He flipped open the brown leather wallet, his fingers heading straight to where the photograph was hidden behind his drivers license. The image was ingrained in his memory but still he found himself staring at her, tracing her features with the tip of his finger.
A sharp rap on the door had his hand jerking, dropping the photograph. His breath caught in his throat as he scrambled to pick it up. With one last glance the photo was slipped back into place.
He stood, cracked his knuckles, rolled his shoulders and his composure was back in place. He wouldn’t stand for anything less.
He threw the door open. “Fifteen minutes early. I’m impressed, Miss Thomas.”
Natalia’s eyes drifted to his open shirt, baring a hard golden chest. “I could come back if you’re not ready for me.”
“Ready for you?” He raised an eyebrow dangerously. “Let me be the judge of that.”
She shifted uncomfortably under the watchful eye of the domineering man. He scared her sometimes, but she was also intrigued. He had so much going for him; why was he so bitter?
“Come on in, I’m not going to bite.”
She wasn’t so sure about that, but she followed him in anyhow.
“I need you to make some calls for me. Then you can come with me to sort this mess out.” He turned suddenly. “I trust you found somewhere to sleep.”
“Yes thank you.”
He continued to button his shirt slowly and raised an eyebrow. “Care to share where?”
“No thank you.”
Bryan smirked. “Smart girl.”
“Where do you want me?”
“Natalia, I could take that in so many ways. Your boyfriend may have something to say about a few of them though. ”
Her face remained impassive as he laughed at his own joke. “Over there.” He pointed to the corner of the suite where he’d already set up a work area on the table. Everything they would need: a laptop, small printer, and he’d even acquired a fax machine from somewhere.
“Call Shannon first, I need her to rearrange an important meeting for me.”
She leafed through a few of the messages jotted down on the notepad resting on top of the desk. “Who with?” she asked absently.
“John Thomas.” He watched as her shoulders tensed before turning to slip a tie around his neck, a smile playing at his lips. “His company is ending its tour in L.A. late next month and we’re going to pull out all the stops promotion-wise.” Bryan turned again, tightening his tie as he watched her through the wall mirror. “I hear they have a lot of up and coming dancers.”
“Yeah…” she murmured.
“Anyway, I’m going to be in New York next week and I believe they’ll be in town too. May as well kill two birds with one stone, don’t you think?”
Natalia looked him in the eyes defiantly. “I’ll get right on it.”
“One more thing—” The phone cut him off mid-sentence and he quickly snatched it up, walking to the other side of the room and talking for a few minutes in a hushed voice as Natalia waited patiently.
He looked distracted by the time he hung up, and when he walked straight to the door without even acknowledging her she wondered what was going on. As if reading her thoughts he spun around just before he stepped out of the room. “I need to head out for a while.”
“What should I do?”
“Just use your damn initiative for once, Natalia.” And with that he was gone.
She growled out loud and threw her middle finger up at the closed door. “How’s that for initiative, jackass.”
She lifted the phone. “Hey, Shannon. The leech wants to reschedule an appointment.”
Five o’clock rolled round and Bryan still hadn’t arrived back from wherever he’d disappeared to. She wasn’t complaining—the idea of being stuck in close quarters with him for the whole day hadn’t been appealing, especially after their initial meeting that morning. She drummed her fingernails on the desk impatiently, glanced at the clock again, then to the door. Justin had said to be in the lobby at six, and she still needed to get ready. The hell she was missing the show just because Bryan had gone AWOL.
She grabbed a post-it, scribbled a note, then stuck it on top of the work she’d completed. Through the wonders of the Internet she’d cleared a backlog that had been weighing heavily on her shoulders for the last week. She breezed out of the room, work forgotten. She was going to enjoy herself.
She’d just taken her seat when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Her head flew round and she had visions of a confrontation with a group of fans that had somehow managed to bluff their way into the VIP area. Instead she found a familiar face. “Lynn! Hi.”
She slid into the seat beside Natalia and slipped out of her jacket. “A birdie told me you were here.”
“I didn’t see you at the hotel this morning.”
“Oh, I only got here a couple of hours ago. I was with the girls in New York and decided to come see Justin for a few days before heading back to Orlando.”
Natalia nodded even though she had no idea who “the girls” were.
“Not that I’ll see him a whole lot now that you’re here,” she chuckled.
Natalia, thinking she was treading on toes immediately spoke up. “I’m just here for work, really. You two should spend some time together.”
“Honey, don’t be silly! I’ve had that boy to myself for twenty years, it’s your turn. Besides, I can just hear him now, accusing me of running you away. I’d never hear the end of it. No, you two are on your own. I can occupy myself for a few days.”
Natalia’s gaze shifted to the front few rows as they erupted in screams. It only lasted a few seconds before dying out again. Every movement from the stage resulted in the same happening—a premature reaction from groups of girls—and women—anxiously waiting for *NSYNC’s entrance. Instead, stagehands were treated to a few shrieks, promptly followed by disappointed groans while those sitting further back strained to see what was happening.
“I’ve never seen them perform before.”
“Then you’re in for a treat,” Lynn told her. “Here we go,” she said as the houselights went off and the place slipped into darkness.
Over the next couple of hours Natalia was sucked into the show just like everyone else surrounding her. On occasion Justin sought her out as he made his way to her side of the stage. She gave him a reassuring grin as he continued to perform his heart out.
During one of the ballads Lynn leant in and loudly said, “You know he was really nervous about what you’d think.”
She looked at Lynn, shocked. “I don’t know why, they’re all amazing.”
“You can say that again,” Lynn said, pride evident in her voice.
They stayed right through until the end of the encore. Justin, along with the rest of the group, had left immediately—even before the last note sounded—so Natalia rode back to the hotel with Lynn in a car that waited out back especially for them.
She felt a lot more comfortable in Lynn’s presence now. She’d been accepted it seemed, and as they chatted she found it hard not to like the woman.
They arrived back at the hotel some thirty minutes later. As they stepped out onto the groups floor Lance was already showered, dressed and on his way out again with some friends. Lynn guided the way through the group of people congregating in the hallway. At Justin’s room they bumped into Chris who was just leaving. “Hey Lynn, how much did I rock tonight!”
She laughed. “Oh you rocked.”
Chris turned to Natalia. “And what did the first-timer think?”
“Definitely rocking,” she smirked.
“But not as much as me, right?” Justin piped up as he joined them in the doorway.
“But of course,” she agreed good-naturedly.
“My stomach is growling. How about I take my two favourite girls for something to eat?”
And so they ended up in the hotel restaurant—his two girls and Chris, who had talked himself into an invitation—well, followed them really. Natalia and Lynn snacked on cheese and crackers while Justin and Chris chomped their way through burgers and fries.
Lynn shook her head. “I don’t know where you boys put it.”
“We must have sweated away at least ten pounds out there.” Chris ran his hands down his chest. “We’re just replenishing these heavenly bods.”
“Yeah, like he said,” Justin agreed, his mouth full.
“Oh please,” Natalia guffawed.
As Chris dragged Lynn into a conversation about where in the world you could find the best burgers, pizza and other such things, Justin inched closer to Natalia. MP> “So…you liked the show?”
“I loved the show,” she assured him, stealing a fry from his plate.
“Really?”
“Really,” she laughed. “The fans and critics love it too, that’s what really matters.”
“No, that’s where you’re wrong. You, the guys, my family—your opinions are the only ones that matter,” he spoke seriously.
She searched for his hand under the table and squeezed it. Their hands remained clasped, resting on Justin’s thigh the remainder of the evening.
The four of them left the restaurant together, chatting away amongst themselves. They were making their way back to the elevators when she spotted him talking away into his cell phone on the other side of the lobby. “He’s back then.”
Justin turned his head. “Who?”
“Bryan. He’s been gone all day.”
“Who’s that?” Lynn asked.
“My boss’s son.”
“An asshole is who it is,” Justin sneered.
“Watch that mouth of yours,” Lynn warned.
“Mom, the guy is bad news.” He tightened his hold on Natalia’s hand and looked across the lobby. “Bad news…”
Bryan slammed the door and headed straight to the phone. He’d had enough of this. Who did they think they were? The happy little couple, walking around hand in hand, rubbing his face in it.
“Drayton? What we talked about earlier? Get on to it right now. ”
Natalia lifted her head off the pillow slightly and looked across the room to the door through sleep-filled eyes. Three sharp knocks sounded once again.
“Justin.” She rolled over and gently shook his shoulder. “Justin, somebody’s at the door.”
He grumbled a protest, still half-asleep, and buried his head deeper into the pillow.
The knocking continued. Justin continued to sleep. He looked comfortable, his arms resting on the pillow either side of his head. With a sigh she reached over and swiftly pulled at the hairs under his arm. Justin’s head shot off the pillow. “Ouch!”
“Well I tried to get you up nicely, but it didn’t work.”
Justin rubbed the underside of his arm, his own head turning when the knocking continued. “Who’s that?”
“I don’t know. I thought maybe you should go check, seeing as it’s your room and all. I’m not even supposed to be in here.”
Justin frowned as he pushed himself off the bed. “You’re welcome anyplace I am, and if someone tells you different come see me.”
He stumbled across the room, snatching a t-shirt off the floor and pulling it over his head on the way.
The group’s press agent stood on the other side. “Can we talk?” She glanced over Justin’s shoulder, and even though she couldn’t see Natalia, she was well aware, as most of their immediate entourage were, that Justin’s girlfriend was in town. “In private,” she added.
He lifted her arm and looked at the watch on her wrist. “It’s six forty-five in the morning and it’s my day off,” he whined.
“Justin, this is important.”
He noted her serious expression. She didn’t look happy with them at the best of times. ‘You guys will be the death of me’ and ‘Why can’t you behave’ were a couple of her favourite gripes.
“My family, the guys…they’re okay aren’t they?” he asked, suddenly worried.
“Everyone’s fine. I just need to talk to you before anyone else does.”
He sighed. “Just give me five minutes.”
“Four.”
He rolled his eyes as he closed the door. He quickly ran into the bathroom, splashed his face with water.
“What’s going on?” Natalia called from the other room.
“Go back to sleep, babe, I’ll be back in a little while,” he said as he pulled on a pair of sweatpants.
Jane was out in the hall waiting for him still. “Where are we going?” he asked as he followed her to the elevator.
“My room.”
He raised an eyebrow but didn’t question her further as they travelled two floors down.
The room wasn’t as big as his but it was still nice. One corner looked like a mini-version of her office at Jive. Newspapers and magazines were stacked next to her laptop and printer.
“Take a seat,” she said as she crossed to her work area.
He settled in one of the two chairs in the room, still wondering what was going on.
“I got a call from Florida this morning.”
He grinned lazily. “You got a call from a state?” She didn’t look amused. He cleared his throat. “Go ahead.”
“They faxed me this. Hot off the press. I thought I’d better give you a heads-up.” She passed him a piece of paper.
His eyes scanned the print and his heart immediately sank. “Shit.”
“Did you know about this?”
“Yeah, but it’s not like I expected it to be on the front page of the goddamn Orlando tabloids.”
She passed him a second page. “It hasn’t gone national.”
“Like that matters. It’s where she lives. Where her mom lives,” he fumed as he read on. “Plus it’ll be on the damn Internet within hours. Why would they do this? Drag it back up after all these years?”
“You know there’s always a possibility they’ll go after the ones you love, Justin.”
“It doesn’t mean I’ve got to like it. Can’t we do anything about this?”
“Not if it’s all fact.”
He stood and kicked the chair he’d been sitting on. “Fuck!” he cursed angrily. Then his face changed into a wince. “Oww!”
“What?”
“No shoes,” he explained as he hopped over to the bed.
“Serves you right.”
“Just great. So not only am I probably dumped, it’s a possibility I broken my damn toe too. Good morning, Justin. Doesn’t today look like being a bright day!”
Justin knelt down beside the bed so his face was level with hers. “Nat,” he whispered. He stroked her cheek and her slightly parted lips twitched. “Nat, honey, wake up.” She stirred then and grinned lazily at him as she stretched.
“Hey.”
“Hey to you too,” he smiled.
“What time is it?” she asked.
“Like, seven-thirty.”
“I could sleep forever in this bed, it’s so comfy.”
“Budge up,” Justin said, climbing into the bed next to her. She shuffled along until he was able to fit comfortably. “I need to talk to you about something.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Uh oh, that sounds serious.”
He cleared his throat. “Remember we talked about the press and how ruthless they could be?”
She didn’t like where this was going already. “Yeah.”
Justin took a deep breath. “There was something in this morning’s paper. Back home, that is.”
“About us?”
“Kinda.” He pulled out two folded pieces of paper. “I’m so sorry, Nat.”
His troubled expression made her worry just what had been printed. Was it really that bad? Was it about him and some other girl? Oh God, she couldn’t stand that.
She took the pages from him and unfolded them carefully.
All she needed to do was read the headline. Her breath caught and her heart sank. She swallowed past the lump in her throat. “I want to go home.” She turned her head to the side to look at him. “Now.”