“WHAT!?” Lance, Chris, and Joey shouted so loud that Justin had to cover his ears with his hands.
“Geeze, guys, it’s not that unbelievable,” Justin mumbled, rubbing his ears.
“Tell us everything you saw, Timberlake,” Joey demanded.
“Every last detail,” Chris added.
“Ok. I went down to the restaurant and stopped in front of that podium thing that the waiters stand behind. Then he tilted his head and told me to follow him so I did. It took about…thirty steps, maybe thirty five. Then–”
“J, just tell us what you saw!” Lance interrupted.
“OK! OK! I was on the phone with Mack, right? She was asking if I had gone to the Regis show yet and I told her that I hadn’t. Then, I look up and see Bobbie sucking face with Wade!” Justin said as he jumped onto his bed and jumped up and down for emphasis. “Wade! Of all people!”
“That’s not possible,” Joey said as he shook his head.
“Yeah, Wade said that he was going to California yesterday,” Chris agreed.
“Well he lied!” Justin crossed his legs in mid air and landed on the bed in Indian-style sitting position. “Wait a minute! Every time she said she was going to New York…” his voice trailed off.
Lance’s eyes widened. “She was coming here to cheat on JC the entire time!”
“With Wade?” Joey asked.
“No.” Justin shook his head and rubbed his chin. “She’s been ‘going to New York’ too many times for it to be Wade, but it is a big coincidence.”
“I don’t think it is,” Lance said as he stood himself and began pacing the room. “True, he has choreographed stuff for us before, but there has to be some sort of explanation of how he knew about our tour that was coming up. Barley anyone knew and Johnny said he was approached with the idea of Wade being our tour choreographer. I mean, Mack could’ve easily done it by herself.”
“He has a point,” Chris agreed. “His timing seems a little too perfect. I mean, with Mack’s arm in the sling for a few more days she’s going to need him to take over a bit and we’re going to have to start running through our songs by the end of the week.”
“What, you think he somehow planned to show up that night, flirt with Mack, somehow get JC drunk and then practically break her arm?” Joey asked with a scoff. “No one’s that evil.”
“But someone’s that ambitious,” Justin commented. He reached over to the notepad that was on his bedside table and pulled out a pen from the depths of his curls that was hidden by his bandana. Lance, Chris, and Joey gave him an odd look. “What? My curls aren’t here for show,” he muttered, clicking the top of the pen. He quickly scribbled down what they had said before slapping the pen down on the pad, causing the others to jump. “There isn’t a celebrity out there that doesn’t want Mack to choreograph for them, even if it’s for a minute-thirty routine, she’s that good. There isn’t anyone out there that hasn’t read the articles that have been written about her. She’d probably be choreographing…the Backstreet Boys if she wasn’t so dedicated to us. Now Wade comes along and suddenly Mack is injured and he’s thrust into the spotlight.” He tapped the pen against the pad. “Something does add up.”
“Backtrack a bit.” Joey rubbed his beard as he thought. “To the night of the Arm Incident. We were at the club, right? You said we were going to meet Wade there. Somehow, Mack and JC were the only ones who actually talked to him. Mack and Jace both said it was as if he appeared out of nowhere. That means he had to have been there longer than we have or else we would’ve noticed him come in because we were by the door almost the entire night.”
“Right!” Lance snapped. “Which means he had to have been watching her most of the night. Or long enough to find where she was when she was talking to Jace.”
“But how would he know that she’d be there?” Chris asked with so much excitement that he jumped out of his seat.
“I told him when he called,” Justin admitted. Chris’s face fell and he sat back down in his seat. “JC, when he wasn’t puking, said that Wade was openly flirting with her. The two big questions that come out of it are: 1) Why would that drive JC to getting drunk and 2) Did he know that she would end up getting hurt?”
“The answer to two is no,” Lance replied with confidence. “There is no way that he would have known that JC becomes somewhat violent when he’s drunk.”
“Unless…someone…told him!” Chris said as he jumped to his feet again.
“Who would be stupid enough to do that?” Justin asked, tapping the pen against the pad faster. He squeezed his eyes shut to think. His eyes flew open when he was suddenly smacked on the back of the head. “Ow, what?”
“Who’s the stupid one now?” Joey asked with an eyeroll. “It had to be Bobbie.”
“How would Bobbie know who Wade was? She’s never met the guy and she doesn’t have access to any information of choreographers that we do,” Lance added.
“Maybe not by herself but through JC she could,” Joey replied. “She can get anything out of JC without having to try that hard. She’s practically sucking him dry.” He made a face when Chris and Justin covered their mouths to keep from laughing out loud. “All kidding aside, whatever she wants to get her hands on, she can get it through JC easily.”
“But why would she tell Wade about JC’s random bursts of violence when drunk? How close are they?” Chris muttered.
“Pretty damn close,” Justin mumbled. “Well, Bobbie can’t stand knowing that JC works with other women all of the time and JC, for some reason, hates when Mack gets hit on. Put those two together and you have your reason for why Wade flirted with her and why he ended up getting drunk and why he eventually hurt her arm.” He frowned. “There’s still one question that’s not answered: what would she get out of all of this? What’s she aiming for?”
“JC’s name?” Lance suggested with a shrug.
“She wants to be married to him maybe,” Chris spoke up.
“Not maybe. Definitely. She wants his money and the fame that comes with being with JC but I still don’t get why she would stoop so low just to get to it.”
Justin’s eyes suddenly widened and he hit himself on the head. Duh! The answer was right in front of him and he was too stupid to see it. Lance, Chris, and Joey gave him questioning looks. “I know why! She’s jealous! She feels threatened! She thinks her access to JC’s money and the short stint of fame will go away,” he declared, scribbling on the note pad again. It all made sense now.
“What?” Joey questioned.
“Why?” Lance asked.
“I think I missed something,” Chris mumbled. “Why does she feel threatened?”
“Because of Mack!” Justin exclaimed, still scribbling. “It all makes sense. Bobbie hated Mack from the beginning because she has the one thing that Bobbie doesn’t have.”
“What’s that? A brain?” Lance asked dryly.
“No!” Justin grinned. “JC’s heart!”
“Ok, now I’m really confused!” Chris said as he threw his arms into the air.
“The reason JC’s been acting funny lately is because he’s in love with Mack. Not JC. Bobbie must’ve seen it when they started dating. That’s why Bobbie hates Mack so much. It would also be the reason why she’d get Wade’s contact info, anonymously give it to Johnny, get him to meet us at the club, flirt with Mack, which would get JC drunk and then he would hurt her. She must’ve thought that it would make Mack hate him and not want to talk to him and that would hurt him and make him pay more attention to her. And she’s cheating on him with Wade as a payment for all that he’s done!” he threw his arms into the air and grinned. “I cracked the code!”
“So what do we do now? I’m pretty sure if we confront them about it they’ll deny it,” Lance replied. “Not to mention that fact that I’m not even sure that Mack’s aware that JC’s in love with her. Besides, that would cause a few problems if she ever found out: 1) She’s five years younger than him and 2) he’s technically her boss and she could end up fired.”
“She can’t get fired if he ever tells her the truth,” Justin said with an eye roll.
“Yeah. She can only get fired if he fucks her,” Chris agreed.
Justin cut his eyes at Chris. “Don’t talk about her like that. She’s a friend, not a groupie!”
“Have you seen JC? He’s a freak, he’ll get whatever he can and when he’s horny and he sets his eyes on something he likes he has a hard time controlling that urge.”
“Ok, this is simple. We’ll just keep JC away from Mack as much as possible and Mack away from Bobbie so they won’t kill each other,” Joey said as he snapped rapidly.
“What about Wade and Mack? Bobbie could make him do something that she won’t be ready for,” Justin said with concern laced in his voice.
“You really think that Bobbie could get Wade to rape her or something?” Chris asked. Justin shrugged. “Well, I think that’s a chance we have to risk. Mack might be able to get some info out of him or he’ll let it slip. She may be innocent but she knows how to act.”
Justin stayed silent, weighing his options, which weren’t many. He didn’t want to put his friend in danger but he didn’t want Bobbie to ruin JC’s life either. He bit his lip and exhaled. “Ok. She all ready knows about Bobbie cheating. We just have to get her in on the plan and we should have them exposed by…next month at the latest.”
“Let’s do this,” Chris said as he punched his fists into the air.
