Chapter 8: Unfinished Business
"Thanks for the breakfast Celeste." Justin embraced her thoughtfulness as he pushed away from the table to discard his dish.
"Oh you’re welcome." Celeste quickly answered after, realizing he was waiting for her to do so.
Justin nodded, "You know that was the first real good breakfast I had in a long time." He chuckled then brushed pass her to get to the sink. Celeste flinched as he passed her, which did not go unnoticed by Justin.
Justin wondered what had made her so edgy that she didn’t want to be around him. Hell I’m giving her a place to stay. He voiced silently.
"Hey Celeste what is your problem?" Justin didn’t mean to sound so callous, but to him it seemed as though all of a sudden she had taken his hospitality for granted. Not even twenty-four hours had passed before she just completely turned ugly.
Celeste gasped at the tone of voice, which wasn’t overly frightening; it’s just that she didn’t expect it. She lost her balance and fell into the table that was supported by weak legs. The table completely broke under her weight.
Justin watched her fall to the ground and he tried to catch her, but he wasn’t quick enough. "Oh shit you broke my table!"
Tatiyana ran from the bedroom where she was destroying Justin’s cassette tapes. "Cee Cee fall."
Celeste rolled over to her right side and grimaced in pain.
Justin took note of her pain and bent down to her level to examine her. "Are you aight’?" He remembered the head injury she had suffered yesterday and he didn’t want to have her pain increase.
"No I’m not aight’ I just fell on a damn table and broke it." Celeste said sarcastically despite the throbbing pain in her side.
Justin silently agreed with her as he wrapped his arms under her body and lifted her from the floor. Celeste winced and shivered, but it wasn’t from the pain, his hands were actually really cold. Not to mention his hands were touching her bare legs and the shirt Justin gave her did not cover much of anything.
"Half-pint pick up that glass." Justin ordered walking into the room.
"No! Tati don’t touch it." Celeste wrestled in his arms to look of his shoulder to make sure Tatiyana obeyed her. Good. She sighed quietly to herself. If her sister had attempted to clean up that mess she would’ve cut herself seriously. Then Justin would’ve had to die.
"Oh sorry I didn’t think about her cutting herself." He apologized.
Celeste smirked then shifted in his arms, the action caused her shirt to rise and bunch at the top of her thighs as Justin tried to maintain a grip on her.
"Do you think you can walk okay?" Justin asked.
"I should in a little bit, but I think I’m going to need a few stuff from the store because my back hurts a lot." Celeste explained as he placed her atop the bed covers.
"Okay I was going to go to the store anyway. Anything else?" Now that he had to buy and brand new table he might as well get some stuff for her too.
Celeste waved her hand in dismissal, "That’s it."
"Cool. Oh and sorry bout ya back too." Justin looked back over his shoulder at her.
"And sorry bout ya table." Celeste replied in the same nonchalant tone that he used.
Justin just nodded and continued walking out to the living room to grab his jacket.
He knew for a fact that he hadn’t pushed her into that table; she was frightened by him and she backed into the weak table. But why was she frightened? He already settled that she hadn’t in fact taken his hospitality for granted, so he was left with no other possibilities except that she was scared of him. Was it his size? She didn’t know what he did for money at night, and he never once intimidated her.
It wasn’t until this morning…Justin pondered relentlessly trying to recall when her mood her changed. "After I threw those eggs on her." He concluded looking back at her again. She’s not afraid of me…she’s feelin’ me. Well it’s not the first time. Justin figured that after he touched her she became antsy, but she didn’t have to act like he was going to jump her bones or something. He shook his head and chuckled.
"Oh wait Justin! Take Tati with you. I can’t watch her by myself with that broken glass." She called just as he reached the door.
"Come on half-pint." He draped his large jacket over her to cover her pajamas and Finding Nemo footies and closed the door behind him.
~*~*~*~
Justin lifted Tatiyana from the ground and placed her into the seat of the shopping cart before browsing through the aisles. "You like apple jacks?"
Tatiyana shrugged and pointed to cookies, "Oreos!" She clapped her hands together loudly.
He tossed the cereal and cookies into the cart, "What else? Eggs, milk, cheese…some chips, ice cream-"
"Ice cream!" Tatiyana giggled with delight. Onlookers passed by with smiles.
"Okay what flavor, Vanilla?"
"Nilla." She shook her head up and down vigorously.
After acquiring all the items he listed, Justin went to the frozen food section to get some microwavable dinners to last for the next couple of days. By the time he finished shopping he had added some stovetop and oven dinners hoping that Celeste knew how to cook.
He pushed the cart into an open aisle ready to check out.
"Hey Justin." The cashier recognized him immediately.
"Hey Kathy." Justin said to the older woman as he placed the items at her register.
She eyed the toddler then shifted her gaze to Justin, "Who’s cutie is that?"
"Not mine." Justin grinned.
"Ice cream!" Tatiyana tugged on her ponytails.
Justin heard a few "Aww’s" escape from the surrounding crowd.
When he was finishing checking out he loaded all the bags onto the back of his motorbike then settled Tatiyana in front of him before pulling off down the street.
~*~*~*~
Justin pulled into the alley and parked his bike in its usual spot behind the wooden staircase, where it could barely be seen. He looked to make sure no one had seen him, and then he grabbed Tatiyana’s hand and lifted the bags with his other hand.
"Psst." Justin heard someone whisper quietly behind him, but he didn’t bother to turn around.
Footsteps continued behind him as he entered the building and made his way up the stairs.
"Justin." This time he heard a voice.
Damnit! Justin cursed; silently wishing the intruder would just leave him alone. He didn’t even have to turn around to know who it was behind him, chanting out his name as if it were a song. Justin Justin Justin.
Justin kept walking until he reached the top steps. He was debating telling her a few choice words from his vocabulary of foul language, but since there was a child present he opted not to. He had a better idea.
Retrieving his key from his pocket, he let himself into the apartment purposefully leaving the apartment door wide open. Justin looked around for Celeste who was nowhere to be found.
"Hey Justin." Celeste and the intruder, who happened to be Brenda, called out at the same time.
Brenda glared at Celeste like a vicious pit bull ready to attack.
Justin grinned brightly on the inside. Get lost, jealous bitch! He chuckled on the inside, but when Brenda did not leave, his internal smile turned into a frown. What did he have to do just to convince her that nothing was ever going to happen between them. Ever. He had another idea as he looked toward Brenda with her hands on her hips, but he knew it would be taking a risk and he didn’t know what kind of damage to expect if he carried through with his concept.
But every action comes with a consequence, so he decided to just throw caution to the wind and go for it.
Justin stalked over to Celeste with persistence, and before she could comprehend what was going and before he could reevaluate his decision, his lips were on hers in a bruising kiss…
Celeste watched as young woman about her age entered the apartment and greeted Justin at the same time as she. Her hair was of a brunette shade with strawberry blond streaks. Her faded denim jacket hung loosely from her body compared to the skintight leather pants that donned her waist.
Who is she? Celeste pondered curiously. Maybe she was an acquaintance of Justin because he never spoke of having a girlfriend, but she only knew him for no more than 36 hours.
Celeste continued to examine the young woman before a swift walking Justin blocked her line of vision. She watched him saunter over to her with determination in his eyes and also what vaguely appeared to be a hint of desire. He stopped in front of her and stared down at her small 5’2 frame, then pulled her strongly against him before using the same force to press his mouth to hers.
Celeste lost her breath immediately and winced from the pain in her lower back due to his swift movements.
Justin devoured her mouth as if she was a sweet piece of freshly grown fruit, in what he hoped was good enough to convince Brenda to back off. He even went as far as to touch Celeste on her behind to prove his point.
Powerless, Celeste did the only thing she could manage to think of at the moment. She pulled his bottom lip between her teeth and bit down as hard as she could until Justin cried out in pain.
"What the fuck!" Justin wrenched away from Celeste, knocking her off balance a little. He wiped his mouth to see blood settling in his palm, then glared at her. He was expecting consequences, but not that extreme. So that proved that maybe she wasn’t feelin’ him after all.
Justin looked toward the empty open doorway to see Brenda gone. Shit! Celeste was definitely going to have to explain her way out of that fiasco because as of now the generous, caring, hospitable, Justin had disappeared….