Chapter sixty-nine:

Christy had slept later than usual. She had stepped into a hot shower and attempted to wash away the experience of the night before, but it didn’t work.

She stepped out of the shower and dressed, carefully drying her hair and folding it into a long French-braid.

She put on the faintest touch of make-up and was about to find Jenna and Becky, when the door opened and Isaac entered the room.

“Baby? How come you aren’t at the studio today?” She asked in confusion.

“I just came back from a band meeting. We thought it was best if we stayed away from the studio today, and be with you. How are you? Are you feeling better today?” He kissed her gently.

“I’m trying to forget about it.”

“Okay. But if you want to talk, we can.”

She nodded. “That’s sweet. I just want to get that image out of my head, you know? The broken windows…”

“Alright. Why don’t we do something today, hmm? Just the two of us?”

“I think Becky, Jen and I were going to get our nails done today and go to the mall… What?” She asked seeing his face change to a look of disapproval.

“I don’t think it’s such a good idea…”

“What? Why?”

“After what happened last night, we don’t think it’s a good idea for you three girls to go out alone…” He sat down in an arm chair.

“Wait a minute, wait a minute.” Christy cried. “Some nutcases break into our house, vandalize and all of a sudden, we’re not allowed to go out by ourselves?”

“C, they threatened your lives! We just think it’s probably best to stay together…”

“We?”

“My brothers and I… It’s not permanent or anything-“

“This is fucking ridiculous!” She cried. “I’m twenty-three years old and I’m not allowed to go outside by myself? What do you expect us to do, sit around in the hotel all day long? Living like sheltered hermits because there are some psychos out there?”
”Look, C. We talked about this and decided it is the safest option. Maybe you and the girls can order room service and have one of the spa people come up to the room and fix your nails.”

“No, Isaac, we didn’t decide, you decided. This is highly unfair! What’s next, hmm? A god damned babysitter?”

He didn’t respond.

“Oh my god.”

“Not a babysitter.” He began to clarify, “Just a body guard who-“

“No. No, I can’t deal with this right now.” She picked up her purse and key card.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going over to see Jen. I need to be away for a while.” She slammed the door behind her.

He sighed heavily and raked his hands through his hair. That had not gone as well as he had thought it would.

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The girls sprawled across the small living room in Jenna’s room, after ordering all of the junk food room service had to offer, as well as most of the movies the hotel was offering on television.

Christy had filled Becky and Jenna in on her argument with Isaac, and they were both as appalled as she had been.

Becky passed a tube of Pringles towards Jenna who declined “I’m trying to loose five pounds.”

Christy rolled her eyes. “So am I, but I’m just going to hit the gym tomorrow. Since I can’t bloody well do anything else!”

Taylor came out of the bedroom. After the little meeting with his brothers, he had returned to bed exhausted.

“What the hell happened out here? How long was I asleep?” He asked in surprise, seeing the mess the girls had made. His hair was standing up at every angle, he wasn’t wearing a shirt and his flannel pajama pants were situated low on his lean hips.

“Nothing. We’ll try to keep it down.” Jenna said quickly.

“Alright… I’m taking a shower.” He went into the bathroom and closed the door. The shower started seconds later.

“You slept in the same bed as that?” Becky asked. “Damn, sometimes I forget how hot he is!”

“Good work!” Christy congratulated.

“We were just sleeping. I didn’t want to be alone after… last night. And he agreed to stay…” Jenna tried to explain despite and obvious blush. “Nothing happened.”

“How are you going to explain that to Luke?” Becky asked. “He’ll freak out.”

“We’re not going to tell him, okay? He’ll jump to conclusions; you know how jealous he gets sometimes… Tay and I are just friends, okay?”
”Oh come on. You can’t tell me that you’re not the least bit attracted to him?” Christy leaned forward.

“No. He’s a friend. Luke is my boyfriend and I care about him.” Jenna said sternly. “End of discussion.”

Christy sighed heavily. “You know what? I’m sick of this. I’m not sitting in this stupid hotel all day long. We have an appointment to get our nails done. Let’s go.” She stood.

“But the guys told us not to.” Becky began. “And what if those people are out there? The people who broke into the house yesterday?”

Jenna got to her feet as well. “Do you really want Zac to control you like that? Telling you that you’re not allowed to go out?”

“No, but it’s a matter of our safety.” Becky said, standing. “I don’t like it any more than you guys do, but maybe it is the safest thing…”

“But we’ll be in a public place. A mall for Christ sakes.” Christy said.

“Yeah, I think we’re better off in a public place than all by ourselves.” Jenna agreed. “I mean, think about it. They only come after us when we’re alone…”

Becky drew in a deep breath and thought for a moment. “Alright, fine. But if Zac yells at me, I’m blaming you guys.”

“Good, come on; let’s sneak out before Taylor gets out of the shower.” Christy urged.

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