Jax shivers and cinches her terry cloth robe tighter. She takes a sip of the hot coffee clutched in her hand, closes her eyes and rests her head against the chair she is sitting in. She’s exhausted; absolutely spent physically and emotionally. No one ever said things would be easy, but she’d never imagined that everything would become so hard. She loves making music and loves performing it for her fans. There really isn't anything quite like watching a crowd of people sing back words that have poured out of your soul to you because they feel a connection to them, to you.

It’s incredible. But it can be taxing.

Especially this day and age with all of the social media and everyone having cameras as essentially an extension of their hands, it’s hard for artist to just be. She never gets to turn off. There's always an interview or a tweet to be sent. A Facebook share or a Tumblr post. Everyone needs to know where she is at all times and what she's doing. Because she owes that to them right? She decided to step into public life after all and people have absolutely no pity for her wanting some private time. It's the name of the game nowadays and the only way to stay relevant.

But there are days where it sucks. Even her house which she’d once found calming, relaxing and welcoming is starting to feel like a prison with security panels in every room and guards waiting at her door. Paparazzi are always waiting for her to step out or catch her doing something unbecoming. They certainly aren't on her team; they're looking to make money. Which is why it's so important for her to be able to trust her real team especially her closest ally, but today she feels alone.

Jax shivers again takes another sip of her coffee, clutching the cardboard cup for dear life hoping to leach all of the warmth from it. Though her current state of dress, or undress really, probably has something to do with her low body temperature, it’s as if she hasn’t been able to feel warm for days. As if the cold knot inside her chest is leeching ice into her veins. She knows what’s causing it: Beats hasn’t spoken to her in days and it’s really starting to bother her.

It’s not the first time, nor will it be the last that the two of them get into a little tiff over something. They don’t always agree on everything and since both of them have such creative personalities, they sometimes end up clashing. But nothing like this. Never anything like this. And nothing like the things he’d said in anger that morning. That hurt. That really hurt and this is new territory for her. She’s navigating uncharted waters at this point and isn’t really sure what to do. She is angry and hurt at his blatant disrespect for her. His words were unacceptable, even in anger and it was going to sting for a long time. And though she essentially went behind his back and then caught him off guard, she didn't deserved it.

“Here. Management sent me this earlier and I was able to get it printed,” Anaïs, her current personal assistant, says as she suddenly appears in front of Jax holding a thick envelope. “I figured you may want a paper copy to review and present to him, although I have already sent you an electronic version and can forward same to him and his lawyers if need be.”

Jax narrows her eyes as she accepts the envelope and opens it to pull out a thick stack of papers which are obviously legal in nature. She doesn’t have time to ask any questions before Anaïs if off again saying something about her looking cold and going to ask them to turn down the fan and turn up the heat for her next set of shots. She really isn’t listening because it doesn’t take long for her to figure out that what she’s holding is a very detailed non-disclosure agreement. With JC’s name on it.

Jax feels a pang of hurt course through her as she flips a few pages and reads a few lines. Apparently Beats went around her and directly to legal as well as management about her sharing her music with JC. And he hadn’t even given her a heads up.

Of course in her head, in her business mind, she realises that this is probably necessary but it just feels wrong. As if somehow it’s a sort of betrayal of her growing friendship with JC. He’s just being a nice guy by offering his help on the down-low and now he’s going to have to be roped into her hectic world whether he’d realised, or even wanted to, or not. To be plain, she hadn’t even actually thought of the repercussions of sharing her music with him, even unofficially. Guess she’s still a little green when it comes to the business side of the industry or possibly she’d still been a little star struck. Honestly, it’s probably a little from column A, a little from column B.

It’s no secret that she’s attracted to him, has been ever since his days on TV and with NSYNC, but that had been to his public persona: the persona that he shows on stage and on television. She was serious when she told Jimmy Fallon that she’d rather he stay like he was in her head. Too many times in the industry she would meet someone that she liked only to find out that they were completely fake or not very nice at all. It happens to everyone, to essentially fall in love with the hunky actor or seductive actress from their favorite rom-com or swoon over the smooth lines of a crooner and automatically attribute him or her with the qualities and personalities of the characters they play. But most of the time that’s what they are: characters. And if she’s figured anything out in the last few years, it’s that Hollywood is just a big stage show with recurring characters dropping in and out as time goes by, but you never really realise that you’re one of them until you’re already on the cast list.

But JC is different, or at least he seems different so far. He comes off quiet and looks like he keeps to himself for the most part. He doesn’t take part in the circus and she really likes that. Everytime she spends time with him she feels like she’s able to detach from the fast pace of everything going on around her and that’s nice. What’s even nicer is that the JC she’d imagined in her head doesn’t seem to be that different from the one she’s gotten to know recently and that makes her feel good. Makes her feel like not everyone is out to get something from her. That he isn’t out to hitch up on her star, isn’t out for her money or out to just make her another notch on his bedpost. So far, he really comes off as an earnest friend using his past experiences and current knowledge to help her out and get to know her. And she’s okay with that. So now the idea of presenting him with this document hurts her head and her heart. But she knows it has to be done.

“Back up in 2, Jax!” She nods her understanding as she sets her coffee onto the desk in front of her and grabs her phone. With a few quick taps she sends JC a text asking if he could take time to meet with her soon.

*

JC shuts the fridge door with his foot and carefully starts removing his sandwich building items from his arms, placing them on the large island in front of him. He’s starving. Hasn’t eaten anything since he woke up this morning and had his morning coffee. Since then he’d been in meetings but now he has a couple of hours of downtime before an artist he’s working with is supposed to drop by to work in the studio for a while. He was planning on making something to eat and then to just veg out for the few hours but then he’d gotten a text from Jax asking to meet as soon as he was available. Instantly he’d felt some anxiety at the thought. He hasn’t spoken with her since the other morning when he’d pulled another stupid little stunt around her without thinking first. It was like the whole “It’s totally me, right?” incident all over again, where he acted before he thought around her and then regretted it afterwards.

What is it about her that makes him react this way? He likes her, sure. He’s attracted to her, sure. But again, is there potential for anything else there? Possibly, but probably not. All she’s looking for right now is another ear to listen and another head to brainstorm. He likes their friendly relationship and he feels humbled by the idea that she values his opinion so highly. He doesn’t want to hurt that. All he’s hoping at this point is that she still wants to talk to him and that she doesn’t feel like he stepped out of bounds with his little display of affection in front of Beats. He saw how she reacted to seeing him standing there in front of Beats with no explanation to offer without laying everything out in the open before she was willing or able to. He knew it would be a difficult conversation for her to have and since none of it was any of his business, he figured the easiest way to get out of it would be make it appear as it they just hooked up after the awards. What was one more fictitious one night stand attributed to him anyway? No one would find out; it was just a front until Beats got up to speed and then it would be forgotten. No harm, no foul.

He hopes.

He hears his doorbell ring and glances down at his watch. Right on time. He makes his way to his front door and opens it to find Jax standing on his stoop waving off an idling SUV behind her. She looks fashionable wearing a tailored white jumpsuit with some sky high strappy stilettos, her arms and neck glittering with layers of long necklaces and rows of bangles and bracelets. Her hair is gathered into a high pile at the top of her head but what is most striking is her eyes. Almost every time he was around her, her face was void of makeup and even then she was stunning, but this time they are heavily made up, the smokey eyeshadow making her unusual eye colour even more striking She smiles at him but he can tell that something is bothering her; she seems tired. Or maybe more like weary.

He greets her with a tentative smile and motions for her to come in and she nods, letting him move around her to shut the door again behind her after she walks in.

“I hope you don’t mind if they park out there? They wouldn’t let me come alone,” she says as she hitches the strap of a large bag higher up on her shoulder. She seems uncomfortable and he feels terrible. He did this.

He shakes his head and slips his hands into his jean pockets. “It’s fine. Listen, I think I owe you an apology.”

She seems taken aback. “For what?”

He licks his lips and hikes his shoulders. “I well, I hope you don’t feel like I disrespected you the other morning. I just sort of acted without thinking first again and-”

She gasps and shakes her head quickly, reaching up to place a hand on her chest as her golden bangles shake with the movement. “Gosh no. I’m the one who’s sorry that you had to be in that situation. And it was nice... I mean, it was nice of you to do that.” She looks down at her feet as if she’s embarrassed. “Though it wasn’t fair to you, making yourself look like a simple one night stand.”

He chuckles and scratches the back of his neck. “I’ve been called worse.”

She looks up and frowns. “And from what I can tell, you don’t deserve it. Which is why…” She trails off and sighs. “Can we sit?”

JC remembers himself and straightens his back. “Of course, I’m sorry. Come in, come in.” He motions for her to follow him down the short hallway and into his brightly lit, modern kitchen. He motions for her to sit at one of the stool at the island and takes the one next to hers. “Do you want a sandwich? I was just making one for myself.”

She turns so she’s facing him and shakes her head. “No thanks. Carbs,” she says as if that explains everything and he lets it slide. He’s been around Hollywood women long enough to not ask.

He watches as she sets her large bag on the island next to her and then pulls out a thick envelope from within it. She sets it down onto the counter and rests a hand on top of it as if she is trying to gather her thoughts.

“So um, I’m not really sure how to approach this but,” she starts and he can clearly tell that she’s uncomfortable. “I feel terrible but after Beats figured out what we were doing together and that you’d already heard our album, he went around me and contacted our lawyers and management.”

He nods for her to continue, this doesn’t surprise him in the least. What surprises him is how much this seems to be bothering her. There has to be more.

“They’re asking that you sign this,” she continues as she pulls out the stack of papers from the envelope and hands it to him. It feels quite heavy in his hand but this isn’t his first rodeo so he isn’t deterred. He starts to flip through the agreement, quickly glancing at the different articles. It seems to be a standard non-disclosure agreement but then she reaches forward to make him flip to the last two pages.

“This is what bothers me more than anything. I noticed this on the way here and I’m embarrassed to present this to you.” He narrows his eyes and starts reading the indicated section. “It seems to be a clause that says that if our relationship were to become romantic or sexual in nature that the agreement would also include any and all facets of that as well.”

He can’t help but he chuckle a little bit and she seems to be taken aback by this as well. He reaches forward and covers her hands which she’d clutched nervously in her lap after pointing out the passage with his own. “Relax. Don’t worry about it, I get it.”

She seems to exhale with relief and her body relaxes slightly. “Really? I mean, I’m sure this isn’t a first for you...but it is for me. And to be completely honest I find it sexist.”

He laughs and squeezes her hands. “Welcome to the business.” He takes the agreement and sets it back on top of the envelope before he adds. “I assume it’s okay that I take a few days with this? I need to present it to my lawyers as well.”

She nods quickly and grabs her vibrating phone from her bag. She looks down at the screen and then tosses it back into the catacombs.

“Beats?”

She scoffs and shakes her head. “Nope. He hasn’t spoken to me since that morning.”

JC frowns. “I’m sorry. I know that must be difficult for you. I know you guys are really...close.” He doesn’t know why he sort of stumbles on that but she picks up on it quickly.

“You think I’m sleeping with him too right?” She shakes her head and seems disappointed. She starts to stand up but he reaches forward to stop her.

“I don’t. I really don’t. And even if you were, it's nobody’s business. Plus, I try to make it a point to never assume anything when it comes to other peoples’ relationships, especially when it’s not my own.”

She sighs and sits back down. “No matter. I wouldn’t blame you really, everyone else thinks I am. I think it’s honestly why they’re asking me to work with other producers...maybe the rumours are getting too loud to to control, I don’t know.”

He nods. “I can see that.” He crosses his arms over his chest and leans against the countertop. “So I guess the conversation with him didn’t go that well then?”

She pushes a strand of flyaway hair behind her ear and shakes her head. “Nope.” She looks away from him and seems to be suddenly very interested in what he was making his sandwich with earlier. “He basically called me a slut for producers so…”

JC winces and shakes his head. The comment that bubbles up his throat gets sidelined by his brain so he simply says, “I’m sorry.”

She shrugs and shakes her head. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

He nods and stands. He doesn’t want to push it so he decides to start to build his sandwich again. Just as he’s setting the finished product onto a plate she reaches over to grab a slice of deli turkey from its plastic container. “You know what? I took my clothes off for the photoshoot this morning, I can have a damn sandwich.” She seems to be convincing herself more than anything but he laughs and pushes the bread bag toward her.

He tries to get her mind off of things by making small talk, asking about the photoshoot and other things going on since they’d last spoken. As they tuck into their quick meal she tells him about the her new personal assistant and some of the things she’s got coming up soon. Just as they are finishing up her phone vibrates again and she looks at it. She turns the screen toward him and he almost chokes on his last bite.

It’s obviously a raw version of a professional photoshoot but she looks striking, even in black and white: She’s sitting up with her knees up to her chest, he can tell that she’s wearing a pair of leather pants. Her dark hair is wild and hangs down her shoulders covering part of her chest which is bare but for a lacy black bra. It’s tasteful but sexy as hell and he’s not too sure what to say. He assumes his face must be conveying that because she laughs softly and asks, “What do you think?”

With his eyes still on the image on her phone all he can say is, “Yep.”

She laughs again. “That good?”

Again. “Yep.”

“You’re not going to say anything else?”

“Nope.”

He looks up at her with what he assumes is a ridiculous grin and she breaks out laughing again. And for a few moments the weary look in her eyes seems to disappear and to him, that’s all that matters.

*