Chapter Three

This was utterly ridiculous. At first, he had been relieved to know that he now had two other people to share his problem with. But when both Lance and Chris had thought it necessary to share the emails with management, the guards, and the remaining two band mates, JC found himself wishing that they’d never found out.

But it was too late for that.  Here they were, gathered around JC’s little computer, sifting through every email he’d received in the last few weeks, and he felt himself becoming increasingly embarrassed. What were they thinking? That he was nothing more than a pansy pop-star, incapable of fighting his own battles? There was no way to tell exactly what the nature of their thoughts were but that didn’t stop the crimson blush from seeping onto his cheeks rapidly.

Pansy. That had to be it. For the most part, the rather large group didn’t even seem to realize that he was in the room. They sat there in their little circle, excluding him from whatever conversation they were having. They had to be laughing on the inside.

And then all at once, they were done. The telltale sound of the computer being shut down reached his ears and they all turned to face him. Were they judging him? He couldn’t quite tell as he searched their eyes, looking for any indication of what they were feeling at this very moment. Johnny was the first to break the silence.

“Why didn’t you tell us about this sooner?” It didn’t have an accusatory tone to it, but that’s what it felt like to the already defensive JC.

“I thought it was a prank at first,” he confessed, shrugging his shoulders. He watched as the older man sighed and brought his hand up to rub his forehead.

“Well, there’s no use dwelling on things. We know now and we can take protective measures.”

“Protective what? Johnny… it’s really not that big of a deal. It’s just the internet.”

“JC, when it comes to the five of you, it’s not ‘just’ anything. We need to take extra precautions.”

“This is ridiculous. This is exactly why I didn’t tell anyone! It’s just a couple of emails!” He protested. He looked over at Lance and Chris, hoping that the two of them would come to his aide. No dice.

“Don’t look at me, Jace. I think Johnny has a point. You obviously haven’t been watching the news. There are all kinds of cases of internet stalking crossing over into real life and ending… very badly,” Lance explained, not wishing to elaborate further.
“And besides… it’s not like it was sent to some random email address that the fans have access to. It was sent to your personal email address. I think it’s serious enough to, as Johnny said, take extra precautions.”

JC’s mouth flopped open and closed several times as if he were trying to say something, but it was to no avail. Any argument he could have given had already been shot down before he even had a chance to argue it!

He was lost. So he did the only thing he could think of. He stormed out of the room, slamming the door angrily behind him, leaving the group of men all quite dumbfounded.

“Go after him,” Johnny commanded to Ricky, JC’s personal guard. “Stay far enough away to give him his space… but don’t let him out of your sight.” He watched the big man nod and then exit the room in a much quieter fashion that his charge and let out a soft sigh.

“Lord give me the strength…” he groaned as he hung his head. He looked up at the feeling of a hand clamping on his shoulder.

“He’ll be alright.”

“I certainly hope so.”

~*~

She had thought it was her imagination at first. It had been so long since she’d gotten to pamper herself in a girly fashion and the sound of the telephone interrupting her much needed bubble bath was quite frustrating. She pushed herself up, reaching for her towel. She climbed out of the tub and draped it around her as she made her way from the bathroom, leaving little watery foot prints.

“Great,” she mumbled. “Just one more mess to clean up.” She let out a frustrated sigh and reached for her telephone on the table beside her bed, though not before checking caller ID.

“Special Agent Alana Berkeley,” she greeted, upon seeing that the call was from work.

“Berkeley!” barked the device in her hand. She almost dropped the phone at the force of the voice on the other line. However, she immediately recognized it as her supervisor.

“Yes sir,” she responded, curious as to what the nature of the call was. She still had three vacation days left! Surely they weren’t expecting her to cut them short!

“I’m going to need you in the office first thing in the morning. You’ve got a new assignment.”

“Sir, surely you realize that I—“

“You’re going to have to make a choice, Berkeley. If you’ve got a problem with the assignment, then I’ll be more than happy to extend your vacation—permanently.”

Her eyes widened at the statement and she took a deep breath. “What time did you want to meet again?”

~*~

He was more than aware that Ricky was following him. It annoyed him to no end, but at least the guard had enough respect for his charge to stay far enough back that JC could at least pretend to be alone with his thoughts. For that, he was thankful.
He let out a soft sigh as he reached into his back pocket, pulling out his cell phone. He needed to talk to someone who was completely unrelated to the situation, to get their take on it. And he knew just the person.

His fingers moved with amazing speed as he dialed the number of the person who was always honest with him, whether he wanted her to be or not: his sister Heather.

The phone rang three times and just as he was sure she wasn’t going to answer, her voice came over the line.

“Orange County Morgue. You stab ‘em, we slab ‘em.”

“Been talking to Chris again, have you?”

The girl let out an exaggerated gasp. “How did you know?” She asked, before she let out a giggle that was music to his ears. He needed someone to cheer him up, and already, he felt the corners of his mouth being tugged into a smile.

“I need you.”

“Now Josh… that’s a little inappropriate, considering I’m your sister and all. There are plenty of women who are into that, but I’m not one of them. No siree.”

“You ass. That’s not what I meant,” he said, letting out a soft sigh, any traces of amusement already gone from his face.

Immediately, Heather could tell that there was something was off with her brother, and she quickly became serious. “What’s the matter?”

He let out a frustrated sigh. He had called Heather because she was the one he could always talk to that would always answer him seriously. But now that he had her on the phone, he wasn’t sure he could bring himself to tell her the nature of his problems.

When silence fell across the line, Heather frowned. “Josh?” She knew he hadn’t hung up, but why was he being so quiet? Was he in trouble? A million and one thoughts flew through her mind and just as she opened her mouth to speak once more, he spoke.

“I just… there’s some stuff going on here and I need… I needed to talk to someone, to get an honest opinion.”

She nodded, even though she knew full well that he couldn’t see her. When he didn’t continue, she snorted. “Josh, we all know how insanely gifted I am, but even I can’t read minds. So if you want some advice, you’re going to have to start talking.”

“I have a stalker.”

This time, it was Heather who was silent. Stalker? Had that word just come out of her brother’s mouth? Ever since he’d been involved with the Mickey Mouse Club, that had been one of her biggest fears for him. Some fans didn’t know when they had crossed the line from adoration to obsession.

“A what?”

“Well it’s not… maybe stalker is too strong a word. I’ve been… I’ve been getting emails from someone. They’re sent to my personal email address and I just… the person called me. They didn’t say anything, but they have my cell phone number.”
Heather’s jaw dropped. Although she was about half the size of her brother, she was fiercely protective of him. Anyone with ill intentions towards him eventually felt her wrath. But even she couldn’t fight someone who wasn’t there in front of him physically.
When she didn’t offer any words of comfort, he continued. “Earlier today, I got another email from this person. It was more… threatening. Not quite as graphic as some of them but the person pretty much threatened me. Of course Lance and Chris were there and they blabbed and now everyone’s making a big deal out of it and I—“

“Well they had better be making a big deal out of it! What extra precautions are being taken? Have they traced the emails?” She questioned, even though she knew that JC had limited knowledge of the internet. His jaw dropped at her question. She had given him the same reaction that his friends here had.

“But Heather, it’s not really that big of a deal—“

“If it wasn’t that big of a deal, you never would have called,” she responded gently. “I know how you like to think the best of people and I know that you like to handle things on your own, but Josh… there are some sick people out there.”

“I know that Heather,” he responded, a little agitated that she had assumed he was that naive.

“I’m not trying to take a dig at you, Josh. But you know as well as I do that it IS that big of a deal. Besides, it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“They want to bring more guards in,” he told her, sounding quite dejected.

“So?”

“What the hell do you mean, ‘so’?”

“If you called me to sympathize with you, I’m afraid you’re going to be disappointed. You’re my brother Josh. I care about you. I want you safe. And frankly, I’d be pissed off if they WEREN’T going to do anything.”

“You suck,” he sighed.

“You love me anyway,” she responded, rather cheekily. “Now listen… I’ve got to run. But I want you to call me as soon as you know exactly what they’re going to do, okay? And I mean it. Don’t make me come hunt you down, because I will.”

“Yes mother,” he sneered.

“And don’t wrinkle your nose at me. It’s not attractive.”

He couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

“Neither is rolling your eyes.”

“Jeez. What are you, a freaking psychic?”

“Worse than that. I’m you’re sister. I know you.”

“Enough said,” he responded, rolling his eyes.

“Thanks for listening to me bitch for awhile.”

“And thanks for letting me bitch at you,” she responded in kind, a smile on her face.

“You do that oh so well.”

“You know it babe. But seriously… you know the number, okay? Don’t be afraid to use it.”

“I won’t. Thanks Heather.”

“You’re welcome Josh. And take care.”
He smiled slightly as he disconnected the call. She always put things into perspective for him. He was lucky to have her. He turned and smirked as Ricky pretty much jumped backwards, not expecting the young man to look in his direction.

“We can go back now.”

“I was just ummm…”

“You were just eaves-drooping. I swear, I’m being all kinds of violated lately.”

“That sounds so wrong.”

“Oh, get your mind out of the gutter!”

Ricky let out a deep laugh. “You got it boss.”