Chapter Eight
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The next day had gone pretty smoothly for the most part. Justin was comfortable enough to at least walk around the house without guards surrounding him, and everyone else in the house found comfort in the fact that nothing bad had happened the day before. Ashley spent the day with Jc, mostly, working on music with him. Jessy spent her day quietly watching Chris, trying to keep it so nobody would notice what she was doing.
Around mid-afternoon, Jessy pulled Ashley out of one of her sessions with Jc. They searched around for a private spot where they were sure they wouldn't be overheard or walked in on, then settled down with the phone by their side.
"Okay Ash, we need to call Johnny and find out who the new people are, so we'll know if we see anyone."
"Right. I'll call."
Ashley picked up the phone and called Johnny, who was a little surprised by their request, but listed the newest people for them, anyway. Jess wrote them all down as Ashley spoke, and pretty soon they had a list of about ten people, only one of them the girls recognized.
"So what do we do now?" asked Ashley as she stretched out her legs to try and work out the cramps in them.
"Just keep watching out, I guess. At least we have a list of people to watch for, now."
"Yeah."
"So, I've seen you hanging around with Jc quite a lot..." Jess said in a teasing tone, making her friend blush.
"He's a great guy. Really sweet... He's helping me with some of my songs."
"I also thought I heard him call you sweetie once or twice..."
"Well... What about you? Every time I walk by you're staring at Chris."
"I... okay, so I was. But so? I mean, it's not like he notices. He probably wouldn't even care."
"I don't know... maybe. But Jc told me..." Ashley stopped herself from continuing, making Jess look at her.
"Jc told you what?"
"I shouldn't tell you this. I promised I wouldn't say anything."
"Come on... I won't tell anyone you told me."
"Well... Okay. Jc told me that he and Chris were talking, and Chris mentioned how he can't stop thinking about you."
"So... he likes me?"
"Yeah. But swear you won't say anything."
"I swear."
After a few minutes Ashley and Jess made their way downstairs, where all of the guys were gathered around, eating the pizza they had ordered and watching TV. Ashley and Jess joined them, Ashley sitting down next to Jc and Jessy sliding in between Chris and Joey.
~~~~~~~~~~
It was around two in the morning when Chris awoke to a strange sound coming from his private bathroom. He frowned slightly and stood up, trying to get his eyes focused in the almost completely dark room. Once he was fairly confident in his sight he walked slowly towards the bathroom, stopping every few seconds to listen for any more noises.
He reached the bathroom a moment later, and moved his hand along the wall to try and find the light switch. His fingers finally brushed over it and he flicked it on, but nothing happened. He cursed under his breath, turning to head out to the hallway closet to grab a new light bulb.
He froze when he heard movement coming from across the room, on the other side of his bed. He held his breath as he heard whatever it was take a few agonizingly slow steps towards him, and then everything was silent. Chris was about to start walking again when he caught a small gleam, one of light bouncing off steel or metal. Before Chris could react to what he saw, the gleam vanished, and he felt something hit him hard in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Another blow, the same as the first, brought Chris to his knees.
Chris looked up to try and see who it was that was in his room, but his attacker hit him hard, making him double over in pain. Within a few seconds Chris was forced onto his back, being held down by strong arms. He tried to struggle, to get out from under whoever his attacker was, but the more he struggled, the tighter the person's grip got. Chris tried to yell for help, but found that his voice wouldn't work. He tried over and over, but no words came out.
Chris heard voices down the hall, and the sound of footsteps walking towards his room. He felt whoever was holding him loosen their grip, so Chris took the opportunity to struggle. The attacker was knocked off balance, falling forward slightly. Chris felt a searing pain in his right arm as the person fell forward, and cried out in pain, his voice finally working. The attacker jumped to his feet and quickly made his escape, just as Lonnie, one of the bodyguards, busted open the door.
Chris didn't move, but stayed right where the attacker left him, panting heavily. He could feel warm liquid making it's way down both sides of his arm, and only when Lonnie turned on the lights did he notice what had caused the pain. A knife was stuck into his arm, and blood was seeping out and onto the floor.
The guys, Jess and Ashley had come in after Lonnie and all of them gasped in surprise. Lonnie ran to the open window, but the attacker was already gone. He closed the window and went back to Chris, checking on his arm. The others gathered around as Lonnie took the knife out and wrapped Chris's arm up with a nearby shirt, to help slow the bleeding. He helped Chris stand up, and sat him down on the bed next to Justin, who was shaking slightly, watching Chris with frightened eyes.
"Are you okay, Chris?" Joey asked, his voice filled with concern.
"Yeah... yeah, I'm okay."
"What happened?" Jess asked, sitting down on the other side of Chris.
Chris told everyone what had happened, and they were all stunned. Chris shifted uncomfortably, subconsciously holding the shirt tightly on his wound, even though it was tied on. Lonnie had called the hospital and told them he was bringing Chris in, and called the police and told them where they were going. They said they would send the detective over to talk with Chris.
"Come on everyone, let Chris get dressed so we can head out," Lonnie said, urging everyone through the door.
"Jess, could you stay here for a minute?" Chris asked when he saw Jessy standing up to leave.
Lonnie nodded at her and walked into the hallway, leaving Jessy and Chris alone in the room. Chris got dressed carefully, wincing at the pain in his arm. Jessy helped him get a shirt on, when she saw he was having trouble.
"Thanks... Jess?"
"Yeah Chris?"
"Jess... I wanted to tell you something. I thought maybe I should tell you before anything else happened."
"Okay, what is it?"
"Jess... I really like you a lot. It's kind of weird, seeing as I haven't known you very long, but I can't stop thinking about you, and I don't know why, but I --"
Jessy leaned in and kissed Chris softly on the lips, stopping his rambling and letting him know he felt the same way. When Jess pulled away Chris smiled at her, not knowing what to say next. Their moment was interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Chris, you ready yet? We really need to get you to the hospital."
Chris and Jess looked at the door then back at each other, then headed out into the hallway, both looking extremely happy despite the night's events.
| Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four | Chapter Five | Chapter Six | Chapter Seven | Chapter Eight |
