Chapter Thirty-Eight

Justin's eyes widened for a slight moment while her words sunk in and slowly his arms raised where he could rest his hands on top of his head. He couldn't read the look she was giving to the both of them, but he could tell that she wasn't exactly happy about finding him hovering over Shai with his body pressing her against the wall. If he had been the one walking out and finding that situation, he would have automatically assumed the worst. Lauren undoubtedly had done the same because her stony glare was directed at him and he could feel himself beginning to sweat.

This was probably one of the most uncomfortable situations he had ever been in.

His hands came away from his head and they reached out towards her as he pleaded. "Lauren, I…I know this looked really bad when you first walked out because we were up against the wall and…and…"

Her arms crossed over her chest and her hip jutted out in defiance, but she gave him no indication of interest other than the sigh that escaped her lips and the wide roll of her eyes.

He looked at Shai, at the small smile on her face, and found that his strategy shouldn't include this woman anymore. Lauren was his main focus and the person he owed everything to. "Do you want me to explain? I can explain this really easily because you see…"

Shai stretched her arms up on the wall and grinned at him. "He can explain this easily because what you saw is what you get. It's hard to hide the honest truth…right sweetie?"

His head whipped around and he gave her an incredulous look. "What are you TALKING about?"

She stretched even more and pushed her chest out towards him with an innocent smile. "I'm talking about Lauren. She's a smart girl and I'm sure she realizes that it's hard to deny what you see with your own two eyes. That rhymes. Is that off of a song somewhere?"

Justin closed his eyes and took a step back from her when he felt her fingertips on his arm. "Don't touch me, and while that is true sometimes…" He looked over at Lauren again and saw that she hadn't moved an inch. "…You know that I would never lead you on that way. I just finished spending the evening with you, we had a good time, and I wouldn't come out of your room and fall into her arms."

One of Lauren's eyebrows raised and he rushed to finish. "WAIT A MINUTE! Bad choice of words. I actually did fall into her arms, but I didn't FALL INTO her arms. Does that make any sense? Dammit I'm an idiot."

Shai took a step forward and tried to comfort him by rubbing his back but he pushed her away again. "Justin, why do you play these games with her? Look at her! She's standing there with such pain in her eyes and you're still lying to her."

"I'm not lying to her! I…I came out of that door, I wasn't watching where I was going because I was thinking about HER, and we slammed into each other. Lauren, you have to believe me. That's all that happened. I wouldn't run into her arms…"

Shai laughed and looked down to pull a piece of his hair off her shirt. "We slammed into each other because he wasn't watching where he was going, but the wall? How do you explain that one, Justin? It took you long enough to get away from me and we BOTH know that you have a fondness for walls."

Justin felt like either crying or slapping her for doing this. There were lies flying around him and he didn't know which ones to fight first because Lauren still wasn't saying anything, she was taking in all the lies like she had no desire to fight any of this, and Shai was using her knowledge of him to her advantage.

"Shai, you…you have never and WILL NEVER know anything about what I'm fond of."

She leaned back against the wall again and winked at Lauren. "He's fond of moonlight and pools. I know THAT much."

He felt her eyes on him but for the life of him he couldn't open his eyes to look at her. "That kiss meant nothing. It didn't mean anything then and it sure as HELL doesn't mean anything now. All it means is that I was too stupid to see what I had and I actually was dumb enough to try to bide my time somewhere else."

"Bide your time? Did you or did you not kiss me? Lauren saw it! I felt it!"

Lauren's eyes calmly shifted back over to Justin and she waited quietly for him to speak.

Justin's hands ran through his hair and he pulled on a fistful while he growled loudly. "This is the stupidest thing I've ever been involved in. I kissed you, I know I kissed you, I also know that I didn't have to, but I will never do it again."

She looked down at her fingernails and shrugged. "For someone who regrets it so much, you enjoyed it a lot. Or were those someone else's hands brushing against my…"

Lauren's head tilted his way and he walked over to stand in Shai's face and interrupt. "My hands were NOWHERE on you! Why are you doing this? Do you think that this is going to prove a point to anyone? Do you think that I'm going to give up on Lauren and come searching your way? Wake up and realize that you will never…NEVER be anything to me other than someone who is an imposition in my life!"

He waited for her to answer and finally she did, but he got a lot more than he had bargained for. "That's not what you said the other day."

The elevator doors opened and JC and Miranda stepped out holding hands and giggling. They both froze when they saw the three teenagers in the hallway. Justin looked about ready to hit someone, he was basically panting in anger, he looked about ready to burn Shai at the stake with his eyes alone, and his body was tighter than either one of them could remember seeing. Shai was looking innocent and hurt as always so they could only guess what kind of problems she had brought to the table that night.

And then there was Lauren. Lauren was standing in front of the door to her hotel room and was calmly looking back and forth between the two people in front of her. She didn't look mad, didn't look upset, didn't look sad, and she didn't look like she was even involved in any way. It looked like she was standing by watching a movie and was not a part of this madness at all, but everyone knew she was. If Justin and Shai were squaring off, then Lauren had to be the one caught in the middle.

Justin waited until JC pulled Miranda past before he finally ground out a response. "What…did…I…say…the…other…day?"

Shai grinned at Miranda who was trying her best to walk as slow as possible, but JC pulled on her arm again and she rushed to catch up. "You know exactly what you said and I'm tired of you leading Lauren on this way. Just look at her. She looks like someone has stolen her best friend…oh wait, nevermind."

Miranda looked over at Lauren and when she didn't see her making a move, she pulled against JC's hand but he caught her around the waist. "Did you just…"

His arms tightened around her and he dragged her along with him. "Not our problem. Leave them alone."

She looked over her shoulder at him and whispered loudly. "Not our problem? Would you just…"

He let go of her for a second to pull the key out of his pocket and unlocked the door to his room. "We're going to butt out and yes you are included in that 'we' word."

She saw his look of warning before turning to look back down the hall at the three. "What if they…"

He leaned down, kissed her softly on the lips, and went inside. "What if you worry more about that 'we' word and forget about the 'theys'?"

She was just about to go inside when Justin's voice stopped her. She turned to lean against the wall again and saw him angrily pacing around in circles in front of Shai. "I haven't been near you in weeks, much less actually talk to you or lead you on. Why can't you just leave me alone? Haven't you caught on to the fact that I don't want you?"

Miranda chewed on her bottom lip and waited for Shai's response. The girl had the nerve to look like she was about to cry. "Justin, why are you being this way? Now I know why Lauren was so hurt! If you're lying and being this mean to me…I can only imagine what you were like to her."

Miranda felt JC's arms slide around her waist again and he struggled to pull her inside the room. "Wait…wait a second, JC. This is just getting good. I want to hear what he has to say to this. Stop pulling me and…and oh my…watch the hands mister."

Her fingers gripped the doorframe but he pulled them away. "Miranda, this is none of our business and you're too nosey for your own good. Let them deal with it while we deal with a few things of our own."

"As much as I love this brute/dominating stuff out of you JC, don't get all Mr. Rogers on me now."

The door clicked shut after JC finally managed to pull Miranda inside and Lauren slowly turned back around to look at the pair in front of her.

Justin stopped pacing and his arms fell lax at his sides. "What do you want me to say, Shai? Do you want me to say that I was attracted to you? Fine…I was attracted to you. You're a beautiful girl but what turned me off about you is the WAY you're beautiful. It's these little games and schemes and lies that you throw in my face that make me feel disgusted every time I see you. You kissed me that night, I responded, and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't wish I could stop it from happening."

"Only because Lauren was stalking us in the bushes and…"

He held a hand up and stopped her. "Yeah it had something to do with Lauren catching us, but even if she hadn't been there, even if she hadn't seen us…I would still feel this way. How did I know she was even there? I knew because I stopped the kiss and I told you I couldn't do it. I stopped it!"

Shai gave Lauren a dirty look and it irritated her that Lauren still hadn't said anything but was watching them like she was being completely entertained. "You stopped it so you could play both of us at the same time. Heaven forbid you should lose your little trampy best friend…EX best friend who has been getting it on with Tristan. Or have you forgotten that they were all over each other the last time you saw him?"

Justin swallowed hard and forced himself to push those words aside and not believe them at all. Shai was reaching for anything she had to keep him from fighting against her and if she was doing that…it meant she was scared. "Tristan has nothing to do with this."

"He has everything…"

"He has NOTHING to do with this! I was jealous and I was too stupid before to realize that he would never come between Lauren and I. I was so worried and so scared that he was going to push his way in, that I never realized that I was the one building that wall between us. Tristan didn't do anything and nothing you say is going to make me believe that." He turned to look at Lauren before finally speaking softly but certainly. "I…I know she would have told me if Tristan was the one she wanted. She would have told me."

"Maybe she wanted to get a little action from both sides like you were doing."

Lauren took a step back when Justin looked ready to explode. "I wasn't playing both sides! How did we get from us slamming into one another in this hallway, to talking about me pimpin' around? I'm going to say this clearly so you'll understand, Shai. You are nothing I want, you are everything I could NEVER want, you're everything that I swore I would never get involved with when I became a musician, and that's not going to change. Did you get that? It…will…never…change. I wouldn't even turn to you for a one-night stand if I were even desperate enough to have one…which I'm NOT. Do you understand now?"

Two tears rolled down her cheeks and she gave probably the most pathetic looks that either of them had ever seen. "But you kissed me and…"

"Forget about that damn kiss! Do you really want to know why I stopped? I stopped because I didn't feel anything. Have you ever kissed your hand? Have you ever kissed your pillow? I got a bigger spark and a lot less guilt from kissing my hand than I did from kissing you, Shai. MY HAND!"

She didn't say anything, so he continued. "As for what just happened, it was nothing other than me trying to stop someone from getting hurt and using the wall for balance. Call it manners, habit, or whatever. I call it innocent and I call it a CHEAP way for you to try to start something between me and Lauren."

Lauren pushed away from the wall and turned to the door but when Justin saw the movement, he rushed over and put his hand on her shoulder. "Lauren…Lauren please listen to me. Please!"

She slowly turned in his arms and looked up at him. She looked him over, took in the miserable and terrified look on his face, and chuckled quietly before pushing the door open to walk through and slamming it back in his face.

Justin cringed at the noise and he leaned his back against the wall beside the door. His head turned up towards the ceiling and his throat struggled to swallow past the lump of fear that rested there. "Perfect. Wonderful. Absolutely friggin' BRILLIANT!"

He heard her shift beside him, and like he expected…Shai's fingers touched his arm comfortingly. "Justin I'm…I'm so sorry but…"

One moment he was standing there staring at the ceiling, the next he was pushing her back against the wall and looming over her with angry eyes flaring through her. "If you have ruined anything, and I mean ANYTHING that I have accomplished with Lauren…you can't imagine what I will do to you. Are you hearing THIS loud and clear, Shai? You…can't…imagine what I would do to you."

She started trembling in fear and couldn't meet his eyes. "I'm so sorry but…"

He grabbed her chin and yanked it up so she would have to meet his eyes. What she saw there was enough to make her cry even harder. "I don't want to hear your apologies. It was your choice to join Tom's side and to go along with his plan to destroy my life. It was your choice to make it a personal thing between you and me and Lauren. It was all your choice and I think…I think you enjoyed every minute of it."

His eyes narrowed even more and he leaned closer to whisper. "Remember my words, my thoughts, and my eyes right now when you stop to wonder if I will have any mercy when it comes time to bring you and Tom down. And Shai, it WILL happen. At this point, it's only a matter of WHEN."

"I…I didn't know she meant this much to you."

He pushed back and sighed angrily. "You never looked past yourself and your needs to ask or even care. So dry the little fake tears and run along because I don't believe for one minute that you've had a change of heart. I can still see that look of determination on your face, but heed my warning."

She wiped at the tears on her cheeks and a smile slowly broke across her face as she clapped her hands together in a cheer. "You're too smart for your own good, Justin. Although, I have to say that you're damn sexy when you're angry like this. Maybe one day you'll wake up and realize that Lauren isn't worth all this. Hmm…what I wouldn't give to have you get this hot and bothered over me one day. You can fight it, you can deny it, and you can push it aside as much as you want, but you and I both know that you can't keep your eyes off of me. If I didn't affect you like you tried to say, you wouldn't be fighting me this hard. I think you liked the kiss, and I think you liked it a lot. I think it has caused more trouble in your mind than you thought it ever would. THAT is where the power comes in."

It felt like everywhere she had touched him, that his skin was now crawling. "You disgust me. What could Tom possibly have to make you give up any respect you had for yourself and act this way?"

She laughed giddily and reached her arms up over her head. She smiled even brighter when she saw his eyes focus on her chest for a second before he stopped and turned away. "What does Tom have? That's easy…he has YOU in the palm of his hand, Justin. Why on earth would I turn away an offer like that?"

"All of this is for me? It's some sick way of getting your hands on ME? You don't think that you will ever succeed do you? Tell me that there is a point, even today, where you see that I want nothing to do with you other than to have you leave me the hell alone!"

She shrugged and pulled at the buttons on her shirt. "I always get what I want and so does Tom. Don't you see why it's so perfect?"

"I thought that you were the innocent one. I thought that maybe you were being tricked or lied to like everyone else was and that Tom had somehow managed to manipulate you into being this way, but you enjoy it don't you? You get just as much sick pleasure out of this than he does."

She scared look on his face and the shocked drop of his mouth excited her. "How many girls would give their right arm to be where I am right now? How many girls would give that other arm to know that you knew they existed or cared enough to try to battle this way? Oh yes…it takes a lot of passion to hate someone. It takes passion, Justin. The kind of passion I saw out of you that day in the dressing room when you thought I was Lauren. I touched you, I felt the way your body responded, and did you push me away? No, you worried about what Lauren might think if she caught us. If…she…caught…us."

He was getting confused and the blinding anger he felt inside of him wasn't helping matters much. "No…no that's not true. You're not going to twist things around, Shai. Get away from me and stay away from Lauren."

"Lauren has what I need, but she won't be babysitting it for much longer."

He didn't really want to know, but at the same time he needed to know what they were up against. "And Tom?"

She laughed again and the sound made him wince. "Let's just say that it will be a fair swap."

The door opened again and Lauren came out with her bag over her shoulder. She gave them both a hard look as she walked past. Shai's eyes followed her movement and she finally purred out a question that caused Lauren to stop. "Going somewhere, sweetheart?"

Justin caught her arm and turned her away from Shai to plead with her. "Lauren, you can't leave like…"

She looked back and forth between his hand on her arm and his eyes. Finally she opened her mouth and broke the silence. "Let go, Justin."

He felt like crying out in fear and the suffocating feeling of terror that was washing over him. She hadn't heard one word he had said to Shai. If she had, she didn't believe him and now he was struggling to control his panic because he knew that if she walked out of that hotel…she would never be back. "I can't let you go. I need you! Don't you see how much I need you in my life? I need you too much to just let you go and…"

Her head tilted and her eyes drooped in boredom as she watched him ramble on and on about how much he couldn't afford to lose her. She stopped him when Shai's name was mentioned again. "Let go…of my ARM, you ignorant bastard. I didn't mean let go of ME forever. Damn, you just need to add a brand new BRAIN to your Christmas list this year."

His confused and hurt eyes moved over to the bag that was slung over her shoulder but his fingers didn't loosen on her arm. "Don't go. Please don't leave me like this, Lauren."

"I have to get away from here before…"

"I know, before you say something you'll regret but…"

She pulled her arm back but he held on tight. "No, before I…"

"Before you slam me? Go ahead! I totally deserve it and…"

"Justin…"

He held a hand up when Shai opened her mouth to say something. "If you leave like this, she will win. She will win and Tom will win and…"

Lauren's eyes grew lazy again as she watched him ramble. "Oh Justin…?"

"But if you just walk out, if you leave Lakeland and go back to Orlando, what will you prove? It will just prove that they are capable of…"

Lauren grabbed the collar of his shirt, fisted it in her hand, and yanked him down to her level before whispering. "If you would let me FINISH! I need to get out of here, before I forget that it's illegal to make a new doorway in that wall using her head as a tool! Got it? Good!"

She pushed him back and released his shirt with a sigh. Justin looked between Shai and Lauren while he tried to grasp what Lauren was talking about. "So you're saying…"

"Good merciful heavens, Justin. Just SHUT UP!"

Shai giggled and covered her smile with a hand when Lauren turned to look at her. "Oh don't mind me. Please go right ahead and argue, but you wouldn't want to get home TOO late. You might better get going Lauren, and don't you worry because I'll take really good care of him while you're away."

Lauren took a step towards her but stopped when she realized that being anywhere near Shai at this point was dangerous. All it would take was the wrong comment at the wrong time and she would throw all caution to the wind and handle this little twit of a problem by herself. "Who says I'm going anywhere?"

"You're packed, you're fighting with Justin, and you don't look to happy to be here."

A slow and evil grin crossed Lauren's features. "Here's a little lesson in not only life, but the English language. First of all, I'm not LEAVING, I'm moving. There's a big difference."

"Moving?" Both Shai and Justin questioned at the same time.

"Moving. As in taking my stuff out of Miranda's room and moving it somewhere else."

"Like where?"

She could see the anxiousness on Shai's face and the bewilderment. "Hmm…I'm moving to where I'm wanted…unlike some people."

"And that is?"

With a small smile of triumph, Lauren turned and walked over to where Justin was still standing and watching them in confusion. She stepped up close to him and her hand slowly slid into the pocket of his jeans as her eyes stayed locked on his. She saw his eyes widen at the movement and they widened even more as she slipped her hand out. The fingers on her other hand pulled at his other pocket before slipping inside and moving around casually in search of what she was looking for. When she found it, she gave him a small smile and turned to wave his key in front of Shai's angry eyes.

"Are you really intellectually challenged or do you actually understand this?"

Shai's mouth opened as she tried to say something but Justin interrupted. "I get the bed by the window."

Lauren winked at Shai as she walked towards Justin's room. "Then that's the bed I want. Excuse me a minute while I put my stuff inside."

When the door closed behind her, Justin stared at it for a few seconds before grinning at Shai. "Anything else to say?"

"It won't last. She might be your play thing for a little while, but even YOU will get bored with it."

His arms crossed over his chest and he smiled confidently. "Rest assured knowing that boredom is what I will NEVER feel with Lauren. If she's never bored me in nineteen years, it isn't suddenly going to happen today. Shai, even if I did get bored with her, I'd date and fall in love with my hand before turning your way. It would get more action than you anyway."

Shai shrugged and yawned dramatically to show him that she didn't believe his words at all.

Of course, he didn't fall for it because he knew that she had heard him loud and clear. "Before I go, remember my warning and watch your back. You two might have won the first round, but we're taking home the trophy when this is all over with."

She watched him walk down to his room, knock on the door, and then walk inside. When the door closed behind him she shook her head against the wall and sighed. "You might take home the trophy, but which pretty girl is going to be the one you kiss and take home with you later that night?"