"You okay half-pint?" Justin screamed through the strong winds as he rode his motorcycle.

"Me okay." Tatiyana replied in the same loud tone raising the oversized helmet over her head.

"Man do you think this is safe?" Kyle questioned who was riding on a motorcycle alongside Justin.

If cops ever stepped foot in this neighborhood, Justin would have been arrested for reckless endangerment of a toddler, but since they didn't he was home free.

"This ain't the first time half-pint ever been on my bike. Besides we're almost there anyway." He said without a hint of worry because he figured Tatiyana should have had enough time to adjust being on a motorcycle since this was her second time.

"Don't ever have kids." Kyle joked as he pulled over at the side of the road.

"Why not? I'm great with half-pint." Seriously believing that to be true, he shrugged off his friend's request and lifted the toddler off the bike.

"Can't see." Tatiyana whined as she almost collided with a wall because Justin had forgot to remove the helmet.

"Oh sorry kid." Justin removed the helmet and put it in his bag along with the other two.

"You ready for this fight?"

"As ready as I can be." He replied although he didn't feel as confident on the inside as he appeared on the outside.

"Cee here too?" Tatiyana asked when she saw a large crowd of people swarming into the front door.

"Where?" Justin misinterpreted her question as a statement thinking that she had saw Celeste.

"No Tati we'll see her soon." Kyle quickly tried to pacify her when he noticed a forming frown.

Damn this kid really knows how to stick it to a guy with those sad eyes. Justin could tell that the toddler was just a pint size version of her older sister.

They entered through the back entrance into his room.

"Y'all can wait in here. You know where the snacks and stuff are at…Do not leave this room and keep the door locked until I come back." He instructed because he knew that at times people would get a little too crazy to the point of insanity.

After undressing down to just his rugged jeans and nothing else, Justin was prepared to fight one of the hardest fights he had ever fought in his life.

This would be the first time where his mind was not completely cleared and focused on just the fight, but on Celeste instead. Hopefully, Celeste was fine, but he doubted her safety because in his neighborhood the only way to be safe was to know how to defend yourself whether with the use of a weapon or street smarts and he knew she possessed neither. Celeste might have a razor-sharp tongue and quick reflexes, but that wouldn't work for her in the real world.

If something happened to Celeste he would be stuck regretting his last words said to her.

~*~*~*~

"Thank you Mr…" Celeste didn't know his name.

"You can call me Sonny and you're welcome." Sonny returned her gratitude with the same amount of kindness as he opened the car door for her. He figured if he allowed her to patrol the streets alone something would have definitely happened to her and he wouldn't allow anything to happen to a woman that Justin obviously cared for.

"But you know I could have walked by myself I would have been fine." She truly believed that if she didn't speak to anyone she would be safe despite the fact that she practically ran home from the cemetery.

"Not in this neighborhood honey. No one's safe."

Celeste eyed the loaded gun in the open glove compartment. If a gun was what she needed to be safe, then Tatiyana definitely was not safe.

"Do you know where he fights?" Celeste hoped she didn't make the wrong decision by getting into a car with a man she just met less than a half hour ago that had a loaded gun to boot.

"Yeah I've been to a few of his fights. He's really good at it too. The man has one of the best jabs I've seen in a while." Sonny laughed and gave Celeste a light-hearted punch in the arm.

"Ow." Celeste rubbed her arm, but the minor stinging in her arm was the least of her worries. What concerned her was the fact that she had been living with a man for two weeks who had perfected the professional sport of boxing down to a tee.

"Does he win a lot of his fights?"

"Yup hasn't lost one yet. Piss him off and that's it. One time a guy tried to break in his apartment and Justin caught him and beat the shit out of him… Anyway that's how he pays the rent because that little store he works at doesn't pay enough." Sonny explained.

Celeste always wondered how he was paying the bills when he only went to work once or twice a week, but now she knew where he was at when he was gone for hours.

However, the things that Celeste was hearing about Justin surprised her because if he was such a hot-tempered person why hadn't he ever laid a hand on her when she pissed him off.

~*~*~*~

Justin walked out the double steel doors to the chant of his name, "Timberwolve! Timberwolve!" The audience cheered loudly, the exhilarating expression displayed clearly on their faces.

Despite the excitement of the crowd, Justin was still unable to focus his attention on just the fight. He ran his fingers through his hair in utter frustration. He might've been angry before, but he wouldn't wish for anything to happen to Celeste intentionally.

Maybe she was waiting for us back at the apartment. Justin figured if he believed she was in a safe place then maybe she was actually in a safe place.

Justin made eye contact with the doe-like orbs of his opponent and he knew this was a fight that he was going to win. The fear evident in his competitor's eyes made him appear the age of a frightened twelve year-old instead of the twenty-three year old he really was.

Look at him he's so scared he doesn't know what to do with himself. Justin laughed silently, but he didn't allow his confidence to show on the outside.

"Go get em' Justin." A female fan applauded with a sexy wink of the eye then she shoved a piece of paper in his hand, which Justin knew had her phone number written on it. He put the piece of paper in his back pocket and brushed past her.

When he made eye contact with his opponent again what he saw made he wonder why he was even there. Of course he would get the satisfaction of continuing his undefeated record, but he no longer received what he thought fighting was giving and that was meaning. In the past Justin believed fighting gave him meaning because there was nothing else in his life worth providing his time to. However, now he didn't see the worth in bringing his competitor to his knees.

So with that thought in mind Justin turned on his heel and quickly exited the fray to the obvious disappointment of the audience.

Continuous taunts surrounded him followed by a string of blasphemous words, "Where the fuck is he going? I paid good money to see this fight!" One angry man yelled.

~*~*~*~

"Are you sure this is the place?" Celeste eyed the old torn down building. There were no windows only steel bars and all the light posts were either broken or too dim, which gave Celeste the perception that she was walking into a jail cell.

"Yeah this is it. A real beauty isn't it?" Sonny said sarcastically.

"Just like Justin's apartment." Although Justin had windows instead of steel bars, his apartment was just as bad off as this building.

"We can wait out here. If I'm right he should be out in any minute."

As soon as Sonny completed his statement a crowd of unruly men erupted from the double steel doors spilling out onto the pavement.

Celeste hissed as she was lunged against the brick wall, "Shit." Her back was hurting severely from the hard shove.

"Mr. Sonny…you okay?" She looked around for him, but she couldn't catch sight of him with the crowd swarming in on her.

Tears spilled from her eyes as she tried to make it through the crowd to find the older man. "Sonny are you okay? Say something!" Celeste screamed over the insane ruckus of the fighting pack and now the echoing sound of the police sirens.

"Get the fuck out the way lady." Another hard shove left Celeste on her knees crawling for safety.

"Sonny!" She crawled toward the older man in the corner who was grimacing in pain.

"Celeste do you see Justin?" Sonny's whisper was so low that Celeste had to lean in close just to hear him.

"No I don't see him." Celeste knew that finding Justin would be impossible in this crowd. Hopefully, Tatiyana was safe. She would repeat this until it came true.

Sonny watched the fear and anxiety play across Celeste's face and knew that this was probably the hardest situation she had ever been through. However, little did he know this was just another addition to her list of troubles.

"Let me help you up so we can get back to the car…" Celeste attempted to shift his weight onto her with the little strength she had left, but it was no use Sonny was twice her size.

"Forget it Celeste. Leave me and go find Justin." Celeste shook her head at his request. She would not leave him to be trampled on.

If I can only get him to the car we- before she could finish the thought the crazed riot attacked all the cars including Sonny's, destroying all the windows and headlights.

But what happened next took Celeste's breath away even before she had the time to catch it…

The front of the building exploded to shreds and crushed Celeste's hope for finding Tatiyana, Kyle and even Justin. "Oh my God!" She screamed in terror, the tears spilling from her eyes like a rapid rainfall.

Then she felt a sharp pain followed by a weight three times her own collapsing on top of her. Celeste tried to scream as loud as she could, but it was no use because the man had already fallen on her.

"Celeste!"