" . . . Five. . . six. . .seven. . .eight!"

The music started again and, accompanied by her three dancers, Casey went through the closing number of her set one more time. As the choreographer, Lawrence made a minor change that he wanted to perfect for that evening's show. With less than  ten minutes before they needed to relinquish the space for *NSYNC's sound check, Casey was kind of a disaster.

Although she would be singing live later on, her track was playing and she was mostly mouthing the words. Attempting a successful transition from a kick to a pencil turn, she missed the count for the third time in a row and tripped over Mike.

"Shit! I'm sorry, Mike. Ow!" She yelped as she fell to the stage floor.

"Cut the music!" Lawrence yelled to the guys handling the sound. "Casey, what the hell's going on today? You keep coming in on the wrong count. It's step right, step left, kick, turn, five, six, hop, drop. The only thing that changes is the hop before the drop. Where are you this morning?" He helped her up from the stage floor.

"I'm just, um, really tired. Sorry." That was the truth, if only part of it. On top of being exhausted from the three hours of sleep she'd managed to get, the only thing she could concentrate on was JC. She had literally bumped into him backstage.

"Sor-oh . . .hey." She manages a wan smile when she realizes who is standing in front of her.

"Hey, Casey," JC says quietly.

He's wearing a white t-shirt emblazoned with the logo of some sports' team; his baseball hat, white with black bill, matches the shirt. His jeans are dark and baggy, and his shoes are white and gleaming. He is unbelievably sexy.

Her mind goes completely blank and she struggles to think of something to say. "Um...I was just on my way onstage. For soundcheck."

JC smiles at her, one of those genuine ones where his eyes crinkle up at the corner and narrow into tiny slits. She likes when he smiles like that and likes even more that, because of last night, it's directed at her.

"I figured," he says with a chuckle.

"Yeah! I guess it's what we do before every show. Soundcheck, I mean."

She's nervous, he thinks and smiles at her. He's never seen Casey lose her cool, and he finds it rather sexy that she's tongue-tied. Maybe, he also thinks, she didn't mean what she had said last night after all.

Casey is cringing inwardly; with JC standing in front of her, she can't think of a single coherent thing to say. Her thoughts are traveling a mile a minute and the only thing she can think about is last night. She wonders if he's thinking about it.

He leans down so his mouth is right up against her ear. "Do you think...do you think we could talk later? About last night? I know what you said on the phone, but," he pauses, his voice barely above a whisper. "I have some things I want to say, too."

His breath on her ear, and the huskiness in his voice affects her unexpectedly. Her mouth is dry as all available moisture has been directed...elsewhere. She croaks out a reply. "Yeah...yeah, sure."

He stands back up straight, and looks at her. His eyes are burning into hers with an intensity that makes her want to look away; she's weak-kneed and makes a conscious effort to keep breathing.

"I . . . I have to get out there." She points vaguely toward the stage, not sure why she's still whispering.

JC smiles slightly and appears to be amused. "OK. Have a good soundcheck."

"Yeah," she replies, a little out of breath. "Um, I'll talk to you later."

He nods. "I hope so." With a wink, he walks off.

Casey takes a deep breath and tries to compose herself. Just the fact that he has been standing so close to her, breathing on her...well, her desire for him is almost palpable. With an involuntary shiver, she tosses her phone in the general vicinity of her stuff and heads for the stage.

"Casey!"

She jerked her head up. "Huh?" It took her a moment to notice that her dancers were all staring at her. Mike walked over to her and slipped his arm around her shoulders.

"You OK, Case? You didn't hear Lawrence say we were done for now?"

She grinned sheepishly. "I, um...I was trying to concentrate."

He cocked an eyebrow at her.  "Obviously. But the question is, on what?"

She squeezed his shoulder and nodded at Lawrence. "I'm good, guys. I'll have it down tonight. Promise!"

Lawrence made a face but let it go. "Everett called you backstage, but you probably didn't hear that either." He gave her a pointed look and she smiled before making her backstage.

***

Once backstage, Casey felt a brush on her shoulder. "Shit!" she gasped in surprise, spinning around wildly.

Everett Patterson eyed her suspiciously. "What's going on with you today, Casey?" Standing a foot taller than her, with full sleeves on both of his arms, tattoos that crept up his neck, multiple facial piercings and his jet black hair sculpted into peaks on the top of his head, he was an intimidating sight. "You were spacey onstage and now you're jumpy as hell."

She rolled her eyes and continued walking. "I'm just tired, that's all. I'm gonna take a nap and I'll be fine tonight." She grabbed the duffel bag that she'd left near the wall and dug frantically. "What's up? Mike said you were waiting for me?"

She glanced over her shoulder to see Everett's piercing green eyes boring holes into her. As the tour manager, it was his job to see to it that everything about the tour ran smoothly. That included dealing with agitated opening acts.

Casey pasted what she hoped was a convincing smile on her face. "I'm going straight to sleep when I leave here, OK? I promise I'll be on tonight."

Everett had told her on more than one occasion that he was impressed with her endurance and stage presence. He had been a freelance tour manager for years and he rarely came across new acts as polished as she was. She hoped he still believed that.

He studied her for a moment more before relaxing. "Are you looking for your phone?"

She nodded, returning to rummaging through my duffel. "I thought I put it in here..."

"It was next to your bag." He reached out one multicolored arm. "I picked it up because it was ringing off the hook. Dara's been blowing up your phone and mine." He handed her the phone. "Says she's been trying to reach you since last night."

With a quick thank-you, she took the proffered phone and saw the same number over and over in the call log. With a protracted sigh, she selected the number and hit 'send.'

Everett watched her for a moment more before ambling off in the opposite direction.

"Dara, hi!" Casey forced herself to sound normal when she heard her manager's voice on the other end of the line. She would want to know she had been unreachable the previous night and morning and so far, Casey hadn't yet formulated a plausible excuse.

"Casey, where've you been? I called after the show last night, and again later. Jasmine said you were sleeping but she doesn't lie well."

She grimaced, thankful that she couldn't be seen. "I've been...around. I, uh, I couldn't sleep last night so I walked on the treadmill for awhile." She hoped the lie sounded convincing. "I didn't actually tell Jazz where I was so she was just trying to cover for me."

Picking up her bag she headed for the backstage exit, waving to two of *NSYNC's bodyguards as she passed. As she had hoped, there was already a vehicle waiting to take her back to the hotel. The SUV was idling and she got inside, continuing her conversation.

"OK," Dara replied after a beat. "But are you're sure you're all right? You've gone almost two months without any kind of break. The pace is pretty tiring. Not to mention...everything else."

She smiled into the phone, touched that Dara genuinely cared. She felt slightly guilty for lying, but only very slightly. "I'm fine; I promise."

"Ok, but if anything changes, let me know, OK?"

"Promise."

"OK, well, I was calling because we finalized things with Rich Robinson and I wanted to let you in on the specifics."

She tried so hard to pay attention to the details being given but it was a jumble of disconnected numbers and sounds that she couldn't quite process at the moment. She was beyond tired and the small area of her brain that seemed to still be functional was almost singularly focused on JC. Still, she managed to get through the conversation without Dara registering her listlessness.

"Casey," Dara said slowly, before hanging up. "Promise me that you'll let me know if you need anything."

She sighed. "I already said I promise, Dara, but I'm fine. Really."

***

"So, what's up with her?" Mike asked as they gathered up their belongings from the stage. "Did she tell you where she was last night?"

Jasmine shook her head, zipping up her backpack and slinging it over one arm. "I have no idea. I didn't ask her and she didn't offer. She was a little weird this morning. Quiet."

Lawrence laughed. "Yeah, Casey quiet is definitely weird."

The three dancers made their way backstage, and then out of the venue to the vehicle waiting to take them back to the hotel.

"So what's going on with you, Case?" Jasmine asked once they were all inside the Bravada.

Casey could feel them staring at her and so she opted to become fascinated with her phone. "Nothing. I'm tired is all."

"Why are you so tired? You left last night around midnight. You should be well-rested," Lawrence pointed out, wiggling his eyebrows.

Mike tried to cover a laugh with a cough. "That's true, Case. Unless, of course, you didn't go straight back to your room after you left the club."

She jerked her head up. "I...of course I went back to the room after I left. I just, uh, couldn't sleep is all."

Jasmine poked her in the side. "Bullshit. We went back to the hotel an hour after you did, and I went straight to our room and you were nowhere to be found."

Casey eyed her suspiciously, trying to detect any hint of a trick.

Lawrence noticed and said, "She's telling the truth, C. We went straight to our room and Jazz called us to see if we knew where you were."

"I called you, too," Jasmine pointed out.

Casey had seen a couple of missed phone calls from her, but assumed her friend was just checking in from the club. She racked her brain trying to come up with a believable excuse. "I did go straight back to the room, but I left again. And besides, you weren't in the room either when I got back."

"Yeah, I took a shower and then I waited around for you for awhile before going over to the boys' room and passing out." Jasmine smiled wryly. "And that still doesn't answer the question; where were you?"

"And don't lie," Mike said. "We checked the pool, the workout room, the bar, and we even went back down to the main lobby to see if we had missed you since we came in on the side entrance. Where were you?"

Casey felt heat rise to her face. "I...um...I..." She stammered and couldn't think of anything that would sound remotely believable. Every eye was on her, and she nervously rubbed her hand down her face. Just as she looked up, they pulled in front of the hotel.

"I'm exhausted. I'm going to catch a quick nap." Before anyone could say anything, she jumped out of the vehicle.

***

"So what do you think she's hiding?" Lawrence said, as the other three exited the car more slowly.

"I don't know, but something was up between her and JC before sound check." Mike glanced between Lawrence and Jasmine.

"Up like what?" Jasmine asked, raising one eyebrow. "They were actually talking?"

They were all well aware of the dynamic between Casey and JC, more aware than either Casey or JC knew. They walked through the automatic revolving door into the lobby of the hotel.

Mike shrugged. "Yeah, they were talking. The only thing I caught was him asking if they could talk about last night. He was kind of whispering."

Jasmine's eyes widened and she grinned. "You don't think...do you think she was with him last night?"

Lawrence rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. "It would make a weird sort of sense. They were the only two unaccounted for."

"No way!" Mike shook his head emphatically. "She's still sticking the ‘I can't stand JC' narrative. What would they have been talking about last night?"

"Maybe they weren't talking at all." She let her words hang in the air, looking between the two men.

"For that to happen, Casey would first have to admit that she's sprung on him." Mike snorted. "And she's nowhere near ready to admit that."

"What if he admitted it first?" Jasmine shrugged. "The only reason she acts like she can't stand him is because she thinks he can't stand her."

"And we all know that's not true." Lawrence nodded slowly.

Neither Casey nor JC realized how much everyone talked about the two of them behind their backs. They caught him looking at her when he didn't think anyone noticed, and they knew first hand that her only real issue with him was that she didn't know what his issue was. They all figured it had something to do with Tony, and although he was no longer on the tour, his presence had cast a certain pall over everything for a while.

"Well, what did they look like when you saw them?" Lawrence asked. "How were they standing?"

Mike thought for a moment. "He was leaning real close to her, not touching her exactly, but almost. And she looked..." He reached for a word to describe her expression. "Preoccupied? I don't know. There was definitely something going on but they didn't seem mad at each other. The whole thing looked..." he trailed off.

"Looked what?" Jasmine pressed.

"I felt like I walked in on a private moment, actually. Like I walked in on something I wasn't supposed to." He made a face. "You don't really think that Casey and JC... I mean...not really, right?"

Jasmine smiled wickedly. "I'll meet you guys in the hot tub later, maybe. I'm going to see if I can get details." She practically ran around the corner to the elevator.

"Well, if anyone can get it out of Casey it'll be her," Lawrence said as they strolled off in the other direction.

***

JC slouched back in his seat, eyes closed, savoring the cool of the leather interior.

"You want me to turn the music down?"

His eyes flickered open at the question, and he met Eric's eyes through the rear-view mirror. "Naw, I'm good, man. Thanks, though." He answered his bodyguard with a smile. "You know I can sleep through anything, anyway."

"Ain't that the truth," the big man mumbled with a low chuckle.

JC closed his eyes again, and his thoughts wandered back to Casey. He hadn't been able to sleep much after their phone conversation, and when he got up for the day he had resolved to talk to her. He was hanging around backstage, watching for her, when she walked by and dropped a duffel bag on the floor. She was looking down at her phone and didn't notice him at first, even as he moved closer to her.

She was dressed simply; a pair of black baggy cotton pants was paired with an oversized red cropped tee, hanging off of one slender shoulder. Underneath the shirt was a black sports bra, and she wore a pair of red gym shoes on her feet. Her hair was smoothed back into a curly knot on the top of her head. JC's first thought upon seeing her was that he couldn't wait to get her naked again.

So much for pretending like nothing happened.

He was surprised, and pleased, that she agreed to meet him so easily; he was positive, after her resolution on the phone, that he'd have to convince her. Now, he just needed to figure out what to say. The car door opened and he opened his eyes again, to see Justin sliding into the seat next to him.

"You all right,C? You shot out of there like your pants were on fire." Justin settled himself in the vehicle.

JC laughed and rubbed a hand across his face. He had cleared the stage pretty quickly after soundcheck, and was the first one to make it into one of their two waiting SUVs. "Yeah, I'm fine, man. I'm just tired."

As the black Bravada pulled off, Justin hummed along with the song playing on the radio for a moment, tapping the beat out on his thigh. "I can tell. Your eyes are bloodshot. I thought you didn't go out with the rest of them last night, though?"

JC averted his eyes and looked out the window. "I didn't," he said shortly, knowing that Justin wasn't likely to let it go.  

"Ah, so Joey wasn't the only one who got some last night, then."

JC's eyes widened and he choked. "I...what? What are you talking about?"

Justin sat up straighter, crossing his arms over his chest. "Joey made a friend last night," he said slowly. "I just assumed you did, too. Since you're so tired."

"Oh, um, no. Nothing like that."

Justin's eyes narrowed suspiciously and JC cringed inwardly. He was being cagey, and under ordinary circumstances he wouldn't have been, but since he still didn't know what was going on between him and Casey, he figured no one else needed to know either. He also figured Justin wasn't going to let it go now that his curiosity was clearly piqued.

"So you slept alone then?" Justin said finally.

"Yes." He wasn't technically lying; when he'd finally fallen asleep Casey was long gone.

"Bullshit!" Justin laughed. "I've known you long enough to tell when you're lying, C."

"I'm not lying," JC said quietly. "I slept alone last night."

Justin shook his head, still chuckling. "Bull. Shit. And if you did sleep alone, I bet it was only a technicality. She left before you fell asleep or some shit." He continued to stare at JC and JC continued to pretend like he didn't notice.

JC snuck a peek at Justin and could almost see the gears in his mind turning; he wasn't going to let it go. He took a deep breath. "Justin, I'm gonna tell you something and I need you to keep it quiet for now, OK?" Even as he said the words, he knew how difficult--if not impossible--it was to keep secrets on a tour.

Justin leaned in conspiratorially, brow furrowed. "You got some last night; why's it such a big secret?"

JC took inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. He glanced up at Eric, and leaned in closer to the blonde. In a low voice he said, "Because it was Casey."

A huge grin broke out on Justin's face and he fell back against the seat in hearty laughter. "You guys finally got it out of your system." He nodded, still smiling widely. "Finally!"

JC sat up straight, opened his mouth to speak, closed it again, and stared at Justin, blinking slowly. He finally croaked out, "What...what do you mean?"

Justin rolled his eyes dramatically. "Dude, are you kidding?" He shook his head, and laughed. "You like her. She likes you. It's been obvious from the beginning. Once Tony left we were practically taking bets to when you two would hook up."

JC's eyes narrowed and he started at Justin slack-jawed. They'd had virtually no interaction; how anyone could've thought there was anything between the two of them was a mystery. Then again, he pondered, last night was proof there was something between them. He was quiet for a moment wondering what, if anything, Casey had ever said to Justin about him; they had become fast friends over the course of the tour. He considered asking, but thought better of it.

"So how'd it happen?" Justin leaned closer to JC.

"I don't even know, man," he said with a shrug. "It was crazy. We were arguing and then...then we weren't."

"Well. What now?"

JC shook his head slowly. "Well... She said it would be best if we didn't, you know, repeat it. And her reasons are good and all--"

"What are her reasons?" Justin interrupted.

JC looked down at his lap. "Just that, you know, it might be awkward with her being on tour with us and all."

"Makes sense." Justin blinked slowly. When JC said nothing further he said, "I feel like there's a ‘but' in there somewhere. How do you feel? Do you want to repeat it or...?"

JC inhaled deeply and folded his hands behind his head. "I don't know, J. I mean there's a lot of potential for drama. I hate drama. And Casey, well..." His expression darkened momentarily. "She's kind of had a lot of drama already."

"But?" Justin prodded.

JC titled his head from side to side, glancing out the window before looking back at his friend. "But last night was, uh, good." His smile was small and almost secretive.

Justin grinned. "So what does that mean?'

"Right now, nothing. I asked her to talk after the show tonight and now I don't even know what to say." He sighed. "What do you think, man? I should just chalk this one up as a fluke and let it go, shouldn't I? For the sake of the tour."

Although he wasn't, chronologically speaking, the oldest in the group, JC was without question the most mature of all of them. Justin was amused, and strangely flattered, that his friend was asking his advice.

"What do you want? Not what do you think is the best thing for everyone else. What do you want as far as Casey is concerned? Honestly."

JC stared out of the window for a moment in silence. When he looked over at Justin again he was smirking. "Honestly? I'd like to take her to bed again and worry about what comes next later." The vehicle pulled up in front of the hotel.

Justin smiled. "Then tell Casey that, and take it from there. Something tells me she'll be on the same page."

The mischievous gleam had returned to Justin's eyes and again JC wondered what he and Casey may have talked about with regard to him.

Chris, Lance and Joey, along with all of their security, had gotten out of the other vehicle and he knew he didn't have time to pursue the matter further.

"Thanks, man," He said, climbing out of the vehicle. "I'm gonna hit the sheets for a couple hours. I didn't get much sleep last night." He grinned, nodded to the other guys, and, with one of their bodyguards following close by, headed for the elevators.

"Where's he going in such a hurry?" Chris asked as JC rushed past them.

Justin grinned. "He's uh, real tired, apparently. Guess he didn't get a lot of sleep last night."

"JC's tired. And in other captivating news, bears shit in the woods," Chris replied mildly.

Lance, however, caught the amusement on Justin's face and eyed him skeptically. "Why's he so tired? He went back to the hotel early. And he went alone."

"Yeah, well, he certainly didn't stay alone," the younger blonde quipped.

"Who was it?" Joey asked. "Did he hook up with a chick in the hotel?"

Unlike certain other members of the band, they all knew that JC was fairly picky when it came to the women he entertained while on the road. And although he was far from prudish, the likelihood of him hooking with a complete stranger he'd never laid eyes on before, without anyone even knowing, was slim.

"I'm not naming names, but you could definitely say that he hooked up with a chick in the hotel," Justin said in a sing-song voice.

Chris regarded Justin quizzically before his expression changed with sudden realization. "They finally got it of their system, huh?"

Justin burst out laughing, remembering he had used the exact same words.

"Who got it out of their system?" Lance asked, looking between Justin and Chris.

Joey looked confused. "But I thought Casey went out with you after the show?" he asked Chris.

"Casey?!" Lance's jaw dropped in surprise.

"She did, but she left early." Chris laughed, thinking of how she had huffed out of the club.

Lance shook his head. "Well, that escalated quickly."

"I'll say," Joey interjected. "How'd it happen?"

Justin shook his head. "I'm not saying anything else, man. He's probably already gonna be pissed at me."

Chris, still chuckling to himself, said, "Things just got abundantly more interesting."

Justin snorted and looked down at his watch. They were scheduled to call into a local radio show a few hours before the concert, to answer some questions and give away a few concert tickets and VIP meet and greet passes.

"What time is this radio deal?" he asked.

"Four," Lance replied. "We've got a couple of hours."

"Good, since apparently JC needs to make up for the sleep he missed out on last night."

At this, all four guys snickered.

***

When she got into the hotel room, the first thing Casey did was close the curtains. The tour buses had pulled away from their Greenville hotel at 7:30AM; it was after 3:00AM when she left JC's room and it had taken her some time to fall asleep. In the morning she managed to make it onto the bus before her dancers, and immediately closed the curtain to her bunk. Although they left her alone, the quarters were close and she could hear everything. She had a hard time doing much more than dozing off and on during the three and a half hour trip to Chapel Hill. Even if everyone on the bus had been completely silent, she wasn't sure she would have slept anyway.

Every time she closed her eyes she thought of kissing JC and everything else that followed. On the one hand, sex with him had been mind-blowingly fantastic. Despite the lack of interaction they shared on a regular basis, there had been no first time awkwardness while they were together. They seemed tuned into each other instinctively, and she was positive that he enjoyed himself just as much as she had. On the other hand was the issue that he had brought up in the midst of the argument that had preceded everything else. He mentioned the fact that she liked to party, and alluded to her taking random men back to bed. The truth of the matter was that regardless of what it looked like, she hadn't had sex with anyone since Tony left.

And beyond all of that, was Tony. And it seemed that where JC was concerned, all roads led back to Tony. Every time Casey's mind wandered to their first meeting, she literally felt sick to her stomach. She hated that the first time JC laid eyes on her had been under such humiliating circumstances. She remembered the way he looked at her when he came up behind Tony in the hallway.  What came next, of course, was just the crappy icing on a spectacularly shitty cake. She groaned aloud.

Despite all of that, however, last night had happened.

Keeping her clothes on, she kicked her shoes off and fell back against the bed, throwing one arm across her face. She briefly considering setting an alarm, but figured Jasmine would be back well before they needed to leave for the venue and she would make sure to wake her up. It wasn't yet 2:00PM and the show didn't even start until seven; Casey figured she had a minimum of three solid hours to sleep.

The door to the room opened and someone crossed the floor and stopped at the foot of the bed. "I know you're not asleep, so you can stop pretending," Jasmine said, falling on the bed next to Casey.

Without uncovering her face she said, "Dude, I'm tired. Get off my bed."

Jasmine hit her in the leg. "Not until you tell me what you and JC were doing last night."

Casey sat bolt upright, eyes wide. "What?! What do you...how did you..."

Jasmine gaped at her. "Holy shit! You really were with him!"

Her stomach dropped. So much for playing it cool. She lay back down and closed her eyes. "I don't want to talk about it, Jazz."

"Noooo, ma'am. You don't get to go to sleep now." Jasmine poked at her until she sat up again. "I want details. Mike saw you two talking backstage and we were kind of joking about you being with him last night, but I can't believe you actually were. What happened after you left the club?"

Casey sighed dramatically. "OK, but Jasmine, you can't tell Mike and Lawrence. Seriously. I don't want everyone to know."

Jasmine pouted. "That's no fair. We can keep it between the four of us."

She rolled her eyes. "No way. You know those two gossip worse than any teenaged girl." She crossed her arms over her chest. "I mean it. Whatever I tell you here doesn't leave this room, OK?"

Jasmine stuck out her tongue. "Fine. I won't tell them. What happened?"

Casey settled back against the pillows behind her. "I came back here and took a shower after I left the club but I couldn't sleep. I was...well, I was actually thinking about JC and the fact that he didn't come out with us and I was wondering if it was because of me. I went to get ice and something from the vending machine and we literally ran into each other.

"I tried to talk to him just to, like, try to ease some of the tension I always feel when he's around and we started arguing and he pissed me off and I followed him back to his room and I cussed him out and then..." She trailed off.

"Then what?" Jasmine pressed impatiently.

She took a deep breath. "Then he kissed me. Like, completely out of the blue, he just grabbed me and kissed me. And then he apologized for, well, I guess everything basically, and then...then, um, then we were in bed." Casey shrugged helplessly and studied her nails.

"Casey!" Jasmine squealed. "You had sex with JC last night? Shit!" She stared open-mouthed.

Casey grimaced but didn't say anything.

"Was he good?" Jasmine leaned over conspiratorially.

A small smile crept to Casey's lips but she shook her head. "I'm not talking about this, Jasmine."

Jasmine squealed again. "Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!! I can't believe I have to keep this a secret. Casey, how am I going to keep this a secret?"

Her expression darkened. "You promised. I'm serious, OK? We agreed last night that for the sake of the both of us, and the tour and just everything, it was a one-time thing. You can't tell anyone."

Jasmine flopped back on the bed. "You fucked JC Chasez. Oh my..." She sat up suddenly. "Dude, you should totally post anonymously on that one groupie sex story site."

"Are you kidding?"

"Seriously, girl, you should!"

"First of all," Casey began, making a face, "I'm not a groupie. Second of all...no. Just...no."

Jasmine was quiet for a moment, seemingly in thought. "Ok, well then give me the details and I'll post for you."

Casey hit her with a pillow. "Stop."

"Oh, come on, Case. Women are always wondering what they're like in bed. Give the women what they want."

She scooted back down on the bed and closed her eyes again. "What I want is to sleep. I'm tired. Can you leave me alone now?"

"No!" Jasmine exclaimed. "I want to know what happened backstage today, when Mike saw y'all being all secretive."

She blinked and looked over at the clock; her time to sleep was slowly but surely ticking away. "Nothing really. JC told me he wanted to talk later."

"You just said you agreed not to do it again. What do you have to talk about now?"

"I don't know; he just said he had some things he wanted to say to me."

Jasmine considered that for a moment. "He probably wants to bang it out again."

The thought had already crossed Casey's mind. The way he had looked at her, and the way his voice sounded when he whispered in her ear...she shivered thinking about it. "I don't know. I doubt it." But even as she said it, she knew it was a lie. "We already agreed that forgetting about last night was for the best."

Jasmine was thoughtfully quiet for a moment. "Is that what you really want?"

Casey chewed on my bottom lip for a moment while thinking. Up until that point, she hadn't entertained thoughts of what it was she might want, all other things considered. "It happened. And now I don't know. It was fun, but it probably shouldn't have. Because whatever it did, it's changed things. And I don't know yet if it's for better or worse."

Jasmine sighed. "Well, at least he was good, right?" She seemed to mull something over in her head for a moment. "How big is his-"

Casey threw another pillow at her before she finished. "I'm not talking about this. I have to sleep. Please go away."

Laughing, Jasmine replied, "Yeah. Of course now I have to meet up with Mike and Lawrence and pretend like I don't know what's going on. Even though my whole purpose in coming up here was to get information from you."

"Jasmine Flores," Casey said threateningly.

"I won't say anything! Shit!"

***

JC settled back against the bed with his hands folded behind him, eyes closed.

What do you want? Justin had asked him.

He wasn't particularly sentimental, being much more of a pragmatist at his core, and it had been a long time since sex with a woman had automatically led to feelings. Usually, those feelings came first. But after one encounter with Casey, here he was with feelings that felt vaguely...well, he couldn't quite put a name on what he felt. Although he had been honest with Justin when he said he wanted to take her back to bed, that wasn't the full extent of what he was thinking.

Casey tips her head back slightly as she laughs. Tony leans down and whispers into her ear, tightening his hold on her waist. For a second, her smile falters, but she seems to catch herself and plasters it back on her face.

A hand clamping down on his shoulder makes JC jump.  

"Take a picture. It lasts longer."

"What . . . what are you talking about?" He turns to face Joey and Lance.

Lance chuckles lightly. "You were pretty preoccupied there, JC," he points out.

JC's eyes flutter back to Casey who is now being led from the room by her boyfriend. "I'm . . . nope." He shakes his head for emphasis.

"Nope what?" Joey probes.

Lance smiles as JC averts his eyes.

"No, I wasn't preoccupied.  And why are you looking at me like that, Lance?"

"Don't change the subject," Joey interjects.  "Just admit it."

"What? Admit what?" JC eyes him suspiciously.

Joey smirks back at him.  "Admit that you like her much more than you dislike her."

JC had, naturally, vehemently denied anything of any sort for Casey. But he had definitely been feeling something, and not just disgust every time he saw her with her boyfriend. He let his breath out in a whoosh. He didn't need to figure anything out right now. He checked the clock and, seeing he had still had a bit of time before the radio show, he closed his eyes.  

***

Jasmine left her alone but Casey was unable to do much more than doze off and on. After an hour, she got up and decided to see what her dancers were doing. She slid her shoes, grabbed her keycard and walked out of her room. She got ten feet down the hall when she saw Justin approaching from the opposite direction.

"So you weren't gonna tell me, huh, Shorty?" He sauntered closer to her, blue eyes sparkling mischievously, a wide smile on his face.

Casey grimaced. "No. I wasn't planning on it. But apparently JC did."

He tossed his head back with a laugh. "Yeah, yeah he did. And he's gonna be pissed when he finds out I told you."

She shook her head. "It was a fluke, J. A one time thing."

He raised his eyebrows and cocked his head to the side. "One time, huh? You think?"

"Of course, I--" She stopped and studied him. "Did he say something else? About it being, um, more than one time or...whatever?"

Justin gave her a knowing smile. "Why? You want it to be more than a one time thing?"

She blushed and looked away. "I don't..." She inhaled deeply and let it out slowly. "Come here." Without warning she grabbed his hand and pulled him as she practically ran down the hall.

"Ok..." He let himself be pulled in the direction of her room.

She unlocked her hotel room door and practically shoved him over the threshold.

"OK, spill," she said, dropping his hand. "What did he say to you?"

He snickered. "Just that you two had an unexpected, ah...encounter. And that afterward you said you wanted to forget it happened." He raised an eyebrow at her and leaned back against the desk, arms crossed. "Is that true? You really want to forget it happened?"

She groaned in frustration. "Yes. No. I don't know! I..." She dropped onto the nearest bed and cradled her head in her hands. "Why is nothing in my life simple, Justin?"

He sat next to her on the bed and nudged her with his elbow. "This doesn't have to be that complicated, Case."

She looked over and cut her eyes at him. "I'm opening for you guys, J."

"In more ways than one, apparently," he mumbled with a straight face. She punched him in the arm. "Ow!" he exclaimed, laughing and rubbing his arm.

"Seriously. You guys are basically like, my employers. So I basically just slept with my boss. How fucked up is that?"

Still laughing he replied, "Don't think of it like that, OK? You and JC hooked up and it doesn't have to be a big deal if you don't want it to be. Just...you know, go with it."

"Go with it, huh?" She shook her head. "JC probably has zero respect for me."

Justin gave her a funny look. "C's not like that, Case. I mean...he slept with you. He's not judging you for it."

She shrugged. "Maybe he is, maybe he isn't."

"He's not. Trust me."

"So what did he say? The truth."

He grinned and looked at his watch. "I gotta go. But you should talk to him." He stood up and made his way to the door.

"Justin," she whined. "Come on! What did he say?"

He flashed her a brilliant trademark Timberlake smile. "Talk to ‘C, Casey. See ya!"