Backstage by Mandy Bee (guided reading books TXT) 📕

doctor cleared him to fly yesterday so we are packing to go to his parents house. Rachael left last week but the boys are still here. Justin’s private jet is ready and waiting for us, it is so much nicer then booking a regular flight.

We are standing at LAX waiting for Mike to pull his car around. All of the guys have on ball caps and sunglasses and I have on an oversized sweatshirt and sweatpants. I keep looking around thinking someone has figured out who we are but when Mike pulls up I let out a deep breath and get in the back seat with Justin.

Justin’s parents don’t have a house, they have a freaking housing community! Along with the main house, more like the mansion, there are five guest houses and a pool house that has a bedroom and bath. They have four golf carts that we have to use to get to each others houses. I’m in awe at all this, I have never ever seen anything like it!

Rachael meets us at the door to the main house and hugs all of us. Chris, Scot and Dave are going to be sharing a guest house, she thought it would be best because they are always together anyways. I remember Justin telling me once that he had his own guest house in the back of the house, well that wasn’t really true. He has a complete wing of the mansion all to himself, but it is still connected to the main house.

He shows me around his part of the house and I still can’t believe I’m here. Along with a master suit, he has a movie theater, a mini studio, a game room, and a hot tub room with a sauna! I wonder away from him and walk back to his bedroom. After flopping down on the bed I let out a huge grunt. Then I hear him laughing.

He comes and lays beside me. “What was that grunt about?” He is still laughing.

“I feel like I’m in a freaking mansion. This is crazy shit. You have a movie theater in your house Justin, I have a DVD player in my room.” I let out another grunt.

“Well to be honest we have two movie theaters, the one I showed you is my private one.” I turn over and glare at him. “I don’t see why any of this should bother you. My dad works hard for his money and my mom knew what type of house she wanted. When I made it big I added this wing on so that I could stay here with them but still have my own place, well kind of.”

“I’m not used to being around people with this kind of money. I never in a million years thought that your house would be like this. Your parents don’t act rich at all, they are sweet, caring people. I just don’t know how to wrap my head around it all.”

He pulls my onto his lap and I go willingly. “Sweetheart don’t look around and see the money, look around and see our house, our family and our love for everyone. That includes you now.” He kisses me softly.

I guess he is right. I mean I have spent a lot of time with his parents and they don’t act like snobs. Why should them having a house like this change any of that? I decide to let it go and just enjoy my first holiday with my new family. We walk back to the main part of the house and find everyone in the kitchen.

Justin’s brother Jeff is here with his wife Sara. Rachael’s sister Marie is here, along with Mike’s brothers Ken, Paul, and Jake. I’m being introduced as Justin’s girlfriend and I blush every time, it’s not new to me but I still love it. Everyone is so nice and the house is decked out to no end with Christmas lights and trees everywhere.

The house phone rings and Mike goes to answer it. The look on his face after a minute tells us that something is wrong. Everyone stops talking and just stares at Mike. He just keeps saying okay, yes, or no, into the phone. After he hung up he just stared back at us.

Rachael was the first to speak. “Mike, what’s wrong? Who was that?”

He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, without opening his eyes he says “They arrested John about an hour ago, he had two guns on him and a suicide note.”

I cover my mouth with my hand to stop me from screaming. Justin puts his arms around me, Rachael goes over to Mike and does the same thing. John’s in jail? They caught him? Oh thank God! We all stand there in silence for a few minutes.

“I have something to say.” Rachael says bringing us all out of our own thoughts. “I love all my sons, no matter what. But what John did he did to himself. For right now we are going to go on with our plans, and after the holidays we can deal with him.” She wipes a tear away from her cheek then smiles at everyone. “Now I think everyone should go get cleaned up because dinner is in one hour.” She walks out of the room with Mike following her.

We all leave without saying a word to each other. Once back in Justin’s room we talk about how crazy this is. He said he was glad they caught him, as was I but it is still his brother. We talked as we got dressed for dinner and once we were back with everyone it all seamed to have faded into the past.

I went shopping with Rachael, Sara and Marie the next day. Every store was having a Christmas Eve sale. I already bought all of my gift. Chris is getting autographed Aerosmith poster that I found on eBay. Justin is getting something very special, I had a photo book made using only