Part 6

Lance got a buyer for his house first. He had to offer it at a knockdown price 3/4 of a million less than what it was worth, but it was sold quickly and that’s what they needed and the money was now sitting in his account. Justin managed to sell three of his cars, and someone was looking round his house later that afternoon. Both he and lance had moved into JC’s house the latter of them not having any place else to go. Justin had moved back into JC’s room and had taken to sleeping in his lovers bed wanting his smell all over his body. He was in the kitchen fixing himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich when Joey and Chris came slamming in the door. The shorter brunette swiped his arm across the coffee table in anger sending glasses magazines and plates flying.

"NO, THEY FUCKING SAID NO."

"Your kidding right?" Lance blanched. Justin began to shake "It .. It’s a mistake, I’ll call them ..... explain." He picked

up the phone and began to dial. "They said no Justin, there’s no mistake. We laid it on the line, told them they were going to kill him and still they said no."

Joey poured four large whiskeys and passed them round. "They said Jive won’t negotiate with kidnappers, that if they did it would open a flood gate and none of their artists would ever be safe again." He downed the fiery liquid and went back and poured himself another one. "We are on our own guys."

Chris downed his own drink and beckoned Joey to bring the bottle to him. "I’ll go to the bank get a loan, How much do we got already? he asked.

Lance dug into his briefcase and pulled out a small note pad.

well Justin got $36000 for the cars and he had $2,500,000 in the bank. I got 1.2 mil for my house and 3mil in ready cash, I also got some stocks up for sale but the market is slow so I’m not holding my breath. How much you got Chris?"

"About 4 million."

"Chris, Jesus man I need exact, not about." Lance snapped.

"I got 4 million."

He wrote it in his book

"Joey?"

"Cash right now, $2,000,000"

"So how much is that?" Justin hung over lance trying to add up all the figures in his head.

"It’s a total of $12,736,000 so we are still $12,264,000 short."

"I got an offer on my house" Joey piped up "Only 1 million but they know I’m desperate to sell and can complete by Thursday."

"What about JC?" Chris asked "how much he got?"

Lance took off his glasses and rubbed at his eyes before perching them back on the end of his nose. "Well I looked into his finances, typical JC fashion, his records are immaculate. He has $7,000,000 cash in the bank only problem is we can’t get it."

"Fuck" Chris and Joey echoed each others frustration.

"If I had his password......"

"Rimming"

The three older members of Nsync looked at the younger in surprise.

"Rimming?" Joey started to giggle causing Chris and lance to start sniggering too, even Justin gave a slight grin.

Joey wiped tears of laughter from his eyes. "Justin how the fuck do you know that JC’s password is Rimming?"

"He kinda told me in a round about way. He said his password was the thing I did best, and that’s ."

Chris stopped him before he could finish his sentence "Whoa there, TMI Justin."

"We ... we will get him back won’t we?" Justin stammered.

His three bandmates surrounded him hugging him tightly between them.

"It’s ok Ju, we still got three days, We’re going to make it, he’s going to make it." lance met Chris’ eyes then Joey’s, he just hoped Justin wouldn’t see through his lies.

* * *

Chris worried, everyone was so focused on worrying about JC they were forgetting about the baby of the group. Justin had become pale and drawn, Chris had noticed that he barely ate anymore, Oh he sat down to every meal, dished up like everyone else then spent the entire time pushing his food from one side of the plate to the other. He wasn’t sleeping either. He went to bed at the same time as everyone else, but then he would wrap himself in JC’s king-sized quilt usually dressed in one of JC’s dirty tee shirts that he had salvaged from the washing hamper, then he would put on one of JC’s demo’s and sit up all night crying to the dulcet tones of his boyfriends soft singing. Outwardly the strength the 21 year old man was projecting was immense. Running round selling anything and everything he could get his hands on. Every dollar he scraped together went to Lance. He auctioned off personal belongings on e-bay. He even forced through the sale of his house, dropping the price three times, eventually selling his dream home, the home he had bought for him and JC for a fraction of what it was worth, He had the money wired directly to lance’s account.

"How much Lance?"

The deadline was creeping closer only two more days and still they were $4,019,000 short. When Lance read out the short fall the four friend shook their heads in disbelief.

Chris spoke solemnly "I applied for a loan, They refused me. Word is out that we are a bad investment. Its not gone unnoticed that we are cashing everything we got, rumours are that we’re bankrupt, finished."

"I could ask Lou." Justin whispered "He always liked JC."

"Fuck no." Joey snapped. "He liked JC alright, he liked him so much the dirty fuck was messing with him for years, Lou is not an option."

"Besides" Lance added "What price would he demand of you."

"I don’t care." Justin grabbed up his car keys and started for the door only to be stopped by Joey. Lance gently took the keys dangling from his friends fingers. "Justin, JC would rather die than have to be thankful to Lou or to have Lou touch you." Justin broke down falling to his knees, he sank into lance’s embrace letting the older man hold him. "what are we going to do Lance. what will we do. Oh Josh, Josh what if they are hurting him lance, what if they kill him. I love him lance. I love him so much ?"

Chris backed out the door un-noticed closing it quietly behind him. He got in his car and pulled out his cell phone.

"Hey, how you doin’, yeah man, look dude can I come over ... it’s important ... thanks man. be there in 20." He hung up and pulled out of JC’s drive.

Email: whatweallwishfor@yahoo.com