Lou Pearlman leaned back in his large chair, his hands folded on his stomach. He looked up at the ceiling and started counting the tiles, trying to keep the fury that was rising in him down. As soon as the door to his office closed he slammed his fist down on his desk, causing everything on it to rattle.

His eyes were squinted in anger, his teeth were clenched. He slammed his hands on the table and pushed his chair back. He strode, angrily, over to the two large pictures on his wall.

The pictures of his most successful boy bands.

The Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync.

The two bands alone were making him the best known talent manager in the world. He was the reason ‘N Sync and The Backstreet Boys were on top of their game in both the US and in Europe. He was the reason they were big when they first stated in Europe. He was the reason they had anyone listen to them when they started their group. And this was how they decided to repay him? By suing him? He put them on top and they’re suing him for fraud?

Lou grabbed the two large pictures off of the wall and threw them both onto the floor. Panting heavily, he glared at the two pictures before grabbing a pair of scissors from his desk. He broke the glass that covered the pictures and, furiously, cut up the pictures until it lie in pieces on the floor.

He looked up when the door opened and his secretary walked in, cautiously. “Mr. Pearlman, I have ‘N Sync’s attorney on the line. What would you like me to tell him?”

Lou looked down at the pieces on the floor. The only part of the ‘N Sync picture that was facing up at him were the smiling faces of Justin, JC, and Chris. A slow sadistic smile came onto his face. He looked up and peered at his secretary over the rim of his glasses. “Tell him…that I won’t give these boys up. Not without a fight.”

Behind Blue Eyes: JC

February 1999

“Thank you for your hospitality, Lou. It’s been great. I have a plane to catch. See ya.”

I could hardly believe that this whole lawsuit started about a year ago. To me it felt like it started just yesterday. I can still remember looking at my check for the first time and feeling shocked and betrayed when I saw that we only got 25,000 dollars. With all of the merchandise that was sold, tickets that were sold, and CDs that were sold we all knew that we earned more than that.

December last year was when I contacted my Uncle Phil who was a lawyer, with Lance’s push of course, and we met someone he worked with named Helene. She basically told us that we were stuck in the worst contract in music history. She put us in touch with a man named Adam who became our lawyer. After a while he got into contact with Lou’s attorney and Lou claimed that he would do anything to make us happy. He claimed that we were his “boys” and “we were all in this together.” Yeah, like we really believed that. Whatever Adam tried to do to renegotiate the contract Lou would either say no or give another lame reason for us to stay tied with his name and Transcontinental Records. We soon found out that Lou had basically made us sign away a majority of our income that we would earn. The Backstreet Boys, we learned, was in the same position as us and they too had gotten a lawyer and were battling him.

At one point we flew from our homes to Orlando to meet with Lou and, calmly, tell him our arguments. It didn’t work, of course. Lou was being a big obnoxious jerk the entire time. I really just wanted to punch him in the face, do anything to cause him physical harm but Justin had to grab my arm from time to time and squeeze it to keep me in my seat. Once again he claimed that we were nothing but a business to him. Basically he didn’t care that he was walking all over us. At the end of the meeting he “graciously” gave us a room to talk in. It was basically a janitor’s closet and we had no room to sit down or move around really. Adam gave us an ultimatum: either we walk out and he would try to renegotiate or we could stay together and hit Lou with one final offer. Being the optimists we were, we decided to stay. Lou merely laughed in our faces at that offer. I wasn’t in the mood to say and be made fun of any longer so I just got up and left.

Adam and Helene did all they could to get us out of the deal while we sat around still wondering what we were going to do and still broke. It was the happiest day of my life once Adam found a loophole in our contract. He called up Transcon and told them that our contract with BMG was terminated. Then we were on our own to discuss what record company to sign with and, if RCA wanted us again, we were willing to listen to their offer.

Adam and Lou talked all summer. Lou was willing to listen but he suggested we go on the road so we wouldn’t lose our momentum. Which is why, now, we are currently preparing for our US Aint No Stoppin’ Us Now tour. We’re doing this for no one else but the fans; we owe them music for their support in our legal troubles. This is why we’re currently sitting in Johnny Wright’s studio in Orlando trying to come up with a set list for the tour.

“I think we should show that we’re not just singers and dancers,” Justin spoke up after a few minutes of silence. I tapped my pen against the notepad that was in my lap and waited for him to continue. “I mean, we played Giddy Up while we were in Europe and the fans loved that we could play instruments. Why don’t we try that again?”

“I don’t really want to play Giddy Up it sounds so…juvenile,” Chris commented as he threw a ball into the air and caught it.

“You’re the one who giggles at the ‘ride it’ part of the song,” Lance pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

“For good reason,” Chris replied with a shrug and a smile. Justin nudged him and the two started to crack up.

I let out a breath through my nose and waited for the laughter to stop. “I have an idea,” I said slowly. “If you don’t like it, it’s ok. It’s just a suggestion.”

“What is it, C?” Joey asked, spinning in his chair.

“Why don’t we show the fans that we can sing any genre of music?” I suggested. “I know J can do some R&B stuff. I’ve tried some rock stuff while on the MMC set. We should show everyone that we’re a diverse group and we don’t stick with pop.”

“How are we going to do that?” Chris asked, catching the ball and holding it in his hands. “If we pick a song the fans don’t like, that’s it. We have to change the set all over again.”

“Which is why we choose songs that we’re sure they’ve heard and they like,” I replied. “I was thinking we could go through this…timeline of music. We can start out with a few of our songs and then we can launch into the timeline. Like, we start in the 60s; we can sing…That Thing You Do by The Wonders. Or, for the 70s we can sing a Jackson 5 song.”

“And we can dress up in costumes that correspond with that decade!” Chris said as he sat up and grinned. “We can wear large wigs and funky clothes and use dance moves from that decade! C, that’s a great idea.”

“Really?” I asked in shock. I didn’t think they would go along with my idea that fast, not that they never listened to my ideas. It’s just…it sounded good in my head and sometimes things that sound good in my head don’t sound right out loud. I’ve been made fun of for that reason alone, it’s why they call me ‘Space-C’ sometimes. “You think it’s a good idea.”

“Totally, C,” Justin replied, playfully shoving my shoulder. “Did you think we’d laugh at you?” I nodded. “No way, man, you have great ideas.” He jokingly added, “It’s the only reason we keep you in this band.”

“Yeah, we could easily go on without you,” Joey agreed.

“Right.” I put down my pad and pen. “I’ll be right back.”

“Jace, we were just kidding,” Justin spoke up.

“I know. I have to take a piss.”

That wasn’t entirely false, I did really have to take a piss but I wanted to take some refuge in the bathroom as well. I closed and locked the door behind me and stepped over to the mirror. My reflection stared back at me yet I didn’t recognize myself at the same time. Was that really me, with the dull blue eyes and the dark circles? I didn’t even recognize myself anymore. A knock on the door caused me to jump.

“Jace, are you ok in there?” Justin. I should’ve known he’d come to check on me. He’s so caring it gets on my nerves sometimes. I clutched the edges of the sink and took a few deep breaths, shaking my head. “Jace? C’mon, open up!” Justin knocked harder.

“Uh, hold on!” I shouted as I turned on the faucet and water thundered into the sink. I splashed the water onto my face a few times and dried it with the towel that was by the sink. I then turned off the faucet and opened the door, only to receive a fist to my nose. I doubled over in pain, grabbing at my throbbing nose. “What the fuck!? You beat me in the face just because I wouldn’t open the door!?” I cried out.

“C! I’m so sorry, it was an accident!” Justin said as he placed a hand on my shoulder and bent over to try and look at my face. “Is your nose bleeding? Are you ok?”

“Of course I’m not ok, you idiot! I don’t double over in pain because it’s fun!” I wanted to snap at him but I held my tongue. He didn’t really do anything wrong. It wasn’t his fault I’ve had a short fuse lately. “Nah, I think I’m fine,” I said as I stood and blinked away the tears of pain that shot to my eyes. I gingerly rubbed my nose and looked into the mirror. It was a little red but otherwise fine.

“We were just joking, C,” Justin said suddenly. I looked up at him, confused for a few seconds before I noticed the apologetic look in his eyes. ‘What’s he apologizing for? Oh, that.’ “We didn’t mean it,” he continued when I didn’t say anything. “You’re important to this group. You write a lot of stuff for us. You’re like a Dad for us. No one else would stay up and make sure we get back ok. And…and your voice is what we need for our five-part harmony. And without you we wouldn’t be *NSYNC we’d be *NSYN. And–”

“You can stop before you talk my ear off,” I said with a chuckle.

Justin’s eyes widened and he let out a laugh before playfully shoving my shoulder. “Ha, that’s funny.”

“What is?” I questioned.

Justin proceeded to lift his hand to his ear and change his fingers into the fake phone sign. “Hello? Kettle? This is JC. You’re black.”

“Excuse me for being intelligent,” I said in a fake offended tone as I left the bathroom and walked down the hall.

“Your intelligence doesn’t bother us, it’s the fact that you won’t shut up or talk normally,” Justin replied, following me back down the hall. “I mean, you take three sentences to answer a five-answer question. You’re like a textbook, you hold a lot of information but you can be very boring.”

“How would you know what a text book is? You’ve never been to high school,” I pointed out, joining the guys in the rehearsal room where they were sprawled on the floor. I tilted my head slightly and watched as their eyes darted around the room. I was about to ask them what was up when Chris shouted “that light” so loud it caused both Justin and I to jump.

“Nope, guess again,” Joey replied, rolling onto his stomach.

“I’m probably going to regret asking this but…what are you doing?” Justin asked slowly, looking over the scene.

“We’re playing I Spy,” Joey responded. “I’m it and I spied something blue. They’re trying to guess what it is but they’re both wrong!” It was clear by the huge smile on his face that he was happy that whatever he had spied was close to impossible to guess on the first few tries. “J, C, do you guys want to try and guess?”

Justin started shouting out random things around the room that were blue. I really wasn’t in the mood to play, after all we had a tour and a lawsuit to worry about, but I could tell that they wouldn’t let me go that easily. I sighed and looked around the room myself, trying to think like Joey. I gave up after a few minutes and studied his face to try and see if I could look through his eyes and into his mind to try and guess what he was thinking. Joey caught my eye and stared at me for a few seconds before looking away and shaking his head at Lance’s and Justin’s guesses. My eyebrows knitted together. Joey looked at me kinda funny…that’s it!

“I know what it is,” I called over Lance, Justin, and Chris shouting. They all turned to look at me and I smiled a little. “My eyes.” Chris and Justin looked at me as if I was crazy. Lance raised his eyebrows and looked over at Joey who groaned.

“How do you always do that?” He demanded as I grinned and shrugged.

“Lucky guess,” I replied. “I don’t mean to be a downer guys but we should get this set list finalized. That way we’ll have more time to decide what we should wear and the light people can decide what lighting to use and then we can decided if we’re going to use pyro and–“

“And I vote you shut up and we go get something to eat. I’m starving!” Chris said, sitting up and rubbing his stomach.

“No, you’re short,” Justin replied with a smirk.

“Yeah? Well…” Chris paused as he scanned Justin from head to toe. “Well…you’re hair’s curly!”

Justin rolled his eyes. “Nice insult. What’re you, five?”

“No, that’s your IQ.”

I sighed and rubbed my temples to try and stop the inevitable headache that was going to come on in any second. Justin and Chris couldn’t go a day without making fun of each other. Sometimes it was funny but other times it was annoying, such as now, especially since they always seem to get even more juvenile with each fight.

“Ok! Ok!” I yelled over their shouting. “Even though we have a perfectly stocked ‘fridge, we’ll get you some damn food. Ok? Stop yelling!”

“Um, Jace? Technically you’re yelling,” Lance spoke up.

I glared at him and he pressed his lips together, turning his head to face Joey. “Sorry, Pez,” I mumbled letting out a slow breath. Lance smiled at his nickname and I could tell that he was forgiving me. “I’m sorry I yelled. I just…I think it would be best if we stayed here and ate here. Besides, fast food is bad for your arteries.”

“Relax, Old Man,” Justin said as he bumped my shoulder with his. “We’ll be there in back in ten minutes. Fifteen tops.”

“I don’t know…” I sighed. I didn’t want to worry them but I had a bad feeling about going out to get something to eat. My stomach was churning although I didn’t feel like I was going to throw up. A shiver rolled down my spine and my palms flooded with sweat.

“It won’t take long. You can even drive,” Chris said as he swung the keys of my jeep in my face. I looked at my keys then to Chris’ face. “Or I can drive for you.” My lip twitched as I stared at the grin on his face. Chris and my car was not a good combination. Chris with any car was not a good combination for that matter. I really didn’t want to go but I found myself saying, “All right. I’m driving.” Justin and Chris cheered before rushing out of the room. “Tell Johnny we’ll be back soon if he comes looking for us, ok?”

Joey and Lance nodded and I followed Chris’ and Justin’s arguing all the way down the hall, up the stairs, outside, and to my red jeep. They were both standing by the passenger side door arguing over who got to ride shotgun. “Guys! It doesn’t matter! Chris you ride up front on the way there and Justin you ride up front on the way back! Ok? Good! Get your asses in the damn car!”

Justin and Chris both stared at me. “Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning,” Chris whispered to Justin. I clenched my teeth and fought not to roll my eyes as I opened my side of the car. I paused when I felt a raindrop on my nose. Looking up I grunted when I saw a wall of gray clouds coming in. Great, just what I needed.

“Someone isn’t a morning person,” Justin replied.

Lou tapped his stubby fingers against his desk, his dark eyes darting around the room at the different plaques hung on the wall: Gold, Platinum, 2xPlatinum, Silver, Diamond… His hands clenched into fists. How could they do this to him? He started them; he gave them everything they needed to get where they were but they decided to pull it out from beneath them.

It wasn’t as if he had been asking for something big. Just parts of their income that he felt was due. After all, he was the brain behind the operation so a few extra dollars wasn’t a difference. But the whiney brats had to make it seem like he was sucking the money out of their own pockets and run to their mothers.

Well, he bet Justin did. He’s the biggest Momma’s boy of the group, because of him Lou had to deal with Lynn riding on his ass demanding that they get some time off, that they get paid more, that they get better hotel rooms and blah blah blah. Lou growled as a picture of her face popped into his head. He hated that woman, no, that bitch. She always got in the way of his plans. He was surprised that she didn’t have a fucking collar around Justin’s neck.

Lou leaned back in his chair and tapped his fingers against each other in the motion of a wave crashing on a beach. The boys all seemed to see Lynn as their second mother, minus Justin of course, and they always listened to her…

Lou clicked his tongue. Maybe it was time to pay the little bitch a visit.

Worry is What Love is All About: Lance

February 10th, 1999

“What’s taking them so long?” I asked even though I knew that Joey wouldn’t be able to give me an answer. It wasn’t like he knew either, after all we were the ones that decided to stay behind at the compound while we waited for the guys to get back with the lunch that Chris and Justin wanted so badly.

“Don’t know, Lance,” Joey replied. “But I’m sure they’re fine. Chris and Justin wanted food so bad that I bet they started eating it as soon as they got it so they couldn’t do too much damage.” He added with a smile.

Leave it to Joey to be able to read my mind without even looking at me. He was busy reading a music magazine article about Madonna. It still amazed me how well Joey knew me, after all we’ve only met about…three years ago, maybe four. I can easily call him my best friend. Not that the others aren’t my close friends, it’s just…with me and Joey it’s a little different. Like how Justin and JC have their MMC thing and Justin and Chris have their inner-child thing. Joey was the first one to make me feel better about my dancing skills (or lack thereof). Since then we’ve been close.

“You’re probably right,” I agreed smiling a little bit. “Do you want to watch TV or something while we wait?”

“Actually I want to call up Kelly,” he replied, closing his magazine. “She’s probably worried since I haven’t called her in a couple of days.”

“I’m sure she’ll understand that you don’t have much time with the touring and stuff.”

“I know. I just don’t want to have to deal with the nagging. She always gets slightly naggy when she calls, especially when…it’s her ‘time of month’.”

I chuckled as Joey made a face and walked out of the room, holding his phone up to his ear. Not wanting to be in the studio by myself I went into the living room and turned on the TV. I liked having some background noise while I was looking over some things for ‘N Sync, it put my mind at rest while I was doing a mentally exhausting task, such as balancing checkbooks or something.

“Lance! Lance!”

“Joeeeeeeey!”

I looked up from the scattered papers that were in front of me and glanced towards the doorway. I could hear pounding footsteps, probably Justin and Chris running around the house to tell us about some chick they saw or something.

“Lance…” JC appeared in the doorway. What tipped me off that something was wrong was that he was shaking slightly and he clung to the doorway as if he was going to fall over.

“Oh gosh, Jace, what happened?” I asked as I rushed to his side. I wrapped my arm around his waist and helped him walk over to the couch. He practically collapsed onto the cushions as I took at look at his face. His skin was paler than normal and his eyes were staring off into space, as if he was looking right through me. “Jace? JC? JC, tell me man,” I said as I shook his shoulder. “What happened?”

“What’s going on?” Joey yelled as Chris and Justin pulled him into the living room. The phone was still in his hands and I could hear faint yelling through the other line.

“He’s going to have to call you back!” Justin barked into the phone before disconnecting the call by jabbing the button with his thumb.

“What the hell!? You better have a good explanation for this!” Joey growled. Justin and Chris silently pointed at JC who was still laying down on the couch, not moving, not registering that we were around him. Immediately the hostile look left Joey’s face. “What’s wrong with him?”

“We were coming back from McDonalds and getting gas in Jace’s jeep when this black SUV started following us,” Justin started, his eyes wide as if he were a woodland animal stuck in the beams of a Hummer. “He was too close at first. It made us nervous. We thought he was driving close so he could turn into the next lane but he didn’t move.”

“So I made us go on the interstate,” Chris interrupted, ignoring Justin’s whine of “I wanted to tell the story”. “I thought we were fine but the SUV bumped us, causing JC to hit his head on the steering wheel. The guy slammed into us again, causing us to swerve a bit because of the wet ground. We almost ran into the wall.”

“And then I screamed–” Justin interrupted him.

“–and then JC sped up–“

“–and then we raced towards the exit ramp–“

“–the SUV was following us really closely at this point–“

“–we quickly turned off at the exit–“

“–the SUV was too slow–“

“–it missed the exit–“

“–JC pulled onto the shoulder and checked if we were ok–“

“–I wanted to call the police–“ 

“–but I didn’t think it was a good idea–“

“–so JC drove us here–“

“–and now he’s like that,” Chris finished, pointing at JC who hadn’t moved through the whole story. “We think he’s in shock.”

I knelt by JC and looked at him. He was still staring off into space. I looked him over to make sure there were no bruises or anything when I noticed that his right fist was clenched. Chris and Justin turned their attention to Joey who was saying something about hanging up on Kelly. I used their distraction to gently stick my fingers in JC’s fist and pry it open enough to see what was in it, if there was anything in it. My eyebrows knitted together when I felt my fingers brush against some paper. “Jace,” I said softly. “It’s me, Lance. I need you to unclench your fist, ok? Can you do that for me?”

I didn’t think he had heard me but I slowly felt his grip relax. I pulled out the piece of paper and looked at his face again before reading the note:

Joshua Scott Chasez

            The “father” of the group. The sweet one. The quiet one. The intellectual. For someone who’s supposedly so smart you’ve just made a stupid decision.

I know where you are. I know who you’re with. I know everything about you. I know wherever you are 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days of the year. I hope I didn’t scare you too much out driving today. Actually, I do. That way you know I mean business.

You are making a huge mistake leaving BMG for Jive. It’s a mistake that I’m going to make sure you suffer through every single day until you convince your stupid ass little friends to stay with BMG.

How, you ask? You’ll find out soon enough.

You have a week to cancel your decision on suing Lou.

After that…well, you’ll just have to suffer the consequences.

I’ll be awaiting your decision.

“Lance? Lance, what’s wrong?”

I looked up from the piece of paper, my eyes locking with Justin’s concerned blue orbs. “Call Johnny,” I whispered, clutching the piece of paper in my fist. “Call Johnny and the police.”

The Fearful and the Fearless: Justin

February 11th, 1999

Don’t go to sleep, J. Don’t go to sleep. You need to stay awake. Think caffeine. Think sugar. Think candy. Hot chocolate. Pixie Stix. Something!  

I couldn’t sleep. Hell, who could considering all that just went down. I couldn’t get the day out of my mind. I called my mother up to tell her what happened. She was worried, of course. She always worries about me, even if I mention that I stubbed my toe, she goes ballistic. I think it’s funny sometimes but today it made me worried about her.

What would she be like if something had actually happened to me? She’d probably be so sad and upset. She’d go Mama Bear on whoever dared to lay a finger on me, I’ll bet. I smiled at the image in my mind and let out a yawn.

Man I was so sleepy. I sat up and shook my head. I had to stay up, for JC’s sake. JC came out of his shock a few minutes after the police arrived so he was in stable condition to talk about what happened.

But that was it.

We didn’t want to say anything to the police. We couldn’t say anything to the police. We didn’t want to give the tabloids any other reason to follow us around. What happened was just a coincidence, at least that’s what we said to convince them. Then the rest of the day went by normally. Well, as normal as can be with JC staring off into space like some zombie. The others didn’t seem too worried about it, but I was so freaked out.

This was JC.

The hyper one. The responsible one. The Daddy of the group. My JC.

And now he was being targeted?

To say I was freaked out is an understatement. I was scared for our lives. Lance doesn’t think that anything bad is really going to happen, that someone was just trying to scare us. I wish I could believe him though.

“Is he awake yet?” Lance asked as he crept into the room.

I shook my head and rubbed my eyes. “What time is it?”

“About six,” Lance replied. He then frowned. “Did you stay awake the whole time?”

“Mhm. I couldn’t sleep,” I responded. “I had to stay awake…”

Lance gave me a little smile and knelt next to me. “Jus, JC is fine. No one would be able to come in here. No one knows we’re here. We’re safe,” Lance said, lightly placing a hand on my shoulder. He gave it a little squeeze and I sighed. Then he got to his feet and looked at me with a gentle smile. “Since you’re up, do you mind helping me with breakfast?”

“What is it?” I asked, forcing myself out of bed and stood.

“Eggs and stuff. I wasn’t in the mood for cereal today,” Lance replied, turning to walk out of the bedroom. How could he stay so calm? Wasn’t he freaked out at all? How could he just keep on going like nothing was wrong? JC’s life is in danger! Why doesn’t he care? “Is that ok? I know how you like your routine.”

“No, eggs are fine,” I replied, running a hand through my hair. I made a face when my fingers got tangled in my curls a bit. I don’t know why I let the guys talk me into growing it out. Maybe I could cut it while they’re asleep…

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, Lance, I’m sure,” I replied following him into the kitchen. Chris and Joey were all ready awake, watching TV and sipping coffee. I made a face. “I still don’t know how you guys can drink that stuff. It’s nasty,” I said. I didn’t want them to know I was worried. They’d make fun of me and continue to call me ‘Baby J’.

Oh how I hated that name.

“Your face is nasty,” Chris replied automatically, turning around to look at me. I struggled to find a comeback and he grinned. I hated it when he did that, I really did. Then his eyebrows crinkled together. “What’re you doing up anyway?”

“Never slept,” I replied, rubbing my eyes.

“You? Baby J didn’t get sleep?” Chris asked in shock.

“Ugh, will you please stop calling me that? I’m taller than you if you haven’t noticed, Old Man,” I muttered.

“Yes, but I’m still older than you, Junior,” he responded. Then he switched to talking serious-like to me. Yes, I’m not kidding, Chris Kirkpatrick can be serious…once in an *NSYNC moon. “Why didn’t you sleep?”

“I was watching JC,” I replied.

“You sure you’re not gay?” He simply asked.

I cracked a smile. “You’re not funny.”

“I’m not joking.” Joey gave him a look. “Ok, kind of,” he admitted. “But really, you don’t have to watch the guy. He’ll be fine as soon as he wakes up. That’s what the doctors said. He wasn’t in shock or anything, he’s fine.”

“I know,” I admitted. “I just can’t help it.” I couldn’t get that letter out of my head. It chilled me to the bone. Someone was out to get JC. My JC. Why didn’t they get that? Why didn’t they understand? And why the hell are they being so calm about it? “I mean we’ve had threats before from our fanmail but this has gone too far. I don’t think this is a joke.”

“Why not?”

“How could JC get that letter fast enough? The person mentioned something about driving? That was way too specific to be a coincidence. ‘Sides that, no one would have known we were leaving Lou, we hadn’t even made it public yet.” Wait a minute… “That’s it! Lou’s behind all this! He doesn’t want us to leave BMG!”

“He would go as far as trying to drive you off the road?” Joey questioned, knitting his eyebrows together.

“It could happen,” I grumbled. I had to admit it did sound funny now that I was saying it out loud…

“I could see why Lou would be upset that we’re trying to leave, but to threaten us? That’s completely ridiculous,” Lance said as he cracked eggs into a bowl. “I mean, think about it, if he got caught, and that’s a big if, it would tarnish his reputation. Heck, the Backstreet Boys leaving his label tarnished his reputation. He wouldn’t be that stupid to look like the bad guy. He is trying to form a new boy band after all.”

Joey laughed. “What kind of stupid name is O-Town for a boy band anyway? We get it, every single group he starts come from Orlando but that name takes the cake. I’m glad we came up with our name.”

“Yeah, I thank your mother ten times for that,” Lance agreed, smiling at me.

“But JC–” I started again.

“JC is fine,” Lance interrupted, firmly. “Nothing is wrong with him and nothing’s going to happen to him or to us. We have a CD to work on and a lawsuit to get through, ok?” I stayed silent and nodded.

Sometimes I wished I wasn’t the youngest, maybe then they’d actually listen to me for once.

Lynn Harless was a little surprised to receive a phone call from Lou Pearlman asking to meet her at his office. She usually only went there with Justin and the other boys so they had a witness of sorts to make sure they weren’t going to do something stupid or get themselves into trouble.

That’s how they got into this legal mess in the first place.

Lynn cancelled her meetings and appointments for the next three hours and started on her way to Lou’s office. Her *NSYNC CD was playing in the stereo and she smiled whenever she heard Justin’s voice come over the speakers.

To say she was proud was an understatement. There were no words that could describe how she felt about her son and his friends’ success. She knew from day on e that he was destined for greatness, but she didn’t know how great he was going to be.

She continued humming the song that was playing even when the car shut off and she walked up to the door of the Perlamn Estate. Lynn always thought it was odd that he worked from his home but many people do that so she let it drop.

If only she paid more attention to her instincts.

“May I help you?” A voice came out of nowhere so suddenly that it scared Lynn.

She gave a little jump and placed her hand over her heart. Looking around she spied a white intercom on the wall by the door. She leaned forward, clearing her throat, and pushed the small button. A light turned red. “Um, yes, this is Lynn Harless. I’m here to speak to Mr. Pearlman.” She let go of the button and leaned back.

She waited a few minutes, looking around at the spacious driveway she had parked in. Suddenly the bored voice returned. “Mr. Pearlman will see you now.” A buzzing was heard as well as a click. Lynn twisted the doorknob and pushed the handle. The door sung open easily. She stepped into the high arched foyer. When the door closed behind her the sound echoed.

“Welcome, welcome,” Mr. Pearlman said as he walked over to Lynn. She gave a polite smile and hiked her bag over her shoulder. She couldn’t forget that he was trying to take money from her son, no matter how polite he was. “How was your drive?”

“It was fine,” Lynn replied. “I believe you had something you wished to talk to me about?”

“Yes, yes. Please, come.” Lou lead her through the maze of a home until she reached his office. She looked around at the many pictures, plaques, and magazine clippings of, not only *NSYNC, but the Backstreet Boys as well. It was understandable considering he was their manager but something about it felt odd to her. A little creepy, even.

She cleared her throat and sat down in a chair across from his desk. Lou huffed and puffed a little bit before sinking into his chair and pulling himself up to his desk. “Candy?” He offered, pushing a bowl forward. “Altoid?”

“No, but thank you kindly,” Lynn replied, brushing her golden curly hair off of her shoulders. “I believe you wanted to discuss something about my son.” She didn’t mean for her voice to come out steely but she was beginning to set into Momma Bear mode and it was hard to turn that off.

Lou sighed and clasped his hands together. “I’m going to cut to the chase here, Mrs. Harless,” he said, looking her in the eye. “This whole…lawsuit is silly.” Lynn’s eyebrows crinkled together. “I can fight. You can fight. It will be nothing more than a lot of back and forth, pushing and pulling, and we’ll get nowhere. And we all want this to be finished, correct?”

“Yes…” Lynn said slowly.

“So, here’s what I’m willing to do. I’ll pay you…thirty million dollars to get Justin and the others to drop the lawsuit against me,” Lou replied. “It’s bad for business, you know. I’m already working with the backstreet Boys on a deal so you’ll be smart to take me up on this offer and we can all move on from this…fiasco.”

Lynn’s eyebrows rose. “Mr. Pearlman, I believe that’s bribery.”

Lou smiled. “I believe that it’s getting what we both want. You want money, I want this to all end. It’s simple. Do we have a deal?”

Lynn picked up her bag with a huff. “No, we don’t have a deal, Mr. Pearlman. We won’t drop the lawsuit and I would appreciate it if you don’t come calling me again.” She turned on her heel and stormed out of the office. She swung the door shut with so much power that it ricocheted off of the frame and bounced back open.

“You’re going to regret that decision, Mrs. Harless, just you wait,” Lou sighed.