I looked around the room and realized that we’d actually managed to get everything moved to the garage and it was still light outside. “Damn, Jayce! Why didn’t we get these two over here sooner?”

JC looked up at me and then around the room, “Beats me.” He turned a couple shades of red and smiled, “How much you think their help is gonna cost me?”

“Oh, now that I can’t even begin to answer. You’ll just have to wait and see.” I smirk and walk over to him. I place an arm around his shoulder, “Don’t worry though. I’ll protect you from them if you need it.”

“So…Now what Chasez?” AJ asks as he strolls in from the garage.

“Um…” JC stammers. “I..”

“How about some dinner?” I suggest.

“Sounds great to me, I’m starved.” Kevin replies as he enters through the front door, startling us all.

“Man…Why you gotta sneak up on people like that Kev?” AJ growls.

“Oh hush.” Kevin states while smacking the back of AJ’s head.

“Dude. He’s bad enough already. You keep smacking him like that he’s gonna go crazy.” I state.

“Shut up kid.” Kevin and AJ state together.

“I’m not…” I trail off as JC grabs my hand and drags me from the room. “What? Why’d you…”

JC places a finger over my lips to keep me from saying any more. “I’m hungry and didn’t really feel like listening to a ‘Three Stooges’ episode. You think we can get something to eat before the three of you start in again?”

I blush and whisper, “Yeah, I suppose.”

“Good. Now lets go join Curly and Moe so we can get moving.” We return to the kitchen, JC’s hand still holding my arm. “So…What’s good around here?”

Since I’m the only one that actually lived in the area for more than a few days I began to list off the best restaraunts that I could think of.

Kevin and JC both got the biggest smiles on their faces when I started listing the Sushi bars. AJ just ducked his head and I knew we were gonna end up at one of them, now all I had to do was figure out which was the best one.

“Let’s head back to Nicky’s place and get cleaned up, then we can head on over.” Kevin stated as he lead the way out the back door.

As I walked into the house JC followed me down the hall, “I thought I was bossy. He starts laying out plans on who’s taking a shower when and I’m outta here.” He puts his hand in the small of my back, “I hate to ask this but…Is this place somewhere with a dress code?”

“Um…Yeah…No jeans or t-shirts, why?”

“Well…don’t know if you noticed this but I didn’t bring much with me and most of it is filthy and sweaty…”

“Say no more. I think I have a few things of Brian’s stashed around here. He’s about the same size as you, so they should fit pretty well.” I smile. “Although you may need a belt.”

“Hey!” He exclaimed.

“What? Can I help it you’re the skinniest person I’ve ever met. Shit Jayce, you make AJ and Brian look fat.”

I can tell his temper is about to get the better of him cuz he closes his eyes, clamps his hands into little balls and takes a deep breath. When he reopens his eyes and sees the huge smile on my face he smiles back but huffs, “I didn’t choose to be like this, you know.”

I pull him into a hug and whisper, “I know…I wouldn’t change a thing about you either.” I run a hand down his back, stopping just above the hem of his pants. “Kevin and AJ are gonna comandeer you’re bathroom, you can shower in here if you’d like.” I release him from my grasp. “I’ll hunt for some clothes for you to wear while you’re in the shower.”

“Mmm, sounds good.” He turns and walks into the bathroom. A little bit later he emerges in a cloud of steam, “All yours man.”

“Thanks. The stuff on the bed there should fit you ok. If not we’re gonna have to settle for take out again.”

I come out of the bathroom and stand in the doorway, watching him attempt to put his curls into some kind of order. He looks up and sees me watching him and smiles, “Hey, hope there was enough hot water.”

“Yeah, barely. Was starting to get chilly as I was finishing up. Heard anything from Curly and Moe?”

“Kevin just knocked on the door a few minutes ago, wanted to know if us lovebirds were about ready.”

“Lovebirds huh?” I walk over behind him and put my arms around him, resting my chin on his shoulder, “How you doing?”

He leans back into my chest, “Mmmm…Better.” He whispers. “I don’t know how I can repay you for all you’ve done for me.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure something will come to you.” I kiss his cheek then pull away and start getting dressed.

He comes across the room and places a smooth hand on my back as I lean down to pull my pants up. “Nick?”

I froze in that position for a minute then slowly rose to my full height. “Yeah?”

He stepped in front of me and brought his hand to my face, his eyes never left mine. He trailed his thumb over my eyebrow, down my cheek, then slid his hand down my face and trailed a path down my nose and across my lips. As his thumb trailed over my lips and down to my chin he slowly leaned forward.

“Hey you two.” AJ exclaimed from the doorway. “You about…”

JC jumped back and away from me, turning three shades of red before turning back to the mirror.

/Fucking AJ. Couldn’t have waited another ten fucking minutes./ I glared at AJ then throw my shirt over my head and put my jacket on. I turned to look at JC and caught him watching me in the mirror. /Fuck, almost broke through that wall. Note to self, kick AJ’s ass./ “You ready Jayce?”

“Yep.” He turns from the mirror and heads out the door.

AJ grabs my arm as I push past him and whispers, “Sorry man. Didn’t realize..”

I glare at him again then sigh, “It’s ok. He needs more time anyway.”

“Yeah? What about you?”

“I’m fine. Just hope I can keep my hands to my self long enough for him to get over that ass.”

“Man…I feel for you bro. He’s one fine man. If he needs someone to do the rebound thing with you send him my way. I wouldn’t mind being used by him.” AJ tilts his head to one side and watches JC walk out the front door, “Nope, not in the least.”

“You’re gonna have to get in line,” Kevin states coming down the hall, joining us.

“So not fair.” AJ complains.

“You two knock it off. Neither one of you are touching him. Just keep those grimy hands off.”

**************Later that evening****************

JC and I are strolling along the beach after finally ridding ourselves of AJ and Kevin. When his cell phone breaks the silence. We both groan.

“Hello? How’d you get this number? God, does that woman know what ‘don’t tell anyone’ actually means? I’m fine. Yes, he was here. No, he left this morning. No…Please just leave me alone for a while. I’ll be back when the break is over. Jeez Joe, relax. I’m working on a house and songs. I really don’t want or need you guys here to distract me. What? Damn it Joe, I don’t have anywhere for you to stay. Please at least tell me you didn’t drag the baby down here? Fine, yeah we’ll be up in a few minutes. Me and Nick. Nick…Nick Carter. Yeah, the Backstreet Boy. I’m hanging up now Joey. We’ll be there in a few minutes.” He hung up the phone, took a deep breath and stated, “That was Joey. He, Chris and Lance are sitting in my driveway. So much for a peaceful vacation.”

I quietly follow him back to his house and watch the scene unfold.

First they all hugged him and cussed him out for disappearing without saying anything to any one. Then they asked about Justin’s visit and if JC had any idea where he was. I think they were a bit surprised when JC informed them that he didn’t know and didn’t really care at this point where Justin was or who he was with. When they all focused their attention on me I knew I was in trouble.

/Shit, guess it’s my turn./

“So…” Lance began, “What exactly is ‘HE’ doing here?”

“He’s helping me.” JC defended.

“Do what?” Chris asked.

“Get this place back into something that resembles a house.”

“And?” Joey quipped.

“And what? That’s all. He’s been here working like a dog. Don’t you dare even try to insinuate he’s here for anything else. At least he and his friends were here to help me when Justin showed up, unlike my so-called friends who didn’t want to believe me in the first place.”

I could feel my face getting red with the anger that I was feeling, took one look at how uncomfortable JC was and decided it was time to say something, “Look, Jayce…Maybe I should…”

“Don’t.” JC interrupts. “You aren’t the one that should go. They are.” He glares from Joey, to Lance, to Chris.

“But..” Lance stammers.

Chris and Joey just quietly get up. Joey places a hand on Lance’s arm, “Can we come by tomorrow?”

“Yeah, late in the afternoon though. I got a contractor coming first thing in the morning.” JC replies and follows them to the door. “Just make sure you call first. I may not be here otherwise.”

Chris and Lance walk out the front door and down the steps but Joey stops at the doorway then turns around and walks up to me, “You take good care of him. We may have fucked up this thing with Justin but believe me, we do care about him and we’ll come after you if you hurt him.” He heads out the door and joins the other two at their car, “Take care JC and we’ll see you tomorrow.”

JC just slams the door, turns around and leans against it, “Why do they do that? They don’t believe a word I say when Justin’s in the room but they wanna give you the 3rd degree just for helping me work on my house.” He crumbles to the floor in a ball, placing his head on his knees.

I walk over and place a hand on his shoulder, “You gonna be ok?”

“Yeah,” he takes a deep breath and rises. “Thanks for sticking around but I think I’m gonna crash for a while.” He looks at his watch, “Shit, well at least a couple hours before the contractor gets here anyway.”

“You wanna come over in the morning and take a shower, feel free. I’ll leave the back door open.” I make my way to the back door and stop, “You could come over and sleep there if you’d like. I know we don’t have much time before they get here but…”

JC raises his hand, “Thanks anyway but I don’t think that would be a good idea right now.”

I walk out and down the beach to my house. When I get home I turn and look back at the house on the point in time to see all the lights go out save one, this being the light in the room with his piano. Then it hit me…/Shit, we forgot to move the piano. How are they gonna lay the floor in there?/ Unfortunately this kept me from getting any sleep in the 3 hours that remained before the flooring guys arrived.

Since I couldn’t get any sleep I made my way to my piano room and sat there for a while to see if any inspiration came to me. Only thing that kept running through my mind was one of our songs so I began to play the soft melody until I realized that what JC had said earlier was true. It did seem easier to find a song of ours or theirs that fit any given situation of my life than to actually deal with that specific emotion.

At precisely 5:30 my back door opened and JC quietly made his way to the spare room he’d stayed in. If the door hadn’t squeaked I wouldn’t even have known the man had come in which made me wonder just what kind of relationship he and Justin had that he had perfected sneaking around that well.

“JC? Please tell me that’s you.” I stated coming out of the room I was in just as he was entering the spare room.

He jumped, “Damn Nick. Trying to give me a heart attack?”

“Sorry, but I could say the same about you.” I raise an eyebrow.

“Sorry, was just trying to be quiet. Didn’t realize you were already awake.”

“Still.” I state quietly, dropping my head to look at the floor.

“You too?” He asks.

I look up as he approaches me, “You didn’t sleep either?”

“Nope,” he smiles and stops directly in front of me. He reaches up and places a thumb under my eye and gently rubs.

“It shows,” he whispers. He runs the thumb across my cheek and down my jaw then draws his hand away.

I reach out and pull him into me, wrapping my arms around his lean body. “It shows on you too you know. How about we take tomorrow off and do something fun and relaxing?”

“Sounds like a great idea, although if I actually get to sleep I can promise I’ll wake up for a few days. I can’t remember the last time I slept for more than an hour at a time.” He states into my chest.

“Well, I wouldn’t mind you getting some well deserved sleep, but we gotta get through today first. Why don’t you take your sweet self down there and get a shower and I’ll meet you in the kitchen. I think we have time for a quick breakfast before they show up.”

He slowly extricates himself from my arms and makes his way back down the hall, stops, turns and smiles at me, then disappears into the room.

I make my way to my room and soak in the shower for a while. When I come out of my room dressed for work I smell the bacon cooking already. /Damn, he’s quick./ “Hey that smells…What are you guys doing here?” I ask as I come to halt in the doorway to my kitchen.

“Thought we’d lend a hand today.” Kevin states as he flips a pancake from the frying pan in his right hand to the plate on the counter which is quickly snatched up by Howie.

“All of you?” I ask.

“Yep,” Brian states from his place at the table.

“Hey…” AJ exclaims as he strolls in, “Where’s the hot one?”

“He’s standing right in front of you. You going blind AJ?” JC asks as he joins us. “You didn’t tell me we were having guests this morning.” He slips up next to me and slides a hand around my waste.

I glanced around the room at the stunned faces, then down at JC. Taking in his wet hair and slightly flushed face, “Didn’t realize we were.” I shift my body so that I’m standing behind him and pull him back into my body.

“So…” Kevin starts then clears his throat and tries again, “So anyone for breakfast?”

JC stretches up, kisses the corner of my mouth, “I gotta get up there. Don’t want them to show up and not have anyone there. See you in a bit?”

I couldn’t help but notice the hope in his eyes and smiled, “A herd of wild horses couldn’t stop me.” I pull him close and wrap my arms around him, “Aren’t you gonna grab something to eat first?”

He pulls away, looks me in the eyes, turns grabs a handful of bacon and rushes towards the back door. “See ya in a few babe.”

I turn back to my friends to see them still sitting there with the same stunned looks on their faces. Kevin, of course, is the first to recover.

“What the hell, Nick? Yesterday he was a mess, today he’s your lover?” Kevin growls.

“Relax guys, there’s nothing going on with us. We were just messing with you. He’s not ready for a new relationship, whether he knows that or not is another question.”

“But, I thought…” Brian stammers. “Thought he was with Jus…”

“Don’t say it. And please don’t mention that name around him ok?” They all nod. “He and Justin ‘were’ seeing each other, but JC was the only one that was serious about it. When he realized that, he left. He came here to deal with his emotions. Unfortunately, none of them seem to think he should deal with it alone and Justin hasn’t realized that JC is done with him. Ask Kev and AJ, they were here for that one.”

“Well we better hurry up and get over there then, cuz you know how Lance is.” Howie states, “Like a dog with a bone. He’s not gonna let JC be, I can guarantee that.”

Howie, Kevin and AJ all head out the back door, Brian and I follow at a distance.

“How’s he really doing?” Brian asks.

“He’s better now. You should have seen him a few days ago.”

“And you? How are you doing?”

“I’m good. Had a little more time to think and get over my ass than he has. I also have the benefit of mine being on the road right now so he can’t come bother me.” I smile. “Gives me more time to move on and get over his stupid ass before I have to deal with him again.”

“Does JC know about him? Or about how you feel about him?”

“No, I haven’t told him about Jacob and I can’t tell him how I feel about him, cuz I don’t even know right now.” I raise my hand to cut him off, “I like him, he’s one fine man, but we’re both going through a lot of shit right now. I’m really not sure this is the right time to get into a relationship.”

“Wow, you really do like him, don’t you?” Brian smiles, “He must really be something.”

“I think so.”

We walk in the back door and into a land of chaos. JC is directing contractors around the house, Chris is chasing a small dog around the living room, Joey and Lance are yelling for help from the room that JC’s piano is in and Kevin, Howie and AJ are standing in the middle of the hallway laughing so hard they’re about to collapse.

“What the hell is going on in here?” Brian yells above the melee, everyone stops and turns to us.

JC, recovering first, takes advantage of the silence and starts issuing orders, “Kevin, you and AJ go help Joey and Lance dismantle the piano and get it out of that room. Chris, get that damn dog out of my house, now. Nick, since you have an idea of what I’m doing here will you go with these two and show them where the bathrooms are? Brian, if you don’t mind could you please help Chris catch that dog? Howie, you’re in charge of the door, so they can bring in their supplies and equipment.”

Everyone jumped into action and from then on the day ran pretty smoothly. Once the floors were lain and the contractor had left we all congregated in the living room.

“Hey Chasez?” Howie started.

“Yeah?” JC asks from his sprawled position in the middle of the floor.

“When you gonna get some furniture?”

“When Nick drags him kicking and screaming downtown to the store and forces him to spend some of his money.” Chris snickers.

“Chris…If I could move, you’d be a dead man.” JC states, but I could hear the smile in his voice. “So anyone hungry?”

*****Several hours later****

“JC?”

“What Lance?”

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For not taking what you said seriously. For not being there for you. For everything.”

“You know what hurt the most?”

“What Jayce?”

“The fact that you guys thought I’d lie about something like that. That you believed him and wouldn’t even listen to what I had to say.”

JC got up from his place on the floor and went out the back door.

“Shit…What you have to start for?” Joey asks, getting up off the floor.

“I’ll go.” I state, get up and head out the back door. “Jayce, wait.” Once I catch up with him I reach a hand out and place it on his shoulder.

We walk along the beach in silence for a few minutes, then he turns to me, “They just don’t get it. Just because they’ve been here, doing this crap. How do I explain to the 3 people who are supposed to be closer to me than anyone on this planet that I can’t trust them anymore?”

“Baby I don’t know. I wish I could help you with this, with them…but I can’t. I don’t know what you’re going through and I hope to hell I never have to. I do know that I’ll be here for you. I’ll do my best to do whatever I can to make ‘your’ dealing with it as painless as I possibly can.” I state as I pull him into a hug.

“Thank you.” He snickers a little, “You know? It seems I’ve been saying that an awful lot the last couple of days.”

“Yeah,” I shrug. “I don’t mind, really. Not like I got anything better to do than help a gorgeous guy get over his backstabbing boyfriend and asshole friends.”

“I can’t imagine it’s been much fun for you. First I’m a blithering, balling baby and now I’m this rampaging fool that can’t decide if I should be pissed or just get over it and forgive them.” He pulls back a little and looks up at me, “Oh and let’s not forget the fact that I’ve been working you like a dog for the last few days.”

I place a finger on his lips, “Shhh.” I lean in and place a gentle kiss on his soft lips. “You’re worth it.”