It has been six months since I have finally confessed to Justin Timberlake that I really do love him. Since then so much has happened. Justin has made it known to the public that he is not on the market, but we have agreed that I do not need to be in the public eye. I am aware that with Justin being 'off the market' causes a media frenzy to get pictures of his girlfriend which is me. I am also aware that I am brilliant at hiding from the cameras. It is amusing to me how intimidating my bodyguards can be. We have actually done really well with looking boring which apparently repels the media.

Justin has actually joined me on some training sessions with my men. He has learned quite a bit of martial arts that he is planning on using to his advantage in his up and coming action movie. He wants to do more of his own stunts and this may help him to prove himself. I was also able to teach him how to use several different types of weapons including guns and swords. The sword lessons amused me greatly.

Justin has gone back into the studio and has started on his next album which he is excited about. While Justin spends the majority of his time in the studio, I spend my time at the mansion helping out with training and whatever else needs to be done. James and I have gotten a few new 'clients' that we are looking into and researching to make sure all is legit.

Now for the biggest news that has come up in the six months. Chase finally got the nerve to ask Tabbetha to marry him, and of course, she said yes. Now we have a wedding to plan and fast. She does not want a long engagement. I think this is because she has somehow convinced me of letting her use the mansion to be the place for the wedding and the reception, and she does not want to give me time to change my mind.

I have work I have to keep up to date on. I have a super popular boyfriend that I love but makes my work a little more difficult. I have my best friends' wedding to help coordinate that is making my life hell. I have to make sure that everything I do and all decision that I make do not bring any unnecessary danger to those I care about while al of this is going on, and to top it off my boyfriend is arguing with me and I want to kill him right now.

All of this leads to today's issue - family. For the past couple of days, Justin and I have been arguing over going to visit our families. He knows I am not close to mine so he does not push that, but he will not stop trying to push me to meet his. I have no desire to do the whole 'meet the parents' routine. He does not get that, and he is about to push my last button on this issue.

"I just don't understand what the big deal is? It isn't like I'm forcing you to go home with me to meet them." Justin practically yells at me from where he is sitting on my bed. "It isn't even my whole family that will be there, just my mom and my stepdad."

I walk out of my bathroom with the most annoyed looks on my face. "I already told you that I won't go. I don't care if its the entire family down to your 5th cousin twice removed or just your mom alone. I am not meeting the family." I tell him as I walk out of my room and proceed to walk downstairs.

"This is just a little ridiculous. You are making this into some dramatic affair. You are important to me and this is important to me and I figured if you loved me this would be important to you too."

I stop at the bottom of the stairs and whip around to glare at him. "Do not pull that 'if you loved me' bullshit with me. I do love you and there should not be a certain way to prove this. I'm not going." I finalize as I walk out of the room to go to the kitchen to make a few phone calls. I choose to ignore Tabbetha that is sitting on the couch silent for once. I am shocked that she did not feel the need to add her two cents into the conversation like she normally does.

JUSTIN

I let out a huff as I fall onto the couch beside Tabbetha. She is sitting here watching some movie on TV. "I don't understand why she is being such a stubborn bitch about this." I state. I am not really talking to Tabbetha, but she does turn a little towards me and looks at me without saying a word. After a couple of minutes of the staring, I sit up and turn to face her. "What?" I can't help for the word to come out with a tone of frustration.

"I cannot believe you just said what you did is all. Do you not understand her family issues yet?" She asks me with an almost sympathetic look on her face. "She does not do the family thing. She does not see her family anymore and she does not feel comfortable being around others with theirs, especially when they are close," she begins to explain. "She may not say it or even show it most of the time but she does miss her family. She got hurt at a very young and crucial age. Her family tried to help out by talking to her about it with hopes that maybe opening up about it, she would stop pulling away so much. I believe that it had the opposite effect on Arianna. She didn't want to talk about it, so she made the choice to pull away from her family and friends and started to hang out with James.

"James pulled her into his life by not talking about the events and her feelings. He gave her a way to release her pain and gave her a way to distract herself from thinking about anything that happened. She was young and very impressionable. James and his family used this to their advantage. Arianna pulled away more and more to where her family rarely saw her. If her parents refused to let her see James, she would just sneak out and go anyway." It is obvious that Tabbetha has a hard time talking about this all. She may not have known Arianna when all of this was going on, but it is clear that the girl hurts for her friend. "Arianna moved out of her parents' home on her 18th birthday and moved into the mansion with James. It was nothing like it is now but it was still pretty grand. I saw pictures. When I met Arianna several years ago, she still made a point to call her parents once ever few months, she saw them on Christmas and sent the kids in the family gifts on their birthdays. In the last couple of years, she has stopped. James has pulled her in and has convinced her that it is better for everyone that she does not see her family anymore.

"In case you were wondering where the history lesson was leading, it was to this. Arianna still loves her family greatly and miss them terribly, but she is convinced that it is better to not see them and to not them learn of who she really is. Her family just believes that she fell in love with the wrong boy and fell into the wrong crowd when she was young and the bad influence is keeping her away. They have no idea about her lifestyle. I know all of this because I went home with her on her last Christmas home and talked to her parents and siblings. They miss her too. The point is that it is extremely hard for the girl to see what she has and is missing out on with her family. She has an older brother who she looked up to when she was younger. He is married now with three year old twin girls. Arianna has never seen them. She has a younger sister who she missed out on showing her the ropes of puberty and boys and just be there for her." Tabbetha reaches forward and grabs my hands and hold them tightly. "It is extremely difficult for her to see other around their families and have to face the fact that she 'will never get to have that' with her own. She's a stubborn bitch, but you have to understand her and be willing to be patient and just work with her on these things." Tabbetha smiles an encouraging smile at me. "I'm kind of fond of ya, Justin, and I truly believe that you are great for Arianna and you are what she needs to get her real life back. Don't give up on her and just hang in there."

I smile back. I feel horrible. I knew that things with Arianna and her family were not great, but I guess I never took the time to really think about how back they could be. "I want to thank you for opening my eyes a little. I think I am--"
I cut off when I hear Arianna's footsteps approaching from the dining room. I turn to see her typing something into her phone as she walks into the room. She looks up at me and smiles and looks over at Tabbetha.

"It is obvious that you two have been and probably still are talking about me from the silence that occurred upon my arrival into the room." I see Tabbetha out of the corner of my eye, trying to feign hurt and innocence. "I'm not stupid Tabbetha so get that dumb look off your face." She replies without looking up from her phone. "I'm going to let you continue to run your trap about me and tell shit I'm sure I would not approve of you telling but only because I need to go to the mansion for a short while. There has been a small problem and I don't want either one of you there. Feel free to sit around and chit chat. I'll be back soon and then you and I can go to that dinner and movie we've been planning." She tells me as she leans down over the back of the couch and gives me a quick kiss. "Love you and please don't listen to Tabbetha. She's a huge drama queen." She tells me with a huge smile. I make sure to tell her that I love her too before she heads out the door, back on the phone.

"I'm telling you, Justin, you have been great for her and I truly truly believe that with some time and effort from both of you, the old Arianna just may be coming back to us. My advice is to let her know that you want her at your concert whether she meets your family or not. The girl wants to support you and you need to let her. She wants to see what you are so passionate about. She's heard your music and has seen some of your performances on TV, but she wants to see the man she loves in his element and just see what he is so passionate about. Give her that chance. Let her know that you want her there and that you appreciate her being there and her support for you. Let her know that meeting your family is her choice and not anyone else's and you cannot try to trick her and get your family to 'coincidentally' end up coming into the room or something like that. Let her meet them on her terms. She will be more comfortable and more likely to meet them in time." Tabbetha informs me of this and I cannot help but see her point in this.

I have been going about all of this the wrong way and it is time for me to stop being stubborn and let Arianna know that I love her no matter what and that I do want to share my family, something that is very important to me, with her but I will not force this on her. I just hope that she will want to meet them and maybe come apart of it in some way. Maybe meeting my family and seeing us together will help her see what she is missing out on and make her want to make amends with her own family. I can only wish and hope this for I love her so much and I want her to be completely 100% happy.

I hung out with Tabbetha for a while until Chase got home from work and we joined up with my best friend, Trace, who came out to hang out and we went to go do guy things. I was surprised that Trace remembered Chase from when we were little but as soon as recalled who he was, Trace decided to make a trip out to catch up. We decide to hit the gym for a short while, get some lunch, check out women without letting our ladies know about it, and so on. It is dark outside and starting to get chilly in the October weather. Trace suggest we hit up a sports bar, drink some beer while watching some football. Chase and I agree to it and I make a call to Arianna to see if she wants to join us. She recommends one of her faves and tells me she will meet us there.

"So, how are you and your old lady doing?" Trace asks as he starts pouring the beer from the pitcher into the mugs that were brought out to us. I enjoy drinking draft beer brought to me in a pitcher at times. It makes me feel so normal, unlike when people are ordering up the most expensive wine or liqueur.

"It is --"

"I wouldn't answer that if I were you. I'm not an old lady." Arianna cuts me off before I can answer. She smiles at her own joke and gives me a quick kiss before pulling her jacket off and placing it on the back of her stool before sitting down with us. "It is going great though. Thanks for asking. However, Justin here is pissed because you are the only one of his special people that I will agree to meet, much less hang with." She has to bring this up with other people?

"I feel just all warm and fuzzy on the inside for being so special." Trace laughs. "You should meet his family though. They are fantastic people and they would love you." Trace smiles proudly. He has been seen as a part of our family for what seems like forever. I just wish his comment would help and not hurt me like it is about to.

"Do you now? I'm sure his family is just great, but that does not change the fact that I do not want to meet the parents and become a part of this so-called great family." She rolls her eyes as she chugs her beer. When she stops drinking and places the mug back down on the table, now half-empty (yes, pessimistic in this case), she turns to me. "Nice try Justin. Having your friends talk up this whole thing will not change anything. It will just annoy me and probably irritate me and then probably piss me off. You can have the bloody Queen of England talk up this whole thing and I don't care." She glares at me.

"I swear to you I did not tell him to say anything. I didn't tell him more than just the fact that you do not want to meet my parents at the concert." I try to calm her down. I look over to Trace and Chase (hmm...just realized that those names could be interesting together, especially after several of these pitchers) for some help in this.

"I didn't realize this was a sore topic." Trace jumps in, " but he telling the truth. He did not tell me to say anything to you about it. I don't know why you wouldn't want to meet his family. They are great people, but obviously this is your choice and yours and Justin's issue to work out. Please do not let my comment cause a problem between you two. This is supposed to be a fun football filled night."

"Come on, Arianna. Trace is right. We are here to get drunk and watch football." Chase adds in an attempt to lighten the mood at the table. "We can always discuss wedding plans since that is all coming up soon." This comment created a roar of laughter at the table as Arianna rolls her eyes and finishes her mug with a quick gulp and refills it again. "I'm just kidding. No wedding talk. Tabbetha has been crazy over that stuff and this is my night off from that."

"Speaking of Tabbetha, where is she?" I ask him.

"I called and invited her but she wanted to stay home and go over wedding plans and gush over this thing with her family."

"Wow. Sounds like a lot of fun." I reply with some sarcasm.

"Last thing about the wedding before we start chugging beers and yelling at the TV's, you two must must must clear all things with me before anything is done. There are a lot of things I must rearrange around that mansion and many things there that I must close off. I want you two to have a great day and your loved ones to feel welcomed and I do not mind them coming inside to use the bathroom, get out of the weather, whatever, but there will be limits and I am sure you two understand this." She stresses this to him, and I cannot help but notice Trace's raised eyebrow in confusion and complete curiosity.

"No worries here. We understand and you will know everything." Chase answers with a smile and nod.

"Why all the restrictions and rules. It is not like it is you and Justin with the paparazzi everywhere. Do you really think things will get crazy like that?" Trace asks laughing.

"I am sure you would never understand," is Arianna's simple and vague answer. "Lets watch some football!!" She yells out as a game starts on the TV, causing people around us to hoot and holler along with her.

An hour passes and Arianna refuses to talk to anything that does not pertain to football, beer, food, or all three. She has had several shots sent over to her from other tables which starts to annoy me. Guys are buying her drinking as they can clearly see that she is here with us and is clearly my girlfriend. I think what annoys me the most is that she does not refuse them. She can easily refuse them and send them back without being offensive, and sending one or two back will give the other the message that she is taken. Instead, she raises her glass, smiles real big, and downs the drink. She may not be wasted but she is definitely not sober. I finally lean over and try to talk to her without making a scene. "Can you not take anymore drinks from other people?"

"What's wrong, baby?" She smiles at me, "afraid that they will steal me away with alcohol? Or are you afraid they are making you look bad?" She laughs.

"You're letting everyone in here think that you are up for grabs, and I think you have had plenty. I want to talk to you later and I'd prefer it if you were able to comprehend what I am saying." I tell her.

"No thinks I am up for grabs." She rolls her eyes at me which just increases my annoyance and frustration level. "Do I need to announce to the whole bar that I am taken by you?" She asks me and then proceeds to stand up on her chair, making a scene. "Excuse me everyone!! I just want to point out that I am taken by this hot stud sitting here beside me. I appreciate the drinks that were bought for me, but I do not want you to be misled! I am here to have a great time watching some football and drinking some beer!" The whole place starts cheering loudly. "So, now that I have cleared that up, let's watch some football!!" The whole place goes into an uproar. She sits back down and smiles at me. "See, baby, it's all good. No one thinks that I am 'up for grabs.'" She leans over to give me a kiss and I just turn to give her my cheek.

Trace and Chase both look over at me with a sympathetic look and I roll my eyes this time. Sure enough it is not long before more drink are sent over for Arianna, 'the party girl,' and I have had enough.I ask our server for our check and I decide to cash out. "I'm leaving. I'm going to go back to the house. I will see you all there." I tell her. I head out the door when I hear someone yelling out after me.

"Justin, wait!" I turn to see Chase walking over to me. "Look, I am sorry. I don't know why she's being this way but I have a feeling something happened at work that she doesn't want to think about. If it didn't happen at work, then it's something." He looks down at the floor and then back at me. "I'm not trying to make excuses for the girl because we all know the girl is not perfect, but I just want to make sure that you do not take this all personal. You should know better than most that she is just handle things differently than most people. Just give her time."

I just nod. "Thanks. I think I am just going to go back to the house and think some things through."

"I want to leave, too. Give me a minutes." Chase runs back and I see him lean over and say something to Trace, who turns to look at me and gives me a pity look, and then he says something to Arianna. She looks over at me and gives me a confused look and then shrugs her shoulders. Chase jogs back over. "Trace is going to wait it out with her to see if she needs someone to drive or cut her off if she's going to drive herself. You know Trace won't get to drive. I don't even get to drive and I'm a good friend of her." Chase laughs. We head out and go back to the house.

Chase immediately joins in on the wedding things with Tabbetha, and I just go upstairs to Arianna's bedroom and choose to lie down and just think about some things. I am sure Chase informed Tabbetha what happened and I just let them talk. I am done talking about this until I talk to Arianna herself.

ARIANNA

It has been about two hours since Justin left the bar and I am trying to quietly make my way back into the house without being noticed. I take my shoes off to help, but as my luck would have it would have it, as I was taking off my shoe I lost my balance and fell into the big table by the door that just so happened to have a lot of clutter on it. This wonderful array of noise definitely draws attention from the two in the living room. I hear the movie stop playing and then footsteps follow. Tabbetha comes around the corner and then proceeds to lean against the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest with the most disappointed look on her face. I cannot even make myself roll my eyes this time because I know she has a reason.

"Butt out," is my reply as I finally get my damn shoe off and walk to the stairs.

"Arianna, I do not think you are aware of all the stress and tension you put on your relationship with him. He is trying everything to make it work and you are doing everything to make sure it doesn't." She tells me as she shakes her head and just turns without another word or even look and walks back into the living room, where I soon hear the movie start playing again.

I slowly make my way up the stairs and into my bedroom where I find Justin lying on my bed in the most uncomfortable position. I can tell he had been sitting there waiting for me to come home. I am sure he assumed I would come home soon after he left but I did not. He is sitting against my headboard slouched over with his head against the wall leaning to the side. His back and neck and shoulders are going to be extremely sore in the morning. I will definitely owe him a massage. I walk over and try to gently wake him up so he can at least move into a comfortable position if he does not want to talk to me right now.

I nudge him a little and rub his arm softly. "Justin, baby, wake up," I whisper in his ear. "You need to wake up. You are going to be sore tomorrow sleeping in that position." I continue to rub his arm as he starts to move a little. I hear a soft groan come his lips which makes me smile a little. "Come on. You need to wake up."

He finally opens his mouth and moves to sit up straight now. He starts to stretch out the already sore muscles and swings around to where his feet are hanging off the opposite of the bed and his back is to me now. I can see over his shoulder that he is staring down at his fidgeting hands. "I think we need to talk," he finally says quietly.

I nod even though he is not able to see it. I move to sit beside him, but I am turned sideways, facing him, with my feet pulled up in indian-style. I place my hand on his arm because I am afraid if I try to hold his hand he will pull away from me. I want to say something, but he needs to say what he needs to first. I have hurt him enough for the night and it is only fair for him if I allow him to get whatever off his mind.

He turns to me and I see the sad disappointed look in his face. It bothers me ten times more the look I had just received from Tabbetha not five minutes ago. It is hard for me to continue looking at him, but I do because I know that is what he needs me to do. "I don't know what got into you tonight, but it really bothered me." He starts off. "I invited you out to hang with us. I was hoping that we could all hang out, watch some football, and just enjoy each other's company. I know you get along with Chase, but I want you to be able to get along with Trace enough to where maybe he can hang out with us more. I realize he can't truly be in on your lifestyle and all, but we are best friends and I want you all to be able to be around each other." He looks away from me again and goes back to look at his hands that are still in his lap. "Trace likes you and knows that I plan on keeping you around for long time, but tonight you embarrassed me and upset me. At first it was just a little annoying and frustrating but then I tell you how I feel and you just make a lot worse and continue with what you were doing with no regard to my feelings at all." He looks back at me and my heart breaks. "I may sound like a stupid girl saying this but you hurt my feelings and I don't know what I did to deserve it."

I shake my head at him before I can even find words, "Justin--"

"I was hoping that we could talk about some things that were on my mind, but you are obviously more worried about partying it up with strangers, so I guess we can talk in the morning." He says as he moves to stand up.

"Justin, wait." I grab onto his arm to get him to stay seated. He does not look at me, and I do not blame him. "I am truly truly sorry for the way I acted and the way I made you feel. You are not a 'stupid girl' for telling me how you feel. I'm glad you did. I'm sorry I didn't do anything to make you feel better" I tell him and he turns to look at me. I take a deep breath and close my eyes for few seconds before I open them again. "I'm not drunk. I never was." I tell him and I receive the doubtful look I knew I would get. "I wasn't. The bartenders know me well there and know not to make me any alcoholic drinks that I do not order myself. I had to act that way to make the others believe they were." Now he is giving me a confused look. "I had to leave earlier today because I got a call from James that there was trouble." Justin rolls his eyes when I mention James like he does every time I mention James but this time I ignore it like I do most of the time. "When I got to the mansion, he explained to me that some of our men were supposed to go check out this guy that supposedly is holding up some girls in a warehouse and trying to sell them out to the highest bidder. Long story short, they messed some things up and got caught. I was not happy that they were stupid enough to go without proper instructions from either me or James. I had to act the way I did at the bar because some of the men there are part of this group I am trying to take care of and they didn't recognize me and I am trying to convince them that I am a drinker and way too trustworthy with the drinks. I need an in and this is it for me." I explain to him. "I am so sorry I hurt your feelings and I am so sorry that I couldn't tell you, but I had to have you believe I'm a bitch and leave because I didn't want them to think that we are strongly linked together or they will never approach me again."

We sit there in silence for a few minutes before he nods a little. "I understand, but I guess I am tired. I feel like it is always work with you. I know I knew who you were when we started dating and when I decided to make this commitment with you, but it feels like it is getting worse and worse as we go. There's tonight and the other night when we were supposed to be having a nice quiet dinner, it turned into a stake out. I tried to take you to the movies and we had to leave because your phone kept ringing, and we decide to just stay home and hang out together, James stops by or he calls or you end up having an emergency." He is obviously really upset about all of this. "I just feel like you aren't committed to this like I am."

"I know and I hate that you feel that way. I didn't realize you were having a problem with all of this. I just assumed you knew this was all the stuff that just came along with dating me, and I take it for granted that you are willing to stay with me and work with me through all of this even though you have no idea what is going on most of the time. I promise I will try to consider that more and try to have more us time without any work." I lean over and kiss him on the cheek. "Did you want to talk about what was on your mind earlier or do you just want to go to bed and talk about it in the morning?" I ask him.

"I'm really tired. I think I just want to go to bed. I guess we can just talk about it in the morning."

I can tell that he really wanted to talk to me about it, but was not in the mood to do so anymore. I feel terrible because it seems every time we get through a problem, something else comes up. First, it was the family discussion again this morning, and then when I'm able to get him to drop it and wants to talk about something else, I go and act like a bitch and ruin for us both. I have got to learn to balance my work and my personal lives out a little better or I am going to lose him again, and probably permanently this time. It is just so hard because I am used to either being with James who knows all about my work life and tendencies and shares them or just dating boys for short periods of time without having to really share much about me before I get bored and toss them to the curb. I need to learn how to be in a real relationship and learn how to put that before other things some times. I need help and a lot more luck.

The next morning I wake up and go for a morning run to clear my head. When I get back to the house, I make the decision to make everyone a big breakfast. It's only seven o'clock so I figure if I start breakfast, everyone will be up by the time it is finished. If they are not, I will wake them up because they will be eating this food. I go to the fridge and open it up to see what I have to cook, and to my happy surprise, someone went shopping recently. I grabbed the carton of eggs, the bacon, the sausage, the cheese, the milk, and whatever else I saw that I may need. It isn't long before I am moving food to the dining room table that we rarely get to use. I grab plates and place them on the table and get the silverware out and place it beside the plates along with a glass and a napkin. I stand back a minutes and enjoy my work. There was a large plate of pancakes piled high on top of it. There was a bowl of scrambled eggs with cheese and a plate of sausage and bacon, and I made cinnamon rolls too. I pulled out the milk, orange juice, and grape juice and placed it on the table too. I took a deep breath in and enjoyed the smell of all the food. I turn to go wake the household up when I see Chase standing behind me with a huge smile on his face.

"This looks amazing. You must have messed up good last night, but I am certainly okay with it if it means that we get to eat this." He pats me on the back in an encouraging manner.

I smile at him and nod. "Will you go get your woman up while i go get my man up?" I ask him as I move to go up the stairs.

He nods as he follows behind me. "It really does smell and look amazing, Arianna." He tells me.

This makes me smile but I do not turn around for him to see it. I continue on to my room and slowly and quietly open my door. I see Justin lying there looking almost peaceful. Justin looks so much younger and more simple in his sleep. The stress he gets over his album seems to melt away from his face. The worry and tension over us are almost nonexistent. I almost hate to wake him with the thought that this face may go away, but I have to hope that after our talk today I can erase some of those worries about us. I walk over to my bed and just cannot keep myself from running my fingers through his hair. I lean down and kiss him on the cheek. He stirs from his sleep and smiles but does not open his eyes. He reaches up and pulls me down to him and wraps his arms around me tightly as he nuzzles his nose into my neck. "Morning, baby," I do not want to move but there is breakfast downstairs that is getting cold. "Baby, you need to get up and get some clothes on. I made breakfast and it is downstairs waiting on us."

"Mmm, sounds good but we can always reheat it" He opens his eyes and they are full of mischief.

"As much as I would love to stay in bed, I do not think the other two will not be happy waiting on us and if they choose not to wait on us, I can't promise they're will be much left for us. Chase eats for a family of 8." I laugh as I sit up and pat him on the butt. "Come on, let's get up and have breakfast. Then, we can come back up and have a shower and have that talk we need to have."

He rolls over and sits up. "After a shower right?"

I roll my eyes at his question and just smile at him with a small wink as I turn and walk out of the room. "Get up for breakfast and we will play the rest by ear."

I pretty sure I hear his quickly jump out of bed and throw on the pair of jeans he had on last night that had been lying on the floor beside the bed. He quickly makes his way down the stair, but slows down when the smell hits his nose. "Oh my! That smells amazing." He proclaims as he walks into the dining room where the rest of us are sitting around the table.

Chase and Tabbetha are sitting on one side of the table, and I am sitting across from Chase on the other side, leaving Justin the chair beside me and across Tabbetha. He takes his seat and looks around the table and just smiles. "Amazing isn't it?" Tabbetha asks with a huge smile of her own. "Who knew our very own tough crazy kill-you-with-my-pinkie Arianna could cook. Let's eat now that we are all here."

Tabbetha goes to dig in, but I have to stop her. "We can't eat until we say a blessing," and I immediately receive a weird look from the two across from me. I look over at Justin and see a grateful look from Justin. I smile at him and just nod.

Justin says the blessing and then everyone digs in. No one says a word as the plates are covered and emptied and the covered again only to be emptied again. I look around the table and there is not one bit of food left on the table. I cannot keep the smile of my face. Everyone enjoyed the food that I made. Chase and Justin are both similarly slouching in their chairs leaning the head on the back of the chair with their hands resting on their stomachs, slightly rubbing them. Tabbetha looked like she is about to pop herself. I am so full that I feel like this may be how I die. I explode from too many pancakes. I laugh at my thought.

"What's so funny over there?" Chase asks, barely lifting his head to look at me.

"I was just thinking that I've been shot, stabbed, and have lived through it all, and this may be the death of me. Death my pancakes, exploding from overload." I explain causing a roar of laughter and agreement from everyone.

"Oh but what a way to go," is Justin's reply, getting more chuckles and nods.

"Well I guess we can't sit here all day moaning about how our pants aren't fitting." I say grabbing plates and moving them to the sink.

"Don't even think about cleaning up," Tabbetha tells me as she sits up too. "You cooked this amazing meal, and we are going to clean up this mess." Chase groans but gets up to help Tabbetha with the cleaning.

Justin also moves to help the couple out. I just step back and lean against the wall and watch. I can get used to this, cooking, cleaning, and just enjoying a simple life. I just hate that I know that we will never have a simple life. My lifestyle alone makes it complicated, but there is also Justin's lifestyle. He is constantly in public eye, traveling around, and being followed by cameras. The only time he is able to have a 'normal' life is when we lock ourselves up at the mansion. My house is not as ambushed due to fear of my so-called guards coming out, but people do still come out. I stand and watch for a little while longer and then decide to go upstairs and start that shower I was talking about earlier. I see that the trio is almost done loading the dishwasher and cleaning up whatever is left so I go ahead upstairs, knowing that Justin will join me soon.

***

After we get showered and dressed, we decide to stay in my room and talk. We are less likely to be disturbed and less likely to be eavesdropped on by Tabbetha. We sit on the love seat I have in the corner of my room. I am unsure exactly what it was he wanted to talk about last night so I stay quiet and let him talk.

"So, before things got a little crazy last night, I wanted to talk to you about a couple of things." He starts off. "I know we have discussed that you do not want to come out to my concert because of the whole family thing, but I want to talk about some things." I cannot stop my eyes from rolling at this. He knows I do not want to meet his family. "Please don't roll your eyes at me. I really want to talk about this. I realize that I went about this whole thing the wrong way. I understand that you are not comfortable with meeting my family and you do not want to and as your boyfriend I should respect this decision. I really do want you to meet my family, but we can do it when you want to. I don't want my family keeping you from coming to the concert though. I have worked really hard on getting prepared for this and plan on singing some of my new songs that I have written for this new album that coming out soon after the tour starts. I want you to see this and I want you to enjoy this. This is my life and you haven't truly been able to see it outside the paparazzi and a few public appearances." I start to turn down the invitation but he continues on. "I realize you are not wanting to because of my parents, but I was hoping that you will reconsider it. I will not try to force you to meet them and I promise not to trick you into meeting them by getting you all into a room together where you have to meet them or make an excuse to leave. I want you to want to meet them. My proposal is that you join me and come see me in concert. You do not have to meet my family if you do not want to. You will not be tricked into meeting them by putting you in a room together or having seats together. I will hang out with you but you must know that I will hang out with my family too, so if you do not want to meet them I will have to leave you alone for awhile. This is not my way of trying to talk you into it. I know that you will be okay alone if you go and that is why I am not worried about it and I believe you will not hold it against me if I do." He grabs my hands and holds them and looks into my eyes. "Will you please come with me to this concert and give me the encouragement and support that I need from you? I want to know what you think about it."

I sit there and take in everything he just told me. It does sound like a good deal and I would love to see my man in his element and just see with the passion that so many people talk about. "If you can promise me that you will not try to force me or trick me, and you won't try to 'talk me into it,' I would love to go." I tell him. He grabs me and pulls me into a tight, very tight, hug.

"You don't know how much this means to me. Tabbetha and Chase can, of course, come if you would like. Give you someone to be with while I'm onstage and with my family. I would love for them to be able to see the concert to." He just continues to hug me and give me kisses. "I love you so much!" He exclaims.

I laugh a little as he pulls away. "I love you, too, but can you calm down a little. You are starting to scare me."

He laughs some more. "Well how about we go give the duo, who I am sure one half is trying to listen through the door, the official invitation to the concert and make the plans?"

I nod and get up to follow him out of the room where we found Tabbetha sitting in a chair outside my door. "At least you got a chair this time." I roll my eyes at her. "You could be a normal, considerate human being and wait downstairs, and let us tell you what we want you to know."

"Whatever. I couldn't hear anything anyway," she pouts. "That's why I have a chair. I am sitting here waiting for you to come out to tell me. It really annoys me that you soundproof shit."

Justin and I both laugh at this. "It isn't completely soundproof as you've pointed out before. I hate that we are inconveniencing you. Will it make you feel better if I let you tell Chase that you are both coming with me to Justin's concert in a couple of months?"

She stands up quickly and squeals. "Yes it will!" she exclaims and runs downstairs to tell Chase.

"Eventually I am going to be able to talk in my own home without having to worry about people eavesdropping. Can't wait until those two get married and move out." I tell Justin as we stand there outside my room, holding each other and enjoying being alone.

"You will miss them though," he says kissing the top of my head.

"Terribly," is my reply. "I do owe them a huge wedding present, even though I believe letting them have the damn thing at the mansion should be huge enough." I try to keep myself from thinking about my friends going away.

"You know what you are getting them?" He asks me as we start to make our way downstairs.

"I think so, but we will see how it goes first. You going to get them anything or you want to go into on one present together?"

"I may get them something if they don't annoy me too much between now and then." He laughs, making me do the same.

So it starts. I am beginning to compromise with my boyfriend, and the life that I have gotten so used to and have grown to love is changing drastically on me. I do not know if I am going to be able to live through all of this without pulling my hair out, especially with the wedding. James is furious with my decision to let them have it there, and I have to make sure the house is wedding proofed. I have to get the guns put a way, make sure there are no suspicious weaponry lying around, my men do not make any scenes, the catering is taken care of, and the house is in shape to let people in and walk around a little. On top of all this, I have to get my own life together. I have to find a way to have a life with Justin without sacrificing my work, and get my work down without sacrificing Justin. I need help!

 

A month has passed and Tabbetha is getting ridiculous. She is running around like a chicken with its head cut off (this saying amuses me because every time I hear it, I can't help but picture it...but that is pointless in this matter) and she id driving me crazy. She has taken a 'leave of absence' from work until after the honeymoon so she can have plenty of time to work on the wedding. Lucky Chase is working during the day, so he doesn't have to deal with her tirade because when he gets home she's usually too tired to do anything but discuss good things while I am contemplating whether I want to use the loaded gun on her or me. The luckiest of us all is Justin. He has dance rehearsals and tour meetings and appearances and so on that takes up most if not all of his time and he gets to avoid the bridezilla. I find this completely unfair. We did get her to decide on a date that is a week after the concert we are going to in a month. That way it is still soon for her but allows Justin a little time off for it because he has 3 days off during this time (not that he didn't purposely plan it this way) and Chase and Tabbetha get to go with me to the concert before the wedding and honeymoon. It works out for everyone.

Today is a relaxing day for me. I am hiding from the bridezilla at the mansion in my office. Justin is at another rehearsal/meeting/appearance, whatever it is this time, so I have time to myself to work. James and I are easily making our way into this group of people that are holding up people in horrible conditions in a warehouse, selling them to the highest bidder where they become someone else's whore or servant or much much worse. We are having to get as much information on them as we can so we can make our way into this place and get these people out and away the safest and fastest way we know how. We have very few men on this, two besides James and me to be exact. We believe in this case the less the better. There is a less chance of something getting out of our control.

Right now I am look up all the background information on some of the newer members of this group. I start to print out the information and studyit when my office door flies open.

"Have you seen this?!" James yells furiously at me.

"I could probably answer more honestly if I knew what 'this' was?"

"It's your stupid friends guest list. We cannot have that many people here. You told me this was going to be a small wedding. There are over 150 people here!" He throws the list at me. "This is ridiculous. You are putting everyone in danger with this. Our security will be ran thin as it is on this. They have to run perimeter, make sure the inside is clear, the gate is watched, and not to mention make sure that no unchecked visitor makes it in. You have to move this damn thing." He demands as he sits down. "I don't even know why you agreed to let them have it here anyway when you barely even allow them alone to come here because of security reasons." He is furious and I cannot help but be amused by it. It is almost like sweet payback from times he has chosen to purposely piss me off.

"Oh don't be such a drama queen. It will not be that bad. Half those people probably won't even show up. Plus, everyone has strict instructions to RSVP or they cannot come. I believe it is due to location rules and catering purposes." I laugh at the excuse. "We will have a list with everyone's name on is that has RSVP-ed and if they aren't on the list then they are not allowed in unless I personally allow it and we all know I do not do that."

"What about people wanting their chance to see your beloved Justin Timberlake. That will make everyone want to come and not too mention bring about a ton of photographers and then there could be some kind of riot of all kinds of people and I know our men cannot handle that. I do not care how many people we have working security, we cannot control that."

I roll my eyes and pull my papers back up to study. "Could you be anymore dramatic?!" I throw my feet up on the edge of my desk and ignore the man sitting across the room glaring at me. A few minutes pass before I turn back to him. "I promise you are overreacting. You just don't want them to have it here. I promised they could and I will not go back on my word. Security will handle the guest and I have some of the men assigned to be part of the catering crew so they can watch the guest who are moving in and out of the mansion."

Thinking the conversation was over, I am annoyed that James continues to sit in the chair, staring at me. "This is so stupid. Our men could be spending time keeping up with their physical training, they could be perfecting their precision with their weapons, and they could be carrying out their assignments but instead you choose to have them checking off names on a list, valet parking, and serving strangers so creme puff or whatever for fuck's sake." He keeps pushing this and I am starting to move past annoyed to frustrated to pissed. "Why can't they have it somewhere else?"

"They can't afford it. They don't roll in the dough like you, James."

"No, they may not but you do. You can pay for some extravagant location that offers their own wedding planner so Tabbetha can be at ease, a fantastic photographer, catering, and you can even pay for her family and friends to stay in a elegant hotel." James tries to offer an alternative.

"They don't want wedding to be paid for by me. They love each other and they want to be able to celebrate that with their family and friends. I offer them a location for free and they pay for everything else. They want to this to be normal as possible and I am doing what I can to grant that for them, besides I'm spending my money on their wedding gift." I smirk a little.

He just groans at this and throws his hands up in defeat. "I just want you to know that if there are any problems whatsoever, everyone will be leaving. If anyone gets in that ends up starting something like a shootout or anything, I will not be jumping in to save your stupid friends or your stupid boyfriend. I'll be there saving my life and I will do what I can to help out our men because it is not their fault you are using them for your own thrills but you and your friends and their guests are on their own." He storms out of my office with a slamming of the door.

I cannot stop the sigh that comes out. I see this will not go smoothly for me. I do not care though. This is not about me, this is about my friends and their so-called special day. I am about to get back to my papers when my cell phone rings. I grab it and see it is Justin and I cannot stop the smile when I answer it.

"Hey baby! What are you doing?" he asks me.

"I'm at work doing some research. You done with rehearsals already?"

"Nope. Of course not. The dancing Nazi is killing us here," he answers with a hint of humor and then I hear someone in the background say something so he adds a little louder, "but I'm sure it will all be worth it in the end when we have a fantastic show." I hear the some person yell 'thats what I thought' back at Justin. I laugh at this. "Anyway, sorry about that. So I was thinking we could go home tonight and order some Chinese, lock ourselves in your room, watch some movies, and just hang out." He offers.

I smiles but then sigh. "I would absolutely love to but I have to do some research on some things, and also take care of some things around here." He does not have to day anything. I can hear the disappointment in his silence. "I'm so sorry, baby. I have to get this work done though, especially if I'm going to take time off for you concert and then Tabbetha and Chase's wedding."

He groans quietly. I'm sure he's rubbing his hand over his head like he normally does when he's frustrated and does not want to say anything he may regret. "Fine. Don't worry about it. I'm sure when I get done here, I'll be too tired to do anything anyway."

"Please don't be upset."

"I'm not upset." He lies to me.

"You're lying to me. I know you are."

"I'm really more annoyed and frustrated that work is always coming first. No matter what. I thought you said you were going to start doing other things every once in a while."

This time I groan. I was hoping we wouldn't get into this. "Don't be like this. I am going to work less for us. Its just that I need to get a lot done this next month. There's a lot I need to research and a lot that needs to be planned out before you're concert."

"So it's my fault that you work and don't want to be with me. You agreed to go to my concert so now you are going to take it out on my by working so much that you don't have to be with me?" His voice is getting louder and I'm sure people around him are staring at him.

"Don't be like this. I did not say it is your fault. I want to go to your concert and I need this done. What is the damn deal? You said yourself you'll probably be worn out after rehearsals." Now I'm getting ill and I know I need to control my temper. I take a deep breath and count to ten. "If its that big of a deal, come here and I'll let my guards know you're coming. We can have dinner here."

"Fine," he huffs. "Apparently this is going to be the only way I get to see my girlfriend unless we are being kidnapped or tortured to death."

"Justin--"

"I gotta go. Break is over." He cuts me off. "I'll call you when I'm done and on my way," and he hangs up on me. He didn't even tell me that he loves me like he normally does.

For the rest of the day I keep trying to keep myself from being distracted from my work. I get quite a bit done. I rushed a lot so I will be able to be with Justin when he gets here but I am disappointed in myself because I know my work is not as thorough as it could be. I know Justin wants me to be a normal girl with some normal job that allows me plenty of time to worship him but I cannot be that person. I like who I am, an strong independent woman, and I enjoy my work. It may be dangerous and my life may be on the line most days but it is what makes it all worth living. I am afraid he will not be able to understand this and will eventually lead to our downfall.

******

JUSTIN

My girlfriend annoys me, frustrates me, and down right pisses me off sometimes but I cannot help but love her. I realize our phone conversation did not go well today and as soon as I hung up I thought about it and I overreacted. She is doing what she can so she can go to my concert like I practically begged her to do and now I am holding it against her. It does bother me that she works so much and I feel like she would work on finding ways to kills others and/or get herself killed then be with me and find ways to make us work. As soon as I hung up the phone, I felt bad because I did so without telling her I love her and I thought about calling her back but I was afraid it would start up another argument. I thought about texting her to tell her but that just seemed like I was doing it out of obligation and I do not want her to think that.

The choreographer was nice enough to point out to me that I was not my normal 100% when I came back from break. We worked a little later than planned because of this. We eventually got through what we needed to. I feel bad for the other dancers because they had to work harder and longer because I could not get my head in the right place. My girlfriend is going to be the end of me.

I am on my way not to the mansion, hoping that we can have some kind of evening together. I am not holding my breath though. She may be sitting beside me but she will be working on something. I should just be happy that she is there physically though. When we are at the house, we usually end up calling it quits just as the night starts because James calls and demands she comes out to wherever and then she leaves. I am so tired of James. I understand there is no relationship between her and James, but she still jumps up and leaves every time she gets a call from the bastard. This would not bother me so much if it were not for the fact that he likes to be really smug about this fact. He always has a smirk on his damn face, and always as a quiet little remark just for me to hear, usually something stupid like 'I'll be sure to take really good care of her' or 'she'll be with me all night so no worries' and my favorite 'I'll try not to wear her out too much tonight.' The son of a bitch is going to get what is coming to him and I hope I'm there to see it.

I get to the gate and the guards wave me in and I drive up to the front door. As I park and get out of my car, I see Charles walking towards me. "Hey, man. Is Arianna around?" I ask as I walk up to the front door.

"She is but she is in her office right now. I'll go see if she is ready to for a break." He starts to walk away but I quickly stop him.

"Don't bother. I'll go get her." I state and head off in the direction of her office. Of course Charles did not like this because he followed right behind me yelling the whole way. As reach her door and choose not to knock as I swing the door open.

Arianna had obviously heard us coming because she did not jump when the door loudly slammed against a chair. Charles yells at me telling me that I cannot just come barging into the place just because of Arianna.

I turn back to him. "As a matter of fact, I can. Your guards let me in, so obviously they know I am supposed to be here. You did not look to shocked when you saw me pull up, so I'm guessing you know I am supposed to be here so fuck off." I yell at him. I almost feel bad because Charles has always been a great towards me, but I am not in the mood to be told I cannot see my girlfriend.

I turn to face Arianna and she stands from her desk and leans over it. "Don't worry, Charles. I will handle this." She sighs as she looks at me.

I cannot help but give the guy a smirk when I close the door on him. "That guy takes things too serious. He knows who I am."

She sits back down and rolls her eyes at me. "He takes his job serious because it is serious. He is right, Justin. You can't just barge in here like you own the place. This is technically a place of work and the job here does have high security risks. If it had been a new guy instead of Charles, you may have been shot, stabbed, or who knows," she rambles on, causing my frustration to grow. "Next time you need to follow the rules."

"Just great. Now I have to go through like seven different protocols just to see my girlfriend." I fall into the chair that I had hit with the door earlier. "Why can't I just have a girlfriend that I can see whenever I want. I can call you whenever I want and I can walk freely around her house?"

"You knew how this was going to be. I warned you." She is right. I was warned but this does not change the fact that it annoys the piss out of me. "Besides you can call me anytime you want. I just can't guarantee I can answer every time, but I believe that is the same way it is for me. I can't call you anytime either. You have rehearsals, meetings, recording sessions, and so on. You can't use that against me. Plus, you are free to walk around my house as you wish, but this is not my house. This is my office, my place of work. You can't expect free range, but if you wish, feel free to roam around." She tells me with a wave of her hand as she looks over papers, almost ignoring me.

"You going to roam around with me?"

"Yeah right. I'm busy. Let me finish this work and then we can hang out or whatever you want." She shows no interest in 'hanging out.'

"Well, please don't let me inconvenience you into doing something so horrible like 'hanging out' with your boyfriend. What the hell am I supposed to do? If I had known you had no intentions of doing something with me, I would have just saved gas in my car by not coming up here and not to mention save my time and troubles by fighting with your men to get to you." I am pissed and stand up to leave.

"Look, Justin," she starts as she puts her paperwork down to look up at me. "I told you I had to get this work done, but I promise we will do something when I am finished. There is not much for you to do, but I'll let my men know not to bother you and you can feel free to walk around the mansion. Go see the cook and get a snack. Go borrow one of my guns and go to the shooting range or something. I'll come find you as soon as I am done here."

"Yeah whatever."

******

It has been about an hour and a half and I am done walking around aimlessly. I have been to the kitchen. The cook was nice enough to share a bit of his 'secret recipe' soup that he was making for one of the men here. He is planning on purposing to his longtime girlfriend and the cook made a special meal for them to have during their candlelit dinner out in the courtyard under the stars. He even promised to set some aside for me to have later after I told him how amazing I thought it was. After visiting the cook, I decide to go get her Walther P99 that I knew she had in her room. I made visit to their shooting range. I was able to release some frustration but not enough. I eventually give up and return the gun to her bedroom and make my way back to her office.

On my way there I come across 'Room 7.' I remember Chase and Tabbetha talking about how great the room is, but they never told me why. I walk up to the door and there is a sign hanging on it that writing on it. It states 'Fuck off' in bold letters. I turn the sign over and see 'Heaven is Waiting' written on it. I am confused by this but put the sign back down. I shrug as I reach up to turn the knob, but before I get the chance I am pushed against the wall beside the door.

"What the fuck?!" I yell at James who is holding me there against the wall.

"Can't you read, Fucker? The sign says 'fuck off' in case you can't." He glares at me. "And just in case you don't understand what that means, it means to fuck off, not open the door. What in the hell would you do if someone walked in on you and Arianna?" He asks raising his brows in question.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I mean you would not want someone to walk in on you while you two were using the room would you? Or are you some kind of freak like that?" He now has a smirk plastered on his face as he let me go and just leans against the wall staring at me with his arms cross a this chest.

"I don't know what you mean by 'using this room.' We don't use this room. I was just curious what it was, not that it is any of your business."

He starts laughing and I am pretty sure it is at me. "You don't know what 'Room 7' is? You've been dating Arianna for over six months and you don't know this room is?" He continues to laugh. "This is priceless." He does not say anything more as he laughs his way down the hall and out of sight.

Now I am on a mission. Apparently I should know what this room is, but I don't. I rush my way back to my girlfriend's office and will demand to know just what James was talking about.

 

ARIANNA

I am finishing up with what I am working on and then I will be off to go get my boyfriend. Just as I stand up from my desk, my door is thrown open for what seems to be the hundredth time today. I jump but try to calm my heart when I see Justin standing there with a determined look on his face. I throw my head back and groan. "I am finished. I was on my way to find you." I grab his hand as we walk out of the office. I turn out the light, lock my door, and lead Justin up to the bedroom. "I'm going to go get something to eat from the kitchen. Want anything before we have chill time?" I smile at him sweetly, hoping that he is no longer mad at me but the determined look does not falter as I look at him. "Ok, well I'll be right back in a few with a bunch of amazing food and we are going to pig out, watch movies, and have our own fun." I start to walk out the door.

"What is 'Room 7?'" his question stops me and causes me to turn around and give him a confused look.

"I'm sorry?"

"You heard me? What is it? Chase and Tabbetha were begging for it the last time we were all here, and I was just walking around and James started laughing hard when he heard that I didn't know what it was. He was especially amused to hear that we haven't used it yet and we have been dating for six months. Use it for what?"

I sigh and come to sit back down on the bed beside him. "'Room 7' is our version of 'Seven in Heaven.'" I tell him, and this time I receive the confused look. "You know 'Seven in Heaven,' the game you played when you were like 13 years old and at your first boy/girl party. I know you were all getting famous at this age, but I know you had to have played it. It usually went right along with 'Spin the Bottle.' It is where one boy and one girl have to go into a closet for seven minutes. It was usually set up so certain people could be in there with their crush and make out, or if you were a nerd you were set up with someone who was so-called 'ugly' and you were made fun of. You know 'Seven in heaven.'" I could see with his nod that he understood the game but didn't quite understand the correlation between the game and the room.

"'Room 7' is a room set up for adults to play 'Seven in Heaven' except you are usually in there for more than seven minutes. We always joke that its seven hours. It is full of all kinds of things to fulfill your normal sexual fantasies and your freaky ones too. The sign on the door lets you know if the room is in use or not." I explain to him and he nods his understanding. "There are several rules to the room though. They are even written is huge letters on the door inside the room so you don't forget. It's amusing when we get newbies because they are so shy when it comes to these rules so it takes them awhile to use it." I laugh a little at the thought. "It doesn't take them long to find out that we aren't shy around here when it comes to sex. If you can think it, I am sure someone here has already done it and will tell you about it will great arrogance. The main rules are that if you break it, you have to replace it. If you use it, you must tell the housekeeper so it can be cleaned and sterilized. If you use the room, the housekeeper has to know so she can change the sheets, wash any outfits worn, and so on. We don't share shit like panties and dildos so you do have to use your own. There are swings, ropes, costumes, paint, anything and everything up there. If you tape yourselves on the video camera, that is all up to you. No one is to try to find these tapes and show them to anyone. We have a strict unwritten privacy policy that we respect. BUT if you leave your tape behind in the room, and someone finds it and watches it, that is your own fault. They cannot take it out of the room to show anyone else. The tape is to be left in the room and anyone can watch it if they please until the owner removes it or a good samaritan gets rid of it. You get the point right?" I ask him and he just sits there and nods at me a little shocked at the information he just received.

"These men work their asses off for us. Most of them rarely have time to go home to see their ladies so they bring them here and they want to have fun. I can't blame them. Most of them seem to focus better if they are able to have a release of some kind and if sex works for them so be it." I shrug. "It is no secret to anyone here though that I do not support cheaters. If someone cheats on their wife, they better not be doing it here. That room is not here to help assholes get one over on their wife. Marriage is sacred and if someone can't uphold their vows then they should either not make them in the first place or end it. If someone is married and tries to bring someone in here for that, I will hit them and tell the wife." I say this as a matter-of-fact. I do not tolerate that. "When it comes to girlfriends, I am not as strict. I do not run to the girlfriend because they have a chance to get out and are usually less likely to know what kind of business the guy is in. I do say something to the guy, maybe a light punch, and I do not lie to the girl if I am asked about it.

Justin stands up and starts pacing. He remains quiet but walks back and forth on my floor. I cannot help the smile that is on my face. "That is not what I expected you to say. I have no idea what it was going to be, but that is definitely not it." He finally stops walking and turns towards me. "What kind of freaky shit are you into?" He raises his brow and his dirty little grin appears on his face.

I laugh at him. "I'm into a lot of stuff. Like that move I did last week." I stand up and slowly walk over to him. "I like it when you pull my hair hard and leave scratches down my back." I put my arms around his neck and pull him close as I start to nibble a little on his neck right under his right ear, causing him to moan. "I even like to dress up in crazy outfits. My favorite is cop and robbers and I get handcuffed to the bed." I whisper in his ear and then lick it.

He jerks me away by pulling my hair. I look into his face and smile big when I see his eyes turn dark with desire. "So, I'm thinking we are going to need to wait awhile before we got get food and watch a movie. I moving our fun time to first and pushes the others to later." He says as he picks me up, wrapping my legs around his waist as he carries me to the bed and throws me down on it. Within seconds, his shirt is on the floor and he hovers over me and smothers me with kisses. This is going to be fun.

****

JUSTIN

Well I think for the first time ever, and probably the last, I will have to thank James. Bringing up that damn room made life grand in a while new crazy way for a couple of hours. Arianna is a freak and I love it. I hear myself laugh a little out loud which causes her to roll over.

"What's so funny, Loverboy?" she smiles as she leans down to kiss the base of my neck.

"I was just thinking that for the only time in my life, I may thank James for trying to be a jackass by bringing up that room."

She laughs at this too. "I guess. How about some food? I believe your ass worked me into starvation." She gets out of bed and looks down at me.

I would answer if it were not for the fact that I am completely distracted by all her naked beauty. She sees this and grabs a pair of underwear and puts them on, a pair of black boy cut shorts. They made her ass look fabulous. She puts on a black tank, not bothering with her bra. "You going to go to the kitchen in that?" I find my words.

"I don't see why not. The cook has seen me in my birthday suit. I have hungry drunken moments." She leans down and gives me a quick kiss on the lips before heading to the door. I am just about to say something when I see her grab her robe that is by the door. "I will, however, put a robe on this time just for you." She blows me a kiss and leaves, shutting the door behind me.

I have the greatest girlfriend ever.

I get up and throw on my boxer briefs and put my jeans back on. I turn on her TV and sit down to watch it when the door opens back up. "Come back for more already?" I ask her as I channel surf.

"Hardly." I whip around to see James throwing himself onto the bed. He lies there for a minute before standing back up. "You know I just realized I probably just lied down in your nasty after-sex. " He gives me a disgusted look as he makes a point to brush his entire body off. I just smile. He cannot ruin my mood. I will not let him.

"Why are you in here? Do we not get any privacy from you or is that only in the sex room where that is given?" I ask making sure he knows that I was informed about the room.

"I see she told you what the room is all about. All the toys?" I nod. "the rules?" I nod. "Did she take you down there to experience it?" I do nothing. "Ah, I see. She has no problem telling you all about the fun and freaky sex that can be had, yet she doesn't share the experience with you. Hmm." He chuckles as he sits down and looks at the TV. A moment passes before he turns back to me. "Did she tell you how much she loves that room? How many times we had to replace stuff because we broke it? How big of a freak that girl really is? She started the video tape rule because she made several that got out." He nods and laughs as if he was recalling a memory. "You know the best thing about Arianna is?" He stares at me until I finally shake my head not really wanting to hear what he has to say. "After a night out on a mission, that girl is crazy horny, especially if she fires her gun at all. She gets all riled up, and she just can't stand it. I can't count how many times so I'm just going to estimate about 99% of the missions we went on together ended with us in 'Room 7.' She loves to release her stress, tension, and energy in that room after a mission. She says it helps her sleep better." He has a pompous grin on his face. He just ruined my mood.

"I believe you are full of shit. Besides our sex life is great, not that it is any of your business." I tell him as a matter-of-fact.

"Thats probably true. It is hard not to have a great sex life with that girl. I remember when she brought that bartender back here once after we called it quits and she wanted to rub it in. Apparently, they broke a few things, and if I remember correctly there was a hole in the wall that had to be patched up after that." I clench my teeth and ball of my hands into a tight fists. I am trying not to hit the asshole. "I wonder why she's not taking you there? You not freaky enough for her? You not pull her hair or scratch her enough? I know. You can't seem to get in that great position that hits her spot just right"

I have heard enough. I stand up and pull him up with me by his shirt. I push him against the wall and hold him there. "I've heard enough from you. I just don't think you can handle that Arianna has chosen to be with me which means I get to have sex with her whenever and wherever we choose to do so."

At this moment the door opens again and it is Arianna walking through it. "Hey, baby, I got us some--" she stops when she sees us. "What the hell is going on here?! Why are you in here James?" She demands.

"I was just coming by for a visit and see if you finish up that paperwork and plans. This little boy toy attacked me." He shrugs.

"You're full of shit!" I slam him against the wall again. It only pisses me off more that he just continues to smile.

"Justin, let him go." I drop my hand less out of following instructions and more out of shock that she just said that without any questions.

"But he--"

"I don't really care right now." she says as she comes over to us. I see the evil smirk on James' face that I want to punch right off. "James, leave my room. I'm quite sure you are not innocent as you want me to believe. You are the world's largest instigator." James just shrugs and leaves the room. "Justin, you really shouldn't let him get to you like that. We are having a great night. Don't let him ruin it for you." I just nod and try to listen to her. "Now, I bought all this food up here. Cook sent up some soup that he apparently saved for you. I also got chips, cookies, burgers, pizza, and these fantastic weenies wrapped in bacon." She names off some of the food while taking bites of things as she goes. "I got strawberries, chocolate, and whip cream too" She winks at me taking a bite of a strawberry.

"Arianna," I gain her attention with my tone I'm sure. "Why don't we ever use 'Room 7?""

She groans as she throws her head back and rolls her eyes. "Why are we talking about this again?"

"I just want to know."

"Is that what that whole 'manly' act was about when I came in. He told you about some stupid sex and now you are making a big deal out of nothing?" She gives me a look of disbelief.

"It's not just that. He talked about how you love that room. Why don't we use it?" I ask but I am not sure I want to hear the answer.

"If you must know, we don't use that room because we use this room. I may have had sex with James in that room and i am sure he brought up others, but that's because I don't share my room with them. James is just jealous because you get to share my bed with me. We don't have sex in a room that require me to follow rules and share my experience with someone else to clean it up. You get me in my room and in my bed. Something James or anyone else has ever gotten." I feel better hearing this. I should have known. "Please do not let him continue to get to you like this. He thrives on this and you are just eating out of his hand. If you want to try something out, toy or position or whatever, all you have to do is say something. The worst I can tell you is that i won't do it."

I nod feel a little better about it. I will definitely listen to this advice and say stuff about some fun things. I thought about bringing up James' comment on their after-mission get-togethers but decided against it. I'm sure it is nothing, just me overreacting about stuff. I just follow he lead and start taking some food from the trays and eat. The food is amazing and the company is the best. I cannot do any better than this. I pull Arianna into my arms and feed her a strawberry. I will enjoy this night, no matter how bad it started and no matter how James tried to make it end. This night will be good.

 

ARIANNA

It has been a few days since Justin's insecurities about a stupid room in the mansion, but I do not blame him for them. James has a way of making things look differently than they do. I haven't seen James since I ran him our of my room. That is probably a good thing for him since I need time to cool off. I walk around do some checks on our security when I see from one of our monitors that James is in pool area with some red-headed bimbo. I grab some things and decide to head down there and let him know what I think about his stunt. My walk down there just proves that I have not calmed down like I thought I had. I stop a few times on the way to the pool to give instructions to some of the men, check a few things, and whatever else I see that needs to be done. It takes me about 20 minutes to finally get down there, but I know he is still down there.

I walk through the gate and around the pool, pass the built-in cave and waterfall and water slide (put in for the guys who have kids), and there James is macking on the redhead. I roll my eyes and continue to walk a closer. I am not extremely close when the girl notices my presence. She starts to push James away a little and I can hear his protests as he moves to place more kisses on her neck.

The girl giggles obnoxiously. "Stop James."

I shift my weight from my right foot to my left. My arms are crossed and I definitely look impatient. After James protests again, I pull a gun out from behind me that had been in my belt. The second the girl sees the gun, her giggles turn to an even more annoying scream. This causes James to jerk back fast. "What the fuck, girl?" She does not say anything. Her eyes remain open wide in fear and she points to me. James turns around and sees me standing there with an annoyed look with a gun in my hand. "Hey Arianna! I didn't know you wanted to join in the party. No need to get upset about it." He smirks. "Put the gun away and strip down and join in. No reason to be jealous." He laughs.

I look over at the girl and she frantically looks back and forth between James and me. James is standing there in his trunks with a huge smile on his face while I stand there fully clothed in jeans and shirt with boots, an impatient look, and a gun in my hand. "I think I'd rather just shoot you instead." I smirk back at him.

"You wouldn't do that. We have a special bond."

"Is that your crazy girlfriend that you were telling me about?" the redhead asks as she moves to stand up and put some clothes back on over her swimsuit.

I laugh at this and look back at James. "Is that what you tell people? I'm your crazy girlfriend?" I turn back to the girl. "You just made yourself look like a total skank. You were told he has a girlfriend. Crazy or not, you should not want to be with anyone that has a girlfriend. You never know how crazy they just may be." I say as I point my gun at James and shoot. This causes the girl to jump and scream as James grabbed his stomach and fell to the ground. "I mean they may shoot him. They may shoot you." I say as I point the gun at her. "I suggest you put your clothes back on,follow one of the guards that will be coming in about ten seconds off of the premises, and you probably don't want to return. I would also suggest you don't mention this to anyone." I shrug to her.

Just as I had said, within seconds four large men show up. "We heard the gunshot. What's going on? Everything okay?" Hank asks seeing me pointing my gun. They look over and see James on the ground and the girl quickly putting her clothes on.

"I need you to escort this girl of the grounds while I take care of the chump that is lying on the ground."

Two of the men walk over to the girl and help her throw stuff in the bag and then walk on either side of her. As they pass back by on their way out, the third guard joins them and walks behind her. Hank stays behind. "Are you sure everything is okay? Did I need to call a doctor or anything?"

"No thanks. I'll take care of it. I'll call you if I need anything else." I tell him and he nods as he turns and leaves to go back to his post. I turn back to James who is now struggling to stand back up.

"You bitch!" He spits out through his clenched teeth.

"What? Want me to shoot again?" I ask amused, pointing my gun at him again. I walk closer. "That one only hit you in the gut. I can always aim in a different area." I move the barrel of my gun to point lower.

He looks down and see I'm aiming at his groin area. "You wouldn't dare." He glares.

I bite my lip frustrated. I shoot again. I do not hit him in the groin but I do hit him in the thigh knocking his leg right out from under him. He yells out as he falls back down to the ground. "I would but I'll just save that." I go and sit down on the lounge chair that he had previously occupied with the skank. "First of all, I really wish you would not tell people I am your crazy girlfriend. I am not your girlfriend anymore and I haven't been for a long time. I am not even going to point out that you are far more crazy than I am. How does tell girls you have a girlfriend get them to come back here with you? Do girls not have standards anymore?"

"They come back here because I tell them I'm filthy rich and they come back here to see proof. They think that if I bring them back here and they prove they are worthy, I will drop you and give them all my money. Gotta love gold diggers. They are great in bed because they are willing to do just about anything for the money and you can just drop them when you are done."

"Wow" I shake my head and sit back in the lounge chair with my gun still aimed at James. "Clears that up then doesn't it. You are just a dick." He laughs. "Well too bad that half the money is mine and you should tell the next one that. Then there's the fact that you have to go out of your way to piss Justin off. I don't know what your problem is because we are not dating and you don't own me. Leave Justin alone. I am sick and tired of you going and telling him shit and making it sound like we are going to get back together or something. I'm done with you. You are my work partner and that is it. We broke up for a reason. We obviously do not work together. So back the fuck off!"

He just lays on the ground and laughs. "I can't help it if the boy is not secure in you relationship. I'm just playing around with him. How was I supposed to know you two didn't use the room?"

"You know full well. You stay out of it. I don't want you talking to him at all."

"Hey. I heard there was an issue down here." We both turn to see Charles standing there looking at the two of us.

"No issue. I've got it." I tell him.

"I really wish you wouldn't do this, Arianna. It makes the newbies worry that the bosses are killing each other. If they think you are killing him, they think you may kill them for something they do wrong. Please find another way to get your point across then shooting James." Charles shakes his head and walks off.

I can't help but laugh at that. I turn back to James. "We've got to get ready to go after these dudes when the wedding and reception are over with. That means we need a lot of information really soon. I'm going back to come up with some game plans. Remember I leave for Justin's concert in two weeks and then the wedding is right after that." I inform him as I stand up and go to walk away. I hear him groan and turn back. "Oh get up you pussy. They were just rubber bullets. It's not like I haven't shot you before with them." I roll my eyes and leave. That bastard will learn not to mess with my life if its the last thing he does. "I'm contemplating using real bullets next time" I yell back before I go back into the house to put the gun away.

I walk swiftly through the house, and I see how everyone steers clear of me. I chuckle to myself. The fear I can put in others without doing anything to them. It's a sense of power I do secretly enjoy. I decide to just leave and go home. I won't get much done now. Charles already has my car waiting for me when I walk out the front door. He hands me the keys as I walk by. I smile and thank him as I get in the car. The drive home seems so and long considering I decide to drive the speed limit. This gives me time to figure out what I am going to do now that I am not going to be working.

I would go see Justin but he is at rehearsals. I would love to watch but I really want to watch it all for the first time during his concert. I want that first experience and I want to see his passion through the whole thing. He leaves in one week to go to LA to do final rehearsals and preparations on the stage and with his dancers and band. He is excited to get started and I am excited for him. Chase, Tabbetha, and I will be joining him several days later to spend some time with him and watch the concert.

I am not in the mood to go out anywhere and deal with people. My tolerance level is running thin, and I do not want to be tempted to kill anyone. This means I am stuck going home. I am okay with this. It means that I get a little time off to enjoy before I am thrown into overdrive. After taking my time with my drive home, I finally pull into the driveway and see Tabbetha's car. She is supposed to be at work, so I am a little shocked to see her home but I am sure that she decided she 'needs' the time off to get everything ready for her wedding, go to LA for the concert, have the wedding and then there's the honeymoon. I make my way up the walkway and to the front door when I hear Tabbetha yelling loudly at someone. I get inside and see her pacing the living room floor while yelling into the phone.

"No, I am not okay with that. No, I will not have a good day. I hope your days sucks like hell and that all of your clients decide to leave you and go to someone else!" she hangs up on whoever she was talking to and with a growl she throws her phone on the couch.

"Issues, darlin'?" I laugh at her.

She growls again and sits up to look at me. "The stupid cow that was supposed to design my wedding cake just called to say that she's 'sorry but business is too crazy.' She apparently has too many orders and has decided to cut me from her schedule." She starts to yell again. "What am I going to do? There's not enough time for me to research people, take the time to describe exactly what I want, and get it made before the wedding. I am so pissed. Is there any chance you would kill her for me?" Her face lights up with the question and I just bust out laughing.

"You need to calm down. I can call my cook and see if he can or if he knows someone who can make your cake for you. He is brilliant so if he can't do it he will know a great person who can. You will have your perfect cake. I promise." I offer her and she jumps off the couch squealing to run over and hug me tightly.

I push her away gently. "And that is enough of that. I'll go call him now if you promise to calm down. If I need to kill someone for you I'd prefer it be someone better than just some 'stupid cow.'" I pull my phone out to call my cook and I go upstairs for privacy.

***

After my phone call to my cook, I lie down for a short nap. Not long into my nap though, I am interrupted my Tabbetha barging into my room. I sit up and give her a look of disbelief over the fact that she thinks it is okay to do that. I ask her what the hell she was doing and she holds the phone out to me.

"James is on the phone. He says he wants to talk to the 'ridiculously stubborn bitch.'" She raises her eyebrows and smiles with amusement and interest in his comment.

"Tell the nosy ninny that I don't want to talk to him." I shrug as I lie back down."

I hear her start to talk and then him yelling that he had heard what I said and he would call back later. She laughs as she hangs the phone up. She then decides it is okay to sit on the bed as if I were not trying to take a nap.

"Can I help you?" I ask without rolling over to look at her.

"What was that all about? You usually run to the office when he calls. Plus he seems upset today, a little more than usual." She moves to lie down across my feet to where she can see my face. "I can't help but be curious. I thoroughly enjoy seeing, or hearing in this case, James like this. What did you do?"

"Oh he's just pissed because I shot him" I roll my eyes as if his reactions were purely childish.

She jumps up off of the bed and runs over to the side that I am facing to look me in the face. I am sure it is to make sure I am not lying to her. "You what?!"

"Oh I shot him a couple of times earlier to prove a point and he's just pissed."

"You shot him and he's still alive?"

"I used rubber bullets. He's overreacting. It's not like this is the first time I've done it." I shrug as I roll over and away from her.

"I can't believe you shot him, and this isn't the first time." she runs over to the other side. "What did he do?"

"Would you leave me alone." I growl. "I am trying to take a nap so I can be awake when Justin gets home."

"I promise to leave if you tell me why you shot him." She grins over the possible answer.

"I shot him because he is constantly trying to start shit between Justin and me. He purposely tells Justin about our past and even embellishes on shit to make Justin think shit that isn't true. I am tired of him trying to get in between me and my loved ones. He will eventually learn that we are over and there will never be anything between us again. Plus, I always enjoy shooting that smug bastard." I tell her. "Now get the fuck out of my room before I get really pissed. Don't forget to shut the door behind you."

She rushes out grabbing the phone on her way out. I am sure she is on her way to call Chase to tell him what happened. Those two kill me when it comes to James and our business. I just ignore it and try to get back to sleep. I want to be awake while Justin is here so I can enjoy the time he does have left here before he leaves for his tour and I don't get to see him for several months. As I try to fall asleep, I start to get a really bad feeling about something and I cannot shake the feeling that James has a lot to do with it. 

--------

JUSTIN

I am exhausted. This last break, or hiatus, I have been on has caused me to forget just how demanding tours can be. The rehearsals and meetings and practices and so on are extremely time consuming and extremely exhausting. I cannot wait until I get back to Arianna's. Hopefully, she is home from the mansion. I am tired of sharing are last few days with her work. She can afford to take off work and spend time with me, but she chooses not to and I think that is what bothers me most. She chooses to be this way.

I am pleasantly surprised to see her car at the house when I get there. I also see Arianna's but not Chase's. He must still be at work. I climb out of the car and make my way into the house with the hope that this means that she is taking a break to spend time with me, finally realizing that our days are limited until I leave to go to LA and then on tour. I realize that she will be out a week later to see the show and then there's the wedding, and I know she will be able to fly out anytime she wants to see me, but she has made it clear that work is important to her and she will not be able to just leave whenever - her choice again.

I walk into the back door through the kitchen, and see Tabbetha running to meet me in the dining room. She is obviously trying to be quiet but her whispered squeals are making that difficult. I am confused by her excited reactions. I patiently wait for her to calm down so she can tell me what all the excitement is about.

"You will never believe what I found out earlier." Her eyes are wide and her face glowing with excitement.

"You are going on a fantastic honeymoon?" I guess thinking this has to with the wedding or something.

"No. It's nothing like that." She answers me. I have no idea how she is keeping herself from jumping up and down because it is obvious that is what she is wanting to do by her bouncing. "It has something to do with Arianna and James."

I roll my eyes at this. I do not want to hear about anything that has those two put together. I let Tabbetha know this as I walk into the living room, looking for my girlfriend that had been mentioned. "Where's Arianna?"

"She's upstairs taking a nap, but believe me you will want to hear this news."

"Fine. Just tell me and get it over with." I stop walking and turning towards her with my arms crossed. It is clear that I am not anywhere close to as excited as she is about what she is about to tell me. I cannot think of anything about James and Arianna that would have me excited, and come to think of it I cannot think of anything that would make Tabbetha excited. She hates James almost as much as I do and for much longer. My interests starts to rise.

"Arianna shot James today...multiple times!" She squeals excitedly, still trying to keep her voice down. "The best part though is that this isn't even the first time she's done it. Apparently, anytime James starts to meddle into her personal life or does something that infuriates her, she shoots him." She laughs a little.

I cannot stop the smile from growing on my face. "Did she kill him?"

Her smile falters a little but it is still pretty big. "No, unfortunately. She uses rubber bullets, but she did inform me that those things hurt like hell especially at close range which is how she shot him. She said that she was tired of him butting into your relationship and she shot him. I didn't get much detail because she was trying to nap. I am so excited." She finally does jump up and down a little, keeping it to a minimum so not to make much noise once again.

"Well that is great to hear. Too bad I couldn't be there to enjoy that in progress. I live for the day that the ass gets what is coming to him." I start up the stairs when Tabbetha stops me.

"Hey, I know that you enjoy the news as much as I do but I don't think she enjoys it much when we meddle in her business life either. I just wanted to tell you that it may not be wise to be obviously overjoyed by the events." She informs me. "Let her talk to you about them but don't push for details she is not giving and don't push for her to do it again, as much as we would all enjoy that." She adds the last part in a quieter mumble.

I nod my agreement as I finish my ascend up the stairs. I walk up to her door and pause to listen for anything. I hear nothing so I assume that she is still sleeping. I quietly make my way into the room and shut the door. I see her lying on her side facing me. She looks so peaceful and so innocent. It is as if she is a normal woman who has a normal 9 to 5 job. She came home to rest up before cooking dinner and watching some HGTV show or something. Her life is so simple in this moment to me. I would not dream of disturbing this. I wish nothing more than for her to be able to have this. I love her so much and I just want her to be happy and for her to be able to enjoy life with now worries whatsoever. I will do whatever I can to make this possible. If she asked me to, I would stop touring and move here to be with her. I would join in on her business, have her train me to be a killer and go on these missions with her. I would stay home and keep house while she was out to make sure she had a simple life to come home to. I know she would never ask me to do any of this just like I would not ask her to give up her life to join me on tour and be with me in public. She would not ask but I would do it. I truly and deeply lover her.

 

 

 

 

Time seems to have flown by. I am sitting in my office where I am supposed to be doing work and making sure that all of our missions come back as a success and all evidence is clear from us, thanks to our friendly officer that tends to owe us some. Instead, I am sitting behind my desk, doodling on a notepad, and waiting for Justin to call me. He is in rehearsals right now and supposed to call me when he is finished. We are spending the evening together with interruptions. There will be no Tabbetha and Chase tagging along, no important business calls for me, nothing. We decided that we would do alone time tonight so we can hang out with everyone the night before he leaves. This way everyone has a chance to give a proper goodbye.

I understand that I'll be seeing him again in a week for the concert and then again in another week for the wedding but that does not mean I am not looking forward to him leaving. I have gotten used to having him around. I get up and take a stroll around the mansion. I use this time to do tedious things like checking on things around the mansion, seeing how some of the men in the recovery wing are doing, checking up on the ones who are out on a mission, and so on.

There is not a ton for me to do right now because James and I have most of our main mission coming up planned out and now I am bored. He promised to finish up the small details and loose ends while I am at the concert and wedding and then we begin. I plan to undercover as some poor unfortunate girl who gets handed off to be held captive. I need to get in and get information on everyone involved and look into any others that may have been captive. I will have to find a way to get into the business rooms and meeting once I'm there to get information on the workings of the operations so it will be easier for James and the rest to take it down with the least about of casualties for our side. I am not too worried about their side.

James has decided he wants to disguise himself as a potential client. We believe this business deals with both drugs and women. We will take this bastard down and hard.

I am on my way back to my office when Justin calls me. I plan to meet him at the restaurant in an hour giving him time to shower and clean up. I finish one last check on the way to the office and decide to do one last look over on the main file before I head out. I grab the folder and open it to almost drop it when I see the top page. James must have placed it in the folder earlier today when he had it. I sit down as I stare at the note that read 'need well known buyer to get in = lots of money = Justin?' I cannot believe he would even consider this, knowing how I would feel about it. He was going to be the buyer, or one of our men, prove they have money.

I slam the folder down on the desk and call James to find out where he is. "I'm walking in the front door now. What's up?" He answers and I hear the door open and close. I snatch the folder back up and storm out of my office and to James. He sees me coming and smiles as he hands his jacket to one of the men like they are a butler or something. If I weren't so furious I would have rolled my eyes at this. "Hey. What's the hurry?" He asks. "Wait, don't you have a dinner date? Why are you here?" He does not wait for an answer as he walks away towards the back of the house.

I call out his name but he does not stop. After a few attempts I get enraged. "STOP!" I yell loudly.

He does so and turns to look at me with what seems to be an amused look. "What is your deal? Go have dinner." He laughs a little before he turns away but I will not allow it.

"Don't turn away from me," I command. I walk up to him and shove the folder into his chest. "What the hell are you thinking?" I demand to know what was going through his mind when he wrote this note.

"These are our plans for the big one. You should know that." He chuckles a little but I am not amused.

"And the new side note you added?"

"Oh no biggie. Just a thought I had." He is so nonchalant and I am so pissed off.

"No biggie? This is a biggie. You will not bring my boyfriend into this. He isn't even in this business. If you need a way to get in besides me then you tell me and we will discuss this as partners and use one of the men as a possibility." I glare at him.

"Our men would cause suspicion. They are all great liars and killers but they are too comfortable for this one. Justin would be a little nervous. We want to give off the illusion that there is no secret behind the business interactions. He would look nervous because of the illegal aspect of it and reputation issues, not because we are coming in to bust ass and kill. He would be these people's introduction to higher society. They would want him in. He'd be perfect." He has obviously thought a lot about this which just infuriates me more because he never said anything to me.

"Absolutely not! You will not try to bring Justin into this lifestyle. He's already in danger just by being with me but this is going too far." I push him into the wall behind him to add emphasis to my point. "Plus, he's going on tour and leaves in three days. There's no chance." I tell him assuredly and turn to walk away.

"I'll just ask him. I have a meeting tomorrow with the middleman"

I stop walking and turn back to him. "I'm not kidding. Leave him out of this." I demand and leave the mansion to go meet Justin.

I try to calm myself down. I want to enjoy this evening. No work distractions, no stress, no worries, and no propositions for Justin to join into our dangerous games where he does not belong. I must keep him out of them.

I am on my way out of the drive when Justin calls back and tells me that he will be running a little late because of a business call he got and he has to have some conference call with the big guys. He will just call me when he is finished and come pick me up at my house.

I go home and change clothes for dinner while I wait for Justin to call. It does not take me long to get ready so now I am pacing my floor trying to calm down and clear my head. I am trying to convince myself that James would never do this. It is a little after six when my phone rings.

"Baby, I'm so sorry. There apparently were some last minute changes in the tour schedule and they thought it die hard necessary to tell me. I'm on my way to get you now." He asks clearly short on breath, probably from running around trying to get cleaned up fast and running back to his car.

I tell him to calm down because I am not upset. He is about to go on tour and I expect him to have to rehearse a little longer, get details worked our, and so on. I hang up the phone after letting him know all is okay and he needs not to rush, creating a risk that is unnecessary.

When the doorbell rings, I know I have to get up to get it because the doors are locked and the two buttheads are at Chase's place for the night, part of our 'alone time' deal. I greet him at the door with a kiss.

"Ready to go?" He asks me offering his arm for me to take.

I still can't hold back the smiles I get when he goes all Southern Gentleman on me. His mom should be proud of him and herself, she raised him well. I grab a jacket and my purse and lock up again. "I'm so ready," I take his and walk to the car where he opens the door for me. A girl could really get used to this. He gets in on his side and starts up the car. "I'm hungry and can't wait to be with you without anyone interrupting." I admit with a small tint of pink rushing to my cheeks.

"Good because I'm excited to spend time with you, too."

We decide to go to our favorite place, Maria's. We know the food is fantastic, the service is excellent, and we are guaranteed privacy. When we arrive, we are taken back to our table and of course Maria comes out to greet us. She gushes over Justin's tour like a proud mom. The woman has come quite fond of the boy in the time that he has spent here with us. She is planning our wedding, naming our babies, and so much more. Every time she hints to me or talks about how great it would be, I don't even try to stop my eyes from rolling. She heads back to the kitchen while our server takes our orders and brings us our drinks.

"This is nice." He leans over and speaks softly. "I'm going to miss you," he tells me grabbing my hand and leaning closer to me. "I've grown fond of seeing you everyday."

I smile and lean in myself to the point where our noses are almost touching. "I enjoy seeing you everyday. It's definitely going to be different around here but just think I'll be out there in a week, and you'll be back here the week after that for the wedding, so you aren't getting rid of me anytime soon." I laugh a little trying to lighten the mood.

"I love you, Arianna." He says it so soft and gentle that I almost tear up.

"I love you, too, Justin." I lean in the rest of the way to give him a gentle kiss, but right before our lips touch we are interrupted by someone clapping loudly nearby.

"That is just too sweet. They really should make a movie about it. Gangster mob girl falls in love with small town boy."

I glare at James who has taken it upon himself to grab a chair and sit down at our table. Caroline, the hostess for the evening, comes rushing up. "I'm so so sorry, Miss Lombardi. I told him you said no disturbances, but he wouldn't leave."

"Please, call me Arianna and don't worry about it. It's not your fault this asshole can't seem to listen. I'll deal with this problem myself." I continue to glare at him. I feel Justin pulling away from me. I turn to him and see that he is not happy at all with our visitor. "I swear, Justin, I am not working tonight. I already warned this ass that I am not taking any calls." I tell him, making sure he knows this. I turn back to James, "What the hell are you doing here?" I try to keep my voice down so I do not attract any unwanted attention.

"Well I remember you telling me Justin here was leaving soon, and I wanted to bid him a farewell." He shrugs as he leans back in his chair.

"Go away. You have no business here." I stress.

"That hurts, Arianna. I just wanted to give him a proper goodbye."

"I think you should leave," Justin tells him with a glare of his own.

"Wow, you two are not the happiest couple to be around, but I'll leave if you insist." He stands up to leave. That was too easy, I cannot help thinking. Obviously I thought it too soon because he doesn't take two steps before he stops and turns to look at us again, but more at Justin than me.

"Don't you dare," I warn him through clenched teeth, causing Justin to look at me confused and then back at James.

"I'm thinking you two, as a couple, need to have more in common and I have a proposition for you, Justin." The evil bastard smirks as he walks back to our table. "Join us on our next big mission."

Justin just sits there in silence. "Absolutely not. I already told you this. It is too dangerous, he's not trained, and he goes on tour," I spit out. I am completely furious with him at this moment.

"All he needs to be trained with is a gun and maybe a few defensive moves. He won't be doing much."

"Get one of the men that are already trained," I demand.

"No," he replies simply looking back at Justin. "We need a fresh set of eyes. Our men are too jaded when it comes to combat and the environments surround them. Justin will see things others would overlook as simple everyday things. "

"Get one of the new men then. He's not doing it and thats final."

James smirks at me and raises his eyebrows. "Why don't you let your man speak for himself?" James turns back to Justin as do I.

He is just sitting there silently, so I speak up. "Justin, don't listen to him. He is just looking for one more way to piss us, mainly me, off before you leave." I take his hand back in mine. "Your going on tour and we will do this mission without you, and we'll be fine." Justin shakes his head and I assume that means he agrees and he will not be 'helping out.' "See? He's going on tour." I say as a matter-of-fact.

"Of course he is," James laughs, and I know more is to follow that statement. He does not give up so easily. "That's where he'd go either way. He would be doing most of his stuff over the phone. I just need him tomorrow for a meeting and when you come back for that awful wedding, we'll meet again."

I lean up and glare harder at James, if that is possible. I am fully away that if looks could kill, this man would be a pile of ashes. I am wishing I had used real bullets the last time I shot him. I always end up regretting the rubber bullets later on. I open my mouth to to tell him where to go but Justin speaks up before I can. "What would I be doing?"

I whip my head around with shock written all over it. "Nothing because you aren't doing it." I turn back to James to see the cocky smile that reads success all over it.

"I'll give you all the details if you want in. I just need to know you are in." James holds his hand out waiting for Justin to agree and shake on it.

"Justin, don't. We came here to have dinner and to spend the evening together, no work and no distractions. Don't let him do this." I beg him.

"I want all the details." Justin states as he grabs onto James' hand and shakes and all I can do is fight back the tears that are trying to escape.

James has officially crossed the line and has now brought my boyfriend over to dangerous territory. I don't think I can handle this.

 

I inwardly groan as I roll out of bed. Last night did not go the way I had hoped. James was with us through the entire meal as he and Justin discussed the plans for his part in the mission. I was not talked to for the whole conversation. They made it clear that my opinion did not matter at all. I am pissed at James for doing this and upset with Justin for ignoring my wishes to team up with the guy that he swears he hates. After dinner, James tells Justin that they would discuss more in the morning and we came back home and I just went to bed.

I am now waking up still upset and sore as hell from tossing and turning all night. I make my way out of the bedroom to go downstairs to call Chase. Maybe I can talk to him and see if he can talk some sense into his friend. If that does not work, maybe Tabbetha can beat it into him. I get ahold of them and tell them to come back to the house. They need to talk to him before James gets here.

I need to distract myself so I go to the kitchen and start cooking. It is about an hour before Justin makes it down the stairs. By this time, Tabbetha and Chase are sitting at the kitchen table and it is covered in everything. I made eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, waffles, cut up some fresh fruit, and had milk, fresh orange juice and fresh lemonade. I had lots of food. I made an abundant amount of each. Chase and Tabbetha are already stuffing their faces when Justin sat down to join them.

"Good morning, you two. You are back here early. I assumed you would be a while before you came back here." Justin states as he piles food on his plate. He leans over to me and kisses my cheek, "good morning, baby."

I shrug but do not reply. It may be childish but the silent treatment is about the best I can do to keep myself from saying something I may later regret. I see the two sitting across from me look at me with peaked interest I am sure. I just roll my eyes and continue to finish my plate.

"So, how was your night last night? Enjoy your alone time?" Chase asks laughing at the joke he had in his own mind.

"I wouldn't know how alone time is. James was with us all night." I huff.

"Are you serious? Why didn't you make him leave, Arianna. You promised Justin you wouldn't work." Tabbetha starts throwing accusations out which just adds to my rage.

"For your fucking information, I was not the one that invited him. I told him to leave but someone else chose to have him stay through our entire dinner, ignoring me the whole night." I grab my plate and discard it in the sink and walk out of the kitchen.

What is wrong with me? I have never been so childish when it has come to boys. If they piss me off, I just leave. I cannot believe I am letting him get to me this way, especially dealing with James.

 

JUSTIN

I sit at the table quietly, pushing my food around the plate. After Arianna stormed out of the kitchen, I cannot look up because I am afraid of what Chase and Tabbetha may say, but I know I will not have to look up to get Tabbetha's thoughts.

"What have you done?!" She speaks out just as I knew she would.

I do not think I realized how much last night upset Arianna until I saw her storm out. I know I am the only one to blame on this one. I am always giving her a hard time about pushing us to the side for work and always being distracted during our dates and the one night she does everything she can to keep that from happening, I let James take over our date. I am such an idiot. "I guess I let James get to me. He started talking about me having more in common with Arianna and joining in on a mission. I figured that we would have something to talk about." I place my head in my hands.

"You what?!" Tabbetha jumps up from her chair. "I cannot believe you would even listen to a word that conniving little idiot, and I won't even go into the fact that ignored her all night when you have a limited amount of nights left before you leave to go on tour to be surrounded by a phenomenal amount of women." Tabbetha is clearly pissed at me and leaves the room to go after Arianna.

I look up at Chase who is just sitting there eating his breakfast. "What? No words of hatred or wisdom from you?"

He just shakes his head while he chews his mouthful of food.

"Oh come on. You're one of my friends from way back when and you've been close friends with her for a while now. You have to have something to say." I want to hear what he has to say.

"Anything I can say, I am sure you have already yelled at yourself about." He shrugs as he takes a drink of orange juice to help wash down the food he is shoving into his mouth. "I believe Arianna is more pissed at James for trying to get you into the business. I am sure it is his way of holding onto her for longer. She's probably upset with you because you fell for it and on top of that she doesn't want you in the business. She's done everything she can to keep you from it and to shield you from it, especially after that whole kidnapping and torture thing you went through. I don't think she can bear seeing you like that again. Now as for my lovely fiancee I think she is just one big ball of dramatics. She loves her friend and hates James. It is clear whose side she will take." Chase is a man of few words but he is a man of wise ones. "This is all your choice, bro. If you want in then join in. Arianna will get over it and do everything she can to keep you safe. If you don't want to do it then don't. James won't hold it against you, or Arianna will take care of that quick. Tabbetha, on the other hand, will learn that this is none of her business and she will go with whatever you all decide. If you truly believe that you will help the mission and help Arianna in doing so then I say go for it. I would love to be able to play some crazy badass guy who gets to shoot at people and beat the hell out of them." He laughs as he sits back in his chair, trying to digest all that mountain of food he ate I am sure. "My advice is to listen to them both. Figure out what you really will be doing and make the decision from there. Do not makes your decision just because you think that is what she wants or what he wants. "

"Thanks, bro. That helps a lot." I say as I start to eat again. "Do you think she'll be mad at me for long. I really don't want to spend the rest of our time like this and we all know that I don't want Tabbetha mad at me. The stupid sarcastic comments and snide remarks get old after a while." I laugh a little.

"They will be fine. I am sure that Arianna is ranting and raving about James and what she will do to him the next time she sees him and I am most definitely sure that Tabbetha is sitting there listening to her and enjoying it, especially the more painful scenarios."

I laugh at this statement because I know it is most likely true. I try to not worry about it and finish my breakfast. Hopefully, Arianna will have calmed down a bit by the time I go out there and she'll talk to me about all of this. I cannot deny that I am intrigue by the proposition and I cannot deny that I am intrigue by the idea of being able to live her lifestyle for a short time. Justin Timberlake by day and undercover killer by night, except no killing for me. I do not believe I will be able to handle that part.

I finish eating and get up to go join the girls in the living room. I turn back to Chase who is leaning back in his chair look comfortable. "You not going to come join us?"

"Oh hell no. You two are going to get into a heated discussion and I prefer not to be apart of that. You can, however, send my fiancee back in here because she'll want to join in the conversation and add her two cents." He sits his chair back down on all four legs and stands up. "I'll be out back, send her my way." He laughs and shakes his head as he heads out the back door.

I walk into the living room and see the scene that Chase just described but being acted out for me. "That sorry lying conniving sorry excuse for a man will pay for this. He ignored my orders and I do not look kindly upon that. I will rip his teeth out one at a time. Break his fingers one at a time. If he passes out from pain, I wait until he wakes up to continue. He won't scream because we have trained ourselves not to. I'll continue until he does though." Arianna crosses her arms and nods her head with great assurance.

Tabbetha is, as Chase had said, sitting on the couch with a huge smile on her face similar to that of a child that is waiting for the next present at Christmas. She is leaning forward with every statement. I am almost tempted to wait to see if she will fall of the couch, but decided we need to talk and get it all out there.

"Chase says you should go join him. He is out back." I declare before Arianna can say anymore.

Tabbetha just sits there and pouts. "I will do no such thing. My friend needs me." She nods as if she had bestowed great wisdom.

I cock my eyebrows up and shake my head. "I'm going to talk to her right now and Chase says you need to go join him." I am a little more firm with the last statement.

She goes to open her mouth to speak again but Arianna stops her this time. "Go join him. I think I am more than capable of having this conversation without you. Plus, I don't need any remarks from the peanut gallery during this."

Tabbetha just stands up and huffs as she stomps out of the room. I hear the door open and slam shut as she goes outside to join Chase. I chuckle at the childish act, but I stop when I look over at Arianna who is standing there with her arms still crossed, rolling her eyes, then looking over at me with an expectant look. I do not know what to say to her, which does not seem to be a problem for her.

"I cannot believe you are such an idiot." She definitely knows how to start a conversation. "James is using you and because you want to be some kind of James Bond, you are willing to overlook the fact this whole thing is extremely dangerous. You have no idea what you are getting into. You have a tour to go on, a public image to protect, and a life to keep alive." She is obviously pissed with me.

"You know what? If you don't want me to do this then fine I won't," I start to yell back. "My agreement to do this had nothing to do with wanting to be James Bond or something like that. I agreed because I was hoping that this could be a step to having something that would allow you to open up to me much more. I tell you all about my day in the studio, how my rehearsals are going, how I feel when I'm on stage, how annoying the paparazzi is, and so on and so forth. You don't do much more than come home and say 'work went well' or 'no one was killed today' and I want you to talk to me. I know that I don't understand it all but it would be great if my girlfriend would talk to me." I feel my blood pressure rise and my face turn red. "I wanted this because I was hoping that if I got involved you would start to talk to me more. You would tell me exactly how you feel, exactly who you got involved with or whatever you could tell me. I wanted to help and if getting involved would do that then so be it. It has nothing to do with some selfish tendency to be James Bond." I finally stop pacing and look right at her. "I think your biggest problem with me doing this is that you want to stay the 'badass' in this relationship. You don't know how to ask for help. If you get help then you may not be such a badass afterward and I don't think you can handle that."

Her jaw goes slack for a second. I see she tries to speak but does not know how to reply. She starts pacing and rubbing her hands over face and through her hair, obviously trying to think of something to say. I sit down on the stairs and just wait for her to say something. As much as I want to just walk away, we need to talk about this. If she really does not want me to help then I won't but I want to know why. She finally stops to stand right in front of me.

"Fine. If you are so hell bent on 'helping' then you have an extremely short amount of time to get ready. James will be here soon, I am sure of it. If you truly want to do this then we have about an hour to get you comfortable with a gun. You will have one on you anytime you meet with these people. You have to be comfortable with one. That means comfortable with not only carrying one but also using one. That is not long."

"I know how to use a gun." I state.

"On a person? You need to be able to appear as if you wouldn't have a problem shooting a person if they crossed you. It is much different then shooting a target or deer hunting. You may not use the thing but you may need to point it at someone to show that you would if you had to. You can't afford to be shaking when you do that. You have to have confidence to carry a gun on your holster and confident enough to use it. That is not all. You need to be knowledgeable on guns to, know the difference between guns. After your gun lesson, we have a short amount of time to get you trained in some defensive martial arts. If something goes wrong, you will need to be able to defend yourself as much as possible. James and I will not be going with you on this. They may not know us but they most likely know our reputations. They will quickly catch on if we show up ready to battle. Plus, I will be undercover. We will get to that later. James will be watching and listening in just in case something goes wrong and you need backup but he won't get there immediately so you need some skills. Our men usually train for at least a year before put in a situation like this. You have a few hours. The meeting is set up with the middleman tonight and then you have a meeting with the big guy after that if it goes well. You will need to convince him that you are there for this business arrangement. Once you go in, you cannot back out. It creates suspicions." She explains all of this to me, and I start to feel a little more nervous about it now. James talked very little about it last night, in these terms anyway. I was so set on being some kind of help that I did not think things through all the way. "Are you sure you want to do this? If you do then we will get started. I will take you to the mansion right now and tell James to meet us there. If not, no harm done and we will find another way. I need to know though." She crosses her arms again and is standing over me as I sit on the stairs.

I feel as if she is looking down on me, trying to intimidate me into changing my mind and backing out. I will not let her push me into this. I stand up, allowing myself to stand taller than her and look down at her. I nod with assurance, "I'm in."

 

I walk into the small shop and am led to the back. This is so stereotypical. A man is led to the back of some hardware store, restaurant or whatever it may be. In the back is some some room where some badass wannabe is waiting with a bunch of thugs standing around with guns to intimidate, or there's a poker game in progress and they spit out some threat and shoot some guy that got a better hand. I roll my eyes at the whole idea. I follow the guy in front of me to the back. He opens the door and where I expect a poker game to be or some group of thugs, there is just three guys. One is sitting at an empty table in front of me and the other two are standing at each end of the table.

I walk into the room and the guy that let me in, walks out closing the door behind me. I walk closer and the two goons on the end walk over to me and I stop. They start to search me for weapons I am sure.

"What is it that you are wanting?" The guy sitting down asks me.

I do not move, but I do keep eye contact with guy. I was warned by both Arianna and James.

"Make sure you don't fight the search. They will find and take the gun in your waistband and the one in the holster under your jacket. Keep eye contact. If you show that you are nervous then they will probably search you more extensively. With your lack of reputation in this business they will only look in the most obvious places. Don't let the goons scare you."

After the two guns were taken, they laid them on the table and went back to the table like predicted. The knife and one-shot derringer still in my left boot and the small revolver in my right. "I've come here to talk to your boss. I have some business for him, and I need to make arrangements soon because I leave town in two days. I am sure he will be very interested in my offer but I won't go through you."

"I believe I am the one with the guns, the muscles, and oh yeah your guns. You tell me the plans, and I will tell you if it is worth our time." The guy is smug. "I highly doubt someone in your situation has much business with us."

"You must be confident with him. He knows who you are so he knows you have money. He will be interested in what you have to say, so he will take it to his boss, but if he gives you a hard time then leave. He won't let you get far. His boss will be pissed if he loses out on money."

"Thats fine. If you think that way then I will take my business elsewhere." I grab the guns that are on the table and place them back in the holster and my waistband. "Hate that you feel like I wasted your time." I make it to the door before I hear the guy scoot his chair back and stand up.

"Hold it. I believe I will tell you when it is okay to leave. I believe it will be a waste of time, but he may not. Meet here at midnight. If he is interested in even listening to you then he will be there." The man handed me a simple white card with an address on it.

I snatch the card out of his hand. "I suggest you tell him that it will definitely be worth his while." I say as I leave the room and the store. I walk about a block down the street and a red ferrari is there waiting for me. I jump in and see Arianna driving. "Very conspicuous." I roll my eyes.

"Since when are you conspicuous? This would be more obvious than a station wagon." She smirks. "What did you get?"

"I thought you were listening in to make sure I was safe?" I give her a look of disbelief.

"Not me. James was walking around the store, shopping, but we didn't really listen in. We knew this one was going to be the easy one." She smiles at me.

"Whatever." I hand over the card. "I have to be there at midnight which is in..." I look at my watch "...about three hours. More training?" My adrenaline is pumping now.

"No more training. It will take about an hour to get here and in the meantime, we go over what you are going to do this time around because it will be a little more in tense." She warns me. "We meet up with James at the mansion and then we get our cars and head out. We can discuss the plans on the way. Wonders of bluetooth in the car."

"Cars? Who do I ride with this time?" I want to know my company and our car of choice.

"No one. You will be driving yourself and you will be driving this." She says as we pull up into the drive and in front of the mansion is sitting the car see is referring to. My mouth drops and I can barely wait until the car stops to jump out.

"This is a Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder. This just came out as a world debut. How do you have it already?" I run my hands over the car. "You know what? Nevermind. Of course you have it already. I've seen your garage." I am admiring the car and I hear her snicker behind me. I turn around and I that James has joined her behind me and they are both laughing now. "What is funny now?"

"You haven't seen our garage." Arianna tells me.

"You gave me a tour remember." I remind her as if she were a confused child.

"Oh I remember. I remember giving you a tour of one of the floors of the garage." She smiles with a huge twinkle in her eye. I am sure it matched mine.

"There are multiple floors?" I ask as my eyes widen with excitement.

"Yes. There's the floor with our main cars we use, and then we each have a floor with our favorite cars and what can be considered as show cars. I'll let you see it later. We really need to go though."

I nod a little disappointed but I know I'll get to explore those cars later. Now I jump into the car that is mine for a few hours. I close the doors and look around. Every gadget and hookup that is possible for a car is in this one. I rub my hands together in anticipation. My girlfriend is my dream girl. There is no doubt in my mind.

***

This time I am not feeling so confident. I park in front of what seems to be an abandoned office building. I was expecting a huge warehouse but this works too. I do not see any signs of anyone else, so I start to worry that I messed up and and the boss guy is not going to show up. I walk up to the door and look into the window and door to see if there are any lights. I see none . I sigh and start to turn around when I see a huge guy standing behind me. This guy would probably make King Kong run away.

"You planning on leaving?" The guy asks, not moving at all. "Because I would hate to be the one to tell the boss that you decided to leave after having us meet you out here in the first place."

"I wasn't leaving. I was just going to see if I got the right address." I say and silently berate myself. I cannot believe I just said that. Some mob guy I will make.

"That is good to hear. Follow me." He orders as he enters some code into a keypad that I had missed a minute ago. The door opens and I see the inside of the building. It looks like a regular office building, but he has learned from Arianna that nothing is what it seems with these people.

Sure enough, the boulder man led me down a hallway to the right and then to an elevator. It isn't long before we are two stories down. We walk out and there are a lot of men walking around and working on something. They are all wearing guns and most of them are quite a bit larger than me. If I was not so scared shitless at this moment, I would probably shit on myself. I look around me the whole time I am following and seeing different types of things. Some men are welding something that did not look safe. I am pretty sure that in one of the side rooms, through a crack in the door, I see someone being tortured horribly, and I see a few people handling a large quantity of guns.

I continue through the building, and towards the back, I see an office with windows that allow me to see in. I see a man in a very expensive suit sitting at his desk with a woman sitting on his desk. From what I can tell, she is dressed in something revealing. We walk in and the man dismisses the girl with a simple wave and the boulder man closes the shades over the windows. "What do I owe the pleasure of your company, Mr. Timberlake?" The man behind the desk ask as he leans forward.

Before I can reply, one of the men proceeds to search me. The same two guns are removed from under my coat and placed across the room from me. I am scared, but doing everything I can to stay calm.

"Don't worry about this. If they take your guns, remember you have your derringer and revolver and knife. My advice is that if for any reason, something goes wrong, do what you can to go after the boss. If you hit him at all, most of the men will flock to him, and then you can use whatever you can to get out of there. We will be close by for this one."

I do not care what they say. I am not confident with this one. "I have come to you for a great proposition for you. A chance for you to make easy money." I tell him.

"I'm listening." He leans a little more forward with a bigger grin on his face.

I start to ease a little. "Well I am willing to pay you half a mil. for something very simple. With this money, I get the services I request and you get my money plus if you prove to be helpful, I all you a way into my people. Believe me, celebrities are willing to pay out ridiculous money for ridiculous things." I tell him, almost confident.

"What services are you referring to and what makes you think that I need that money. I do quite well, thank you very much." He leans back in his chair now with a waiting look.

"Your monkey man that I talked to earlier," I start by pointing out the man that is in the corner of the room who is giving me a death glare, "talks a lot. I know that you are into drugs, guns, and women. Well those are the top three that I care about. As you know, I am a high profiled man. I live my life in front of a camera most of the time. I have come to you because highly doubt you let my drugs trace back to you which means it is harder for people to know I do them. I, like most most celebrities, like to have a little recreational fun that tends to be frowned upon. People, dealers, talk for money. As it is clear to us all, you do not need the money nor the publicity that comes from selling me out." I pitch the offer. "I am offering you 250 for the drugs and the other 250 is for the other part of this deal. I have a lady friend that I do not need to be out in the public. People talk. I can't take her on tour with me but I want to keep her around. I worry that if I leave her to wonder around free she will wish to come visit me. I have a girlfriend and fans that can't see her. The 250 is for you to keep her here, like a storage area for people." I make my point and I see him nod with slight approval. "I will be gone for only three months, but a lot of trouble can happen in three short months. I do not want you to beat on her or lock her up in some dank hole in the wall to fight to stay alive. I will not tell you how to do your job, but if I am happy with the results of both the drugs and my lady friend when I return, you will get an additional half mil as a thank you. That means, when this is done, you will have an extra million, a satisfied customer, and someone who can bring more millions in without much thought. I have a lot of influence." I smile with such assurance that it almost shocked me.

"I am intrigued. When will these three months begin?"

"I leave in two days to go back to LA for business but I'll be back in two weeks for a personal function. I want her for those days so I will bring her to you when I am down with her in two weeks. I expect to be able to have her whenever I request her. She is still my property. I am just paying you for storage. I will keep in touch with you about her and the drugs throughout my tour."

"I like you, Justin. I will kill you if you cross me, but I do like you." The man in the suit stands up. "I believe we have a deal. I will give you a number that you can contact to pick up your drugs or drop off your woman. I expect your money before you leave for LA. It will be a pleasure doing business with you." He shakes my hand.

"I believe this will work. You will have your money before I leave." I assure him. "You may want to let your monkey man that he may want to be careful next time he tries to turn someone away." I look over at the guy I was talking about and saw his glare turn into shock and I believe slight fear.

"Thanks for the tip. I will definitely handle this." He sits back down and waves to his men. One of them grabs my guns and guides me to the door. "'Monkey Man' can stay here." I hear the guy say as we walk out and the door shuts. I think I heard yelling and possibly a gunshot as we walk back through the large room.

This time through my head is held higher and I do not look around me. We go back up the elevator and back through the fake offices. They lead me to the door I entered through, and just as I am about to step out, they hand me my guns. I thank them and place them back in their spots. I get back in my car and drive off to the meeting spot, a diner in town. I contact the other two on the drive over and we race to get there. Of course, I do not win but it is good to see that Arianna beat James. I wasn't out to win. I was more out for the speed and the adrenaline rush. I can see how Arianna was pulled into this lifestyle and why she has stayed for so long. I am rushing and I haven't done much more than talk to someone, use my acting skills in a whole new way. This is great.

 

I jump out of the car and rush over to Arianna and pick her up and spin her around. She looks at me like I am insane but neither she nor James can keep from laughing at me.

"He's obviously a newbie. How's the mob life treating you there, Justin?" James laughs as they all walk to the small diner.

"It is great. The adrenaline is rushing and I am loving it." I hug my girlfriend to me as we walk in. I look around and see that is a nice quaint little place. "It's almost two in the morning. How is this place open?"

"They serve to our kind of people. No one talks to anyone here though. We all know what others do but we follow the 'don't ask don't tell' policy. It is our way of keeping ourselves from creating connections where they may end up killing us later on. Plus, during the day there are several regular locals that come in." Arianna explains to me. "The employees do not know our names either but they do give us all nicknames. It is how they keep us straight from each other. We like them and they like us. They enjoy the connections with us."

I nod with understanding. "So what is your nickname?" I ask her.

"They call me Sunshine." She shrugs with indifference. I am a little disappointed with the simplicity of the nickname.

"What's yours?" I ask James, with great amusement when Arianna starts to chuckle. I chuckle myself, "seems like its a good one."

James rolls his eyes and I assume he kicks Arianna under the table by the way she jumps and glares back at him. Her eyes may say mad, but the smirk on her face says that she is more humored than mad. She reaches down for a second and when she brings her hand back up and places it on the table she has a blade in her hand. She starts spinning on the table as she moves her eyebrows up and down. He just rolls his eyes again and leans back as far as the booth would allow, throwing his arm over the back of it.

"Go on, James. Tell him what they call you here." She teases him. I almost feel like I am in middle school again. 

"How about, instead, I stab you with that blade right there and we drop this conversation." He is annoyed and my curiosity is at its peak. 

"Now, Doll, you know that I would be able to have this blade in the side of your neck before you have enough time to reach for it. You want me to tell him? I would be willing to do that for you?"

"Yeah, I am sure you are giving like that."

"Will anyone tell me or do I have to guess?" I enquire.

"Well their most common one is Thumper." Arianna answers finally James just grunts and throws his head back.

"Thumper? That doesn't sound too bad." I shrug but still amused by the name.

"It's funny because he got it after he got horny one night and decided to take advantage of one of the servers here that was head over heels in love with our boy here. Apparently he took her to the back here and worked his magic," she started to laugh more, making her words more difficult to understand. "One of the employees happened to walk by and heard this weird rhythmic thumping. He couldn't figure out what it was and opened the door to check it out. Apparently, thumper here was banging the girl against some rack that kept hitting the wall. The best part is that the guy cleared his throat in hopes to let them know he was there and it took them by surprise causing the girl to jump in embarrassment and grabbed onto the stock rack to catch her balance causing the whole thing to fall on top of them. We are hoping next time he lets the girl know to moan loudly every now and then to let people know what is going on instead of jsut thumping." Arianna is in tears from laughing and I am close to it myself. 

As we are laughing and James continues to eye the blade that Arianna is still spinning on the tabletop. A server finally comes over to us with two drinks in hand. She hands one to James and one to Arianna. "Sorry, Sweetie. Didn't know what you drink. We don't get too many newbies here with them." She nodded towards James. I told her just to bring me a water and I ordered a sandwich. "The normal for you, Sunshine?" Arianna nods. "And for you, Tinker Bell?" His face goes purple and Arianna almost falls in the floor laughing. I'm sure there will be a bruise on my jaw from where it hit the table. My eyes are wide and the next thing I know tears are rolling down my face because I cannot stop laughing. The server is confused, but is slightly amused by our actions. James gives the girl his order and then glares at us. 

"I really wish you two, especially you Arianna, would grow the fuck up." He just rolls his eyes at us and lays his head back on the booth.

"I'm sorry. I didn't expect her to call you that. That's why I brought up Thumper. Thats the normal one. Apparently you pissed her off recently if she's calling you Tinker Bell." The girl can hardly catch her breath to speak as she laughs.

"I have to be honest. I am curious about the story behind that name."

"I don't give fuck what you are curious about." He does not even lift his head up. It is as if he is talking to the ceiling. "Personally, Prissy Boy, I think you need to mind your own business. You don't even belong here."

My laughing stops pretty much immediately. I even move my head back a little as if I could feel the aftershock from his blow.

Arianna's laughing calms down a little beside me, but she is still chuckling. "Oh pull the stick out of your ass. You're just pissed because the boy over here gets to be the front man on this big mission and you have to stay undercover, not to be seen. Then we come here and your embarrassing little secrets are revealed. You have many more that only I know. I can share those as well if you would like." She challenges him. "Quit taking your bruised pride out on him." She turns to me and sees me frowning. "Cheer up, love. I'll let you know the back story." She tells me and her laughing starts to pick up again. I am personally surprised she did not jump over the table or throw the blade at James but I guess she is a better, more controlled person than I give her credit for. "So, once again, James decides he should bang a server here. You would think he'd learn after the 'Thumper' incident but that's James for us all, a little slow. I guess our boy here decided he needed to work on his reputation, get back to 'Love God' or something," Arianna laughs a little harder at this. "Well turns out that he is doomed to be known as a Disney character. The girl described the sex to be 'so good' that it made her feel like Tinker Bell had sprinkled her with pixie dust because afterwards it was like she could fly to Never Never Land." Now I had to start laughing. "I believe she turned out to be barely eighteen, lucky for Tinker Bell. Her birthday was the day before."

"Wow. I don't even know how to respond to that." I tell her laughing. I have heard some crazy shit after sex but that makes the list for the best statements. 

"That is enough!" James sits back up. He is about to say more, but the server comes back with our food. After she refills our drinks and makes sure we do not need anything, she leaves us alone to enjoy our food. "Just so we are aware, I have yet to hear any complaints about the sex. The nicknames may be horrible but at least it just means the sex is that great." James informs us as he starts to dig into his food. He then looks up at Arianna with a smirk and I know whatever is about to come out is not going to be good. "Besides, I do not believe I've ever heard you complain, Babe. If my memory serves me correctly, I believe you begged for it many times."

I knew something horrible was about to come out. Arianna continues to calmly eat and this starts to irritate me. The last thing I want to hear about is how they had sex, how often, and how great it was. These are things I prefer not to hear about when it comes to my girlfriend. I am about to make this a point when Arianna takes a swig of her drink and then clears her throat. "I'll have you know, the only reason sex with you was even good was because you were having it with me. You just can't have bad sex when I am involved." She smirks and I smile. "Secondly," she grabs her blade and stabs it into the table, barely missing his arm. "Do not bring up our sex life again. I had to live through it once, and I prefer not to do it again." I have to stare at my plate to try to cover the fact that the smile on my face is about to split it in half. "Oh, and by the way, You'll need much more than pixie dust, Tinker Bell, to get me to fly as high as Justin does." BURN!

 

 

ARIANNA

 

The sun shines through my window and brightens up the whole bedroom. I am lying on my stomach with my arm resting on Justin's stomach. I just continue to lie like this and watch him sleep. The man will probably sleep for a little longer, but he definitely slept wall last night so he should be in a good mood when he wakes up. I was proud of the way he handled things. I know it was a simple meeting for what we do but he did well. I am a little worried about how this will go later, but it is too late now. Fortunately he will be on tour and most of his actions will be over the phone and will be over with after three month. I can only hope that three months will be long enough for us to get all we need. 

 

Enough about my worrying. Justin seemed to enjoy his adrenaline rush last night. The man was on cloud nine. It amused both James and me, because it has been a while since either one of us have felt that high. That's why we usually stick to the big missions. These are the ones that gives us the high. The ones that are truly risky and life threatening. As much as I hate to admit it, we get a kicks in also when the newbies mess up big time and we have to go in and clean up, like a rescue mission. We do not wish this on anyone, but when it does happen it is like a game for us. 

 

Justin got his high last night and got a feel for what I do. I do not want him in this, but he liked it, a little too much. When we got back home last night, the boy jumped me. My clothes barely made it to the bedroom. I am pretty sure I will have to throw my shirt away because those tears are definitely not repairable. The man was a ravishing beast and oh so much fun. He has learned my best way to burn off the adrenaline.I am looking forward to future interactions that Justin will have, especially when he builds it up and has no way to burn it off. The wait will be worth it.

 

I guess it is time to get my lazy ass out of bed. It is our last official full day with Justin and we are planning on making a day of it. I start rubbing his stomach in hopes of waking him gently. I get a quiet groan as a response. "Come on, baby, we have to get up and get dressed. We are going to the Science Center, then dinner, then the bar."

 

"I know, but I want to stay here, in bed, with you," he says as he rolls over to hold me to him. "We can stay here until dinner then bar then back here."

 

"As fun as that sounds, it is your last full day here and we promised to hang out with Chase and Tabbetha. Besides, I am looking forward to the Science Center." I pout a little.

 

"Fine, fine. I am sure one day I will be immune to that damn pout." He kisses me as he climbs out of bed. He grabs his pants off the floor but I stop him.

 

"Don't you dare think about putting your clothes back on. We need to shower and clothes are usually not needed for that." I make my way to my bathroom. "I mean, we should be clean and all for our friends." I smirk and he quickly follows me into the bathroom.

 

***

 

"So I'm thinking," Tabbetha throws out as we walk around the dinosaur section.

 

"Hope it didn't hurt," I mumble loudly.

 

"That's unnecessary," she playfully glares at me. "We should so do Arianna's Karaoke Night tonight!" She is practically jumping up and down like a cheerleader.

 

"I'll think about it if you stop doing that."

 

"I could enjoy some AKN. It could be a great way to send Justin off," Chase adds in.

 

"Are you should its for Justin or are you wanting the benefits of the night?" I ask him knowing full well what the truth really is.

 

"It could be a little bit of both." 

 

"Right." I continue to walk through the dinosaur displays. Reading all the information that is provided. Contrary to popular belief, I enjoy learning things. I like the Discovery and History Channel on TV, going to museums, and all but it is a small secret I am okay if others do not know this.

 

"Karaoke Night. I would love to see and hear this, but I am sure it would be a little unfair for me to join in." Justin is so sure of himself as he places his arm around my shoulders pulling me into him.

 

"The arrogance only makes it better when you suck later on." Chase pats him on the back which makes us all laugh.

 

We finish walking through the center and decide on a steakhouse for dinner. For AKN a lot of food needs to be consumed. I call the bar and talk to the bartender to let him know what the plans are, giving him a little heads up. We all get dressed to impress and make our way to the bar. We arrive in style in my 2009 Aston Martin DB9 Volante Convertible. I pulled up to the front and handed my keys to the valet. "You know the rules. Scratches equals painful death." I join the other three at the door and we all walk in together. I wave at the bartender so he knows to send us our drinks and we find ourselves a table. We all sit down and within seconds our drinks are placed in front of us. We are having a blast.

 

We are there for about twenty minutes when Justin finally speaks up. "I can't help it. I have to ask. What is AKN?"

 

"It's Arianna's version of karaoke. It is a great twist on things. She explains it better which he does every time she starts which should be in about ten minutes." Tabbetha answers and looking at me for confirmation. 

 

I nod and finish my drink. "I guess I should go get my ass set up." I lean over to Justin and kiss him. "You don't get out of this either."

 

I walk over to the stage and signal to the bartender as I work with the tech guys to make sure all the microphones and screens are hooked up. After making sure everything is working properly, I grab the main microphone and stand in the middle of the stage. "Hey everyone. Everyone having fun tonight?" I receive hollers from all over the bar. "Awesome. Well I am Arianna and I am here to have a great night, and I am sure all of you are, too. I am about to start my own special version of karaoke night," a few hollers were heard, "which obviously a few of you have experienced before." I laugh. "There are a few rules though. We are all here to have fun, not to make fun of anyone. I will not tolerate anyone at all making fun of anyone and definitely not any booing of any kind. Also, I do not want any picture or videos taken of me. If you come up here and do not want that either, just let us know and we will all respect that. Right?" Everyone yells out their agreements. "I will let you know now that if you break any of my rules, you will leave. If you don't think you can handle this, I suggest you leave now. No one will hold it against you. Come back another night." I wait a minute and give anyone and everyone a chance to leave if they would like. Everyone chooses to stay. I am sure it is due to their peaked interests, especially of those who have not experienced this before.

 

"Now for the basic rules of how this all works out. We are all friends here tonight. We encourage all. This is not going to be your typical night of karaoke." I start off. "I realize most of you out there are not comfortable with karaoke. You do not have to sing if you don't want to. It is perfectly fine if you want to just stay to enjoy the show and support your friends. If you think you may want to, but do not have the courage or confidence to do so that is fine too. We are going to be serving a cup of courage for everyone soon." I offer to them and that definitely gets everyone cheering. "Here's the deal. You do not get to pick your song. I get to pick your song. You will come up here and give me one fact about yourself. I do not care what it is. It can be that you just got dumped by a jerk, you got a job promotion, you have a dog named lucky, whatever. From your one fact, I will pick one song for you. Once I give you a song, you have to sing it. No changing it and no backing out. Like I said no one will be making fun of you. The best part is we have every song possible, even those that were not meant to be a karaoke song." I make a point to eye everyone as I talk. "I will start the night off as our handsome bartenders pour out the courage and the lovely ladies deliver it. There is a catch. Because these drinks are on my tab as a gift to you, if you take it you drink it. There will be no taking the drink even though you don't want it just so your friend can have more than one. If it is a desperate need for you to have more than one so you can get up here, come to me. I will see if you really need another one." The whole bar is excited about their 'free' drinks. "Be patient for your drink because we are all going to be taking them at the same time. Be nice to the wonder worker bees here tonight. Don't be afraid to tip well." This time the employees cheer out causing everyone to laugh in good nature. "Well lets get this party started!" I yell out.

 

The DJ starts up the music and most everyone hollers at the familiar tune.

 

 

When I walked in the band just started

The singer couldn't carry a tune in a bucket.

Was on a mission to drown her memory but

I thought no way with all this ruckus.

 

But after one round with Jose Cuervo

I caught my boots tappin 'long with the beat.

And after two rounds with Jose Cuervo

That band was sounding pretty darn good to me.

 

 

I wave at the server to let her know to bring me one when she makes her rounds as I continue to sing. The bar has already started to join in.

 

 

Then some stranger asked me dance

And I revealed to her my two left feet.

Said, ''Don't get me wrong I'm glad you asked

But tonight's about me and an old memory.''

 

Then after three rounds with Jose Cuervo

I let her lead me out on the floor

And after four rounds with Jose Cuervo

I was showin' off moves never seen before.

 

 

I do a little jig to go along with the lyrics. I get cheers and people are laughing. They laugh out of great humor and amusement though and not out of meanness. This night is starting off well. The server makes it over to me and hands my drink up to me, the same drink that everyone else is given. I shot of Jose Cuervo.

 

 

Well, around five or round six

I forgot what I came to forget.

After round seven or was it eight

I bought a round for the whole dang place!

 

 

At the end of this phrase, I look over at Justin as everyone yells and knocks back their shots together. I gave a quick "Wooh!!" that is repeated by many throughout the bar.

 

 

After nine rounds with Jose Cuervo

They were countin' me out and I was about to give in

The after ten rounds with Jose Cuervo

I lost count and started countin' again!

 

One round with Jose Cuervo

I went two rounds with Jose Cuervo

Three rounds with Jose Cuervo

Five rounds with Jose Cuervo or was it four?

Six rounds with Jose Cuervo

Eight rounds with Jose Cuervo

Ten rounds with Jose Cuervo...

 

 

I end my song, receiving many many cheers. "Alright, well that was fun. Now that we've all had our chance at some confidence, who wants to be the next one to come on up here?"

 

A small girl comes rushing up. "Alright girl, what you got for me?" I ask her in the microphone, but pull it away so no one hears what she has to say to me.

 

"My ex-boyfriend tried to break me and circle of friends up." She tells me. She seems a little nervous. 

 

"I got a song for you. Before I tell you, I want to ask. Are you okay? You sure you want to do this? No backing out once you get the song." With the first few singers I tend to be a little more compassionate with. They don't have as many drinks any them and tend to be a little more nervous. 

 

"I'm fine. I'll be good once I get started. Thanks though." She smiles at me.

 

"Alright." I am back to the microphone. "Everyone enjoy 'My Friends Over You' formerly made famous by New Found Glory!" I introduce and hand the microphone over to the girl. 

 

She does great. She started out a little quiet but once she got into the song, she really opened up. She ended up thanking me and giddily joined her friends back at her table where I am sure they all talked about her song. 

 

The night picked up after that. People started to come up and put their name on the list that the DJ had at his table. I would move around the bar talking to everyone. After a few of the performances, I joined my friends back at our table taking the top list of names with me. After each song, I would call the next name, have them come to me with their fact, and announce their song for them. At the moment, a huge black guy was on stage singing 'My girl.' 

 

Justin leans over to me. "You know, I think you are the only person in the world that can get that guy to sing that song." He tells me with great pride. "This is fun. I couldn't have spent my last night any better way." He kisses me.

 

"Good because you are next." I inform him with a huge smile.

 

"That can't be because I didn't sign up." He tells me as a matter-of-fact.

 

"Funny, because your name is on the list. No back outs. Sorry thats the rule. Want to go ahead and give me your fact or do you want to wait?" I tease and Chase and Tabbetha are clearly amused by this.

 

"I love you and I don't want to do this?" 

 

"Sorry I only need one fact. You love me it is." I nod. 

 

The guy finishes up and receives his cheers. I stand up and go back up to the stage. "Everyone still having fun?" I ask. Loud hollers are almost deafening. "That is great! I have a very special guest here tonight. Please no cameras of any kind. He is here to enjoy the night just like y'all. He is no one special. So please welcome Justin Timberlake as he comes up here to sing his own wonderful version of 'Walkin' After Midnight' by Patsy Cline." I start clapping along with the crowd. He glares at me and remains sitting. "Ah. I think our singer is a little shy. How about we let him know he's got our support and encouragement." I say laughing as everyone starts to chant for him to go up. "Come on, Justin. You heard the rules. No backing out." I tell him.

 

He slowly makes his way up to the stage. He leans into my ear and whispers, "you will pay for this later." 

 

"I'm looking forward to it," I whisper back.

 

He snatches the microphone out my hand and I get down to join the others to enjoy the show. As great of a singer as Justin is, I have to admit Patsy Cline is probably not the artist for him to remake. The boy did good, don't get me wrong, but definitely was not his best performance.

 

"Thanks everyone. You are way too kind." He announces before I take back over.

 

The night continues. I am pretty sure that everyone took a chance. Tabbetha and Chase even got up to do some Sonny and Cher 'I Got You Babe.' Everyone is getting drunk and having a great time. It is hard to believe that Justin will be gone tomorrow. This night is too perfect. 

 ****

 Today is the day. Today is the day we send Justin off. We are all slowly dragging ourselves around the house. One reason is because we hate to see him go, but I have to admit the main reason is because we are all really hungover. It is the usual side effect of AKN. It is usually worth it though. We all had a blast last night and I think Justin enjoyed being normal for one night, because he pretty much sucked at karaoke and it was great.

 

"Man, this sucks." Chase complains as he comes out of the bathroom where I am sure he just finished throwing up the remaining bit of anything let in his stomach.

 

"Yeah, kinda like your singing last night," I throw back at him causing us all to laugh.

 

"I have no idea what you are talking about." 

 

"I'm pretty sure it will be a crime for you to ever since 'Genie in a Bottle' ever again. Let's leave that song to Christina. What do you say?" Tabbetha laughs harder but grabs her head when she does.

 

"She made me do it," Chase growls pointing at me.

 

"Nothing will beat the huge dude singing 'My Hear Will Go On," Justin adds. "I'm pretty sure you could have sunk Titanic with that."

 

"I do have to say that Justin did redeem himself slightly with 'Pride and Joy' but Arianna's "Friends in Low Places' could have used a little help or a lot." Tabbetha puts her opinion in.

 

"Thanks. It was a little easier than Patsy Cline." He gives a pointed look towards me and I just shrug with an innocent look. 

 

"I'll have you know that song is a dunk anthem. It is supposed to be sung off key." I protest but I know it was terrible. I had a blast singing it off key though.

 

"I don't think it was supposed to be sung that off key." She jokes back. "It's a good thing there were people like me to help the night along without bleeding ears." 

 

We all laugh hard, despite how much pain it was causing. "Right. For future references, your lucky Justin here didn't bring his boys in to beat you up for butchering their song. You're singing was tearing up our hearts to have to listen to it." Chase continues to laugh as he wraps his arm around his fiancee's shoulders.

 

We all keep joking around about the night before as  we get dressed and ready to take Justin to the airport. We are trying not to think about him leaving. We are very good with sad goodbye, and when I say 'we' I definitely mean 'I'm not good with sad goodbyes.' I don't have much practice with them.

 

I rush to get ready and get Justin's thing into the car. Chase and Tabbetha take their time because they have a little longer. We have to go back that wonderful drop off before leaving. We planned on doing this before swinging back around to the house on our way to the airport. Justin and I meet James at the mansion and then we head to the arranged meeting time. This time we just drop him off with two of our men and drive down a couple of blocks. He will just call us when he is finished and ready to be picked up. We decide that it is best that we do not tell Justin that we are not listening in and that we just trust that he will be able to make it out. It is just a simple drop off after all, and he has Charles and Jeff with him. 

 

The week flew by. After dropping Justin off at the airport, I went into overdrive. I got back to the mansion, and had Charles explain to me all that happened. The way Justin handled himself. According to Charles, he threatened the 'Boss-man' as Justin refers to him. He says that he does not really want names, makes it a little too personal for him. Justin warned the man not to leave with his money because he would "hate to have to hunt him down but would enjoy the end result." The man makes me very proud. If things had been completely different, I believe he would have fit in well with us and would have advanced fast. 

 

We locked the drugs up, so Justin does not have to worry about being caught with them or being connected with them. I am happy to hear that he is not messing around with the serious drugs. I know he has or even still does on occasion smoke marijuana but that is no cocaine or ecstasy. If he has done these drugs, I prefer not to know. I like to think my man is a good clean southern man. It is an escape from the guys I am normally around. James being an example. He loves the drugs and the high that accompanies. He gets off on big guns and torture. He wonders why we did not work out.

 

As I digress into pointless information, I am hiding in my office until it is time for me to go pick up Tabbetha and Chase. My bags are packed and I am ready to leave for the airport, and I am sitting here trying to set up a few assignments for the weekend. I do not trust James to get anything done the way it is supposed to be done while I am gone.

 

I know that Tabbetha just started her packing this morning, so she will not be done until the very minute we are walking out the door, and I am sure she will forget something so complain about the whole way because I refuse to go back to get whatever it is. Chase started packing last night, but I know how he packs. He just throw clothes in the back and hope he has everything. Boys don't need much besides their basic toiletries of toothbrush and body wash. We can just hope the boy at least folded his clothes instead of wadding them up, not to mention the hope of packing clean clothes. I hope these two plan better for their honeymoon. Although, I can see Chase purposely forgetting his clothes so he has a reason to not wear clothes. I would not be surprised if Tabbetha did the same either. My friends are unique. 

 

I finish up the assignments and deliver them to the appropriate men with strict instructions and inform James and Charles that I am out, making a point to tell Charles to inform me of anything that goes on pertaining to business. I call Tabbetha and tell her I am on my way and she had better be ready to go when I get there. She has twenty minutes to get her shit together.I pull into the parking lot of Chase's apartment complex and find myself a close parking space. I walk up the stairs and enter the apartment without knocking.

 

"Let's go, asses. We have to get to the airport, check in, go through stupid security, and not to mention get to our gate." I yell out as I walk to the bedroom. "I am not kidding. Let's go now" 

 

Chase has his bag in his hand and is walking out. "I'm ready. I'll take this to the car and wait there for you. Please make sure my fiancee makes it." He laughs as he walks out. 

 

"Tabbetha!" I walk into the room to find her bag open wide with shit thrown everywhere. "What the hell?! You knew we were leaving today and I called you to tell you that I was on my way and you were to be ready. What the hell have you been doing?"

 

"I have to make sure I have all my shoes that I need and clothes for every occasion." She rambles as she runs around the room throwing shit onto the bed beside her suitcase. 

 

"Woman, we are only going for three days. You should have plenty.We aren't going to be doing anything huge. You need clothes for each day and a couple of extra because I know how you are. Three pairs of shoes should be enough and then all your stupid make-up shit. Don't make me dump this out and pack for you." I threaten her. 

 

"I promise. You give me five minutes and I'll be finished." She is pissing me off.

 

"Here's the deal. You have five fucking minutes. They start now. I'm going out to the truck to wait on your sorry ass. If you aren't there when the five minutes are up, you don't go, not with me anyway. You now have four minutes and seventeen seconds." I tell her as I walk out of the apartment.

 

I get into my truck and find Chase sitting in the front seat. His bag was in the bed of the truck with mine. The cover was still open, waiting for Tabbetha to put her shit in. I start it up and turn the radio on. I look at my watch.

 

"Your woman has three minutes to get down here and her shit in the truck or she isn't going. I'm tired of this crap. You are more than welcome to still come along, but if she is not down here she does not go." I inform him.

 

He nods and smiles. "I'm so going. She knew you were coming. I don't see the big deal with her packing. We are only going for three days, and if we ended up going out anywhere that would need some crazy outfit that she has convinced herself she does not have but needs we would go out and buy it for her."

 

"I told her this, but obviously she does not listen. We will see how serious she takes me when I drive away in just over one minute," I flip through the radio stations and try to find a good station for this drive. "Well she's got 30 seconds, " I put the truck in reverse and pull out of the space and start to pull away. "Think she'll make it?" I ask laughing, knowing she wouldn't. Sure enough the five minutes had passed and I drive off. I drive through the lot to the exit. I stop and look over at Chase. "Can you get out and close the cover please?" I ask.

 

"I guess so." I look in the rear-view mirror and see that he is taking his time to do this while looking around. I know he is hoping Tabbetha would come running up just in time to throw her shit in and go with us. He finally gets it done and hops back into the cab of the truck. "I was so sure she would know that you don't kid about this shit."

 

"You want to stay?" I ask.

 

"No, not really. I really want to go on this trip, but I feel bad that I'm leaving my fiancee behind. She will be so pissed off at me." He tells me obviously upset about this.

 

I pull out of the parking lot and head towards the airport. "Here's the deal. I'm not doing this because I don't want her to go. Believe me when I tell you that I wouldn't be going if it weren't for you both. She'll make it to LA, but she needs to learn that not everything will wait around for her, especially because she can't get packed for three days when she had plenty of time to do this. She'll learn that life won't wait on her. She can take a cab to the airport. She has time to get there. If she for some unforeseen reason does not make it, I'll get her on the next available flight. She'll make it to LA and to the concert." I tell him. 

 

We arrive at the airport and park in the long-term parking, from where we walk to get to check in. After we check in, we sit around to wait for Tabbetha to show up furious. We wait until it is time for us to go through security and get to our gate. I am starting to feel a little bad for leaving now. I wonder if I needed to push her one last time to get her out or maybe she was so pissed at me that she didn't get a cab soon enough. Chase is going to be giving me the silent treatment the whole trip there, this is for sure. We get to the gate just as they were boarding. We get in line and make our way onto the plane, finding our seats, and putting our carry-on bags away before sitting down. 

 

"Where is she?" Chase looks at me.

 

"I don't know. I was sure she'd be here by now." I give him the best apologetic look I can. "I'm sorry."

 

I see the flight attendant reaching to shut the door just as someone jumps in. Leave it to Tabbetha to make a dramatic entrance as she throws herself onto the plane, fighting to catch her breath. She sees us sitting down and walks down the aisle to us. She throws her bag in the overhead compartment and glares at me before she sits down beside Chase.

 

She does not say anything to either one of us until we had been in the air for at least 30 minutes. "Oh come on, Tabbetha. You made it. No harm done." I try not to laugh.

 

"No thanks to you. I hate you. You owe me cab fare." She huffs.

 

"Okay. I'll get that to you as soon as you pay me for your place ticket." I raise my eyebrows at her as I smirk.

 

"Fine." She gives up. She sits there for a few minutes before turning around. "We wouldn't need plane tickets if we had just taken the jet. Tell me again why we didn't take the jet."

 

"Because normal people fly on normal planes." I answer as if it were that simple. "If I arrive on a private jet, someone would take notice, especially if I leave on a private jet. If anyone somehow sees us and then someone sees the connection with Justin, then my mystery persona may be destroyed." I explain.

 

"Bullshit. No one would connect you to him. There's rich people with private jets from everywhere. You would not attract any attention." She is not happy with having to live a lifestyle of a normal person. I roll my eyes. I have officially spoiled the girl beyond repair. "You just want to be a normal girl. The type of girl Justin wants to be with." She goes for the low blow as she turns around.

 

I lean up and get right in her ear. "You need to bite your tongue. If it weren't for me you would not be riding in first class. If it weren't for me, I'd say you probably wouldn't be able to afford to go on this trip. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have been invited on this trip, and if it weren't for me you would not have most of what you have. I understand you are pissed off at me for leaving you behind but I won't apologize to you for that. I told you that I would leave you behind if you did not move it. It is not my fault you did not take me serious." I continue to talk quietly to her, not attracting attention from others. "I will not let you make me hate myself. I am who I am. Justin knows who I am and what I do. He has chosen to look past me and love me anyway. You will not make me doubt that. I suggest you bite your tongue the next time you try to do that all because you don't know how to follow simple directions." I finish and lean back in my chair.

 

None of us say anything to each other for the rest of the trip. 

 

***

 

The trip overall was uneventful. We arrived on time and I could not wait to get off the plane and see Justin again. I grab our bags from the overhead compartment. I toss the two theirs, and they silently follow me off the plane. We make our way to baggage claim where Justin is supposed to meet us. I hurriedly followed the signs, trying not to run anyone over on the way. I have no idea if the other two are behind me or not and at this moment, I really do not care.

 

I get to my destination and look around. There are people everywhere and I am doing my best to look around them, above them, whatever around them to find who I am looking for. I almost give up when I turn to see if Tabbetha and Chase are behind me, but as I scan back I see something that make me stop. It makes time stop. Everything around me stopped moving and all my focus is on him. Justin is standing in front of me dressed in a pair of dark jeans that has a few holes in them. He has a simple black tshirt on and a white baseball cap on. His smile is huge and matches mine. He starts walking towards me, and I am almost frozen. It takes me a few seconds to get my feet moving, but once they start they don't stop. In fact they start to pick up speed. 

 

He gets to me quickly and I hug him tightly. He picks me up and swings me around. My giggles would make anyone believe I am some love-struck school girl. I am holding onto him tight and I am not sure I can let go of him. "I'm so happy to see you." I confess out loud. The shock registers on my face as I hear myself say it.

 

His smile widens, "I am so happy to see you. I've missed you."

 

"How are things going? You ready for you concert tomorrow night?" I ask trying to change the subject. Give my face time to return to normal color instead of the bright red it is. I still do not handle gushing very well.

 

"It's great. I am so ready. I am more excited, and nervous at the same time, for you to see it." 

 

"We are all excited to see it. It'll be great." I tell him. I notice him looking around as if he were looking for something. "What are you looking for?"

 

"Chase and Tabbetha. I figured they would be right on your heels."

 

"Oh" I say sheepishly. 

 

"What did you do this time?" He asks and I can tell that he is trying not to laugh.

 

"I may have gotten annoyed with Tabbetha and left her at Chase's apartment and drove Chase and me to the airport making her have to get her own ride. She may have almost missed our flight because of it." I answer. I look down at the floor as I continue, "I may have threatened her in a small way."

 

He pulls my chin up too look at him. "Arianna," he states simply. He is going to lecture me. "You, my sweet love, are one of a kind. I love you because you are a strong-willed woman, but sometimes you forget that there are people you should threaten and people that you should not. I understand your business peeps react to your threats the way you want them to, but your friends need you to talk to them. You may need to be harsh at times but do not threaten them as if they are some goon who you enjoy to intimidate."

 

I nod. I know he is right but it does not mean I want to admit it. Tabbetha pushed the wrong button because she knew it would cause a reaction, but Justin is right. I could have handled it differently. I guess I let my work life overpower my personal life sometimes. I will apologize for what I said on the plane, but I will not apologize for leaving her behind.

 

Justin grabs my hand and leads me over to the baggage carousel where Chase and Tabbetha already were. They had already gotten their bags and when I went over to claim mine, I see that they had already removed mine also. I thank them as they hug Justin. "I'm sorry about what I said on the plane, Tabbetha. I realize you were upset with me, but I should have handled it differently." I tell her.

 

She looks at me weirdly at first, but then over at Justin. She smiles and then hugs me. "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have said what I did either. I know how you feel about that and I went too far with it." She moves to hug me and I step back a bit. "Right. I'll leave the hugging to Justin." She laughs as I put my arm around Justin's waist and he puts his around me.

 

"What do you say to us getting out of here before I get noticed? I can take you all to my house and then we can do whatever from there. My parents won't be here until tomorrow, so no worries about that." He suggests as he looks down at me as he says the last part. I feel like I should apologize again, but I wouldn't know what to say. "Don't over think, babe. I was just telling you so you didn't think I was setting you up. I love you." He says as he kisses the top of my head.

 

"I love you, too" I tighten my arm around him.

 

Just as we are heading out of the doors, Justin stops walking. "Seriously, Tabbetha, how much do you need for three days?" 

 

We all laugh at this and just keep walking. Tabbetha just may know how ridiculous she was with the packing by the end of this trip. 

 

Our first night in LA and we did not do much of anything. We were all pretty jet lagged, so we made an unanimous decision to stay in. We watched several movies, ate a remarkable amount of pizza and ice cream and chips and whatever else we could get our hands on, talked about random meaningless crap, and fell asleep. It was so simple and so what we all needed. There was no talk of missions or assignments, no talk of upcoming weddings, no talk of anything serious unless you consider talks about what kind of bird would you be or what would your muppet name be to be of the serious type. 

 

That was all last night. This morning Justin woke up extremely early and left to go to some meeting or radio show or whatever. I didn't listen much since I was set on sleeping for a little longer. I do know that he promised to have someone come pick us up so we did not have to worry about trying to find our way around or find a parking spot. This made me laugh a bit. I've been to LA several times. I know my way around quite well but I didn't tell him this. I just let him do his thing and go along with it. While Tabbetha spent all morning running around worrying about what she was going to wear to the concert, Chase and I lied around in the living room playing with all of Justin's electronic gadgets and making fun of Tabbetha's ridiculous actions. 

 

It is almost noon and we decide to get up off our lazy butts and get ourselves ready since our ride was to be there at noon. I run up the stairs to Justin's room where all my stuff was. I rummage through my bag for a minute and pull our a simple pair of jeans and black and red striped tank top. I throw my hair back into a messy ponytail and simplify my makeup with just a touch of eyeliner and mascara and a bit of gloss. I throw on a pair of my red and black tennis shoes and I am finished, only taking a total of about ten minutes to complete it all. I take my time making my way back downstairs though.

 

I look at the photos that line the walls. Some are candid shots of family and friends. Some are framed success like albums. There is one of his dogs that he talks a lot about. Apparently they stay here usually but Trace took them for the weekend. I am going to have to talk to Justin about that. I would love to see them. There are a few of people he tours or has toured with: dancers, band members, stylists, etc. I cannot put a name to anyone in any of the pictures though except for Trace. I haven't really thought about it, but I don't know what anyone looks like at all. I never asked for pictures and I guess Justin didn't think to show me because of my obvious distaste in meeting family and friends.

 

I finally make it back downstairs and Chase is lounging in one of the oversized chairs in a pair of his dark jeans and a black t-shirt with some silver design. His feet are resting on the coffee table without his shoes on. I assume he will be wearing the black ones that are sitting on the floor next to the chair he is sitting in. I look around for Tabbetha, but no sign of her in the living room.

 

"Is she almost ready?" I ask Chase as I plop down on the equally oversized couch. "She knows we are leaving at noon and I would hate to have a repeat of yesterday." I shrug.

 

"I was just up there and she said she just had to finish her hair." His eyes roll along with mine.

 

"She kills me. We are going to a concert. A concert where there will be lots of girls jumping around and screaming. There is no point in dressing up more than jeans and comfy shoes."

 

"You don't need to tell me that," his reply is emphasized with him gesturing to his own outfit.

 

It is not five minutes before the doorbell rings. "Must be the ride." I get up and answer the door. Sure enough, I open the door and it is Trace. "Oh good. I was expecting some stuffy old man in a suit." 

 

"Nope, sorry. You are stuck with me. How was your flight?" He makes his way into the house. 

 

"It was pretty uneventful. Good to see ya again though. You going to be watching the concert with us or do you have to do the whole backstage thing?"

 

"I'll be mostly backstage but I'll be sure to catch as much of it as I can. The first show is always intense." He tells me. "You all ready to go? Justin made sure to tell me to get you there soon so you all could hang out before the show. He is doing a final sound check now."

 

"Sure." I turn around to see Chase standing right behind me. I turn towards the stairs, "Tabbetha! We are leaving. Are you coming or you want to be left behind again?" I yell up to her. Chase tries not to laugh as Trace gives me a funny look.

 

"That is so not funny!" She yells back down. "I am on my way."

 

"We'll be in the car." I announce and then look at Chase. "Shotgun!" I take off running with him right behind me. "I called it and you know the rules." I growl as I try to push him off the handle. 

 

"So, I say survival of the fittest. You should sit in the back with Tabbetha. Gush over stupid stuff with her while I sit in the front."

 

"Don't make me punch you, because you know I will." I threaten and the lean over to whisper, "I also have a blade I am not afraid to use. I get shotgun." 

 

Chase gives me an evil glare as he moves to the back door. "That is cheating just so you know"

 

"I never claimed to be a fair fighter." I shrug as I hop in the front seat and start talking to Trace. 

 

It isn't long before Tabbetha comes running out of the front door with her shoes in hand. I roll my eyes, almost completely around, when I see what she is wearing. The girl is wearing some extremely short denim skirt with a turquoise tube top. Her hair is curled perfectly and pinned back while her makeup is ridiculous. She has a pair of heels in her hands that if they were on her feet, they would tie her her calves. She gets into the vehicle and Trace starts driving away. 

 

I turn to the back seat to look at Tabbetha. "Are you serious? You are dressed like you are going to try to sleep your way backstage and hope you can catch Justin's attention and get him to sleep with you and then fall in love with you to live happily ever after. What the hell are you wearing?" I ask laughing. "I don't know if you are aware of this but we are already able to go backstage. That's what this stud muffin is for," I rub Trace's head. "Not to mention, Justin is taken by a fabulous girlfriend that could probably kill you in five seconds." I smile at her.

 

"Hey, don't forget that she is engaged to a great guy." Chase throws in with a smile of his own. 

 

"You two can kiss my ass. I like the way I am dressed. I look hot and I am wearing this because I want to. It is hot outside and it will be even hotter inside around all those people." She glares back at us all.

 

"Well if for some reason, the guards question the fact that you are with me, your outfit will definitely help." Trace jokes himself which causes an uproar of laughter from us. 

 

Tabbetha just chooses to huff and cross her arms as she pouts. 

 

We get to the venue and Trace shows his pass so he can park in the private parking lot that is close. I hop out and meet Trace in front of the vehicle. I link my arm with his and go ahead inside while Chase tries to suck up to his pouting fiancee. There is a huge guard standing in front of the door leading to the backstage area of the building. After Trace vouches for all three of us, I whisper something into the man's ear and he nods at me as Trace and I make our way in. Trace wonders what I told the guy, and I just tell him that I requested that the man give them a hard time. Pretend that Trace is only allowed to bring one guest with him and I was that guest, and to act that he is interested in the way she looks and that she could 'use those looks' for her advantage. It may be mean, but I'll be amused when the guy finally lets them in and she comes after me. 

 

Trace gives me a small tour of the backstage area, showing me where the food is and where a game room is and where Justin's dressing room is of course. When we get to the dressing room, we sit down on one of the couches in there and wait for Justin to finish up on whatever it is that he is doing. We just sit there and talk about whatever comes up. We discuss Trace's life including the girl that he is in love with and we discuss their clothing line and how hectic that can be and just whatever. I enjoy talking with him. It is even more interesting when it comes to fun information I learn about Justin, especially the embarrassing things. 

 

It is about twenty minutes before I can hear Chase's loud laugh and Tabbetha yelling at him to stop because whatever he is laughing at is not funny at all. She is also telling him that he should be offended and take up for her honor.

 

The couple finds their way into the dressing room where we are sitting and Tabbetha glares at Trace and me. "I know that was your fault out there and I don't appreciate it at all. I am not a whore and I am not humored at all by the fact that you had that guy treat me like one." She is furious as she falls onto the couch with a loud huff. 

 

"I'm pretty sure it was entertaining." I shrug with indifference.

 

"What is entertaining?" Justin asks as he walks into the room.

 

"Oh, the guy out back propositioned Tabbetha. It was her payment to get into the building.." I answer him.

 

"What? He didn't. I'll take care of that." Justin is mad at this information and starts to walk back out of the room.

 

"Oh calm down. He was only kidding. He couldn't help himself considering the way the girl is dressed." I call after him.

 

He is confused but comes back over to us anyway. He sits down beside me and gives me a quick kiss before looking over to Tabbetha. "What's wrong with the way she is dressed? I think she looks nice." He states.

 

Tabbetha thanks him while the ret of us burst out laughing. "The guy couldn't 'help himself' because Arianna told him to proposition me." She informs Justin.

 

He turns to me in shock. "What? You didn't?"

 

"It is not my fault that they weren't there at the door for Trace to vouch for when we came in. Also, she chose to wore that outfit. She wore it for you, by the way. Apparently she'll be able to sneak her way back here, get in your pants, and get you to fall in love with her." I tell him in all seriousness.

 

"Don't bring me into this. I vouched for them." Trace throws in when Justin gives him a look to tell him not to encourage my behavior. 

 

"I did not wear this for that reason!!" Tabbetha yells at me.

 

This goes on as we continue to hang out. The best part of all of this is when we decided to turn on the TV and through channel surfing we landed on E! as they were doing a small segment on Justin. "Justin Timberlake is in L.A. to kick off his huge tour where he will travel all around the country and sings to millions. Justin has grown up singing to millions and making girls and women alike swoon over him with his voice, but according to several bar goers Justin may not be able to sing everything like most believe. We have sources saying that Justin spent his last night in town, visiting his mystery girlfriend and a few friends, in a bar singing karaoke. One song he chose to sing was Patsy Cline's 'Walkin' After Midnight' and not so well either. As full as this bar is, no one has picture or videos. Everyone claims that neither him or his girlfriend were recorded because that would have broken some rules. What has the world come to when people won't record the most embarrassing moments of a start because someone told them not to?"

 

Justin groans but I know he is shocked and relieved that no one broke the rules. "I can't believe no one turned in pictures. I let people take some pictures with me. They didn't even turn those over? I am amazed. The story though still got out."

 

"Told you that people would follow the rules. We take AKN very serious." Chase states.

 

"What is AKN?" Trace asks and then turns to Justin with a look of complete amused shock. "You chose to sing Patsy Cline?!" The man is having a hard time breathing from laughing so hard. I would almost swear he is going to pee his pants.

 

Justin glared at all of us. He maybe regretting doing it now. "AKN stands for Arianna's Karaoke Night, and I didn't choose Patsy Cline to sing." He growls at his friend. "Apparently Arianna made up the rule that you don't get to choose your own song. She chooses it for you and you can't back out after she does so."

 

The group started talking about the different songs everyone was assigned to sing. The rules were explained to Trace, and he loves it. He is already planning on coming to visit sometime after the tour is over to participate in this great AKN. I have to make sure Justin understand that he will not be able to come soon after the tour. I will be locked away with this mission and I know it will not be over anytime soon after the tour. We will have to see how it all plays out. While they are goofing around, I get a phone call. I would have ignored it, but I see that it Charles. 

 

I excuse myself and go off to a corner away from everyone and answer the call. Charles is calling me because James has decided to make up his own missions. I start to argue with his, and then get off the phone with him and call James. After I thought it was over with, James calls me back and tells me that since I am away he is in control and he can do whatever. This conversation goes on for a while and I do all that I can to keep from yelling at him. This conversation goes on for a long while, and I am getting more and more irritated. I finally get off the phone and turn to find that no one is in the room with me anymore. I sit down on the cough to breath and calm down before I go on a search for everyone. It takes me about ten minutes before I finally get up and head to the door. Just as my hand reaches the handle, my phone rings again. I growl as I see that it is James again. I am yelling at him again when I hear someone come into the room.

 

I give a Tabbetha an apologetic look that says 'kills me.' I have no idea where everyone is, and I see the disappointed look on her face as she sits on the couch and waits for me to get off. I pace the floor through my whole yelling match, and when I finally hang up on James I fall onto the couch beside Tabbetha with a sigh of aggravation.

 

"You are out of control, Arianna," is her simple statement.

 

"I'm not asking for them to do this to me."

 

"I know, but you came out here for Justin. You work all the time while you are at home. You are not at home. You promised him that you would take a break to be here to support your man. We are all out there goofing off before he has to go on stage and you are in here working. Justin wanted to spend some time with you before he went on stage, but he can't while you are in here on the phone. Sadly enough, he is now with his parents so now you can't even see him unless you are willing to put your own selfish feelings to the side to meet them." She lectures me as I sit there and take it all in. I already feel extremely guilty for this and she just makes it worse. "I'm just letting you know how this looks to the rest of us. If you didn't want the vacation, then maybe you should have stayed behind."

 

She just stands up and walks out and leaves me there alone to think about it. She is right and I know it, but I am not worried about what she thinks about me. I really do want to be here with and for Justin, and I am worried that he thinks that I don't want to be. "He understands. He is apart of my world now." I say to myself. I don't quite convince myself, but it has to work because I cannot go out there right now. He is probably with his mom, and she sees that I am a horrible girlfriend that cannot take the time to support her boyfriend who happens to also be the much loved son. Justin is probably complaining about my actions too. This sucks. I plan on calling him to come meet me so we can talk, but my phone rings once again. 

 

I growl as I pull the phone up to my ear. "Seriously! I am on vacation. You all need to be able to learn to take care of shit on your own."

 

"I know you are upset, but I just thought you needed to know that James has sent two newbies out on a drug assignment." Charles informs me.

 

"What is the big deal on that?"

 

"Ok, let me repeat. James sent two newbies out on a unplanned drug assignment. I am not talking about some stupid small shit you send the newbies on to help with training. I am talking about James wants drugs and can't get into your safe, so he sent newbies out to bust a big guy for a large amount for his own recreation. The more trained guys know not to do it because they fear you, but these two don't know that James is mostly bark while you are mostly bite."

 

I am pissed now. James is putting our men in danger because he cannot control his stupid itch. "Well tell James that he is to call this whole retarded thing off," I demand.

 

"I already told him that you would not approve, and he told me that I can suck it because he controls my job, not the other way around." 

 

"Well you can tell him that I control whether he lives or not," I threaten. I hear the door open and who I am sure to be either Tabbetha or Justin coming back in to yell at me. I ignore whoever as I continue to yell at Charles. "You tell him that if he ever decide to go behind my back and pull a stunt like this again I will personally kill him myself and I will be sure to make it slow and painful." I yell. "Tell him --" I am cut off by the person clearing their throat. I turn to see some lady standing in the doorway. "Hold on, Charles." I pull the phone away from my ear and turn to the lady. "Can I help you?" 

 

"Maybe, I was hoping you could tell me where Justin is. We need him in wardrobe. He needs to get ready for the show." The lady explains.

 

"I believe he is with his family in the game room. That's what I heard last." I inform her and she thanks me as she leaves the room. "Tell James that I will deal with him later. If I hear he pulls another stunt like this again, you will not control his job because you will have it. Let me know who the newbies are so I can call them back and tell them to take the whole weekend off until I get back." After I get the names I thank Charles, call the two I need to, and then I call Tabbetha to meet me on the floor for the concert. 

 

I will talk to Justin after the concert. Our tickets are ten rows back from the stage on the floor. This way we get a close look, and I do not have to worry about people speculating who we are and why we would be sitting in VIP. Plus, I figured Justin can have his parents sit there and I do not have to feel awkward sitting there beside them when I don't really want to meet them. Chase and Tabbetha meet me on the floor at our seats. The show starts soon after and it is amazing. The man is ridiculously talented and I am so proud to know him. The man can sing and dance like no other and I cannot wait to get him home later. We watch the show and when he comes out to sing his last song and just goofs around on stage, I grab my two companions and we head backstage.

 

It is about 15-20 minutes when Justin arrives back there himself in all of his sweaty glory. Everyone gathers in the big room, spilling out into the hallway, and Justin grabs a big bottle of Jack Daniels. "I just want to thank each and everyone of you that helped put this together. This would not have been possible without all of you. Tonight was a great night and just shows that this tour is going to kick ass. So here is to all of you." Justin says as he pours a shot a Jack for those close to him and a couple of bottles are handed around throughout the crowd. Cheers are yelled out and shots are taken. 

 

I make my way over to Justin and hug him around his sweaty waist. "Hey, baby! Tonight was excellent. I am so proud of you. All of your hard work paid off well." I kiss him on his cheek.

 

"Thank you so much. That means the world to hear you say that. I am going to go shower soon. Want to go out afterwards or go home?" He asks me.

 

"I was thinking I could meet your parents and we can figure out what to do after that." I offer him. 

 

"Really?" He is shocked, but I don't blame him.

 

"Yeah. Kind of like my apology for bailing on you before the concert. I'm sorry that happened. I really did want to be with you before you went out there."

 

"I know. No harm done. Let's go meet my parents." He is excited. He grabs my hand and pulls me behind him through the large group of people that are still taking shots. I see Chase and Tabbetha standing up ahead with a smile on their faces. When we reach them, Justin comes to a stop and pulls me to his side. "Arianna, this is my mom, Lynn, and my stepdad, Paul. Guys this is my wonderful girlfriend, Arianna."

 

"Nice to meet you," I greet them as I shake their hands.

 

"You too. It is nice to have a name to the slow and painful killer." Lynn starts laughing causing me to be confused and by the look on Paul's face, he is with me. The other three seem to be shocked, worried, and horrified by Lynn's statement.

 

"Excuse me, mom? That's a little inappropriate." Justin states trying to play off the truth behind her statement.

 

"Oh, I am only kidding with her. I walked into your dressing room earlier trying to find you and she was threatening a slow and painful death on someone." That is why she looks familiar. I think I just may be in trouble now. Chase and Tabbetha are giving me a death glare and Justin is giving me a worried look. "Don't worry about it, sweetie. I am a business woman. I've had to threaten a many of people. When you are in control, you have to do what you can do get people to understand you are in control." Lynn has no idea just how true that is, not to mention just how much I can follow through with my threats.

 

"Well now that the introductions are over with, how about we figure out what we are going to do." Justin tries to change the subject. "I'm thinking I am going to go back home to shower and we can just meet up there." Justin tells everyone and we all agree. "Arianna, you can ride with me." He gives me a pointed look. 

 

I nod and follow him out of the room. I can only imagine how the yelling is going to go on the trip back to his house. I know to watch my back and be careful what I say and who is around when I say it, and I slipped up around one of the worse people to do that around. Justin is not happy with me and I do not blame him.

 

 

 

 

Well, to no surprise of mine, Justin has been yelling at me since we got into his stupid vehicle. I realize I made a mistake but he is not breathing much and I am pretty sure his blood pressure is through the roof. He is going to end up having a heart attack or stroke, and then I will be hunted down by many, many fans. 

 

"How can you be so fucking irresponsible?!" He yells at me. I think he has asked me this question at least ten times now. "I ask you to come out here to visit, so I can see you and hope that you can see my show. Instead, I get you on the phone the whole time and openly threatening people, in front of my mother no less."

 

"I'm sorry." I apologize for the hundredth time. "I wasn't thinking. I got caught up in some things, and I wasn't paying attention. I heard the door open, and I just assumed it was you or one of the other two coming in to yell at me some more." I say as I look down. I am having a difficult time looking at him right now.  "Besides, she doesn't think anything about it" I try to rationalize, finally looking up at him, hoping to calm him.

 

"That is until she starts noticing your love for guns, knives, and any other kind of weapon. Plus, the fact that you've been shot multiple times, you follow through with deadly threats, and crazy things always seem to go on around you." Justin just may have his heart attack and/or stroke at this very moment.

 

"My bad, and she won't know that about me. I am not some psycho killer that only talks about death. I didn't even worry about it after she had walked in because I thought she was some wardrobe lady that didn't care what I said." I admit to him. "Seriously though, babe, you are blowing this way out of proportion. Your mom is okay and I believe it should be you telling me this, not vice versa. It's already done and over with and no one thinks anything about it, so I say chill out and lets figure out something to do tonight to celebrate a successful tour kickoff." I say slowly at the end, hoping to get him to breathe.

 

I turn to face him completely with a smirk on my face now. "Personally, I think you should comment on Tabbetha's outfit, at least for me." I smile at him and he finally returns it as he grabs my hand to hold. 

 

I see the red in his face slowly lighten, so this is a good sign. "I am still pissed that you felt the need to be so work focused tonight that my mom almost got pulled into this life of yours, but I am glad that you are here and you met my mom and step-dad. It means a lot to me." He rubs his thumb over the back of my hand in a soothing manner.

 

I try to think of so much to say but I have nothing. We are about to be back at his house with his parents and I have no idea what I am going to say to anyone, so I am silent for the remainder of the ride. I watch the trees pass by in a dark green blur as the bright stars and moon shine down on them. Other cars speed by with a few drivers staring at me for an unsafe amount of time as I sit there with my forehead pressed against the window. I imagine I look like a patient from the loony bin, on her way home, that is easily distracted by shiny objects. 

 

I am about to express my displeasure with all of this when Justin's phone rings loudly through the vehicle. His conversation is so simple that I cannot decide who is on the other side. He wishes the person a good night and makes plans to see them tomorrow before he ends the call and throws the phone into the back seat.

 

"That was mom. She and Paul decided to call it a night. They are going to be staying in my guest house, but they didn't really want to wait up for us." He summarizes the call for me.

 

I frown as I nod and look down into my lap. "They don't want to be around me, do they? I ruined it. I knew I should have stayed home." I quietly say, more to myself.

 

Justin chuckles a little at my response. "Don't be silly, woman. They were on a plane for a long trip to get hear today and then the concert. They are exhausted." He assures me. "If you don't believe me, you can ask them tomorrow during lunch. They invited us out to have lunch with them. Just you, me, mom, and Paul. You didn't mess anything up." He is now trying to convince me of this. It is funny how the tables turn like that. 

 

My disappointment turns to horror and then to a sick feeling. "I don't think that's such a good idea." 

 

We finally make it to the house at this point and he pulls into the driveway and puts the vehicle in park and turns the ignition off before turning completely towards me. "Why do you think that?"

 

"Because I don't think that will go well," I confess. "I'd have nothing to say. It's not like I have a family that I am close to that I can talk about. I don't talk about my childhood. I don't talk about girlie things like shoes and purses, and I'm pretty sure talking about weapons and the quickest or cleanest way to kill someone are good conversation starters. I don't do well with parents. They don't like me." I tell him.

 

"I highly doubt that. You are quite charming. What makes you  think they don't like you?"

 

"Well...it's..." I have to think. I am having difficulties thinking of the last parents I met. "I don't do parents. James is the only real ‘relationship' I've had since I was old enough to date. We see how that turned out." I try to joke, but it fails miserably. "I'm not parent material, unless your parents are trying to recruit me to be some ass kicking, gun toting, life threatening crazy lady." I grab Justin's hands as I look into his eyes. "I'm the girl that boys date when they don't want to take the girl home to the parents or when the boys don't want the parents to like the girlfriend. This is if I even agree to meet them and usually these are the only reasons I would agree to it. I'm the girl for the boys who don't want someone to push to meet the parents. There's no commitment - no strings attached thing. Parents don't like that, especially for their beloved son." I tell him upset with myself for getting worked up over this. I am usually proud of this and now I find myself ashamed of this.

 

"Baby, you don't have anything to worry about. I know who you are. I'm aware of how things were, but you aren't that way anymore. You are the girl who is in a relationship, who has made a commitment, and who wants to meet the parents. You are with a boy that wants you to meet and be around the parents." He smiles a comforting smile. "You make me extremely happy and they know that, and that is the main concern with them. If you will just be yourself, they will love you. I just suggest that you leave out the number of people you've tortured and/or killed, and the conversation should go smooth." He jokes to lighten the mood.

 

I love this man. I hate that I am just a damn softy when I am around him. It is such a nuisance, and not very safe in my line of work. 

 

We make it into the house to find Chase and Tabbetha waiting impatiently for us to get here. Trace comes in from another room to greet us and ask for the plans. According to him, he has some 'hot babe' that is going to meet up with us. 

 

"Well, I have a few ideas," Justin starts. "I mean, since Tabbetha is dressed for it and all, we could hit up the strip joints and make the cash needed to get into the clubs." He does not even crack a smile. 

 

I can barely contain myself though. The huge smile on my face is the only way I could control the laughter that was building up inside. Chase's eyes widen with surprising humor, and Trace just had a spit take with whatever he was drinking. Tabbetha glares at us all.

 

"I hate each and everyone of you. I do not look that bad, but if that is how it is going to be then I'll just stay here tonight." She fumes.

 

Now I am laughing. "Yeah right. You aren't going to be staying in, and you know that more than the rest of us." 

 

"I guess I'll go change our of my 'whorish' outfit before we go. We wouldn't want Justin's precious reputation ruined by hanging out with 'the likes of me'" She is so pissed at us.

 

"Whatever. You look hot, baby," Chase tells her as he pulls her into a hug. "We're just playing with you. You know Arianna's a bitch like that. We've done the same thing to other people." He rocks her side to side to calm her. "Make sure you can take it if you want to give it. Besides, Justin's rep won't be ruined. We're leaving that in the hand of the 'slow and painful killer' over there." Chase laughs as he looks up at me. 

 

I cannot seem to stop my eyes from rolling. "That's fun to bring up." 

 

"Oh you only know it's funny because--"

 

"It was in front of his mom. I know, right? What a great first impression I gave." I cut him off, looking over at Trace who was texting someone so he was not paying too much attention. Trace has no idea what I do either and I prefer to keep the people who do down to a bare minimum. 

 

"Oh, you have nothing to worry about, Arianna." Trace closes his phone and puts it in his pocket as he walks over to us. "Mama Mia just wants boy wonder over here happy and if you are what does that then you are good in her books. Just be careful. You break his hear, and you may be the one who is slowly and painfully killed." Trace pats me on the back. 

 

I really do like Trace. If Justin told me that he wanted to tell Trace about me, I probably would let him. He seems like a good guy and he is definitely a great friend to Justin. I am sure it would be good for Justin to have someone to talk to about all of this, but right now I can't afford to let others know. Besides, Justin can talk to Chase for now. Anyway, that was irrelevant I am sure. 

 

"Guess we can all go hang out then." I suggest as I walk back towards the door that I had just entered through a few minutes ago.

 

"Sounds good. I guess we'll just make up the night's plans as we go." Tabbetha follows suit. "These always lead to fun nights." She walks out the door and my eyes follow her to see her walk straight to Justin's Escalade and climb into the back seat. 

 

Chase is not far behind her. "Here we go." He leans down to whisper in my ear before he walks out the door. "I think it's funny because she doesn't realize you really are a slow and painful killer." He laughs as I punch him in the arm and tell him how funny he really isn't. He joins Tabbetha in the back seat. 

 

Trace decides to drive so he can have his car in case his night with his chick work out in his favor. Justin and I join the other two in the Escalade and make our way through town. We decide to hit up a couple of bars and clubs and just drink it up and dance it up. This is exactly what we ended up doing, and stay out to a really late hour (or early hour, depending on how you look at it) just enjoying our time together. Trace ended up taking his chick back to her place to do who knows what (and personally I do not want to know). Chase and Tabbetha get wasted and come close to having to be carried out to the vehicle at the end of the night. Justin and I were pretty tipsy ourselves (maybe drunk). We had one of his guards drive us home and I think the sun was beginning to rise when we finally all passed out. It was extremely nice, and strange, to be able to hang out and not think about work once the entire time. I could get used to it.

 

****

 

"uuuuggghhhh" is the grunt that I hear as I roll over a little. I lift my head up a bit and look at Justin who has his arm over his face, blocking the light I am sure. "Don't touch me," he groans again. "I think I may die. My head will explode with any sound. My stomach will empty out if I eat anything or smell anything that is food. I cannot believe how much we drank last night." He does not move a millimeter while he is talking.

 

I cannot help but smile at him. I can feel the slightest bit of a headache coming on, and my stomach is not feel great but I could definitely go for some food. I roll back over, away from Justin. He, of course, groans again when the bed moves as I do this. I grab my phone and see that I missed calls from James, but I just clear them out and check the time. It takes me a split second before I am out of the bed, grabbing clothes out of my bag that is across the room. 

 

"What are you doing? Stop running." Justin says from the bed.

 

"It is almost noon, and I haven't showered or anything. We are supposed to go to lunch with your mom and we are still in bed. Your mom is not going to have a good impression of me by the end of this weekend." I state as I make my way to the bathroom to start the shower, throwing the clothes I picked out on the toilet. 

 

"Stop yelling!" He almost yells himself, but grabs his head and curses as he catches himself. 

 

I ignore him and jump in the shower. I don't get the shampoo completely rinsed out of my before Justin is jumping in. I continue to rinse my hair and wash off as I work around him doing the same. "I thought you were going to die in the bed if you tried to move." I give him a quick kiss as I finish up and after I figured he was pass the killing-me-for-talking stage. 

 

"I figured if you were going to get up and get ready I should, too. How are you not feeling like death?" He turns the water off and hands me a towel before getting one of his own. 

 

"Well I obviously can handle my alcohol better than you. Also, I ate and drank lots of water while I was drinking. I didn't realize you were as drunk as you were until you decided to hit on blonde chick. I think you hit on Tabbetha, too. That one was amusing for both me and Chase." I laugh as I make sure I am completely dried off before putting on my clothes. I hate to put my clothes on right after a shower because I feel like it sticks to me and its restricting, but I do not have time to run around in my panties and bra until I am ready to do so. "I mean we did accuse her of dressing like that to get your  attention and get you to fall in love with her, so when you hit on her it was so great for me. It allowed me to keep the joke running." 

 

I get my jeans on and the nice black shirt I picked out. Its sleeveless and long enough to go over my butt with a wide elastic band that makes it fit more snugly around my ass. It has a scoop neck with a slight design sewn in around the edge of the neck. The back goes up to my neck with a keyhole that goes from the neck to mid back. My jeans are dark ones and I am going to be wearing black heels with some turquoise jewelry. 

 

"I really hit on Tabbetha?" Justin wonders.

 

"Yep, along with a blonde girl and I think two of her friends." I inform him as I try to get my hair brushed out, so I can get it dried.

 

"And you let me live?" 

 

"Please. I was amused all night. You were entertaining me with your pickup lines. My favorite had to be 'Hi. I'm Justin Timberlake. Wanna do me?'" I feel my sides ache from laughing so hard.

 

"I did not say that." He rolls his eyes as he walks out of the bathroom to, hopefully, put on some clothes other than the towel wrapped around his waist. 

 

I grab my hair dryer and get to work on this mess that is my hair. It takes about twenty minutes to get it mostly dried. I run a brush through my hair a couple of times before I exit the bathroom to find the bedroom empty. I assume Justin went down to see his parents and probably try to do something about his hangover. I slowly make my way down the stairs to join them myself. Everyone is sitting around the living room talking about anything and everything. I walk into the room and Trace jumps up to run over to me.

 

He grabs my hand and shakes it. "Hi, I'm Trace Ayala. Wanna do me?" 

 

I laugh as I look up to see Justin glaring at me. "Oh come on. It was hilarious. The girl was in Heaven, and if Trace hadn't have been there to pull you away, I am sure the girl would have taken you to the bathroom so you could have your way with her."

 

"She does have a point." Trace nods.

 

"Why was it Trace that stopped me?" He asks me as I sit down beside him. "Why would you let me act this way? Would you have let me go with this girl?"

 

I scoff as I roll my eyes. "Those girl wouldn't have gotten your belt undone before I broke their arm. I figured Trace is better for you imagine to the public. He can pull you away and it is just a good friend looking out for you and your relationship with the one you love. If it had been me, I would be the crazy girlfriend that goes around breaking people's bones. I prefer the media's first pictures of me being of me breaking your bones because you wanted to test out a hilariously retarded pickup line." I lean over and kiss him on the cheek.

 

"I honestly don't believe I would have done anything, no matter how drunk I was." He leans his forehead against mine as he smiles at me. "I still can't believe that I got that drunk."

 

We all start to laugh again, but the laughter comes to an abrupt halt when we hear Justin's name being yelled through the house. The anger was apparent, no questions about it. It isn't a full minute before Lynn storms into the living room from the kitchen. She probably came in through the back door. I am very aware of how intimidating I can be. It is part of my lifestyle, after all. It is extremely rare for someone to be able to intimidate me, but I was feeling a little bit of intimidation as I sit here beside Justin as his mom stands, staring down at him with her arms crossed, without saying anything.

 

I want to move somewhere else, but I feel frozen. It is no wonder the little people end up spilling their guts to me before I have the pleasure of torturing them. I am almost ready to let her in on some of my secrets. I shake my head a slightly. This action causes Justin to look away from his mother's intense stare towards me with a confused look. I shrug letting him know that I have no idea what is going on that would cause his mom to be so pissed. 

 

"May I ask what has got you so upset, my dear sweet mother?" He asks sweetly, with a look of innocence that will fool almost anyone.

 

"Actually you can. I got up early this morning because I know we had made plans to go to lunch today. I figured you'd sleep in a little because you had an exciting night last night." I put my head down. I feel horrible for making her wait on us. "I continued to wait while I ate breakfast and read the newspaper. I even checked my email and made some business calls." I am definitely not feeling any better as she goes on. "Funny thing is, I was fine with the wait until I realized why you were in such need of sleeping in. I don't normally pay much attention to stupid gossip about celebrities. Its normally either false or exaggerated to please the audience. This time though, I couldn't help but have my attention drawn to the TV when it starts talking about you and your tour kickoff. I was interested in hearing what people were saying about it. Proud mother likes to know." She starts to walk closer and maintains eye contact with Justin the entire time. I keep mine on the floor as I bite on my lip. "There was nothing but good things about your show, and then there was the after show that also gets reviews. I can't help but hear that you got trashed and then offered to have sex with several other girls while your girlfriend is a few feet away. Trace had to pull you off some girl." She glares at Justin as I hear the others trying to silence their own laughter. I bite down on my lip a little harder to keep mine silent. I feel Justin's elbow dig into my ribs. He can probably feel me laughing. "How dare you act so ridiculous. You have a great night, about to go on a great tour, and have a great lady by your side. Why do you act this way?" My head bolted up when she called me a 'great lady.' 

 

I am shocked to hear her call me 'great' but to call me a 'lady'? I don't think anyone has ever called me a lady before. I guess Justin really hasn't told his mom anything about me. 

 

"Mother dearest, I realize I drank too much. My wonderful friends have be reminding ever second since I woke up. I acted stupid. I know. I don't need you to tell me." He rolls his eyes as he leans back to rest his head on the back of the couch. 

 

"Don't get smart with me. I'm hear to point out that you need to be more careful. Personally, I don't think I need to remind you how lucky you are that you have Arianna. Most girls would have left your ass at that bar, and tell you where you can stick it. She's a good one. I have a feeling that she may be one to put you in your place if she needs to also. My advice: stop being an ass, and keep this girl around." Lynn smiles at me and then over at Justin. 

 

"I'm aware of this." I look back to Justin and he is pouting. 

 

"I think I just had my entertainment for the day." Trace continues laughing as he stands up and walks over to Lynn. He gives her a big hug and then continues on his path into the kitchen.

 

"My advice to you, buddy, is to keep your mouth shut." Justin yells out to him. 

 

"I say we get up and go to lunch." I stand up and offer my hand to Justin to pull him up. He takes it and after he is on his two feet, I turn to my two best friends. "You two want to go somewhere for lunch?" I ask them. I was going to buy their lunch since I was leaving them behind in a town that they are not familiar with. 

 

"We made plans with Trace." Chase answers. "We're going to go to lunch then come back here and enjoy the pool. Enjoy your lunch." He tells me, and I can tell he means more behind that. He supports and encourages me.

 

"Just call us when you are done. We'll get together afterwards. No bars or clubs tonight." Tabbetha jokes, getting a groan from Justin. "You all have fun, just watch out for the fans. They might have heard how open your relationship is."

 

We all get ready and Justin's parents ride along with Justin and I to the restaurant for lunch. I feel a little more at ease than I was last night, but I am still nervous about how this is going to go. I am unsure what I am going to tell her about what I do for a living. I am sure she is going to ask, especially since she heard me on the phone last night. I came over as a top dog in a company, so I will need to have an idea of what I do for a living that is not illegal and terrible to most. What am I going to do to keep his mom from changing her perspective of me?