Should I stay or should I go?

            Adilyn asked herself that question only once before.

She could continue to pretend she didn't want to see him. She could pretend he was someone that had walked into her life, and was now gone, but that's not what she wanted. She wanted to see him, she wanted to know who he was, and she wanted to spend every moment she could with him.

Nerves weren't an easy feat for Adilyn. It usually resulted in her being rattled to the core, especially when she knew it was a matter of the heart. Against all the arguments she had with herself and her thoughts, she arrived at the club. Those nerves were getting the best of her when she saw him on the other side of the bar, in the middle of a large crowd of people, laughing and joking. Her hands started to tremble watching his face light up when he would smile, creating laugh lines across his forehead, dominating his features, giving him character. She wondered if she could make him as happy as he was with his friends.

His tie had been loosened, hanging around his neck, his jacket had been discarded, and a jack and coke resided in his hands. He was free of his obligations and it was time for him to take advantage of the free alcohol flowing through the building.

Long time friends and friends just for the night surround him. There were always women, gorgeous women that would flock to him. He would be flattered, if only they were interested in him, instead of what he could do for them. Tonight, that wasn't an interest to him. He didn't think twice about any female in the room. With his hand wrapped around the crystal glass, his friends talking up a storm around him, however, he wasn't really there with them. His eyes frequently wandered through the room looking for the one person on his mind, hoping when he would look away and then back at the entrance, she would be there. But time had passed and she was nowhere to be found. And just as he was about to give up on the idea, skip out on the party and go find her, she appeared in his view across the room. "She's stunning", he whispered to himself, his entire presence changing with her in the room. The smile on his face widened, she had come. Excusing himself from the group, he found his way to her.

His steady stride across the room drew her attention in on him even more. The flutter in the depths of her stomach caused the normally very sociable person in her to turn into a shy, timid, crushing-over-a-guy kind of woman. This was all new territory for her.

"You came." He reached out to take her hand into his, trembling with his own nervousness.

She smiled nodding, exhaling a deep breath. "I'm here." She still wasn't convinced this was a place they should be together. She wanted to be here with him, but there were many people that showed up to these parties just to find a story. Justin Timberlake with a mystery date, was not just a story, it was a headline. She was trying not to think about that part of his life, a part that wasn't going to disappear. It was something she would have to get used to, but whether either of them wanted to admit it, everything was going to revolve around this in his life.

Hours had passed, and in a room of full of wall-to-wall people, to each other, they became the only two. They were used to being around crowds all the time, everyone always wanting something, but this was different. It was about them and them only.

His hand was placed gently on her leg, his thumb softly caressing her knee, listening intently to everything she had to say. He studied the way her lips moved with each word, every flutter of her eye lashes, the smirk she pulled on her face when she was delivering a clever line, and her fingers as they brushed the hair out of her view, "I'm glad you came." he interrupted her.

His simple admission made her weak at the knees. If she had been standing, she would have hit the floor.  There wasn't any over-the-top fairytale moments; it was just the two of them, together and content in each other's presence.

She leaned into him, grazing the side of his face with her warm breathe and sensual touch, whispering into his ear, "You wanna get out of here?" She pulled back, full lust in her eyes staring into his just as wanting orbs.

Stunned by her request, her words couldn't register in his brain fast enough to make him respond. He stood and led her through the room, and out to the awaiting car, quickly arriving at the front door of his house.

**-*-**

Adilyn enjoyed watching his lips as he spoke to her last night as much she enjoyed them attached to every inch of her body.

Placing a gentle kiss on the perfectly perched lips of the man sound asleep in the bed next to her, she climbed out of the bed wrapping his satin sheet tightly around her, shuffling through the room. She turned back to look at the man she spent the night tightly wrapped around again. She knew that he was as perfect as it was going to get for her. She smiled as she lowered her head. There was something about this man that made her feel at ease.

She bounced down the stairs, attempting to find the kitchen. Rounding the corner of a long hallway, she sees a white grand piano sitting in the glow of the morning sun overlooking the view of downtown Los Angeles.

Her hands smoothed across the keys, the overwhelming passion for how she felt when she would play those keys made her miss the feeling of being on stage, singing to a crowd, listening to them sing her lyrics back to her. She lowered herself onto the bench beneath her, letting go of the grip she had on the sheet wrapped around her, resting her hands in a familiar starting position.

She stared at the keys, nothing she had ever played before was coming back to her. Everything she knew how to play was distant from her memory. Finally her hands shifted, pressing down her fingers, travelling over each key, playing something new. The keys were short and struck the chord of her heart. As each note released, she felt a piece of her falling into heartbreak mode, words flowing out as if she had sang them a ten thousand times.

"I thought I, thought I was ready to bleed. That we'd move from the shadows on the wall. And stand in the center of it all."

She was happy, but she feared it would all crash down around her with one simple confession. "Why am I hiding him from Justin?" She whispered to herself, staring out into the view. She had been hiding the most important part of her life from the person she wanted to be a part of her future. Her own demons were catching up with her. Was she embarrassed of the choices she made? Was she worried Justin would judge her for those choices? Was she scared of bringing someone into her life that would disappear, creating an issue for Jaxon? Was she protecting Jaxon, or herself? She wasn't sure who was benefiting from her secrets anymore.

"Too late, two choices..." Her eyes fluttered with the truth of her words. "To stay or to leave..."

Her tears bubbled over her eye lids and streamed down her face. Her guilt held a barrier over what should have been a glorious morning. She should have been basking in the glory of the gorgeous man she woke up next to but instead she felt the end nearing.

She scurried across the room, pulling the silky sheet along with her, covering herself up. She found her always reliable notebook in her bag next to the front door. She rushed back to the bench, making herself comfortable again. She scribbled down a few, along with a few lines she couldn't help but want to express.

"Leave unsaid, unspoken... Eyes wide shut, unopened..."

Her fingers alternated flowing naturally over the keys and over the previously blank sheet of paper. She scribbled more words down, creating a chorus and a bridge.

"You and me... always be-..." Her voice broke looking down at the words. "...So I've learned to listen through silence..."

Justin stood in the background watching her play in a way that he'd only seen himself play before. He could feel the passion in the way her hands flowed over each key. He watched as the golden satin sheet slid down her back, resting on the bench. Her hair swayed with her every movement against her bare back, the sun shining in on her bare skin, creating a glow around her.

Her hands stop moving, her words for the song came to a halt. "I have to tell him..." She finally expressed. The keys beneath her hands began to blur, she drops her head. She was going to put everything at chance, but she couldn't continue without him knowing what he could be getting himself involved with, what she was getting herself involved with.

"Tell who what?" He said almost nervous.

"Justin..." she said breathlessly, turning to see him sitting next to her on the bench.

He kissed her shoulder gently; looking at the notepad lying on top of the piano with lyrics sprawled across it. "Writing another depressing song?" He asked picking it up, glancing at the words before placing it back down on the piano. "I don't know too much about your past, but I know someone hurt you bad enough for you not to trust anyone, but know that I'm not going anywhere." He smiled at her, leaning in to kiss her on the forehead.

"Well..." She said nervously. "I guess it's now or never." She mumbled.

"Now or never?" He asked standing up, backing away from her. The past hurt in his life left him with the knowledge and awareness of when pain was headed his way.

"Sit." she tapped on the bench. "Sit next to me."

He slowly lowered his body to her level. Sitting next to her, she took his hand into hers, puckering up and kissing the outer palm of his hand. "It's time to tell you the truth."

He exhaled a deep, painful breathe. "Okay..." He said waiting for her response. She smiled at him. As warm and inviting as her smile was, he was panicking.

"There is someone else..."

He loosened his grip on her hand, swallowing the pain down his throat.

"His name is Jaxon..." her face lit up, smiling at just the thought of her little man. "And he is the light of my life."

Pain scattered across his now pale, lifeless face.

"No. No..." she grabbed his hand back into hers. "My son..."

The expression on his face wasn't so comforting.