Chapter Four
JC couldn’t figure out what had possessed him to come here. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was the last place on earth he should have been. But he had driven all the way here. He wasn’t going to turn around and go back home without at least finding out if she was okay.
Alona saw him immediately as he walked in the front door of the restaurant. It was 3:30 in the afternoon on Sunday, so most of the lunch crowd was gone and the dinner rush hadn’t yet arrived. She met his eyes and shook her head sadly. He shouldn’t have come here. If Tyrell showed up to check on Alexa he would no doubt try to kill both of them.
JC glanced around the restaurant worriedly. Alexa was nowhere to be found. His stomach rose to his throat. What if she… What if Tyrell…
"She’s in the back," Alona instructed as she brushed past him. "Give me a second and I’ll show you." JC let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. At least she was still alive.
"Jim won’t let her work today," Alona spoke up as she once again appeared at JC’s side. "But I’m not about to let her go home. By the way," she said quickly, holding out her hand, "I’m Alona."
"I’m JC," he responded, shaking her hand lightly.
"I know," she feigned a laugh, rolling her eyes. "Pop star extraordinare and Alexa’s would be savior if you weren’t so stupid and didn’t show up at all the wrong times."
JC was taken aback by this woman’s bluntness. He didn’t feel like she meant any harm by her words, she just told it like it was. That was a hard quality to find in people and JC didn’t take it lightly. "Is Alexa okay?"
Alona shrugged. "As good as can be expected, I suppose. Tyrell beat her up pretty bad last night. It’s been a while since I’ve seen her in this condition." She led JC through two swinging doors, hustled him quickly around the kitchen, and finally ushered him into a small employee’s lounge. Alexa was lying silently on a small brown couch inside the room. "She’s been sleeping off and on for the past couple hours. I don’t know if it’s because she’s tired or because she has a concussion. Either way, go ahead and wake her. If Tyrell comes in I’ll do my best to save your ass." Contradicting her biting words, Alona shot JC a warm smile as she walked away. Feeling more out of place than he had expected, JC knelt down beside the couch. He longed to reach out and smooth down Alexa’s slightly tangled curls, but something stopped him. He didn’t even know this woman. They had only had one conversation with each other. "What am I doing here?" JC whispered, running his fingers through his slightly long locks. "This is insane." But he’d never been the type of man that could leave well enough alone. And he couldn’t deny that he wouldn’t mind being this intriguing woman’s knight in shining armor. It was rare that he had gotten to play that role in any of his relationships.
Alexa’s eyes fluttered open as she felt someone’s warm breath on her face. Her head was pounding and she couldn’t quite remember where she was. When she saw a set of deep blue eyes staring back at her she nearly screamed. Then she recognized his smile and began to cry. She didn’t really know why she was crying but she couldn’t stop. The sobs mercilessly raked through her body. It had become physically painful for her to cry.
Without even thinking about it, JC pulled Alexa into his arms. It was the first real contact the two had ever had. The fact that he knew virtually nothing about Alexa was pushed to the back of his mind. All he could focus on at that moment was his overwhelming urge to comfort and protect her. And then, out of nowhere, he found himself apologizing. "I’m so sorry, Alexa. I should have just left. None of this ever would have happened if I’d only…"
"No," Alexa whispered, shaking her head and trying to calm her sobs. "Don’t. I’ve spent almost two years blaming myself every time Tyrell has hit me. It’s gotten me nowhere. Please, don’t you start doing it too."
JC pulled back from Alexa suddenly. The look on his face held nothing but rage. "Two years?" he seethed.
Alexa nodded silently, wrapping her arms around herself for the comfort that JC was no longer providing. No doubt, a lecture would follow. And it would be the same lecture that she got from Alona every other week. The same one that Jim had given her just this morning. She didn’t need to hear it again. Mentally, she tuned JC out.
"You must really love him to stay with him through all of this."
Alexa almost fell off the couch. "What did you say?"
"I said, ‘you must really love him.’ If you didn’t love him, you would have left him by now." JC wasn’t happy with the words that were coming out of his mouth, but he figured it was for the best. What he really wanted to do was call her stupid, scream at her for letting Tyrell get away with this, and talk her into leaving his ass behind. But what good would that do? Apparently Tyrell had been belittling her for nearly two years. JC didn’t want to add to that.
"Yeah," she whispered, lowering her eyes from JC’s intense gaze. She felt like he could see right into her soul with those eyes. "He’s my heart. He hurts me sometimes. But…I love him. I keep hoping that he’ll change."
JC was forced, quite literally, to swallow his pride before speaking again. "Yeah, maybe he will. You never know, I guess." He shrugged his shoulders and paused, waiting for her to look up at him again. When she didn’t, he continued on hesitantly. "But…what if he doesn’t? I mean, he did this to you just for talking to me…someone you don’t even know. What if he just keeps doing that? Where will that put you?"
"You don’t understand," Alexa replied quietly. "Tyrell loves me. I know he does…he just…"
"I do understand," JC cut her off, reaching out and touching her face softly. "I’ve got a little sister who has been through exactly what you’re going through now."
Alexa glanced up at him, surprised. JC Chasez seemed to be just full of surprises. "Really?"
"Yeah," he nodded, his eyes travelling down to the fingerprint bruises on her neck. He wanted to vomit. "Heather, that’s my sister, was in an abusive relationship for over three years. I watched her come home night after night with new bruises or a torn dress or an Ace bandage wrapped around her wrist. My dad, my little brother, and me wanted to kill the guy. But Heather loved him. There wasn’t much we could do. She wouldn’t even come on tour with me when I offered. She didn’t want to be away from him."
"Why are you telling me this?" Alexa asked JC seriously. She honestly didn’t understand. This was far from the lecture she was used to getting. "Are you trying to tell me why you care about what’s happening to me?"
JC shook his head. "No, I’m just letting you know that I do understand. A lot of people probably don’t, but I do. And as for why I care about your situation, I care because I’m involved. Tyrell did this to you," he reached out and traced one finger lightly across Alexa’s neck, "because of me. Yes, he also did it because he’s an asshole and he doesn’t know how to control his temper or treat a lady. But mostly, he did it because of me."
Alexa’s head was spinning again. She just didn’t know how to take all of the things that JC was saying to her. He seemed to genuinely care…and it had been ages since she had met a man like that. Really, Alona was the only person she knew that unconditionally cared about what happened to her. And she had known Alona for almost three years now. JC’s immediate friendliness was a little overwhelming.
"Don’t you wanna know what happened to Heather?" JC questioned after nearly two minutes of Alexa’s silence. She just stared at him cautiously and nodded her head. "She finally left him."
"Why?" Alexa managed to squeak out. She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear this.
"He got her pregnant and then threw her down a flight of stairs. She had a miscarriage. It was all she could take."
"He…he just let her leave?"
"What do you think?" JC replied sarcastically.
"What did he do to her?"
"Heather ended up in the ICU for nearly a month. That bastard almost killed my sister. After everything she had given to him. She had never loved anyone like she loved him…and that’s how he repaid her. He beat her, he raped her, he stabbed her fourteen times, and he left her for dead. And that’s how I found her when I came home from tour for a surprise visit. If I wouldn’t have come home…" JC had to stop, the tears that had escaped onto his cheeks were too much. He hastily wiped at his eyes. He’d never told anyone, outside of the other guys in NSYNC and his family, that story.
Still confused, but feeling more compassion for JC than she had previously thought possible, Alexa reached out and took his hand in hers. She squeezed it softly. "What happened to Heather wasn’t your fault…"
"Right," JC interrupted seriously. "Just like what’s happening to you isn’t your fault." He could tell from the look on Alexa’s face that his comment had finally hit home. He continued…but very cautiously. "Look, I know that I don’t really know you. But from what I’ve seen, I know that you deserve better than what you’ve got. It might be the hardest thing you ever do in your entire life, but you have to at least try to leave this guy, Alexa. I don’t want to see what happened to my sister, happen to you. I wasn’t home. I couldn’t help her. But I can help you. And I want to, if you’ll let me."
"How do you plan on doing that?" she snapped defensively. She suddenly had the crushing feeling that he didn’t understand nearly as much as he thought he did. "You think your money or your fame is gonna help? It’s not that simple…"
"She’s taking a break, Tyrell," Alona’s extremely loud voice could suddenly be heard from outside of the small room. "Let me just go back and get her for you. You know the rules; no non-employees can go through the kitchen. Sorry."
Alexa looked at the door, horrified. JC stood up quickly. He pulled a small business card from the back pocket of his jeans and handed it to her. "Keep this. It has my number and my address. Hide it. Make sure he doesn’t see it. But please, call me. Or at least think about it." Unable to stop himself, he hugged her quickly before bolting from the room.
"The back door is up ahead on your left," Alona hissed at him seriously as he ran past her.
"Thanks," JC mumbled. "Take care of her."
"Yeah," she responded sarcastically, knowing that was next to impossible. "I’ll try."
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