But love the one you hold

And I'll be your goal

To have and to hold

A lover of the light

Skin too tight

and eyes like marbles

You spin me high

so watch me as I glide

Before I tumble homeward, homeward

The stare that was burning into Justin’s back was making him very uncomfortable, and he wasn’t sure what was going on.

“Can you stop?”  Justin spun in his chair, eyeing his cousin with the same caution that someone would eye a rabid animal.

“Stop what?”  The sound was innocent, but the look on Rachel’s face was anything but.  “I’m just watching you work.”  She motioned to the studio around them, giving Justin a grin.

“Yeah, and you’re shooting daggers into my back.  I can feel them.”  He rubbed a hand over his head, trying to release the tension.  “I’m not sure what you’re so upset about, Rach, but I can’t concentrate with you acting like this.”

The brunette shrugged.  “I think you’re guilty conscience is making you believe things that aren’t really there.  I’m just here to support your music, but if it’ll help, I’ll head back to the hotel.”

A sigh of relief slumped Justin’s shoulders.  “Actually, that would be great.  When I get done here, we can grab some dinner, okay?”

“Whatever, Justin.  See you later.”  Rachel left the studio, slightly perturbed but trying to hide it.  New York wasn’t a bad place to be, really, but she knew that this trip was unnecessary.  Justin could’ve recorded in Los Angeles just fine;  he just wanted to spend time with Shelby.  Shelby, who was the daughter of Peter Edge, Justin’s boss.  Shelby, who was a wreck, and her cousin was oblivious.  Sure, the girl was very down-to-earth, and she was focused on school and seemed to be handling things pretty well.  But really, it only took one look at the poor thing to see that she was falling apart at the seams.  Between the death of her mother and the tension with her father, Shelby was just looking for an escape and Justin was the perfect distraction.

Rachel could only see disaster in all of this.

That, and she really wanted to be back in L.A. with all of her friends and the warmer, less muggy weather.  She had followed Justin across the globe, and she would gladly do it until he decided enough was enough, but really, New York in the summer time?  What was he thinking?

~*~

It had been three days, seven hours, and forty-three minutes since Justin had dropped Shelby off at her apartment after their adventure to Vermont.  She had texted him a few times, chatted on the phone with him, but she had not seen him since that moment.

She had suddenly turned into a teenager, and it was disgusting. 

Shelby sighed and peeked at the clock, her classes almost over for the day.  Instead of taking notes studiously and paying attention to the lecture, she’d been doodling hearts across her notebook and dreaming about Justin Timberlake.  Luckily, she’d stopped herself before she started to practice writing her name with his.  But still, this was extreme.  She was acting like a love-struck fool. 

“All right, guys, read up on Chapter seventeen and let me know what you think on our discussion board.  I’ll have some questions posted for you by tomorrow night.”  The professor waved off the students and Shelby let out a sigh of relief.  She needed to clear her head and shake off this strange, non-Shelby-like fixation.  She couldn’t lose focus on things right now, even though the thought was tempting.  Justin was great, and she really liked him, but…this was getting ridiculous.

“What’s on the agenda for tonight, Shelb?  Another outing with this mystery man?”  Delia bumped shoulders with Shelby as they exited the classroom, grinning over at her friend.  “What has he been doing with you, anyway?  You’re never around anymore.”

Shelby smiled back.  “A lady never tells, D.”  The eye-roll from Delia had Shelby laughing.  “I’ll tell you what, I’m in the mood for a girls night.  Dancing, drinks?  I swear, no men.”

Delia’s eyebrows raised in shock.  “You mean, not until your late night booty call, right?”  Laughter spilled blond’s mouth and she watched the blush creep up Shelby’s neck and cheeks.  “Yeah, I get it.  But dancing sounds good.”  They exited the classroom together, making plans as they went.  Shelby left Delia with a wave, heading back to her apartment to get changed and ready for the night.

Her pocket buzzed, and she grinned to find a text from Justin on her phone.  She was happy she had plans, because she knew if he’d invited her over for any reason, she would want to go, but she was trying to pace herself.  He was intoxicating and she didn’t want to become addicted too fast.  Plus, she did miss hanging out with her girl friends.

The sad face Justin sent back made Shelby smile.  Maybe he was as hooked as she was.

An hour later found Shelby, Delia and a few other girls entering one of the city’s many night clubs, the bass interrupting the rhythm of their hearts as it thumped through their systems.  A table was snagged quickly and drinks were ordered as the girls scoped out the place.

“So, Shelby, Delia tells us you’ve hooked up with some mystery man.  Details.”  Ally, a fiery red head grinned over her drink, wiggling her eyebrows at Shelby.  “How hot is he?  And is he good in the sack?”

A blush crept up the brunette’s cheeks, but she blamed it on the shot she’d just downed.  “He’s tall, has incredible abs, and eyes that will turn you to putty.”  She paused for effect, her own grin sliding onto her face, “and he’s a-maz-ing in bed.”

All of the girls giggled, oohing and ahhing at Shelby’s confession.  It was rare for any of them to snag anyone decent, it seemed, so they drooled over the chance to live vicariously through each other. 

“Name, please…and tell me he has lots of hot friends.”  Ally handed Shelby another shot, staring at her friend in anticipation of getting juicy details.  Shelby’s face was flaming red, and she hesitated, not sure if she should spill everything or keep Justin’s identity to herself.

Her choice was made for her when a commotion at the door stole the table’s attention.  The girls all turned, trying to catch a glimpse of whoever was causing such a ruckus.  Shelby’s face stretched into a grin as she caught sight of the buzzed head.  Justin and some friends made their way inside, flanked by a couple security members, and he scanned the room until he spotted who he was looking for.

“Holy Fuck, that’s Justin Timberlake.”  Ally was the one to finally speak, “and I think he’s heading in our direction.”  The table sat, speechless and completely still as they watched the singer make is way over.

“Right,” Shelby spoke up, “well, the mystery man I’ve been seeing…his name is Justin.”  She didn’t notice the rest of the girls dropped jaws and wide stares.  She was too busy grinning at Justin.  “Hey you.”

Without hesitation, Justin grabbed Shelby by the waist and pulled her in for a searing kiss.  “I’ve been waiting to do that for three days.”  His eyes searched her face, uncaring of the crowd that was watching.  He’d missed her, and when she’d told him she was going out he couldn’t resist the temptation to see her again.  Girls’ night be damned. 

“You’re crashing.”  She tried to give him a stern look, but the smile on her face took away the severity of it.  Her insides were melting.

Justin took a step back from Shelby, turning to smile at the rest of the table and introduce himself.  “Hey all.  Sorry to crash the night.”  His grin stretched when all of the girls waved off his apology, eager to shake his hand and welcome him and his friends.  He’d brought a couple of the producers he’d been working with, but mostly because he didn’t want Shelby’s friends to be mad when she ditched them to dance with him.  “This is Chaz, Danny, and Mark.  I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to steal Shelby for a little while.”

With a grin, Delia called out to their retreating backs.  “Traitor!” But she happily invited Chaz to sit with her and order her a drink.

~*~

“Justin Randall, if you don’t get your ass out of bed right now and answer this damn phone call, I’m going to call your mother.”  Rachel’s voice filtered into Justin’s consciousness, pulling him from dreams that he didn’t want to leave.

“What the fuck.”  He pulled a pillow over his head, only to have it snatched off by his irate cousin.  “Jesus, Rachel.  Where’s the fire?”

She glared down at him, holding out her BlackBerry.  “Peter Edge is on the phone, Justin, and I think you need to sober up this second.”  Her eyes were black and she was pissed.  Justin obeyed.

“Good Morning, Mr. Edge.”  He tried to sound awake and coherent instead of the hung over he felt.  “What can I do for you?”

It took a while for the man to answer, but Justin knew that this call wasn’t to chat about golf scores or last night’s baseball game.  “I have a few papers here, Mr. Timberlake, and all of them have pictures of you and my daughter…dancing…”  the last word was filled with a disgust that had Justin cringing.

“Mr. Edge…you know how the tabloids love to spin things.  We went dancing last night, that’s all.”

“And the pictures of the two of you with your tongues down the other’s throat?  That a new dance move I don’t know about.”

“Shit.”  It slipped from Justin’s mouth as he ran a hand over his face.  He was too tired for this.

“You’re supposed to be recording an album, Justin, not cavorting with my daughter.  I can’t dictate who you sleep with, and I won’t try to tell you what to do, but know this,”  he paused for effect, “Shelby is only going to cause you problems if you keep up with…this.  You have a job to do, and I don’t want to see any more pictures like this until your finished working.  Do you understand me?”

Speechless was an understatement.  Justin cleared his throat, unsure of exactly what to say. 

“She’s trouble, Justin.  She’s irresponsible, selfish, and she’s going to make a mess of things for you if you’re not careful.”

Justin could feel the anger rising, but he swallowed it down.  He couldn’t quite believe that Peter was talking about his daughter like this, but he also knew that he was on thin ice at the moment.  “Yes sir, I understand.”  He took a deep breath.  “I won’t stop seeing her, though, no matter what you say.”

“I expect to have you in my office in two weeks with the songs you’ve completed so far.  Good day, Mr. Timberlake.”  The line went dead.

“Fuck.”  Justin threw the BlackBerry onto the bed, his head pounding and his pulse racing in his ears.  What was going on?  All he could remember was having an incredible time with Shelby last night, dancing and drinking.  He knew that pictures were being taken, but nothing inappropriate had gone on.  There wasn’t any groping or unnecessary PDA, unless you count the dancing.  Apparently, though, he’d pissed his CEO off enough to get a personal call. 

Just great.

“You have studio time in an hour.  I’ve ordered breakfast, so I suggest you shower and eat.”  Rachel came back in the room, grabbing her phone and eyeing her cousin warily.  “Are you okay?”

Justin shook his head.  “I think I just got threatened by Peter Edge.”

Rachel made a non-descript noise, sending Justin an “I told you so” look before leaving him alone.

Justin stretched slowly, moving from the bed at a snail’s pace so he didn’t aggravate his raging headache.  Be wanted to showed, but before he did he wanted to make sure Shelby was okay.  If Peter was calling here, Justin was certain that he’d called his daughter, too.

“Go away.”  Her voice was groggy, but there was something in her tone.  “I’ll just get you into trouble.”

So, Peter had called.

“B, are you okay?” 

She scoffed into the phone.  “No.  I just got woken up by my father screaming into my ears about how horrible of a person I am and that I need to stay away from you.  I think he’s worried that I’m going to ruin your career.”

Justin sighed.  “I told him that I wouldn’t stop seeing you.  I mean it, B.  He’s…I can understand why he’s upset, but he has no right to dictate what we do.” 

She sighed into his ear and he imagined her flopping back into her pillows.  “I think we should lay low for a while.  I don’t want him deciding that you can’t record anywhere but L.A.”

“He can’t do that, B.  But we can lay low if you want.  No more clubs.”  He chuckled when she grunted.  “No more booze, either.  Are you hung over, too?”

“I’m pretty sure I was hit by a truck last night.  And my mouth tastes like ass.”  There was a short pause.  “But I had a lot of fun, and I’m not sorry about it.  I am a little curious to see those pictures, though.”

Justin moved into the bathroom, peering at the bags under his eyes and grimacing at his reflection.  A shower might not be enough.  Good thing he’d be holed up in the studio all day.  “I’ve got to get some recording done, B.  Maybe you can come over for dinner tonight?”

“Just give me a call.  I’m going back to sleep.”  Justin barely had time to get in a goodbye before she had hung up.  He chuckled, wincing at the pain that shot through his head.

That was one wake-up call he didn’t care to repeat, ever.