Chapter Eleven
“Hey there stranger.” The voice had startled him. He was sitting back stage, doing all that he could to avoid Alana. Ever since he’d blown her off the night before, she had attempted to talk to him about it and he wasn’t having any of it. He couldn’t tell her that he had blown her off because he was behaving like a jealous boyfriend. No way in hell.
When he heard the voice, he had been afraid that she’d found him, but when he glanced up and saw Melanie’s face, he relaxed visibly. “Hey,” he greeted, offering her a kind smile. “I haven’t talked to you in forever,” he said, patting the spot beside him.
“Hence the ‘stranger’ thing,” she said with a smile as she stepped over the long ladder that was laying carelessly on the ground and took a seat beside him. “Who are you hiding from?”
“My girlfriend,” he said automatically. The crew, aside from the guards, had no idea who Alana was. They were under the same impression that the fans were at this point: she was his girlfriend from back home. Before last night, he thought he would have no problem referring to her as such, but after seeing her with Justin… well, it was harder than he thought!
“Ahh, trouble in paradise?” She asked with a smile.
“Mmm… something like that. So how’ve you been kiddo?”
“You’re like… four days older than me, and yet you refer to me as ‘kiddo’? Where’s the justice in that?”
He cracked a smile easily. He always had around Melanie. She’d been with the group for quite some time now, even though several other dancers had been replaced time and again since the group started out. But she was good at what she did and she was good with the guys. She had earned her spot, and it was likely that as long as NSYNC was touring, she’d have a job.
JC slipped an arm around her thin shoulder and drew her into his side. He thought of Melanie as another sister. Truth be told, she reminded him quite a bit of his own sister. It was no wonder that the two girls got along fabulously whenever Heather came out for a visit.
“You need a hug?”
“Mmmhmm… well, I don’t need one but I surely could use one,” he told her with a soft sigh. Melanie frowned slightly, as she could tell that something was bothering him, but she slipped her arms around him and squeezed gently.
“Do you need an ear?”
“It’s not something I can really talk about,” he said softly. Part of him wanted to confide in Melanie. She had always been able to knock some sense into him, much like Heather was able to, though he knew that he wasn’t permitted to tell her about Alana’s true identity, nor the nature of her visit.
“Joshua Scott Chasez!”
The voice caused him to cringe. Busted, he thought. He glanced over Melanie’s head and sure enough, there stood Alana in all her glory with her hands on her hips. She looked pretty pissed off. He felt Melanie pull away quickly and look over at him.
“Uh-oh,” she whispered. “She pulled out the whole name… you’re in trouble buddy.”
“Don’t remind me,” he groaned as Alana sauntered up to the area where the two had been sitting. He could see the fire behind her steel blue eyes. “Hey baby,” he greeted with a smile.
“Don’t ‘hey baby’ me! I have been looking ALL over for you!” She fumed. Although there was plenty that she had to say to him, she couldn’t risk saying it in front of this woman who sat here beside him. She’d seen her around a couple of times, but she wasn’t quite sure that she knew who she was.
JC could see Alana’s gaze go from him to Melanie, so he cleared his throat and spoke up immediately. “This is my dancer, Melanie,” he said. He turned to Mel. “And this is my girlfriend, Alana.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Alana,” Melanie said as she stood, holding her hand out politely. She didn’t miss the firm way that Alana gripped her hand when they met, but she kept her mouth shut. This woman was strong! And yet so tiny!
From where she was standing, Alana was sizing this other woman up. Her jaw was clenched just slightly before she let go of her hand, unable to rid herself of the horrible feeling she had. Melanie had done absolutely nothing to her, but at that moment, Alana was wishing that there was some fiery pit that she could shove the petite blonde into.
Where the hell was all this anger coming from? Sure, she was pissed off at JC for slipping off. It was Alana’s job to keep him within her sight at all times. She had turned her back for ten minutes to take a phone call, and when she turned back, he was gone. Her chest had almost pounded out of her chest as she searched the venue for him before Justin had finally told her that he could probably be found behind the stage.
But Melanie had done nothing to deserve Alana’s wrath. “Except for the fact that she’s back here hugging up on him when she knows that he’s my boyfriend,” she thought bitterly. However, another voice inside of her spoke.
“He’s not your boyfriend.”
“But she doesn’t know that! She thinks he is! She’s got to be a strumpet.”
“She’s been around longer than you have. Maybe they’re friends.”
“Oh would you just shut up?”
She pushed the voices from her head before she turned her gaze back to JC. “Can I talk to you?” She asked. “Alone?” She clarified when she saw that Melanie had no intentions of leaving.
“Oh… right, sorry,” Melanie said, shaking her head with a laugh. “Must have spaced out there for a minute!” She turned to JC and gave him an awkward smile. “Well… I umm… I’ll see you before the show,” she said quietly. She turned her attention back to Alana. “It was nice to finally meet you Alana. I hope to see you later too.”
“But I hope I never come across you in a dark alley,” she thought as she stepped away from the scene, leaving her friend to fend for himself.
To say that Alana had chewed him out would have been an understatement. It was lucky that she had not forced him to wear a collar and leash once she was through with him. She’d called him every synonym for the word ‘irresponsible’ and then some other expletives that he’d never heard a woman utter with such venom. But then again, this was his saucy little FBI agent. He shouldn’t have expected anything different.
And frankly… he kind of liked it.
~*~
She had been unable to get the scene with JC hugging that stupid dancer out of her head. All throughout the show, having to watch them interact was like salt on an open wound. It was getting to her and she wasn’t quite sure why.
Alana had been quiet on the van ride back to the hotel. They had two shows in the same city, so they were staying over once more, scheduled to head out immediately following the show the next night. Although it had taken many adjustments, she was slowly getting used to life on the road.
She glanced up when the door connecting her room to JC’s was pushed open ever so slightly. She caught a glimpse of a mop of brown hair and recognized him immediately. “What do you need?” She asked, not bothering to look up from her own lap top as she typed up a couple of notes that she had made, and questions that needed to be asked.
“I need to talk to you.”
It was all he had to hide the smug grin on his face. He’d been unable to stop thinking of the way that Alana had spoken to Melanie and he’d come to a single conclusion: somebody was pretty jealous.
“So start talking,” she grumbled. She was still furious with him for running off earlier, and well… if she was honest with herself, she was a little furious with him for shacking up with some dancer when he was supposed to be playing the part of her boyfriend! Is that what pop stars did these days?
He walked over and sat down on the bed beside the desk she was working at. He was silent for several minutes, trying to decide the best way to approach this situation. There was always the tactful way of doing things; he could simply explain to Alana that he and Melanie had been friends for many years and that he was just enjoying her company since he’d not spent any time with her as of late. Or… he could take the route that was sure to ruffle her feathers and possibly earn him a butt kicking in the process.
Being tactful was never his strong suit.
“Are you jealous of Melanie?”
Alana almost fell out of her chair. She couldn’t believe he’d have the audacity to ask such a question! “Was I really that obvious?” she thought nervously.
“Excuse me?”
“Do I need to repeat it in French? Are you jealous of Melanie?”
“Why the hell would you ask me such a question?” She asked, turning to face him. He noticed immediately that her hands were balled up in fists at her side and he almost smirked, but he knew if he did that, then he was getting his ass beat. No ifs, ands, or buts. He was enjoying this far too much.
“You are, aren’t you?” He goaded, seeing the tell tale sign of red ears. He had pinpointed exactly what her problem was earlier.
He had absolutely no idea if she had picked up on his jealously from the night before. It was possible, due to the fact that she seemed pretty in tune to the things happening around her, so at least this way, he could throw her off a bit. Make it look like SHE was the jealous one, rather than him.
A little manipulative, but fun none the less.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about!” She spat bitterly. “I don’t know what the hell there is to be jealous of,” she said, turning her nose up haughtily. For that statement, she felt pretty lousy. Melanie had done nothing wrong, and there was really no need to bash on her, but she couldn’t let JC know that!
“You so are,” he said, shoving his finger into her face as he laughed. “You’re jealous of her! You think there’s something going on!”
“Oh screw you, JC!”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
She slapped his hand away angrily, turning back to her computer. “I’m not going to dignify any of that with a response,” she said coolly, though inside she was seething. How dare he come and accuse her of such things?!
“Oh man,” he said, pushing himself to his feet as he shook his head. He turned and headed towards the doorway, unable to resist taunting her just a bit more before he took his leave. “I can’t wait to tell the guys this.”
Her eyes widened at the statement. “NO!” She shrieked.
JC didn’t even hear her coming. He snickered to himself at the sound of her outraged cry. However, what he’d missed was her swiftly getting out of the chair and running full force at his back. He almost stumbled forward, not due to the weight that had suddenly been thrown against his back, but due to the force of it.
“What the he-“
“You’re not going to tell ANYONE ANYTHING!” She shrieked as she locked her arms around his neck until she could get her legs situated around his waist. As soon as she knew she wasn’t going anywhere, she let her fists go crazy, pounding the hell out of him.
Luckily for him, she was trying to strike at such an odd angle, she couldn’t do much damage. In fact, he found the situation quite amusing and let out a loud laugh, which proved to only incense her further.
“Are you LAUGHING at me?!” She bellowed.
Knowing that he should probably get her off of his back before one of them got hurt, he backed himself up against the bed, enduring the blows she attempted to deliver to his upper body. He dropped himself back onto the mattress, careful not to crush the tiny woman who was attempting to murder him, and after a slight tussle, he came out victorious.
She was at his mercy. Due to the fact that he was bigger than she was, he found that he could position himself to help hold her body down while he reached down and held her arms to the mattress above her head.
“Not so tough now, are we?”
“You’d better let me up or I swear to G—“
“Ah, you’re not exactly in a position to be making threats here, Al.”
“Let me UP! This is NOT dignified at all!”
“And I suppose acting like a jealous five year old is?”
“I am NOT jealous of her!” she spat angrily.
“Oh you’re not? You could have fooled me.”
“Let me up and I promise not to kill you.”
“Or… I could hold you down and you won’t be able to kill me anyway. And this latter option seems like so much fun.”
“You sir, are a dead man! I’ve taken on men twice your size before and I’ve kicked their asses all over town!”
“I’m not seeing you do any kicking, Al. In fact, you’re not doing much of anything. I kind of like you better this way.”
She could see that this was getting her nowhere. She couldn’t technically kick his ass because she knew that Charles wouldn’t be happy to have a million dollar law suit on his hands when JC ended up in a body cast. Though truthfully… she didn’t mind being in this position at all. At least not with him.
“You know, you’re kind of cute when you’re all pissed off. A little scary… but cute none the less.”
She lifted her hips against him, trying to get some kind of freedom either in her arms or legs so that she could turn the tables on him. But it was a no go. Apparently, he’d gotten some practice in this field once or twice. She wasn’t going anywhere.
“Will you please let me up?” She asked, looking up into his eyes. “I’d hate to have to… use some special… FBI technique and… and…” She’d gotten lost in the beautiful sea of blue. “What was I saying?”
“I think you were saying… that you want me to do this,” he said softly as he leaned down, his lips just inches from hers.
She could feel his breath teasing her skin. Little fireworks were going off inside of her head. This was it. This was the moment she’d been waiting for ever since she’d laid eyes on this man. She watched as his lips drew closer and her eyes closed as she puckered her lips.
This was it.
“Alana?”
She could hear the sound of the ‘moment’ go right out the window! She felt JC jump and all at once, she had use of her arms again. She reached out to him to stop him from pulling completely away, but she was too late. The window of opportunity had not just been closed. It had been slammed.
The sound of her name being called reached her ears once more and she sat up, watching as JC retreated into his room, his shoulders slumped slightly.
“Tony!” She growled as she got off of the bed. She pulled the door open so that she was face to face with him. “I’m going to kill you!”
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