Chapter Thirteen
Her feet stomped up throughout the living room as she paced back and forth in front of the fire. "That stupid, crazy, little..." She stopped herself there, unwilling to go on. Swearing was a bad habit to have, and a hard one to break, after all. But that didn't stop Alex from continuing her little tirade.
She knew. SHE KNEW. Somehow, the curly haired, green eyed, whiny pop star in the making, Brooklyn, had found out who she was. Of course, most of the pieces had been lying around to begin with. The fact that Chris called her Alex. The fact that she willingly said that she worked with manuscripts (even if she didn't say that she wrote them, instead of proofed and edited them). The fact that...during the accident, she had left her name with the insurance information. And in plain view, it had said, "Alexandra Marie Colwell". Like Brooklyn had said, she put two and two together. Shorten her name, and you get Alex M. Colwell.
How could she have been so stupid, she screamed at herself as she continued to pace. This was becoming a disaster. A total disaster. Everything was falling at her feet. Plans had been made, albeit by her, but she was the one that had most of the creative control over her career and future. And she was going to stop the charade after the autobiography was going to be released. Hell, on the day. It would make for great publicity, but now...NOW she had someone that was more than willing to do it for her.
All because of Chris, a pop star in his own right. Someone that Alex told herself she didn't care about, but was now starting to doubt those words. All because, somewhere, deep inside of her, she actually found that she had a heart. And, since she was alone, she could admit it (even though her mind would deny it the moment the thought escaped), she was beginning to care about him. He was a great guy, when she really got down to it. Funny when the time called for it, serious when the time called for it.
Why she cared for him, she didn't know. She wasn't even sure when it hit, or why it happened. Thanksgiving, they had been pretty cautious around each other. Stepping around each other the same way they would step around a mine field, picking and choosing their words as carefully as they would pick and choose their path through the war zone. But once they got past the insults and the call-downs, he impressed her.
He impressed her by being able to act civil. By treating her kindly, even when she knew she didn't deserve it. By quoting Shakespeare for Christ's sake. He was an enigma, to say the least. The very least.
But somehow, she came into caring, and feeling. He had created that. How, she didn't know. But he created everything that was new and unaccustomed to her. Now, she hated to lie to him. She hated to cover up the truth, no matter how necessary it was. What, the next time they talked, she was just supposed to bound out with, "Hi, how's your day, mine's been great. By the way, I'm really Alex M. Colwell, best selling author and presumed to be male. Would you like a cup of coffee?" She shouldn't hate lying to him. Lies and diversion from the truth, two separate things and yet so much the same, were a part of her life. Just like he was.
Oh, hell no, he wasn't a part of her life, she thought angrily, running her fingers through her loose hair, before she gathered it into a ponytail at the base of her neck. No, no, no. That just wasn't possible. It couldn't be. In a little while, she would leave and banish his name, his face, his words, from her memory. From her thoughts. From her life.
And Brooklyn...God, she couldn't even get started on her. If she did, she knew that she would just get more and more mad. This was a situation that she couldn't deal with. In all the years of writing, all the years that Alex M. Colwell existed, no one had found out the truth. No one had been allowed to get close enough to find out the truth. A few slip-ups, and every single lie was facing her straight on. This wasn't allowed to happen. It wasn't supposed to happen.
In a fit of anger, she picked up the book that she had left on the coffee table and threw it as hard as she could towards the window seat, groaning in frustration when the papers and magazines that were sitting there fell to the floor, making a larger mess than she had intended. "Oh, this is SO not my day," she ground out, stalking over there, only to fall on her knees and start to gather up the papers.
Her hand touched a smooth cover, and she picked up the magazine, staring at it curiously. She didn't buy teen magazines, that was for sure, so WHY she had a copy of Seventeen in her possession was beyond her. She had never actually bought it...or had she, she wondered, when her mind raced back to when she was still in Seattle.
One of the girls must have recognized her from around town, she realized, because she stopped excitedly. "Are you going to get it, too? Oh, they look so cute. You better hurry, though, because those are going to sell out," she said with another laugh that almost made Alex reach out and wipe that stupid smile off of her face.
"Get what?" she asked bluntly, her eyes practically drooping with boredom.
Her question was answered, though, when she raised a brightly colored magazine with what looked like two smiling idiots. Alex narrowed her eyes when she saw the title of the magazine. Did the girl think that she was THAT young that she would buy Seventeen, she wondered. She was eleven years older than the title of the magazine, and she was asking if she was going to buy it? This girl obviously needed to get her eyes checked, Alex thought to herself, a smile of amusement covering her usually rigid features. "Oh, yeah, I was just going to get it," she said sarcastically.
She had bought the magazine. In fact, two, since there were different covers. A story idea had come to her for the new Cort Demers book that she was now working on, and she had bought a plethora of teen magazines, to try and get into their heads and create a character. A simple character that the readers wouldn't have a hard time cheering on. A teenaged girl.
There were a few more magazines strewn through the bunch, but as she remembered it, she had bought more than that, and there had been TWO copies of Seventeen, different covers, same stories. She had yet to actually read them, since she hadn't gotten into introducing the new character yet. The rest of the magazines were either back at her house or here, in boxes somewhere.
Sitting down on the floor, she looked more closely at the cover of Seventeen, before letting out a gasp. SHE was on the cover, with her darling boyfriend, the two smiling idiots that she had seen before. Brooke and Josh, or as the magazine had on the cover (and as Chris had said in a slip that night), Brooklyn Turner and JC Chasez. "The Golden Couple tells all about life, love, and their future plans...together. How interesting," she said softly, before getting more comfortable on the floor.
She opened the magazine and flipped passed the opening ads, a total of eight, before she got to the table of contents. And there they were again, amid the headlines for articles on how to 'snag a boyfriend...and keep him' and 'shaving your legs has never been so hassle free', a picture of the two of them quite content as they looked at the camera. Her eyes looked for the page number and quickly flipped to it, skipping everything else, so intent on finding out the truth.
Narrowing her eyes, she looked at the photo that had been taken of them for the article. They were sitting on the floor against a white backdrop, turned slightly towards each other. Brooklyn had her legs tossed across JC's lap, while she leaned back on her hands, laughing at something he had said. The only reason that she could tell that was from the sly smile on his face, the same one he had whenever he had directed an insult or a joke her way. Even Alex, the most oblivious person to romance, could see the love and respect that they looked at each other with.
It was practically making her sick, she thought, as she started to read the article.
A year ago, when plans were being made for Brooklyn Turner's new album, "If I Didn't...", a list of names were given to her by her manager for a possible collaboration. Most of the usual suspects in country music were listed, but there was one that caught her attention.
"I had never heard of him before," the twenty five year old country singer admitted with a blush. "NSYNC? Yeah. I knew them from the single they did with Alabama, and there were a few times when I'd hear their names at awards shows." In fact, Brooklyn pushed NOT to have the initial meeting done. However, her manager had already called ahead and JC was on the first flight in the morning to meet with her. "Yeah. It wasn't what you'd call a chance meeting, but I didn't know who he was, and he didn't know who I was, so it was definitely different."
"He" just happens to be JC Chasez, the soulful voiced singer and talented song writer, of NSYNC. And believe it or not, he had never heard of Brooklyn before, either! It wasn't until one of his friends stepped up and made him take notice of the singer. "I had gotten the offer over the phone, but I really couldn't remember hearing anything about her, other than her name every now and then. I asked Lance [Bass] about her, since he knew everything there was to know about country music. What he told me was...interesting."
Interesting is a funny word to describe who has been dubbed "The Golden Couple". They've been interesting to country music and pop music fans alike, because the moment they met was the moment that the rumors started to fly around. But when JC met her, things got just a little more interesting.
"Normally, when I meet someone, they try their hardest to impress me. New York...she didn't do any of that. I don't think she even liked me when we first met."
Brooklyn was quick to counter that statement with a shrug. "Nah, I liked you," she told him. "I was just trying to get a feel for you." Although the planning of the album had been delayed for the rest of the day, they still spent it together, getting to know one another a little better. She even claims that the moment that he let her take her to her favorite diner for lunch, she knew that he was going to stick around.
But wait, back it up just a little bit. New York? Where did that name come from? "Everyone either calls her Brooklyn or Brooke, and she told me that it got a little old for her. No one had ever used the obvious, so I did. Everyone knows that I call her New York, but no one's used the nickname yet." That would also explain the gorgeous silver necklace that's always seen around her neck. "It was the first Christmas that we knew each other, and he sent me a present, telling my brother not to let me open it until everything else was gone. I haven't taken off the necklace since I've gotten it. It always reminds me of him, so I don't think it's ever leaving its place around my neck," Brooklyn explained when the subject came up.
Everything wasn't always fun and games for the new couple. For the first few months that they knew each other, there was another man in the equation. Namely, Brooklyn's ex-fiancé, who put both of them through a lot of stress and pain, both physical and emotionally. "We got passed all of that, luckily," JC told us, but he didn't look as happy talking about that subject as he did when he talked about his new girlfriend. "It was hard, and for a moment, it didn't seem like either of us were going to recover. The only good news that came out of that was that it brought us closer than we were, and that it's all over. She doesn't have to deal with that anymore."
That's certainly true, but life is getting better for her...isn't it? "I'm stuck with him. That's the only answer I can give you," she joked, both of them laughing. Does he take this sort of abuse all the time? "Oh, I dish it out a lot to him. We joke around a lot, but don't worry. He gets me back just as much."
Alex stopped reading for a moment, a smirk landing on her face. "Yeah, he got you back, didn't he, Brooke?" she asked softly, a hint of sarcasm playing in her words. "I wonder what Seventeen would do with that little piece of news."
But she couldn't let everyone know what was going on in the other house. That was like the ace up her sleeve, the card to pull out when everything else failed. Or when Brooklyn decided to go public with who Alex really was. It was just a matter of waiting to see who would make the first move. Who would dare to let their information leak first. Alex's was a lot more damning than hers, but it was there, just the same. And the magazine article was definitely helping.
The smirk still placed firmly on her face, she turned the page and continued to read.
They definitely joked around a lot, during the interview and the photo shoot, but when it came to their on again, off again relationship, they couldn't help laughing and looking a little embarrassed. Especially when they confessed to a secret they had been holding back for awhile. "We started out dating, and that lasted for what...a month? And then the two of us ended up getting into a pretty bad fight, and we barely spoke to each other. The morning after I had been admitted to the hospital to have my appendix taken out, we...well, God, this is embarrassing. We flipped a coin because neither on of us wanted to say yes or no to the whole dating thing again. Heads, we stayed friends. Tails, we were dating. Needless to say, it ended up on tails."
For a moment, we weren't sure they were going to stop laughing over that, but when they finally did calm down (and it took a long time), JC confirmed that and added a piece of information himself. "It had to be one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. I mean, there's the woman that I've been practically obsessed with since we met, and we're sitting there, saying, 'Just flip a coin.' 'My purse is right over there, steal one.' I couldn't believe that she actually went along with it. I can't believe that I did that."
Laughing again, Brooklyn protested that he still owed her for the quarter that he used, and told us that the couple hadn't even expected to go public so soon after their second shot at dating each other. "The question came up [outside of the Academy of Country Music awards], and we sort of looked at each other, and told each other that if you want to say something, go for it. It wasn't a big deal to us. It was going to get out sooner or later, so we might as well just say it, was what I was thinking." There was still a joke involved there, she went on to explain. "And can you believe that they were placing bets on us in Vegas? I couldn't believe that, and I most certainly couldn't believe when my publicist put a hundred dollars down on us. She was already inside, so when we walked by her, I told her that she could go collect her money. I've never heard a person yell so loud in my entire life."
For now, the couple is happy, enjoying their time together in and out of the spotlight. "It's a little more hectic than I thought it would be," Brooklyn explained. "I'm not used to having reporters practically breathe down my neck when I walk to the store, or have pictures taken of me when I go out to get the mail. Country artists don't get that kind of treatment; everyone is very laid back when it comes to our genre. But it's a part of JC's life, and like it or not, I have to accept it and get used to it."
"There are times when it can get annoying. She's taken to wearing baseball caps and sunglasses when she goes out in public so that no reporters or photographers can chase after her, which has happened before. I'm not even used to it, after all the years of it happening to me. Pop music is more demanding when it comes to press coverage. She takes it well, though, and even though I know she doesn't like it, she's never complained." There was no missing the sound of pride in his voice (or in the look he gave her) when he spoke of how her lifestyle had changed in so short a time.
The press and the fans weren't the only people that were trying to get some information out of them, though. Their friends and family members are just as curious. In fact, the rest of NSYNC and Brooklyn's older brother set them up once! "It was a very elaborate plan that they came up with. Lane and Chris [Kirkpatrick] were the masterminds behind the plan, but everyone was involved. It included everything from Brooklyn's ride running out of gas and her being locked in a hotel room while I was locked in my own apartment, to both of us being drenched by two different buckets of milk so that we would have to shower, and it all came together for a rooftop dinner." Now you have to appreciate such romantic friends like that.
Are they all friends though? Brooklyn and JC both agree with that, but we went to the real source, the rest of NSYNC for the answer. And we were amazed to find out what we did. For example, who knew that Chris was Brooklyn's first choice for advice? "She comes to me for a lot of things, and I do the same with her. We're basically extensions of each other. Brooke's the female version of me, and I'm the male version of her. We're close, best friends, really," the usually hyperactive singer told us. Justin Timberlake, on the other hand, has a slightly different opinion. "She's cool. There's not much you can say about her besides that. She's just...cool. She's Brooke."
"You can't describe her in one word. It takes a whole list of words. Sweet, caring, beautiful...both inside and out, talented, funny...there's not just one way to describe her, because she's a little bit of everything," Joey Fatone went on to say. Lance, however, had probably the best description of all. "Brooklyn is definitely different. She could be picking on you for some stupid move, and the next minute, she's asking your opinion on world peace. And she definitely dominates a debate. Most of the time, you forget that she's famous. She makes you forget that you're famous. With her, it's all about friendship. If she likes you, you'll be friends for life, but if she doesn't, you'll never see her. She's fiction and reality, all rolled into one." Pretty strong words for a group of guys that makes millions of teenage girls blush and propose marriage nightly.
But what do they all think of the growing relationship between the "Golden Couple"? Who better to ask than Brooklyn's best friend. "We're all happy for them. Ecstatic, really. They're a couple in our eyes, and yet, they're not. That's what's so great about them. They're not sickeningly sweet, but instead, they joke around and basically act like really close friends...only with the added benefits that couples have. They were lucky enough to find each other, we were lucky enough to have a hand in bringing them to the point that they're at now. They're perfect and so imperfect at the same time," Chris explained before laughing. "How can you explain something that strong, especially when we all want it for ourselves. There's no competition between them other than joke wars. They're never jealous or worried. They're comfortable with who they are, and who they're with." Obviously, the couple brings out a more serious side of him.
And there are many future plans for NSYNC and Brooklyn, both together and separately. While the guys are just about to finish up their last tour, Brooklyn is doing the same, before she goes back into the studio to record her eighth album! That is, if vacation isn't on their mind, since all six of them admit that they need to get away for awhile. There is something looming in the future, and it involves a wedding.
"We're getting married?" JC asked jokingly. "I haven't even bought a ring yet. I mean, you try shopping for her. It's next to impossible." Not so, judging by her silver and diamond necklace that shows her private nickname, and the silver bracelet that he gave her only a few nights ago, inscribed with a line from a poem that neither one of them are willing to share (let's hope it isn't the "Roses is red" line).
The wedding bells are there, just not for them. "Well, Austin [Turner, Brooklyn's brother] and Mia [Coltrain, Brooklyn's publicist] are getting married in a week and a half, and we're both going to be there. New York's the maid of honor, and I'm the best man." And yes, the rest of NSYNC is going to be at the wedding, too, watching as their friends tie the knot.
While the wedding sounds great (congratulations to the couple), there's a more important question that everyone wants to know. Are they ever going to sing together again? "We don't know. JC is going to be producing about half of my upcoming album, which will happen after our vacation, but we have no plans to sing together again. It was fun the first time, but I have this thing about repeat artists. I don't like them," Brooklyn explained. As for JC... "I am trying to convince her to sing on one of our albums, but so far, she's said no. Doesn't want to mix the two styles or something.
Brooklyn went on to say that she didn't feel comfortable pushing the two of them out there all the time, just because they were dating. A interview or two, a few pictures, that's fine with her, but to repeatedly flaunt their relationship, as she put it, just gets annoying. She did leave us with one final quote, though.
"Still, even a country girl needs a little pop in her life."
She sat there for a moment, before putting down the magazine and letting the words and quotes sink into her brain. "THAT is what those girls were so excited about?" Alex finally asked aloud, rolling her eyes. "My God, I thought they could have at least a semi-intelligent conversation, but I guess not." With a snort of laughter, she slammed the magazine shut. "And Seventeen. Like that's a big deal."
But something wasn't sitting right. Two names kept popping out at her, and she opened the magazine again, flipping back to the last page of the article. There it was, in black print on a white background. Mia Coltrain (now Turner) and Austin Turner. The two names that were first associated with Chris when she first got some information on him.
Of course! She didn't know why she passed by it the first time. Austin Turner was, obviously, Brooklyn's brother, and it made sense that Mia Coltrain was her publicist, since she had been told that she worked as one for a record company. Curb Records of Nashville, and anything in Nashville had to be associated with country music. Brooklyn Turner, or Brooke as she knew her for all those weeks, was a country singer. Dating a member of NSYNC, the group that Chris was also a part of. And the rest of the guys in that cabin were part of NSYNC, as well. It all made perfect sense.
It also made her wonder why she hadn't caught on before. It was pretty obvious, when she thought about it. If she had just sat down and thought...not even hard thinking was required for this...she would have seen it. Would have thought of it. And now the information was staring her right in the face.
"Oh, Miss Brooklyn Turner," she started softly, "you better not make good on that threat, because I have everything I need to take you down, if it comes to that. You'd better watch your step, because now my threat is for real."
"She's a bitch. Plain and simple. And she's infuriating. That's the worst part," Brooklyn complained as she paced in front of the fire. "Are you even listening to me?"
"I'm trying not to," Chris groaned, closing his eyes as he leaned back on his pillows. "Why can't I be one of the people that can't lay down when they have a headache. Because then I could get away from you by walking out of the room. But no, I have to lay here and listen to you rant and complain about...what again?"
Her eyes rolled as she slammed down into the armchair he had spent the previous night in. "Alexandra, you doped up idiot. The Ice Queen, the Bitch from Hell. She's just...UGH!" Her angry face disappeared when she saw the wince land on her best friend's face, the volume of her voice just too much for him to handle. Anything above a whisper was too much for him to handle. "Oh, God, Chris. I'm sorry. I didn't even-"
"Shut up," he told her weakly, taking a deep breath. The pounding was, thankfully, going down, but not by much. It was down to a bearable degree...unless you had a very mad country singer ranting about the woman down the road. When it finally subsided (and he was beginning to doubt that it would), he squinted his eyes and looked towards her. "What's your problem, anyway?"
Swinging her legs over the arm of the chair, she sighed, almost dramatically, and pouted for a moment. "She...she accused me of lying," she started, lowering her voice. "Accused me, of all people, of lying. I have to be one of the most honest people around. How can she say that I lied?"
Chris groaned again, more from her words than actual pain. "You're not honest, you're delusional. You have lied to her, Brooke. We all have. I'm almost sure that she's lied, too. But that's beside the point. She didn't accuse you of anything. She was just pointing out a well-known fact. You may be honest most of the time, but I have to say that this past month has NOT been good for you."
"No shit," she grumbled, leaning her head against the back of the chair. "Not only that, but she said that she knows a lot about me. What the hell have you been telling her, Christopher? What did you do, tell her everything about us, because if you did, you made a very dangerous mistake."
"She knows very little about us. What she does know is what we've told her. My God, it's not like I went there and told her who you were or who we were. I feel bad for lying, but we started the damned thing going, and now we have to finish it. I've already started on that."
Her eyes widened momentarily. "What? You just came right out and told her that we were lying? Oh, God, this is turning into a big mess. We never should have come out here for vacation. I KNEW that I should have just kicked around Tennessee for awhile, and then went back to the studio. Me and my stupid ideas about a white Christmas."
He had no idea where this was coming from, but he was damned sure going to find out. All the pieces weren't fitting together in the giant puzzle that had become their lives. Just when they thought they had all the pieces, they found out that there was one...sometimes more...missing from the whole picture. "I don't see where you're going with this, Brooke. I didn't tell her everything. I accidentally let one thing slip, and I told her that we're just trying to keep whatever little bit of privacy we may have left. She understood...a little too well, which leads me to believe that she's been lying as well. But that doesn't matter."
"Yes, it does, if you knew who she was."
"Know who she...YOU have no idea who she is. You're the one that won't get to know her. I, on the other hand, know a hell of a lot more about her than you do. I am at least TRYING, something that you don't seem to be capable of."
Raising her eyebrows, she picked at the seat of the chair, grumbling to herself for a few moments. "Wow, when you get pissed, you really pull out the vocabulary."
"It's one of my downfalls," he replied automatically, waiting for her to say something else, to pick on another point that she didn't like. Brooklyn was becoming more and more predictable.
Tilting her head to the side, she finally continued to speak, not looking at him. In fact, looking at him was the last thing that she wanted to do. "It's my fault that you have some major hang-up on a woman that you don't know. It's also not my fault that she isn't who she appears to be. You can't put me completely at fault here, because she had a hand in this as well. Not only that, but if you knew who she was, you'd stay away from her. And if you wouldn't, I'd make sure that you would."
A moment of silence enveloped them, broken only by the crackling fire, before he sighed softly, a sign that he was beginning to give up. "Brooke, if I could, I would go and get my wallet to show you my birth certificate. That would be my proof that I'm an adult, sweetheart. Full fledged adult, and have been one for awhile. Hell, I'm almost thirty, Brooke. Beat that one."
"Okay, so I still have five years until I hit that point, which, if you ask me, is so over the hill, it's not even funny. BUT, you're not listening to my point. I know something about her that you don't-"
Chris interrupted her quickly. "Are you going to start jumping around me and pointing your finger in my direction, because if you are, let me arm myself with a pillow, first."
She set her jaw and stared at him. "I know something about her that you have no clue about, something that you probably wouldn't even think about. She's...she's...I'm afraid that she's using you, and in the process, she's using us as well."
Well, that had to be the most ridiculous assumption she had made so far. It just didn't make sense. Why Alex would use them, why she would use Chris...it wasn't true. It COULDN'T be true. "Normally, that would be a good reason," he started softly, "but I think you're wrong this time. There's just no facts to add to that. If she was prying into our private lives, then yes, I might agree. But she isn't. In fact, she doesn't even ask. Like I said, all that she knows is what I've told her."
"She knows a hell of a lot more than that. I overheard something, and it doesn't sit too well with me."
"Something that was none of your business, I'm sure."
Shaking her head, she looked down again. "You don't understand, Chris. I'm just trying to look out for you. If you were in the same position as I am, you would have done the same exact thing that I did," she said hotly, though her voice was no more than a fierce whisper.
Narrowing his eyes, he looked over at her. "What did you do, Brooke?"
An innocent look covered her face. "I didn't do anything. It was just an example, a figure of speech. That sort of thing." Well, she wasn't completely innocent, but Chris was in the position where he wouldn't care if she changed the subject suddenly. In fact, he wouldn't even think of protesting. "I'm just trying to look out for you. Is that big problem?"
"You really DO baby me," he teased weakly, smiling a little at her.
Her face flushed slightly. "Sorry, I don't even realize it when I start. I probably shouldn't. You're right, everyone's right. You can take care of yourself, but, I just can't help it."
Everyone is right, he wondered. Where the hell did that come from? He'd never heard her mention it besides early that morning. And it had been the first time that he had ever really noticed it. "Yeah, you do, but I appreciate it. Really, Brooke, it's not a big deal. It's just part of who you are, and I don't mind in the least."
"You're not the one that does," she said quietly, playing with the hem of her shirt before she dropped it and raised her eyes to his. "Look, you should really try to get some sleep. I'm just keeping you awake. Besides, Justin challenged me to a game of Scrabble. You KNOW that he's trying to get his mind off of something if he wants to play that," she said softly, standing up. Walking over to the bed, she dropped a kiss on his forehead quickly. "Chris, do me a favor. Stay away from Alexandra."
His eyes raised to meet hers. "I can't, sweetheart. I don't know why, but I can't."
"Please."
"No."
She shrugged and smiled faintly. "Can't say I didn't try. Just be sure that you're prepared for what could happen, because I know that it's not going to be pretty." Biting her lip, she looked towards the door and sighed. "Good night."
His hand reached out to take her wrist. "Wait, where are you sleeping tonight? I know that you're not going into your room tonight."
Her head shook. "The two of us still need some time to cool off before we can even think about talking about what happened. I'm going to stay with either Lance or Justin tonight. They were fighting over me before. Joey, thankfully, stayed out of it. Get some sleep, you need it." Taking his hand off of her wrist, she walked to the door and opened it softly, walking out, and closing it just as quietly behind her.
Chris sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "I'm beginning to think that we shouldn't have gone on vacation, either."
Chapter Fourteen
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