Chapter Twenty One

Lance pulled up in front of his house where cop cars were parked out front. Their lights bounced off house and his neighbors'. He quickly jumped from the car, jogging up the path to his front door which was wide open. He didn't see anything when he first walked in but he heard Michael gasp.

Turning to look at his boyfriend he followed his line of sight into the living room. Over the fireplace were two of Michael's paintings: Frank Sinatra and Elvis. Both were torn, diagonally slashed. The Frank Sinatra painting was slashed twice creating an X pattern.

"Damn..." Michael said staring at the paintings. He could easily redo them but it was the fact that someone broke into his house and damaged them in the first place. There was nothing else touched in the room from what he could see.

"Most of the damage was contained to one room for the most part," a police officer said coming up to them. "It doesn't look like anyone was home at the time. Is that correct?"

Lance looked at Michael then back at the officer. They still hadn't located his sister. "I'm not sure. My sister was with us but she left to come home early. She wasn't here?"

The officer shook his head. "No one was here when we arrived on the scene. The front door was hanging open."

Michael paled. "The dogs..." If the door was open when the cops arrived, the dogs would have went out in a heartbeat. He looked around but none of the furry animals were in sight.

"They are shut up in the bathroom at the moment," the officer said and saw the men sigh in relief. "They were there when we got here and decided it was best to leave them. We didn't know if they'd attack us or anything."

"No they wouldn't," Lance said. He looked at Michael's ruined paintings before back at the officer. "You said the damage was one room? Which one?" Judging by the damage, he assumed the damage would be downstairs in the basement. Almost all of Michael's paintings were hung on the wall downstairs.

"Right," the officer nodded and led them out of the living room. "You said your sister lives here?"

"Yes." At that question, Lance knew the room that received the damage. The officer pointed to Rachel's open door and stepped aside. Looking in he gapped.

"That bastard," Michael seethed.

Her bedding was torn off. The mattress was knocked off the springs. Her clothes were pulled from the closet and the dresser drawers had been yanked from the dresser and tossed upside down spilling the contents everywhere. The dresser mirror was shattered with pieces missing. Presumably covering the floor.

"We believe a vase went through the mirror."

"The boot," Michael said seeing pieces of the boot vase he had worked so hard to fix.

Papers were torn and crumbled, thrown all about. It was hard to tell what they were without touching them. Lance tried to remember what knick knacks Rachel had sitting about and hung on the wall. He saw them everyday but he couldn't remember now. Everything had been tossed.

"Whoever did this emptied out her shower stuff and emptied it all around. Nail polish, perfume," the officer offered. "Like they just opened the containers and flung them all around."

"Damn," Michael shook his head staring at the mess. He caught sight of a canvas sticking out of the debris. His jaw clenched seeing the tear. He could only see the back but he didn't have to see the painting to know what it was. The 'Blown Away' portrait he had painted for her for Christmas.

"Do you have any idea who might have done this?"

"Lance! Michael!"

Lance turned away from the room hearing Rachel's shouts. Relief shot through him. She was okay. The shouts brought barking and whining from his dogs locked in the bathroom. He could hear them scratching, trying to get out. "Here," he started moving toward the stairs, halting when he saw Rachel already halfway up them; JC close behind.

"What's going on? What happened? Are you okay? Michael?" Rachel asked quickly. Her eyes widened when Lance pulled her into a crushing hug.

"Are you okay?" Lance asked pulling back from the hug.

"We're fine Lance," JC answered the question. He checked his pockets, cursing quietly when he didn't feel his phone. They had been in such a hurry to get inside, both their cell phones lay next to each other in the center counsel of his car. "What's going on?"

Not seeing a cell phone in either JC's or Rachel's hands, Lance dropped one of Rachel's hands and reached into his front pocket pulling out his cell phone. Quickly pulling up the application he spoke, "Where are you two been? We've been trying to call you forever?"

"I know; I'm sorry," Rachel apologized, squeezing Lance's hand. "What happened Lance?"

"Someone broke in..."

Rachel gasped reading the words. She looked at Lance frantically. "Was anything stolen? Are the dogs okay? You weren't home were you?"

He shook his head. Judging by the racket the dogs were making, they were perfectly fine. "Nothing was stolen from what I can tell, but Rachel..." his eyes met JC's briefly, "Maybe you should just look."

"Okay," Rachel allowed herself to be led down the hall; her stomach knotted and grew tighter as they drew closer to her room. She gasped and covered her mouth with her hands as she stared into her room. Hands gripped her shoulder but she couldn't bring herself to see who it was. Tears filled her eyes.

"My God..." she whispered seeing her things scattered all over the floor. She could smell the mixture of her shampoo and lotion; along with the bitter smell of nail polish remover. The alarm clock and photographs she had on the table next to her bed where gone. Lost somewhere in the mess on her floor. "Who...why..."

JC wrapped his arm around her shoulders turning her from the room. He held her against him rubbing her back. He took in the room, his anger churning as he stared at his girlfriend's things. "Anything else?"

"Just my paintings in the living room," Michael told him, turning his back on the room unable to stare at it any longer. "The alarm was going off so he didn't have a lot of time. Probably trashed this room first then got the painting on the way out. Bastard."

"You know who did this?" The police officer asked. Judging by the amount of devastation in Rachel's room, he knew it was an attack on her. It was personal.

"Oh yeah," Lance nodded. "Let's get away from this," he nodded his head toward the stairs.

JC nudged Rachel forward. Keeping a hand on her back he stayed with her down the stairs and into the kitchen. When she was seated at the table, he took the chair next to her reaching for her hand. He sat sideways, angling his body toward her. He smiled at her when she met his eyes. "Tell them what happened earlier."

Lance sat his phone down on the table in front of Rachel so she could follow along with the conversation. "What happened earlier?" He asked standing across the table from her.

"JC!" Rachel gave him a look.

"You need to tell him," JC scooted closer to Rachel, his knees touching her thigh. He rested a hand on her leg. "He needs to know. They need to know what he did."

"What who did?" Lance questioned hearing JC's words. "What's going on? Rachel? What happened? Does this have to do with why you left the restaurant?" He didn't like the feeling he got seeing Rachel hesitant and nervous; JC worried.

JC took Lance's phone off the table and held it in his hand on Rachel's lap. She had dropped her head looking down at her lap. "Please tell him," he said ducking his head next to Rachel's. He could see the words pop up on the screen. "This could get worse."

"Will someone please tell me what the fuck is going on!" Lance burst. He gripped the back of the chair. The fear he had felt early when he couldn't contact his sister was fading and being replaced by anger. Anger at the bastard who broke into his home and ruined Rachel's things and Michael's paintings. Irritation at his sister and JC - who knew something that he didn't.

"Ben cornered me in the bathroom at the Grille," Rachel spoke and slowly told Lance, Michael and the police officer what had happened.

"Why didn't you say something then!" Lance exploded; his knuckles had turned white from gripping the chair so tight. "Let me see the bruises."

"Lance..." Rachel started but she immediately quieted seeing the look on Lance's face. With JC's help, she shrugged out of the jacket.

"That fucking bastard!" Lance seethed when he saw the bruises. "Why didn't you say something!"

"Because I knew you'd get mad."

"Damn right!" Mad didn't even begin to describe what he was feeling.

"Like I wanted the three of you to do something and get arrested," Rachel said. She could feel Lance's anger, could see it in his face. A brief glance at Michael showed he was just as angry. If she wasn't still worried about the three of them doing something as stupid as tracking Ben down, she would be touched.

"Are you going to report this?" Michael asked. He knew why Rachel didn't mention this at the Grille. If she had there would have been a fight; an unfair three-on-one beat down. He didn't feel too sorry for Ben. The man definitely had it coming.

"No," Rachel shook her head. She didn't have to look at her phone to know they didn't agree with her. "Look, I don't want to go through everything it would mean to report him. He just grabbed me..."

"What if next time it's something more?" Lance asked, echoing JC from earlier.

"I'm not gonna debate 'what-if's' Lance. Please just let it go."

"You can't change her mind?" Lance looked at JC.

JC shook his head. "I tried."

Lance blew out a breath, "Stubborn woman." He turned from his sister facing the officer, who had been listening, and explained to him about Ben.

"So you think your sister's ex did this?"

"Who else would do this?" Michael said. "It one from was her room that was trashed. You said there was no forced entry so Ben had a key from being with Rachel . He's the only one who had access to a key to our place that is pissed off at Rachel because she dumped his ass for being the cheating bastard that he is."

"He lost the gravy train he was on," JC wrapped an arm around Rachel's shoulder drawing her to lean against him. "He found out the grass wasn't greener. Now that he's not with Rachel no one cares about him anymore. He can't find another money maker because everyone knows how he is. So he tried to crawl his way back to Rachel tonight only it didn't work." It still made him angry when he thought about what happened in the bathroom. While he had been laughing with Lance, Rachel was being cornered in the bathroom; grabbed hard enough to leave bruises and being forcibly kissed and he didn't have a clue. Something worse could have happened and that scared him.

"He was pretty pissed in the bathroom," Rachel spoke up reading the conversation. "The text said it wasn't over but I didn't think he'd trash my things." Her eyes strayed toward the stairs as she thought of the mess in her room, to the destruction. She wanted to start cleaning and find what could be saved and what was ruined. Her heart already hurt at the thought of what was ruined.

"I'm gonna let the dogs out," Michael said once the officers left promising to track Ben down and question him. They recommended changing the locks on the doors.

"I'm sorry Lance," Rachel said softly looking down at her lap. She folded her hands as her eyes filled with tears.

"Why are you apologizing? You didn't do this. This isn't your fault," Lance moved around the table to his sister.

"Well I'm the one who brought him around."

"Well your taste in men suck."

Rachel giggled, her shoulders shaking. A tear rolled down her cheek and she swiped it away with her index finger. "Your taste hasn't always been that fantastic either Lance."

Lance laughed, nodding as three dogs ran into the kitchen. He knelt down scratching and rubbing his dogs when they leaned up against him. They were excited to see him.

Rachel leaned her head on JC's shoulder and closed her eyes. She felt a headache start pounding at the bridge of her nose. She wanted to change into her pajamas and crawl beneath the covers of her bed and forget about the day. But her room was a disaster area. There would be no sleeping tonight. It was going to take her a long time to pick everything up. No doubt all her clothes needed washing. Before she could even do that, she had to check to make sure they didn't have any rips and tears or covered in nail polish and whatever else Ben had tossed on them.

Picking her head up, she rubbed her face with both her hands and stood. The movement displaced JC's arm from her shoulders where his hand had been caressing. She didn't offer any words as she moved away from the table and walked from the room. Michael was in the living room taking the ruined paintings off the wall and she hurt for him being drug into this fight. He had done nothing wrong - an innocent bystander - but Ben put him in his crosshairs anyway.

Holding onto the banister she took the stairs slowly. When she reached the doorway, she stood and stared at the destruction, somehow looking worse now. Walking carefully, she entered her room. It was hard to tell what was under the clothing that was hidden from view. She reached for the corner of the canvas painting, turning it over. She stared at the destroyed painting Michael had created for her. With the painting cradled in her arms she went to her knees. A grimace crossed her face when her knee came in contact with something hard.

Pushing a silky navy blue halter top shirt out of the way she found the object hidden below. A small cry escaped when she saw the broken frame. The frame meant nothing to her; she could easily find one she liked better. It was the picture that had been inside. The glass had been shattered, shards missing. The picture was gone. She knew the picture of her and JC from the VMA awards where she was his 'date' was ruined. No way would Ben have left it alone.

Ben would know exactly the objects to go after to hurt her the most. Photographs she had displayed because if they were displayed, they were her favorites. Anything to do with her fans, Lance, Michael... JC. Without having to look for the objects she knew anything pertaining to JC had received the most damage. The pounding in her head intensified thinking about the Moonman being broken, the vases that had held the flowers he'd given her. The notes he included with them. The Teddy bear. All sentimental things with no value that she cherished.

JC pulled Rachel to her feet. Taking the frame from her hands he put it down on the emptied table next to her bed. He drew her into his arms, holding her tight. He welcomed her weight against him. He wished her could offer comforting words to her but his phone had been left in his car along with Rachel's. He wasn't sure what he would have said but he knew it probably wouldn't have made a difference. Pulling back slightly, he ducked his head, kissing her lightly.

When the kiss ended, Rachel laid the side of her head on JC's chest and sighed softly. Her arms were snaked around his waist. "Are you leaving?" 'I don't want you to go'. "My phone's still in your car." 'Please stay.'

JC lifted Rachel's chin with his fingers. When her eyes met his, he shook his head. Instead of taking her back in his arms, he took her hand and led her from the bedroom and back downstairs where Lance was on the phone trying to find someone to come out and change the locks. He grabbed the marker from the holder on the fridge where a dry erase board hung. Quickly he scribbled, 'Lance and Michael are going to take care of your room tonight.'

"What? Why?" Rachel asked looking at him, before turning to look at Lance. "It's my room, my things, my ex. I can take care of it."

'We know. But you don't have to.' JC wrote. He agreed with Lance when they discussed this earlier after Rachel left the kitchen. 'Let them take care of this.'

"What am I supposed to do? Sit here and wait while they clean up my things?"

JC shook his head. 'No, you are staying with me for tonight.'

"I'm not going to win this am I?" Rachel sighed. Normally she'd put up a fight but right now she wanted Advil, a bed and darkness. The headache was making her nauseous.

JC grinned triumphantly shaking his head again.

"Oh all right."

*~*

JC locked the front door after they entered his house. He sat his keys down on the kitchen counter. His eyes never left Rachel, who had been quiet the whole ride from Lance's. He frowned when he saw her rub her forehead again. Coming to a stop in front of her, JC moved his hands beneath her jacket and slid the denim from her shoulders. When she was free of the jacket, he laid it over the bar stool at the counter and then pulled her into his arms.

Rachel sighed pressing her hands into his back, holding JC to her. She relaxed, allowing him to hold her and let her eyes drift shut. The day had been taxing. Too many things happened. Too many of those things involved Ben. For someone who was supposedly out of her life was appearing more frequently than he had been previously. Ben wasn't what she wanted to concentrate on. What she wanted was in her arms right now. She squeezed him.

JC tightened his arms, returning Rachel's squeeze. He pressed a kiss into her hair smelling the ocean air from their earlier beach walk. Removing one of his hands, he reached for his phone in his front pocket. He smiled when she tightened her hold, not wanting to let him go. That was fine with him; he'd hold her all night. He had no problems with that. "Are you okay? You're awful quiet."

Turning her head at JC's nudging, she rested her ear over JC's heart and blinked her eyes open. She reached up placing her hand over JC's moving the phone to where she could read the words. "My head is killing me," she answered. "I could probably down a whole bottle of Aleve and it still won't make a difference."

JC grimaced. "How about we start off with two and go from there?"

"Deal."

"Come on," JC turned her around and gave her a small push forward to get her walking toward the stairs. When they reached the second floor he took her hand and led her into his bedroom. He parked her on the bed and left his phone in her hand before turning toward his dresser. "What do you want to sleep in?"

"A t-shirt is fine," Rachel told him.

JC pulled a t-shirt from his drawer and moved back to the bed, tossing it down on the bed next to Rachel. He reached up tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. He could see the pain in her eyes and he planted a soft kiss on her forehead. "I'm gonna go lock up and grab some water so you can take the pills with."

When JC left the room, Rachel stood and slipped out of her shirt and jeans. She folded them nicely and placed them on top of JC's dresser then pulled the t-shirt JC gave her over her head. Before she crawled beneath the covers, she dug her phone from the pocket of her jeans. While she waited for JC to return, she checked her messages and browsed Twitter, keeping the talk-to-text application up on JC's phone.

She was in the middle of replying to some of her Twitter followers when JC returned carrying a bottle of water in one hand and the bottle of Aleve in another. She smiled in appreciation. "You're the best," she took the water and uncapped it taking a drink while JC shook out two pills. When the pills were swallowed she took another drink hoping that hydrating would relieve some of the pain.

"Staring at your phone isn't going to help your headache any," JC nodded toward Rachel's phone.

"I know. I'm just replying to some fans while I was waiting for you. If you want me to shut it off so you can undress in darkness I will." She winked at him.

JC shook his head and set about getting ready for bed. When he was finished in the bathroom, he walked into the bedroom to see Rachel still scrolling through her phone. "You're addicted." He said unbuttoning his jeans. He slid them over his hips and down his legs. When they were removed he picked them up and dropped them in the laundry basket. His shirt followed.

"I can quit anytime I want to," Rachel said without sparing him a glance. She replied to a fan who wrote about having 'Blown Away' stuck in his head all day.

"It looks really bad that you have two phones in your hands," JC grinned as he turned off the overhead light, casting the room into darkness but for the glow of the cell phones in Rachel's hands. He made his way around his bed and pulled the covers down, getting beneath them. He scooted toward Rachel, anxious to hold her in his arms.

"Nah," Rachel said tapping reply to a girl who told her how much her music touched her. She replied to a couple more before she went back to her timeline. Usually when she replied to fans it brought an influx of new tweets to her. She didn't have the time or desire to read them all tonight. Which was sad because she loved her fans, but there was no way her headache would allow her to read by the backlight. She tapped the new tweet button and stared at the blank screen wondering what to put. The last thing she wanted to do was tweet about Ben and give him an ounce of satisfaction.

"You know how earlier I said I didn't want to hide our relationship anymore?" Rachel spoke, turning her head to look at JC. When she saw him nod, she continued. "Can I send out a picture of us?"

JC grinned and pulled her down in his arms. He kissed her softly before holding her to his side. He took his phone from her hand so she could snuggle against him better. "Sure." He watched as she scrolled through the photos on her phone before selecting a self portrait they had taken earlier from the beach. She had been cradled between his legs with his arms wrapped around her, holding her to him. She had her head tilted back, resting on his shoulder.

'Even with everything that has happened, this is the happiest I have been in a long time.' Rachel typed out after attaching the photo to the tweet.

"You're not going to tag me?" JC teased as she hit send. He saw it appear at the top of Rachel's timeline.

"I thought about it. Figured this way it would be a surprise." She closed out Twitter and pressed the button on the top of her phone, sending the screen to black. She rolled away from JC long enough to put the phone on the bedside table. She rolled back into his arms, snuggling closer, laying her head down on his chest. "If you were on Twitter and actually one of the stars that read their mentions, that message will have you tied up for the rest of the night."

"So you spend hours ignoring the people around you?"

Rachel squinted to read JC's words. "No. Well sometimes. Most times I scroll through in the airports during delays, before I go to bed, when I'm getting my hair done. It's fun. I'm telling you JC you should give it a try again."

"So I can spend more time on my phone than I already do?"

"No," Rachel sighed. "So you can interact with the fans you still have from NSYNC, from Schizophrenic. The new fans from Girl Radical. Use it to promote Girl Radical. I know they each have their own accounts and the main one, but if you would start talking about them, you'd get more attention."

"Why do I have the feeling if I pick this back up I'm going to be just as addicted as you?"

Rachel picked her head up, looking down at JC. "I am not addicted! I can stop any time I want. I just choose not to."

JC smirked. "Addicted." He brushed her blonde hair back, tucking the strand her ear.

"I am not," Rachel's eyes narrowed. She ran her hand over his bare chest. She watched as JC smiled at her. When JC laid his hand over the hand on his chest, she leaned down kissing him softly. Her lips moved slowly upon JC's. She parted her lips to allow him to enter her mouth.

The phone fell forgotten to the bed as JC wrapped his arms around Rachel, pulling her down to him. His tongue stroked against hers as he explored her mouth. He broke the kiss only to tilt Rachel's head before moving back to her lips again. She gripped his shoulder and he felt her nudge him upward. He moved with her rolling them over. She now lay on her back and he loomed above her.

JC kissed her lips one last time before moving along her cheek and to her ear. He ran his tongue along the shell then nibbled on her ear. A kiss at the skin behind her ear drew a soft gasp and he smiled against her neck as he moved down. Fingers pressed into his back. When she turned her head, he brought his lips back to hers. This time he let her explore his mouth, dance with his tongue. Until she teased him back into her mouth. He followed willingly.

Rachel ran her hands up JC's back before she trailed them around his sides and up his chest. Cupping his face she felt the day old stubble. She broke their kiss and ran her thumbs back and forth over his cheekbones and she stared up at him; their breathing slightly ragged.

Resting his weight on one his elbows, JC reach down with the other arm searching for his phone. When he found it, he quickly unlocked it; the application still open. "I didn't mean for this to happen. Not that I don't want it to happen - I do - but I don't want to rush you. I know you don't feel well. We were supposed to just sl--"

Rachel lifted her head and pressed her lips against JC's still moving ones, swallowing the rest of his words. It took a couple of seconds before JC's lips started moving with hers. When she broke the kiss, she smiled up at him. "JC," she said slowly. "You don't see me fighting to get away do you? I want to be here with you."

The grin formed slowly on JC's lips hearing Rachel's words. He leaned down kissing her again. "Are you sure?"

Rachel rolled her eyes and snatched JC's phone from his hand tossing it to the foot of the bed. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down to her. "No more talk," she spoke before their lips met.