Justin walked quickly over to the car, followed by an entourage of paparazzi. He opened the driver’s door and his mum walked out and got in the back without a word.

Jordan had watched the whole scene paralyzed, and she couldn’t look at Justin as he turned the key and drove out of there with the rubber of the wheels leaving marks on the road.

He said nothing, but she could see his hands holding the steering wheel with all the power he had, his knuckles all white from the effort, except for the now dried blood that made a path down his fingers. She swallowed hard several times to keep the tears in while she heard Lynn sobbing quietly in the back.

The silence was thick and all she could concentrate on was the sound of the engine, the lights from the streets and white lines on the road. Her body was rocking back and forth, this was just a bad dream, this didn’t really happen, she made every effort to convince herself of that.

Her eyes went sideways to peek at Justin who kept staring in front of him with glassy eyes while biting his lips together. Then she went back to staring at the lights again, letting it hypnotize her into numbness. Suddenly the car stopped and without looking behind him Justin handed Lynn his wallet.

-“Buy whatever essentials you need for tonight.” His voice was hoarse, almost whispering, but she could still hear it trembling. Lynn got out and closed the door carefully, leaving them alone in the confined space.

She was afraid he’d say something, she didn’t want him to, didn’t want to hear what he had to say. She wanted to block everything out, and she knew that the sound of his voice would shake her out of her trance. But he kept quiet, just kept staring at the steering wheel.

Lynn came back with a small plastic bag and he started the car again. She jumped as she heard the sound of his cell phone, but he made no attempt to answer it. The beeping felt so loud, it was as if it was drilling its way into her head. She let out a short breath when it finally stopped, just to jump again when her own cell started. And just as hers stopped, his started again. Justin sighed angrily and put his hand in his pocket to fish it out, not even looking at the display before he rolled down the window and threw it out. Lynn let out a gasp and Jordan closed her eyes and leaned her head against the glass.

When he finally stopped the car she spent a few seconds opening her eyes, looking up at a house about half the size as hers, but still spacious and luxurious. He got out and opened the door in the back first before moving over to Jordan’s side. He grabbed her arm a little too hard and she winced, making him loosen his grip. He kept both women in front of him and led them through the front door.

As soon as they got in Trace came running towards them, his eyes wide and pearls of sweat on his forehead.

-“What the fuck, Justin…” He stopped as he noticed Lynn and Jordan, then turned back to Justin.“ Ken’s been calling like crazy, what the hell has happened?”

-“I…We..” he swallowed, unable to continue.

-“Was there an accident? Ken mentioned something ‘bout an incident outside The Ivy? Oh, my God, Justin, you’ve got blood on your hands!” He grabbed both hands and examined them.

-“It…I don’t…” Suddenly Justin lost balance and Trace steadied him and led him into the living room and sat him down in the couch.

Lynn and Jordan just stood in the foyer until Trace came back and pushed them into the same room. Justin sat there with his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. He didn’t move as Trace got a damp cloth and washed the blood off him.

-“Was there a fight?” Trace whispered and finally Lynn got her voice back, taking a deep breath.

-“Why don’t I make us some tea” she said quietly and took Trace’ hand. He nodded slowly and followed her out, just stopping to glance worriedly at the couple in the couch. 

She looked at him as his shoulders were shaking and that’s when she understood that he was crying. Her hand moved to stroke his hair and as soon as she touched him he pulled her towards him, holding her in a desperate embrace. His sobbing got louder and his fists held on to her shirt while she stroked his back and leaned her head against his shoulder.

-“I’m so sorry…so sorry…” he whispered through his tears, and she wanted to tell him it was okay, that she understood, but she couldn’t decide whether to be angry at him or proud of him. All she knew was that this little incident, those few minutes, would change her whole life.

But then he looked up at her, his sad desperate eyes filled with fear, and she melted in them. What he had done for her, no matter how wrong it was, was more than anyone had ever done for her. And she knew now that the love she felt for him was even stronger after this. He had jeopardized everything for her; his image, his relationship, his future…

She held his face in her hands softly, wiping his tears with her thumbs as she let her own run freely.

-“It’s okay, Justin” She put her forehead against him and closed her eyes.

-“I shouldn’t have… But I couldn’t…” he continued.

-“I know, Justin. I know.” 

When Lynn came back in with the tea she found them sound asleep in each others arms and she sighed. They looked like two fragile kids, only finding comfort in each other. Trace walked up behind her and put an arm around her.

-“They’ll be okay. He’s strong, he’ll get through it…” he whispered.

-“I don’t know, Trace” she sighed. “I hope you’re right”

She walked over and kneeled down, stroking both their heads.

-“Justin. Jordan” she whispered and Justin stirred and moaned softly.

-“Mom?” he mumbled and opened his eyes halfway. “What…?”

-“Hush” she said, putting a finger on his lips. “Go to bed. You can’t sleep out here”

He rubbed his eyes for a second then nodded, rubbing Jordan’s back softly.

-“Baby?” he whispered. “Jordan?”

She stretched a little before opening her eyes, jumping from the three pair of eyes staring at her. He pulled himself up to a sitting position and brought her with him, holding her tight the whole time.

Lynn smiled sadly and made her way to the guest room.  Trace shifted his legs and shook his head.

-“Try to get some sleep guys” Before hell breaks loose in the morning, he thought, but kept to himself. They both knew anyway, he didn’t have to tell them that.

Justin nodded again and helped her up. She followed him into his room and watched him as he slowly stripped down to his boxers and pulled on a t-shirt. He grabbed one out of the drawer for her to wear and turned around to not intimidate her as she put it on.

She climbed after him into the bed and put a hand in his hair again. Their faces were so close and instinctively he put his lips on hers. Just a soft peck, testing her limits before he looked at her to analyze her reaction. He needed to feel her, needed to make her feel safe and protected, needed her to understand how important she was to him, and this was the only way he knew how. But when he looked into her eyes he saw the same need, and pulled her back in to a deeper kiss.

Her grip in his hair tightened and he almost lost his breath when he felt her soft tongue playing around his. Her leg moved over his and he grabbed her thigh to hold it there.

He sucked her bottom lip carefully before pulling back, closing his eyes to fall asleep.She put her hand on top of his and guided it further up to her hips and not letting it go before it was under her t-shirt.

-“Touch me, Justin” she whispered.

His heart stopped a she said it, and he opened his eyes widely to see whether he dreamed it or not. But her face was serious, and she bit her lip pushing his hand further up her back

-“I need you to touch me, Justin. Please….” 

 She wanted him to touch her… Her eyes were so sincere and pleading and he got so scared. How could she even want that, after everything that had happened? And how would he be able to touch her without hurting her?

He slowly and gently pushed her on to her back, his hand was still inside her shirt. He leaned over her and his other hand started stroking her face. He needed to be gentle, to be slow, to not be selfish. This was not for him, this was what she needed. But it was so easy to get lost in her lips, and he couldn’t hide a moan when his hand ran up her side, his thumb stroking the side of her breast. He needed this too, he needed to find comfort in her.

She shivered under his touch and he stopped to look at her eyes again.

-“Tell me if you want me to stop” he whispered, but she shook her head and bit her lip.

He kept his eyes on her, wanted her to not only feel his presence, but see him in front of her. He nodded reassuringly to her and pushed away the hair from her face before he kissed her slowly again. He took his other hand down to lift up her shirt and she raised her arms over her head to help him out.

He licked his lips as he stared at her, those full breasts, the dark nipples…God, she was so sexy. He had always found her extremely sexy, but for very different reasons than right now.

She put both her hands in his hair, pulling him back in for a kiss and this time his groan was not as quiet as he ran his hands over her chest, leaving them with goose bumps. She winced and he immediately stopped to study her again.

-“Don’t be so scared” she whispered. “It’s not like I haven’t done this before”

He smiled at her and put his mouth over her breast, feeling her arch her back towards him as she drew her breath. His mouth followed his hands to her tummy where he placed all his attention for a moment, just softly kissing it all over, licking her belly button, trying to tell her what it meant to him.

As he was doing it he couldn’t help to wonder how this would work.  He had never been with a pregnant woman before, and he assumed he’d know what to do if it had been a natural continuing, but this was all so new for him. He slid his hand over her panties, rubbing his fingers lightly over them as his mouth kept playing with her nipples. Her legs opened slightly, inviting him to continue what he started. He didn’t hesitate, but grabbed her panties with both hands to pull them off, a bit harder to keep this slow the further they got. He wanted to feel her so bad, to get some comfort, to forget everything for a few minutes, just give himself into pleasure. He needed it, just as much as she did, he realized that now. 

He parted her legs slowly, taking in the sweet scent, positioning himself below her. His arms lifted her thighs and he blew cold air on her, enjoying her shivering.

-“Justin…” she whispered, and he was so happy to hear the tone in her voice. She gave him her blessing, the forgiveness that he craved. He had exposed her secret to the world, and she still wanted him, and all he wanted was to satisfy her.

When he put his lips on her and let his tongue slide up her clit, she grabbed his hair and moaned loudly. The grip she had on him was desperate and it encouraged him to continue his work as he opened her lips wide so he could get closer.  

He heard her short breath now, and the whimper that came out of her mouth every time she breathed out. Just when he felt her getting close she grabbed him by his hair and pulled him harshly up to her face.

-“No more, Justin, no more! It feels too good!” she shook her head. “I want you inside me”

If he wasn’t too obsessed with his own pleasure at the moment he would have found her outburst odd, but now he just nodded, content with the fact that she wanted the same as him. 

Ok, so he had wondered how he’d do this, how would he position himself comfortably over her tummy? He felt like a high school kid, all confused and worried, going only by instinct. He leaned down over her on his elbows, putting his lips on her to distract her until he could figure this out. He made the decision to kneel between her legs, lifting her hips towards his. He was aching all over, and the feeling he got when lowering himself into her was overwhelming. Her whole figure was so wonderfully voluptuous, and he held on to her hips as he slid in and out, starting off slowly, but it soon became a one-man show.

He had to concentrate not to neglect her, so he made himself stop moving from time to time to kiss her breasts or her mouth, each time getting the reaction he wanted from her. When he felt he was about to burst and he wanted to take her with him, he rubbed her with his thumb the way he knew would get any woman off.  

She curled her toes and moaned as her legs started to shake and he pumped faster to get to where he wanted to go. He could feel her tighten around him, grabbing his arms to hold steady.

-“God, Justin, don’t…don’t…” she yelled, wriggling underneath him. First he thought it was in pleasure, but then he realized she tried to push him off her. He was in the middle of his own orgasm, and it was not physically possible for him to stop, so he let himself get his release with two more strong moves inside her before emptying himself.

He fell down on her side trying to catch his breath, moving an arm over her waist to pull her closer. Her head was facing the other way, and when he used his hand to turn it around he noticed her tears.Oh, God, he thought, what have I done?

-“Baby…” he kissed her lips, as that always seemed to relax her when she was upset. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t wanne… I thought you…”

-“I…I…” she started, crying louder. “I haven’t…I’ve never…”

And then he realised the ground of her reaction.

-“You’ve never had an orgasm before?” he whispered, and couldn’t hide a tiny smile. She shook her head and looked at him. The look on her face was something between satisfaction and fear.

He rolled her on to the side and held her tight as he was spooning her. He understood now that sex for her had always been about control, and loosing that control in an orgasm was scary for her. She had let herself open up to him in the most difficult way she could, she had placed all her trust in him for this short amount of time. He had touched her vulnerability and because of that he would forever have the power over her.    

The voices from downstairs woke him up early the next morning. He got up from bed and tucked Jordan back in, careful not to wake her up. It had been in the back of his mind the whole night, and now he knew he needed to face the reality as he went downstairs to find his manager Johnny Wright, his publicist Ken Sunshine and his lawyer Gary Stiffleman. They were all sitting around a laptop, but jumped up from the chairs as soon as they noticed him.

-“Justin! Finally!” Johnny said.

-“I told them there was no way I’d wake you up” his mother showed up with three cups of coffee. “You needed your sleep.”

He looked at her with gratitude. He took a deep breath and walked the final steps towards his team of fixers and shook their hands.

-“Oh, boy, Justin! You’re really making us work for the money, aren’t you?” Johnny said with a tiny smile as Justin sat down at the table.

-“Glad to see you could sleep in, the rest of us have been working for…” Ken looked at his watch. “…about 10 hours already! You don’t pick up your phone, you don’t answer the door… We had to come up with a whole action plan without you!”

Justin shrugged.-“I did what I needed to do, that’s why I’ve hired you guys, isn’t it? To fix things for me?”

Gary sighed.-“I don’t think you understand how serious this is! If I hadn’t been in meetings all night, you’d be in jail surrounded by horny drug dealers trying to put various objects up your ass! You committed a fucking crime, Justin! In front of hundreds of cameras! It doesn’t get any worse than this! Do you understand that?”

Justin nodded sheepishly.-“I know.”

Johnny put an arm on his shoulder to comfort him.

-“Listen, Justin, I don’t know how this happened or why you thought it would be a good idea to attack this guy, I know you good enough to know you felt you had a reason to, but right now we need to concentrate on some serious damage control, and to keep you out of jail.”

-“So, what’s the plan?” he said quietly and fiddled with his hands.

-“Well, first I want you to look at this” he slid the laptop over to him, but Justin just pushed it away.

-“I don’t need to see it, I was there”

-“Yes, and the whole world knows! It’s all over the internet; pictures, videos… It’s well documented. So, lets start with the highest priority; keeping you out of jail!”

Justin nodded and looked over at Gary.

-“He is pressing charges?”

-“Of course he is! He’s got proof and you’ve got money! But so far we’ve managed to keep the police out of this. I think there is a chance of making a deal with him, but he wants to speak to you directly.”

He felt sick by the thought of getting face to face with this man again.

-“When?”

-“This afternoon. He wants both me and his own lawyer there, he says he’s scared of you and need someone there for security reasons.”

-“Fucking cunt!” Justin said through his teeth.

-“That is step one, Justin” Johnny took over. “If we even manage to get a deal with this guy, we still have shit loads of work to do, some serious damage control to save your career.”

He understood now that this situation was more serious than he’d ever imagined.

-“That’s where I come in…” Ken started. “We need to get out some kind of explanation in a press release as soon as possible.”

-“No!” Justin said firmly, and everybody looked at him in surprise.

-“No? You think you can shut up about this? You’re gonna be asked about this in every fucking interview for the rest of your fucking life!”

-“I’m not doing that to her” he said.

-“If you ever plan on selling another fucking album or a fucking concert ticket ever again, I suggest you do what I say!”

-“It’s my fucking life, Ken! Our fucking lives! I’ll deal with it as best as I can, but I will not tell the public why I attacked him, okay?”

He was standing now, with his hands on the table supporting him.

-“I don’t give a shit if you tell the truth or not, but we need to come up with some kind of story! I’ll help you make something up, but you have to make a statement!”

-“What about her?” Justin asked, glancing up the stairs, revealing in this one motion where she was.

-“She’s here?” Ken asked, looking up the stairs himself.

-“Listen to me, this man is a fucking scum bag, okay? You all know he’s her father, but you have no idea the things he’s done to her!”

-“What?”

-“It’s not my place to tell you”

-“Lets talk to her, then” Gary saw an opportunity to get the upper hand on Jeremy Callister.

-“She needs all the sleep she can get, she’s fucking pregnant, you know!”

-“I think I maybe need to explain this to you again, Justin; this is no joke! You’re in some serious trouble here!”

-“I know, okay!” he yelled back, loosing his temper from all the emotions running through him. “I fucking know! You all make it sound like I did something to you guys, that I need to apologize to you! We’ll handle this the way Jordan and I feel is best for us, whatever the outcome. I’m prepared to go down, if that’s what’s gonna happen, but I’m not gonna spread our lives out in the press! If my fans are gonna turn their back on me for this one incident, then they weren’t my true fans in the first place! Fuck, artist have been caught for murder without loosing their cred, all I did was beat some prick’s ass, which he totally deserved!”

-“You know this is different, Justin. You’ve always tried to be honest with your fans, the least you could do is write a blog or something.”

-“Yeah…” he started to calm down. ”I guess I can do that…”

-“We’re here to help you, Justin. There is no need to get angry at us, we’re just doing what we’re hired to do!”  

He sat at the kitchen with Trace after they had all left. Jordan was still asleep and Lynn tried to keep busy by doing laundry.

-“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me this!” Trace said as the story was told.

-“I didn’t feel it was my place to tell. If she trusted me with this kind of information I couldn’t just run to tell you all about it. It’s her secret, not mine”

-“You’ve been so distant lately, but I never expected this.”

-“I’m in some serious trouble, Trace.” He put his face in his hands.

-“Yeah, you are, but I still think you did the right thing. That fucking bastard deserved a proper beating, just too bad there were cameras around.”

-“I know”

-“What does she say about it?”

-“We haven’t talked about it yet” he looked down, and Trace lowered his head to get a better look at him.

-“Oh, no, please say you didn’t!” he groaned.

-“What?” Justin glanced up at him again.

-“Please say you didn’t sleep with her! I know that face! That’s the ‘just had sex, not too sure how I feel about it’ look!”

Justin sighed again.-“You know how scary that sounded? That you’d even recognize that look?” he smiled cheekily.

-“Fucking hell, Justin! If last night’s incident wasn’t enough, you had to fuck it up even more, didn’t you?”

-“Trace, please! I really don’t need this right now!”

-“You need to stay away from her! She’s caused you nothing but trouble”

-“That’s not true. And I can’t stay away from her, she’s carrying my baby!”

-“So what are you planning on doing? You slept with her, she’s all emotional from the hormones and shit… What, are you gonna hook up with her now? Are you in love with her or something?”

-“I don’t have time for this right now. I have a meeting to attend to.” He finished the last sip of his coffee and got up.

He was dead scared about this meeting, but he wasn’t going to let it show.