Chapter Twelve
The last email had been sent. No reply had been received yet from JC, and it was almost certain that there would be no reply. But that didn’t stop the plan. No, JC had to pay. It was just unfortunate for him that he had to drag his pretty little girlfriend into the mix.
She would be used as bait. The entire plan had to be reworked once it was discovered that this little beauty was traveling around with him, but she didn’t appear to be of any threat. She was tiny. She could be taken down easily.
Photographs of the two littered the dimly lit hotel room. Photographs that had been taken only earlier that day, as they left the venue to have lunch together. It was a quaint little scene. The way he slipped his arm around her waist protectively. The way her smile had lit up her whole face. It was a shame, really.
A brief thought crossed the perpetrator’s mind. Had this little gem realized what a scumbag her boyfriend was? Surely not. She would be in for a surprise once the final stage was set into motion. The plans were laid out on the table, numbered in a detailed fashion.
Waiting for the next stage was like waiting for Christmas. Though luckily, the wait was almost over.
~*~
She was driving herself crazy. There was no other way to describe it. It had been two days since the ‘almost kiss’, and it was all she could think about! Things between her and JC were incredibly awkward. It was so hard pretending to be madly in love with someone when the tension was thick enough to cut with a knife. How in the hell was she supposed to get through this?
Alana had made up her mind that she needed to talk to him about it. It was interfering with her work. She had a million and two things that she needed to focus on, but all she thought about was how soft and perfect his lips had looked. So inviting… so close…
“You’re such a freaking horn dog!” She spat bitterly to her reflection in the mirror as she brushed her hair roughly. “Stop thinking about the stupid kiss that never happened and start thinking about your JOB!” She’d never had to give herself a lecture before, but damn! She was good!
She threw her hair up into a sloppy bun before she grabbed her sunglasses off of the counter. She had a long day ahead of her, filled with interviews and photo shoots. She was grateful, however, because that meant less time playing kissy face with JC, and more time trying to get her head into the game.
She headed back into the bedroom and snatched her purse from the center of the bed, searching the contents to ensure that she had all she’d need. Once she was positive, she headed next door to JC’s room. They had gotten flack from the guards for exiting from different rooms each day. Credibility was the key.
She knocked on the door to ensure that she didn’t burst in on him naked. “Not that I’d mind,” she thought, almost licking her lips at the mental picture.
“Pervert! He is your CLIENT! You are not permitted to have such thoughts!”
She almost let out a groan as his voice came through the door, giving her the go-ahead to pull the door open. She yanked it open and plastered a smile onto her face.
“Hey,” she greeted. She saw the casual way he glanced over his shoulder, hardly paying her any mind as he nodded his greeting back. She groaned inwardly. She knew she had to talk to him and well… no time like the present!
“Can we talk for a minute?”
He turned to face her, his hands on his hips. He had a feeling that he would be chewed out for the way he’d been acting around her lately, but damn it, he couldn’t help it! Things between the two of them had been so awkward; he couldn’t bring himself to fully pretend she was his girlfriend! Not when he just wanted to throw her down and—
“She’d kick your ass if she knew you were having these thoughts. Stop it right now!”
She was so adorable. The way her hair refused to stay out of her face. The way she wrinkled her nose when she laughed. The way she threatened to kick his ass if he so much as looked at her the wrong way. Okay well, that last bit wasn’t so adorable, but the rest of her was! He wanted to just pick her up and—
“HELLO! Do you have a death wish? What happened to being afraid she’d crush your larynx?”
“Hello? Can we talk?” The question was repeated with a hint of annoyance that brought JC back down to Planet Earth, rather than Planet Alana. He’d forgotten that she’d even spoken.
“Oh… yeah, sure.”
She walked over to the bed and took a seat on the edge of it as she looked up at him. She clasped her hands between her knees as she tried to find the perfect wording so that she could say this as gently as possible. JC annoyed the hell out of her at times, but the very last thing she wanted to do was hurt him.
“We’re working together here Jace,” she said softly as she glanced up at him. “We have a job to do and I feel like… other things have been getting in the way and preventing us from doing that job effectively.”
Okay, so she WAS here to chew him out! At least she hadn’t started yelling yet.
“Alana I—“
“You don’t need to say anything,” she told him. “It’s my fault just as much as it is yours,” she said quietly. “The bottom line is… I like you. I think you’re a great guy but… whatever else is going on between us needs to stop.”
Truth be told, although he’d wanted nothing more than to kiss the hell out of her, he was relieved. He had been feeling the same way. Well, not in the sense that he wanted things between them to stop, but it was definitely causing some trouble in the work force!
“So you don’t… want anything to happen between us?” He asked. She could see a hint of disappointment behind his beautiful blue eyes.
“I want us to be friends, JC. I want us to be friends, and I want us to be able to talk to each other and have a good time. But I’m going to have to draw the line at that. I feel like anything more is going to keep me from doing my job and your safety is my number one priority,” she told him honestly.
Well… it wasn’t quite what he had expected. He had thought she wanted the sexual tension to stop. That was something he’d gladly relieve! But he hadn’t expected to get the whole ‘let’s just be friends’ speech. He knew that it was for the best and he knew that she was completely right with what she was doing. But that didn’t mean that it sucked any less.
~*~
It was late when the final email arrived. The boys had just finished up a show that left them all physically exhausted. Instead of getting to sleep in the comfort a hotel bed, they would be traveling on to the next city over night, meaning they would be forced to sleep on the bus.
For JC, that was proving to be quite difficult. Try as he might, he couldn’t force himself to fall asleep. It was usually easy for him to drift off, even when he was so tired, but he just… had a nagging feeling that would not go away. He couldn’t quite place it but it was keeping him from getting much needed rest.
Against his better judgment, he climbed out of the bunk and tip-toed quietly to the back area, careful not to wake Lance, Chris or Alana. Either could result in a butt kicking, so he was doing his best to allow them to get the sleep that they deserved. Besides, they all shouldn’t have to suffer because of him.
He grabbed his laptop bag and pulled the computer out, intending to play around on the internet in hopes of boring himself to sleep. It worked a couple of times previously and he was hoping it would have the same effect this evening. He waited patiently as the computer booted up, and then he connected to the internet. Almost immediately, the sound of a new email reached his ears.
His heart was thumping in his chest as he moved the mouse to the icon. He noticed his hand shaking slightly. Immediately upon the window opening on his screen, he recognized the email address. His cyber stalker had struck again.
It would have been in his best interest to wake Alana immediately. It was her job to deal with this, it was what she was brought onto the tour for, but at the same time, he couldn’t bring himself to wake her. She looked just as exhausted as either of the guys did and he worried about her. She wasn’t used to traveling around like this. It was taking a toll on her and JC could see that, plain as day. He just wanted to take care of her.
No, he thought. He would just wait until he read over the contents of his email to decide if it could wait until morning or not. However, upon scanning the contents of the page, he quickly realized that it could not wait.
Dearest Joshua,
It will not be long before we are seeing one another face-to-face. It you manage to survive, that is. I am growing quite weary of playing these games with you, though I must admit it’s a shame to have to drag your pretty little girl friend into this.
I’m not quite sure what made you think I was anything less than serious with my previous attempts at contacting you but I assure you… I will not go unnoticed for much longer.
Be a dear and pass along a message to your little gem: If I can’t have you, no one can.
I’ll be seeing you soon. If you’re still around.
The email worried Alana. Although it seemed that they were drawing this creep out into the open, she knew that she needed to take extra precautions. This form of stalking was crossing over quickly into the real world and there was nothing anyone could do about it… except prepare and hope for the best.
When JC had come to her bunk to wake her, she could tell from the sense of urgency in his voice that something was wrong. She rushed into the back with him and as her eyes skimmed the screen, she felt her heart drop slightly. Not only was JC being threatened at this point… Alana was as well.
She turned back to JC and offered him a weak smile. She could tell from the expression on his handsome face that he was worried and she wasn’t quite sure about what to say or do to make him feel better.
“What… what are we going to do now?” JC asked quietly, his voice barely above a whisper.
“We find them before they finds us.”
What Alana didn’t realize was they were already too late. They had already been found. And now, their cyber stalker was just waiting to strike.
~*~
The latest email had sent her over the edge. She had to check out all of the possible leads that she had which, in reality, only equaled to one person. Although the file on Jude Hailey had come back clean, she was sure he was their man. And because she couldn’t leave, there was only one person who could do it.
The time had come for Alana to say goodbye to Tony. He had made plans to fly to Orlando before heading back to DC, where he would be on hand to check out any leads that Alana had. Even though she knew that it was necessary, she was taking it harder than she should have. She had done many undercover operations before, but none of them had brought her so far away from home. She was well out of her comfort zone out here on the road, and although she and JC had made a pact to at least be friendly towards one another, it wasn’t the same. Tony was like her family.
“You sure you can’t stay longer?” She asked, looking up at the large man as she blinked sad eyes. He chuckled slightly at the pitiful look on her face.
“See! All those times you’ve threatened my life, I knew it was all outta love. You can’t live without me,” he said with a cheeky grin, seeing her face go from sad to perturbed in a matter of seconds.
“Well, when you put it like that, get the hell out of here!” She said, though they both knew she was joking. “You’re going to check on Hailey before you get back to the office, right?”
“Mmmhmm. I’ll get a hold of you, probably through email as soon as I know anything,” he told her. “You’ve got your laptop?”
She nodded and looked up at him with a small smile as she wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Or… well, she tried to. He was simply too large to fit in her little arms! In one swift motion, Tony lifted the little runt into his arms and squeezed her gently in a bear hug before lowering her to her feet once more.
“And you’re going to go take Zeus out of that kennel, right? You’re sure it’s not a problem for him to stay with you?”
“I’m sure. My girls love him. You know that,” he said with a smile as he ruffled her long hair affectionately. He was going to miss her.
She bit down on her lip gently as she looked up at him. “Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you to the airport?” She wanted desperately to accompany her giant friend to the airport, though with the actual threat against her charge, she couldn’t leave him.
“You have your business here. One goodbye is enough,” he told her. He reached down and lifted his bags. “You call me if you get anymore leads you need me to check on, alright?”
She didn’t trust her voice, so she simply nodded. With one last smile, he turned towards the door of her hotel room. He pulled it open and stepped out sideways before he stopped and turned back to her. “Hey Alana?”
“Hmm?”
“I’m proud of you kid,” he said. “I know things are going to be hard… but you’re good at what you do. Don’t let anyone make you think otherwise.”
At that point, she knew she couldn’t trust her voice. Tony was a pain in the ass. There was no other way to describe him. But he was her pain in the ass. And she wasn’t quite sure she could make it without him.
~*~
“And why did he take our car again?” JC asked, a hint of annoyance evident in his voice. He and Alana were scheduled to be at the venue about ten minutes ago. Tony, however, had taken their car due to the fact that the one he’d had scheduled was late.
“JC, an airplane will not wait for anyone. You don’t have sound check until three. I told him to take the car,” she explained. Any other time, Alana would have probably chewed him out for having an attitude over something so stupid. But she understood. He was nervous. And so was she. They had spent much of the morning taking extra precautions with everything they did.
Anywhere they went, she stepped into the room before he did. Any beverage he had, she took a sip before he did. She wasn’t taking any chances of anything happening to him.
She glanced out the window of the hotel lobby once more, checking to see if their car had arrived yet. Most of the fans had gotten word that the boys had checked out of the hotel, so the crowd had dissipated greatly. The few remaining ones had already gotten their autographs and pictures with JC and were kind enough to keep their distance as the couple waited.
The feeling of her cell phone vibrating against her waist band started Alana slightly. She pulled her cell phone off of her hip and she snapped it open before holding it to her ear.
“Hello?”
JC glanced over at his companion as she chatted on the phone and was surprised to see the color drain from her face. A feeling of dread fell over him as he waited for her to finish the call. It wasn’t long before she did just that.
She replaced the cell phone against her hip and when she glanced up, JC could see the tears glistening in her eyes. “Tony’s been in an accident.”
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