Feet of Clay
Shauna was passing the front door when the doorbell rang.
“Can you get that, please?” Karen called from the other room.
Shauna couldn’t believe her eyes. JC Chasez stood at the door with a duffle bag in hand, looking rumpled, sleepy and sexy as hell. Her private fantasy come to life…she blinked and he was still there. His eyes were so blue and those gorgeous cheekbones…
“Who is it, Shauna dear?” Karen called as she came to the front door. “Josh! Come in!”
Stepping around the mute female, JC tossed his bag in and hugged his mother.
“This is a surprise,” Karen said as she embraced him.
“I just needed a break and some home cooking,” JC told her wearily.
Releasing him, Karen indicated Shauna. “I’d like you to meet a friend of mine. Shauna Coe, my son Josh. Josh, Shauna.”
He took in the tall slender young woman. Dark hazel eyes and long golden brown hair. His mother’s friend?
The two simply stared at each other.
“Shauna is a talented writer. I am helping her with her first long manuscript.” Karen chatted to cover the silence.
As if released from a trance, Shauna extended her hand to JC. “I’m sorry, Mr. Chasez. I guess I am a little star-struck. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
He took her hand briefly. Star-struck? A fan? A fan had befriended his mother. He didn’t like the sound of that. “Hello, Shauna,” he said flatly.
Feeling the coolness and wariness coming from the man, Shauna decided it was time to take her leave. “Karen, since your son is here, I’ll just be on my way.”
“But you were staying for dinner,” Karen protested.
“I am certain Mr. Chasez would rather have a peaceful, private dinner with his parents.” Retrieving her sweater and handbag, Shauna headed for the door. “Let me know when you have time to work on the manuscript.”
Leaving JC’s side, Karen caught up to Shauna before she got to the car. “We were working on it tomorrow evening.”
Looking back at the door, Shauna saw JC scowling at them. What blunder had she made that was so awful she warranted his hostility? Okay, so she froze like any fan might. Certainly he was used to that. She sighed. “You have company.”
“Unannounced company. I am certainly not going to drop everything simply because he’s visiting.”
“Honestly, I understand if you…”
“It is because of the fan fiction, isn’t it?”
“It does make it a little…awkward.”
“You’re an excellent writer. Fan fiction honed those skills.”
Shauna gave the small supportive woman a hug. “Thank you, Karen. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
JC watched it all. Some fan had gotten to his mother. He didn’t like that.
“Shauna, I’m glad you decided to come,” Karen cheered as Shauna stepped into the house.
Shauna had come directly from work. She wore a trim suit and heels. Her hair hung down her back in a French braid. Her handbag and laptop case were her only accessories. “I came straight here. I didn’t feel like fighting traffic home and then over here.”
“That’s fine. We’ve just begun dinner.”
“Oh, dear! I guess I should have called first.”
“Shauna,” Karen scolded. “You know you’re welcome at our table any time.”
Except JC Chasez would also be sitting at the table. She didn’t care to be that close to the man. “I – umm – can just work in the study…”
“Have you eaten dinner?” When Shauna didn’t answer immediately, Karen took her arm. “I thought not.” She guided her reluctant guest into the dining room.
It was the worst possible scenario. Roy sat at the head of the table and JC on one side. This left the chair directly across from JC for Shauna – and much to her dismay, they had begun eating.
“Shauna!” Roy Chasez boomed. “I didn’t know you were joining us.”
Shauna blushed. “I wasn’t…”
“Give me those things and sit down, dear,” Karen said, taking Shauna’s things and setting them on a side chair. “You make my feet ache just looking at those heels.” She waved at the chair across from JC.
“Please, don’t let me interrupt…”
“Sit,” Karen insisted.
Roy chuckled. “You’d better do as she says. She’s using her ‘mom’ voice.”
Shauna felt very much like a recalcitrant child as she perched uneasily on the chair. Normally she enjoyed dinner at the Chasez home. Normally a hostile stranger wasn’t sitting across from her.
“I’ll just go get another plate.” Karen disappeared into the kitchen only to reappear a minute later with a place setting and a bottle of water.
“You know me too well.” Shauna indicated the water.
“It wouldn’t hurt you to consume a few extra calories once in a while.”
Shauna rolled her eyes as Karen proceeded to fill her plate with more food than she could eat and place it in front of her.
“And not just salad, young lady,” Karen said as she resumed her seat across from her husband.
“JC, have you met Shauna?” Roy asked his son.
JC flicked an uninterested look at their guest. “Yesterday.”
“She’s become quite a fixture around here. We’ve been thinking of adopting her.”
At JC’s raised eyebrows, Shauna said, “Mr. Chasez, don’t be a tease.”
“So how many marriage proposals have you turned down this week?” It was a standing joke between Roy and Shauna.
“Oh, I lost count after the first dozen,” Shauna replied breezily.
Roy laughed. “You’re gonna be a hard one to catch.”
“Only ‘til the right one comes along.”
She had a dazzling, sweet smile, JC noted. She was a pretty good actress; he’d give her that. This ‘fan’ had made herself comfortable in his parent’s home. His parents were good people. They wouldn’t ascribe any ulterior motives to the woman’s coziness. It would be up to him to see her out the door.
Shauna kept her eyes on her plate when not talking to the elder Chasezes. She didn’t want to accidentally catch JC’s cold blue gaze. She couldn’t do justice to the wonderful meal Karen had prepared. Her stomach was in knots. A lump the size of a golf ball seemed to have taken up residence in her throat. Why had she always thought of JC’s eyes as warm? And hadn’t she been led to believe he was a welcoming, friendly fellow. His behavior towards her belied that myth.
“Shauna is one of your staunchest supporters,” Roy was telling JC, attempting to warm the frosty air between the two young people.
The fact only seemed to make JC more suspicious.
“I don’t know who ranted and raved more about delaying your release date. And when it finally came out, she called around to make sure stores put it out. I couldn’t, but she did,” Roy said proudly.
“Mr. Chasez, please…”
“What? JC appreciates the support.”
Somehow, Shauna had the feeling JC didn’t appreciate one thing about her.
“Roy, stop,” Karen ordered. “You’re embarrassing her.”
Shauna pushed the food around on her plate. She could barely swallow and her stomach churned uneasily. If she tried to eat she was afraid she’d disgrace herself by tossing her cookies. If JC was trying to unnerve her, it certainly was working.
This Shauna was hiding something. JC noted the way she wouldn’t meet his eyes. He had to get her alone.
Miraculously Shauna survived dinner with no mishaps. When it was over she escaped to the kitchen to help Karen with clean up.
“Shauna, are you all right? You’ve been terribly quiet,” Karen said as they finished.
Shauna gave her a wan smile. “I’m sorry, Karen.”
“Don’t be sorry. Tell me what’s wrong.”
“It’s almost as if he hates me – and I’ve barely spoken to him.”
“Josh? He can be stand-offish with strangers.”
“It’s more than that.” Shauna knew it was.
“He won’t be here too much longer.”
Too long for Shauna’s peace of mind. “This is his family home. I’m the interloper.”
“Nonsense.”
“Karen, if it’s all right with you, I would prefer working together after he leaves.”
“I’ll have a chat with him…”
“No!” Shauna suspected that would only make matters worse. All she needed was to start a turf war with JC Chasez.
“I won’t have his behavior chasing you off.”
“You said yourself it was only a few days. I’ll just spend a quiet weekend at home. Maybe rent some DVDs I’ve been meaning to watch.”
“You are being too nice.”
Walking through the dining room, Shauna retrieved her two bags. Karen escorted her to the living room. “Roy, Shauna is leaving.”
Both father and son looked up from their respective seats in front of the television.
“But you just got here,” Roy said.
“I – umm – it’s been a long week so I decided I wouldn’t be very productive tonight,” Shauna lied easily enough. Well, it was only a half-lie. She certainly wouldn’t accomplish much knowing a hostile JC was in residence.
“You just rest up and come by real soon,” Roy said in the way of goodbye.
“Yessir. Goodnight everyone.”
Shauna thought she had made good her escape when she heard JC say, “Let me walk you to your car.” Then he was beside her, taking her laptop case.
It’s only a few yards, she told herself, just a few long yards. Once at the car, she quickly tossed in her purse. Retrieving her case, that went in. “Thank you,” she murmured, ready to climb in and go.
JC’s hand shot out and grabbed her arm. “Just a minute.” His eyes were like chips of blue ice.
“What do you want?” she hissed.
“Merely a few words with my supportive fan who managed to worm her way into my family.”
“Do your fans know you say that like a dirty word?”
“Normally I don’t. I reserve it for girls who try to get to me through my family.”
“What?” she cried. “Buddy, before you start drawing your own nasty, incorrect conclusions about me, you’d better get a few facts straight.” In her heels she was eye to eye with the man. She was not at a disadvantage. The Irish ire she had inherited from her late, beloved grandmother was at full boil. “Have I been a fan of yours? Yes!” She jabbed his chest with a carefully manicured finger. “Did I want to ‘get to you’? Hell, no!” Jab. “Ask your mother. I told her I never wanted to meet you.” Poke. “Your mother contacted me first.” Jab. “She offered to help me with my manuscript.” Poke. Poke. “Got it, Chasez?” Jab. Jab.
JC had to admit she was beautiful with her eyes flashing fire and her blouse rising and falling with every breath she took in. But her squared nails hurt more than his pride.
“You are nothing like you want your fans to think you are. I have never been so disappointed in someone in my entire life!”
“You could just be a very clever actress,” he accused.
“And you could be one of the most insufferable, egotistical, suspicious asses I have ever had the misfortune to come across.” She tried to twist her arm from his grip, but he held fast.
“I’m not finished with you yet,” he growled and jerked her closer.
Shauna didn’t think – she reacted. Her free hand came up, making solid contact with the side of his face. It took a moment for her brain to comprehend what she had done. She heard the crack of skin against skin and her hand burned from the force she’d exerted. She wasn’t proud of what she’d just done, but she would be damned if she would apologize. “I am so finished with you,” she told him angrily as she moved from his stunned grasp. Sliding into the car, she slammed the door and started the engine. Roaring away, she didn’t look back at the astonished man rubbing his burning cheek.
Once Shauna reached her cozy studio apartment, she was no longer seething with anger. She felt terribly hurt and sad. How dare he accuse her of such a thing? Not only was JC Chasez not perfect, he was nothing like the persona he showed the world. He certainly wasn’t the decent, sensitive man she had imagined him to be.
Flinging off her clothes, she wrapped herself in her faded old bathrobe. The soft feel of the much-washed fabric was like a hug of comfort from an old friend.
Her grandmother had been right. You are never meant to meet the people you put on a pedestal. If you do, they will topple off. Even the people you admire have feet of clay. Those words never rang so true.
She lay across her bed, staring unseeing at the ceiling. Tears slipped down her cheeks. Destroyed – one girlish dream of the perfect male. Method used – one hard dose of cold reality.
When Monday evening came around and Karen still hadn’t heard from Shauna, she decided to call.
“Hello?”
“Shauna, it’s Karen.”
“Hello, Karen,” Shauna said warmly.
“I expected you this evening.”
“I’m sorry, Karen. I –I am just not up to dealing with your holier-than-thou son.”
“What do you mean?”
“How’s his face? Didn’t damage him too much, did I?”
Karen was truly confused. “What are you talking about?”
”Ask him.”
“What did he do to you?”
"Eh...The bruises will fade. I don’t take kindly to being manhandled.”
“Bruises? Shauna—“
Shauna felt the tears she’d been fighting since the previous Friday begin to clog her throat once more. “Ask him,” she said softly. “See you soon. Bye.”
Karen started at the receiver a moment before replacing it, trying to take in the bits of information she had learned. Shauna had bruises…Bruises JC had caused…
Going to the foot of the stairs, she yelled, “Joshua Scott Chasez, get down here this instant!”
JC had a feeling he was not going to enjoy whatever it was his mother had called him down to the kitchen table to discuss. When summoned with his full name, it was never good.
“I just talked to Shauna,” Karen announced.
Damn! When the young woman failed to arrive earlier, he thought they were rid of her.
“Actually you are very lucky she didn’t come. If your father had seen those bruises, I don’t know what he would have done.”
“Bruises?”
“From being manhandled.”
Rubbing his cheek, he recalled the sting from her slap. “She got her licks in,” he muttered.
“I don’t see you sporting bruises.”
“Okay, so maybe I got a little rough when I grabbed her—“
“You grabbed her!”
“She wouldn’t listen—“
“So you hurt her to make her listen?”
“It wasn’t like that,” he protested.
“Then you had better tell me exactly how it was, young man,” Karen demanded.
Sparing himself nothing, JC told his mother what had happened between Shauna and himself that night. To his way of thinking, he’d done nothing to be ashamed of Friday evening; he was protecting his family.
Karen could scarcely believe her ears as JC told her the things he had said to Shauna. “The only way that dear girl is ‘using me’ as you put it is as an editor. And I freely offered my services to her. And, yes, I did contact her first and she had no idea who I was at the time. Of course, she did recognize me after we met, but I assured her who I was didn’t make one iota of difference.”
“But Dad said she was a fan. She even admitted as much,” JC said in his defense.
“So she admitted she admires your work? Is that a reason to maul her? Usually it is a good thing when someone steps up to support your efforts.”
Put that way, he felt foolish.
“And as far as her getting to meet you…she didn’t want to meet you at all.”
JC seemed affronted. “Why the hell not?”
Karen waggled a finger at him sternly. “If I tell you this and you go off on Shauna, I’ll disown you.” She prefaced what she was about to say. “I found Shauna through her fan fiction.”
“What!” JC cried. Surely he had heard wrong…
“She writes very good fan fiction. She is at the top of the heap. She is very popular and widely read.”
“Mom!” he protested.
“And that is precisely why she didn’t want to meet you.”
“Because she’d be embarrassed?” He sure as he was.
“Partly. Mostly it is because she though if she met you it would spoil illusion with reality. She portrays you as a man who does the right thing, one who is sensitive to others. And, Josh, you blew that ideal to kingdom come.”
It was all too much to take in – now he truly didn’t know what to think of Shauna.
“That’s how I found her. The message boards were absolutely abuzz about her – or rather her alter ego. She doesn’t use her real name.”
Thank God for small favors. His mother’s protégé was a fan fiction writer. How uncomfortable was that? It almost would have been better if she had been a gold digger.
“If she’d allow you to read her current work, I’m sure you’d love it. She’s into science fiction/fantasy.”
Shauna Coe sounded like someone he could be interested in knowing better, if he could get beyond the fan thing. She was obviously intelligent, creative and it appeared they had things in common. It didn’t hurt that she had gorgeous mile-high legs. He recalled how beautiful she had been in full fury: her eyes full of fire, her flushed cheeks, her incredible sense of herself. Yes, Shauna would be worth knowing, except for two glaring problems: she wrote fan fiction – and she hated his guts. He could do little about the former, that was past. But he could do something about the latter. He could be very charming when he made the effort.
“I’m inviting her to dinner tomorrow night,” Karen told him. “And you’d better have one huge, heart-felt apology to offer her, young man.”