Justin tightened his fingers around hers and walked slowly through the kitchen and into the area that would one day be his dining room. He didn't like the look on her face, he definitely didn't like the tears he saw in her eyes, and he especially didn't like how she was hiding something from him. Lauren was extremely good at being strong and working through whatever was bothering her, but from the look of her there was something going on that was more than the average problem.
She never kept anything from him and that was what he loved about her the most. He knew where he stood with her and if there was ever a problem she would come out and say it and then it would be taken care of. That sometimes left him with a sour taste in his mouth because she was famous for laying it all out on the line and in a blunt way that often made people feel raw afterwards, but at least it was said and it was out in the open.
She didn't look too thrilled about spilling this problem she was going through and that brought up a whole new series of concerns for him. This was not the girl who he had had verbal shakedowns with, this was not the look of determination and anger that he was used to seeing, and she certainly didn't look like the fighter he had grown up with. To him, this was about trust and that was something they had always shared between one another. Even if she wasn't meaning to hurt his feelings…her hesitancy to let him help her was doing just that.
He sat down on the plush white carpet underneath the low setting chandelier that would one day hang over his dining room table and folded his legs comfortably. Lauren still stood in front of him as she looked around the room like she would rather look at anything than to bring her eyes to him.
"Val? Are you going to sit down?"
She sniffled and wiped her cheeks quickly before looking down at him. "I was just looking at…at the room. It's really beautiful."
"What I think is beautiful is the way you're working hard to avoid the topic at hand here. Sit down with me."
She looked at his beautiful and concerned face and wondered how the hell she was going to sit there and lie to him. She never had been able to lie to him over the phone, heck she couldn't even lie to him through emails, and now she was going to have to look him in the eyes and lie to him. Even if it wasn't technically lies she was dealing him, avoiding the truth was just as bad in her opinion.
He sat up, grabbed both of her hands, and pulled her down onto the floor to sit directly in front of him. "Are you comfortable?"
"This…this is really nice carpet."
He smiled comfortingly and rubbed his fingers over her hands soothingly. "I wasn't talking about the carpet. I was asking if you're comfortable talking to me right now?"
She stared down at the way his fingertips were massaging the backs of her hands and took a deep breath. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"Hmm…you tell me."
"Justin I…um…" She looked up, saw his worried eyes, and chickened out. "Isn't…isn't the pizza going to be here soon?"
"I thought you weren't hungry and I think we have a few minutes before it gets here. There's no reason why we can't talk and then talk while we eat. Or do you have something against that now?"
His voice was soft but she could tell that he was getting more and more upset by the second. It hurt to know that she was causing him to worry like this but her brain was so confused and so tired that she didn't feel like acting brave just to make him feel better. "I don't have anything against talking to you."
"Then talk to me now Val. I'm sitting here in front of you, you have all of my attention, it's driving me crazy that you're giving me that look, and there's nothing I can do to help you until you decide to let me in. Now what is it?"
She looked down at the carpet and sighed. There was nothing quite like changing the topic to appear normal. "You know, this really is beautiful carpet but I didn't think you wanted white…"
"Talk to me."
"If…if we eat on the floor then the pizza oil might get into the carpet and then there would be a big stain. That would be bad since…"
He took a deep breath and interrupted sternly. "Val…"
Her head jerked over to the huge windows beside them and she eyed them frantically. "I do like the windows though but if fans get past the gates then…"
He raised an eyebrow at her and his voice grew louder this time in warning. "Lauren…"
"But I think I like this house better than the other one because…"
He let go of her hands and folded his arms over his chest. "Would you STOP?"
"Speak…speaking of stops I like that this neighborhood…"
Justin couldn't take any more of her babbling because his anger was beginning to boil and he didn't even know what the problem was yet. All he knew was that she was beginning to piss him off. He leaned forward and put his hand over her mouth to shut her up. "I swear to God Val if you avoid me on this or try to change the subject one more time then I'm going to throw you over my knee and beat the hell out of you. Now SPIT IT OUT!"
Her shoulders slumped and she pushed his hand away from her mouth. "I told you. I'm under a lot of stress right now and…and…"
Her words were cut off when a buzzing noise echoed throughout the empty house to signal that someone was at the gate. Justin looked at her for a few more seconds before rolling his eyes and standing up to walk over to the intercom. After buzzing the car in he turned around and looked down at her where she still sat on the carpet.
"I don't know what's up with you but all I know is that I feel about as useless right now as I have in a really long time and that's not fun Lauren. You come to me and you lean on me whenever there's trouble and that's exactly what you did today. So now you're here and you refuse to say anything. Where does that leave me?"
She nodded slowly and met his eyes across the room. "I told you that I'm fine."
He stared at her in silence for a bit before shrugging and turning to walk down the hall. "I'm going to go wash my hands. Would you answer the door when the bell rings? The money is on the counter."
She winced when the bathroom door slammed shut and she couldn't believe that this was all turning out the way it was. It was one thing to keep something from him but it was a totally different thing for him to KNOW that she was hiding something and keep it from him. It wasn't like they told each other every single detail about their lives but pain and concern were two things they had never ignored in the past and here it was slamming them both in the face and she couldn't relieve him at all.
The doorbell rang and she stood up with a groan to grab the money off of the counter and walk through the house to open the door. She opened it to find a girl about her age standing there with a bright smile on her face and running her fingers through her hair. Her smiled dropped when she saw Lauren. "Pizza for…Timberlake?"
Lauren watched as the girl tried to look past her into the house but she knew that all the girl could see was the staircase behind her. It was actually comical to watch this girl be so obvious in her interest that it caused her to smile. "Yes that's right."
The girl gave her a sharp look and stuck her hip out. "YOU'RE Justin Timberlake?"
Only Justin would be so cute as to put the pizza under his own name. "Yeah well I was bored tonight so I decided to make up a name."
She shoved the pizza at her and stomped off to her car. "You're NOT funny."
Lauren closed the door with a chuckle and locked it. "Oh I'm just a barrel of laughs today sweetie."
She walked through into the kitchen and saw Justin standing there leaning against the counter. He watched her as she put the pizza down and opened up the box. "That girl back there was anxious to see you. You disappointed a fan."
He stared at her and slowly nodded. "She'll live."
"I can't believe you gave your real name when you ordered the pizza. That would have been really interesting if you would have been here alone. I guess she wouldn't have needed a tip if you would have answered the door."
He grabbed a slice of pizza and chewed carefully while he stared down at the box. Lauren could tell that he was mad and she couldn't blame him at all. She was so mad that she wanted to hit something and if the tables were turned then she probably would have already hit him by now for not allowing her to understand his pain. "So um…how is the pizza?"
He kept chewing silently and nodded his head.
If there was one thing that was true, Justin Timberlake knew how to make a person feel like crap. "What kind did you get?"
It took him a few seconds to finish chewing and he looked up at her with a lazy expression on his face. "Hmm…I don't know Lauren. I see cheese so my guess would be cheese pizza."
"Are you going to sulk and be pissed at me now?"
Both of his eyebrows raised in shock. "ME? Nah I'm not pissed off at you. I'm worried and you're not talking but no…no I'm not pissed."
She rubbed her aching forehead and sighed. "Justin I really don't need this right now."
"You don't seem to need my help either."
Her eyes closed and her fingers rubbed harder. "My God you're acting like such a baby here. I told you, I have a headache, I'm tired, I'm stressed over school, and I had the day from hell. It IS possible for me to have a bad day and want to just hide underneath the sheets and ignore the world around me."
He took another bite and chewed thoughtfully. "Let me get this straight…you had a day bad enough to make you cry and that's typical for you? Are we at the lying stage here Lauren because if we are I'm going to warn you that my day wasn't the best either and I'm not sure I want to hear it if you're going to piss me off."
She knew that he was pissed off and he was angry out of concern but in the mood she was in she was about ready to fight anyone that pushed her and he was coming very close to getting all of her frustration dumped on him. That wouldn't be fair and even though he would forgive her…it wasn't right. "I don't want to argue with you Justin."
"You don't want to talk to me, you don't want me to help, you don't want to eat, you don't want to be here, and you don't want to argue. Well dammit Lauren just what DO you want because I'm lost here."
"Please Justin…don't start anything right now."
He wiped his hands on the bottom of his T-shirt and took a deep breath. "Ok I'm sorry. I know that arguing with me is the last thing you need here but do you understand what this is doing to me? This useless feeling is tearing me up when I KNOW that there's probably something I could do."
She watched as he walked around the counter and stopped in front of her. "Justin trust me when I say that when I have a good night's sleep and I have time to get things settled in my head…everything will be fine. You know me. After I get everything figured out and handled then it's fine."
"Are you certain?"
"I'm sure."
He squeezed her hand and looked at her speculatively. She knew he would push her again and sure enough he did. "Please tell…"
"Justin don't push me to…"
"I'm not pushing you."
"Yes you are. I don't know what you want me to say here. I told you everything will be fine and you act like you just can't accept that. What about trusting ME here?"
He let go of her hand and stepped back. "I can't accept that. I'm sorry. I'm too used to being the person that you fall towards. I'm too used to protecting you when something is bothering you and…"
His words and his voice were cracking her resistance. "Justin please don't…"
He cupped her cheek and whispered. "Don't what?"
"Don't force me to li…" She stopped suddenly when she realized that she almost begged him not to make her lie to him. "I want to go home and sleep."
He straightened and turned to look out the window. "You want to go home and sleep. Fine."
Justin angrily grabbed his jacket, slung it on, and reached for his keys before motioning to the door. She stood there looking at him like she was lost so he walked over to open the front door before calling back to her. "We need to go get your car right?"
She watched as he walked out of the house and then snatched up her purse with a groan. "Can this day get any worse?"
The ride back over to Jive was tense to say the very least. Justin concentrated on the road and fought not to pull over and yell at her for being this way. It hurt a lot to see her this way and even though through arguing with him she had regained some of her spunk back, she still didn't look ok. He knew that given time she would speak up though and maybe it was just the pressures getting to her. He didn't buy that but it had happened before when they had left on their last tour the year before. There was so much pressure in his life that she accepted a lot of it into her own life and was upset. Of course there was last month when he left for overseas and she was crying about that. He wasn't sure what it was this time that made him feel so worried but something inside of him was screaming that this was too much for her to handle alone.
When they reached the parking lot he parked right behind her car and turned off the car. They sat there in deafening silence until he turned in the seat to look at her. "Lauren I want to ask you something."
"Ok."
He took several deep breaths before looking down at his hands and speaking softly. "Remember in third grade when Adrian pulled your hair and got you in trouble when you threw him over the desk?"
She looked at him curiously. "Yeah."
"What about when you first moved to Orlando and you bitched out the Spanish teacher because she said someone with your strong Tennessee accent couldn't possibly do well in her class?"
"I remember. I'm not sure WHY I'm remembering, but I remember."
His still angry blue eyes raised slowly to meet hers. "Hmm…remember in high school when that guy Jaime kept harassing you to go out with him?"
"Y…yes I do."
Justin nodded and raised an eyebrow at her. "Then do you remember who got you out of those jams?"
Oh that jab went straight to the heart. "You did."
"No…WE did. My dad has called us the tag team of mayhem ever since we could walk and we used to boost each other up to reach the high stuff on the shelves. Don't you see how much stronger we are together? Now I'm not begging you to spill your guts because you probably just have PMS and I'm sitting here like an idiot pulling on you, but remember what I said about trust and us being a team." He watched her nod and turn away. "So I'm going to trust you right now even though my gut is telling me that you're hiding something big from me. I don't know what it's like to be my best friend but I've seen how much of a struggle it is for you sometimes to put up with everything that comes your way. I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry that the insanity that surrounds me has to pass on to you too but we need to stick together. That's my speech and I'm finished with it until this is either passed by time or you open up."
"Justin…would you rather me avoid or…or lie to you?"
He turned in the seat and toyed with the steering wheel. "I can't handle lies and you've never lied to me in the past so I don't know how I would handle it if you ever schemed your way with lies."
And that stuck her in a very miserable position. "I…I wouldn't lie to you."
He looked at her with miserable eyes and cleared his throat. "Then go home and get some sleep. But before you go I want to say this…when I see you the next time, when we go up to New York, if you don't have that Val spunk back then we're going to talk. I'm serious about this. If I even get a whiff that you're not over whatever this is and you give any hint that everything isn't fine then you and I are going to have a beatdown. I couldn't care less if you whip my ass in the process but we ARE going to throw down and the truth will come out. Do you understand me?"
She leaned over to pull his head down and then kissed him on the cheek. "I understand."
"Now go home and get your thoughts clear. I'll call you tomorrow."
"Talk to you tomorrow then."
"A smile please."
She stopped in the process of closing the door and leaned in to smile. "How's that?"
"Pathetic but it will have to do for now. Goodnight Val."
"Goodnight Justin."
She stood there and watched as he drove away and exhaled loudly. That was painful and it was painful because she felt like such a complete ass for not following her heart and spilling her guts right there to him. He was too smart to miss all this and he was too "Lauren smart" to overlook the way she was acting. They were going to leave for New York on Monday and that gave her a few days to come up with a plan and to come up with a way to involve Justin in all this. Lying to him for one day wasn't an option, much less to lie to him for weeks at a time.
She threw her things into the car and hopped inside. The idea of going to bed and hiding from the world was the only thing that interested her at the moment. She hadn't been lying when she had said that midterms were really kicking her butt. She was working on very little sleep the past few days, losing the guys to go off on album promotion was weighing on her mind, and for the past couple nights she had laid in bed thinking about Justin until the wee hours of the morning. What that meant she didn't know but what she DID know was that he wouldn't get out of her head. He was becoming much more than a casual friend to her and she would be lying to herself if she tried to say that he wasn't.
She looked over her shoulder as the car moved out of the parking space and she slammed on brakes when she heard a noise that sounded like something hitting the back of her car. She immediately turned the car off and jumped out to see what it was. To her dismay she was met with a stern looking yet amused Tom.
"Now Miss Owsley you wouldn't be trying to run me over with your car now would you? I mean how would that look in the newspapers?"
She grimaced and put her hands on her hips defiantly. "It would look a lot like an obituary I would LOVE to have framed over my fireplace."
"I'm sure that's not the only thing you would love to have mounted on your wall. My head ranks right up there right?"
She looked down his body and grinned. "I can think of other things I'd love to mount on my wall and it involves…lower regions. Oh wait I forgot…you don't have any balls."
He put down his now dented briefcase and smiled. "So you've gotten over your little shock and now your mouth is back in full gear. I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed bringing you down a peg or two today. It is a moment I will remember for the rest of my life."
"Hmm…controlling a nineteen year old girl…now THAT'S something to be proud of."
She had never been able to resist arguing with him, and he was about to use that to his advantage. "So I see that you have some of that bitchiness back. Is there anything you would like to ask me now that your mind is clearer?"
"I'm still sticking to my original statement. You can't do this Tom."
His eyebrows raised in shock and he laughed. "And just how do you see it that way?"
"Oh come on. I'm not believing for a second that Mr. Stephens authorized this and I'm certainly not believing that you could keep me away from them. You don't have that power and they aren't your puppets to play with. They have rights and they have the authority to overrule all this with one group meeting with Jive."
"You think so?"
She stepped closer to him to show that he didn't scare her. "Why do you think they left Transcon to begin with? They left because Lou tried to control them."
"You honestly think they're going to pull out of Jive with their album about to be released or right after it's released? Not going to happen and it's certainly not going to happen because of a replaceable girl like you causing trouble."
He had her there but she wasn't about to back down. "Ok so they don't leave, but you still can't control them."
This time he laughed out loud. "You think I can't control them? You think that Jive can't control them? WAKE UP! What's this extreme sense of freedom that everyone feels they have now that they've come here? Let me lay it down for you nice and easy so you can understand. They are the voice, they are the faces, but they are ours. It just so happens that we agree with a lot of the things that they want done in their careers but tell me this Lauren…who runs the show?"
"It's their songs, their careers, their album, their tours, and THEIR ideas."
"Who brings those ideas to reality though? I do admit that Lou went about it the wrong way because the stupid fat bastard didn't know how to scheme well enough. The baby blue fetish, the sleepy man thing with JC, those God-awful braids that Chris wore…those were all attempts to control those five guys and it worked. We don't play small here though my dear."
He saw her lost look and grinned even brighter. "They make the songs, but who agrees to put them on the album? WHO do they have to ask before it shows up on that CD? They ask Jive. When they want to make a video, when they have a video idea, who sets it up, agrees to it, and puts forth the money to make it happen? Jive does sweetheart. If Jive doesn't like a song or let's say that Jive doesn't want to put forth the money for the video…it's not done. Now tell me, is that control? Is that power? Is that determining what they will or won't do?"
The scary thing was that he was right. Jive really did control but they did it quietly whereas Lou tried to dominate out loud. "They would be able to do it without Jive's help and without YOUR help."
"Let's go basic then. The clothes those guys wear, their hair, and how they present themselves in general…who controls that? Wardrobe consultants, image consultants, and hell they even have people telling them what they're allowed to say and not allowed to say. Who is that Lauren? Come on think really hard."
"Jive."
"BINGO! And let's talk about that tour they're about to do to promote the album. Who sets up the dates, who sets up the promotions, who gets the merchandise ready for the concert goers to buy, and let's not forget who puts the money forward to make it all happen. Those guys are NOTHING without us and it's our money they're playing around with. But you see, when it all comes down to it, who gives them PERMISSION to use that money? WE DO. We don't have to and THAT is where the power and the control comes in. We don't have to go out and say we control those guys because it's done whether or not they know it."
"And where do you come in?"
He looked down and straightened his jacket dramatically. "I control what they're allowed to say and do. It's my job to make sure that they don't go on public television and spit out that they had sex with a fourteen-year-old last night. It's my job to keep everything squeaky-clean and to give the fans the N SYNC they want to see. Right now I think they want to see Justin Timberlake happy, and YOU are going to see to it that he is."
She shook her head slowly with disgust. "You're nothing but an asshole with a power trip."
"That might be true but what do you think you can do about it?"
"I would bet everything I have that the heads of Jive don't know what you're really like. I bet they have no idea that you are running all this with an evil hand."
He leaned his hip against the back of her car and smiled again. "I think that's a wise bet to make. To Jive I'm the model worker. I get my job done, I keep scandalous things out of the media, I give them nothing to complain about, and I basically bust my ass for them."
"You're a hypocrite. You walk around that building kissing ass to the powers that you want to one day overtake and you try your best to manipulate and destroy the people who walk beneath you."
"Business is a cutthroat world darling and nobody knows that better than I do." He watched her internalize all this information and he could tell that she was blown away by it. "So I dare you to run to Mr. Stephens and tell him what's been going on. I dare you to run to any of the heads of this company and share your story. What do you have Lauren? Do you have any facts? More importantly, do you have any proof? They would laugh you out of that office in two seconds flat because to them…I'm the guy who gets the job done."
"They're going to wonder about Justin having a girlfriend."
His laughter made her sick. "Stephens told me to get rid of the Britney rumors any way I could and he also told me to give Justin more freedom in the girl department. He's going to be pleased as punch to know that the boy has a girlfriend that the fans adore. Guess who will get credit for a job well done?"
He had definitely covered his bases and he was right about everything so far…she had NOTHING on him. She had no proof of his plans other than the privacy agreement that she had signed, but he had that. If Shai talked then they might have something to go with but even then it was hearsay and they were not going to fire one of their top executives, who was under contract with them, just because a few teenagers were pissed off. He had been sitting quietly and planning all of this for a long time and it looked like there was no escape route.
"Why Justin? Out of everyone here at Jive, why do you have to go for Justin?"
"The almighty Timberlake is fun to play with but there's something better I'm after."
"And what's that?"
He looked her over and spoke sternly. "You Lauren. You've been a pain in the ass since you got here and this is all about teaching you, and of course Justin…a big lesson."
She would love to teach him a lesson. A lesson of how her fingernails would feel running down his face. "You have nothing on me and I WILL think of a way to get around this."
"How do you plan on doing that? See the jewel of all this is that you can't tell Justin anything. I don't even have to worry about you telling Justin because if you did I know he would be in my face a good two seconds later. His temper is fierce when it comes to you and there's no way he would sit on that information and allow it to happen. Of course there's the slim chance that he might have the perverted pleasure of knowing that you HAVE to be his girlfriend but I don't think he likes you THAT much yet. So telling Justin isn't an option to you because you know his temper better than I do. You KNOW that he would explode and then you'd both be stuck with the lovely Shai."
He moved away from the car and circled around her as he continued. "Of course I guess you could run to Stephens with your tale but as I said before…he won't believe you. Teenagers overall are prone to dramatics and I don't think he has a rather high opinion of you to begin with."
"I can't believe you think I'm going to go along with this. You have given me a week to think about it and another four weeks. That gives me five weeks to figure out a way to destroy you and this little plan you have going on here."
He leaned in close to her as he continued to circle around her. "Do you know what I love about you Lauren? You have that hard edge, bitchy, all in control presence but what I see is a scared little girl. Who are you without Justin? Do you want to talk insecurities here? It's your insecurities that have landed you right where you're standing because every one of them made this plan possible."
She turned her head to look him straight in the eyes. "You can go straight to hell and take my insecurities with you. You don't know me."
He gave her a stunned expression. "Don't I? Let's play a game here and it's called 'this is your life Lauren Owsley' and all the information supplied was from the girl herself. I've watched you Lauren and do you know what I see? I see a girl…excuse me…a woman who isn't as independent as she would like others to believe. You NEED Justin or you're not complete. It's like you two are one person and when he leaves or is not around…your heart isn't either. Hmm…you care about him and you're needy for him to the point where it blinds you. I've seen this when you're left alone and he's off doing things with the guys and you're left behind."
"When he's in trouble you jump up and you fight his battles. Your protectiveness and your loyalty to him makes you weak and it makes you blind to outside sources because all you can focus in on is taking care of him. He is your world Lauren and that's what is really pathetic here. Of course I thought I had you pegged but then you had to go and fall for him. When you started seeing him in a new way it made you even more vulnerable because you want him and you don't know why you want him. If you were really honest with yourself then you would admit that he flips your world upside down and the thought of him with another woman tears you up. That's jealousy sweet thing and there's nothing quite like jealousy to make someone open for hurt."
His words hurt because everything he said was true. He was bringing up every single insecurity she had in her life and airing it out for anyone to hear. It hurt to know that she was so readable to the people around her and that he had managed to pick up on these things just by watching her interact with those around her. She turned around to get back inside the car but he leaned against the car door and stopped her. "What's wrong Lauren, am I hitting too close to home? Is that tough exterior crumbling around you? You know I'm right."
She spoke through gritted teeth. "I've never denied that I love him."
"Love is such a strong word and I think you're beginning to LOVE him. Not just love. It must be hard to love a guy that all the world wants and who still sees you as the tomboy little girl he grew up with. What's the matter Lauren…afraid you can't match up to the gorgeous women he sees every day? Are you afraid that the mere thought of you kissing him would gross him out?" He reached out to touch her hair but she slapped his hand away. "You're a beautiful girl but you still see the plain tomboy in the mirror. Don't you?"
Whether he was guessing or not, he was right and she couldn't deny it. She wanted Justin to look at her the way he looked at other girls who interested him. She wanted him to see that she had grown up and that she wasn't that little girl with skinned knees and dirty legs. She wanted him to look at her the way she now looked at him.
She looked up at Tom and narrowed her eyes. "I hate you."
"Ah yes the temper. The temper you have is also a huge fault and most of your problems come from the way you run that kissable mouth of yours. If you had just shut up and gone with the flow then none of this would have been necessary."
"You enjoy this too much for it to be anything other than a personal vendetta."
His head bumped against her car as he leaned back with a smile. "I'm getting a little pleasure out of this. Yes I certainly am."
"Move out of the way Tom."
He pushed away from the car and straightened his clothes. "I'm finished anyway."
Lauren opened the door and started the car up again. She didn't look at him as she pulled away and she couldn't think of anything other than the fact that this day just needed to end. She felt dirty and she felt raw. For someone who valued her privacy as much as she did it was sickening to know that he had learned all of this about her. He had certainly done his homework and being slapped with all of that information made her feel used.
"Am I really that easy to read? He's not a psychic so the only way he could have known any of that CRAP was from watching me and seeing how I act."
She felt like hitting something. No, she felt like being locked up in a soundproof room with Tom and having her way with him. For the first time in her life she had nobody to turn to. If she told Jayce then he would be at Jive and in Tom's face quicker than a snap. If Justin was told while she was still this upset then he would beat Jayce there and then there would be a huge fight for sure.
A few miles down the road she pulled the car off of the road and sat there breathing heavy while she tried her best to calm down. A plan was what she needed but what she needed most of all was to get her head clear. Right now Tom was the winner because he had a plan and she didn't.
"So I can't go to Jive because they would laugh me out of the room with no proof. He's the FREAKING model worker and my unbelievable tale wouldn't mean a whole hell of a lot. Justin and Jayce can't be told for obvious reasons. Chris, JC, Lance, and Joey would be no help because they would tell Justin. Miranda would tell JC and then Justin would know."
She took some calming breaths and tapped on the steering wheel. "Come on Lauren…come on Lauren…think…think…THINK. Justin's mom? She would tell Justin. DAMMIT why does he have to have such a temper?"
She looked around at the road signs around her and fought to think of anything that would help. Her eyes landed on a billboard that advertised a private investigator and a light turned on in her head. She had nothing on Tom and to tell the truth she knew nothing about him that could be put to good use. "He's shrouded in a cloud of mystery but he's human so that means he's screwed up SOMEWHERE along the way. I can't hire an investigator but I do know the woman who can network unlike anything I've ever seen and who has connections EVERYWHERE."
She looked at the clock on the dash and sighed. "Hmm…eight o'clock…JC's back in town…I wonder if Miranda is out of bed yet."
She pulled the car back onto the road with a purpose in mind now. "Well Miranda I hate to do this to you, but you're about to have a visitor. I just pray they're decent."