Chapter 25
Justin made his way back stage, talking to his fellow bodyguards and checking over everything again like he had in the morning when he checked the property. There were a lot of people there, but that had been expected he nodded to each guard standing by every door before he made his way back towards where Tessa would be sitting.
Brandon and Tessa were talking with some of the girls she had met the night before at the Grammy party while Joey was keeping an eye on the room as he had been told. He spotted Justin making his way towards him with a young blonde women, who was dressed in a skirt suit and had on black rimmed glasses.
“Everything ok?” he asked,
Justin nodded, “Everything seems to be okay now, I checked all the doorways and everyone is in place”
Joey nodded “Good” he said, “Everything seems to be okay in here, we’re gonna stat any minute” he said.
“Joe, this is Emily” Justin said pointing the women by his side, “She’s gonna basically be in charge of coming to get Tessa when it’s time to go on stage for her performance and presenting.”
Joey stuck his hand out to the women, “Nice to meet you Emily” he said,
She smiled at him and shook his hand, “Like wise” she replied.
“When they get going, you stay here with Tessa and Brandon. Emily will come up and tell her to get ready for her performance” he started “Head down with Tessa to her dressing room and stay with her until she goes on stage, I’ll be on the other end”
Joey nodded, “Got it” he said,
“I’m going back to wait back stage” Justin said, “I’ll see you”
Joey nodded before going back to where Tessa and Brandon were talking. Justin and Emily made their way towards the backstage area again. Justin turned and glanced at Tessa as she laughed at something one of the people said and he made his way to the stage.
-*-
The show had started; everyone was down in their seats as the host came out to get the party started. Joey had done what he was told and stayed next to Tessa while Justin had been backstage.
About a half hour into the show, Emily came out and told Tessa she needed to get ready she would be performing after the break.
Joey and Tessa made their way backstage while Brandon stayed in their seats. They were walking to the backstage, following the usher.
“Where’s Justin?” she asked turning to Joey.
“He’s backstage already” he said “He’ll be on the other side of the stage while you perform”
Tessa smiled as she reached up to hold onto her heart pendant careful not to push the button or Justin would come running.
“Can you see if he’ll come see me before I go on?” She asked looking at him once again.
“I’ll see what I can do” he said as they reached the dressing room door.
He walked inside first to check out the room before walking back out and deeming that it was safe for her to go in. She walked inside and Joey stood outside waiting for her to be ready.
There were so many people running around trying to get everything together for the show but it had gone well so far. Joey hadn’t left his spot, but he continued to look around the area. He spotted Justin talking to one of the guys and waved him over.
Justin made his way towards him, “Everything ok?” he asked.
Joey nodded, “She’s getting ready, she wanted to see you before she went on though” he said.
Justin looked at him a minute, shocked that he even suggested it would be okay for him to see her. He nodded and made his way towards the door and knocked lightly. When he heard Tessa’s voice, he opened the door and poked his head inside.
Tessa turned from her chair in front of her vanity and smiled at him.
“Hey” she said,
He walked into the room the rest of the way and closed the door behind him and made his way towards her.
“You almost ready?” he asked,
She took a deep breath and stood up turning to look at him.
“How do I look?” she questioned.
He looked her up and down, she had on a mini jean skirt and a frilly red shirt her hair down and loose for the quick dance number she was going to do. She still had on the necklace Justin had given her, and it matched perfectly.
“Great” he said and leaned in to kiss her lips lightly.
Tessa reached up and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. Justin’s arms went around her, hugging her close to him as he buried his face into her hair, smelling her perfume.
“You feeling ok?” he asked, “no weird feelings or anything?”
She broke the hug and looked up at him, her arms still wrapped around his neck.
“No” she said, “How’s everything out there?”
He chuckled, “I have everything under control” he explained, “You jus go out there and do your thing ok? Joey and I will be right there”
She nodded, and leaned forward to press her lips to his again. They broke the kiss and Justin watched her and leaned forward to kiss her forehead again, his hand moving to hold her cheek as he watched her. Tessa sighed and closed her eyes, feeling safe.
-*-
Joey stood outside Tessa’s dressing room, keeping his eyes peeled. There were so many people running around it was hard to imagine that this much work went into putting on a show.
He crossed his arms over his chest, scanning the room for the millionth time. He spotted a familiar face making their way around the crowd, his eye brows scrunching in confusion.
The familiar person had made his way towards him, and glanced over at Joey as he walked by.
The guy’s name came to him instantly,
“David?” he questioned.
David stopped walking and looked at Joey, “Hey…” he said, “Joey right?”
Joey nodded, “What are you doin here?” he asked,
David smiled, “I’m here with a client, checking the place over” he explained.
Joey nodded, “Oh” he said,
“So since you’re here, that must mean Justin and Tessa are around somewhere” David said, glancing at the closed door Joey was standing in front of.
Joey nodded, “She’s about to perform” he said,
David nodded, “Well if you see Justin tell him I said hi” he said, “I should get going though”
Joey nodded and David took off into the crowd of people. Joey watched him walk away, something wasn’t right. He remembered David at the party in Miami, and he also remembered escorting David out of Tessa’s room that night as well.
He tried to push the thoughts aside as he continued to stand guard at Tessa’s door, waiting for Emily to come and tell them that it was time for her to go on.
-*-
Tessa and Justin stayed in the embrace for a few minutes before there was a knock on the door, and Joey’s voice called.
“They need you on stage now Tess” Joey called,
Justin turned to Tessa and leaned in to kiss her once more, he couldn’t get enough of her tonight. Tessa watched him and smiled.
“You better go” Justin said,
She nodded and checked herself over in the mirror once more, before Justin made his way towards the door, he opened it and stepped out with Tessa following him.
Emily took Joey and Tessa down to the side of the stage where she would be entering while Justin made his way back towards the other side of the stage to watch her.
The music started and Tessa was announced, the lights went low and music came on. Tessa made her way onto the stage waving at the crowd as the beat started. She turned to the side where she knew Justin was and winked at him before starting her routine.
-*-
Joey and Justin stood on each side of the stage watching as Tessa entertained the crowd like she did best. The crowd went wild, and by the time she was done she had the biggest smile on her face, nothing could ruin this night.
She waved to the crowd once more before exiting the stage where Justin had been standing. She smiled big at him, fighting the urge to hug him tightly as he escorted her back to her dressing room where she would refresh before heading back to her seat.
Justin gave her a wink as he closed the door and stood in front of it waiting for Joey to make his way towards them, then he would move back to his post by the stage.
The time had come for them to announce the best new comer of the year. The winner of the awards from the year before was on stage with his dialogue and the envelope with the winner inside.
They went through the small video of all the nominess before he said those famous words.
“And the winner is…”
Tessa gripped Brandon’s hand tightly smiling.
“Tessa Johnson”
Tessa squealed as she reached over and hugged Brandon as clapping irrupted around the arena. She got up and began to make her way to the stage, as she made her way to the podium she waved at the crowd and smiled blowing kisses at them.
She reached the podium and received her award, hugging the presenter and then turned to the crowd.
“Wow” she said, and laughed.
The crowd continued to clap and cheer for her.
“Thank you all so much, I am jus overwhelmed”
She took a look at the award before turning back to crowd, “Never in a million years did I think I would win, but I have and it feels great” she could feel the tears starting to fall down her cheeks as she wiped them quickly.
“I want to thank my family, thank you for pushing me when I needed it, Mom I love you. My boys: Brandon, Joey, Justin, you guys keep me safe all the time, thank you so much. My management, thank you for giving me the opportunity to try everything I wanted to and staying behind me 100%. Oh of course the fans, I would be nothing without you guys, Thank you!”
The music had started, and the lights dimmed as Tessa turned and started to walk off the stage holding her award tightly. She made her way towards the end where Joey was and rushed to him hugging him tightly.
“We did it Joe” she squealed,
He chuckled and hugged her close, “You did it honey, this was all you” he said.
She smiled as she broke the hug and showed him the award. Emily came up and escorted her to an interview area where all the stars went after they win. She sat and talked with Pat O’Brien and did a little more talking about her award and things before she was taken back to her seat.
Things had been okay so far. The show had gone well, and there had been no suspicions about anyone, things were going well. The time had come for Tessa to go on stage and present an award, she had been gotten by Emily again and Joey headed with her to the dressing room so she could change for the last time before heading to the stage to present.
Emily came over to get her once again, and she headed to the side of the stage with Joey by her side when the host announced her. She gave Joey a wink before heading back onto the stage with the envelope in hand.
Justin stood on the other side of the stage watching her as she gave him a wink before stepping up to the podium. She had been a little nervous to stand in front of all these people to announce the winner, even though she had just performed and won something about being alone up there made her nervous.
She kept glancing at Justin, her hand reaching up the hold onto the pendent. Justin looked out onto the crowd, something was making her nervous. He watched her closely, looking across the stage at Joey who was scanning the crowd as well noticing Tessa’s discomfort.
Joey took out his walkie talkie, signaling to Justin.
“Something’s not right” Joey said into the device.
“I know,” Justin replied back, “Keep your eyes peeled”
As Tessa continued her speech off the teleprompter Justin noticed a figure standing in the shadows in the back of the stage. He watched it a minute, waiting for it to move before speaking into the walkie talkie again.
“Joe, there’s someone behind you to your left, in the back” Justin said, keeping an eye on the figure.
Joey turned slowly glancing behind him but the figure had disappeared.
“He’s gone” Justin said back,
“Do you want me to go look for him?” Joey questioned.
“Jus take a quick look” Justin said, “Then come right back”
Joey gave him the thumbs up before turning and heading towards the back of the stage to take a look around. Joey made his way around the back of the stage, not noticing anything out of place as Tessa continued her little talk.
Then he saw something, something in the back of the stage”a figure.
“Hello?” he called, “no one’s aloud back here”
He heard the sound of heavy breathing, as he was walking around in the dark something came at him, hitting him in the back of the head and he went down with a thump.
The figure came out of the dark and saw Joey lying knocked out on the floor, and pulled him into the dark out of view. The figure then made his way towards the stage again; this was his chance to get Tessa once and for all.
By the time he reached the stage, Tessa had finished announcing the award and was making her way towards him. The plan was perfect, he waiting behind the curtain for her to walk by and then he would grab her.
Tessa didn’t have a clue as she walked behind the curtain heading back to her dressing room, she turned and spotted the figure but before she had a chance to do anything her mouth was covered with a gloved hand and she was dragged off into the darkness.
As she flailed she reached up for her necklace, her fingers skimming the pedant setting off the censor in Justin’s jacket and he looked up across the stage at her. He noticed her flailing arms and saw her being dragged. Justin spoke into the walkie talkie,
“We have an emergency, Tessa has been captured everyone to their exits”
As if his announcement went public, people panicked the place turned into chaos people running around. Justin ran across the stage to try and get to Tessa before she was dragged out of one of the side doors, where a car had been waiting and had taken off by the time Justin reached the exit.
She was gone, Justin had failed.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Okay here's another chapter. Sorry it wasn't posted sooner, I had a family friend die last week and it was kind of a shock to everyone. I'm about to have an emotional weekend so I thought I'd post this before that. Thanks to all of you who are reading and reviewing. I've got about 5 chapters left, so here's the next one let me know what you think. :)
Chapter End Notes:
*&*Traci*&*
Comments? Questions? E-mail me at Spacey1141@hotmail.com
Comments? Questions? E-mail me at Spacey1141@hotmail.com
Story Tags: justin joey
