After leaving the police station Lance had been allowed to collect his car which had been towed in. After expecting it for fifteen minutes looking for any scratches or dents, Lance had finally gotten in and drove home, all while cursing at Joey and Justin who had been following close behind him.
After interrogating him for what seemed like hours, Lance giving up no information, they had finally decided to leave Lance alone, however not without first offering to stay the night, which Lance refused.
Finally Lance was able to convince them to go to Fat-One like they did any other night. Now it was 12:30 am and normally Lance would be asleep but he couldn’t without the familiar warmth next to him.
Knowing that sleep wasn’t going to come soon, Lance rolled out of the bed with a sigh and quickly dressed.
Soon he was in his car speeding towards downtown Orlando.
*~*~*
“Get some rest JC,” sighed Chris as they tended bar together that night. “You’ve been through a lot recently.”
“I don’t deserve a friend like you,” replied JC sadly. “Anyone else would of kicked me out onto the street by now.”
“Look C, you are in no shape to work!” protested Chris not wanting to listen to JC’s mournful cries at the moment. “Go home! Get some rest!”
“I can’t,” he whispered with tears in his eyes.
Not long after the police had released him, Chris had showed up at the police station to drive him home. On their way back to JC’s place, Chris told him not worry about the past week and that he never truly believed that JC could kidnap someone. As he dropped JC off, he had told him to take a couple of days off before returning to work, however JC refused and ended up showing up that night ready to work.
Grabbing JC’s arm, Chris pulled him into a backroom as another bartender quickly took their place behind the bar.
“Spill it!” ordered Chris when they were alone. “And don’t say it’s because you need the money to send to your sister because I told you this afternoon I would still pay you for the days you miss.”
“I miss him,” whispered JC sadly as he wrapped his arms around himself, trying to comfort himself.
“Who? Bass?” asked Chris confused.
“Yeah,” nodded JC. “I tried to get some sleep after you dropped me off but I couldn’t because Lance wasn’t there.”
“I don’t get it,” replied Chris. “I was talking to Joey this morning before the cops caught you guys and from what he said it sounded like Lance is a jerk.”
“He’s not!” protested JC with a cry. “He’s smart and sweet and caring! And he’s soft!”
“Soft?”
“He’s just right to cuddle up against in the night,” explained JC sadly. “I would lay my head on his chest every night and he would stroke my hair until we both fell asleep. It’s only been a few hours, but I already miss him!”
“Don’t cry,” whispered Chris seeing the tears falling from JC’s eyes. Wrapping his arms around JC, he pulled the younger man into a tight hug. “I’m sure every thing will work out!”
“No it won’t!” whimpered JC into Chris’ shoulder. “HE didn’t even bother to wait around for me at the police station! I was told he left ten minutes earlier with his friends! He couldn’t even wait ten minutes to say good bye!”
Chris didn’t know what to tell JC anymore, so he just hugged him closer as JC continued to cry on his shoulder.
*~*~*
Meanwhile . . . .
“Lance!” cried Joey happily seeing his friend stalk up to the bar. “This is a first!”
“We need to talk!” growled Lance dragging Joey towards his office. In the background Justin was singing a sad song about his girl being gone.
“What’s wrong with you?!” asked Joey. “You seem pissed!”
“How did the cops discover Josh and me?” demanded Lance angrily, crossing his arms.
“Why?”
“Tell me!” yelled Lance and Joey had never seen him that angry before.
“This guy, Chris comes in here a few days ago wondering if anyone had seen his friend JC,” replied Joey quickly. “After that I went over to your place, saw you were missing and called the cops. Justin mentioned Chris to them when they were questioning us and they then they left to go question him about his friend.”
“Where can I find Chris?”
“Lance . . .”began Joey with a sight but stopped when he saw the look on Lance’s face. “He owns a bar called Kirkpatrick’s not far from here.”
“Good,” nodded Lance as he turned around to leave.
“Why are you doing this Lance?” asked Joey, his voice trailing after the younger man.
Pausing, Lance turned his head to look back at Joey. “I don’t know why,” he replied softly, but deep down in his heart he knew he was lying.
*~*~*
“I’m looking for the owner of this place,” spoke Lance fifteen minutes later to the bartender he saw working there. Kirkpatrick’s wasn’t as flashy as Fat-One’s but Lance enjoyed the mood better as he didn’t have to listen to Justin’s whinny voice.
“Chris?” asked the bartender and Lance nodded his head. “I saw him disappear about twenty minutes ago.”
“Is JC Chasez here then?” asked Lance, hopefully.
“I only started working here, last week and I don’t know of any Chasez yet.”
“Okay,” sighed Lance disappointed as he turned around and walked towards the exit.
*~*~*
“Come on,” ordered Chris, tugging JC back out towards the bar. “I’m taking you home with me tonight. Someone else can close up.”
“Okay,” nodded JC weakly.
“Hey Chris!” called the bartender as Christ dragged JC by.
“Not now Tim!”
“Some guy was in here five minutes ago looking for you!”
“If it’s that important he’ll be back!” called Chris as he pulled JC out into the cool night air.