my mound. He planted kisses all over my lower stomach and patch of hair. I was going insane.

“Lance, please.” I begged.

“Good things come to those who wait.” His hot breath caressed my clit through the panties. I closed my eyes and let out a deep sigh. I felt the panties begin to move down my hips, then thighs. Once they were removed, he ran his hands up my nylon-covered legs. He pushed my knees apart and lowered his head between them. I was dying for him to make contact with me. When he did, it was earth-shattering. His soft, velvet tongue slid across my clit and I screamed.

“Lance! Shit!” He stiffened it and began to tongue fuck me. “Oh, God!” I moaned. He was relentless. He licked and sucked and lapped at me for what seemed like forever. No one had ever spent so much time pleasing me this way before. Every time I was on the edge, he would stop what he was doing, or change the rhythm and I wouldn’t come. It was sweet torture.

“Please, baby, let me come.” I whined. He chuckled and sucked my clit into his warm mouth. “Ooooooh, yeah, that’s it, baby!” I ground my crotch into his face. “Mmmmmm, God!” I came with a force I had never felt before.

He continued to lick me as I came back down from the clouds. Once I had regained my composure, I sat up and pulled his face to mine. “Mmmmmm, that was…wow.” I licked his lips and tasted myself on them. My hands went straight for his pants and they dropped quickly to his knees. His boxer briefs soon followed. He stood to kick them off his feet, then crawled over me. I caressed his huge cock and ran a fingertip over its leaking head. I wanted to suck him so badly but he pushed me back down onto the bed.

“I just want to make love to you.”

“O-okay.” He slid his head between the folds of my wetness, then moved it over my clit. “Uuuuhhhhh!” I panted. He slid back down to my opening and pressed against me. “Lance.” I whimpered. My bottom lip quivered. I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled him into me.

“Oh, God!” He groaned as he entered me completely. “I, God, I love you.” He growled into my ear.

“Mmmm, baby, you feel so good inside me.” I whispered in his ear, then sucked on his earlobe. He went from slow, steady movements, to pounding into me, to slow and steady again. I was ready for whatever he threw at me.

He pulled me up into his lap and sucked on my neck and breasts. I rocked back and forth on his dick and he grunted loudly. I had never felt so completely filled by anyone. He pushed me back down onto the bed and pulled my legs up to his shoulders. He pounded into me. I knew he was nearing the edge. I hung on tight and enjoyed the ride. I heard his breathing become erratic and reached around to press on my clit.

“Fuck! Oh, baby, fuck!” He panted. The face he made when he came was the sexiest thing I had ever seen in my life. When he opened his eyes to look at me I had tears in mine. “Baby? You okay?”

“I’m perfect.” I smiled. “And I love you.” He frowned.

“Don’t say it if you don’t mean it, okay?”

“I mean it. You are the most wonderful man I have ever known. I love you, Lance Bass.”

“I love you, Cindy, for the rest of my life. You can bet on it.”

“I’ll take that bet.”

The End

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