Matt rang JC's doorbell and waited. He was worried about his friend. JC hadn't been answering any of his texts since Wednesday. It was now the following Tuesday. Rachel hadn't been responding either. The dread kept building in his stomach as the days passed with no word from either of his friends. Voices coming up behind him caused him to turn around. He steeled his jaw seeing Addison along with Jimmy.

"Hey man," Jimmy said as he came to a stop in front of JC's front door.

"Hey Jimmy," Matt said, shaking his hand. "Hello Addison."

"Matt," Addison grinned and went for a hug.

Matt was stuck. He had to hug Addison or Jimmy would ask questions. The last thing Matt wanted or needed was for Addison to make a scene. He was quick to end the hug and look at Jimmy. "Was he expecting you?"

"Yeah," Jimmy said and pressed the doorbell. "We're supposed to be finishing up the songs we're working on. C's head hasn't been in the game."

"He hasn't been responding to any of my texts. Rachel either. Are they okay?" When he asked the question, he saw Addison smirk out of the corner of his eye.

Jimmy sighed and shook his head. "No man. Rachel took off the Mississippi."

"What?" Matt asked, his eyes widened.

"I don't know man," Jimmy shrugged. "JC has no idea. He went to Lance asking about her. Lance had no clue either. She's been in Mississippi since Wednesday. Not talking to anyone. Ignoring all of JC's text and calls. She's ignoring me. You apparently."

Matt swore. He spared a glance at Addison and saw her grinning wildly. His insides were twisted. The door in front of them was still firmly shut. JC hadn't answered. Dread spread.

"Yeah," Jimmy looked at the door in front of him. "C's not taking it well. She sent me a text last night first time I heard from her all week. I made the mistake of telling him."

"She contact him?

Jimmy shook his head. "No." He reached out to pound on the door. "Come on JC," he called through the door.

When the door open, Matt was caught off guard. He had never seen his friend looking so haggard. His face was covered in at least a couple days of growth. There were circles under his eyes made more prominent by the paleness of his skin. His eyes were bloodshot. Matt linked that symptom to the high ball glass dangling from his hand.

"JC..." Jimmy moved forward, staring at his friend. "What the hell happened man?"

"I'm not up for working today," JC said, his words slurring. "You guys should probably finish it on your own."

"What's going on, JC?" Matt answering. He could hear the voices in his head mocking him. He knew what was going on. It was his fault. He wanted to confess everything right there.

"Going through some shit." JC could barely bring himself to focus on the people at his front door. It had taken everything he had to get up from the chair in the living room to answer the door. He had hoped they would go away when he didn't answer. He hadn't been lucky.

"Did you hear from Rachel?" Jimmy asked.

JC's laugh sounded hollow. He lifted his hand to take a drink. The ice clinked in the glass. The amber liquid burned on the way down. So far it hadn't numbed the pain. "Yeah. Yeah. She e-mailed me yesterday."

Jimmy exchanged looks with Matt. "What did she say?"

"She's not coming back."

"What!" Jimmy exclaimed. "What do you mean she's not coming back?"

"Exactly what I said," JC said. "She quit."

"Oh JC," Addison stepped forward. She went to reach for him, but the look he sent her stopped her in her tracks.

"What the hell happened?" Matt moved forward, blocking Addison. She may have blackmailed him, but he didn't have to make it easier for her.

"The fuck if I know. She just up and left. Won't answer anyone's calls or messages," he broke off, chuckling. Matt's heart twisted at the sound. It wasn't a happy laugh. "Apparently that's not the case. It's just me she's avoiding."

"What did you do?"

JC stared at Jimmy. His vision blurred in front of him and he blinked trying to bring Jimmy back in to focus and into a single being. "Everyone keeps asking me that. Everyone just assumes that I did something. Do people really think that much of me? Do they really think I'd hurt Rachel of all people?"

"No man," Jimmy put his hands up in a defensive manner. "We're all just trying to figure out what's going on. We know Rachel is the last person you'd hurt."

"She never told you?"

JC looked at Matt. Matt tried to hide the cringe at the almost vacant stare. "Did you not hear? She's not talking to me."

Matt bit back the string of curses he wanted to unload. This was not what was supposed to happen. Rachel was supposed to grab JC by the ear and tear him a new one about the voicemail. JC was then supposed to come clean about how the conversation really went and tell Rachel his feelings. This was not how it was supposed to go.

"Look, I'm not up for company. So if you'll excuse me..."

"What about the song?" Addison called out, desperately trying to get JC to invite them in. She needed to be able to get close to him.

"Fucking finish it yourself. I don't fucking care," JC snapped and closed the door on them. Using the wall as a crutch he made his way in to the kitchen where the bottle of liquor sat on the counter. Refilling his glass, he picked it up and stumbled his way back to the chair in the living room. The liquor spilled over the top of his glass and over his hand when he collapsed into the chair. Switching hands, he wiped the soiled hand on his pants before taking a sip.

‘I quit.'

The whole email had been seventeen words - nineteen if his name and Rachel's name was included. Ten years of friendship had boiled down to an e-mail that spanned two lines on his phone. He'd be furious if he wasn't so lost. And hurt. Rachel talking to Lance, but hanging up when he got on the phone. Rachel sending a text message to Jimmy but ignoring every single one he sent without even reading them.

‘She swears nothing is wrong.' Lance had told him on the phone yesterday. That had been before the e-mail had come through. When he still had some sort of hope that Rachel was coming back. Then his phone had beeped with an e-mail. His heart had jumped seeing Rachel's name. He had never moved so fast to open a message before. He wished he hadn't.

‘I quit.'

She just quit. No explanation. No nothing. He was left with dozens of questions and the only one who could answer them, wasn't speaking to him. Rachel had pulled the rug out from under him. He had known no greater hurt than this one. Not being taken advantage of by Lou. Not the break up of *NSYNC at the hands of Justin. Not even his solo attempt. None of those had come close to what he was feeling right now.

*~*

"I told you my plan would work," Addison said after Jimmy had driven away. "I knew Rachel would just tuck tail and run. This is better than I had imagined."

"Did you see JC?" Matt whirled on her. "Did you see what he looked like? He's completely devastated."

"He'll be fine. He'll get over it. I'll be there to help him."

"Right. He didn't want you to help him with anything."

"He will. He'll get over this stage soon enough."

"You completely destroyed him."

"You completely destroyed him," Addison pointed out, a finger poking Matt on the chest. "I am the one who is going to sit back and reap the benefits."

Matt wanted to dispute Addison's claim but he couldn't. Addison was right. He was the one who destroyed JC. It was his fault that JC was going through this. His and his alone. He had slept with Addison and let himself be blackmailed in to ruining the lives of his friends. "Stay away from him."

Addison laughed. "Oh Matt... he's the only one I want." She kissed her fingers and pressed them to Matt's cheek before walking to her own car and driving away leaving Matt standing outside JC's house. Making a quick decision, he pulled his phone out and pulled up his messages. Tapping Rachel's name, he began to type a message.

‘I just left your house. C's in a bad place. A real bad place. He doesn't know what's going on. You're hurting him. Please talk to him. I know you can work out whatever happened between the two of you. Don't let it ruin your relationship.'

To his surprise, his phone vibrated in his hand almost immediately. He hadn't expected a response.

‘Everyone is so concerned about JC and how bad he is hurting. Did it ever occur to anyone that I might be hurting too?'

Matt sighed and closed his eyes at the message. He knew she was hurting. And it was all his fault.

*~*

"That is amazing," Stacy said as she stared at the wall where Rachel had just hung the new drawing. "I love it. It's simply awesome."

Rachel smiled at Stacy as she climbed down the ladder. Moving the ladder out of the way, she stood back and stared at the picture with her hands on her hips, critiquing it.

"Don't," Stacy warned. "It's perfect the way it is. I wouldn't change a thing." The mock up she had seen in Rachel's sketch pad hadn't done the final product justice. The drawing itself was huge. The caricature of herself was in good taste. It was funny without being over the top. She was holding a serving tray in the air on one hand, holding one of the cakes she had designed for a party last year. Rachel must have found the photo on the business's Instagram page. The background was done to look like the inside of her store; complete with the wall texture and the displace case. "Seriously, how did you finish this already?"

Rachel shrugged. She finished it because she didn't sleep Monday night. She had to shut down her phone but she couldn't shut down her brain. She knew the moment JC had read her e-mail. He had started blowing up her phone. He called multiple times in a row. He sent a bunch of text messages. He also emailed. Every time her phone sounded with an alert, her heart broke a little more. The only savior had been the ability to shut off her phone. The silence didn't help. Her heart still continued to break. In order to escape the voices in her head, she ran to the store for the materials she needed for Stacy's picture. It had taken her all night and a little that morning, but she had finished it. Then it had taken a couple hours in Jackson to get it framed.

That reminded her of another drawing she needed to get framed. Lance's birthday present was still sitting in JC's house. On the easel where she could look at it. Just waiting for her to take it to a shop to get the frame put on. The party was Saturday - four days away. It didn't look like he was getting his present on time this year either.

"I wish you would talk to me," Stacy stared at her sister seeing emotions cross her features. She thought about the sketches she had seen in the notebook. "Let me help."

"I'm fine Stacy." Rachel moved away from her sister to the ladder where she collapsed it and carried it to the back. When she came back Stacy was typing on her phone. "I'm glad you like it. I'm gonna take off."

"Wait," Stacy called, stopping her sister. She put her phone away from where she had sent the photo to Ford. She walked into the back and into the little office she had and took the sketchpad from the locked drawer. Carrying it out, she saw Rachel's eyes widen when she saw the book. "You left this."

Rachel stared at the book, making no move to grab it. She stared at the book then at her sister. She knew the photos that were in the book and she swallowed roughly.

"You still want to tell me nothing is wrong?"

"You had no right to look at that," Rachel said. "No right."

"I had to. You show up unannounced-"

"I can't come to visit? This is my home too Stacy."

"You show up unannounced, you aren't talking to Lance-"

"I'm talking to Lance."

"You aren't talking to JC," Stacy saw her sister flinch at the mention of JC. "You keep your phone off so not to have contact with anyone. You know how many times Lance calls me looking for you? He's called me more times in the last week than he's called all year. You're hurting Rachel. I know that. Mom knows that. Dad knows that. We keep waiting for you to come to us and let us help..."

"There is nothing you can do," Rachel angrily wiped at the tears that rolled down her cheeks. "There is nothing anyone can do."

"How do you know that?" Stacy asked. "You're not giving anyone a chance. Come on," she pleaded. She could see Rachel start to waiver. "I swear if I need to, I will fly to California and punch JC in the face. You just say the word and I'll do it."

Rachel felt laughter bubble over at Stacy's words before it changed course and came out as a sob. She felt Stacy's arms wrap around her and she clung to her sister as she cried.

"Shhh," Stacy hushed her sister as she held her tight. The cries were causing her own eyes to fill with tears. The sobs were deep and haunting signaling a deep hurt. Her heart broke. "It's okay Rachel. I promise you. It's gonna be okay. What did he do?"

Rachel pulled away from her sister and withdrew her phone from her pocket. She brought up the voicemail and hesitantly handed it to Stacy.

"What?" Stacy grabbed the phone.

"Listen to the voicemail." Rachel whispered and wrapped her arms around her waist in an attempt to offer herself comfort.

Stacy pushed play and brought the phone up to her ear and waited. When the voice finally came on, she recognized JC. She listened through it, her lips parting in shock. "How many times have you listened to this?" She asked when the voicemail ended in her ear. "How many times?"

"I don't know," Rachel shrugged.

"Why was this sent to you? Who sent it to you? Who is he talking to?"

"I don't know." Rachel repeated. "I don't know anything."

"Why didn't you confront him? You should have been standing at the door when he walked it and threw the phone at his head." Her anger had kicked in. It subsided when she saw new tears fill Rachel's eyes. "Come here," she drew her sister back in to a hug. "I'm so sorry Rachel."

"It felt like I was dying," she whispered. "When I heard it. I couldn't believe it... I listened to it again, thinking I misunderstood... but... I loved him Stacy. I love him... And he... he...."

"Shhhh," Stacy whispered hugging Rachel tightly. "Shh..."

‘I'm gonna kill him.'