CHAPTER 6
Shaking her head, but smiling, at her sister's jubilation, Ariel closed her hotel room door and slipped under the covers. She had just rested her head on the pillow when she heard another knock on the door. With a frustrated sigh she threw the covers off of her, checked on her son, who was sleeping in a crib in the corner of the room and opened the door.
"Hello my Ariel." Justin said as he smiled at her
"Hi Justin."
"These are for you."
Justin thrust a bouquet of flowers toward her. Ariel smiled as she took them and breathed in their sweet aroma.
"Thanks Justin, what's the occasion?"
"Do I need a reason to give my lady flowers?"
"But I'm not your lady. Why did you come here?"
"To try and persuade you to come with me on the trip."
"Justin, I've been thinking about that....."
"Good," Justin grinned as he interrupted her,"can I come in? I would rather speak to you without the rest of the hotel having to hear."
Ariel stepped aside and let Justin in. Justin went over to her bed sat down on it. He began to talk again but Ariel cut him off with a look of death. She put a hand to her lip and motioned over to where Eric was sleeping peacefully. "Sorry Ariel," Justin whispered, "I'll try and keep it down."
"Thanks."
"So you've been thinking about my offer to go with us?" Justin started
"Yeah I have, in fact I've already made my decision about it."
"You have?" Justin asked instantly curious
"Yes I have. I'm going home with Eric tomorrow, but Jess is going along with Lance."
Justin opened his mouth to protest but Ariel silenced him by putting her hand over his mouth.
"Don't try to change my mind Justin, the decision is made." Ariel said firmly
"But what about me? I've hardly gotten to see you this whole week. We didn't get a chance to hang out, you know, maybe reconnect. You said I make you happy, if that's true, why the hell are you leaving me?"
"Justin don't make this harder than it already is. I do care about you and I'm disappointed that we didn't get to hang out much while I was here, but I have to go home. I have too many responsibilities to just go off on a two week excursion. Besides, with Eric along, we probably wouldn't have any time alone anyway. I think this is for the best."
"Fine Ariel. Fine. If you want to go home that fine with me."
Justin grabbed her shoulders and crushed his mouth to hers. There was no softness to his touch, just raw passion, anger and frustration. A feeling of fear pulsed through Ariel as visions of Austin raping her raced through her mind. Ariel froze in Justin's arms, gripping his shirt for strength. Justin felt her stiffen, broke the kiss apart and stalked toward the door."
"Have a nice life." Justin seethed.
He opened the hotel door and slammed it shut behind him. The noise jarred Eric awake and he immediately began crying. Ariel went over to the crib to soothe her son. She held him in her arms and silently sobbed.
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