| For several moments, Lance stared blankly at his phone. He couldn't speak. A million things flashed through his mind, none of which particularly helped his situation. Anger and fear jumped at him all at once, and he closed his eyes, inhaling sharpley, trying to focus. "Are you there?" her voice questioned. "Yes," he answered, unsure of how to approach this. "Why are you at my parent's number Kate?" His voice was even, but he was struggling to keep his emotions in check. If she told them, well, he would be truly fucked. Katlyn cleared her throat. "Lance, they got the papers. A copy of them were sent to your office, and your mother opened them. They know about the charges, and I've been at they're house for the past two hours explaining things to them." Lance's knucles turned a ghastly white as he gripped the small phone tighter. "You're just out to destroy me aren't you?" he hissed through gritted teeth. "Whatever I did to deserve this shit from you..." "Look, don't play games with me!" she replied cooley. "I didn't ask for this. I made one fucking mistake to your hundreds, and you want to play? Well, then let's play! I'll take you right down. Your mother and father are in the next room and I'm guessing they'd like to talk to you." She didn't let him say anything further, just handed the phone off. A panicked sweat broke out over his forehead, and his entire body trembled. No matter how old he got, he was first and foremost a member of the Bass clan, and being sued was not an acceptable motion. He cursed under his breath as he strained to hear what was happening in the background. He could hear chatting, his mother's voice speaking with Kate, comfortingly? Had she gotten to them too? "Lance?" his father's stern voice came across loud and clear. "Hi dad," he said, his own voice small, like a child's just before severe punishment. "Looks like you have something to tell us, son. Wait a minute. Your mother is getting on the other extension." Lance wiped the little beads of sweat from his head with the back of his sleeve and prayed silently that God would make this all go away! So far away it would seem like a dream. "Lance! What is happening?" his mom was yelling and talking a mile a minute. "You better start talking right now. Is there any truth to this? I need to know!" "Would you let the boy speak?" his father interuppted. "For chissakes, he can't get a word in." "Don't you use the Lord's name! That's where he gets this awful behavior from." Lance stayed quiet, listening to the angry banter of his parent's. Sadness devoured him. His flesh and blood thought, maybe, just maybe, he had it in him to be physically abusive to his girlfriend. Sure, they'd liked her from the moment they met her, his entire family did. Still, it would be nice for someone, anyone, to give him the benefit of the doubt first, then ask questions. "Lance? What do you have to say?" his mother questioned hotly. "Mom, I didn't do it. It's false. She, ah, she has some issues. I don't really know how much she told you." He stared down at his blanket, and picked the little lint balls off, flicking them away. He waited for one of them to tell him what they knew. The last thing he wanted to do was bring sex into the conversation. Let them do it. "She said that you were physical with her, and emotionally vacant. What does all that mean? Did you hit her, Lance?" His mother was actually asking him if he stuck a woman. Woah, this was way out of control. "Of course I didn't. Did she mention Justin at all?" His temper was flaring, and he wanted to just bite it back, bury it. "Did she?" he repeated. There was a long pause, and Lance could envision the two of them, sitting home in Mississippi, giving each other hand signals or some secret code, in an attempt to confuse him. "Well? Did she?" "She did mention he may have had something to do with your fights, but didn't tell us what." His father was being honest with him and Lance could hear it in his voice. Sighing heavily, he decided there was only one way to convince them, and if Justin had to suffer for it, so be it. "Justin slept with Kate," he said simply. "I got upset and demanded she tell me what happened, and yes, I did get in her face, but I did not, ever, hit the woman. I would never do that." A stunned silence fell over the three of them. Finally, his father spoke. "I'm sorry, Lance. Sorry we jumped the gun. She didn't tell us that part." "Honey, oh, I'm so sorry. I just can't believe Justin would do that. He's such a nice kid. And Kate, we just loved her like a daughter and now..." A sob fell from his mom's lips and Lance hung his head. "Look, I'm okay. I just need a way to save the group here. And my name. If this comes out, the media will blow everything up, and a lot is at stake here." He thought not only of N Sync, but also Free Lance. It could all shoot right down the drain with this allegation. "Of course. We'll do everything we can." His parents both apologized, making sure he knew they loved him, and hung up, promising he'd be okay. In the morning, the charges were gone. Lance woke to the loud ringing of his cell phone and with his hangover strongly in place, clicked it on. "Yeah?" he asked. "Charges gone," his lawyer said smartly. "She's letting them go." Lance sat up quickly, whacking his head on the top of the bunk. Rubbing it gently, he gasped. "How? Why?" He rummaged around for his tee shirt and cradling the phone between his neck and shoulder, deftly put it on. "Seems the girl has some skeletons in her closet. We confronted her this morning, and she agreed to drop it. Condition is, she wants to see you. We agreed. She'll be flying out to meet with you tonight. Your road manager will need to stay in the room with you, just to be sure." Lance was surprised. He knew just how good high powered attorneys could be, but even he couldn't forsee such a quick end to this. And his interest was piqued wondering just what she was hiding to make her drop it all. When the phone conversation was done, he jumped from his bunk and hopped over to Justin's, sliding the curtain back. "Wake up!" he shouted, shaking his friend's shoulder. Justin grumbled and rolled over, pulling the covers over his head. "Go away," he muttered. "Nope. It's over. Justin, did you hear me? She's dropping the charges. It's done." Lance smiled as Justin's eyes peeked open. "What?" he asked, sitting up. He rubbed his eyes and yawned loudly. "How?" Lance shrugged. "Our lawyers did it. They pulled up some dirt on her and she dropped it." Justin smiled briefly, then frowned, a deep frown that made Lance cringe. "What?" he asked as Justin clutched his shoulder roughly. "What did they dig up?" Justin cried, his eyes widening with dread. They couldn't have found out, could they? They only two people that knew were him and Kate. No one else knew. He hoped it wasn't what he thought it was. "Lance!" Justin said again. "Do you know what they found out?" Lance pulled back a bit. "No, they didn't say. Justin, do you know something?" His heart raced, and his happiness at the situation quickly disappeared. Justin groaned and threw himself back down on the bunk, covering his eyes with his arm. Lance didn't know, but he felt it now necessary to tell him. It happened over four months ago, and he was sworn to secrecy. With everything that happened, now was the time to come clean with it. He knew it would destroy Lance, but he also knew if others found out, he would hear in time. Better to hear it from a friend. He glanced up at Lance, who was nervously biting his thumb, his eyes clouded over with unrest. Justin shook his head and stood up, pulling a sweatshirt over his head. "Dude, let's go up front. You're gonna need to sit down." |
| TRYST 5 |