Justin Timberlake hadn’t been the easiest person to get a hold of that was for sure. Delaney had called the number she’d found on a database in the office and left two messages. She’d also emailed him and when he finally returned the email, it was a generic response that simply thanked her for contacting him and that he would respond at his earliest convenience.

One week later, her phone rang just as she was about to close down the office for the evening and when she saw the number on the caller ID, along with the name of the city and state, she knew it had to be Mr. Timberlake.

“Hello, this is Delaney Nixon.” She gave her most professional greeting and settled back into her office chair.

“Delaney, this is Justin Timberlake. How are you?” He sounded cheerful and kind, not at all like she’d thought of him, judging from Chris and Joey.

“I’m doing well, thanks. And yourself?”

“Not bad at all. Listen, got your messages and email and I’m sorry I’m just now responding. The missus and I just got back from St. Barts. Anyway, so there’s trouble with Chasez?”

Delaney took a breath before she answered the question, knowing that whatever she said was likely to be documented. She didn’t want JC fired she just wanted him to be held accountable. She knew Ashley, Chris, and Joey would like nothing more than for his forced resignation, but Delaney knew he was a good GM and once he got a hold of his issues, the hotel could be even more spectacular than it was.

“Well, he’s just been…a little distracted as of late, I guess you could say.”

“Distracted how? I need details. I don’t want my family hotel to be drug through the mud.”

Delaney cleared her throat. “Right. Well, I think there’s been some indiscretion with some of the female employees and-“

“Indiscretion how, exactly?”

“Inappropriate behavior.” Delaney was trying so hard not to flat out say, “He’s been fucking all of your staff” and continued. “I think he’s been engaging in some indecent affairs.” There. That sounded about right. And she had to sound professional. Fucking the employees -as much as she wanted to tell him that- was not.

“Indecent affairs. I see.” Mr. Timberlake was quiet for a moment. “Well, the family and I will be visiting in a few weeks. I would come down sooner but I’ve just been asked to oversee a project on a resort over in Virginia Beach and with my son’s soccer schedule, it’s a little difficult to get away sooner.”

“No, I definitely understand, Mr. Timberlake. We leave for the IHRC convention next weekend and I know this next week will be busy with getting all the ends and outs done at the hotel before we leave.” Delaney swiveled in her office chair and felt some relief knowing that Mr. Timberlake was at least going to come and check things out for himself.

“Ok. Well, how about I come a few days after you get back?”

Delaney smiled. “Perfect. Should I tell the staff you’re coming?”

“No. We have a private house on the island and for this situation it’s best if I pop in one day.”

“Great. Thank you so much, Mr. Timberlake.”

“Thank you for making me aware, Delaney. Take care of my family hotel.”

“Will do, sir. See you in a few weeks.”

“Goodbye.”

Delaney hung up the phone and stared at it for a few minutes. She felt relief and yet, in a small way, uncertainty. She knew she should’ve been ecstatic that help was on its way. But at the same time, she also felt as though she was going behind JC’s back.

“You shouldn’t feel guilty.” Ashley told her that evening at Chancey’s. “You did the right thing. He’s a screw up and needs to be held accountable.”

“Yeah, I agree.” Chris nodded. “And you said Timberlake was nice?”

“Extremely,” Delaney said, as she took a sip of her martini. “Very professional and got right to the point.”

“You should see the family house. It’s like a small hotel.” Joey was pouring another beer for Chris. “We snuck on property once. Supposedly, there’s like underground tunnels or something.”

“That’s a rumor.” Ashley corrected him. “Just like it’s a rumor that they used his house to film one of the openings for a Nicholas Sparks movie.”

“How do you guys know all this stuff?” Delaney chuckled. “Am I just completely out of the loop?”

“You’ll learn soon enough.” Joey assured her. “Just give yourself a little more time here.” He slid another martini in her direction. “Also, the three of you are going to Ocho Rios and leaving me all alone. What will I do without the hotel gossip?”

“Take a day off and spend it with your kid.” Chris told him. He looked at Delaney. “That is, if it’s ok with you, of course.”

Delaney nodded her head. “You’re here everyday. Take that Saturday off and go have fun with your family.”

Joey gave a fake salute. “Yes ma’am. Janelle will be thrilled when I tell her I don’t have to work on a Saturday.”

Delaney took a sip of her drink and smiled at the people surrounding her. The transition down to Florida had been tough, but the three new friends she had made were making it bearable. Especially when it came to dealing with the one person they all despised.

“Is this all of it?” Todd asked Andrea, as she zipped up her suitcase.

For the last week, Andrea had been staying at Todd’s and had completely ignored Morgan whenever she saw her at work.

Morgan had tried to pretend as though nothing was wrong and that she didn’t care where her roommate slept. At the same time, she was still trying to deal with losing JC. She hadn’t been called back to his office in days now and no text or dirty picture seemed to be doing the trick anymore.

“Yeah, that’s it.” Andrea replied and looked around the now barren room. Todd had an extra room at his place and even though he and Andrea were just at the beginning stages of dating, she’d agreed that it was better to live with him than with a roommate she didn’t trust.

As they walked back into the living room, the front door opened and Morgan walked into the apartment, a look of indifference on her face.

“Where are you going?” She asked and looked at Andrea as if she were the most insignificant human being in the world.

“None of your business. But I’m leaving. My rent’s paid up til the end of the month. Have fun finding a new roommate.” Andrea snapped and turned on her heel. Todd said nothing, only followed her out.

“Don’t let the door hit you on the ass.” Morgan muttered and turned her back as the door closed behind her. “Bitch.” Morgan sighed and plopped down on the couch, taking out her phone and scrolling through texts she’d sent to JC.

How could he just off her like that? No man had ever just given her up, they’d always come crawling back to her. And it made Morgan mad with herself that she was so hung up on him. Granted, the sex had been mediocre the last few times, but still.

She debated on whether or not to text him one last time and gave in to her impatience.

JC made his way through the lobby and looked over at the front desk agents, all busy checking in new guests or on the phone. He saw a new one at the end with platinum blond hair and a smile that he was immediately attracted to. He started to make his way over when he was almost plowed down by Chris and Joey, who were on their way up to Food and Beverage for a meeting.

“Oops, sorry boss.” Chris quickly moved out of JC’s way and pulled Joey towards him.

“Watch where you’re going.” JC snapped.

“Just trying to get to the meeting on time.” Joey shook his head and didn’t care if it looked disrespectful or not. He’d seen JC eyeing a new victim and had pushed Chris in front of him to try and block it.

“Then leave on time.” JC pushed past them and they watched as he made his way over to the end of the front desk.

“You tried.” Chris sighed as he and Joey continued their trek up to the Food and Beverage office.

“I hope Mr. Timberlake gets here sooner than later. Before the entire female staff gets screwed.” Joey grumbled.

“Maybe that girl will call him out?” Chris was posing a question, not a statement.

Joey shrugged. “Who the hell knows. Timberlake needs to see it for himself, I guess.”

“I hope your training has gone well.” JC was saying to the new desk agent. Her name was Kym. She was 23 and fresh out of college, just like the rest of the girls he went after.

“It’s gone great. Thanks, Mr. Chasez.” Kym responded with a quick smile and went back to work.

“If you ever need anything, you just let me know.” JC patted her hand and winked at her. Kym seemed to be focused on learning how to run credit cards and was too busy to notice the advances being made on her.

Frustrated, JC forced a tight smile, then headed back to his office. It was then that he checked his phone and saw the four missed text messages from Morgan.

What’s up?

You let me know when you want me in your office again ;)

You could at least let me know this is done.

Why are you ignoring me??

He deleted them promptly. It was done with Morgan and if she didn’t know it by now, she would just have to eventually find out whenever Kym decided she was interested.

Plus, he was leaving for Ocho Rios in the next week and he knew he’d find a willing accomplice to satisfy him there.

He leaned back in his office chair and swiveled around to face the ocean view from his panoramic window. Every time he saw Chris lately, his thoughts took him back to that summer when they’d worked in valet and spent the nights getting as trashed as possible and talking up every single female employee they met. Chris had become his best friend just as fast as he’d become someone JC despised.

All because of Ashley.

Ashley had picked Chris over him and JC had never let it go.

Four Years Earlier

JC watched her as she headed to her car in the massive employee parking lot. He’d tried day after day to get her to notice him. With other girls it hadn’t been so difficult. This one was downright oblivious to him.

Since her first day, JC had tried desperately to get her to pay attention to him. They’d gone out in bigger groups and when they had, he’d made it nearly impossible for her to sit next to anyone else but him. Other girls had been easy to woo. This one? Not at all.

Ashley was still in her spa uniform, walking briskly to her car, and pulling out her phone to check a text message.

“Hey, Ashley!” JC called to her and she looked over at him.

“Hey, JC. You about to leave, too?” She had reached her car and was leaning against the trunk while JC headed toward her.

“Yeah. Long day.” JC was lying. He still had at least another hour before he could even think about leaving. “Where are you headed?”

“I’m actually waiting on someone.” Ashley replied and looked over JC’s head as if she were looking for whoever it was.

“Oh, well, I can wait with you.” JC smiled and Ashley’s response was that of a tight smile, an indication that she wished he wouldn’t. JC ignored it and stayed.

“You know, Ashley, you should hang out with me one on one sometime.” JC wasted no time in going for what he wanted. “I’m in management now. Do you know how many perks we get and places we go for free? People on this island practically give stuff away when they realize who I am.”

Ashley laughed nervously and cleared her throat. “Um, yeah, that could be fun.”

“Seriously, though.” JC turned and faced her. “I think we’d have a lot of fun together.”

Ashley swallowed hard and bit her lip. She was just about to say something when she heard her name.

“Ashley!”

She looked over and relief coursed through her. It was Chris.

“Hey!” She waved at him and moved away from JC.

JC’s whole demeanor went cold when he saw who it was.

Chris looked at JC and nodded. “What’s up, C?”

“Oh, not much.” JC muttered and glanced at both of them, then stared at Ashley. “You’d have a much better time with me.”

“What?” Chris looked from JC to Ashley. “What’s he talking about?”

“Nothing.” Ashley shook her head. “JC, I’m sorry. I thought you knew? We’ve been dating for about a week now.”

“And you didn’t want to mention this?” JC felt his face flush.

“We didn’t really want the whole hotel to know,” Chris said. “Sorry, man.”

JC glared at Chris. “Uh huh. Well, you two have fun.” He turned quickly and made his way back to the office.

How the hell had Chris managed to snatch Ashley? He’d watched them interact before but just thought it was normal for Chris to make her laugh. That was his protocol with women. He made them laugh, but at the end of the day, they chose JC.

Not this time.

He would make sure to never speak to Chris again.

JC rolled his neck around so that it popped on each side and stared out at the ocean. He had it all. This hotel was his now.

But deep down, he was beginning to feel quite alone.

Morgan was now at her wits end. She’d heard nothing and despite the numerous texts and suggestive pictures, JC was finished with her. This had never happened before and she didn’t know how to cope.

The job at The Chancellor was supposed to have been something to get her out of her college town and onto something more glamorous. Serving coffee had not been ideal, but it was something that definitely kept her busy. She’d flirted with a few patrons but it was nothing serious. Not like she had with JC. And now that was most definitely over.

Morgan folded her arms across her chest and stared out of her apartment window onto the ugly view of the parking lot below. Her mind was racing and if she thought long and hard, she knew something would come to her.

A smile spread across her face when the idea struck her.  It would take a few weeks, but she knew exactly how to get back at JC Chasez now.